Chapter 26
Chapter 26: Report to Police, You Must Report It to the Police
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
When the three of them returned to the village, Lin Xiujuan, Old Madam Ma, who lived next door to the Liu family, and Old Madam Ma’s daughter-in-law were sitting under a tree at the door. They were holding their bowls in their hands while chatting.
Seeing that Zhou Xiaoli had returned with a cart full of things, Old Madam Ma and her daughter-in-law widened their eyes, wanting to see what was in the cart.
However, Zhou Xiaoli had covered the cart tightly with a cloth, so they couldn’t see anything try as they might.
Unwilling to give up, Old Madam Ma and her daughter-in-law walked over with their bowls. “Eh, isn’t this the daughter of the eldest Zhou son? She’s back from selling the pigs. Aiyo, this is amazing. She bought such a big cart of things. She must have earned a lot of money!”
As they spoke, the two of them moved closer to Zhou Xiaoli and reached out to lift the white cloth covering the cart.
Zhou Xiaoli’s brows furrowed, and her face was filled with displeasure. She grabbed their hands and said coldly, “What are you doing!”
Old Madam Ma did not feel that her actions were wrong at all. “Child, why are you so petty? You’ve already earned a lot of money. Let me see what good things you’ve bought,” she said in a self-righteous manner.
It was known by all that Old Madam Ma and her daughter-in-law have bad habits. One loved to gossip about others and was famous for being a ‘loudspeaker’ in the village.
The other was someone who wanted to take advantage of everything and anything.
The two of them were most enthusiastic in supporting Old Madam Bao in her demand for them to share the pork equally yesterday.
At this moment, they insisted on looking at the things in her cart and it was clear that they wanted to take the chance to take advantage of her. Would Zhou Xiaoli let them have their way?
Of course not. “What does it have to do with you as to how much I have earned? What I buy has nothing to do with you as well. Why do you care so much?” She retorted immediately.
“Aiyaya, look, look, look. This girl is so good at talking back now!” Old Madam Ma started shouting. “Yesterday, she was still calling me auntie and acting pitiful. Today, because she had earned a lot of money, she had changed her attitude to one of being snobbish!”
As she spoke, she placed her bowl on the ground and pulled up her sleeves. “Hmph, let’s see how powerful you can be. You don’t want to let us see but I insist! Let’s see what you can do!”
As she spoke, Old Madam Ma and her daughter-in-law moved. One grabbed Zhou Xiaoli, and the other started to pull things out of the cart without any hesitation.
At this moment, Wei Chiyu was still supporting the pushcart. When he saw that the two women made a move, he freed one hand and grabbed Old Madam Ma by her arm.
When Wei Chiyu returned, he had a straw hat on. Also, Old Madam Ma and her daughter-in-law were so intent on uncovering the contents of the cart that they did not notice who was pushing the cart.
At this moment, Old Madam Ma thought that it was Zhou Yu and was about to scold, “You fool...”
However, as soon as she opened her mouth, her eyes met a pair of amber eyes that carried a hint of dangerous coldness, sending a chill down her spine.
Old Madam Ma was so frightened that she stuttered. “De... Demon...”
Because Wei Chiyu had kidnapped the son of the Lu family and threatened to roast him previously, many villagers said that Wei Chiyu must have eaten a lot of people in the past.
Behind his back, everyone said that he was a man-eating evil spirit, the reincarnation of a demon.
Now that she suddenly met Wei Chiyu face-on, Old Madam Ma was terrified.
As for Old Madam Ma’s daughter-in-law, Madam Cui, she did not realize that her mother-in-law was frightened.
As she pushed Zhou Xiaoli and Zhou Yu away, she desperately tried to dig out the things on the cart. She kept shouting, “Aiya, Mother, it’s pea filling. Brother Xiang loves it!”
Brother Xiang was her son.
As she spoke, she even pinched a piece of it and placed it in her mouth. She then went to dig for other things. As soon as she found anything that was edible, she would stuff it into her mouth without hesitation.
This time, Zhou Xiaoli was really angry. She simply ignored her and pulled Zhou Yu to the side.
She allowed her to dig around and turned to Zhang Lan and the two little fellows who had run out of the courtyard when they heard the commotion. “Brother Jun! Go, follow your Brother Chiyu to the county to find the police! Ask them to come to our Boyu Village to catch thieves and bandits!” 𝐟𝚛e𝗲𝚠𝗲𝑏𝓃𝑜ν𝐞𝘭. c𝒐𝓂
As soon as these words were spoken, Old Madam Ma’s daughter-in-law, Madam Cui, finally stopped pulling things out of the cart. “Thief? Bandit? No, Sister Li, who are you talking about? How can there be thieves and robbers in our village?” she said with uncertainty in her voice.
As soon as Old Madam Ma heard that they were going to call the police, she couldn’t care less about her fear of Wei Chiyu. She said, “Yes, yes. How can there be thieves and robbers? Don’t joke around.”
Zhou Xiaoli snorted and said coldly, “Auntie, I’m not joking. Didn’t your mother teach you when you were young that taking other people’s things without permission is considered as stealing and robbing?”
“What you’re doing now are typical behaviors of a thief and robber!”
Old Madam Ma and her daughter-in-law immediately resisted. “No, child, I thought you looked quite smart? We’re all neighbors and we’re just here to take a look. How did we become thieves?”
Madam Cui nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, we didn’t steal. We just wanted to take a look.”
Zhou Xiaoli did not back down and instead, pressed forward. “Look? Is that how you look at the cart? Look at what you’ve done. Let me tell you, this is a crime scene. It’s physical evidence! Also, we all saw you eat the food earlier. We are all witnesses to it. You can’t deny it!”
On the other side, Wei Chiyu also said, “Brother Jun, come over quickly. Let’s find the police now!”
“Okay, okay.” Zhou Junjun quickly ran to Wei Chiyu’s side.
As the two of them spoke, they prepared to head into the county again.
Everyone was shocked by the mention of the police. No one noticed that Zhou Junjun could speak.
As for Old Madam Ma and her daughter-in-law, they were now sure that Zhou Xiaoli was serious. They were frightened and hurriedly went to stop her.
However, they were also afraid of Wei Chiyu’s reputation as a demon, so they quickly cried out loud and asked the villagers standing around to help speak up.
“No, you can’t report it to the police...”
Lin Xiujuan, who had been watching the show, said symbolically, “No, of course not. We’re all neighbors and we would meet often.”
The other neighbors who were watching the commotion also started to chime in. “Yes, we’re all neighbors. Don’t make it so ugly.”
Zhou Xiaoli did not back down at all. She seemed to be the domineering one as Old Madam Ma and Madam Cui cried and acted pitiful in front of her.
She immediately started crying as well.
Pretending to be the victim and weakling? Who didn’t know how to do that?
She flung her handkerchief away and covered her mouth as she started sobbing. “I know. My father can’t give me support and so, they can bully us just because there’s no man in charge of my family.”
“If it were anything else, I wouldn’t have said anything. I’ll just endure it and let it pass. However, my mother’s body is weak and we can’t stop her medication. It’s not easy for a weak woman like me to support the family.”
“Finally the heavens took pity on me and allowed me to have the money to buy medicine for my mother. However, not only did they open my mother’s life-saving medicine, but they also threw it everywhere. This is not only stealing, but also harming her life in a way. They want our family to die.”
...