117 Mistake
A sharp-tongued woman from Hu Village pounced at Li Yu’s feet and begged, “Miss, please let him go. Our entire family relies on him to earn money. If you give him to the officials, my family will have no food. Miss, you’re beautiful and kind. You definitely won’t watch my family starve to death. Just take it as a good deed and let them go! Please, Miss.”
Li Yu watched coldly as her tears and snot flowed together. She said firmly, “No, if I’ll let you go today. My family can forget about living a peaceful life in the future. Let’s go. We have to report this to the authorities.”
The old man walked out again and accused Li Yu shakily, “Miss, are you made of iron? So many people are begging you. Can’t you be lenient?”
Li Yu was unmoved and reprimanded, “Don’t stand there and talk nonsense. It’s because they didn’t steal from your house!”
A man from Hu Village whispered, “This woman is not easy to fool. In my opinion, let’s not waste our breath. We’ll rush over and snatch them away.”
The man beside him glanced at the man sitting on the ground and said fearfully, “She’s so strong. Can we even fight someone who defeated Brother Sheng?”
The man glanced at him. “Ah Gui, have you forgotten that the last time you were captured, you relied on Fifth Brother and the others to snatch you back? You can’t be disloyal. No matter how strong she is, she’s only one person. She’s outnumbered. Let’s see who she captures. Let’s go and snatch them home first.”
Ah Gui could only nod. “Alright, we’ll listen to you. Let’s see who she stops.”
The other twenty or so men nodded in agreement.
The man who suggested rushing over to snatch the person led the men from Hu Village towards the cowshed.
Li Yu shouted, “Ruyi, get ready. They’re going to snatch them away.”
As she spoke, Li Yu jumped over and grabbed the leader. She pulled him over her shoulder and threw him to the ground. Then, Li Yu kicked him. The man heard the sound of his bones cracking. He hugged his feet and howled like a pig being slaughtered.
Ruyi went forward and kicked a man away. With one hand on the ground, he spun on the spot and swept another leg down. Uncle Zhao rushed up with a stick and hit the person on the ground.
The other servants, armed with clubs, joined the melee.
Chen Yaohui had also arrived with the men from the village. Seeing that they were fighting, he waved his hand and shouted, “Hurry up, they’re fighting. Everyone, go and help. Kill these thieves.” Everyone shouted and rushed up.
In a moment, everyone from Hu Village was knocked to the ground and beaten up.
Chen Gui shouted as he fought, “You came to our village to steal and were caught on the spot. How dare you bring people to rob us? I’m not even afraid of the bandits of the Clear Wind Ridge.”
“Yes, we have a right to kill them. They must have stolen my chickens and sun-dried clothes,” someone shouted.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the old man from Hu Village hurriedly bent down and cupped his fists. He bowed to the men from Phoenix Cry Village and begged for mercy. “Everyone, stop fighting. It’s our fault. We’ll compensate you no matter how much we should pay.”
The women kept kowtowing and begging for mercy. “Stop fighting, stop fighting. We won’t dare to cause trouble in your village again. Please stop fighting.”
Chen Yaohui felt that this beating must have scared the people of Hu Village. He winked at Li Yu and walked to the middle to raise his hand. “On account of this old man and these women pleading for them, I think they know their mistake. Everyone, stop!”
Seeing that Chen Yaohui was helping, Old Hu hurriedly said, “Yes, yes, we know our mistake. Please stop fighting. If you continue, someone will die.”
Seeing that everyone had stopped, Chen Yaohui said to Li Yu, “Xiaoyu, Old Hu said that they were wrong and are willing to compensate your family for the loss. What do you think?”
Old Hu bowed and walked up to Li Yu. He begged humbly, “Miss, it’s wrong for them to steal. It’s our fault for coming to snatch them. Please be magnanimous and let us off this time. Please.”
Li Yu raised her head. “No, as the old saying goes, you can only be a thief for a thousand years. Without a thousand years to guard against thieves, my family will be busy catching thieves every day after I let you go. Then how am I going to live?”
The man who was lifted up and thrown to the ground by Li Yu lay on the ground and shouted, “Uncle, don’t beg them. At most, they’ll be imprisoned for two days. It’s not like they haven’t been imprisoned before.”
Old Hu looked at them with heartache. The men who were suppressed by Ruyi and the others on the ground hesitated.
Li Yu said to Ruyi, “Ruyi, go and get two carts over. Send those cattle thieves and these people who came to snatch people to the government office.”
“Yes, Miss,” Ruyi replied with a bow. He turned and went to rig the car.
“You can’t send them to the government office.” A few women crawled in front of Li Yu and cried non-stop. “Miss, it’s our fault. We shouldn’t have come to steal your cows and even caused trouble. I know that the reputation of our Hu Village isn’t good. You all despise us, but we really don’t have a choice! In the past, we worked obediently at home. After a year, we didn’t even have enough to eat. The children were so hungry that they woke up in the middle of the night and scooped water from the vats to drink. Every year, more than ten children in the village would die. Everyone really had no choice but to do this shady business. However, we’ve never harmed anyone.”
Li Yu felt upset when she saw the women crying their hearts out. However, these were not reasons for them to steal!
Seeing this, the men all shouted, “Sanniang, don’t beg her. These rich people never treat us as humans.”
When Chen Yaohui saw this, he said, “Old Hu, your village’s people stole cows. We only need to report it to the officials. Once they’re arrested and brought to the government office, they will be whipped at least 100 times per cow. There are more than a dozen cows locked in this cowshed. Even if those men are made of iron, they won’t be able to last. Old Hu, we all came from poor backgrounds. We all know that unless it’s absolutely necessary, no one is willing to do such a shameful thing. Since your village men insist on not admitting their mistake, I can only let my niece report it to the officials.”
When Old Hu saw Li Yu’s expression, he understood that she really wanted to report to the authorities. He thought that if she continued to bite and not let go, he would only be sued. At that time, these men from his family would still be the ones to suffer. The Ye family would definitely not stand up to help. It was better to betray the Ye family and exchange for that girl’s release.
After Old Hu bowed to Li Yu, he said, “Miss, as long as you let go of my Hu Village, I, Hu Dashan, swear that from now on, no one from my Hu Village will come to Phoenix Village to take a piece of straw. Besides, we didn’t come to you to steal cows for no reason.”
Li Yu was stunned when she heard that. They didn’t come to steal cows for no reason. Could it be that someone had instructed them to come? Could it be that the Ye family was causing trouble again?
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