pjbooks Chapter 13 Do you have evidence?
Chapter 13 Do you have evidence?
"Donkey Egg, which eye of yours saw me jump into Old Zhang's sheep pen? Besides you, who else saw it?"
Are there any other witnesses? If not, what about physical evidence?
If there's no witness testimony or physical evidence, don't treat everyone present as fools, believing whatever you say without question.
Li Xiangyang's logically clear and concise explanation left everyone present stunned.
Sister-in-law Zhao Lijuan couldn't help but laugh out loud and silently gave Li Xiangyang a thumbs up.
Even if her brother-in-law spent the whole afternoon fishing with her husband in Zhahar, given the changes in him over the past two days, she didn't believe he would do anything like stealing chickens or dogs.
Second Uncle Li Zhenhai was so angry that his face turned ashen. He had originally planned to perform a heroic act of sacrificing his own family for the greater good, in order to gain merit.
Now, instead of achieving anything, they're feeling ashamed.
It was obvious that Li Xiangyang's seemingly direct attacks on Lv Dan were actually a roundabout way of insulting him. How could he not realize it? Yet, he had no words to refute him.
What bad luck!
How could I have just believed Donkey Egg's one-sided story...?
He still didn't realize it.
All of this was caused by his own inner greed.
After hearing Li Xiangyang's accusations, Donkey Egg's head was spinning. He burst into tears, repeatedly crying out that he was innocent.
"Waaaaah, I don't know... I don't know anything. I didn't steal the sheep, I really didn't steal the sheep."
The other commune cadres and Old Zhang looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
Li Zhenshan finally understood that this group of people were trying to frame his son without any evidence.
and,
They didn't even know whether Donkey Egg had stolen the sheep or not.
It's laughable just thinking about it.
They're treating the Li family like pushovers! They dare to come knocking on our door when nothing's even started.
He leisurely made himself a cup of milk tea and turned to look at the herdsman, Old Zhang.
Asked:
"Old Zhang, did you see Donkey Egg carrying a sheep out of your sheepfold? Or...?"
"No...no, I heard someone outside shouting that sheep were being stolen, and when I came out I saw Donkey Egg in my sheep pen."
Old Zhang felt a little guilty when asked this question.
At the time, he only saw Donkey Egg standing there dumbly in the sheepfold, but since he had heard someone shout that sheep had been stolen, he didn't think much of it and directly treated Donkey Egg as a sheep thief, pinning him to the ground and beating him.
After all, Donkey Egg was a notorious troublemaker in the village, so it was normal for him to steal sheep.
"this……"
Chen Guodong suddenly felt that the matter had been handled somewhat hastily. He exchanged glances with the other commune cadres and said:
"Old Zhang, you have to catch the thief red-handed. If you only saw Donkey Egg in your sheepfold, you can't just say he was stealing sheep, right? And you beat him up like this."
"I already told you, I didn't steal the sheep... Waaaaah..."
Upon hearing this, Donkey Egg cried even harder.
So the conversation shifted from whether Li Xiangyang had participated in stealing the sheep to whether Donkey Egg had stolen the sheep.
If Donkey Egg didn't steal the sheep, then what are they doing at the Li family's house in the middle of the night?
"Since we still don't know whether Donkey Egg stole the sheep or not, you should go back and find out first before coming back to talk. Don't keep us from sleeping!"
Li Zhenshan looked displeased and poured the half-finished cup of milk tea on the ground, saying coldly.
Everyone was taken aback.
No one expected that Li Zhenshan, who had been polite and courteous for most of his life, would suddenly become so tough.
Even Wang Guiying, who had been married to her husband for decades, secretly glanced at her husband, surprised by his change.
Only Li Zhenshan himself knew that he had no choice but to be polite to Li Zhenshan in the past.
His two sons are a simpleton and a lazybones, so his old back just can't straighten up no matter how hard he tries.
Things are different now!
Xiangyang has become more sensible and capable, and Xiangdong has also been influenced to improve.
In rural areas during the 80s, parents who had two sons to carry on the family line had more authority to speak to their children.
Regardless of whether Donkey Egg stole the sheep or not, without any evidence, it had nothing to do with Li Xiangyang. Li Zhenshan also gave the order to leave, so the group could not linger any longer.
Seeing everyone leave, Li Xiangyang suddenly felt a surge of filial piety, ran over and put his arm around his second uncle Li Zhenhai's shoulder, saying:
"Second Uncle, it's dark and the roads are slippery outside. Let me walk you home!"
"Um……?"
Li Zhenhai was momentarily stunned. What was Li Xiangyang up to now?
Wasn't that the bear that was just turning corners a moment ago?
Bang!
Li Zhenhai had just stepped out of the house when he tripped over something.
She fell hard again.
"Hey... Li Xiangyang, you little rascal, I knew you weren't up to any good."
"It's not my fault. The snow was slippery, and my second uncle lost his footing and fell."
Faced with the surprised looks of the crowd, Li Xiangyang waved his hand and went back to the west room.
.........
The next day, it was dawn.
The two brothers, Li Xiangyang and Li Xiangdong, drove the horse-drawn carriage towards Wuzhen.
Due to the extremely low temperature on the grassland, even the water vapor in the air instantly condenses, turning into countless visible ice crystals that float in mid-air, resembling an unfinished ink painting.
Like a dream.
This is the ice fog spectacle, one of the four wonders of the grasslands in winter.
It's really beautiful, and it's really cold.
"Sigh, life... how much money do I need to earn to turn off my 5 AM alarm?"
Li Xiangyang roared to ward off the cold.
Li Xiangdong, driving the carriage ahead, chuckled but didn't reply.
Lately, my younger brother has been using new words that I don't understand from time to time, but I've gotten used to it.
Giddy up!
After an hour-long carriage ride, they finally arrived at the Wuzhen Black Market. As usual, Li Xiangyang took a small bag of fish there first, and then came back to restock after selling them.
If you notice anything amiss, you can run away without worrying about losing all the fish.
"Uncle Quan, good morning!"
"Xiao Yang, you're here too? Come on, set up your stall next to mine."
The middle-aged man named Uncle Quan was the soap vendor who sold soap next to Li Xiangyang yesterday.
Here, people don't use full names; when introducing themselves, they only say one character from their name. Li Xiangyang only learned this after arriving here.
Because Li Xiangyang gave him two crucian carp yesterday, he came early this morning to reserve a stall for Li Xiangyang.
Li Xiangyang had considered it. Although it was a black market now and the people coming and going were different every day, they were still the only fish stall and the quality of the fish was good. Therefore, it would be best to keep the location fixed.
This way, customers who come through introductions and by reputation can find him more quickly.
After all, the key to selling things on the black market is speed. The sooner you sell your stuff and get back, the less risk you'll be caught.
As soon as the burlap sack was laid out, an old woman in a plaid dress came over.
"Young man, why are you so late today? I've already walked back and forth twice."
"Auntie, I want to eat earlier but there's nothing I can do, it's too far from town. What kind of fish do you want to buy? I have small fish, carp..."
"Stop, stop, stop! No need for introductions, buy 5 catties of crucian carp, get 1 catty free, right?"
Wow, you even know that! Looks like you were introduced by someone.
Without wasting any words, Li Xiangyang weighed out six catties of crucian carp, strung them on reeds, and handed them to her.
Cash on delivery, 1 yuan received upon opening the door.
People continued to arrive one after another. The crucian carp was 20 cents a pound, and the offer of buying 5 pounds and getting 1 pound free was very popular and sold out quickly.
Li Xiangyang also made three trips back and forth, carrying about 30 jin of fish each time.
Soon, the large carp, which cost 15 cents a pound, also sold out.
I never expected that the three small fish, each weighing over 10 kilograms, would not sell.
There were quite a few people asking and watching, but when they weighed them, each fish cost more than 3 or 4 yuan, so everyone thought it was too expensive and bought crucian carp and carp instead.
really,
He overestimated the wallets of people in pastoral areas in that era; even small fish that cost 3 cents a pound were something people couldn't bear to buy.
Li Xiangyang was pondering how to sell the last three small fish when he saw the middle-aged man who had been the first to buy fish from him yesterday walk over.
"Young man, have you sold all the fish for today?"
Li Xiangyang was overjoyed.