Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 31 - 30 Taking Without Asking is Stealing

Chapter 31: Chapter 30: Taking Without Asking is Stealing

Chapter 31 -30: Taking Without Asking is Stealing

Xiao’er followed them.

As expected, a pheasant and a rabbit were missing from the cage, which made Jinghao burst into tears.

On his way home, he had picked up some wild herbs and vegetables intending to feed them.

Although Jingrui was also angry, he comforted Jinghao by patting his head, “Don’t cry, now let’s go and retrieve what belongs to us.”

Shen Chengyao was also helpless.

The children had mentioned just last night that they wanted to keep the pheasant and the rabbit.

He found himself unable to deal with his sister-in-law’s avaricious and hardened attitudes and could only console the children, “Never mind, I’ll catch a few more from the mountain next time.”

Xiao’er disagreed with his indulgent attitude.

If he let it slide every time, others would only take advantage. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

She despised people who took things without asking the most.

Whoever dared to steal from her home would have to face the consequences.

This world always had such people, who conveniently excused their behaviors with family ties.

They thought what belonged to their siblings

belonged to them too, and what was their own still remained solely theirs.

They had no qualms about taking others’ possessions even more smoothly than their own.

They failed to realize that in this world, no one owes you anything but yourself.

If someone gives you something it’s a favor, and if they don’t that’s just fair.

Many times, people don’t just value physical possessions.

All that matters is respect, and taking without asking is pure disregard for others.

Xiao’er stopped the two.

“Hao’er, our home has been burglarized.

You go to the grain drying ground to find our mother.

Tell her our home has been robbed, and say it loud!”

Jinghao responded, wiped away his tears with his sleeve, and ran out.

Shen Chengyao was too late to stop him.

This would draw unwanted attention and tarnish the family’s reputation.

“Xiao’er, we’re all family.

This isn’t necessary.

Isn’t it shameful to disclose it?”

“Father, we’ve separated our families.

We’re not one anymore.

Besides, some of them even want to betray me, so, if anyone’s shamed it’s not our family.

Who even said it was stolen by someone within the household?

The most important thing is that if you treat this incident like nothing has happened, you’re encouraging the culprit to commit a crime again.

If you keep letting things slide, others will assume our property belongs to them.

In the future, if they claim our house and silver are theirs after living on our farmland, would you let it go?

Also, wouldn’t it bring trouble to my brother and Hao’er if my cousins start to follow this example?

Those who make mistakes should be taught a lesson.

Once bitten, twice shy.” Hearing Shen Chengyao’s words, Xiao’er knew he was clear about who had stolen from their home.

“That’s a bit much.” Shen Chengyao believed that Xiao’er was exaggerating, but he didn’t insist on contradicting her.

It wouldn’t matter to him, but if it affected his children, he wouldn’t compromise either.

Xiao’er didn’t think she was overreacting.

Ignoring the smallest cracks could lead to a large dam collapse; to indulge evil would lead to self-destruction.

However, she couldn’t change his mind right now, so she was just hoping that he wouldn’t interfere.

“Brother, let’s go inside the house and see if anything else is missing.” The two of them ignored Shen Chengyao and went back to the room.

Shen Chengyao scratched his head, realizing that the children seemed upset with him.

He felt wronged and yet followed them.

The two of them checked everything in the room.

They didn’t find signs of their possessions being tampered with, let alone anything missing, which eased their worried mind.

Xiao’er went to the kitchen in the east wing, where she saw Mrs.

Li sprinkling salt into the chicken soup.

“Aunt Li, are you making chicken soup?”

Mrs.

Li felt a bit guilty upon seeing Xiao’er.

“Yes, Hua’er caught a pheasant this morning in the mountain.

So, I decided to slaughter it and make soup.

It would satisfy their craving since we always have vegetables while you guys feast on meat daily, which really twitches their taste buds.”

Xiao’er pointed at the rabbit in the cage on the floor.

“Aunt Li, this rabbit resembles the one missing from our home.

I wonder if my cousin stole it.

Just as our pheasant and rabbit went missing.”

On hearing this, Mrs.

Li got angry.

Nobody who was actually a thief would enjoy being called one.

Thus, she refuted irately, “Who stole your pheasant and rabbit?

All the rabbits on this mountain look the same.

How could it carry your name?

Could it be that your mother slaughtered and ate these secretly when you weren’t home?

At noon, I smelled the aroma of meat coming from your side.”

Xiao’er didn’t argue with her.

“If you didn’t steal it, that’s fine.

My brother is going to report to the officials.

We must call attention to theft as it’s been happening ahead of the year-end.

If something disappears from our house, it must be reported to teach the thieves a lesson.

Otherwise, if they steal a chicken today and silver tomorrow, it will also be quite annoying.

We need to teach thieves a lesson.

Don’t you think so Aunt Li?”

Mrs.

Li cursed in her mind, “All households experience some loss every day.

If everyone reported to the authorities, the officials would be overwhelmed.

Plus, I heard that reporting to the authorities could earn you a beating.” Mrs.

Li intimidated Xiao’er on purpose.

“We’re not scared, our skins are thick.

They won’t beat us more than the thieves.

If thieves aren’t scared, why should I!

Don’t you agree, Aunt Li?” Xiao’er was not an innocent three-year-old and certainly wouldn’t fall for her tricks.

“Why do you always bring up thieves in your conversation?

It’s quite displeasing to hear.” Mrs.

Li found Xiao’er’s comments annoying.

“If we don’t call a thief a thief, should we call them a good person?

Aunt Li, are you defending the thief?”

“I’m just asking you to watch your tongue.” Mrs.

Li replied awkwardly.

“I didn’t curse that thief, how am I being rude?

Does Aunt Er know who the thief is?

Why does she keep speaking up for him?”

“How would I know?

I have no time for this nonsense.” Mrs.

Li avoided eye contact, clearly looking for an exit.

At this point, Jinghao came charging in, leading Mrs.

Liu, followed by Mr.

Shen, Mrs.

Shen, Shen Chengzong, Shen Chengzu and his wife, and a few villagers.

A robbery in the village was a big deal, especially now, towards the end of the year.

Perhaps the thieves were looking to have a decent New Year’s celebration and were stealing left and right.

If their homes were targeted, that would spell trouble.

The villagers were unanimous in their belief that they had to band together and catch the thief.

“Xiao’er, our house was robbed.

Did we lose anything?” Mrs.

Liu asked in a panic, pulling on Xiao’er’s sleeve.

“Our house lost 100 coins.” Xiao’er craftily converted a pheasant and a rabbit into coins to describe the loss.

“We lost silver?

Wife, quickly check inside the house to see if we lost anything else.”

On hearing this, Mr.

Shen also became anxious.

He had just spent tens of taels not too long ago; if they had indeed lost silver now, he might go broke.

Before Mr.

Shen had finished speaking, Mrs.

Shen immediately rushed into the house, and Mrs.

Lu also went back to her own house.

“It’s not just a loss of 100 coins; it’s just a pheasant and a rabbit that were lost.” Mrs.

Li hurriedly clarified.

The loss of silver was a different matter entirely.

She could excuse taking the pheasant and rabbit from the third branch’s house by blaming it on the children’s greed and the expectation that their uncle would spare a pheasant or a rabbit for his nephews to eat.

But everyone hid their money carefully; to take it, one would have to go into the house and look for it.

The family’s documents clearly stated that it was forbidden to privately take the property of one’s siblings, and this would indeed be considered stealing if taken to the authorities.

In her view, anything other than money could be taken for use, but this theory only applied to the third and fourth branches.

This was typical of her way of intimidating the good and fearing the evil.

“How does Aunt Er know that my family didn’t lose any silver, only a pheasant and a rabbit?” asked Mrs.

Liu who had just gone back into the house to check and indeed found that nothing else had been stolen.

“Xiao’er just told me about it.”

“I only said that my house also happened to lose a pheasant and a rabbit.

I never said we didn’t lose 100 coins.

Aunt Er, why are you so sure that my household didn’t lose anything?”

Xiao’er demanded.

“I don’t know, I thought you meant that no silver was lost!

I was just thinking out loud.”

Mrs.

Li kept waving her hands.

Feeling the gaze of many people on her, she started to panic.

Her guilt was evident to the onlookers.

Everyone found her behavior suspicious and made their own conjectures.

Mrs.

Shen came out of the house to witness Mrs.

Li in this state, and smelled the scent of the chicken soup that was pervading the courtyard.

The situation was clear to her.

Mrs.

Li must have stolen the pheasant from the third branch’s house to cook the chicken soup.

Mrs.

Shen’s contempt for her deepened; Mrs.

Li was always doing such immoral things.

With a fresh thought, she decided to fabricate, “We’re doomed, old man!

The tael of silver I kept in the cupboard this morning is gone.”

Upon hearing that there was indeed a loss of silver, Mr.

Shen abandoned his suspicions towards Mrs.

Li.

He knew that she was dishonest, but he did not believe that she would steal the silver from the house.

That left only one possibility – they had indeed been robbed.

At that point, Mrs.

Lu also emerged from her house.

Shen Chengzu asked her if she had lost anything, and she shook her head.

“Master, now that so much has been stolen from our house, we should report this to the authorities.

Let them investigate.

It would be best if the thief is caught and sent to jail.

Otherwise, who knows what the thief will steal next time, or whose house they will target.” Xiao’er intentionally exaggerated the situation.

Observing the tense expression on Mrs.

Li’s face, Xiao’er sneered inwardly, not afraid that the woman would deny it.

The other villagers agreed with her assertion and advocated for reporting it to the authorities as well.

“Let’s not report it; we don’t need to.

It’s such a minor incident; we don’t need to involve the authorities!” The possibility of reporting to the authorities increased Mrs.

Li’s frenzy, and she began to panic.

At that point, Shen Chengzong clapped his hands on his thighs and exclaimed, “Oh!

How could I forget?

This morning, Zhi’er wanted chicken, so I took one from your backyard, Lao San.

I planned to go up to the mountain later and grab one more for him, but I forgot to tell you, brother and sister-in-law.

It’s a misunderstanding!

We don’t have to report this; it’s all just a misunderstanding.” As he spoke, Shen Chengzong chuckled, but who would believe his words now, after this issue had been discussed for half the day.

Mrs.

Li hurriedly chimed in, “Yes, yes, it’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding.”