Ye Zhiyu was silent for a while, then said, "I suspect the two people who came back to cook lunch today."
Wu Wenwen frowned: "This... Wu Qing and Xu Fen are cooking today, they wouldn't team up, would they?"
Ye Zhiyu said impatiently with a stern face, "Anyway, the money was still there when I went out this morning, but it was gone when I came back. If it wasn't those two, then it must have been stolen by someone in the village. I'll report it to the police tomorrow."
Wu Wenwen quickly stopped her, "Zhiyu, don't be impulsive. I'll go find them and find out what happened."
She left after saying that. Liu Shengnan glanced at her and said irritably, "What else can you do? You can even lose money. Don't you have a lock?"
Ye Zhiyu pretended to be helpless and spread her hands, "I locked my wardrobe. I always carry my wallet with me. It rolled around on the floor yesterday, and I just put it on the bed when I was changing clothes. I forgot about it this morning."
Upon hearing this, Liu Shengnan was exasperated: "Serves you right. If I lost this much money, my mom would beat me to death."
They clearly have plenty of money and don't take it seriously. Like them, if it weren't for the inconvenience of changing clothes, they would love to sew their own clothes lining.
A short while later, a group of people came over, making a lot of noise.
Wu Qing became agitated upon seeing Ye Zhiyu, his face flushed and his neck thick with anger: "Ye Zhiqing, what do you mean? I may not be as rich as you, but I have no reason to steal your money."
Liu Yuan said unhappily, "Wu Qing, speak properly."
The person ignored him and only stared at Ye Zhiyu.
Xu Fen also came with Wu Wenwen, keeping her head down and remaining silent.
Ye Zhiyu glanced at Xu Fen with a half-smile and replied to Wu Qing, "I didn't mean to frame you. Sister Wu just came to you to understand the situation. I'm sure you've seen the evidence. My money is indeed gone. If you lost forty yuan, you'd probably be even crazier than me."
Wu Qing was panting heavily, but he was clearly more rational. Yes, she was right. If he had lost that much money, he would have turned the educated youth settlement upside down.
Seeing that he was silent, Ye Zhiyu turned her attention to Xu Fen: "Xu Zhiqing, why aren't you saying anything?"
Xu Fen lowered her head and said in a muffled voice, "I don't know."
Ye Zhiyu chuckled, looked around, his gaze sweeping over each of them, pausing briefly on Li Xi before looking away.
"Okay, it seems no one is admitting it. I'll go to town to report it tomorrow."
After saying that, he turned to go inside and prepare to close the door, but Lin Yueze, the team leader of the male educated youth, Wu Wenwen, and some older educated youth quickly stopped him.
"Ye Zhiqing, you can't do that! How about we think of something?"
We can't report it to the police. If this gets out and everyone knows about it, they'll lose all face as educated youth.
Originally, these educated youths came from all over the country and gathered together in the countryside. Regardless of whether they were harmonious or not, in the eyes of outsiders, they were a collective.
The Red Flag Brigade is relatively good; they're not particularly xenophobic, and the people are nice. They usually greet each other politely when they meet.
However, going to the countryside was inherently physical labor, which they were not good at. Some educated youth liked to cause trouble when they first arrived in the countryside, but over time, they did not do their work well and caused a lot of trouble. No matter how good the villagers were, they could not help but feel disgusted with them.
If word gets out that there are thieves at the educated youth settlement, who will want to associate with them in the future?
After discussing it with Wu Wenwen, Lin Yueze announced, "Captain Wu and I have decided that we will prove our innocence by searching everyone's room. If we don't find anything, we will report it to the police. We will start with me, the male educated youth."
"No need, I'll go first." Wu Qing walked towards her room first.
Lin Yueze followed.
Everyone was initially reluctant, but since someone had taken the lead, they had to search even if they didn't want to.
Wu Wenwen started by looking at her and her roommate's room.
Ye Zhiyu moved a stool and sat there, leisurely waiting for the chaos to unfold.
As expected, the male educated youth were the first to react and become confused. They could vaguely hear Wu Qing and his roommate talking about losing money.
The next second, the female educated youth also started.
One room at a time, the commotion gradually subsided.
The rule was that a group of people would search one room before moving on to the next. Xu Fen refused to build a house and lived in the mud-brick house at the back, so her room was the only one left to be searched.
Xu Fen looked grim. She wanted to hide something halfway through, but Ye Zhiyu was sitting in the corridor, so she couldn't go back at all.
A group of people came over. Apart from the older educated youth who looked normal, the others who were in the same batch as Ye Zhiyu all had grim expressions.
Ye Zhiyu asked them to search so that they could take stock of their assets. These days, everyone keeps accounts and remembers every penny clearly.
"How was it?" Ye Zhiyu asked casually.
Lin Yueze looked grave. "Many educated youth have lost things. After we finish searching Xu's room, we might really have to report it to the police."
There are too many people involved. They just tallied it up, and excluding Ye Zhiqing, they lost twenty yuan.
Li Xi followed behind, her face also ashen. When she was sent to the countryside, her mother had given her fifteen yuan in small change; now she was three yuan short.
Xu Fen was already trembling. Ye Zhiyu watched with great interest. "Then let's search the last one."
Xu Fen blurted out instinctively, "No."
Everyone immediately looked at her. Xu Fen forced herself to calm down. "My room is not very convenient, and my family is poor. We don't have any money at all. The resettlement fee was sent home by the brigade leader. There's nothing to search."
"You think we can just not search? You think it's inconvenient for you? But it's convenient for everyone else? Everyone's cooperating, and you're the only one being treated differently? You wouldn't happen to be the one who stole it, would you?" Ye Zhiyu raised an eyebrow.
Upon hearing this, Xu Fen felt herself surrounded by questioning gazes.
She snapped, "Don't make false accusations!"
At this moment, Wu Qing suddenly said, "I remember now. When I came back to cook lunch, you insisted that I go and collect firewood. There was still plenty at the educated youth settlement. You deliberately sent me away."
Liu Yuan jumped out, furious, and said, "You planned this all along."
Xu Fen panicked, "I didn't."
Liu Shengnan, with her fiery temper, strode forward and pushed her aside, saying, "You'll know whether it's true or not once you see it. If it's not, we'll apologize to you."
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