The boy's eyes were red, his fists were tightly clenched, and he seemed very angry. "I counted that there were one hundred and eighty-four ducks last night, but when I drove the ducks into the stable just now, I counted that there were only one hundred and seventy!" It was his fault that he didn’t count the ducks when they were released in the morning...
Seeing that there were fewer ducks, he immediately went to check the nets. But the nets surrounded the rice fields well, so it was impossible for the ducks to run away without holes in the nets! He decided to stay there all day, but no one came over, so it must have been stolen last night!
Patting Zhou Yu's shoulder, Shen Yanbei comforted. "It's not your fault. The other party wants to steal the duck, no matter if you count it right, he still steals it."
"But..." Zhou Yu gritted his teeth. "If I watched it at night..."
Shen Yanbei laughed. "How can people live all night in the fields?" In this era, the villagers' mind was simple. But there was no shortage of lurking ruffians who did things stealthily. It was indeed risky to raise ducks in the fields, but he did not expect that his ducks would be stolen before they were grown well. Everyone in the village knew that it was his field and his ducks...
Who stole his duck?
"That's fourteen ducks..." Zhou Yu blamed himself and felt distressed. When shen Yanbei wanted to raise ducks, he was so happy! So he took the initiative to take care of them. How cute those little plush things were! He drove them to the fields every day and watched them playing and pecking in the water. Besides that, he still could practice some simple moves, or use the sand table Shen Yanbei made for him to practice calligraphy, or do some manual work. The friends in the village could only envy him!
Now he messed up things, and he actually let someone steal the ducks... Still fourteen ducks! They all had white feathers, and they would be grown up soon!
Seeing his sorrow, Shen Yanbei said sternly, "Zhou Yu, Changfeng teaches you martial arts and I teach you literacy and hyphenation, not for you to raise the ducks."
Zhou Yu stared at him blankly. Shen Yanbei kept saying, "I'm just asking you to help watch them temporarily. Someone will take over the job in the future. Since the ducks are lost, we can't find them. The most important thing is to prevent being stolen next time!" He could understand this young man's thoughts. It was because he had to do his best at work since he got the monthly money. After finally finding something to do, but not doing it well, he felt guilty and uneasy.
"My husband is right," Gu Changfeng said solemnly. "Catch the thief is the most important thing."
These kinds of things, as long as they kept silent, the thief would definitely come again.
"I'll keep it in my mind, Shīfu!" Zhou Yu finally was calm, but the fist beside him was clenched tighter. For the thief who stole his ducks, he would definitely not let him go!
"Well, Zhou Yu, you can go back first. We will take care of this matter, so don't worry," Shen Yanbei calmly said.
"Yes, Gōngzǐ."
Zhou Yu nodded. As soon as he went out, he met Su Qingze who came to eat.
Seeing the boy's stinking face, he couldn't help asking, "What's wrong with him?"
"A dozen ducks in the field have been stolen, he feels uneasy." Shen Yanbei greeted people and led them over for dinner.
"Who dares to steal Master Xiucai's ducks? This thief is quite greedy!" Su Qingze frowned. He had lived here for several days, and knew that most of the villagers were honest.
"It's better to be stolen now than to be stolen when they have been grown up."
"What should you do then?" Su Qingze looked at the empty dining table blankly, looking forward to dinner. He ate a bowl of red rice last night and the side dishes were a little steamed fish, dried radish omelet, and patted cucumber. It might look a little lighter, but the taste was pretty good. It made him accustomed to fish and meat having a different kind of experience!
"Catch the thief first, and then put two dogs to watch the ducks." He prepared all the weight-loss meals for Su Qingze after careful consideration. In his previous life, some people who wanted to lose weight as soon as possible using quick-acting weight loss methods, which could lose several kilograms a week, but it was too harmful to the body. For the sake of Su Qingze’s health, he did not dare to push people too hard at once. Instead, after observing his appetite and understanding his eating habits, he adopted a gradual method to adjust his eating habits and control his appetite. Then proceed to the next exercise.
Su Qingze's eyes lit up. "How to catch?"
Shen Yanbei did not answer but helped Gu Changfeng put the cooked food on the table.
"What is this?" Su Qingze curiously looked at several bamboo tubes that were burnt to black and yellow, his nose sniffing it. It actually had a very fragrant smell...
"Bamboo rice."
According to what Shen Yanbei said, Gu Changfeng used a knife to split the bamboo joints a bit, then broke the bamboo tube apart, and suddenly the full and crystal rice was revealed.
Su Qingze's eyes widened and couldn't help sniffing more. "It smells good!"
"This is yours." Shen Yanbei pushed a piece of bamboo rice with fungus and eggs over it.
Su Qingze looked down at his own and then at Shen Yanbei and Gu Changfeng's. Everyone was different, but it all looked delicious! Picking up the chopsticks, Su Qingze was not polite, he put it directly into his mouth. The hot rice had a distinctive fragrance, mixed with the fragrance of eggs, fungus, and chicken breast, which made people unable to stop eating!
"It's delicious!" Su Qingze took fried green vegetables with chopsticks, eating it with satisfaction.
Ming'an was holding his share and ate it carefully. There was bacon in his rice, so he shouldn't let the young master know!
After the dinner, Su Qingze was told to walk around to digest it. While Shen Yanbei and Gu Changfeng went to the field to check the duck stable.
Unlike a house built with bricks, the duck stable was built with bamboo. Even if it was locked, the bamboo could be pried away to steal the duck.
"Wife, it makes you have to work hard tonight." No one guarded it at night, even if the duck stable was built firmly, it would still be targeted by someone. Now what they could do was killing chickens to show monkeys*.
*Shājījìnghóu: the metaphor is to punish one person to warn others.
At night, Gu Changfeng crouched near the duck house. Perhaps, because they had just stolen the duck, the culprits were vigilant, so did not steal again that night. On the second night, Gu Changfeng was guarding, the culprits did not come yet. On the third night, the culprit still did not come.
Shen Yanbei's complexion became very bad, even a little angry. Your uncle, why was not coming yet! It made my wife and I couldn't sleep well, and also made Laozi stay with a lonely pillow and it became difficult to sleep!
"It's okay, I'm not tired." Gu Changfeng said seriously. It was just a night watch. It was not a big deal anyway, but.... he couldn't help but miss the warm temperature that was always next to him.
Finally, on the fourth night, a black shadow appeared beside the ridge. Gu Changfeng immediately took a breath and hid in the dark.
The thin man looked around with a sneaky expression, first hid on the side of the field and watched for a while. After finding that there was no one near the duck house, he let go of his hands and feet to steal the duck.
Under the bright moonlight, Gu Changfeng could clearly see what the thief looked like: a young man in his twenties, with a thin face, pockmarked face, and frivolous eyes, really looked like a rascal.
The young man took a cloth bag with him, pried the bamboo apart, stretched out his hand, grabbed the duck, and pulled it out.
"Quack!" the frightened duck yelled, flapping its wings. The young man didn't change his face, grabbed the duck, and stuffed it in his cloth bag.
Gu Changfeng frowned and wanted to stop him, but thinking of Shen Yanbei's explanation, he could only wait calmly.
After catching a dozen ducks, the young man stopped, put the cloth bag on his back, and turned away with a smug smile on his face.
Gu Changfeng followed him far behind.
The young man walked around in the rice fields, and finally crossed the boundaries of the farmland of Shenjia Village and entered Lijia Village!
No wonder. This thief actually was from Lijia village!
Entering the village, the young man let his guard off and walked toward his house with the quacking duck on his back. It was just that he hadn't taken two steps yet, suddenly his eyes went dark, and then fainted. When the young man woke up again, he found that he was lying at the intersection of Shenjia Village and Lijia Village to the county, surrounded by villagers from the two villages who were going to the county. The young man was frightened immediately.
"Haha..." The young man hurriedly got up with a chuckle. Unexpectedly, when the cloth bag in his hand loosened, the ducks in it came out one after another!
"!!!" The blood on the young man's face faded, and his smile froze on his face.
"Li Masan? Where did you get so many ducks?" Lijia villager asked.
Li Masan was in a cold sweat, and his heart was terrified. What a ghost! Obviously, he stole a dozen ducks last night. Why did dozens of ducks come out from the bag? Also, wasn't he about to go home? Why was he here?
Li Masan, who regained his senses, realized that his neck pain was severe.
A villager in Shenjia Village who knew Li Masan well smiled disdainfully and said, "There are so many ducks, I'm afraid it's..."
The unfinished meaning of the words was clear to everyone. This Li Masan was a lazy man and he liked to do some sneaky things.
Li Masan swallowed with difficulty. "You... don't talk nonsense!"
"What nonsense? Do you dare to say that you bought these ducks..." The villager of Shenjia Village who was speaking was taken aback for a moment, and asked, "Don't say that you stole it from our village?"
"You...you 're slinging mud at me!" Li Masan who was so guilty yelled out that made his neck artery was about to burst.
Hearing this, the arrogant Lijia villagers became unhappy, and immediately shouted, "Did your own eyes see him stealing from your village? Has this duck had your Shenjia Village name written on it?"
Seeing the villagers supporting him, Li Masan pushed the other person with an arrogant tone. "I bought this duck! What else can you say!"
"Then why are you lying here?"
Li Masan poked the other's chest with three fingers. "I love to lie down here! What? Is this way yours?"
The villagers of Shenjia Village had been pushed back a step by the jab.
"Such a dog trying to catch mice*!" Li Masan snorted, turned around, and caught the duck that ran out again.
*Gǒu ná hàozi: poke one's nose into other people's business.
Looking at the ducks, a villager of Shenjia Village murmured, "Shen Xiucai seems to have a lot of ducks..."
As soon as these words were out, the expressions of the rest of the villagers of Shenjia Village changed. The villager who spoke first stopped Li Masan, "If you don't tell us where the ducks come from, you can’t take it away!"
"Hey!" The young man lowered his face and stared at him fiercely. "Why should I tell you? How old are you? Get out of me!"
The villagers in Shenjia Village did not move.
Upon seeing this, the villagers of Lijia Village stepped forward and surrounded the villagers of Shenjia Village. "Do you think you are the magistrate of the county that has to inquire into the root of the matter? Do I have to tell you what posture I use to go to the latrine?"
"Hahaha..." The villagers of Lijia Village laughed all together.
"Because he doesn't have the face to think of himself as the county magistrate, so he thinks of himself as a dog!"
"No wonder! As the saying goes, dog loves eating shit*. Are you, the villagers of Shenjia, addicted to eating this?" The two villages had had friction from time to time, but Lijia Village always won the case! And this Shenjia Village was like a bereaved dog and always failed to learn, always loved to die!
*Gǒu gǎi bùliǎo chī shǐ: it is used to describe the bad habit of repeated teaching and the unchangeable nature
With such wanton insults, the villagers of Shenjia Village's face turned to be ugly and couldn't help but try to refute. "It's clear that this Li Masan's duck has such unclear origin at first sight. Yet you still shield him regardless of your conscience! Is this what you, Lijia Village, usually do by working hand in glove*?"
*lángbèiwéijiān: work in collusion with someone for some evil purpose.
"F**k you shit!" The villagers of Lijia Village punched him over.
The villager of Shenjia Village was caught off guard to be punched, his face suddenly became blue.
Seeing that their villagers were beaten, the villagers of Shenjia Village hurriedly stepped forward to help. The villagers of Lijia Village also didn't want to lose. So the villagers of the two villages immediately fought in chaos.
At this time, a carriage slowly stopped on the side, a young man dressed as a small servant asked, "What are you doing around here? Get out of the way of Master Juren!"
Master Juren! The eyes of villagers of Lijia Village lit up. Li Masan immediately cried and said, "I beg Master Juren to find justice for this lowly person!"
The one who was sitting in the carriage was Li Yi. Hearing this, Li Yi frowned and asked the servant to lift up the curtain. "What happened?"
Li Masan threw himself in front of the carriage with an extremely aggrieved expression. "These shameless people from Shenjia Village have falsely accused me of stealing! I beg Master Juren to take full responsibility for this matter and make a decision for me!"
"Is there such a thing?" Li Yi got out of the carriage after hearing this.
The villagers in the two villages stopped fighting. They stood apart from each other.
Standing with folded arms, Li Yi glanced impatiently at the villagers of Shenjia Village, and said coldly, "You know that framing others will get the caning?"
The villager of Shenjia Village, who was confronting Li Masan just now, said, "As everyone knows, Li Masan is a sly dog who loves to do things stealthily. Just now he is lying in the middle of the road with a big bag of ducks, yet he can't tell the origin of these ducks when we ask him. It's obviously suspicious. This lowly person just wants to ask some questions."
Li Yi glanced at Li Masan who was catching a duck, and a trace of disgust flashed in his eyes. He still said this to the villagers of Shenjia Village, "You dare to talk nonsense when you have no evidence?"
"Apologize or else we'll meet you in the yamen."
The face of villagers of Shenjia Village paled. They dared not to speak.
"Don't you hear it!" After Li Masan stuffed the duck into the cloth bag, he walked up to him pretentiously. "Hurry up to apologize to me, otherwise I will take you to see the official!"
The villagers of Lijia Village laughed triumphantly, they urged, "Quickly apologize!"
"What happened?"
An anxious voice came from afar. The villagers of Shenjia Village looked back and found that it was the village chief and Shen Yanbei. It turned out that some villagers in Shenjia Village saw that the situation went wrong so they ran back to call for someone!
The villagers of Shenjia Village breathed a sigh of relief when the two came. When Li Masan saw Shen Yanbei, his eyes flickered. He felt that the cloth bag in his hand was hardly lifted.
"I meet Li Juren." Shen Yanbei joined his hand to Li Yi.
Li Yi glanced at him arrogantly and sneered. "Shen Xiucai, you have to teach the people of the Shenjia Village what propriety, justice, and shame are."
Shen Yanbei smiled slightly. "If it is really our Shenjia villagers' fault, I will make amends for them." He asked the villagers to tell the ins and outs of the matter.
Li Yi raised his eyebrows. "Have you heard it clearly? What else do you have to say?"
Shen Yanbei didn't reply to him, but said, "My book boy reported to me, he found that there were fewer ducks when he was releasing the ducks. Li xiǎogē, can you open the cloth bag and show me?"
"I counted the ducks! There were 14 missing a few days ago, and 30 missing this morning!" Zhou Yu was full of anger. "I recognize my ducks! So open the cloth bag!"
Hearing that, Li Yi's expression was hard to describe.
Li Masan had cold sweat on his forehead, he yelled, "My ducks are different from others, they are so beautiful!"
Zhou Yu glared at him. "Do you have a guilty conscience?"
Li Yi said coldly, "Open the cloth bag!"
"I brought this duck from my mother-in-law. It has white fur..." Li Masan hesitated and didn't want to open it.
Zhou Yu immediately grabbed it. Li Masan's expression changed greatly and hurriedly kicked his feet. Zhou Yu dodged and avoided. The villagers of Shenjia Village on the side hurriedly helped him pour out the duck in the cloth bag.
"Quack!" The little duckling who was regained freedom spread out its fledgling wings and ran away.
"It's our duck!" Zhou Yu pointed to the red rope on the duck's feet. "After the duck was stolen for the first time, I marked each duck with a red rope!"
"Nonsense!" Li Masan shouted tremblingly. "This is what my mother-in-law did to distinguish her ducks!"
Li Yi said with no expression on his face. "Just because a red rope is tied on their feet does not mean that this is your duck." People in rural areas would give marks to their chickens and ducks.
"That's right! Our chickens and ducks are all tied with red ropes!" Lijia Village villagers said with help.
"We lost thirty ducks. It happens to be thirty here too!" Zhou Yu shouted angrily, really pissed off at the rascals of Lijia villagers.
Li Masan's feet were a little soft, but his mouth was still stiff. "My... my mother-in-law gave me 30 ducks?"
The villagers of Lijia Village immediately answered, "It's just a coincidence. What's all the fuss about!"
Zhou Yu gave them a fierce look, and waved to the ducks: "Lilililili!"
Hearing Zhou Yu's call, the ducks ran towards Zhou Yu.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand, Li Masan supported his shaky body and said with difficulty, "All... all people who raise ducks will call them like that..."
"Yes, that's right! Everyone has the same trick to call ducks..." The villagers of Lijia Village agreed in unison.
"Enough!" Li Yi exclaimed. "I will send someone to his mother-in-law's house to ask."
Li Masan said loudly and agitatedly. "Why don't you believe me? Don't you believe it Master Juren? Even if Juren..."
"Don't need to make it troublesome." Shen Yanbei looked at Li Yi directly. "The weather is getting hot. In order to prevent snakes, insects, mice, and ants, I sprinkled a lot of sulfur around the duck stable."
"If the ducks smell of sulfur..."
Li Masan's eyes widened in horror. He hurriedly sniffed his body, there really was an unpleasant smell of rotten eggs!
They were busy arguing just now, so no one noticed it...
Seeing Li Masan kneeling and sitting on the ground with a pale face, the villagers of Lijia Village looked at each other. Zhou Yu deliberately walked over to smell it, then clutched his nose, and said contemptuously, "It's really stinking!"
Li Yi's face was gloomy. With a flick of his sleeves, he dropped a sentence, "Send him to the government!"
According to court law, the thief should be sentenced to the crime. The light one required the thief to compensate the other party for damages and give an apology. The heavy one had to double the compensation and to get the hit by the board...
These thirty ducks were enough for Li Masan to eat ten big plates!
Shen Yanbei smiled and folded his hands. "Li Juren understands righteousness!"
Li Yi ignored it. Shen Yanbei said again, "Xiǎo shēng will wait for your coming on my crown ceremony! Please do me the favour!"
Li Yi snorted and turned back into the carriage.
Finally, the villagers in Shenjia Village felt very relieved.
Shen Dezhong was sad. "You have offended him. How could he come on the day of the crown ceremony?"
Shen Yanbei smiled. "It's okay. At least I have shown my courtesy."
The invitation was sent, and he also had invited it in person. If Li Yi wouldn’t come... it would be better!
Gingers: Double chapters today~
