"Ma’am, what’s this?"
"The township police are bringing back the Zhou Brothers, and there will be a judgment assembly in our village."
Jiang Xinyu squeezed her small frame into the crowd with difficulty, looking at the Zhou Brothers kneeling on the ground, tied up.
They hung their heads low, without wearing coats, directly kneeling on the ground; they looked cold.
It seemed the township police attached great importance to this matter, and six uniformed officers had come.
Jiang Xinyu also spotted Kong Zhongyou, and somehow felt he had aged several years. But he was not in the center; he stood outside with the crowd watching.
"The nature of stealing grain is too vile. Today, in front of everyone, we’re going to judge them."
Suddenly, a loud cry came from behind, and Jiang Xinyu felt a heavy bump on her back, staggering. Fortunately, Sun Ermei grabbed her, otherwise she’d have fallen flat.
"Dad, Dad!" Zhou Lihong rushed in, kneeling in front of the police, "Please let my dad go, it’s all him, it’s all his doing." Zhou Lihong pointed at Zhou Xiangxing, shouting and crying.
Zhou Jiaxing felt somewhat touched; having an accident, only his eldest daughter came over to plead.
"Get out of the way quickly, don’t interfere with our work, or else you’ll be arrested too."
Tian Shulan came over, dragging Zhou Lihong away, "Listen on the side."
Zhou Lihong struggled and cried, Jiang Xinyu thought the girl still had some spirit.
With great strength, Tian Shulan dragged Zhou Lihong away to a corner.
"Now you two, explain truthfully. Confession leads to leniency, resistance brings severity."
The Zhou Brothers kneeled on the ground, and none of them raised their heads. It was very clear that they wouldn’t say anything.
Nobody knew who, but someone threw clumps of dirt at them—everyone finally found a way to vent their anger.
The police hurriedly stopped it, but the villagers were extremely agitated.
Wang Jianqiang quickly helped in trying to calm everyone down.
"Everyone, calm down, calm down. It’s useless for them to deny it. The four of us caught them red-handed."
"Also, I know they’ve hidden grain in the mountains, stolen during fall harvest." Wang Jianqiang’s words stirred up a storm, everyone stared at him intensely.
"Everyone, patience, wait for the police to interrogate."
All the villagers were animated; although seeds weren’t lost, they knew they couldn’t be eaten. Better not make things worse. But the hidden grain could solve significant problems.
The township police had known about this, initially planning to confiscate the grain, but seeing this situation, it was impossible. After all, the grain belonged to the village.
Kneeling on the ground, the Zhou Brothers realized they were truly finished after hearing Wang Jianqiang’s words.
Even if caught initially, without success, there was still room for argument; however, the grain in the cave was indeed real.
Before they could argue, someone started speaking among the crowd.
"I remember, during the summer wheat harvest, it was the two of them who were responsible for night watch, and during the big fall corn harvest too."
Once someone started talking, many began recalling the two’s unusual behaviors.
Zhou Jiaxing knew it was truly undeniable this time. He glanced at his cousin beside him.
Zhou Xiangxing remained expressionless, head down kneeling.
"Alright, everyone quiet. Zhou Xiangxing, Zhou Jiaxing, aren’t you going to confess? The evidence is conclusive; even if you don’t admit it, you’ll be convicted. But if you confess voluntarily, and take the lead in retrieving the grain, you can receive lenient treatment."
Zhou Jiaxing was anxious, but his cousin made no move.
The scene was briefly quiet, causing Zhou Jiaxing’s psychological defense to completely collapse.
"I’ll confess, I’ll confess. I’ll explain everything."
At this point, a policeman took out pen and paper; someone quickly moved tables and chairs over.
"Zhou Jiaxing, go ahead."
Zhou Jiaxing coughed and cleared his throat, "Everything Wang Jianqiang said is true; the two of us have indeed hidden a lot of grain, about three thousand pounds, some wheat, some corn."
"Where did you hide it?"
"In the cave in the mountains."
"Describe precisely how you stole the grain."
"Our village chief returned and talked about following other villages in reporting excess production, hoping to launch a satellite. But the numbers he mentioned were simply impossible.
But he’s the village chief, making unilateral decisions. My cousin and I discussed that we’ll go hungry this year for sure.
People of our age have experienced hunger, we’re scared."
"So we agreed to secretly stash some grain, something we planted with effort. We can’t starve."
"Thus, the two of us started hiding it in the mountains."
After Zhou Jiaxing finished speaking, the entire village fell silent. Caught by drought, everyone accepted it. The village chief mentioned falsifying reports, and everyone knew but ignored reality, focusing wholly on shifting blame.
The responsible police finished writing the confession, then inquired about Zhou Jiaxing’s seed theft.
"Didn’t you have over three thousand pounds of grain in the mountains? Why steal seeds?"
Zhou Jiaxing glanced at his cousin beside him, who still hadn’t raised his head.
"My cousin wants to be Captain, has spoken to the village chief several times, but the chief told us to figure it out ourselves."
"Wang Jianqiang is popular in the village, pushing him out is not easy, so we came up with this plan."
"Of course, we didn’t mean to eat everything, just planned to return seeds in spring so everyone would be grateful, making it easier for my cousin to become Captain."
"Zhou Jiaxing, Zhou Xiangxing, you two are heartless! Do you even understand what consequences I’d face if your plan succeeded?" Wang Jianqiang trembled with anger.
Kong Zhongyou stood at the side, head lowered, truly resenting these two; he knew he couldn’t completely detach himself this time.
"Zhou Xiangxing, anything to say?"
He remained in the same position, completely unchanged.
"Where have you hidden the grain? Speak up, everyone’s starving; how could you be so heartless? We’re all from the same village, how could you do this?" Qian Shiqin loudly questioned them.
Zhou Jiaxing looked at the police, "Officer, if I confess, will leniency be granted?"
"Alright, I’ll take you there."
A policeman then approached Zhou Jiaxing, untying him, making him press his handprint on the confession.
"Zhou Xiangxing, aren’t you going to confess yet? If you keep refusing cooperation, you should know things will become very serious."