Farm Tough Girl
Chapter 280 - 280 281 Divine Retribution_1

Chapter 280: Chapter 281: Divine Retribution_1 Chapter 280: Chapter 281: Divine Retribution_1 “Why is Qiao Yuanzhen still carried back home?”

“He was not compliant, got beaten up. That kind of person just deserves a lesson.”

Muniang felt ashamed—could anyone stay compliant during a robbery?

“What about the message I told you to release?”

“Don’t worry, I just sent Qingya to take care of it. Soon there will be an uproar in the village.”

Muniang curled her lips into a smile, enjoying the thought for quite some time. Now, the Qiao family was going to have a difficult time.

Qiao family.

Early in the morning, the Qiao couple woke up to a house in complete disarray, clearly the work of thieves. Frightened and pale, they hurried to check if their belongings were stolen, and of course, what concerned them most was whether the five hundred taels of silver they had extorted from Qiao Muniang’s family the day before were still there.

But as she rushed into Qiao Yuanzhen’s room, she was stunned, finding the place turned upside down. Madam Zhao’s heart skipped a beat—could it have been stolen? However, she didn’t know where the money was hidden, so she could only search for it herself. After a long while, she couldn’t find the silver, but she did see a small cabinet on the floor with its lock pried open and empty inside. Madam Zhao cried out, “Which damnable thief dared to steal from our home! If I catch them, I’ll make sure they wish they were dead!”

Her powerful voice carried so well that half the village learned of the incident.

Madam Zhao trembled with rage—it was the silver they had struggled so hard to acquire, and she hadn’t even had the chance to enjoy it before it was gone!

The neighbors started to gather at the Qiao family’s front door, curious about the commotion. Just yesterday, Madam Zhao was flaunting her family’s newfound wealth, asserting they would live the life of the wealthy and no longer be like the common villagers. Yet now, they were dealing with this predicament.

Qiao Dazhi was so angry he nearly passed out, sitting on the kang bed and banging the table vigorously, “Someone go report to the authorities at once! We must recover that silver coin! Where’s Yuanzhen?!”

Madam Zhao wiped her tears, “He left for town before dawn.” It was an hour’s journey by cart from Chatu Town to Tupo Village, so trips to town usually required an early start.

“Then what do we do? The silver we’ve been looking forward to is just gone!”

Madam Zhao hated the situation deeply—to have never had the silver would have been bearable, but to lose it before it even warmed in her hands was like having a chunk of flesh gouged out, a pain that was sharp and raw.

“Oh dear, the Qiao family’s money is gone? It seems they truly have no fortune—losing money that was just within their grasp! Yesterday they were boasting all day, and now it’s all gone. Seems like they don’t have the fate to get rich,” Mrs. Sun from Zheng family said with schadenfreude as her voice wafted in.

The Zheng family and the Qiao family were neighbors. Whenever the Qiao family got ahold of something nice, Madam Zhao liked to show off, especially to the Zhengs, the closest neighbors. Madam Zhao’s condescending demeanor yesterday had particularly annoyed Mrs. Sun, and now seeing the Qiao family’s misfortune, she felt a strange satisfaction.

Upon hearing this, Madam Zhao charged out, “Confess! Did you steal it? After I told you yesterday about my family’s fortune, you became envious and stole our silver, didn’t you! Shame on you, you shameless wretch, to scheme against my silver!”

As she spoke, Madam Zhao tried to grapple with Mrs. Sun.

Mrs. Sun’s face turned white when she heard this, furious beyond words, “What nonsense are you spouting? Even though we are just ordinary farmers, we have never done anything so immoral. You lost your silver coins, and now you’re trying to pin the blame on me? Do you really think I’m that easy to bully?”

As she spoke, the two elderly women started fighting, both of them equally matched in strength which made it hard to tell who would win. The surrounding villagers hurried to pull them apart, but one was grabbing the other’s hair, and the other was scratching the face of her opponent, making it impossible to separate them.

Just then, the Village Head arrived and, seeing the commotion, he barked, “What’s all this then? At your age, still fighting publicly, have you lived all these years for nothing?”

Only then did Madam Zhao let go and immediately clutched at the Village Head’s sleeve, crying and wailing, “Village Head, you must stand up for our family. We were robbed early this morning, and several hundred taels of silver are gone from our home. It must have been that old hag from the Zheng Family who had it stolen – she was so jealous when I spoke of it yesterday!”

Mrs. Sun gritted her teeth and retorted, “I’ve always behaved decently and honestly. If you want to slander me, then search all you want, but without evidence, don’t talk nonsense!”

The Village Head had also heard that the amount in question was quite large, which was why he had made a special trip. Now he grew even more curious: how did the Qiao family come to possess so much silver?

Just as the two old women seemed ready to go at it again, suddenly a villager shouted, “Hey, isn’t that your youngest son there? Why is he being carried back like that?”

Madam Zhao nearly blacked out, stumbling as she pushed through the crowd, and saw that it was indeed Qiao Yuanzhen being carried back – and why did he have so many injuries?

“Whoever dared to hurt my son, believe it or not, I’ll flay their skin! Oh, my child, what happened to you?” Madam Zhao broke down at the sight of the wounds covering Qiao Yuanzhen.

The two who had brought Qiao Yuanzhen back explained, “He was robbed on the road. He didn’t want to hand over his money easily and was beaten by the robbers. When we found him, he was lying in an alley, so we brought him home.”

Madam Zhao’s heart sank, “What? Robbers? What about the silver?”

“Gone.”

Madam Zhao’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot.

Everyone pitched in to carry Madam Zhao inside and then carried in Qiao Yuanzhen as well.

However, this bizarre incident planted seeds of curiosity in everyone’s mind. The Qiao family had been struck by misfortunes one after another, all concerning lost silver. Could it be a divine retribution?

Being fellow villagers, naturally, no one suspected enemies from outside. After all, they all knew each other in the village – who could do such a thing? They were rather superstitious, feeling the consecutive mishaps might be a curse from the heavens, deliberately bringing calamity upon their household.

With these doubtful thoughts, everyone dispersed, inevitably discussing the matter among themselves. Some rumors began to circulate, suddenly illuminating everyone’s mind.

“Did you hear? The silver that the Qiao family got was dirty money. They extorted it from Li Cheng’s family, threatening to kidnap the child if they weren’t paid. It was Qiao Muniang who borrowed silver coins from Li Family out of desperation. That’s ill-gotten wealth!”

“Huh, no wonder they’re suffering so much. It seems even the heavens can’t stand by and watch, intentionally punishing them. Indeed, one cannot behave so immorally without consequence.”

“Isn’t that the truth? Originally, the daughter-in-law was divorced on her own terms, right? After ten months of pregnancy and finally giving birth, they still had to snatch the child back and deliberately extorted several hundred taels of silver from the family – their conscious must be eaten by dogs. Now, with one misfortune after another befalling their household, it’s only what they deserve!”