Chapter 663

The two of them pushed the bruised and battered boy, kicking and shoving him as they constantly urged him to hurry up.

Having been beaten and bitten by dogs more times than he could count, he was in pain all over; how could he walk fast? Being cursed and beaten was just what he deserved!

The dogs also felt annoyed; they would run ahead for a moment, only to run back again and bark wildly a few times.

It was the middle of the night, and the villagers were fast asleep. An occasional bark wouldn't affect anyone's sleep, but frequent, wild barking was enough to wake people up.

As they pushed the little thief slowly back, a neighbor pushed open a window and cursed wildly, "Where did these plague-ridden dogs come from? Barking non-stop in the middle of the night—don't other people need to sleep? Get lost!"

Ye Yaodong's dogs weren't pushovers; they ran straight under the person's window and barked wildly.

"Don't know where all these stray dogs came from. I'll get some rat poison tomorrow..."

As they spoke, they threw a glass bottle out of the window. It shattered into pieces the moment it hit the ground, and Ye Yaodong and his group immediately stepped back two paces.

The dogs were also startled and retreated to his side.

Ye Yaodong kicked a few of the dogs, "You cowards, you don't dare bark once you're scared? If you're not going to bark, then hurry home. What are you running back and forth for? If you all run out, who's watching the house? Get back there for me, and don't let someone use a feint to attack elsewhere."

Seeing a few dogs still lingering at his feet, he kicked them again, "Go! The courtyard gate at home is still wide open, hurry back and watch the house for me."

Kicked a step away from him, the dogs stopped crowding him. After barking twice, they bolted and ran wildly toward home.

Ye Yaodong and Ah Guang continued to push the boy toward home.

"Damn it, your feet are useless, aren't they? You haven't walked a few steps in ages. If they're useless, I might as well break them later."

Terrified, A Qiu stumbled and hurried to walk faster, not even caring about the pain.

Now he was walking fast.

Before long, they all heard the sound of a tractor coming from afar.

Walking slowly on two legs, they were naturally not as fast as a tractor, and in just a short while, the sound of the tractor was right in their ears.

"Adong? Why are you here? Not at home?"

"Went to catch a thief! You drive to my gate first; I'll be home soon too."

Uncle Zhou also saw the man beside them, head hanging low and face bruised and swollen. He didn't look very old and seemed like a stranger.

"Did you get robbed?"

"Yeah, they actually stole from my place, without even asking how many dogs I keep. I just let the dogs chase him out, and that's how I caught him."

"Oh my, you have to give him a good beating; you can't just let him off easily. This guy doesn't look like he's from our village. For someone from another village to be this arrogant, you should break his hands."

"That's right."

"I'll drive the tractor to your gate first."

"Fine."

Just as the tractor went *da-da-da* away, the group of dogs ran back again, and without waiting for him to shoo them, they immediately turned around and ran home.

"You stupid dogs, we're almost at the gate, and you're still running back and forth."

"This is called loyalty; dogs are the most loyal."

"Got it. If they have puppies next year, I'll send you a litter."

Ah Guang widened his eyes and pulled his neck back, "I'm not as rich and imposing as you; I can't afford to raise a litter."

"Are you joking? You're a future boat proprietor; it's just a few dogs, what's there to be unable to afford? Just get some leftovers and they'll live."

"Cut the crap, stop persecuting me."

"Don't say 'cock' if you're not talking about a rooster; let's be civilized."

"Damn, after a few days of literacy classes, you've become a cultured man?"

"I'm setting an example for my daughter, so I'm using less foul language."

"As if no one else has a daughter." Ah Guang gave him a look of disdain and stopped walking with him. Seeing the courtyard gate right in front of him, he walked a few quick steps inside, leaving him behind.

In the courtyard, Uncle Zhou was telling Lin Xiuqing and A Zheng that they were on their way back; he had met them when he came over just now and they would be there soon.

Seeing Ah Guang return, Lin Xiuqing breathed a sigh of relief, stretching her neck to look behind him, "Where's Adong?"

"He's in the back escorting the prisoner."

She hurried to the courtyard gate and ran right into A Qiu, who was being pushed by Ye Yaodong, and was instantly given a big fright.

"Who is this?"

"The little thief from tonight!" Ye Yaodong gave him another hard kick, "You scared my wife, get out of the way."

"Did you really catch someone?" Lin Xiuqing frowned tightly, "I heard the dogs barking non-stop in the house earlier, and they were barking as they ran further away. It worried me so much I climbed out of bed, but when I came out, I was even more worried—the courtyard gate was wide open, and you and all the dogs were gone."

"I went to chase him. I heard the dogs barking and ran out immediately. But as soon as I opened the door, I saw Xiao Hua hanging on the wall, and then it fell down in an instant."

"It probably hadn't been hanging for long. I ran over to check, and it kicked its legs and got up, so I took the pack of dogs and chased after him."

Xiao Hua must have heard its name being called; as soon as he finished speaking, it immediately ran to his feet, wagged its tail, and barked twice.

A Zheng frowned, "I was wondering where you'd gone. When I arrived, I only saw your wife standing at the courtyard gate looking out."

"It's a good thing I caught this bastard," Ye Yaodong said, kicking A Qiu, who was standing in the corner, twice more, "Our dog was almost hanged to death."

"It's a good thing it didn't die, otherwise the two kids would have cried their eyes out when they got up tomorrow."

"Yeah."

A Zheng then added, "I just discovered a stool by your outer wall, and there are a lot of large bones scattered in your courtyard. I reckon this guy used the bones to distract your dogs so they wouldn't bark. I guess your dogs didn't fall for it and didn't eat them, so he used a rope to loop one by the neck and hang it up."

Ye Yaodong looked at the pile of bones that had already been collected. The dogs nearby had only gone over to sniff them and then walked away, without sticking out their tongues to gnaw on them.

"It's a good thing they aren't completely stupid."

"Could these bones be poisoned?" Ah Guang frowned and walked over, squatting down.

"What?"

"If he was going to loop one, he could only loop one. Isn't that alerting the enemy? With a whole pack of dogs like yours, wouldn't it be easier and more convenient to just poison them?"

"Holy crap!" Ye Yaodong widened his eyes and hurried toward the pile of bones.

A Zheng was stunned for a moment, then felt it was only natural, "That makes sense. It's not like he was trying to hang them to eat dog meat. With a pack of dogs like this, a bag of rat poison would be easier. I wonder if they were soaked in poison, which is why the dogs smelled something wrong and didn't eat them?"

"Damn!"

Ye Yaodong walked to the corner and gave A Qiu a round of punches and kicks, "Speak, did you poison them?"

"No... no..."

"Still lying? Bring me a stick, I'll break his hands and see if he still tells the truth!"

He had forgotten where he put the stick he brought when he left the house; he seemed to have thrown it into the grass nearby when he was tying the person up.

"I'll go get one."

A Zheng actively pulled one out from a haystack nearby and even knocked it against the wall to test if it was sturdy.

"This stick looks like a table leg; it should work. One sturdy hit and I guarantee his fingers will fracture, uh..."

A Zheng paused halfway through his sentence, frowned, and said with a sincere face, "Breaking it in one go doesn't seem very interesting, does it? How about we switch to a more brittle one? If the stick breaks but the bone doesn't crack? That way we can do it a few more times?"

"Hiss..."

Everyone gasped in unison.

Ye Yaodong secretly gave him a thumbs-up!

A Zheng smiled triumphantly, "I'll find you another one, see if there's a more brittle one, it'll be more satisfying to do it a few more times..."

The little thief A Qiu was so scared his legs couldn't stop trembling, and his hands, tied behind his back, were shaking too.

He thought that at most he'd get a beating if caught, and they couldn't do anything to him, right? He hadn't stolen anything, and the dog was still alive.

He hadn't expected them to be this ruthless!

And they weren't even going to give him a quick end, planning to cut the meat with a dull knife...

"I'll talk, I'll talk! I did soak them in rat poison. I couldn't bear to buy buns, so I specifically picked up a few bones, thinking they wouldn't be that picky."

"And then when you found out they wouldn't eat them, you used a rope?"

"There just happened to be a rope on the handcart at the gate, and I thought I couldn't come for nothing and go back empty-handed..."

"Damn!" Ye Yaodong snatched the stick from A Zheng's hand and hit him hard on the wrist.

"Ah~"

His fingers curled into a fist, then opened in pain...

"Was it you who poured the water yesterday too?"

"Yes..."

"Damn it, I was wondering who in the neighborhood was jealous of me? After all, who goes out in the middle of the night specifically carrying a water bucket? You even knew I had a pile of dried fish in my courtyard yesterday?"

"I'll talk if you don't hit me..."

Ye Yaodong hit him directly in the back of the calf with the stick, and he instantly knelt down, collapsing on the ground, "Still trying to bargain?"

"Ah, I'll talk, I'll talk... don't hit me... I happened to not be working, and since I hadn't gone out to sea these past two nights, I thought I'd come over and take a look..."

"Not being honest, taking a look and you took a look all the way to my place?"

Ye Yaodong gave him another hit with the stick, and this time he ended up lying flat on the ground.

"No, no, I came specifically. I heard you made a lot of money selling dried fish, and since I hadn't gone out to sea these two days, I saw you had a lot of things piled up in your courtyard... I guessed it was dried fish, but there were too many dogs."

"So you went to someone's gate nearby, found a bucket, filled it with seawater, and poured it in?"

"Yes, but you had nylon bags on top, so I stopped after pouring it once and left."

"And then you thought about coming back for another run at night to poison all my dogs?"

This time he didn't dare to make a sound.

"Good fellow, you wanted to wipe them all out!"

Lin Xiuqing also cursed angrily, "This heart is too poisonous. There are several in this pack, and you wanted to poison them all to death. Were you planning to poison them all so no dogs would get in your way, and no dogs would bark when you came over in the future? This heart is too black, too poisonous..."

"Damn it, it's not a grievance to beat this guy to death..."