Chapter 118

118 Reason for Stealing

Li Yu looked at Old Hu. “Then please tell me, what’s the reason? Why do you keep stealing from our village?”

Old Man Hu looked at Li Yu, then at the men still hanging at the shed, and the men on the ground who had been beaten black and blue. He gritted his teeth and made up his mind. He pointed at the few people hanging on the cowshed. “As long as you promise to let them down and not pursue their theft, help us pull out the arrows and let us help them apply some medication and bandage them, I’ll tell you the reason.”

Li Yu thought for a moment. “I promise you to let them down first. I’ll decide whether to pursue the matter after I hear your reason. Also, I hope you’re not just saying this to fool me.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Don’t worry, I won’t fool you,” Old Hu said.

Li Yu asked Ruyi, who was waiting at the side, to put those people down from the wooden stakes in front of the cowshed. The men were in pain after hanging in front of the cowshed for a few hours. They were already extremely weak. When they saw Li Yu and Ruyi, they still had a lingering fear. Li Yu and Ruyi separately pulled the arrows out of the legs of those people, causing them to cry out in pain.

The women from Hu Village rushed up and were about to wipe the wound with the handkerchief in their hands.

Li Yu sighed in her heart. After thinking for a moment, she stopped them and said to them, “You can’t wipe your wounds like this. Wait a moment.”

The women were stunned for a moment and turned to look at Old Hu. “Uncle, look...”

Old Hu thought to himself, They even have bows and arrows. They must know how to deal with wounds. He nodded at the women. “Listen to this girl.”

Li Yu instructed Ruyi, “Ruyi, go home and bring over a pot of wine.”

After Ruyi heard this, he drove the mule cart to get the wine. Li Yu looked at Old Hu and said, “Old man, it’s time for you to fulfill your promise.”

Old Hu took a step forward and said in a low voice, “Miss, it was High Scholar Ye who hired us to steal from your village. Originally, he wanted us to come at night and waste the food in your fields. We knew how difficult it was to grow some food, so I didn’t agree. That’s why he asked us to come to your village to steal again. After Monkey and the others came to check the place out, they said that you had raised more than ten cows and some livestock. He asked us to steal the cows out and he would buy them with silver. Otherwise, how would we dare to steal cows? We wouldn’t have anywhere to sell them!”

“Damn it.” Chen Yaohui stomped his feet in anger. “It’s the Ye’s again. I knew that he was not a good person. So he was waiting for us here!”

Li Yu thought to herself, No wonder High Scholar Ye sent someone to compensate them when the Third Young Master Ye ruined the lotus pond. He felt that they wouldn’t guard against him if he apologized and admitted his mistake. However, he definitely didn’t go through so much trouble to take revenge on them.

Li Yu looked at Old Hu. “I don’t think he would do that just to take revenge on us, right?”

Old Hu sighed. “I guess he has his eyes on your fields. It’s your fault for tidying up the village too well. Even we are envious of it. The rice and livestock in your fields are so enviable! If we had half of your harvest back then, we wouldn’t have done such a despicable thing.”

Li Yu looked at Old Hu and thought to herself, It’s better to have one more friend than one more enemy. If the villagers of Hu Village really didn’t steal because they were lazy, let them go.

“I can release them immediately. You don’t have to compensate me.”

Old Hu looked at Li Yu and was about to bow and thank her when Li Yu raised her hand to stop him. “Don’t thank me first. I won’t be happy if I don’t speak my mind.”

Old Hu looked at Li Yu in confusion. “Miss, please speak. I’m all ears.”

Li Yu looked at the people from Hu Village and said loudly, “No matter what you say, I don’t think it can be a reason for you to steal. Have you ever thought about your future generations? Are you going to steal like this for generations? Why don’t you think of a way to change your mind and change the way you farm? Natural selection is the survival of the fittest. Since those fields are already like that, you can’t wait for them to change for you. You should think of a way to make them more suitable for farming and produce more valuable things to make you live better instead of stealing and snatching.”

After the villagers of Hu Village and Fengming Village heard Li Yu’s words, they all thought to themselves, We can only change them. We can’t wait for them to change for us. That’s right! Those things are dead, but people are alive! How can we just wait for them to change for us?

Tears welled up in Old Hu’s eyes when he heard that. He knelt in front of Li Yu with a thud. Li Yu was shocked and hurriedly helped him up. “Old man, please get up. You’re killing me.”

Old Hu looked at Li Yu and said in a choked voice, “Miss, our Hu Village used to be a good place in Phoenix Town.Ever since it rained heavily for a few days in a row that year, the flash flood destroyed all the fertile fields. Only those hillside lands were left in the village. The hillside lands could not store water and we could only plant some sorghum chestnut rice. It was difficult to even survive in a year and they had to pay taxes to the government office.

Everyone really couldn’t survive anymore, and they didn’t have any other abilities, so they embarked on the path of theft.

As long as there’s food to eat, who would be willing to do such an immoral thing? Now, the children in the village can’t even get a wife. The girls who get married can’t even raise their heads in their in-laws’ families. The daughters-in-law who got married in the past don’t even dare to return to their mothers.”

When Chen Yaohui, Chen Gui, and the others heard this, they sighed. Farmers rely on their fields. If the heavens were good, the heavens would reward them with food. If the heavens are bad, they could only beg for food.

The people from Hu Village all looked at Li Yu eagerly. The man who shouted the most fiercely lay on the ground and looked up at Li Yu. “Miss, please come to our place and help us think of a way. We won’t blame you even if it doesn’t work.”

Chen Yaohui looked at Li Yu and said hesitantly, “Xiaoyu, why don’t you help them see if there’s any other way?”

Li Yu thought for a moment and nodded. “I can help you see if there’s any other way. If there is, it’s definitely not something that can be done overnight. You still have to rely on your hard work to gain something. Furthermore, some of you must be used to your current way of life. It’s up to you whether you’re willing to change this way of life.”

Old Hu sighed and said, “Miss, it’s not that easy to be a thief. To be honest, we’ve long regretted it. It’s just that our reputation has already been ruined, so we can’t do anything about it.”

At this moment, Ruyi had already helped the men clean their wounds and apply medication. He came over and said to Li Yu, “Miss, I’ve already treated their wounds.”

“Alright, take a statement and let them sign it. Then let them go!”

Li Yu then said to Old Hu, “Old man, if High Scholar Ye goes to find you for information, just say that we let you go because we were afraid of you. I’ll wait for you at home during the Tianchen Festival. Call someone over. I’ll go to your place to take a look and help you think of a way.”

Old Hu bowed gratefully. “Alright, I’ll reply to him as you said. Thank you for your magnanimity.”