After being reborn, the young master returned to his village and led his wife and daughters to prosp

The village chief considered it for a long time, but was finally persuaded by Lin Fan.

He gritted his teeth and nodded, then looked at Lin Fan and sighed, "Lin Fan, I'll have to trouble you with this. I'll try to persuade the villagers, but I'll need your help to figure out how to catch these sheep thieves."

Lin Fan nodded and assured, "Don't worry, village chief. If it's not a sheep thief, that's fine. But if it's really someone doing it, I guarantee I'll catch those thieves and make them compensate the villagers for their losses."

"Okay, okay, you wait here for a bit, I'll go contact everyone!"

……

Before long, the village chief gathered everyone from each household in the village to the small square outside the village store at the entrance.

The village chief stood on the platform in the small square, looked at the dense crowd, and said loudly, "Folks, have you all heard about the sheep that have been going missing lately?"

"Although we were very careful, sheep kept going missing. Last night, all of Li Er's sheep were stolen."

“That’s right, it was stolen, not eaten, because we suspect that the sheep didn’t disappear because of a wolf attack, but because of thieves.”

The village chief's words echoed in the empty square.

Upon hearing these words, the villagers looked at each other, their faces showing a hint of confusion as they looked at the village chief.

Someone shouted, "Village chief, are you mistaken? Those sheep must have been eaten by wolves. There are still traces of wolf paws at the scene!"

"That's right, that's right! I think Li Er's sheepfold looks like it's been torn and trampled. How could it have been done by a person!"

"Village chief, do you mean there's a thief in our village?"

"Are you sure there's a mistake? These are all fellow villagers we know well, who would dare to do something like this?"

Even a scoundrel like Er Gou would at most steal melons or spare change from the village store, but he would never dare to steal all of Li Er's sheep so openly.

If this is discovered, the villagers' anger will be something they won't be able to handle.

The villagers don't want to bother with you, Xiao Mo, because they're afraid of getting into trouble with you, so they turn a blind eye. But if you do something so outrageous, the villagers won't mind sending you back to school to start over.

"Fellow villagers, you've misunderstood. It's not that a thief came from our village; the thief came from outside."

Village Chief Wu patiently explained to the villagers.

However, some people still remain skeptical about this matter.

"From outside? Village chief, it's even more impossible that they're from outside. I don't think any outsiders have come to the village in the last couple of days!"

“That’s right, even if outsiders come, they might be someone’s relatives. There should be a place to put the stolen sheep. We searched the village yesterday and found nothing.”

These aren't just a few grains of rice or dates that you can cram into any corner. These are sheep, big, fat sheep, and there are seven or eight of them. They need a lot of space to be properly housed.

Hearing the villagers' constant chatter, the village chief waved his hand and said, "Quiet down, let me finish speaking first."

"We thought about it carefully, and the disappearance of the sheep seemed rather suspicious, so we started by bringing up Li Er's sheepfold..."

The village chief repeated Lin Fan's guess to the villagers.

After finishing the investigation, they came to their own conclusion: the loss of the sheep was highly suspicious and most likely committed by a human.

He didn't directly say that Lin Fan had told him all of this, but rather that it was the result of a discussion among several people in their village. As for which people they were, the villagers certainly wouldn't ask any further questions.

In this way, even if Lin Fan's idea turns out to be wrong and no one steals the sheep, the responsibility for this matter will still lie with everyone, and Lin Fan will not be affected.

From this perspective, Village Chief Wu is quite kind and honest in his dealings with people.

"You all heard what I just said, right? Do you all think what I said makes sense?"

"Anyway, as the village chief, I feel that this matter is indeed very suspicious. It must have been done by someone, so we need to find a way to catch this thief."

Village Chief Wu was quite prestigious in the village, and upon hearing his words, the villagers immediately began to whisper among themselves.

Before long, the villagers reached an agreement.

"Village chief, since you believe someone stole our sheep, then catch the thief!"

"Yes, catch this thief, break his legs, and send him to the police station so he knows that the people of Liangshan County are not to be trifled with!"

"This is outrageous! How dare they steal so brazenly? They even stole Uncle Li's sheep! Village Chief, just tell us what you need us to do!"

It was obvious that Village Chief Wu had gathered everyone together not only to inform them of this matter, but also because he needed their cooperation in catching the thief; everyone was well aware of this.

Village Chief Wu briefly explained Lin Fan's plan again.

However, after listening to Village Chief Wu's plan, the villagers who had just been clamoring to cooperate in catching the thief suddenly fell silent.

Among them, several villagers who raised a lot of sheep spoke up with worried expressions: "Village chief, if we all go out to drive away the wolves as you say, and no one is in charge of this village, what if we can't catch the thief and the sheep are lost?"

“Yes, yes, I can protect my sheep from being stolen by sleeping in the sheepfold. Even if there are thieves, I won’t be afraid. But if we really listen to the village chief and all go out to drive away the wolves, who will look after the house? I can’t rely on my wife and children, can I?”

"Village chief, why don't we just let it go? As long as we're careful, even if thieves do come to steal the sheep, they'll probably give up after this storm has passed!"

After silencing the villagers below, Village Chief Wu sighed deeply, somewhat helplessly.

This is the inherent weakness of human nature. When it comes to the interests of the collective, everyone does indeed show great unity, but once it comes down to the individual's personal interests, everyone starts to back down.

If the village chief's analysis is wrong and no one came to steal the sheep, or if his analysis is correct but he didn't plan to catch the thieves, what happens when the sheep thieves come and steal someone else's sheep while everyone is pretending to go outside to chase away the wolves? That would be completely random!

In other words, unless you don't raise sheep at all like the Lin family, there's a chance they'll be stolen from you, and nobody wants to take that risk!

"Listen to what you're saying. You're all from the same village, and you've managed to take good care of your own sheep, but what about the sheep that went missing from Li Er's house?"

"If we have the chance to catch the thief, we can at least make up for his losses!"