The old woman’s eyes flickered upon hearing Xiaoxiao’s words, but then she continued to wail:
"How can it be false? My poor son, just in his twenties! Oh Heaven! I don’t want to live anymore!" Saying so, she proceeded to throw herself at the door!
Onlookers hurriedly stepped forward to prevent the old woman from hitting the wall, feeling somewhat sympathetic towards her.
"What’s with this girl? Someone has died, how can she have no sympathy at all!"
"Yes, yes, stop causing trouble, can’t you see the person is dead?"
Xiaoxiao didn’t care whether the old woman would hit the door or not, nor did she pay attention to the people’s reactions, continuing to speak, holding a knife she’d gotten from who knows where:
"You say he’s dead, right? Well, then, let’s have an autopsy and cut open your son’s belly. Let’s see if there’s any spicy cabbage inside. Don’t worry, I won’t dissect your son in vain, I will compensate you. Oh, right, I’ve reported to the officials, the government officer will arrive soon!"
As she spoke, she casually played with the knife in her hand, making everyone afraid to even breathe.
She had seen it clearly, the body was still breathing out air. In the dead of winter, how could a dead body exhale steam? This was clearly an attempt to swindle people.
So she had to bluff! You say you’re dead? Then let’s dissect and see! Wouldn’t that scare you back to life?
"What did you say? Reported to the officials? Autopsy? That can’t happen! How can my son be subjected to the knife! No, no."
The old woman grew scared, thinking she just wouldn’t allow it. What could a little girl do to her? Surely she wouldn’t actually chop up her son, right?
Just then, a real government officer squeezed through the crowd and arrived!
"Who reported this to the officials?"
When the old woman saw an actual government officer had come, she was immediately dumbfounded, hurriedly saying:
"Officer sir, we’re not reporting, we’re not reporting! Nobody reported anything!"
After saying this, she gestured for her family to carry the body away.
Seeing that people were about to leave, Xiaoxiao quickly stopped them, thinking how she was just starting to have fun!
"Esteemed corpse, sir, it’s time for you to speak up. Do you really want me to dissect you? My knife isn’t discerning, and you might really become a corpse with one cut," she said, as she tapped the corpse’s cheek with the back of her knife.
The ’corpse’ suddenly sprang to life, leaping around in a comical fashion.
"I don’t want to be dissected, I don’t want to be dissected."
Everyone was startled by the sudden emergence of the ’corpse’, and upon seeing the ’dead’ come to life, they understood everything. It was a feigned death to extort money, and they had nearly been fooled.
"The truth reveals itself, no need to lay siege!"
After saying this, Xiaoxiao shot a look at Chu Lian, as if to say, look, it was that simple!
Chu Lian, seeing how Xiaoxiao handled the situation, was once again impressed by the girl, though her manner with the knife was rather intimidating.
This time Xiaoxiao had dealt with the matter completely in the style of a ruffian because pretending to be dead was in itself a very funny and ridiculous matter.
The old woman’s family, seeing that their ruse had been exposed, knelt down and began begging for mercy, crying.
"We didn’t want to do this, but we really ran out of food at home, so we thought of pretending to be dead to extort some silver!"
"Please spare us, we won’t dare to do it again."
"Officer sir, please don’t arrest me, I don’t want to go to jail."
The old woman was truly crying this time, but it was too late; the government officer took them away nonetheless!
"The girl is amazing."
"Yes, we never imagined they were so despicable to deceive us all!"
"That’s right, girl, we were rude to you just now, please don’t be offended!"
Knowing the truth, the crowd apologized to Xiaoxiao one after another, and they all began to admire her.
At this moment, another family that had been affected could no longer sit still.
"He may have faked his death, but our diarrhea is real. It was all because of this spicy cabbage!"