country bumpkin

Mu Shuyun gently nudged Kong Tongming across from her, "Honey, wake up! It looks like there's someone stealing pigs outside."

Kong Tongming was fast asleep when Mu Shuyun's words startled him. He sat up abruptly and quickly got dressed.

He quickly put on his clothes and shoes, and quietly opened the door. Holding a flashlight in his left hand and a large rolling pin in his right, he tiptoed towards the back of the main room.

Behind the main room, a dark figure, sweating profusely, was frantically whipping the pig's rump. The pig grunted and groaned, but remained motionless.

He bent down and tried to push the pig's rear end forward with his hands, but it didn't budge no matter how hard he tried.

Just then, the old sow let out a fart, which landed right on the dark figure's face.

"Ugh..." The dark figure almost vomited. The stench made him stumble back a few steps.

He muttered under his breath, "This guy is really hard to please. Yesterday, the pig we stole ran away as soon as I cracked the whip. Today, this guy just won't budge, he won't listen to either soft or hard tactics."

Muttering won't help; the pig still won't move, it just keeps going around in circles.

He then took out a handful of dried sweet potatoes from his pocket, ran to the pig's head, and led the pig forward. The sow took a bite of the dried sweet potato and followed along for a few steps.

When it ran out of dried sweet potatoes, it turned back to the pigsty.

The shadowy figure was furious. He cursed, "Damn it, this pig is a demon! What bad luck to run into such a fool today!"

The shadowy figure lost patience and stood at the entrance of the pigpen, trying to figure out how to drive the pigs out of the gate.

Hearing the curses from the shadowy figure, Kong Tongming quietly approached from behind.

He struck the shadowy figure hard on the back with the stick in his hand. Whether startled or stunned by the blow, the shadowy figure stood still.

Kong Tongming scolded, "What? Aren't you leaving? Do you want to go to the police station?"

The shadowy figure realized what was happening and quickly dropped the branch in its hand, then ran away.

Kong Tongming chased after him for a while, shouting as he went, "Let's see if you dare to steal from our house again. If you dare to come again, I'll send you to the police station."

The shadowy figure dared not have any other thoughts, and silently lowered its head and ran away.

Kong Tongming didn't dare to chase for too long and turned back home. People like that might have accomplices waiting for them, so he couldn't keep up the pursuit.

He didn't shine his flashlight on the shadowy figure, so he couldn't see what he looked like; otherwise, he might have been silenced.

Some thieves may have murder cases on their hands, so ordinary farmers can't act impulsively.

They are unlikely to have the same skills or hand-to-hand combat abilities as the police, and therefore cannot apprehend criminals.

Therefore, personal safety should be the primary concern.

Kong Tongming couldn't sleep when he got home. He sat on the bed waiting for Mu Shuyun to return.

Mu Shuyun got dressed as Kong Tongming chased after her. She was worried about her husband and couldn't sleep, so she got up to comfort the pigs.

She closed the pigpen door. She then scooped a ladle of peanut cake water for the sow to drink, and a handful of corn kernels for her to eat.

The sow loved corn kernels, and she ate them with great relish, as if it wasn't her rear end that had just been whipped.

After finishing his work, he went back to the inner room. He saw Kong Tongming sitting and waiting for him, so he took off his shoes, got into bed, and chatted with him about what had happened that evening.

Mu Shuyun asked worriedly, "How are you, honey? Are you alright?"

Kong Tongming took a puff of his cigarette and said, "I'm fine, it's just that this person looks very familiar, he should be from our village."

Mu Shuyun exclaimed in surprise, "Really? He's from our village? Didn't you get a good look at his face?"

Kong Tongming took another puff of his cigarette, exhaled the smoke, and said, "I couldn't see clearly. He was wearing a scarf, it was dark red and blurry, I couldn't see it clearly."

Mu Shuyun asked in confusion, "Why did you let him go? We didn't catch him. We were supposed to hand him over to the village chief tomorrow."

Kong Tongming said, "No, we can't catch him. Who knows if he'll become desperate and try something desperate, and I'll get hurt too. Besides, have you forgotten about Liu Dayong? People like him are prone to retaliating. It's better to be cautious. As long as our pigs haven't been stolen, it's fine."

Mu Shuyun nodded, thinking that this made sense.

Just chase the thief away. If the thief goes to jail because of them, he'll probably retaliate against their family when he gets out.

Ordinary people, without powerful connections above them or good methods and money below, how can they fight against bad people?

Ordinary people should simply live their lives honestly and practically.

The two chatted for a few more minutes, and it was almost dawn. Kong Tongming then snuggled back into the covers and dozed off for a while.

Mu Shuyun also lay down and slept for a while.

An hour later, it was already broad daylight. Kong Tongming still didn't go to work today; he was staying home to oversee the construction of the courtyard wall.

Before the workers arrived, he went to the village chief's house and told him about the pig theft the night before.

Tell the village chief to remind everyone in the village to be careful and to close their doors and windows at night, especially those with large gates, to make sure to lock them.

After finishing this matter, he went home to oversee the construction of the main gate tower.

Kong Xiangdong, the second son, heard that the old house was having its gate and courtyard wall built yesterday, and since he was off work today, he came over to help.

He prepared a meal for his wife and cleaned her boils before coming down to the old house to help.

Seeing his father directing the workers, Kong Xiangdong went over and greeted him.

Kong Tongming was very pleased to see his son arrive.

"Xiangdong, you're here." After exchanging a few pleasantries, Kong Xiangdong joined the team helping out.

Around noon, the workers stopped to eat and rest.

Just then, the village loudspeaker came on, and the village chief mentioned that thieves had broken into the village and stolen pigs the previous night, reminding everyone to be careful. The villagers started discussing it.

Just as everyone was having a heated discussion, someone suddenly shouted, "Look, who's over there!"

Everyone looked over and saw a slovenly figure walking towards the village entrance. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Li Guanggun, the village's notorious lazybones.

Kong Tongming's heart skipped a beat. Could he be the one who stole the pig last night? But he couldn't directly confront him. Besides, wasn't he arrested? Had his sentence been served and he been released?

In the afternoon, the project continued. Kong Xiangdong happened to find a piece of cloth near the pigsty, which looked like a scarf.

He showed it to Kong Tongming, who immediately remembered the thief wearing a scarf last night, and his expression turned serious.

He decided to find an opportunity to secretly investigate Li Guanggun. If it really was him, he would have to find a proper way to resolve the matter, so that his own family would not suffer retaliation, and Li Guanggun would be punished.

He went into the kitchen and asked Mu Shuyun, "Honey, do you remember when Li Guanggun from our village went to jail? Shouldn't he be released by now?"

Mu Shuyun also forgot the date, saying, "I don't remember either. He should have come out. But no one in the village saw him, and I don't know exactly when he came out."

Kong Tongming added, "I think the person who stole the pig last night was him."

Mu Shuyun was startled and said, "Did you see clearly? How could it be him? Is he here to take revenge on us?"

Kong Tongming nodded. "I think it's pretty much true, that should be the case."

Mu Shuyun became even more frightened and said, "Then what should we do? We're in the open, and he's in the shadows. Isn't it easy for him to do something bad?"

Kong Tongming didn't know what to do either, so he could only consult with the village chief for a solution.