Early the next morning, Zheng Yang came to call Qiu Lin. After breakfast, Qiu Lin followed Zheng Yang to Zheng Yang's room, the two sat on the stools on both sides of the round table, and Li Yi and Meng Xi stood beside them.

After a while, two of Zheng Yang's subordinates brought the thief over. As soon as the thief entered, he knelt in front of them, and there was no rope tied to him, probably knowing that he could not escape anyway, and the whole man trembled with fear. He cautiously raised his head slightly, secretly looked at the few people in front of him, and what caught his eye was that sitting on the left side of the table was a sturdy man in a dark green suit, he was drinking tea with his head down, and his face was blocked by the teacup and he couldn't see his face clearly, but the beard on his face invisibly gave people a fierce feeling, and he was frightened by his image and hurriedly looked to the other side. Sitting on the right was a good-looking man in a light blue shirt with wide sleeves, the same man who had scared him last night, fanning the wind with a folding fan in his hand, with a slight smile on the corner of his mouth, and looking at him with curious eyes, this man seemed much kinder than the man. There was also one person standing next to each of them, and they were both staring at him with an unkind look, so frightened that he quickly lowered his head, and his body trembled even more.

Qiu Lin was also curiously looking at the young man in front of him, last night the lights were dim and he couldn't see clearly, he only felt that he was very thin in rags and looked malnourished, and if he looked at it carefully today, he could only be described by the word beggar. The boy was really thin, so thin that he was almost skinny, and his shirt was covered with large patches, no, to be exact, a large piece of cloth hung loosely on his body, and a dirty strip of fine cloth was used as a belt around his waist, and he wore a pair of obviously smaller rag shoes on his feet, and several toes were exposed, and his hair was tied in a bun on the top of his head in a mess, and his whole body was described in two words—dirty and messy, but his hands and face were still relatively clean, not like the ordinary little beggars on the street, More like a child from a poor family. He really looked like he was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and although he was very scared, his little eyes were very smart, and he should be a very clever person.

The young man saw that several people did not speak and only stared at him, and he saw that his heart was furious, and his hands and feet trembled with fear, and he begged for mercy in a trembling voice: "Uncles, please let me go, I won't dare next time." Please...... Please spare me......"

Qiu Lin coughed and frightened: "Boy, let's talk about it now, why did you come to me to steal?" But let me tell you first, we don't have a good temper, we hate people to trick us the most, and if you don't tell the truth, we can't guarantee that we will do anything. ”

Qiu Lin didn't speak loudly and his tone was not stern, but it could give people an invisible pressure, coupled with Zheng Yang's deliberately released anger, which combined with a feeling of being out of breath.

The young man saw that several people were richly dressed and extraordinary, and could afford to live in the upper room of the best inn in Puzhou City, knowing that their identities were either rich or expensive, and he knew that he could not afford to offend them, and now he only hoped that he could let him go after he told the truth, so he said: "I am really hungry and have no choice but to come and get some silver taels, I don't take much, only take a little enough for us to eat for a few days." ”

Qiu Lin said again: "You're so foolish with me, aren't you?" Come and don't finish it, but plan to take only a little? Who do you coax? ”

The young man became even more anxious when he saw that they didn't believe it: "What I said is true! We've been hungry for days, I'm really not greedy, I really just take a little enough for us to eat for a few days. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't dare to panic with you, what I said is true, I really have no choice but to steal it......" The young man was a little incoherent, and he just wanted them to believe what he said.

Qiu Lin turned his head and glanced at Zheng Yang, both of them knew in their hearts that there must be an article in this matter. It's also easy to deal with this kind of child, and it can be solved by scaring it.

Qiu Lin continued quietly: "It's not difficult for us to believe you, you must answer truthfully if I ask you, if you lie to us, hum~ Then we will send you to the yamen, you know what will happen after you are sent to the yamen, right?" ”

When the young man heard that if he did not tell the truth, he would be sent to the yamen, and his body trembled visibly, and his head was lowered. That's not okay, he can't go in, and if he is sent to the yamen, what will happen to the people in the village? Hurriedly said: "I don't dare to deceive you, I will tell you the truth about whatever you ask." ”

Qiu Lin said: "That's the best." Then I ask you, how many times have you stolen? ”

Teenager: "This is the fifth time. ”

Qiu Lin: "How many taels of silver did you steal?" ”

The young man thought for a moment: "It's about one hundred and fifty or sixty taels." ”

Qiu Lin chuckled: "Yohe~ I'm still a habitual offender!" He turned his head and asked Zheng Yang: "Brother, what will happen if he hands it over to the yamen like this?" ”

Zheng Yang said cooperatively: "One hundred and fifty or sixty taels is already a huge amount, if it is a habitual offender and a huge number, let alone three years in prison, you can't escape." ”

As soon as the young man heard that he might have to spend at least three years in prison, he cried and begged for mercy: "Please don't send me to the yamen, I really have no other way to take this road, I promise that I won't dare next time, we will all starve to death and dare not steal again......"

Qiu Lin: "You just said that you were hungry for several days before you came to steal it, right?" Okay, so let me go ahead and ask you, who are you? How many people are there? ”

Youth: "We live in Shashan Village outside the city, there are more than 40 people in our village, all of them are old, weak, sick and children, although we have a little land to plant, but they are too poor, the grain harvest is very bad, often not enough for us to eat. We went out to find a job to do, and because we were either old and young or inconvenient, no one wanted us, only me and two other similar friends could do some work and barely be able to support it, but I still often had to starve, and I really couldn't stand it anymore so I came out to steal some money and go back to buy some food for everyone. But I promise, I really only steal a little, and definitely don't steal much. ”

This young man was very conscious, and he didn't need Qiu Lin to ask more, he said it all in one go, for fear that Qiu Lin and they would really send him to the yamen.

Qiu Lin and Zheng Yang both frowned after hearing this, if what the young man said was true, it was really a problem.

Zheng Yang asked Qiu Lin softly: "Do you want to call someone from the government to find out about the situation?" ”

Qiu Lin shook his head and said, "Have you forgotten the purpose of our trip this time?" Let's go on our own, maybe there really is. ”

Zheng Yang: "Okay, then let's go." ”

Qiu Lin said to the young man again: "Now you take us to your village to find out the truth, if the situation is really as you said, we will naturally not embarrass you, but if the situation does not match...... Hmph~ Then you're going to live in a prison cell! ”

The young man was very happy when he heard what Qiu Lin said, and he couldn't care about being afraid, so he hurriedly kowtowed and thanked him: "Thank you, masters!" Thank you! "After all, what he said is the truth, as long as they can let him go, the life of the people in the village will be a little better.

The group set off to the village where the boy was to find out the truth, and as soon as they went downstairs, they met Wen Qixiao and them who were drinking tea in the lobby on the first floor.

Wen Qixiao saw that they all walked down, and took the young man he caught last night and asked, "Where are you going?" ”

Zheng Yang replied, "We have to go to this kid's village to find out the situation." ”

Wen Qixiao said: "Let's go together, anyway, we don't have anything to do here." ”

Zheng Yang did not object: "Okay, then let's go together." ”