Chapter 36: Wealth moves people's hearts

The neighbors who came all carried tools. Encountering such a thing, they wouldn't stay huddled at home because if you don't help next time when they encounter a thief, no one will help you.

A sturdy and bold man, carrying a stick, slowly led everyone into the room.

Borrowing the moonlight, they saw two masked men in black on the ground. Everyone hurriedly carried lamps to make the room brighter. Zhuangzi flipped them over and checked their breathing.

"Still alive. You few, hurry to the Town Chief's house to report the case."

"Young Lady, go find some rope."

The man might have encountered this before and arranged things calmly. Two women accompanied Qiao Mai to find two ropes in the warehouse.

Everyone tied up the two thieves, and no one said a word, just waiting for the Town Chief to arrive.

The Town Chief was quite old, and it took him a long time to arrive.

Seeing the thieves on the ground, the Town Chief had people bring them to the courtyard; after all, this was someone else's bedroom.

The lights were bright, and the Town Chief sat on a chair.

"Qiao Shi, you speak first about what happened."

Qiao Mai wiped away a tear, her lips trembling.

"I really wasn't destined to die today. I drank a bit too much water at night, and when I got up, I heard movement at the door. I was so scared I hurriedly picked up the stick I used for self-defense, got off the kang, and hid behind the door. When they poked their heads in, I used the moonlight, swung the stick with both hands, and smashed it down on their heads. Then they fell, and I was so scared I ran into the courtyard and shouted for help. That's the sequence of events. Wuwuwuwu, it was terrifying."

"Alright, stop crying. Isn't everything fine now?"

The Town Chief nudged his chin at the guards he brought. "See who these two people actually are."

The guard bent down, pulled off the black cloth on their faces, and took a look. "Town Chief, the subordinate doesn't recognize these two. They look unfamiliar; they don't look like they're from our town."

"Rabbits don't eat the grass by their own nest. They know to run to our town to steal. Search their bodies."

The guard searched out the sleeping drugs, daggers, and other tools for committing crimes in just a few moments.

With both human and material evidence complete, in front of so many people, the Town Chief wanted to interrogate them about their purpose for coming here.

"Qiao Shi, you sell ice. Do you have any melted ice water?"

"Yes, I'll go get some."

Qiao Mai went to the kitchen and brought back a small basin of ice-cold water. The guard took it and splashed it directly on the heads of the two thieves.

It was truly effective; with a jolt, the people woke up, but because of that blow to the head, everything looked shaky to them.

It took a long time for them to sober up, and seeing so many people, they knew the matter was exposed.

The guard stepped forward and kicked them twice. "Town Chief is here. You had better confess honestly; beware of physical suffering."

The two looked like habitual offenders and confessed obediently.

"Official, we are from the town to the north. We came to Tianshui Town to wander around a while ago and inadvertently saw that this young lady's business was incredibly good. That's why we were moved to steal."

"Have you been caught before?"

"Caught before."

"Have you been sentenced before?"

"Sentenced."

"Sentenced and still don't know how to repent?"

"Official, it's really that wealth moves people's hearts. There's no way around it. Who told this young lady's business to be so good? Seeing it made us envious, and we committed such a mistake."

The Town Chief stood up. "Lock these two up and send them to the county government tomorrow."

"Yes, Official."

Qiao Mai opened her mouth but swallowed the words in the end. She wanted to say they were instigated by someone, but the words reached her lips and she didn't say them.

The reason given by the thieves was reasonable and plausible. If she said anything else, it would be like deliberately framing them.

She didn't want the Town Chief to find her annoying. For him to get up at such an old age in the middle of the night, it was good enough that he wasn't angry.

She regretted not using lethal force. Entering a house to steal and being caught in the middle of the night—if they died in the residence, the government couldn't say anything. There was a clause in the law for this.

It was just that these two thieves definitely had families. If she killed them, the trouble afterward might be even greater.

The most direct method was to kill them, throw them in a place with no people, and wipe away all traces. That was the best strategy, and it shouldn't happen again.

However, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After the two thieves were released from prison, they would definitely look for the person who instigated them. Whether they would fight or not was hard to say, but at the very least, it could make the person behind the scenes bleed a little.

She cheered herself up in her heart. Seeing the matter concluded, everyone took their families home. Two women even kindly comforted her before leaving.

Qiao Mai bolted the courtyard gate, and her expression immediately changed from aggrieved to icy cold.

Someone like her couldn't attract a man's covetousness at all; it was mostly the attraction of money.

She clearly heard a man wanting to ruin her purity; it was absolutely instigated by someone behind the scenes.

She closed her eyes and thought about it. The Qiao family was impossible; they didn't have the guts. Then, it could only be the Tian family. Even if those two old goods were vicious, they didn't know such people. The most likely one was Tian Yaozu. He studied in town and knew many people. After being humiliated at the shop door that day, it wasn't impossible for him to find someone to teach her a lesson.

Qiao Mai took a deep breath. "Tian Yaozu, you had better pray for your life every day. If one day you fall into my hands, I will make you wish you were dead."

Damn it, if he had sent someone to kill her, she wouldn't be this angry.

He sent someone to humiliate her; that was nothing to say. This was a deadly feud that could never be resolved in a lifetime.

She didn't return to the space that night and dozed on the kang in the bedroom until dawn.

After Shopkeeper Lu learned about this, she didn't even open the shop and rushed here with people.

Qiao Mai opened the courtyard gate, and Lu Sanniang pulled her into her arms.

"Oh my, my little heart, I was scared to death when I heard about this. You can't have anything happen to you; my getting rich depends entirely on you."

She was originally quite moved, but hearing the last sentence, Qiao Mai glared at her several times and pushed her away. The four little girls behind her all covered their mouths and laughed.

"Don't worry, they at most wanted to rob money; someone like me wouldn't be humiliated."

"Why don't you move to my house?"

"No, there are people among the neighbors here, it's fine. It's inconvenient for me to move around at your place."

Shopkeeper Lu took her hand and looked left and right. "Are you really okay?"

"I'm fine, just encountered a thief. Even wealthy families can't avoid it, let alone a single woman like me."

"Maybe you've been too eye-catching lately?"

"The one who should be eye-catching is you. I'm just a servant in your house; the money I earn from doing business should also be handed over to you."

Hearing this, Lu Sanniang's heart stirred, and she whispered:

"I think those two people might have been instigated by someone. Someone spent silver on them, deliberately coming to ruin your reputation?"

Qiao Mai didn't expect her to be able to guess the thieves' purpose because of one sentence.

"It's a pity there's no evidence. As soon as they entered the door, I knocked them unconscious. When the Town Chief arrived, he woke them up and they confessed directly."

"Could the person behind them be the Tian family?"

Qiao Mai smiled, her eyes flickering. "Let's not guess about things without evidence."

"Why don't I have my maid come over to accompany you at night?"

"No need. In a while, I'll raise two dogs. As soon as there's movement, they will wake me up."

"You!"

"No one will dare to come for a short time, don't worry."

"Are you setting up the stall today?"

"Yes, the weather has cleared up; I can't delay earning money."

The five people helped Qiao Mai lift the things onto the handcart and pushed them together to the front of the embroidery manor.

Shopkeeper Lu went to open the shop door, while the others helped her set up the awning and arrange the tables. After everything was done, they returned to the shop in the back.

Qiao Mai stretched, looking at the deep blue sky. Days of earning money were truly happy.

Just after sitting down, the merchants setting up stalls around her and the townspeople who knew her and walked by all asked her with concern.

"Young Lady, were you scared last night?"

"It was fine. The thieves didn't even enter the room before I knocked them unconscious."

"You earn so much money; you should buy two maids to keep you company."

"The money I earn is all handed over to the shopkeeper. The money I have is just the monthly wages given by the shopkeeper. Those two thieves found the wrong target."

"Did they do anything to you?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 37 =====