There were twelve people. Song Tantan and Ye Moxun opened the door, went out and moved all the unconscious people to one place. They carried them back and forth several times, but they still couldn't count them.
"Why is one missing? There are only eleven!" Song Tantan frowned and called over Gouzi. "There's one left of Taishan, so I'm entrusting it to you. Make sure you find him and don't let him get away."
Logically, this shouldn't be the case. Ye Moxun's poisonous smoke is always very effective, so there shouldn't be any that slip through the net, unless the other party is also skilled in using poison to detoxify.
Taishan and the other three dogs inspected the entire house. Finally, they arrived at the kitchen and soon heard a child crying loudly next door. Song Tantan and Ye Moxun immediately ran over to the sound of crying.
But there huddled at the kitchen doorway was a little girl ghost, about seven or eight years old. Well, she was a little girl dressed up as a ghost. Her face was painted pale blue, her eyes were painted with bright red eyeliner, and there were red tear stains on her face, making her look particularly creepy.
The funniest thing was that she had a long red tongue hanging around her neck, two long braids, and was wearing a white floor-length dress. Surprisingly, she looked quite convincing.
The little girl was scared to tears by Taishan's dogs. She looked pitiful as her little body shrank back and forth. Song Tantan crossed his arms and looked at her with a smile. "You're quite bold. You dare to dress up as a ghost in the middle of the night to scare people. You even tried to steal money and kill people. Why are you pretending to be weak now? I don't care how much you cry. Even if you cry your eyes out, I won't pity you."
Taishan and his gang bared their teeth nearby, seemingly ready to pounce and tear the man apart at any moment. Once they had scared him enough, Song Tantan carried the man to the room where they had been. All of his accomplices were there, and they were tied up together for safekeeping.
Ye Moxun lit the antidote, and soon those who had fainted woke up. Even those who were sleeping woke up immediately, with Lin Yu being the first to jump out of bed.
He hadn't dared to fall into a deep sleep. He had sensed something was wrong before he lost consciousness. He was dazed for a moment before he realized, "What happened? I think I smelled Ah Xun's incense." Although he wasn't good at using medicine, he had tried to learn for a few days, but he gave up because he wasn't interested.
However, he is still very sensitive to the smell of herbs, especially the medicinal powders developed by Ye Moxun. They all have a refreshing and pleasant smell, regardless of whether they are antidotes or poisons. Perhaps he has obsessive-compulsive disorder and cannot tolerate the strange smell of the medicines he develops. They can only smell good.
At this moment, Ye Moxun was in the courtyard. Because it was so quiet at night, even the slightest sound could be heard clearly. Upon hearing Lin Yu's voice, he asked him to wake everyone up.
"Have everyone gather here, let's count heads and see if anyone is missing." Although all twelve thugs have been captured, there's no guarantee they didn't try to steal them earlier.
Lin Yu was quite efficient; in less than fifteen minutes, he had everyone gathered in the yard to line up and count the number of people, confirming that everyone was present and no one was missing.
"Bring those people from the main room here." He was about to interrogate them.
When Lin Yu and the others saw that the person who came was dressed as a ghost, they were really shocked. The village chief looked so honest and simple, but they didn't expect him to have this trick up his sleeve.
But why are there three children? Two are about twelve years old, and the youngest is about eight years old. Moreover, these people are both boys and girls. If the village were not really short of manpower, then everyone who could be mobilized would have been mobilized.
That's not right either, the village chief didn't come.
Looking at these people's outfits, Ye Moxun found it an eyesore and had several buckets of water brought over so that they could remove their makeup.
After these people washed their faces, everyone realized that they were all young men and women, and the oldest was actually a girl who looked to be about twenty years old.
"Behave yourselves, don't try anything funny. Tell me why you pretend to be ghosts and harm people. From the day you first harbored evil intentions until today, how many people have you killed and how much wealth have you amassed?" Lin Yu asked fiercely.
But these people just huddled together and didn't say a word.
"Speak up! If you don't confess honestly, my knife might not be so sharp that some of you will lose your heads," Lin Yu said, looking around menacingly with the appearance of a bandit. He then grabbed the oldest girl and said, "If you don't confess, I'll chop her up first."
"Sister, please don't kill my sister! I'll tell you everything!" One of the boys rushed out and grabbed the girl's leg, preventing them from taking her away.
"Little brother, don't cry," the girl said, her eyes welling up with tears as she saw her brother crying so hard. She quickly held back her tears and looked at Ye Moxun, saying, "I'm asking you not to make things difficult for my brother and the others. I'm the one who's to blame. It's all my fault."
"Alright, enough nonsense, get to the point." Lin Yu's attitude was terrible. He had been traveling all day and was exhausted. He hadn't eaten well that night, so he was in a very bad mood. These people pretending to be ghosts had just walked right into his trap.
With a thud, the girl knelt heavily on the ground and began to recount her story: "...The Hu people almost wiped out our village. Many more died while fleeing outside. In the end, only we were left to return alive. Apart from the twelve of us who were the youngest, the rest were all elderly."
The village chief was my grandfather. Besides my younger brother and me, only my grandfather remained in my family. The children behind me were all lucky enough to survive. Their families also consisted of only a grandfather or grandmother, or a frail father and mother raising their children alone. No family was complete.
We had no other choice but to resort to crooked means to obtain some silver and food. We didn't harm anyone; we just scared people away and then robbed them of their valuables. We wouldn't dare to hurt anyone.
"Who knows if what you're saying is credible? We can't possibly believe your one-sided story," Lin Yu replied lazily.
“We really haven’t harmed anyone. My sister and Grandpa Village Chief have always warned us not to have any thoughts of harming people’s lives. We only resorted to this because we had no other choice. In a few years, when we grow up and have the strength to work, we won’t do this kind of thing again.” The eight-year-old girl was quick-witted and sharp-tongued.
“Some things, once started, are hard to stop. If you get used to robbing by improper means, you probably won’t be able to change. This is not an excuse for your bad deeds. You’re unlucky to have met us today. We are not good people. Today we will teach you a lesson.” Song Tan suddenly drew his broadsword, looking as if he wanted to cut off someone’s leg or arm, which was very intimidating.
"Young master, spare our lives! We really haven't killed anyone. Believe me, everything I just said is true. If I'm lying, may you die a horrible death, and no one will even collect your body." The girl still had long, messy hair, and her makeup wasn't completely washed off, but she spoke with her back straight and her eyes looking quite upright.
Just as Song Tantan was about to say something more, someone suddenly knocked on the courtyard gate, and the village chief's aged voice came from outside, "Ahe, how are you? Are you alright?"
"Brave men, please let this old man in! I apologize to you all. It has nothing to do with the children; it's my fault. I'm the one who has harmed them!" The village chief cried bitterly as he clung to the gate.
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