Farm Tough Girl
Chapter 259 - 259 260 Not a Thief_1

Chapter 259: Chapter 260 Not a Thief_1 Chapter 259: Chapter 260 Not a Thief_1 The two children had already been beaten beyond recognition, their clothes torn to shreds, the corners of their mouths splitting with blood. Muniang’s heart clenched painfully.

At this moment, however, Xiangcai wasn’t seen in her described grand attire, but instead, that Master was seen holding a ruler, scolding them harshly, “To know your faults and be able to change is the greatest virtue. For such a crime you’ve committed, and yet you still stubbornly deny it. You can’t even be honest; I have truly wasted my teaching on such ill-mannered children! Speak! Was it you who stole the things or not?”

Despite the wounds all over their bodies, Honghai and Hongde were stubborn, “No, Mother has taught us since we were little not to engage in thievery. We have never stolen anything our entire lives!”

“Still trying to argue!” the Master shouted sternly, and was about to strike with his ruler once again.

As the older brother, Hongde instinctively wanted to protect his younger brother, so he threw himself on top of Honghai, biting his teeth and bracing for the sharp pain.

But after waiting for a long time, the blow did not come. Hongde looked up in alarm to find Yu Ze had already stopped the Master’s hand with the ruler. With just a light twist of one hand, the ruler had snapped in half. Yu Ze then threw the broken ruler to the ground, his expression cold as frost, “Wielding the status of a Master, you behave like a hooligan. You are unworthy of using this ruler.”

The Master was already enraged at Yu Ze for breaking his ruler, but after hearing Yu Ze’s words, he became even more furious, hopping with anger, “Who are you!? How dare you spout such madness!”

As soon as Honghai and Hongde saw Muniang arrive, they cried and threw themselves into her arms, “Mu, I really didn’t steal anything; I don’t even know how that thing ended up in my bag. I truly didn’t steal!”

The heart-wrenching wails were filled with grievance, making Muniang’s heart sour. She quickly patted their backs and softly said, “Alright, it’s okay now, sister believes you. You definitely didn’t steal.”

Seeing this scene, the Master immediately showed disdain, “Who did I think it was? Turns out it’s these two children’s relatives, no wonder they are spoiled like this. You simply believe whatever the children say, the fault of untaught children lies with the father, look at how you’ve disciplined your children!”

Muniang’s face instantly darkened, she was yet to settle accounts with him, and this old man dared to say that the children’s parents were poor disciplinarians!

“On what basis do you conclude that they stole? The children have been beaten to this state and still refuse to admit guilt, couldn’t it be because they are truly wronged? As a Master, you accuse and label them without clarifying the whole story, don’t you realize this could ruin a child’s entire life? Do you not understand how important a person’s reputation is to them? As someone who is also educated, you have no understanding nor sympathy for a child!” Muniang was practically fuming.

The Master was taken aback for a moment, having never encountered such a fierce woman before. In his mind, he cursed, typical of a peasant woman!

“I’m jumping to conclusions? The evidence is right before our eyes. Their bags turned up Ling Ziquan’s purse that he carried with him, which contained the fine Hetian jade, the amulet specially made for the child by the Ling Family. Now these two refuse to admit their crimes because they don’t want to hand over the jade they stole!”

Honghai cried with his eyes swollen, “We have no jade, the purse just appeared in our bag somehow, how can we hand it over?”

Muniang’s heart sank, could this be someone deliberately framing them? Recently, when Honghai and Hongde mentioned their time at the academy, they seemed happy and didn’t appear to have made any enemies. Why would someone want to deliberately set them up?

Instantly, Wang Shitou’s face flashed in Muniang’s mind, her eyes turning a few degrees colder—could it be him?

The Master, with an attitude of hating iron for not becoming steel, said, “The evidence and witness are clear; how much longer do you plan to deny it? Such students, I cannot accept. They completely disgrace the name of Qing Mountain Academy and my own reputation as well.”

She then lifted her head and addressed Muniang and Yu Ze, “The Hetian jade lost by the Ling Family is quite valuable. These two kids have probably long pawned off the jade for silver. Since I can’t get any information out of them now, while the Ling Family, for the sake of my face, has not yet reported this to the authorities, you’d better quickly compensate with silver. Otherwise, when this matter gets to the public court, there’s nothing I can do!”

The Master spoke in a way that really won people’s hearts. What does it mean to not report to the officials ‘for the sake of your face’? It’s just that he’s afraid that if the Ling Family makes a fuss about it with the authorities, even Qing Mountain Academy would be implicated and investigated, fearing the loss of his reputation.

Muniang was so angry her teeth itched. How could such a hypocritically virtuous person be worthy of being a Master?

As soon as Honghai and Hongde heard this, their faces turned pale with fear, “Sister, we really don’t have the jade. We don’t want to go to prison.”

Muniang hugged them tightly, “You will not go to prison. The villain who should be incarcerated will always be found out!”

“Where’s this witness you speak of, Master?”

The Master replied, “He said he’s afraid of retribution from you if he comes forward as a witness, which is why he specifically instructed me not to reveal his identity.”

Muniang scoffed, thinking how naive it was to hope for self-preservation. She then spoke softly, “If the Master is unwilling to reveal who it is, then we’ll not accept this. Let’s simply take it to the public court. The County Chief will surely have to bring this witness forward, and then we will be convinced.”

Her words were clearly a threat. If you don’t hand over the person, we’ll go to the public trial, to see if you are willing to risk the reputation of your Academy as compensation.

The Master’s eyelids twitched as he glared at Muniang. This young woman was really cunning!

“Haven’t thought it through yet, Master?” Muniang lifted her chin.

With a cold snort, the Master finally said, “It’s not a problem to call him out, but if you seek revenge on him afterward—”

Muniang interrupted, “Master better hurry up and tell us who it is.” It was obvious she didn’t want to listen to his waffling anymore.

The Master, puffing angrily and glaring furiously, said, “It’s Wang Shitou. He said he witnessed them acting suspiciously around Ling Ziquan and then stealing the pouch he wore, which contained the Hetian jade.”

Honghai immediately began to protest, “He’s lying! When have we ever acted suspiciously? When did we steal Ling Ziquan’s pouch? He’s making it all up!”

“You’re the one lying! I saw it with my own eyes. What’s the matter? Are you feeling guilty because you’re the thief and afraid to admit it now? Caught red-handed and still trying to argue!” Shitou suddenly burst out, pointing at Honghai and cursing him.

He had been hiding inside all the while, eavesdropping and hoping to maintain a low profile, but he hadn’t expected the Master to call him out so quickly. His irritation with the Master grew alongside a surge of panic. When he saw Honghai outright accusing him of nonsense, he couldn’t sit still any longer and sprang out.