A Good Country Wife
Chapter 358 - 352_1

Chapter 358: 352_1

The other one is the main issue, though. Stealing a few dozen pounds every day might not be noticeable, and everyone might not easily find out, but over such a long period, I’m afraid at least a few hundred pounds of sweet potatoes have been stolen, which could have been sold for quite a lot of silver.

Zhao Erhu did give Zhao Wusi a small punishment since Lin Yue had intentionally let him off easy, but he came up with a different excuse in front of others. Otherwise, if everyone thought they could just steal from the Zhao Family and get away with it by making some excuse, there would be a lot more of such people, and it would really become harder to manage later on.

Zhao Wusi, although he lost his wages from the sweet potato theft and couldn’t continue to work in the workshop, felt even more guilty seeing that Dongjia had let him off so easily. He also felt lucky, as with his dad’s honest nature, and given how seriously ill he was, if his dad knew what he had done, he would probably become even sicker from anger.

"Zhao Wusi, take these. These are some old clothes Dalang and the others used to wear; they don’t wear them anymore. They may be old, but they’re still good for keeping your nephews warm. To wear so little in such cold weather at their young age, I’m afraid they might fall ill from the cold. Here are also some clothes that Zhao Erhu and I no longer wear; they’re just taking up space anyway. Take them if you don’t mind."

In the end, Lin Yue still pitied those two children. Before Zhao Wusi left, she handed him a bundle, which not only contained some old clothes but also had ten taels of silver in it. Lin Yue wasn’t just overly sympathetic; rather, she saw that Zhao Wusi was inherently not a bad person and helping him at such a critical time was more valuable than a thousand small deeds, especially since it was no more than a trivial effort for her.

Lin Yue didn’t know that her act of kindness helped Zhao Wusi’s family get through their toughest times, and they vowed to repay her. Zhao Wusi etched this gratitude deeply into his heart, which later helped Lin Yue escape a great disaster with his assistance.

Zhao Wusi holding the bundle in his hand, felt its weight even though it wasn’t very heavy. Despite feeling guilty and embarrassed, he couldn’t find the words to refuse. Given the situation at home, if it were just himself, he might as well starve to death rather than do such a thing. But there were his sick father and two young nephews to think about, and his sister-in-law, who never had a day of happiness since she married into their family. Zhao Wusi felt that grateful words, no matter how many, were meaningless. Thus, he knelt on the ground with a thud and kowtowed several strong bows to Zhao Erhu and Lin Yue.

"Dongjia, Dongjia’s wife, I, Zhao Wusi, will remember today’s kindness in my heart. If there’s a chance to repay you in the future, I will go through fire and water without hesitation." After the kowtows, Zhao Wusi quickly left Zhao Erhu’s courtyard.

After Zhao Wusi had gone, Lin Yue shared her suspicions and reminded Li Xiaomei to not recklessly talk about them upon returning to the workshop, to avoid letting any information leak. As for Zhao Wusi’s punishment, she also gave Li Xiaomei an explanation to spread.

"Sister-in-law, are you saying there’s more than one thief inside? My gosh, how could this be? These people, one by one, are scheming against your family’s possessions. It’s just so hateful." Li Xiaomei also felt relieved that she hadn’t thought of the underground hiding place at the time, or else she would have accidentally alarmed them.

Zhao Erhu was somewhat confused at the time, feeling that there were many things he couldn’t see through, but after listening to Lin Yue’s analysis, it indeed seemed to be the case. There was more than one thief. This meant that they would have to spend the cold nights on watch to catch the thieves again.

Initially, Lin Yue and Zhao Erhu thought it would take several days to capture the thieves. After all, they had just caught Zhao Wusi stealing sweet potatoes. To be cautious, they had reasoned the thief would restrain himself for a couple of days and assess the situation before acting. Yet, it seemed the thief believed he was highly intelligent and flawless in his actions. Despite Zhao Wusi’s incident, they still followed the same old path to steal sweet potatoes at night. And there they were, caught red-handed by Zhao Erhu and his men.

But there weren’t just one thief; there were two. Zhao Erhu watched as one of them crawled into the hole and soon after emerged with a bag of sweet potatoes, while the other kept watch outside. They had caught them with the goods in hand. Zhao Erhu then led his men to rush forward and apprehend the thieves.

When everyone heard the commotion and came over with torches, they were stunned to find that the two thieves were actually Zhao Xing and his wife. The result was surprising, yet also made sense. Zhao Xing had married a thief, and he was completely bewitched by her. It was said that one takes on the color of one’s company, and after spending so much time with his thief wife, Chen Family, Zhao Xing had started to turn to thievery himself.

Nobody could say Chen Family was wronged; the idea to steal the sweet potatoes was hers, after all. Since the Zhao Family old house was divided, Zhao Xing had no proper work and only idled around. The silver coin he received from the division of the family was now all spent, and, with no grain to get through the winter, Wei Family was still angry with Zhao Xing and refused to help him. Left with no other choice, and unable to care about anything else, Zhao Xing turned to theft. When considering which family in the village had the most silver coin, the Zhao Erhu family came to mind, and the couple agreed to set their sights there.

However, breaking into Zhao Erhu’s house to steal silver was too difficult, and they didn’t know where Zhao Erhu had hidden it. The couple gathered information and brainstormed until their heads were splitting before finally coming up with the idea to steal his sweet potatoes and sell them. The price of sweet potatoes was quite high, and by their tally, they had stolen over three hundred pounds in these past days, making over five taels of silver. Delighted, they decided to double down on their efforts—little did they know they would be caught by Zhao Erhu.

Chen Family had done this kind of thing more than once and had lost count of how many times she had been caught, so she remained very calm, not even changing her facial expression. On the other hand, Zhao Xing appeared somewhat panicked. It was his first time doing such a thing, being caught and treated like a thief. But now, wasn’t he indeed a thief? Zhao Xing didn’t know whether to regret listening to Chen Family’s idea, as the money was gained too easily. Anyone would have found such temptation hard to resist. It’s just that most people didn’t have their clever minds to come up with such good ideas.

"Zhao Xing, I really didn’t expect it to be you. Being lazy is one thing, but to actually turn to stealing," Zhao Dahuo said on seeing Zhao Xing, his face growing even more displeased. He thought differently from Zhao Erhu. Zhao Erhu had never seen Wei Family’s son as his own brother, but as an outsider he despised. To Zhao Dahuo, Zhao Xing bore his father’s bloodline, and by committing these acts, he was bringing shame to their lineage.

"We ran out of grain at home, and I honestly had no other way out. We’re family after all, so what’s the harm in taking a few sweet potatoes from their house? Consider it helping a brother out. Do you really want to watch me starve to death? I’ve never seen such cruelty," Zhao Xing retorted, adopting a defiant tone and pointing the finger at Zhao Dahuo since he was already caught anyway.

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