Transmigrated as a Peasant Girl with Prophetic Dreams: Using My Space to Become the Richest Person - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: It Was Zhao Zhaodi Who Did It

The Village Head agreed. Instead of sitting there guessing and second-guessing without a definitive result, it was better to simply ask the people who actually knew.

He immediately ordered the bandits to be woken up. As they groggily came to, they were met with the glares of the resentful villagers and were momentarily dazed. They had been bandits for years—burning, killing, and looting—yet today they had fallen into the hands of these peasants. To them, it was an utter humiliation.

However, now that they were captured, what use was feeling humiliated?

“Do you have any idea who we are?” the leader snarled. “If you’re smart, you’ll let us go right now, otherwise you’ll live to regret it.”

The Village Head was speechless. If we let you go now, that’s when we’d truly regret it.

Yang the Third’s timid nature couldn’t be changed overnight. Seeing the bandits’ fierce gazes, he felt a surge of fear and stood back at a distance, not daring to get close.

But the strong men guarding the bandits were full of spirit. Seeing these men already in custody yet still daring to threaten them so arrogantly, their tempers flared. Lin Zhijie stepped forward and slammed his foot onto a bandit’s shoulder. “Talk! Why did you come to rob our village? Did someone tell you something?”

The bandit had never been treated this way. He was always the one doing this to others; when did anyone ever get the chance to do it to him? This instantly enraged him, and he glared venomously at Lin Zhijie. “You’re looking for death!”

Lin Zhijie wasn’t intimidated. “Then I’ll let you die first.”

He hadn’t picked a random bandit to interrogate; this man was clearly the leader of the pack.

“You wouldn’t dare! Believe it or not, I’ll slaughter your entire village!”

Yang the Third shivered, but Lin Zhijie responded by kicking the bandit squarely in the chest. Facing such cold-blooded criminals, he felt no need for mercy. Having worked the fields all his life, Lin Zhijie was incredibly strong; using his full power, he nearly knocked the wind out of the man.

The bandits were stunned. They had encountered a tough crowd this time. Usually, their threats left people trembling in fear, not shouting back at them.

“Speak! Who sent you?”

“Brat, you dare kick our boss? Do you value your life?”

The other villagers didn’t hesitate, giving each of the shouting bandits a kick of their own. Yang the Third watched in a daze, then looked at the Village Head, only to find him watching the scene with total composure. What Yang the Third didn’t know was that before being assigned to Niaor Village, the Village Head had worked at the yamen; he had seen this kind of thing a thousand times.

“Will you talk or not? If not, we’ll just light a fire and burn you all right here in the mountains. You’re bandits anyway; no one will come looking for you.”

Lin Zhijie’s face turned grim. At some point, a knife had appeared in his hand, and he began tracing the air in front of the bandit leader’s face. “Still nothing?” He let the blade nick the leader’s cheek.

The bandit leader finally broke. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk! A person told us there was grain here, but we don’t know the name!”

Lin Zhijie pressed further. “Man or woman? Any distinguishing features?”

“Woman, it was a woman! Features… let me think…”

“Boss!” one of the other bandits piped up. “That woman seemed to have a red birthmark on her forehead!”

The leader nodded frantically. “Yes, yes! She had a red birthmark on her forehead!”

The villagers frowned. No one in Niaor Village had a red birthmark on their forehead.

At that moment, Yang the Third seemed to remember something. “Does she have a black mole on her earlobe?”

The bandit leader snapped, “How should I know? I’ve told you everything I know!”

However, one of his lackeys spoke up: “Boss, she does! She has a mole on her earlobe.” He had taken a few extra looks at her because she was a woman when she approached them, so he remembered.

Yang the Third’s heart sank. It was Zhao Zhaodi without a doubt. It wasn’t a birthmark on her forehead; it was a massive bruise she had gotten when she was swept away by the flood. When Yang the Third and Qian Yue’e had visited the old house, Zhao Zhaodi had joined Old Man Yang in cursing them. Her twisted expression combined with that red mark made her look like a ghost—it was an unforgettable sight.

“Yang the Third, do you know who it is?” the Village Head asked.

Yang the Third nodded helplessly. “I do.”

“Who?”

“It’s… my eldest sister-in-law.”

The onlookers were confused. Lin Zhijie was the first to voice the doubt: “But your sister-in-law doesn’t have a red birthmark.”

Yang the Third gave a bitter smile. “That’s no birthmark. She must have hit her head on something; it’s a huge red bruise that looks like one.”

The realization dawned on the Village Head and the others. They were furious. “How could Zhao Zhaodi do this? No one in the village has ever wronged her! Why would she sabotage us like this?”

The Village Head, noticing Yang the Third’s distress, quickly reassured him. “Yang the Third, don’t overthink it. You are you, and they are them. Besides, you’ve already split the household. Whatever they do has nothing to do with you. Don’t worry; the villagers are reasonable people. The one who committed the crime will be the one to face the consequences. We won’t hurt the innocent.”

Relieved, Yang the Third said, “Village Head, thank you.”

The Village Head laughed. “You’re thanking me? We should be thanking you! If it weren’t for you, who knows what would have become of us tonight. Alright, now that we know who brought this disaster upon the village, we’ll wait until tomorrow to catch her and give her the punishment she deserves. Thank you all for guarding them tonight.”

“It’s no trouble, Village Head. You and Uncle Yang go back and rest; we’ve got it from here.”

The Village Head patted Yang the Third’s shoulder. “Go on, get some sleep.”

…

When Yang the Third returned to the cave, the others were mostly asleep. As he tried to lie down quietly, Yang Xue sat up. “Father, did you find out?”

Yang the Third nodded. “Yes. It was your eldest aunt.”

So it was the Old Yang family. Yang Xue wasn’t surprised at all. Those people were mentally deranged.

“Father, what kind of punishment will she get?”

Yang the Third thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. Perhaps she’ll be kicked out of the village.”

Yang Xue felt a twinge of disappointment. Only kicked out? What a pity.