The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor

"Yan Yatou, where did you pick up that child?" Coming out of the house, Wu asked about the child's origin.

"I met Xiao Hei on his way back from the city. I don't know exactly where he came from."

The child's experience in the textile workshop was too tragic. Mo Yan didn't want to tell Wu, so as not to spoil her mood. Since she really didn't know the child's true origin, she took him there in one sentence.

"That's right..." Mrs. Wu nodded absently and murmured: "Such a small child, he looks smaller than my Sinier. He is so thin that he has no shape, and it is such a cold weather. I'm afraid there's no one at home when I ran away...I don't know if I was abducted by a kidnapper when I was a child, or if I got lost..."

Seeing that Mrs. Wu was thinking about Sinier again, Mo Yan was glad that she had not told what happened to the child just now, otherwise she might have had random thoughts and felt even more uncomfortable.

Obviously this topic cannot be continued, so Mo Yan quickly changed the subject: "Aunt Wu, there have just been thieves in the village. No one knows whether they will come again. You can take a dog home and you can sleep well at night." Be more secure.”

Wu came back from missing her daughter and said hesitantly: "Wong Tai Sin is having trouble finding food at the moment. Can the chicken farm be ok without one dog?"

Mo Yan smiled and said, "There are five dogs. It's okay to lose one."

When the chicken farm was first built, I don't know how many weasels were attracted, but each time they were driven back to the hole by five dogs. After many times, these weasels have learned the lesson and rarely come back to steal chickens. Even if a few are determined to do so, they just leave a patch of hair on the ground and run away in embarrassment.

When Wu heard this, she didn't refuse anymore: "Thank you so much, Yan Yatou, I can sleep peacefully tonight."

"Why are Aunt Wu so polite? That dog has a big appetite. Just don't dislike it, Aunt Wu." Mo Yan said angrily, patted the fur ball randomly, and asked him to go to the chicken farm in the back mountain to get a dog.

Soon, a large dog with white flowers on a black background was brought with the hairball. Because of the good food, large appetite, and frequent drinking of spiritual spring water, the dog grew tall and strong, nearly half the size of an ordinary dog. It has sharp eyes and a strong posture, and it looks quite scary.

However, this is just the appearance of a big dog. As soon as he saw his owner Mo Yan, he instantly transformed from a "tough guy" to a "little public servant", rubbing his head and tail against his owner's legs.

Mo Yan took out a piece of chestnut cake from her purse and fed it to the big dog. She stroked its head and warned: "You will go home with Aunt Wu later. Help Aunt Wu keep the house safe. Don't leave casually at night."

Wu couldn't help but laugh at Mo Yan's serious look. She was about to say that dogs can't understand human speech, but she saw that the dog actually walked towards her and squatted down in front of her with chestnut cake in its mouth. His eyes were soft and he looked very docile.

At this moment, Wu had no choice but to believe that this dog was humane.

After the big dog with human nature was brought back to the Wu family, he was unanimously welcomed by the Wu family. However, the family looked at each other when they saw the big dog Fengyun still eating most of the bowl of soup rice and staring eagerly at the food on the table. Seeing this, Wu finally understood that Mo Yan's words of "don't dislike it" were not just words.

…

When Lao Sun's house was robbed, the villagers became more vigilant and hid all the money in the house. Even the copper plates set aside for home use were dug into a hole under the bed and buried on top. Pickled cabbage jar, don't let thieves take away a penny.

However, money can be hidden, but the livestock of the family cannot. Almost every household in Liuyang Village raises chickens, and most of them are kept in fenced yards. Building a chicken coop with just a few adobe bricks will not deter thieves at all.

No, on the third night after Lao Sun's house was robbed, all the chickens of seven or eight households in the village were stolen. There were thirty or forty of these chickens in total, and they were worth at least two taels of silver when sold at the market.

Based on the footprints left in the snow, the villagers deduced that there were four or five chicken thieves. Not to mention that the person who was robbed didn't notice it at night. Even if he knew that the chicken thieves were coming, they might have a knife or something in their hand. There would be no benefit in going head-on.

Although on average, each family's loss is not very big, but no one will be happy if the chickens they have worked hard to raise for a year are stolen like this. The women who lost the chickens stood at the door with knives and chopping boards and yelled curses. Even if they knew that the chicken thieves could not hear, they could still use this to vent their anger. They just hoped that God would be wise and let the chicken thieves suffer the consequences. .

When news of the incident reached the Mo family, Zhen'er said in confusion: "Our chicken farm has thousands of chickens. Why didn't the chicken thieves steal it? Even if there were big dogs guarding them, just throw away a few pieces of meat that had been fed with medicine." Wouldn’t it be better to take dog medicine? Dazhu’s dog died from the medicine.”

When Xin'er heard this, she pushed her brother on the back of the head mercilessly: "I have never seen anyone expecting a thief to steal their home. Are you a fool?"

Zhen'er pouted in dissatisfaction: "Don't you think it's strange? Maybe those chicken thieves are holding back their big move and preparing for a big one. Shouldn't our family be more careful?"

"You think those thieves are big thieves who can fly over walls and walls!" Xin'er was amused: "Those chicken thieves were probably worried about the identity of my father and sister, so they didn't steal from our house. Such a thing has never happened before, and now the snowstorm is just like this If it happened, it might be people from several nearby villages. They should not dare to do it unless it is absolutely necessary."

Xin'er's guess earned Zhen'er's "adoring" gaze, and she cupped her little hands and flattered, "Second sister is so smart, she even thought of this."

"That's right, I'm your sister. Of course I know more than you." Xin'er showed a little pride on her face and touched her brother's head to encourage her: "When you get older, you will naturally know more, but When you study in school, don't be like some scholars who study and make your brain stupid."

"Hmph, your brother and I are extremely smart, how can I be stupid while studying?" Zhen'er said confidently, but she curled her lips inwardly. He was not a fool, so why didn't he know why the chicken thief didn't steal his house? chicken? If you are not stealing right now, there are other chickens you can steal. Once you lose the courage to steal and get stronger, you never know when it will happen.

Everyone found it interesting to see the siblings bickering. After the two of them stopped arguing, Mo Yancai said: "Last night I heard a few dogs barking in the back mountain orchard. The chicken thieves were afraid that they had stepped on them. They probably saw that there were so many dogs that it was difficult to attack, so they came They stole other people’s chickens in the village.”

The chicken farm is surrounded by thorns. Even if the leaves on the thorns fall in winter, the sharp thorns are still there. If chicken thieves want to enter and steal chickens, they can only enter through the only entrance of the chicken farm. There are two ferocious big dogs guarding the entrance. Even if you go in in the middle of the night, you will be entangled even if you take a step closer.

Today, I learned that seven or eight households in the village had their chickens stolen. Mo Yan asked Mao Tuan to find a dog and asked him in person. The chicken thieves had indeed been to the chicken farm, but the dogs were very alert. As soon as the chicken thieves got close to them, the dogs started barking, which soon woke up Aunt Tong and her family. Seeing the bad opportunity, several chicken thieves ran away without waiting for Uncle Tong to carry them out.

As soon as she heard that her chicken farm had been worried about by chicken thieves, Xin'er silently took back what she had just said. Facts have proved that the chicken thief dared to steal so many chickens in one night. He was very courageous. How could he not dare to steal from her house?

Zhen'er was really anxious: "What should we do? The chicken thieves were not prepared last night. If they are prepared today, they might come again. Not to mention those dogs are in danger, our chicken farm is so... If there are many chickens, there must be more than thirty or forty if they are stolen.”

Mo Yan touched his brother's head and said comfortingly: "Don't worry, chicken thieves are not stupid. They just came here last night. I must know that the people in the village will be more vigilant. They won't come again in the past two days. Let's talk about the chicken farm." The dogs we have are not vegetarians, so a chicken thief can’t even think of stealing a chicken.”

Zhen'er has a kind of blind admiration for her eldest sister. When she saw what her eldest sister said, she believed it without hesitation: "That's really great, but it would be even better if we could catch the chicken thief."

When Mo Yan heard this, she smiled and said nothing. Catching a chicken thief may be a bit difficult for others, but for a few dogs that have turned on their intelligence, it is not a problem at all.

As Mo Yan expected, in the next few days, the village was calm and there was no sign of the chicken thieves. The villagers gradually relaxed their vigilance, thinking that the chicken thieves would not come again. But on the night of the twelfth day of the first lunar month, more than twenty black figures walked through the thick snow and reached Liuyang Village. This time, they did not enter the village, but followed the trail to the back mountain.

Looking at the chicken farm not far away, which was densely surrounded by thorns, the more than twenty chicken thieves seemed to have seen the white money and tasted the sweetness of stealing chickens. How could they be willing to let go of Mo's chicken farm? Thousands of chickens?

Even if they couldn't steal them all, taking away six or seven hundred of them would be enough to keep them entertained for a while. In order to take away more chickens, they also brought a few donkeys and cows that they had stolen from other places in the past two days and tied them to a big tree not far away.

As for the remaining chickens that can't be stolen...let them all be bled to death. The Mo family is engaged in the grain business. They have a shop, a mansion, and orchards and medicinal fields. They have made enough money, and they also have a generous salary from the court. Salary, thousands of dead chickens mean nothing?

A vicious sneer appeared on the leader's face, and he said to the others: "Those dogs are difficult to deal with. We will lead those dogs away in batches later, and the remaining people will take action quickly. If they are discovered Before, I could kill as many as I could."

Someone hesitated and raised an objection: "Boss, isn't this bad? Keep these chickens and we can come back to catch a handful next time. It would be a pity to kill them."

"What a pity? We didn't raise them ourselves, so what's the pity?" The boss, the leader, didn't take it seriously: "After we did this, we won't come here anymore. Keeping these chickens will also make it easier for others." . Humph, if I hadn’t had no connections and recruited some heroes to rob the Mo family, I would have killed thousands of cows, not to mention thousands of chickens, and eaten beef every day.”

Seeing that his tone was not good, the person who spoke earlier shrank and did not dare to say anything more.

The boss divided the more than 20 boys into five groups. The first four groups had two people in each group to lure away the dogs in the orchard. The remaining ten groups were dedicated to stealing chickens, killing chickens, and serving as sentries. To be on the safe side, they also prepared pieces of meat wrapped in poison and planned to throw them to several dogs to kill as many as they could.

"You put the meat in first, and then make some noise to test it after a while. If the dog barks, you quickly lead the dog away. If the dog doesn't bark, just rush in. This move is called 'leaving the tiger away from the mountain.' We people Whether you can continue to be popular or not depends on this time. You have to show your spirit to me." The chicken-stealing boss warned carefully, secretly proud of himself for coming up with this trick to "tune the tiger away from the mountain" .

"Yes, boss." Twenty or so boys responded in a low voice. According to the division of labor just now, the eight people in the first four groups quickly picked up the pieces of meat and started to act.

The chicken thief boss and the remaining dozen or so people stayed there and waited impatiently. Although the plan was very thorough, they could not completely relax until the plan failed.

"Woof——"

"Woof woof——"

"Woof woof woof——"

Soon, dogs barked one after another in the orchard. The chicken thieves were startled at first, and then their hearts were in their throats. They all stood on tiptoes to see what was happening over there, but they could only see white snow. and black thorns. Only by the sound of the dog barking could one judge whether the eight people had successfully lured the dog away.

"Boss, it seems like it's done." Listening to the barking of dogs that were getting farther and farther away, one of the chicken thieves suppressed his excitement and whispered to the boss.

The chicken-stealing boss slapped him on the head and said displeasedly: "I'm not a fool or a deaf person, why do you still need to talk so much if I have success?"

"Yes, yes, yes, boss, you are wise and powerful, and you can predict things like a god!" The chicken thief touched his sore head and whispered a few lines from the drama he heard to flatter the boss, feeling extremely excited.

After doing this job, he will be able to get a lot of money, and the adults and children in the family will also have warm meals to eat. As long as he gets through the current difficulties, he will work hard to live a good life and never do such sneaky things again.

The chicken-stealing boss didn't have time to listen to the flattery of his younger brothers. He led the people to the orchard and said: "Let's hurry up. If the three grandsons and grandsons in the house wake up, you can tie them up and gag them." "

The boys who were following behind echoed incessantly, moving toward the entrance of the chicken farm with one foot and one foot.

The four big dogs guarding the chicken farm were no longer there, and the lights in the top room were on. Apparently the barking of the dogs had woken up Aunt Tong's family. At this moment, the couple were getting dressed, holding lanterns and getting ready to go out. Look, not long after walking, several black figures rushed towards them, restrained them and tied them up with ropes. Even Qingqing, who was still sleeping in the room, could not escape.

Looking at the frightened three members of the Tong family, the chicken-stealing boss laughed proudly and waved his hand to his younger brothers to take action.

This group of people had explored the situation in the orchard during the day and easily touched the chicken coops under each fruit tree. Just when they opened the door of the chicken coop and were about to reach out to catch the fat chickens inside, a loud roar broke through the air. They were so scared that their legs softened and they sat down on the snow.

"What's going on? What's going on?" Looking at the lanterns lighting up in all directions, the chicken thief boss yelled at the younger brothers in panic, as if it was difficult to accept the fact that he was surrounded.

All the boys were confused for a long time. They had no idea when the crowd came or when they appeared behind them and surrounded them.

"Hehe, you have such little brains and you dare to come here and become a chicken thief. It's God's blessing that you can live to this day. If you don't cherish it and continue to do evil, you can see that God can't stand it." Zhen'er looked at it with a smile. Looking at the frightened chicken thieves, their admiration for their eldest sister rose to a new level.

Look, the eldest sister said that the chicken thieves would come tonight, and the chicken thieves came as expected. They also called the villagers in advance to ambush them in the orchard. These stupid thieves thought that the dogs had been lured away, but they didn’t know that it was the eldest sister. They deliberately let them run away after the chicken thieves, just to invite the thieves into the urn so that they could catch them all in one go!

"No, it's impossible. How could you know that someone would come to steal the chicken tonight? No, there is a traitor, there must be a traitor!" The chicken thief boss refused to admit that it was his lack of brains that led to his arrest. He glared at his younger brother. They roared wildly, with their ferocious and twisted faces, as if they wanted to eat people.

The younger brothers had no time to pay attention to the boss's roar. Seeing hundreds of villagers approaching them expressionlessly, infinite despair arose in their hearts. This time, it was impossible to escape even if they had no wings.

Seeing that these chicken thieves just gave up resistance and were captured, Mo Yan suddenly felt bored. He pinched the hairball's ears and held the rope against his hands. The villagers who had been eager to try said: "Let's tie them up first. Should we send them to the official or deal with them privately?" , Let’s wait until daybreak.”

Upon hearing this, the villagers swarmed in and tied up the dozen chicken thieves. The Qibahu family who had had their chickens stolen took advantage of this and kicked the chicken thief several times, finally getting angry.

"No, I don't want to see an official. You bitches, let me go. If you dare to touch me, I will let you die without a place to die." Seeing the villagers surrounding him, the chicken-stealing boss suddenly stood up and became violent. Grab the villager closest to him.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Mo Yan immediately shouted: "Hairball, come on!"

The hair ball obeyed the order and flew out like an arrow. The moment the chicken thief boss's hand touched the villager, he threw the person to the ground. His limbs pressed firmly against the chicken thief boss, almost suffocating him. .

This time, Mo Yan didn't need to explain. The villagers quickly stepped forward and tied up the chicken thief. One villager, regardless of the cold, took off his socks and blocked the mouth of the chicken thief who kept shouting threats.

Men's feet usually have an unpleasant smell, especially in the winter when socks are not washed every day, so the smell is even stronger. The cock-stealing boss rolled his eyes at the smell and wished he could faint immediately.

At this time, the eight chicken thieves who had "led away" the four big dogs were also driven back by the four dogs. Their clothes were in tatters and their bodies were bruised and miserable. It was obvious at a glance that they had been severely tortured by the four dogs.

The chicken thieves who were originally envious of these eight companions shivered and began to feel happy. But looking at myself being tied up by Wu Hua, this feeling of happiness disappeared without a trace in an instant, and I regretted for the umpteenth time why I listened to the boss and walked away...