When Yang Zhu and the other elders saw Ning Meng Yao's house that was akin to a place where locust pa.s.sed through, their faces turned ugly.
They had lived in White Mountain Village for so many years and had never encountered a case of theft. But it had appeared now, and to an orphan girl nonetheless. Ning Meng Yao's action of renting out land had made the villagers very grateful.
The land she rented was small, only a ten few miao. Even if she did not rent, the benefit of people who took on long term work was far better than having that rent.
But now? There was someone who dared to bully her. This was simply hitting their faces.
"Yang Zhu, we must investigate this matter thoroughly. The culprit must be punished without leniency." The oldest person in the crowd angrily slammed the table and said heatedly.
"Uncle, let me deal with this matter." Yang Zhu's face was very ugly. Even though there were some villagers who had bad personality, but there had not been this kind of affair.
If this case was spread out, who would want to marry the younglings of the village? How could they raise their heads in front of others? Thinking these, Yang Zhu felt hateful.
"Go gather the villagers. We must investigate this matter clearly." Yang Zhu spoke to the person beside him heatedly.
"Let's go."
Ning Meng Yao was helpless, she could only follow them to the village and saw them called out the villagers one by one. This made the ma.s.s of people curious. This was a time of harvest, what could be more important than that?
Waiting until most of the villagers had gathered, Yang Zhu coldly said: "I know all of you want to know why we are gathered here. But there is some thing that must be said."
The crowd looked at each other in helplessness. Why were the elders infuriated like this?
"Village head, what on earth happened?"
"That's right. Why are the elders angered like this?"
"From the time White Mountain Village was built, there has been disputes among the neighbors but those were never severe. But today, there has been a case of thief!" Yang Zhu said this and stopped.
The people heard this and exploded into ruckus.
What? There was a thief in their village? What happened?
Ning Meng Yao stood at the side and looked at the people intently. Her mouth slightly curved up. There was someone whose expression made her happily surprised.
"Alright, everyone calm down. Today, Meng Yao girl came back from the mountain to realize that her lock had been pried open. Two to three rooms are a wreck. Her blankets and mattresses are messy, the chests are also chaotic. Not only that, the rice, noodle, oil, and the pickled wild fruits in the kitchen are gone."
After Yang Zhu spoke, everyone was stunned silly. What did the rooms wrecked messy meant? That meant that person was trying to search for money and the likes. The culprit might not find it so she took the foods stored.
"We had gone to see this. Meng Yao's rooms are made as if a locust had pa.s.sed through it. She has not keep wild animals. If she has, wouldn't they all got stolen?" What was locust? Locust was the insect those people hated the most because the places it went through were messy until nothing was left. Using this to represent Ning Meng Yao's house indicated that it was probably not good.
"That's right. This is not one person's little problem. If this spreads out, how can our village raise it's head again? How can the maidens and boys get married?"
"Not only that, it this person makes this a habit, now it is Meng Yao girl's house, then it will be ours after."
A few elders spoke out their thoughts. This matter was originally not related to them, but now they were vigilant. That was right. They lived in the same village. If it's just once then it's fine, but what if this became a habit and the culprit steal things to their houses?
Thinking like that, everybody became restless. Which family did not have maiden and boy? Wasn't this just smearing their village black?