Friends
Seeing that he couldn’t escape, Qian Duoduo reluctantly admitted his guilt. “Please, don’t take off my shoes! I confess, I stole the corn.”
The shoes he wore were his only pair of cloth shoes. If they were taken away, he feared he would be left without any footwear.
“You little rascal! You stole it yourself and now you’re trying to frame Su Cheng!” Qian Erhu exclaimed, his hand ready to strike, but Ms. Lin intervened just in time.
“Stop! Don’t hit him! If you do, he might go back on his confession, and we won’t receive any compensation!” Ms. Lin cautioned.
Qian Duoduo’s father was not someone to be trifled with. While stealing a hundred yuan was beyond belief, stealing even a single yuan would result in a punishment ten times worse. Ms. Lin had to make sure they got something out of it.
Angry and sorrowful, Su Cheng confronted Qian Duoduo, “Why did you hide the corn in my sweet potato field? Were you intentionally trying to frame me?!”
Qian Duoduo guiltily explained, “I didn’t mean to. I had nowhere else to hide it, and I never expected it to implicate you. I even tried to defend you…”
Interrupting him with anger, Su Cheng retorted, “No matter how much nonsense you spout, it doesn’t excuse you from owning up to your actions!”
“I considered you a friend, but what about you?”
Moments ago, Su Cheng had almost been humiliated. Qian Duoduo knew Su Cheng was innocent, yet he still failed to confess.
Blushing, Qian Duoduo lowered his head in shame.
At that moment, the village chief, Qian Guangcai, arrived with two men trailing behind him.
Qian Guangcai, who earned two liang a month as the village chief, was responsible for managing the village’s affairs.
Ms. Lin was a troublemaker in the village, and Qian Guangcai’s mood would sour every time he encountered her.
He asked with a stern expression, “What is going on here, Ms. Lin? I heard you were planning to publicly humiliate your nephew by taking off his pants?”
Ms. Lin put on a fake smile. “Village Chief, it was just a misunderstanding. I was merely trying to scare him.”
Then, Ms. Lin recounted the incident, conveniently leaving out her wrongdoing towards Su Cheng.
However, Su Cheng stood up and courageously told the truth, not caring if it offended his aunt.
The young boys took turns testifying, supporting Su Cheng’s account.
The village chief’s face turned dark. “Ms. Lin! You are the most troublesome and unreasonable person in this village! Consider this your final warning. If such an incident occurs again in the future, I will personally ensure you receive 30 lashes!”
Qin Zhenzhen had no interest in witnessing how the village chief would handle the stolen corn situation. She turned around and headed home.
“Fifth Brother, let’s not watch any longer. This is just bad luck!” Su Ning hastily pulled Su Cheng along and followed Qin Zhenzhen home.
Despite being exonerated, Su Cheng couldn’t find happiness in the outcome. Qian Duoduo had been his only friend in the village, but this friend had nearly subjected him to humiliation.
To say that he wasn’t angry would be a lie.
To say that he wasn’t saddened would be a lie as well.
Su Ning expressed his disdain for Qian Duoduo as they walked along.
“I never expected Qian Duoduo to be like this!”
“Fifth Brother, let’s not play with him anymore. There’s definitely something wrong with his character!”
“If it weren’t for Third Sister-in-law’s intervention today, Aunt would have stripped off your pants!”
“In such a situation, Qian Duoduo didn’t have the courage to confess. I can forgive him, but he shouldn’t have hidden the corn in our sweet potato field!”
“Right next to us is Qian Shan’s family’s sweet potato field, but he chose to hide it on our side. I suspect he did it on purpose!”
“He knew we were clearing the annual ragweeds nearby, making it easier for Aunt and others to misunderstand us!”
Su Cheng felt a deep sadness but remained silent.