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Zhong Shuhe‘s face was livid as she shouted,
“You did that on purpose!”
Yao Jian lazily replied,
“It’s not my footprint—why would I do it on purpose?”
Lin Ting stayed calm and sharp,
“Because you’re an accomplice to the chicken thief. You did it to cover for the culprit!”
She hadn’t interacted with Yao Jian much before, but now she realized—
He was that kind of person.
Even the brigade leader, already annoyed from losing sleep because of the stolen chicken, couldn’t hold back.
“Comrade Yao, then explain—why did you do that?”
From outside, the gathered villagers exploded into chatter.
“Yao Jian is acting way too suspicious.”
“I bet he’s in on it.”
“He and Zhao Weidong are close—what if the footprint is Zhao’s?”
“Zhao Weidong hasn’t matched his shoes yet—suspicious!”
Zhao Weidong, panicked, quickly took off his shoes and declared,
“It’s not me! I haven’t eaten meat in forever!”
He also gave Yao Jian a resentful glare:
If you had meat, why didn’t you share it?
He was just as eager to find the chicken thief!
Suddenly, Yu Mo called from outside the yard,
“I found chicken feathers—right behind the educated youth dorm!”
Luckily, Lin Ting had reminded her to check, or she wouldn’t have thought of it.
Someone in the crowd muttered,
“Then it could’ve been any of the older educated youths.”
Wen Chunlan was the first to defend herself:
“Not me! I don’t even know what the chicken looked like.”
Tan Hongxia added,
“I didn’t even know the new girls got a chicken from the captain.”
Jiang Yanmei, hesitant, finally spoke:
“Last night, I thought I heard a lot of noise from their side. Like someone was… killing a chicken.”
Then, Yao Jian added darkly,
“Maybe they just staged this whole theft to get out of feeding the people who helped them build the kitchen.”
The brigade leader‘s face hardened.
“You don’t get to speak. You’re the most suspicious one here.”
Lin Ting stepped forward:
“Then let’s report it to the police.”
“They’ll know exactly how to handle this.”
Yao Jian sneered,
“All this fuss over one scrawny chicken? You’re going to bother the public security for that?”
Lin Ting replied coldly:
“The police serve the people. If there’s a crime, they go where they’re needed.”
Zhong Shuhe pushed him:
“Yao Jian, are you afraid?”
Yao Jian dodged her gaze.
“What? Of course not!”
“Then let’s report it,” said the brigade leader sternly.
Yao Jian flinched.
Why was the captain agreeing so quickly?
In the past, anytime the brigade wanted to report something to the authorities, the captain strongly opposed it—
Saying it would hurt the brigade’s “model unit” chances…
Suddenly, Jiang Yanmei raised her hand.
“I have a suspicion… but I don’t know if I should say it.”
“Speak freely,” the captain said.
Jiang hesitated.
“I suspect… the thief is from that down-placed household at the foot of the mountain.”
Lin Ting was stunned, eyes wide, nearly exploding in anger.
The Lin family had done nothing—and suddenly they were being blamed!
To make it worse, several people nodded in agreement:
“Yeah, I think it’s them too.”
“We haven’t had thefts in this brigade for years.”
“They show up, and suddenly the chicken’s gone?”
The brigade leader, sensing Lin Ting was about to erupt, quickly interrupted:
“Jiang Yanmei, do you have any proof for what you just said?”
“You’re an adult—you better take responsibility for your words.”
Jiang Yanmei, puffed up with self-righteousness, responded:
“Weren’t they sent down for committing crimes? The whole family was relocated.”
“Clearly their character is questionable. What’s wrong with my assumption?”
Lin Ting laughed in disbelief,
“So you’re accusing them just to divert suspicion from yourself?”
“Just like Yao Jian did.”
Jiang Yanmei tried to stay calm:
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“No, you’re the one spouting nonsense!” Lin Ting snapped.
She strode forward, grabbed Jiang’s hand, and examined it.
“It’s not like you butcher a chicken in the dark.”
“Jiang, how did you get this cut on your hand?”
Jiang tried to pull away, but Lin Ting was too strong. She mumbled,
“I cut it doing chores.”
The vague excuse only made Lin Ting more certain:
“What chores exactly?”
“Do you have any witnesses?”
Jiang blurted,
“I cut it while chopping vegetables. Yao Jian saw it.”
“Yao Jian is also a suspect,” Lin Ting shot back. “He can’t be your alibi.”
“Anyone else see it?”
Jiang Yanmei shrank back, unable to meet Lin Ting’s gaze.
“I… I don’t remember.”
The brigade leader finally saw the full picture.
Yao Jian and Jiang Yanmei were clearly both involved.
But how many more of the older educated youths were in on it?
He made a decision and called out to the young and able-bodied villagers:
“Go report this to the public security!”
Then, turning to the two suspects:
“Yao Jian, Jiang Yanmei—you better start thinking of how you’ll explain yourselves.”
Jiang Yanmei panicked.
“Captain! I’m being framed!”
“Should we really trouble the police over a single chicken? It might hurt our brigade’s ranking later…”
The captain gave her a suspicious look.
“When has our brigade ever won an award?”
“We’re always at the bottom anyway—nothing to lose.”
Jiang choked on her words.
She didn’t expect the captain to not fall for it this time.
Wasn’t he always obsessed with ratings?
Lin Ting sneered,
“Funny that you’re bringing up brigade rankings now. What, worried we’ll actually call the cops?”
“Of course not,” Jiang replied, forcing a smile.
But inside, her mind was racing—and she couldn’t come up with anything to say.
Eventually, the brigade really did call the police.
The officers took samples of the original footprint and compared them to everyone’s shoes again.
To everyone’s shock, the match turned out to be Sun Guohua, an older educated youth who had stayed silent the whole time.
Under police questioning, Sun cracked—and confessed, dragging Yao Jian and Jiang Yanmei down with him.
Both immediately denied everything.
Jiang Yanmei, indignant:
“Sun! If you did it, take responsibility! Why are you dragging me down?”
Yao Jian, furious:
“I treated you like a brother, and now you frame me?!”
Sun Guohua, just as angry, shouted:
“You were happy enough to eat the roast chicken—now you want me to take the fall alone?!”
“If I go down, you all go down with me!”
Realizing there was no way out, Jiang Yanmei gave in:
“Officer, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
“It was Sun who suggested stealing the chicken—I didn’t take part.”
Sun snorted:
“Then why don’t you tell everyone—did you eat the chicken or not?”