Chapter 357 - 351_1
Because of the incident with Chen Family, Lin Yue’s wife, Li Xiaomei had a particular hatred for those with sticky fingers, speaking ill of thieves with words harsher than the last. Even though she knew that someone had started to work hard and diligently, that mean mouth of hers hadn’t changed, sharp as a knife, every word like a blow to Zhao Wusi’s heart.
"It’s not that I don’t want to teach him a lesson, but yelling at him like this is useless. What should we do? Erhu, should we get the village chief? I always give you face in public, Lin Yue, satisfying that bit of male ego. So instead of deciding myself, I look to you, Zhao Erhu, to handle this."
Zhao Erhu and Lin Yue shared the same thoughts. Although Zhao Wusi worked for them, he was still a villager. It seemed improper to deal with the matter privately; it would be better to involve the village chief. Knowing the chief’s temperament and how he was in charge of hiring for the village, this misconduct by Zhao Wusi was a slap in his face, so the chief was unlikely to let Zhao Wusi off easily.
"Let’s do that, having the village chief adjudicate would be fairer in this situation," Zhao Erhu said as he was about to send a servant to fetch the village chief.
When Li Xiaomei caught Zhao Wusi, he was already dumbfounded, and her scolding left him confused and just taking it, not daring to utter a word of rebuttal. After all, he was the one who had stolen from Silber Coin, and his guilt was immense. If his family hadn’t been so utterly desperate, he wouldn’t have done it. Hearing Zhao Erhu say that he would hand him over to the village chief, Zhao Wusi panicked and knelt down before Zhao Erhu with a thud.
"Dongjia, I beg your mercy; please don’t hand me over to the village chief. I’ll return all the stolen sweet potatoes. If my dad finds out, he won’t be able to take it." Zhao Wusi, not good with words, said just this much, and kept kowtowing to Zhao Erhu, until his forehead swelled.
Zhao Erhu knew Zhao Wusi had stolen the sweet potatoes, which was somewhat unexpected. Zhao Wusi was an honest man, working hard, arriving early and leaving later than others. Zhao Erhu had been considering observing him for a while longer, and if he continued to perform well, Zhao Erhu would have offered him a long-term job in his household.
They all lived in the same village, and Zhao Erhu knew Zhao Wusi’s family had a hard life. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have remained unmarried for so long; his family was too poor for a dowry. Not just Zhao Wusi, but his three elder brothers were also single, with only Zhao Wusi’s eldest brother married. With their father bedridden and unable to get up, a steady salary would have significantly relieved his family’s hardship. But with this incident, such hopes were dashed.