Qian Daniu hadn't expected things to escalate like this, and he immediately panicked. He really didn't want to be sent to the county government.
"Mother! Please beg the village chief for me! I was wrong, I won't do it again! Mother, please beg the village chief!"
Li was stunned by Sun's slap and didn't react for a moment. She originally wanted to fight with Sun, but when she heard that the village chief was going to help her and send her to the authorities, then her son would not be spared either.
But why? It was clearly the Lu family who were bullying them. Even she was slapped by the old woman from the Lu family. Why should the village chief help them?
And their Qian family members, not only did they not speak up for them, but they even supported the village chief in sending them and their child to the county government. They must have all been bribed by the Lu family!
Li was furious, but there was no one on their side who could help her. After a little thought, Li was willing to give in.
She broke free from the men who came to grab her, crawled on her knees to the village chief, and cried out, "Village chief, village chief, I was wrong, my son knows he was wrong too, please let them go!"
As she spoke, she spotted the families of two other petty thieves in the crowd, pointed at them, and shouted, "Your sons are there too! Aren't you heartless people sad?"
One of the middle-aged men came out and said, "His family has warned him many times not to do any more petty theft or other underhanded things, but he just won't listen. They can't control him. If they just send him to the officials, then it's his own fault!"
He was Hou Shun, the father of Hou Dazhuang, one of the three petty thieves. He had been there for a while but hadn't said a word. Seeing his son tied up like this, he felt bad, but his family had been ruined by this brat, and he really didn't want to drag his family down with him.
Li was furious, never expecting such heartless parents. Da Zhuang, who was tied up, was also afraid and hurriedly said, "Dad, please plead for me. I really know I was wrong. I will never dare to do it again. I will definitely follow you and work hard to farm and earn money to support the family. Waaah, I really won't dare to do it again!"
He was bullied so badly by the two horses that he would tremble at the sight of a horse for the rest of his life. This time, he also clearly knew that his family would not come to his aid after he had caused trouble. Not all mothers would protect their sons indiscriminately like Li Shi, at least his parents would not.
Hou Shun snorted coldly, not believing his son's words. Instead, he said to the village chief, "Village chief, if they had admitted their mistakes from the beginning, I would have shamelessly begged you to give them another chance. But in front of so many people, they still haven't changed their ways. If we don't teach them a lesson, I won't be able to control them at home. You can do whatever you want, village chief, without worrying about my family. If it really doesn't work, I can sever my father-son relationship with this unfilial son!"
These days, severing ties is no small matter. Everyone was shocked to hear Hou Shun say this, never expecting that Hou Shun would put righteousness before family.
Hou Dazhuang was filled with remorse, deeply regretting why he had followed Qian Daniu to steal the horse the night before.
Just a few days ago, his father hung him from the beam and beat him, saying that if he continued to follow Qian Daniu and bring shame to the family, the family would cut off all ties with him and never care about his life or death again. At the time, he thought his father was just saying it in anger, but he didn't expect it to be true.
The village chief felt that this matter should indeed be dealt with severely, otherwise there would only be more and more similar situations in the village in the future. So, ignoring the struggles of Li and the others, he ordered them to be tied up and sent to the county government.
Boss Lu volunteered to go along, since it was a matter for the Lu family, and someone should go and see how it was being handled.
He Jiuniang whispered, "Brother, let your brother-in-law go."
As she spoke, she deliberately winked. Although Lu Laoda didn't understand what she meant, he still agreed first, thinking that his third sister-in-law must have her reasons for making such an arrangement.
When Zhang Song heard He Jiuniang call his name, he also volunteered, "Okay, I'll go with you. Third Sister-in-law, what are your instructions?"
"There are no special instructions. I just think your injury is real. Don't worry too much when you see the magistrate. I'm just worried that the magistrate will suspect your elder brothers."
Zhang Song's injury has been there for over a month. It had almost healed by now, but since it was a real injury, there was still a large scar that looked quite alarming.
Moreover, Zhang Song is more resourceful than Boss Lu, and should be able to adapt quickly to situations without making mistakes.
After hearing He Jiuniang's explanation, the Lu family immediately felt that it made perfect sense. If He Jiuniang hadn't reminded them, they would have almost forgotten that all the able-bodied men in the family were injured. Lu Laoda was straightforward and might really cause trouble.
Zhang Song went to the county town with a few people, while the others who stayed behind started to divide up the work: some were laying the foundation, some were cutting down trees on the mountain, some were buying stones from nearby quarries, and some were buying bricks from brick factories. They were busy with all sorts of things.
The women weren't idle either. The thatched huts they had hastily erected last night were rather rudimentary and hadn't been properly tidied up. Building the house would take at least a month, and they would have to live in the thatched huts for more than a month, so they had to decorate them properly.
The children had nothing to worry about and ran around freely in the open space. This would be their home from now on, and their lives would settle down. They would no longer have to live in fear like before.
He Jiuniang secretly took out some fine hay from her spatial storage and fed it to the two horses. Seeing that her two old companions were in a good mood, she patted the horse that she had disciplined the night before and praised it, "Good job, keep up the good work. I will give you extra food every time you perform well in the future."
She had been secretly feeding the horses extra food along the way, and worried that they would be too tired to carry so much, she specially took out a lot of nutritional supplements for horses and mixed them into the hay to feed them. As a result, they not only did not lose weight along the way, but became stronger and stronger.
The horse seemed to understand its speech, nuzzling He Jiuniang's hand affectionately with its face, looking very ingratiating.
He Jiuniang turned around and called to Gou'er, then waved to the children, signaling them to come to her.
The dog ran ahead, rushing over to hug her leg, tilting its head up and asking, "Mommy, did you call me?"
He Jiuniang rubbed his head, which looked quite small, and said very gently to the children, "The two horses have been a great help to the family on our journey. Can you name them?"
Lei Zi was eager to try: "Third Aunt, one of them is black and the other is red, so why don't we call them Little Black and Little Red!"
He Jiuniang: ...
But a group of children thought it was great and clapped and cheered.
"This is too simple, you guys think about it again."
He Jiuniang refused without hesitation, saying the name was too ordinary and unworthy of her great contributor, Xiao Hong.
Ahem, well, that red horse is the one that did the good deed yesterday.
It needs to be given a cool name!
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