Chapter 109: Caught Red-Handed, Awe

“We have so many people here, let’s not fight recklessly!” Cao Shujie could sense that Cao Zhen wasn’t joking. He felt touched but still advised Cao Zhen against acting rashly.

No matter what, their own safety should come first.

Cao Shulun looked up at the half-moon in the sky and asked, “Do you think he’ll come again tonight?”

“If he’s really here just to steal kiwi fruit, he’ll definitely come tonight,” Cao Fei replied.

Cao Tiemin agreed, saying, “Didn’t Shujie say that Uncle Jianguo has already spread the word that the remaining kiwi fruit will be packed and sold tomorrow? If he doesn’t come tonight, he won’t have another chance this year. Do you think he’d be willing to miss it?”

“I just don’t get it, why is he stealing kiwi fruit?” Cao Shuyang wondered, still puzzled.

Cao Shujie was also at a loss. He said, “Kiwi fruit is only valuable in this orchard. If he takes it home, it’s worthless. Or does he just want to eat it himself?”

“Does stolen kiwi fruit taste better?”

The remark almost made Cao Zhen and the others laugh, reminding them of the saying from their childhood that stolen melons taste sweeter.

They nearly burst out laughing, but Cao Jianguo signaled them to stay quiet.

“Don’t make a sound, or he might hear us and run,” he cautioned.

Everyone fell silent, but it wasn’t long before Cao Fei started complaining in a low voice, “Shujie, the mosquitoes here at night are too much. They’re biting me to death.”

“Bear with it. It’s hot, and there are many trees, so of course, there are lots of mosquitoes,” Cao Shujie acknowledged. They had come out in a hurry tonight and hadn’t brought any mosquito repellent. Otherwise, it would have been more bearable.

“It’s okay, I can endure it,” Cao Fei said, waving his hand to shoo away the buzzing mosquitoes near his ear.

But it wasn’t long before the pesky mosquitoes returned.

“I really want to set these mosquitoes on fire,” Cao Fei grumbled.

Cao Shuyang and the others shared the same thought.

…

At Cao Shujie’s home, Wang Yuelan and her daughter-in-law Cheng Xiaolin were playing with Mengmeng.

After dinner and cleaning up, they felt uneasy, wondering what was happening at the orchard.

“Mom, you should rest. I’ll keep watch for a while. If there’s any news, I’ll let you know,” Cheng Xiaolin suggested.

Wang Yuelan shook her head. “Linlin, I’m not tired. You take Mengmeng and go rest.”

Mengmeng didn’t want to leave. She ran circles around the room, saying, “Mom, Grandmother, look how fast I’m running.”

Cheng Xiaolin was too tired to respond, while Wang Yuelan watched her granddaughter with a smile. Hearing Mengmeng’s words, she praised her without hesitation but also advised, “Mengmeng, aren’t you tired? Take a break.”

“Grandmother, I’m not tired!” Mengmeng said, running even more energetically.

With Mengmeng’s antics, Wang Yuelan and Cheng Xiaolin felt their hearts lighten.

…

In Cao Family Village, there was an old bachelor named Cao Jianqiu. In his youth, he had sticky fingers and often engaged in petty theft around the village. Eventually, he was shunned by the villagers and left Cao Family Village to seek a living elsewhere.

But as the saying goes, often walking by the river, one’s shoes will eventually get wet. Cao Jianqiu was caught stealing brass and was reported to the authorities, resulting in a prison sentence.

Once inside, Cao Jianqiu found that having food and shelter was better than his uncertain life outside, where he sometimes had to sleep under bridges. He even didn’t want to leave.

However, he later realized that life inside wasn’t ideal either. He was frequently beaten, and the meals became bland and insufficient. Over time, he grew weaker and couldn’t work well, leading to even more beatings.

After serving his sentence, Cao Jianqiu returned to Cao Family Village as if fleeing from ghosts.

He appeared to have reformed, but secretly, thefts continued in the village. Some suspected him, but others didn’t want to stir up trouble, especially since the stolen items weren’t valuable, so no one pursued the matter.

Recently, Cao Jianqiu had been wandering around the Yellow River Dam. One day, he overheard two people in a car discussing that the kiwi fruit from Cao Shujie’s orchard was selling for 28 yuan per jin . This information stuck with him.

Back home from the Yellow River Dam, Cao Jianqiu couldn’t shake the thought. He couldn’t understand how ordinary kiwi fruit could sell for 28 yuan per jin.

But another idea popped into his mind. He knew from passing by the orchard at night that it wasn’t guarded.

He thought if he could steal some kiwi fruit and sell it at a slightly lower price to outsiders, he could make a fortune.

With this plan, Cao Jianqiu took action and contacted his nephew, Cao Shubao, who was also lazy and avoided honest work. However, he eagerly participated in schemes that required no effort.

The uncle and nephew made a pact and started their operation the next night.

Everything went smoothly. They used large pliers to cut a hole in the wire mesh fence big enough for them to move in and out freely. Due to a miscalculation, the fertilizer bags filled with kiwi fruit were too heavy to carry easily, so they dragged them down the mountain.

Both men had simple minds and didn’t think much of it. They didn’t bother to cover their tracks, thinking that in the dark of night, no one would notice them. They even planned to steal more in the coming days to sell all at once, avoiding frequent sales that might attract attention.

But today, while idly wandering the streets, Cao Jianqiu overheard that a big client had bought all the remaining kiwi fruit from Cao Shujie’s orchard and would pick them up tomorrow.

Hearing this, Cao Jianqiu felt a pang of regret, as if it was his kiwi fruit being sold.

He rushed to his nephew’s house to tell Cao Shubao the news. After a private discussion, they decided to make a big haul that night, planning to use an electric tricycle to transport as much as possible.

They never considered whether there might be any issues with their plan. All they thought about was stealing more kiwi fruit before Cao Shujie sold them, hoping to make some money later.

At night, after all the streetlights in Cao Family Village went out, the uncle and nephew rode an electric tricycle in the dark towards Cao Shujie’s orchard. Afraid of attracting attention, they didn’t dare turn on the tricycle’s headlights.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, seeing nothing unusual around, Uncle Cao Bao drove the tricycle along the road to the parking platform and parked it. Then, carrying four fertilizer bags, they walked along the wire mesh fence towards the northwest, searching for the hole they had cut the previous night.

“Uncle, do you think it’s okay? This place is so big, Cao Shujie surely hasn’t noticed this hole,” Cao Shubao said with a hint of jealousy.

In his mind, with over 80 mu of land, it wouldn’t be easy to discover this hole.

Moreover, he was only a year younger than Cao Shujie. Yet, after returning from Beijing, Cao Shujie had leased the mountain land to plant fruit trees and start a thriving business, while he had achieved nothing and was constantly nagged by his parents for being useless.

He had also heard enough villagers gossiping about how well Cao Shujie was doing. This was a torment for him, and stealing kiwi fruit from Cao Shujie’s orchard without getting caught gave him a sense of psychological revenge.

Tonight was no exception. He planned to steal more, sell them by the day after tomorrow at the latest, and turn them into cash.

He figured if Cao Shujie could sell them at such a high price and make so much money, he could sell them at a slightly lower price, say 25 yuan per jin , and still earn a decent sum!

“Uncle, I’ll go in first, then you follow,” Cao Shubao suggested.

Cao Jianqiu agreed readily, and the two entered the orchard one after the other, using the moonlight to start picking kiwi fruit from the trees.

They never thought there might be someone lying in wait inside the orchard, and everything they did was under the watchful eyes of more than a dozen people.

Cao Shujie, Cao Zhen, Cao Shuyang, Cao Shulun, and others were still waiting in the orchard. From after 8 p.m., they had been battling mosquitoes and waiting until after 10 p.m.

Seeing no movement, Cao Zhen even suggested they take shifts, with some resting first and then switching in the middle of the night. If anything unusual happened, they would wake the resting group for a joint action.

But before they could start resting, they heard unusual noises from the foot of the mountain. It wasn’t long before they saw an electric tricycle appear in the parking area under the moonlight.

In the moonlight, the dozen people hiding in the orchard saw two figures boldly circling the wire mesh fence and slipping through the hole into the orchard.

“What foolish thieves!” Cao Zhen couldn’t help but remark.

It was nighttime, and their vision was limited, so they couldn’t see the intruders’ faces clearly. However, Cao Jianguo recognized one of them by voice and whispered to his son Cao Shujie and his son’s friends, “It’s Cao Jianqiu from the village, a habitual thief!”

“A few years ago, he was even arrested for theft,” Cao Jianguo explained.

Under the moonlight, seeing Cao Jianqiu and his nephew Cao Shubao starting to pick kiwi fruit, Cao Fei perked up and asked Cao Shujie, “Should we go over now?”

“Wait, let them pick a bit more first. I’ll release the dogs,” Cao Shujie replied.

A few minutes later, after the uncle and nephew had each filled half a bag, the orchard suddenly erupted with the angry barking of two dogs, Daha and Erha, who had been forcibly awakened.

Daha howled, shaking its body, and with eyes full of anger, followed the direction of Cao Shujie’s pointing finger. In the next moment, it dashed out like an arrow from a bow.

Erha wasn’t far behind, following its brother towards the two figures picking kiwi fruit in the orchard.

The wolf-like howls echoed far into the night.

The barking startled the uncle and nephew, leaving them dumbfounded. Why were there dogs in the orchard tonight? Why hadn’t they heard any barking earlier?

Before they could figure it out, the two dogs, like spirits in the night, had already reached them, biting their clothes and pulling them back forcefully.

When the two tried to fend off the dogs with pliers and scissors, the dogs cleverly sensed the threat and pulled them off balance by crossing paths, avoiding their attacks without letting go.

Soon, a group of people with long sticks surrounded them.

Someone shouted, “We’ve caught them! Shujie, your dogs are amazing.”

“Indeed, these dogs are impressive.”

While discussing the dogs, they didn’t forget to prod the two on the ground with their sticks.

“Let go of me, let go!” Cao Jianqiu and Cao Shubao were on the verge of panic, their fear palpable.

The dogs held onto their clothes with a death grip, and they could smell the dogs’ musky scent, terrified that they might get bitten.

That was bad enough, but being surrounded by more than a dozen people made them truly afraid.

With all the evidence in hand, Cao Jiangang didn’t waste time arguing and shouted, “Shujie, call the police!”

That night, the sound of police sirens pierced the quiet night of Cao Family Village. Some people, half-asleep, vaguely heard the sirens but didn’t pay much attention.

Others got up, curious to see what was happening, but then thought the police might be chasing fugitives and went back to their rooms.

Those living at the north end of the village heard the sirens coming from the mountain and wondered what was happening there.

That night was anything but peaceful for the people of Cao Family Village.

It wasn’t until the next morning that the villagers learned what had happened the previous night.

The village’s bachelor, Cao Jianqiu, and his nephew Cao Shubao had repeatedly stolen kiwi fruit from Cao Shujie’s orchard and were caught red-handed!

At the same time, the villagers’ respect for Cao Shujie grew even more.

In the countryside, being merely kind and gentle isn’t enough; one also needs to be tough to get by.

Besides, no matter how you look at it, the fault lay with Cao Jianqiu and Cao Shubao.

According to Cao Jianqiu’s account, the police officers from the station also found a full bag of kiwi fruit at Cao Jianqiu’s home, which was ready to be sold. In Cao Shujie’s words, these kiwi fruits were quite valuable!

As for how the two individuals will be dealt with next, that is a matter for the judiciary, and Cao Shujie does not interfere.

(End of Chapter)