Chapter 1201: Solving the robbery case and taking advantage of others

When Su Da returned to his home in Sishui Township, he put down the two hundred shields on his back, and his face was full of brilliance:

"Second brother, with this money, plus what we have saved over the years, it should be enough to build you a house! Once the house is built, you can marry a wife and continue the family line!"

Building a house, getting married and having children, this is the lifelong ideal of ordinary people.

Su Mingzhe heard this and said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry:
"Brother, you should keep this money for yourself and find a matchmaker to find a wife! I am now a village head, how can I be short of money?"

Seeing that his elder brother was still trying to refuse, Su Mingzhe quickly waved his hand and said:

"Brother, please listen to me first. Please plant all the land, including that one hectare. I am now the head of our Sishui. I will be very busy with official duties in the future and will have no time to take care of my family! Okay, let's leave it at that for now. I still have to catch thieves. I will talk about other things when I come back!"

Su Mingzhe said this and left home with Cao Wushang.

When they got to a deserted place outside, Cao Wushang, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke:

"Second Brother Su, we were wrong to frame your eldest brother this time, but you also sent us to the government for investigation. You can't retaliate again..."

When Su Mingzhe heard him say this, he immediately showed contempt and disdain in his eyes and said:

"Cao Wushang, do you think I'm a gangster like you brothers? I'm an upright man. If I say I'm going to catch a thief, I'm going to catch a thief. Are you afraid that I'll frame you?"

After hearing this, Cao Wushang smiled awkwardly and dared not speak again.

Su Mingzhe looked at the sky and saw that it was getting dark, so he didn't want to continue chatting with Cao Wushang:
"Let's go and take a look at that rich man's house first!"

After Qin unified the six kingdoms, it set up thirty-six counties.

Pei County, where Su Mingzhe is located, belongs to Sacheon County and is even the county seat. It is a veritable large county with nearly 50,000 households, accounting for one-eighth of the total population of Sacheon County.

Sishui Township, where Su Mingzhe is located, is a large township not too far from the county seat. Its population ranks among the top among the twelve townships in Pei County, with nearly 4,000 households and a total population of more than 15,000.

Such a large township has more than twenty village chiefs.

The jurisdiction of each pavilion chief is roughly equivalent to a village, with about 200 households.

That rich man Zhang was originally the only official in the village. He owned one hectare of land by himself, and was the envy of his neighbors.

However, no one is perfect.

While serving in the army, this rich man was seriously injured and unable to walk. Three fingers on his right hand were chopped off by the enemy. After returning home, although he had no worries about food and clothing, he could only rely on renting out his land and living alone with an old servant.

Su Mingzhe brought Cao Wushang to visit and inquire about the case.

Zhang Li had already learned that Liu San and others had framed Su Da and were taken to the county government office by Su Mingzhe, but he didn't know that Su Mingzhe had become the new local headman because of his merits.

As the saying goes, there are three things a new official should do when he takes office.

When Zhang Li learned of Su Mingzhe's purpose, he thought that the new head of the pavilion coming to his house to investigate a case right after taking office was considered to be courageous, so he quickly asked the old servant to take him to the stolen warehouse to look for clues.

The old servant was really old, with gray hair and beard, and a hunched back. He took three steps and panted. After he led the two men to the door of the warehouse, he said with anger:
"Captain Su, my family's grain is usually stored in this warehouse. Five days ago, when I was on night patrol, I didn't hear the yard guard Heizi calling, so I ran over to check. As a result... I saw Heizi lying there motionless... These damn thieves took away the grain, but why did they not let my Heizi go——"

Su Mingzhe listened to the old servant's description, went into the warehouse to take a look, and began to think:

"The two warehouses in the warehouse were filled with at least 50 to 60 dan of grain. This thief only stole two dan. He must have been a single person!"

"Moreover, this thief killed Heizi, who was guarding the house, but did not alert the old servant. He must have been here before, or he was particularly familiar with Zhang Fuhu's house... This makes it possible that the crime was committed by an acquaintance!"

Su Mingzhe carefully searched for his original body's understanding of Zhang Fuhu, and slowly formed some guesses in his mind.

However, this speculation is not yet groundless.

So, after a while, Su Mingzhe silently lowered his head and smelled it.

Using his nose to smell the odor left by the thief and track it is one of the few methods Su Mingzhe can use at present.

After all, his current cultivation and magic power are almost non-existent.

But even using the sense of smell would be difficult. After all, it had been five days since the food was stolen.

Many of the smells are gone.

Su Mingzhe sniffed for a while and finally found a little unusual smell. He immediately ran out of the door with Cao Wushang.

The old servant hesitated for a moment, then turned to look for his master, and the two of them followed him out.

In just a moment, the two caught up with Su Mingzhe and Cao Wushang, and the four of them arrived at the gate of a dilapidated courtyard.

Zhang Li saw Su Mingzhe was about to break in and quickly stopped him:

"Brother Su, this is my nephew's wife's home. My nephew Zhang Qing has been serving in the army for more than two years and has not returned yet. He must be in danger. Now, there is only a woman with a posthumous child left in his family. She definitely didn't steal the food in my house!"

"If it is true, you can find out by going in and asking."

Su Mingzhe pushed Zhang Li away expressionlessly and rushed straight into the yard.

In the dilapidated courtyard, a woman was feeding a child. When she saw the four people appear, she hesitated for a moment, then greeted Zhang Li:

"Uncle, are you out here to enjoy the cool air?"

"Yes, come out and enjoy the cool air!"

Zhang Li saw Su Mingzhe's sharp eyes, constantly scanning the entire dilapidated yard. Fearing that Su Mingzhe had seen something, he was about to speak, but Su Mingzhe had already found a clue. He rushed to the side of the kitchen, pushed aside a pile of firewood, and revealed a dark hole:
"Mr. Zhang, the grain that was stolen from your house is in this cellar."

After Su Mingzhe finished speaking, he didn't care that Zhang Li's face had turned pale, he walked up to the woman and introduced himself:
"Mrs. Zhang Qing, I'm Su Er, the head of our village, and also the newly appointed head of the village. Your uncle's family lost several bags of grain and reported it to the authorities. I was ordered to investigate..."

When Madam Zhang Qing heard the purpose of Su Mingzhe's visit, she did not dare to hide it and immediately explained:
"The food was... sent by my uncle."

Zhang Li was furious when he heard this:
"You said that it was Zhang Hong who stole my family's food?"

When Su Mingzhe heard the name 'Zhang Hong', his mouth curled up immediately:
"Zhang Hong... I remember that he went to the nearby Weishan Lake to become a pirate last winter... Mr. Zhang, am I remembering this correctly?"

"Brother Su, let's talk for a moment!"

Zhang Li struggled for a moment, then pulled Su Mingzhe aside and whispered:
"Zhang Hong is also my nephew. Since he took my family's grain, it must be a misunderstanding. I'm withdrawing from this case!"

When Su Mingzhe heard this, he felt as if he had heard something out of the ordinary, and a cold smile that made people's backs chill hung on the corner of his mouth:

"Mr. Zhang, you must know that this is a theft case that has been brought to the county magistrate's court. For your case, the former headman Liu San, as well as his accomplices Lu Wan, Shen Yiji, and Cao Wushang, were all convicted of 'false accusations'. Now, do you think you can just withdraw with a simple 'withdrawal'?"

"Then, Brother Su, how can we withdraw?"

Zhang Li felt his scalp tingling when he saw Su Mingzhe's sneer. He also knew that there was a pirate in his family. If he didn't suffer a heavy loss, his family would be in danger of being destroyed.

Su Mingzhe was not polite either, with a slight smile on his face, saying:

"Mr. Zhang, according to Qin law, since this case has caused a very bad impact, if you want to withdraw this case, you need to use the first-level title to atone for the crime. In this case, your one hectare of land and the nine mu of house will no longer be yours!"

"You...you are robbing me by force!"

Zhang Li never expected that the newly appointed Su Er was even more ruthless than the previous Liu San. As soon as he opened his mouth, he wanted to seize his foundation. Zhang Li was so angry that his hands and feet trembled and he couldn't utter a word.

"Mr. Zhang, please don't slander me. I'm just telling you a fact. I didn't say I wanted your land, let alone your house!"

Su Mingzhe saw that Zhang Li was angry and was afraid that he would be angry to death, so he simply took a step back and came to Zhang Qingniang, saying expressionlessly:
"Mrs. Zhang Qing, you are harboring stolen goods. I need to go to the county government office with me. Do you want to leave the child with the neighbors or carry him with you?"

Madam Zhang Qing was just an ordinary woman. She was so frightened by what Su Mingzhe and Zhang Li said that her whole body was trembling. Only her hands were still tightly holding her son, and she refused to let go even if she died.

At this time, Zhang Li finally remembered that he had no children and had to rely on Zhang Hong and Zhang Qing to take care of him in his old age. He could only sigh, stop Su Mingzhe, and said unhappily:

"Brother Su, please be generous and let us do as you say!"

(End of this chapter)