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“Village Chief, our family’s big iron wok—we spent so much silver on it back then—it’s gone, completely gone! And next to the stove, there was a whole pile of firewood. Now it’s empty too.”
The Village Chief: “Well… there are still a few small branches left.” He had seen them.
Then they led the Village Chief to the backyard. Apart from the emptied pigpen and chicken coop, the chief stared at the freshly dug, uneven patches of earth, lost in thought…
What kind of thief would be so desperate as to steal even this…?
“Village Chief, come, come—let’s check the cellar next.”
The Village Chief really didn’t want to look. Today had already dealt him ten thousand critical blows—how could Laomuzhu Village produce such a deranged thief?
Dragged down into the cellar by Old Master Zhao, he stared at the completely empty space—well, not entirely empty. There was still one pickled vegetable jar left. The Village Chief: “……”
The most severe challenge of his career had arrived…
What now?
If word of this got out, the village’s reputation would be ruined. But if he didn’t report it to the authorities, where else could he even begin searching for the thief?
The villagers all looked at the Zhao family with pity. Clearly, they hadn’t accumulated enough virtue lately—what with mistreating their sons, grandsons, and daughters-in-law—so this calamity had befallen them. Why was it that out of all the households, only theirs had been robbed? And robbed so thoroughly, at that! They really needed to reflect on whether they’d done too many unethical deeds.
Of course, these thoughts stayed firmly lodged in the villagers’ throats—no one dared say them aloud.
No sooner had the Village Chief emerged from the cellar than Old Madam Sun rushed over and grabbed his sleeve. “Village Chief, our home’s been robbed! Robbed! You have to catch the thief and get our things back!”
“Hurry! Go find someone!”
The Village Chief: “……”
“It was stolen it last night—where do you expect me to find anyone now?” Their front gate wasn’t damaged in the slightest—this whole thing was suspicious from top to bottom.
“Village Chief, moving this much stuff couldn’t have been easy. I suspect the thieves are still in the village.”
The onlookers glanced at Eldest Zhao and took a silent step back. What was the scholar implying? That ‘they’ had stolen from his family?
“Village Chief, look—our gate is completely untouched, which means the thieves must have climbed over the wall. And the household closest to ours is the most suspicious.”
Old Master Zhao looked at his eldest son with approval. Truly his own flesh and blood—thinking exactly as he did, down to the last detail.
“So you’re saying your neighbors stole from you?” The Village Chief frowned so deeply it could crush a fly. Why beat around the bush? They might as well just accuse Liu Shunzi outright.
“If they claim to be innocent, then let us search their house.”
Liu Shunzi, who had been watching the commotion, finally couldn’t take it anymore. ‘Damn it all!’ He’d lived his whole life with a clean conscience, and now this bastard was calling him a thief in front of the entire village?
“Scholar Zhao, with just a flip of your lips, you’ve already convicted me—even the magistrate isn’t as quick to judge as you! You say I stole from your family? Where’s your proof? You want to search my house without a shred of evidence? Think you can just smear my name because my parents are gone and I’m easy to bully?”
“First you suspect me—and if my house turns up clean, will you then point fingers at my neighbors? Keep going like that, and soon the whole village will be under suspicion! Should every household just let you barge in and ransack their homes? What grand authority you wield, Scholar Zhao! If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d already been appointed magistrate!”
Some villagers who had initially suspected Liu Shunzi now nodded in agreement. Shunzi was an honest and decent man—thanks to him, they had all earned quite a bit of money over the past month, including the Zhao family. The man was practically a big boss now—why would he covet the Zhao family’s measly scraps? Let alone firewood and brooms? Only someone with a screw loose would bother stealing that stuff.
Liu Shunzi’s mockery made Eldest Zhao’s face burn with humiliation. “Then explain why our things are gone! Did they grow legs and run off on their own?”
“How should I know? Ask your own belongings! I only care if ‘my’ things are where they should be.” Liu Shunzi gave Eldest Zhao a look that said, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Hah! Trying to pin this on him? They’d better check if they even had the ability to pull it off.
‘Whoever that kind soul was who cleared out the Zhao house overnight—if they’d given him a heads-up, he’d have gladly stayed up all night to help them carry everything away.’
Eldest Zhao: “……”
“Just like that good-for-nothing Third Zhao, anyone who pals around with him is cut from the same rotten cloth.”
Old Master Zhao glared at the Village Chief. “Chief, are you really going to turn a blind eye to this?” That so-called chief was no better—always cozying up to the Liu family. He must be trying to cover for them!
“What exactly do you expect me to do?”
“I suspect Liu Shunzi stole from us, and I demand to search his house!”
“Oh ho! So just because ‘you’ suspect someone, you get to barge into their home? What grand airs you put on, Uncle Zhao! And if his house turns up clean, will you ransack the whole village next? Besides, who do you think you are, ordering searches on a whim? Your eldest son hasn’t even become an official yet, and already you’re throwing your weight around like this. If he ever ‘does’ get a post, will the rest of us have to kowtow just to speak to you?”
“Liu Shunzi, shut your damn mouth! If you won’t let us search, doesn’t that prove you’re guilty? If you’ve got nothing to hide, open your courtyard gate and let everyone see!”
“Old man, your cheap tricks won’t work on me.”
“Village Chief!”
Old Man Zhao glared at the Village Chief, eyes blazing with fury.
The Village Chief rubbed his temples in frustration. Reporting this to the authorities was out of the question—it would ruin the village’s reputation. But this stubborn old coot kept fixating on the neighbors.
“Shunzi, how about letting me take a few men to check your place? Just to settle this.”
Liu Shunzi glanced at the Village Chief. “Uncle, normally I’d give you that respect. But I’ve got to ask—what happens if they ‘don’t’ find anything in my house?”
“If it’s not there, then it’s not there! What else?” Old Man Zhao scoffed, looking at him like he was an idiot. He’d bet his last copper the stolen goods were next door.
The onlookers gaped at the old man’s shamelessness. ‘So this is what the Zhao family patriarch is really like!’
“Hah! You point fingers and call me a thief, tarnish my name, then demand to rummage through my home. What’s next—anytime someone loses a chicken, they’ll come knocking on my door? I may have lost my parents young, but that doesn’t mean I’ll roll over for bullies.” Liu Shunzi crossed his arms. “Old Man Zhao, I’ll allow this search today out of respect for Third Zhao and the Village Chief. But if you come up empty-handed, you’ll owe me a public apology—right here, in front of the whole village—for slinging mud at my name.”
Old Madam Sun, who had stayed silent until now, couldn’t hold back any longer. “Apologize to you? In your next life! If you didn’t steal, I’ll chop off my own head and let you sit on it! Don’t think I don’t know—you and Third Zhao are two rotten melons from the same vine! What good could come from you scheming together? Even if they don’t find anything in your house, you’ve obviously hidden it somewhere else! Eldest, report this to the authorities! Let’s see how tough this thief acts when he’s dragged to the magistrate’s court!”
“A father’s bastard with no mother to raise you—disgusting!” She pointed at Liu Shunzi, flecks of spit flying as she cursed.
The crowd, who had been watching the spectacle, fell dead silent. ‘This old woman has no shame—publicly humiliating someone like this!’
The Village Chief’s face darkened to the color of soot on a cooking pot.
Eldest Zhao quietly took two steps back. ‘Is this screeching harpy really my mother? How could I be born to someone like this? This is… this is beyond mortifying.’
Zhao Dashu’s fists clenched until his knuckles cracked. ‘It’s all because of me that they’re targeting Shunzi like this.’ He took a step forward, only for Liu Shunzi to grab his arm and shake his head in warning.
Zhao Zhenyu gritted her teeth. ‘Seems I was too soft—should’ve taken more. Since it didn’t hurt them enough to matter, that old hag still dares strut around like this.’
“Yes, my parents died young,” Liu Shunzi said coldly. “But I can swear on my life—I’ve never done a single shameful thing in all these years. Unlike some people, who’ve lived so long their faces grew thicker than this wooden gate. And some poor souls? Even with parents, they’re just treated like pack mules. Might as well not have any—at least then they’d be free.”
Zhao Dashu nodded in fervent agreement. ‘If I were like Shunzi, my life would be so much easier.’
Old Man Zhao, spotting his third son nodding along, nearly choked on his rage. ‘That little bastard! He’s practically wishing for me and his mother to drop dead sooner!’
“Village Chief, I’ll say this once and for all—if they want to search my house, fine. But if they find nothing, the Zhao family ‘must’ publicly apologize and clear my name. If they refuse…” Liu Shunzi’s voice turned icy. “Then from this day forward, if ‘anyone’ dares accuse me of theft, I’ll make sure their household knows no peace—even if it costs me my life. I, Liu Shunzi, won’t be bullied!”
The villagers murmured in agreement. ‘He’s right—reputation is everything. You can’t just smear someone’s name without proof!’ Even the hot-tempered among them knew: accuse a man falsely, and he’d fight tooth and nail to clear it.
The Village Chief nodded reluctantly. ‘No fault in his logic. If you wrong someone, shouldn’t you make amends?’
—
Meanwhile, in the crowd:
Zhao Dashu’s fists trembled—not with anger, but something far colder. ‘They’re cornering Shunzi because of me…’
Old Man Zhao, however, saw only defiance. That pickled vegetable jar left mockingly in the cellar flashed in his mind. ‘Someone’s laughing at us.’ His jaw tightened. “Fine! We’ll search. But when we find—”
“When?” Liu Shunzi cut in, smiling without warmth. “You mean ‘if’, Old Man Zhao.”
The standoff hung like a blade over the village square.
ingrained value. The Zhao patriarch’s insistence on searching despite lacking evidence underscores his authoritarian mindset, where suspicion alone justifies intrusion.