Chapter 293 Catching a Thief in the Middle of the Night
Shouts of "Stop thief!" echoed throughout the room.
"Help! Thief! A thief has broken into the village..."
Wang Youcai's voice grew closer.
Xiao Xuance instructed his younger brother, "Xiao Wu, protect Mother and your sisters-in-law."
Xiao Xuanwu nodded, "Okay, Third Brother, be careful!"
He and his two nephews stood guard in the yard with sticks. "Jun'er, Ming'er, you two keep watch on the left and right sides respectively, and I'll keep watch on the door."
The two nephews replied in unison, "Yes! Fifth Uncle!"
The three people, with six pairs of eyes, kept a close watch on every corner of the courtyard, and no movement could escape their notice.
Xiao Xuance leaped onto the roof. Martial arts practitioners have better eyesight than ordinary people, and he spotted someone chasing a dark figure from afar.
Wang Youcai lunged forward and grabbed the strap of the bundle, shouting, "Give me back my bundle! Give it back to me!"
He was old and had been chasing for a long time. Exhausted, he was knocked down by the thief's elbow. Falling to the ground, he suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the thief's leg tightly with both hands. "Stop! Don't go! Give me back my money..."
The thief struggled to shake him off and kicked him a few times, but he still clung on tightly, "Bang! Bang!!"
Wang Youcai shouted, "You treacherous villain, unless you kill me, I will hound you to the end and get my money back..."
Fearing that he would attract more people, the thief, in desperation, pulled out a knife to finish him off.
Standing on the rooftop, Xiao Xuance threw a pebble, which hit the man's wrist.
"Clang!"
The dagger fell to the ground with a thud. He clutched his wrist, which was both painful and numb. "Ah!"
A single pebble nearly crippled his arm; the opponent must be a master. Not daring to linger, he bent down, picked up the dagger from the ground, kicked Wang Youcai away, and quickly darted into the nearby bushes.
Xiao Xuance had already landed in front of him, his eyes cold and his aura powerful. "Hand over the bundle!"
The thief was so frightened that he retreated and thrust his dagger straight at Xiao Xuance's face.
He bent over to avoid it, grabbed his arm and twisted it forcefully.
The thief dropped the dagger in his right hand, caught it with his left hand, and stabbed it into his abdomen.
Xiao Xuance dodged to the side, then used his hand as a palm strike to chop at his wrist and snatch the knife.
The thief attacked his lower body.
Xiao Xuance was even faster, kicking him in the stomach with a loud "bang!"
The thief was kicked five or six meters away, then quickly got up and ran wildly in the opposite direction.
Xiao Xuance once again used his lightness skill to land in front of him and block his way.
He wanted to run in the opposite direction.
Xiao Xuance strode forward, grabbed his shoulder, pressed him down hard, and tore off the bundle, throwing it at Wang Youcai. "Catch!"
In his haste, Wang Youcai managed to catch the bundle tightly in his arms before it hit the ground.
The thief tossed the knife from his right hand to his left, then turned and slashed at Xiao Xuance's neck. Xiao Xuance quickly leaned back to avoid it.
A sweeping kick sent him staggering, and he seized the opportunity to lock his throat and arm, then used his knee to force him to his knees, pinning his hands behind his back. "Tell me honestly, who are you? Why are you stealing our things?"
"Ah! Let me go! Let me go!"
Xiao Xuance ripped off the bandit's black mask. Under the moonlight, the three characters "exiled to Lingnan" were clearly branded on his cheek. Upon closer inspection, his fingers and the base of his thumb were covered with thick calluses, the result of years of service and handling of military equipment.
His gaze sharpened, and he said coldly, "You're a convict? Convicts who don't reform themselves properly and dare to steal are guilty of an even greater crime!"
As the name suggests, "exile" refers to soldiers who were sent to the army after making a mistake.
The thief's arm was twisted behind his back, and he grimaced in pain, but he retorted through gritted teeth, "So what if you're convicts? You're still exiles, and you're not much better off than us convicts."
“Although we are exiles, we never do petty theft or other dishonest things. We are different from you.”
“The conscripts are also under the jurisdiction of the city defense battalion. Let’s go! Let’s go and find Commander Jia to reason with him.”
Upon hearing the words "commander," Zhang Shan trembled violently. "I can't go! I'll die if I go! Good man, please spare me! I won't dare again! I was just momentarily blinded by greed and stole this. Please forgive me this time! I'll never do it again, really!"
Zhang Shan knelt down and kowtowed to him, "Good man, I kowtow to you. Please spare me for the sake of us being fellow sufferers. I haven't been home for four or five years. My mother, my wife and children are still waiting for me at home. She was pregnant before I joined the army. If the child had been born safely, he would be four or five years old now. They must still be hoping for me to come back and reunite with the family."
"You knew your mother, wife, and children were waiting for you at home, so why did you still steal? If you had thought more about them before you stole, you wouldn't have made a mistake."
"I didn't want to either..."
"What are you saying? If you didn't want to steal, did someone force you?" Wang Youcai cursed Zhang Shan, then cupped his hands to Xiao Xuance and said, "Young Master Xiao, don't waste your breath on this kind of person. He just tried to kill me. He just wants us to sympathize with him and let him go."
"If someone forces you to steal, reveal the mastermind behind it to reduce your punishment. Even if you don't think about yourself, think about your mother, wife, and children waiting for you at home."
"I..." Zhang Shan hesitated, then lowered his head and said nothing. "I don't know, I don't know anything."
When Xiao Xuance heard that Wang Youcai had a wife and children and had never seen his child, he felt compassion for him, thinking of his own child. However, he had just wanted to kill Wang Youcai. Letting such a wicked person go would bring endless trouble, and he deserved to die.
They took him, tied him up, and led him to the city defense camp.
Meanwhile, several other families also lost their belongings.
Three thieves broke into Zhao Xuan's house, but were discovered and driven away by the guards.
They hadn't caught any of the other thieves, but when they heard that a thief had been caught here, they rushed over with torches and candles, and beat Zhang Shan mercilessly until he was bruised and covered in blood, so badly that even his own mother couldn't recognize him.
"Damn thief, reveal your accomplices! Tell me where they are and make them hand over my silver, or I'll kill you!"
“That was my only possession, and I always kept it on my person, never daring to leave it. I was sound asleep one evening when I discovered someone touching my body. I tried to resist, but then a knife was put to my neck, forcing me to hand over the money. Damn it, it's all my fault for being cowardly and not daring to resist. Now I really regret it. We should have fought them to the death back then.”
"My money is all gone. Without money, how will my family survive?"
"Damn it, tell me, where are all your accomplices?"
"My money, my funeral savings, my life-saving money, my money!!!"
...
The crowd cursed and kicked Zhang Shan, yelling, "You bastard, confess! Where are your accomplices?"
"I have no idea."
"Speak up, or we'll kill you."
"I...I really don't know! Even if you beat me to death, I still won't know..."
"You're kidding me! You're all in cahoots. Otherwise, how could you have arrived at such a convenient time? Confess now or we'll beat you to death."
The crowd lost patience and continued to punch and kick Zhang Shan, "Bang bang bang!!!"
Zhang Shan covered his head and refused to speak. Someone suggested torturing him, and a knife was plunged into his shoulder, but he still wouldn't talk.
They held the knife to his neck again, but he still wouldn't talk. With his neck stiff and eyes closed, he said, "Kill me, kill me! Anyway, a rotten person like me is better off dead!"
Seeing that the man was vomiting blood and barely breathing, barely clinging to life, Xiao Xuance stopped him, saying, "Stop! If you kill him, the trail will be cut off, and you'll never get your money back."
"So what do we do now?"
"Take the man to the city defense camp."
In the past, people would be handed over to the government for interrogation, but now they are exiles who cannot leave their villages and have no contact with the government, so the only option is to ask the city defense battalion for an explanation.
The group tied Zhang Shan up and took him to the city defense camp.
The camp had someone on night watch. When they heard that the matter was about theft, they were dismissive and told the people to leave and go back.
The convicts refused to listen and made a scene at the gate, waking Jia Quan up.
His eyes weren't fully open yet, and he yawned and cursed, "Making noise in the middle of the night, it's killing me! Can't a person get any sleep? What are you all doing here? You want to go to the fields tonight? I'll grant your wish. Someone, give them some farm tools and let them go to the fields."
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