Chapter 78, the County Government Office of Xiuning County
Zhao Yiren asked Guo Xiaohua to help Guo Baiwen up, tightened his grip on the knife he was carrying, thought for a moment, and then asked Grandma Guo to lead the two of them to a distant street corner.
That place is not far from the county government office, so it's safer there.
Seeing that the person had obediently stepped back, he and his father then quietly went inside through the open door.
The courtyard was very quiet.
Zhao Yiren and Zhao Dayong exchanged a hand gesture. One went to the front shop in the direction of the entrance, while the other slowly climbed up to the second floor by holding onto the handrail of the stairs.
On the second floor, two men with their faces covered by long headscarves, unaware of the approaching danger, were still ransacking Guo Baiwen's room.
In other words, Guo Baiwen had packed away a lot of the things that were in the room beforehand.
Otherwise, it would be even more difficult to find the target if these two came in.
I've already explored both the bed and the cabinet.
After much difficulty, the two masked men finally found the small wooden box with drawers that their boss had mentioned, and they breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, I can finally take the stuff back and report.
This is it. It's supposed to be a small wooden box, but it's actually quite heavy.
Moreover, I don't know how the copper rings on it are installed; they make a loud clanging sound as soon as they are tilted slightly.
It seems we can't just take this box with us.
The two exchanged a glance, and immediately one of them took on the role of lookout while the other opened the box.
I originally thought this drawer would be hard to open.
Unexpectedly, he easily opened the small brass lock hanging there by simply poking it a few times with a piece of iron.
Has my skill improved recently?
Although he found it a bit strange, he didn't have time to think about it further because of the time constraints.
So far, everything is going very smoothly.
Just as the man unlocking the drawer was about to pull it out, he heard the lookout at the door suddenly wave alertly toward his position.
This movement—
Someone's here?!
While cursing inwardly at how quickly they got back, she didn't even have time to tidy up the mess that had been ransacked the house.
So the two divided the work, with one continuing to quickly reach into the drawer and rummage around.
The other person took the opportunity to pick out two valuable items from the mess in the room and stuff them into his pocket, pretending to be an ordinary thief stealing money.
The man touched the drawer, not knowing what was inside. It seemed like the wood was quite old and had seeped oil out on its own, making it feel slippery to the touch.
Fortunately, I finally managed to touch something that looked like paper.
He didn't care about what was on his hands; he quickly folded the paper he took out of the drawer and stuffed it into his clothes.
Just as the two were about to leave through the door, they heard light footsteps approaching in the corridor outside.
Without further hesitation, the two of them turned around and were about to jump out of the second-floor window.
Zhao Yiren was outside the door when he suddenly heard someone opening a window inside. He immediately stopped trying to hide his footsteps and shouted, "Who goes there!"
Then, following the shout, they opened Guo Baiwen's room door.
The first thing you see is a mess.
Too late; all I could see were two masked men.
He cursed inwardly, and seeing that the two had already jumped out of the window, he hurriedly wanted to go downstairs to catch them.
Over there, his father had already chased after him out the door, following the sound of his voice.
But in the end, jumping out of the window was still faster.
They were about to lose them, but before Zhao Yiren could even get angry...
They discovered that Guo Baiwen, who had been drunk just moments before, had somehow woken up and pounced on the two men as they rushed to the intersection.
Using the force of his lunge, he managed to grab one of the two men.
The man's left leg was grabbed and he couldn't break free for a moment.
Grandma Guo had already picked up the lamp stand that had been used for lighting and started smashing it down on the man's head.
While banging on the door, he also cursed the two thieves who dared to break into his home in the local dialect.
Seeing this, his accomplices originally wanted to turn around and help him escape, but before they could get close enough, they saw that Zhao Dayong and Zhao Yiren had already caught up with them.
So at that moment, he couldn't care less about the other person.
After tightly covering his face with a cloth, he quickly fled along a nearby path.
Seeing this, Zhao Yiren didn't have time to say anything and hurriedly went after them.
Zhao Dayong helped Guo Baiwen and Grandma Guo hold down the captured man, tied his shoulders, and prepared to take him back to the county government office.
It was at this moment that Guo Xiaohua finally came to her senses.
She is still young after all.
When she saw two masked men suddenly jump out of her window, Guo Xiaohua was so frightened that she almost screamed, but fortunately, her grandmother covered her mouth in time.
Although one person escaped, at least one person was captured.
I wonder if Zhao Yiren, who chased after the person earlier, will be able to catch him.
Seeing this scene unfold before their eyes, even though their own homes were not far away, they were all hesitant to go back.
Seeing that Guo Baiwen seemed to have sobered up a bit, Zhao Dayong prepared to take his men to the county government office to detain him.
The county government does not handle cases at night, especially since Zhao Dayong had instructed them before leaving to be careful to seal off the scene to facilitate the search for stolen goods later.
The three of them gritted their teeth, carefully locked the door, and dared not sleep at home that night.
Fortunately, he still had his money bag with him, so he could only check into an inn directly opposite the county government office in the middle of the night.
After dawn, the county magistrate will hold a hearing to try the case.
...
People who were used to going to Guo Ji's to buy some sweets and pastries to take home and satisfy their cravings at this time were all dumbfounded when they saw the tightly closed doors today.
They were regular customers of Guo's restaurant.
I hadn't heard from anyone at the store that they would be temporarily closed today, and besides, it's not a holiday like the first or fifteenth of the lunar month.
Just as everyone was completely baffled, the butcher next to them, already used to such things, slammed his cleaver onto the cutting board.
He casually grabbed a cloth from the side to wipe his hands and started telling them what had happened the night before while wiping his hands.
Xiuning County is neither too big nor too small.
Although the incident occurred at night, the wooden building didn't provide very good sound insulation, so he could vaguely hear the noises outside.
They just didn't rush out to check.
Not long after dawn, Grandma Guo arrived at the shop with two yamen runners from the county government, saying they wanted to 'investigate the scene'.
He then realized that something serious had happened.
I heard that Brother Guo is still at the county government office, waiting for the trial to begin.
Guo Xiaohua also had a bitter face, saying that the incident happened so suddenly that she hadn't had time to ask for leave, and she would have to go to the academy and Lin Niangzi's house separately later.
As for the fact that my shop is closed today, I can only ask the butcher to help explain it to the customers.
They're all neighbors, so it's just a matter of helping to explain something.
The butcher readily agreed, but then became curious about the whole story.
The Guo family wasn't very clear about this matter either.
They simply stated that they had caught two burglars who broke into their home. As for what was stolen and how they had targeted their house, that would require further investigation by the county government.
Upon hearing that it was actually a burglar who broke into the house, both the butcher and the customers who were currently gathered around him listening to the reason couldn't help but let out a "hiss!"
It's been quite a while since anything this big has happened in Xiuning County.
Moreover, if it were a theft, it would normally be a jewelry store or gold shop, not a money exchange or pawn shop.
Why would these petty thieves target a shop that sells hot pot and sweets?
Could these little thieves be immature kids who love sweets?
This question puzzled not only the onlookers but also the county magistrate in charge of the case.
As is customary, after holding court, the magistrate inquired about the thief's name, place of origin, and details of the crime.
The thief's face was bruised and swollen; I heard he was beaten up by the grandmother of the victim whose house was robbed last night.
Fortunately, despite being beaten like this, it didn't stop him from speaking.
He stammered and couldn't clearly state his name and place of origin for a long time, and two or three of them were false.
In addition, the thief initially tried to deny that he had gone to the Guo family's house to steal the previous night.
But Zhao Dayong caught him red-handed last night, not only with eyewitnesses, but also because the two or three pieces of jewelry he was carrying were undeniably genuine.
After being questioned a few more times, he admitted that it was because he had accidentally discovered that the young man from the Guo family had gone out to buy some valuable jewelry, which gave him the idea to steal it.
But when asked about his accomplices, the thief, who had been able to answer questions normally before, suddenly stopped talking.
He remained silent despite being asked this question several times.
The magistrate had lost patience. He ordered his constables to use flogging to extract a confession, and at the same time, he ordered the household registration department to check the records of people in the county town who were about his age and height.
Even so, the kid remained stubborn.
They refused to say anything.
Fortunately, no matter how stubborn he was, the records found by the household registration office, along with the crowd that came to watch after hearing the news, led some people to recognize him with his bruised and swollen face.
"Hey? Isn't this the young shop assistant at Li's Pastry Shop?!" The speaker was a regular customer of Li's and recognized the thick-lipped shop assistant.
Even though the other person's face was now covered in bruises, it did not prevent him from recognizing them at all.
Upon hearing this, the thief, who had been gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, instantly lost his will to persevere.
Now, we finally know the thief's identity.
Soon after, yamen runners brought Mr. Li, the owner of Fuwang Pastry Shop, and several others into the county yamen.
Everyone has been brought here, and besides, Zhao Dayong and Zhao Yiren were witnesses last night.
After careful examination, it was confirmed that the two thieves were indeed the employees of Li's Pastry Shop.
The magistrate sat upright in the courtroom, looking at the crowd below. He slammed his gavel and said in a deep voice, "Li Fuwang, were you aware that your servant broke into the Guo family's house last night to steal?"
A shop assistant from a pastry shop suddenly broke into the shop to steal. By all accounts, Li Fuwang didn't seem to be unaware of this.
Boss Li Fuwang hurriedly kowtowed and cried out his innocence: "Your Honor, although I hired these two people as shop assistants, I truly had no idea what happened last night."
"Li Fuwang, are you saying that your two servants were tempted by the money and that's why they stole from the Guo family last night?"
At that moment, a young man who had been standing behind Li Fuwang, the owner of the shop, suddenly stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Sir, my client, Li Fuwang, is a law-abiding citizen of this place and comes from a wealthy family. He would never instruct his employees to steal."
"It seems that these two young men were tempted by the money and tried to implicate their own shopkeeper without any evidence, in order to lessen their own guilt. I hope Your Honor will investigate this matter thoroughly."
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