Chapter 17 The Fire of Gossip
"You want to meddle in other people's business!" The little woman retorted: "Every child's family, stay wherever you are fun!"
Xiaotao choked and forgot that his body was only fifteen years old and a half-grown child who hadn't grown up much. It was really not convincing!
"That's right, this is not a lice on the bald head. It's obvious! If you get stolen, what else can you make a quibble? Adults do things, children, don't interrupt!" The big man who spoke before also scolded her.
"Everyone says that the thief is an accomplice who commits the crime. Are you an accomplice?" The old man who spoke first put Xiao Tao in a pun, and this was a place of trouble!
"Can you turn things around like this? You said that the little girl and I are accomplices, and I also said that you are accomplices with this little woman? I didn't expect that you were always ashamed and were with such a young and beautiful little woman. Did you find a concubine? Or was it a mistress?" Xiaotao deliberately threw dirty water on them, and while speaking, he observed the suspicious man with his eyes and the old woman holding a vegetable basket.
Sure enough, they saw that their faces turned red and ugly. Looking at the two old and strong men, the similarity of their faces was probably father and son, and the old woman and the little woman were obviously a mobilization of the whole family!
"You're talking nonsense!" The little woman suddenly became anxious and looked at the suspicious man with uneasy eyes.
Obviously, her backbone is this man. She cares so much about his expression. I guess this is her husband, right?
"That's right, how can you insult your reputation when you are young?" The old man's face was full of wrinkles, and was so angry that Xiaotao was like a toad, pounding and pounding.
"Why did I insult my reputation? You are so angry that you are so healthy. Why can't you look for this little woman as a good woman?" Xiaotao continued to make jokes, and was quite tempted to make the old man angry to death.
Then this old man is very likely the little woman's father-in-law! No wonder he was so angry that he forced them into a hurry and showed his flaws!
"I'll beat you to death, a gossiping bad guy!" The old man was furious and took a porcelain bottle from the pavilion next to him and smashed it at Xiao Tao.
"Ouch! Killing! Killing! This old man is going to kill me!" Xiao Tao jumped up and down like a child at a loss!
Finally, he walked around the old woman holding the vegetable basket and asked for help in a terrified manner: "Auntie, you are a good person, please save me! This old man is crazy!"
The old woman was locked in her eyebrows and was pulled left and right by Xiaotao, blocking her from the old man's attack for her.
"Ouch! I can't help but drag your bones like this, let it go!" the old woman shouted.
Although the old man still wanted to beat Xiao Tao, the old woman was there, and he was afraid of hurting her by accident, which further confirmed Xiao Tao's guess.
The fire of gossip can start a prairie! After hearing Xiao Tao's words, the onlookers were all taken away from each other, and they all discussed and guessed how different the little woman was from the old man? Is it a father-daughter relationship, or a grandparent-grandchild relationship?
"Okay, they are all half-aged children, so don't bother with her!" A middle-aged and elderly man next to him spoke.
The big man's face looked ugly and saw the scene, which was disturbed by Xiaotao, and gave the little woman a wink, signaling her to get rid of the little girl quickly so as not to attract patrolling yamen runners.
But the more you fear, the more you come! A team of patrol yamen runners pulled away the onlookers and asked the five people who were stalemate: "Scatter, all of them are dispersed, what are you doing?"
"Brother of the yamen runners, you are here at the right time. The little woman said that the little girl stole her purse and was in a stalemate! You are here and just for the right judgment!" Xiao Tao finally flashed out from behind the old woman and complained to Zhang Wu, the leader of the yamen runners.
"Yes! They are all in the same group. Brothers, please help me, thank you for your hard work!" The little woman immediately pointed at Xiaotao and the little girl and made a statement to confirm their relationship.
"Brother of the yamen runners! Have you ever seen a group of people who poured dirty water on their own people? I am not a thief, and I don't know this little girl!" Xiao Tao said as he took out the wooden sign symbolizing his identity from his waist and handed it to Zhang Wu.
Explained: "I was originally a maid in the Minister of Justice's Mansion, not a thief. I suspect that it was their gang who committed the crime and bullied this little girl!"
After reading the wooden sign of Zhang Wu General Zhang returned it to Xiaotao, and asked his subordinates to control the big man and the old man.
"Brother of the yamen, you can't listen to this little girl being careless! They may not have stolen the badges there? This purse is mine, with five or three cents of broken silver in it. If you don't believe it, look!" The little woman relied on the difference between the yamen and the women, so she was embarrassed to hold herself tightly, break free from the shackles, and handed the purse to Zhang Wu.
General Zhang Wu opened his purse and found that it was indeed five or three cents. He frowned and looked at Xiao Tao and the thin little girl, and said coldly: "It is indeed five or three cents. What else do you have to defend against?"
"That was given to me by Brother Jiu. It was originally six taels. I went to Tongjitang in front to order the medicinal herbs and paid them seven cents. The rest may have been confirmed after seeing it!" The little girl was sobbing that she explained.
"Wan Laosan, go and find the clerk from Tongjitang to confront him!" Zhang Wu said to the yamen runner behind him.
"Okay!" Wan Laosan ran to Tongjitang happily.
Xiao Tao handed a handkerchief to the crying aggrieved little girl and whispered a few words to her.
"Captain, the man is brought here!" Wan Laosan quickly brought back a young man who looked like an apprentice.
"Have you ever seen this little girl order herbal medicine in your pharmacy?" Zhang Wu asked.
The young man carefully identified the little girl and shook his head: "I haven't seen it before. There are not many customers in the store today. If this little girl has been wearing plain clothes, the younger one will definitely remember it!"
Xiaotao became suspicious of herself. It was obvious that the little woman had a lot of people and the little girl didn't even have someone to help her talk. Although she stammered and didn't want to go to the yamen, she was well-founded and consistent with the logic of a normal person. How could she be a thief?
I always feel like I have missed something? What's wrong? I looked at them carefully and tried to find a convincing loophole.
"Bold and unruly people, come here! I'll catch this little girl and this little maid to Shuntian Mansion, and I'm making a punishment!" Zhang Wu ordered.
"No! Mom is waiting for me to get the medicine back! I can't go to the prison!" The little girl burst into tears in an instant, struggling at a loss to prevent the yamen runners from arresting her.
Xiao Tao suddenly realized that she was worried about her mother, so she didn't want to go to the yamen. Seeing her crying pitifully, she couldn't bear to look at her and stop her: "Slow down!" Her mind was running quickly. Zhang Wu didn't expect that, a suspect, would dare to resist. He asked with a stern face: "There are all evidences and physical evidence, what else do you have to make a judgment?"
Suddenly, a breeze blew, and a scent came from the restaurant next to him. Xiao Tao flashed his mind and discovered the loophole in a hurry. He hurriedly said, "Brother of the yamen runners, why doesn't the scent of medicine on the pharmacy's guy?"
The pharmacy clerk was shocked and immediately got up and was about to run away. The fast-handed and fast-eyed yamen runner arrested him back.
"I feel guilty about being a thief, but why don't I come to the real way?" Zhang Wu also understood what she meant in an instant, and shouted with an official power.
The young man trembled all over, and he knelt on the ground, crying and begging for mercy: "Sir, please spare me. Someone stuffed a few copper plates and asked the young man to wait at the door. If a yamen runner came to ask, he would say he had never seen anyone!"
"But these little women?" Zhang Wu asked him to identify the criminal.
The young man shook his head: "It's not them! The young man has never seen them before, it was given to me by a man!"
Zhang Wu frowned and sneered: "I didn't expect that there would be so many twists and turns in a small theft case!"
"Brother of the yamen runner, in fact, if you want to know who the broken silver is, the little woman has a way to achieve immediate results!" Xiao Tao didn't want to delay, and was afraid that the little woman would have other preparations, so she was overwhelmed and could only come up with an idea to solve the problem.
"Oh, what's the solution?" Zhang Wu mentioned the nature. Often, such disputed lawsuits are the most difficult to deal with. If she has a good solution, she can share the worries for adults in the future.
"Wait a moment!" Xiaotao asked the girl a few words, then turned around and got into the grocery store next to the road, and ran out in less than two or three minutes.
On the table of the wonton shop next to it, place a small hanging iron box, put a small amount of iodine into the iron box, light the candles below, heat the iodine above the candle, and wait until the iodine becomes dry...
When purple-red steam is released, take out the largest piece of silver in the purse and put it on the steam. After a while, a light-colored fingerprint appears on the silver.
"Please look at the yamen runner. This fingerprint is small and cannot be left by a woman's finger. If you use red mud to verify it, you will know that this fingerprint is exactly the same as a little girl!" Xiao Tao's display opened Zhang Wu's eyes wide. He didn't expect that there would be such a way to solve the problem.
Zhang Wu immediately asked his subordinates to take out the red mud to confirm. As soon as the girl pressed her handprint, it turned out, which was exactly the same as the fingerprint on the broken silver!
"Come on, take this little woman and the others into prison and wait for the defeat!" Zhang Wu immediately ordered.
Amid the little women's incredible eyes and cursing voices, the little girl finally got her own purse.
"Big sister, thank you! Why are you so powerful that you can still show my fingerprints as evidence? Fortunately, I met you this time, otherwise, I really don't know what to do!" The little girl wiped her tears and cried with joy.
"Oh! It's just a simple task, no need to complain! Okay, go home quickly! Such a young child, don't run out by himself, it's easy to encounter danger, do you know?" Xiao Tao looked at her like a student in her previous life, and couldn't help but give some advice.
Chapter completed!