Era: Starting with the struggle to refuse being taken advantage of

Chapter 300 The sensational robbery case in Wangjia Village

When Zhao Yuju came to her senses, she only saw a dark figure flash past her and quickly disappear around the corner.

"Help! Someone's being robbed! Help!"

Coming to her senses, Zhao Yuju instinctively let out a gasp, which was extremely noticeable in the empty wilderness.

However, the place was too remote, and it took a full three minutes before patrolling militiamen were attracted by Zhao Yuju's cries and rushed over anxiously.

Seeing that Zhao Yuju looked like she had been robbed, Ding Yongkang quickly asked her what had happened:

"Grandma Zhao, what did you lose? What are the characteristics of the person who stole your things? Please tell us quickly."

However, when questioned by Ding Yongkang, Zhao Yuju stammered and said:
"There's nothing there, just a bamboo basket."

"As for what the person who stole my things looked like, I didn't see it clearly. He ran very fast and was masked, so I had no idea."

Zhao Yuju wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that the person who stole her money looked strangely familiar, but she just couldn't remember who it was.

Upon hearing Zhao Yuju say that she had only lost a bamboo basket, Ding Yongkang breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"It's just a bamboo basket? Then this isn't a big problem."

"Come with me to the village office building to register. The village will notify you if there are any leads."

If the lost item is of very low value, it will basically be left unresolved.

After all, often the effort you spend searching for something is more valuable than the thing itself, and in such situations, many people will have to make a trade-off.

Upon hearing that Ding Yongkang intended to smooth things over, Zhao Yuju immediately stopped watching and shouted loudly:

"Ding Yongkang, is this your problem with your attitude?"

“That was a bamboo basket, but it contained the lives of my whole family.”

Three thousand yuan—what else could it be but the lives of Wang Degong's family?
Seeing how serious Zhao Yuju was, Ding Yongkang frowned and asked again:

"Then please tell me, Granny Zhao, what exactly was in your lost bamboo basket?"

"In case someone finds it, or if someone tries to sell it, we can help you find it immediately, right?"

Upon hearing Ding Yongkang's question, Zhao Yuju screamed, her voice trembling with fear:

"What do you care what's in my bamboo basket? Just hurry up and find it for me."

What else could Zhao Yuju say? That she had three thousand yuan in her bamboo basket?
To prove the truth of her words, she would have to honestly explain why she had so much money and where she planned to go with all that money.

Even if she had a hundred mouths, she wouldn't be able to explain herself clearly.

After all, neither the source nor the purpose of this money can withstand any scrutiny.

Seeing Zhao Yuju's attitude, Ding Yongkang was speechless.

However, Zhao Yuju's words were serious, so he could only patiently help her search.

However, after searching for only a few minutes, Ding Yongkang found an abandoned bamboo basket on the ground, lying there all alone.

Upon closer inspection, however, the bamboo basket was found to be completely empty, suggesting that the contents had been looted by the thieves.

Ding Yongkang handed over the empty bamboo basket and said:
"Grandma Zhao, here is your bamboo basket."

"Now that the bamboo basket has been found, this matter is considered closed, and I should be going."

Looking at the bamboo basket that was completely empty, Zhao Yuju collapsed to the ground and burst into tears.
"My money! My money! Which bastard stole all my money?"

"Comrade militiaman, you can't leave. You have to help me get justice."

So it was about money. No wonder you were so nervous.

Ding Yongkang instantly understood why Zhao Yuju was so panicked, and asked again:

"So the bamboo basket was actually filled with money. No wonder you were so nervous."

"Tell me the total amount, whether it's small bills or loose bills, and whether it looks new or old."

"Once you've explained it clearly, I'll have someone come and help you look for it."

When questioned by Ding Yongkang, Zhao Yuju looked embarrassed.

She was conflicted, unsure whether she should tell the truth.

Seeing her hesitant and timid demeanor, Ding Yongkang also lost his temper:

“Grandma Zhao, it’s not that I’m criticizing you, but you didn’t tell me what was in the bamboo basket. How am I supposed to help you find it?”

"Anyway, I've already found the bamboo basket for you. If you don't tell me, I'm not going to take care of this anymore."

"Think about it carefully. Is it more important to hide what's in the bamboo basket, or to find it back?"

After being scolded by Ding Yongkang, Zhao Yuju came to her senses. Could her face be more important than her three thousand yuan?
He immediately shouted, "Three thousand yuan! I've lost three thousand yuan!"

"Comrade Ding, you have to help me get my money back, or I won't be able to live."

As Zhao Yuju thought about it, she felt more and more aggrieved, and she actually sat on the ground and started throwing a tantrum.

If she can't get those three thousand yuan back, it will be like the sky has fallen for her.

"Three thousand yuan?" Ding Yongkang questioned loudly, "Grandma Zhao, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

It's no wonder Ding Yongkang didn't believe it. Three thousand yuan was a lot of money back then. An ordinary family might not be able to save that much in their entire life, but Zhao Yuju just took it out so openly and put it in an ordinary bamboo basket.

That's bad enough, but the money just happened to be stolen. It's suspicious no matter how you look at it.

Faced with Ding Yongkang's questioning, Zhao Yuju refused to back down and shouted:
"Are you in cahoots with the people who robbed me? Otherwise, why would you accuse me of lying?"

"This money was handed over to me by Director Wang. If you don't believe me, ask him if I brought that much money with me when I went to see him."

"I just got back from there. Besides being robbed, did I possibly eat the money?"

Since Wang Yong is involved in this matter, Ding Yongkang cannot take it lightly.

After hesitating for a moment, he frowned and said, "Come with me to find Director Wang to confirm. If it is true, I will report to Captain Wang and ask him to mobilize the entire village militia to help you catch the thief."

“This is a robbery involving three thousand yuan, almost the biggest case in our Wangjia Village. We will never tolerate it.”

Upon hearing that Ding Yongkang was going to mobilize all the militia to help her find money, Zhao Yuju stopped crying, nimbly got up from the ground, and said:
“Come on, I’ll go with you to Dapeng Sugar Factory to confront Wang Yong.”

Judging from Zhao Yuju's self-righteous attitude, anyone who didn't know better would think that Wang Yong had stolen his money.

This was an urgent matter, so the two of them didn't dare to delay and soon arrived at Wang Yong's office.

Faced with Ding Yongkang's questioning, Wang Yong frowned. He never imagined that he would be involved in such a thing for no reason.

After a moment's hesitation, Wang Yong told the truth: "This morning, this older Comrade Zhao did indeed bring a basket of money to bribe me, hoping to reinstate her grandson Wang Xia'an's job." "How could I possibly agree to such a thing? Of course, I refused."

"As for whether there was actually three thousand yuan in the bamboo basket she was carrying, I have no idea, since I didn't count it myself, but it looked like there was a large pile."

"If it's all real money, there should be at least a thousand yuan inside."

Wang Yong was telling the absolute truth, but Zhao Yuju, who was listening nearby, felt something was amiss and immediately started shouting:
"Wang Yong, don't talk nonsense. My bamboo basket is full of real money, and there are a full three thousand yuan in it."

At this point, Zhao Yuju suddenly had a flash of inspiration and exclaimed:
"So that's why you weren't tempted by such a large sum of money. Turns out you were planning to rob someone."

“I was robbed as soon as I left. You’re the only one who’s seen this money since I left home. I don’t believe you if you say it has nothing to do with you.”

It must be said that although Zhao Yuju's reasoning was somewhat skewed, it also inexplicably contained a certain degree of truth.

She assumed that only she and Wang Jinshan knew about this, and since Wang Jinshan couldn't possibly have stolen her money, the person who could have stolen it was most likely Wang Yong.

A bucket of dirty water was poured on him, and Wang Yong felt utterly disgusted. Some people just wouldn't believe you once they were touched.

With a stern face, Wang Yong was not swayed by Zhao Yuju's rhetoric and said:
"If you're going to try to cause trouble for me, then go ahead and call the police."

"If it turns out I stole the money, I'll go to jail."

“But if I didn’t do this, then the person who should be going to jail would be someone else.”

Startled by Wang Yong's words, Zhao Yuju immediately fell silent, only muttering in dissatisfaction:

"Why are you making such a loud noise? You can't afford to pay for it if you scare me."

"Ding Yongkang, now you know I was robbed, right? Hurry up and go find Wang Hai to get the whole village to help me find him."

"Which audacious bastard dares to steal my money? I'll make him regret it and send him to jail for a good rehabilitation."

However, Ding Yongkang did not move. Instead, he looked at Wang Yong and said:
"Director Wang, what do you think we should do about this?"

Since this matter also involves Wang Yong, he naturally needs to consult the other party's opinion.

After a moment's thought, Wang Yong said with a firm look in his eyes:
"You must report the incident to the police station."

"Without police intervention, I wouldn't be able to explain myself if someone falsely accused me."

"Alright, I have something to do. Please leave now. Don't bother me unless it's important."

Upon hearing Wang Yong say he was going to call the police, Zhao Yuju was incredibly excited:

"Call the police? You should call the police."

"You dared to steal my money, you deserve to be arrested and jailed!"

However, the investigation will take time, and it will be a while before we can get a result.

Good things don't go out, bad things pass thousands of miles.

The news that Zhao Yuju had been robbed of three thousand yuan spread throughout Wangjia Village almost instantly, but it was completely different from what Zhao Yuju had imagined.

As the victim of this robbery that shocked the entire Wangjia Village, she not only failed to receive sympathy from the public, but instead became the target of countless people's contempt.

That's three thousand yuan! What kind of family can easily come up with such a sum of money?

Moreover, there are rumors that the reason why Wang Xia'an was no longer pursued for destroying the equipment and was even given another chance to enter the factory was because the Wang family paid a full three thousand yuan for repairs.

Three thousand plus three thousand equals a full six thousand yuan, a sum that even some wealthy city dwellers might not be able to come up with in a short time.

However, it was Wang Degong's family, this seemingly ordinary family of more than ten people, that was able to produce such a thing.

Although Wangjia Village has a favorable geographical environment and its conditions are not too bad, there are basically no people who can afford to spend that much money.

Even Wang Fucheng, as the captain, probably couldn't come up with that much money.

It was precisely because of this that the robbery case was quickly steered away from the main issue, shifting public attention from the robbery itself to the enormous sum of money owned by Wang Degong's family.

"Have you heard? Wang Degong's family is incredibly wealthy. He can take six thousand yuan without a second thought. He's truly the most capable person in our village."

"You know what, you really don't believe it, the Wang family doesn't eat very well, even worse than my family. If it weren't for so many people knowing the truth, I would never believe such a thing."

"That's true. The Wang family usually can't even eat a few cornbread buns. The whole family looks so thin and pale from hunger. No one would believe that they have very few people, but no one would believe that they are rich."

"Now the truth has finally come out. I was wondering how Wang Degong's family, with so many able-bodied people, could not even afford to eat. It turns out that the money was all taken by the parents."

"Tsk tsk tsk, they'd rather starve than not save money. I really don't know what they'd do with all that money."

"You'll know where this money is used just by looking at it, won't you?"

"Wang Jinshan's family is so fat and looks like wealthy lords."

"When his eldest son, Wang Chun'an, got married, it was a grand affair. The bride price was among the highest in our Wangjia Village."

"The second son, Wang Xia'an, was even more remarkable. Not only did he smash up priceless equipment and pay 3,000 yuan in compensation, but he also scraped together another 3,000 yuan to bribe Director Wang for a job."

"It's only because Director Wang has a firm stance that he would have accepted the money and agreed to this matter long ago."

"Now that you've explained it to me, I finally understand."

"It turns out that Wang Degong's family isn't short of money, but they've spent it all on Wang Jinshan's family and haven't paid any attention to their other two sons."

"I remember that Wang Yinshan's family had four able-bodied men. Although they had two daughters, they were all capable and could work in the fields just as well as the men."

"And what happened? When the family divided the property, they only got two hundred yuan. In fact, the money was initially paid on an IOU, an IOU that was basically impossible to pay back."

"Don't say Wang Yinshan is miserable; the third brother, Wang Tieshan, is the one who is truly miserable."

“At least Wang Yinshan got two hundred yuan. I went to see when Wang Tieshan divided the family property. Apart from some junk, he didn’t get a single penny.”

"This is really too much discrimination, isn't it?"

"I had heard that Wang Tieshan was not Wang Degong's biological son, but he had still contributed to the family for so many years. It's outrageous that he was treated like this."

"I've only ever heard of ungrateful people, but I've never seen parents who are this biased."

"Do you think they raised this son just to leech off the eldest son? They seem like a family, but the second and third sons are actually just tools to support the eldest son."

"Don't say it, don't really say it, it's really possible."

"The Wang family is really heartless. These are all men, and they still treat them like that."

"If Wang Tieshan is not their biological son, it only proves that the Wang family's purpose in adopting him was impure, and they never treated him as family."

"If Wang Tieshan is their biological son, then it's still outrageous. How could parents be so cruel to their own son!"

(End of this chapter)