Chapter 167: The Thief Is Someone Else
As the startled cries of the villagers who ran ahead echoed back, everyone who had been standing by Ning Xiyue’s kitchen — including the team leader — rushed over.
Two public security officers were escorting Li Qiang along with the tools he had used in the break-in toward Chen Yechu’s kitchen.
“Ah Qiang…”
Zhang Xiaohua called out weakly, looking pitifully at Li Qiang, who was being held up by the officers. She trailed far behind them, helpless and too scared to get close.
Seeing her like that, Ning Xiyue sighed, locked her own door, and followed the others to Chen Yechu’s side.
When she got there, she finally saw the state of Chen Yechu’s kitchen.
The lock on the door had been pried open and lay discarded on the ground. Inside, many items were missing.
Bags of rice, flour, cooking oil, and meat had all been piled onto a bicycle parked at the doorway. Even the bicycle lock had been broken.
Every part of the bicycle where something could be hung was loaded with goods — even the most valuable large iron pot had been tied to the back seat.
“Captain, comrades, my bike was originally parked inside the kitchen. All these items hanging on it are from my kitchen. From the looks of it, someone was trying to steal both my things and my bicycle.”
Chen Yechu stepped into the kitchen with the group, pointing to the empty stove platform as she calmly stated the facts. She didn’t accuse anyone outright.
But everyone present had already guessed — they all suspected Li Qiang, who had just been caught next door.
All eyes turned in unison toward the unconscious Li Qiang.
Some villagers who had been robbed in the past were now silently wondering if he had been behind those thefts too.
The team leader stared coldly at Li Qiang and Zhang Xiaohua. Li Qiang, still unconscious, didn’t react, but Zhang Xiaohua, still awake, began to feel nervous under his gaze and stumbled backward.
“It’s not him,” she protested quickly. “I swear it wasn’t Li Qiang!”
The team leader shifted his gaze to Ning Xiyue. “Yue girl, come here and see if you can wake him up. The comrades need to question him.”
“Alright.”
Ning Xiyue was curious too — something didn’t add up.
When she’d left with her bowl after eating earlier, Li Qiang had still been kneeling, begging Chen Yechu for money. She’d only been gone long enough to wash a single bowl — just a few minutes — hardly enough time for him to do all this.
At most, he could have run into her kitchen and broken her bicycle lock.
She pulled out a silver needle and pricked him once.
Moments later, Li Qiang groggily regained consciousness.
The team leader questioned him immediately: “Li Qiang, explain yourself. Did you do all this?”
“Speak clearly,” Officer Sun barked sternly. “If you lie today, the punishment will be worse.”
Seeing the two public security officers standing over him, Li Qiang’s legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground, trembling as he explained:
“Captain, comrades, I’ve been framed! I didn’t do this — I swear I didn’t! I never even came over here! You have to believe me!”
Chen Yechu watched him carefully. He didn’t sound like he was lying. As much as she disliked him for trying to scam her, she didn’t want to wrong an innocent man while letting the real thief go free.
“Comrades,” she said, “there’s still a footprint by the bicycle. I saw it when I came in. We can bring him over to compare it.”
At that, everyone’s eyes turned toward the spot — sure enough, there was a single footprint in the snow near the bicycle tire.
None of them had walked that far over, and the crowd had been standing back by the kitchen, watching.
That had to be the thief’s footprint.
Ning Xiyue glanced at the print and then at Li Qiang’s shoe — they didn’t seem to match in size.
The thief was someone else.
Sure enough, the officers had Li Qiang remove his shoes and placed one over the footprint. It didn’t match — the print was larger.
Clearly, it wasn’t his.
Relieved, Li Qiang’s tense shoulders relaxed.
Zhang Xiaohua’s expression softened with relief too.
The officers then had the onlookers try their shoes one by one, but none of them matched either.
“Then who was it? This is strange… Did we wrongly accuse Li Qiang?” the crowd murmured, confused.
The officers turned back to Li Qiang. “Then why were you in the next kitchen? And why did you break into someone else’s and try to open their bicycle lock?”
“Yeah,” another villager added. “Li Qiang was caught in Comrade Ning’s kitchen. That much is true.”
“This…” Li Qiang hesitated, unable to speak.
The team leader’s expression darkened. “Speak. What were you doing?”
Ning Xiyue fixed her eyes on him, waiting.
The officers’ sharp gaze bore down on him.
Overwhelmed, Li Qiang blurted out, “I—I just wanted to move Comrade Chen’s bicycle and use it as leverage. I went to the wrong place. I wasn’t trying to steal the bike, I swear I wasn’t!”
Chen Yechu’s face darkened. Li Qiang really would stoop to anything for money — even using her bicycle as a bargaining chip. She said nothing, watching him quietly.
Li Qiang crawled toward Ning Xiyue, crying and apologizing: “Comrade Ning, I’m sorry! I really am sorry. I wasn’t trying to steal your bike. Please believe me — I’m sorry for scaring you!”
Truthfully, he was terrified of Ning Xiyue. When he realized he had entered her kitchen and tampered with her bicycle, he’d been terrified she’d hit him over the head with a brick and send him flying into the latrine.
So his apology was painfully sincere — snot and tears everywhere.
Zhang Xiaohua followed suit, playing the sympathy card, talking about their elderly and children to care for, their collapsed house, and so on.
Ning Xiyue looked around and saw the softened expressions on people’s faces — even the team leader’s gaze showed pity.
“System, use my last 10 points to check if he’s lying.”
[Alright, Host.]
[Ding! No lies detected.]
Since that was the case, she figured giving him a beating earlier had been enough of a release. The rest wasn’t her problem — it was between him and Chen Yechu now.
“In that case, I’ll let it go. But you broke the lock on my bike. You’ll have to pay for that.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll pay! I’ll definitely pay!”
Li Qiang nodded repeatedly. As long as he was cleared of the theft charge, he wasn’t too worried about the rest.
The officers said nothing more.
Chen Yechu, now standing as Li Qiang got to his feet, spoke coldly: “Since things with Xiyue are clear, let’s talk about me. You tried to scam me. Are you saying you planned to use my and Liu Yao’s bicycles to threaten me into giving you money?”
Li Qiang, knowing when to fold, softened immediately. With the police watching and knowing Chen Yechu’s personality — she wasn’t one to be messed with — he gave up trying to argue.
“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I was blinded by money. I should have listened to you when you warned me. I shouldn’t have cursed you.”
He stood before her and bowed deeply.
“Comrade Chen, I apologize. I shouldn’t have blamed you for the collapse of my house. But I was desperate — all my family’s belongings were buried in the snow, my child was injured, I have no money and no food… I wasn’t thinking straight.”
This caught Chen Yechu off guard. If he had come at her aggressively, she could have fought back. But faced with such a sincere apology, her already soft heart struggled to stay angry.
All eyes were now on Chen Yechu, waiting. She stayed silent.
Seeing this, Li Qiang made a bold move — he pulled Zhang Xiaohua down with him, and they both knelt before Chen Yechu, begging for forgiveness.
“Come on, Comrade Chen,” someone in the crowd urged. “Maybe just forgive them.”
As they knelt, the snow beneath them was swept aside — revealing something beneath it.
“Huh? What’s that?” Ning Xiyue’s sharp eyes spotted something glinting beneath the back wheel of the bicycle. She pointed and shouted to the officers, “Comrades! There seems to be something there!”
One officer crouched down and pulled something out — a black string with a copper coin threaded on it.
“Whose is this? Does anyone recognize it?”
“It’s not ours,” most of the crowd said, shaking their heads.
Aunt Liu, the gossip queen, rubbed her temples. “It looks familiar. I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before… but I can’t remember.”
“Try to remember,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaohua’s pupils dilated when she saw the copper coin. A flash of shock crossed her face.
Li Qiang also shot her a quick glance.
Their reactions did not escape Ning Xiyue’s sharp eyes.
These two definitely knew something — they recognized the coin and its owner.
Officer Sun, whose eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s, noticed their reaction too. He held the coin out to Zhang Xiaohua. “Do you recognize this?”
Chen Yechu had also seen Li Qiang’s subtle reaction.
“You two know something, don’t you? Tell us. If you do, I’ll forgive you and drop this whole matter.”
