Chapter 284: Letting Them Go
Editor: Atlas Studios
In the end, Butcher Qin agreed to the deal at the price of 27 copper coins per catty. He needed to go back and find three people to work together to round up the remaining sheep. Moreover, weighing them was also a laborious and time-consuming job.
Therefore, the two of them agreed to trade tomorrow.
Before Butcher Qin left, he couldn’t help but remind her, “Miss Mu, since Hu Cai gave you so much money in public today, I’m afraid it will attract some thieves. I think you should move to the city.”
“Thank you for your reminder, Uncle Qin. I understand.”
Seeing that Mu Yangling didn’t seem to take it to heart, Butcher Qin could only sigh.
It was not that Mu Yangling did not take it to heart, but she had already thought of this when Hu Cai asked his servant to go back and get the silver.
By the time she concluded the deal with Hu Cai, it was already getting late. No matter how fast the news spread, it could not be spread out of the village. It was not the modern era where information disseminated rapidly.
As for the people in the village, Mu Yangling believed that she could still deal with them.
Therefore, at night, Mu Yangling let Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu sleep in the room and asked them to be more alert.
She let Xiuhong and Bowen sleep in her room.
The next morning, when Xiuhong and Bowen woke up and opened the door, they saw a group of people tied up in the courtyard. Their jaws dropped.
Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu were hugging their sticks and sitting on stools inside, dozing off. The flames in the brazier had already extinguished.
Upon hearing the commotion, the two of them jumped up and rushed out with their sticks. When they saw that it was Xiuhong and Bowen, they retracted their nervous expressions. “Miss Xiuhong and Young Master are awake? I’ll go to the kitchen to see if the soup is ready.”
Bowen quickly pulled him back and pointed at the people tied up on the ground. “Brother Liuzi, who are these people?”
“Hmph, who else could it be? Thieves from the village who actually dared to steal from Young Miss.”
Bowen frowned. “That many?”
Zhang Liu’s expression turned even worse. “There are a total of four groups, not just one group of people. Yesterday, Young Miss threw out each group as they arrived last night. This only stopped at dawn.”
Xiuhong opened her mouth wide and stared at the group of people lying on the ground. She asked, “Then what should we do now? Send them to the officials?”
The thieves, who were originally lying obediently on the ground, hurriedly whimpered. They mustn’t send him to the officials. If they did, their lives would be over.
Mu Yangling didn’t send them to the officials because they were all newbies who probably couldn’t resist the temptation and came to steal the sheep. Although they were despicable, she had no intention of leaving them with no way out.
If it was a police station in her previous life, it would be fine if one was sent to jail. At most, they would be released after a few months of imprisonment. However, here, thieves had to be subjected to heavy beatings first before being imprisoned for a few days. If they were obedient, they would be sent to a cold place to be reformed. Under the circumstances where one could not receive medical treatment when injured, very few of them would come back alive.
Those who came back alive either changed for the better completely and did not dare to steal again, or became even more ruthless. This was a chaotic world, not an era of peace and prosperity.
However, Mu Yangling did not let them off just like that. If they were not taught a lesson, they would probably continue to do such immoral things in the future.
Hence, Mu Yangling tied them up and threw them into the house. When she caught the last group of people in the morning, she directly threw them into the courtyard.
It was the most torturous to wait endlessly without knowing what laid ahead of them. At least, a few of the younger ones were already in tears. If not for the fact that their mouths were stuffed with something, they would have knelt in front of Mu Yangling and begged for mercy.
That was not all. Mu Yangling asked Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu to note down their family situation and asked their families to come and fetch them.
Their eyes were red and their faces were burning with embarrassment and shame.
Seeing them lying on the ground wearing so little, Bowen whispered to his sister, “Sister, why don’t we get them into the house? If they really catch a cold, you’ll have to worry later.”
Mu Yangling carried them back to the house, so when their families came to look for them, Mu Yangling was waiting for them in the hall. There were a bunch of young men in their twenties on the ground, and two of them were only 15 or 16 years old.
The parents were embarrassed and ashamed. In this era, people were still very pure and friendly. Seeing that their children had become thieves, and the victim had come knocking on their door, their faces were filled with embarrassment and shame. Then, they glared at their unfilial and disappointing son on the ground.
Mu Yangling’s gaze slid across everyone’s faces. Seeing that the parents were all ashamed and angry, she was not in the mood to test them. Just as she was about to speak, some honest parents knelt on the ground and begged Mu Yangling to spare them. As long as she did not send them to the officials, they would compensate for the losses. Later, they would definitely break their limbs when they returned home…
With a pair of parents doing this, the other parents also followed suit and started kneeling on the ground.
Mu Yangling looked at the people tied up on the ground. Two of them looked at their parents with red eyes as tears slipped down their faces. Because their mouths were gagged, they could only whimper.
Mu Yangling went forward to help the parents up, before turning around and asking the people on the ground, “Do you see how disappointed your parents are?”
A parent wiped their tears and said, “That’s right. Do you see what a disappointment you are? Miss Mu, no matter who they let down, they’re still our children. This is a debt. I only beg that you don’t send them to the officials. We’ll do anything.”
Mu Yangling sat on the chair and said, “If I wanted to send them to the officials, I wouldn’t have informed you.”
Mu Yangling looked at the people on the ground and said, “I’m not sending you to the officials because firstly, you’re newbies and I don’t want you to ruin your future or lose your lives. Secondly, it’s for your parents.”
“I once heard a story about a thief who was sentenced to death for theft and murder. Before he died, he said that he hated his parents, friends, and neighbors. Many people were puzzled. Do you know what he said?”
The people on the ground looked at Mu Yangling blankly.
Mu Yangling looked at the blue sky and white clouds outside as she said, “He said that the first time he stole, he only stole candy. If his parents could hit him at that time, his friends could dissuade him, and his neighbors could scold him, he might not have gone on to steal grains, money, or even kill people.”
A mocking smile appeared on Mu Yangling’s lips. “I don’t think his crimes are someone else’s fault. His nature and self-control are the main reasons, but I’ve also been wondering if he would stop if someone had corrected him, taught him a lesson, and told him that it was wrong and that the gains weren’t sufficient to make up for the losses.”
“Now, I’m doing what he resented before he died. This time, I won’t report it to the officials. Whether you can change for the better depends on yourselves. I’m afraid we won’t have the chance to meet again in the future. You have to take responsibility for your lives.”
Mu Yangling waved her hand for Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu to untie them. The parents quickly went forward to help their children up.
“You guys can leave.”
A father slapped his son’s face and shouted, “Hurry up and kneel down to our benefactor!”
His son fell kneeling on the ground with a plop. The others also knelt down and kowtowed to Mu Yangling before limping away.
Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu wiped their tears. They had once been one of them and had also been woken up by the young lady.
“Sister, will they take revenge?” Bowen asked with a frown.
“How dare they!” Xiuhong jumped up. “Cousin has already let them off.”
“No one knows if they’ll change, so pack up. As soon as this batch of sheep is sold, we’ll leave.”
“We’re traveling through the night?”
Mu Yangling nodded and said to the reluctant Xiuhong, “We’ll listen to Bowen on this matter. We have to believe in human nature, but sometimes, we also have to doubt it. Not everyone has a good heart.”
Mu Yangling wasn’t afraid that the villagers would steal again, but she was afraid that they would spread the news. Since there weren’t many mountain bandits outside Xingyuan Prefecture, it was fine if she was by herself, but she still had Bowen and Xiuhong by her side.