The Princess of Northern Land

Chapter 122 - 122 122 Opportunity_1

?Chapter 122: Chapter 122 Opportunity_1 Chapter 122: Chapter 122 Opportunity_1 Upon hearing that it was Ma Erlang who had instigated these thieves, the villagers immediately burst into an uproar.

“It’s quite possible, haven’t you noticed that no one from the Ma Family has shown up?” Some astute onlookers had already begun to take note.

“Boss, there’s no use protecting Ma Erlang now. That guy has hurt us badly.” someone bickered back. “Didn’t you see him baiting us into the trap by claiming he was keeping watch outside? But when things go south, he slips away. Is this his idea of loyalty?” A dispute broke out among the thieves.

Lin Ziyin watched as they bickered amongst themselves. Excellent. Before the authorities even began their interrogation, these guys were already exposing themselves.

“What did Ma Erlang ask you to do?” Lin Ziyin asked.

This time, no one responded to her. Perhaps they felt she was just a woman, and did not give much importance to her.

Without a word, Lin Ziyin picked up the fallen rod and rained down brutal blows on the suspended men.

The sound of the thunderous blows landing on flesh made everyone on the scene shiver uncontrollably.

“You despicable wench, you cold-hearted slut! It serves your Lin Family right to be played!” The man being beaten howled in pain but still attacked verbally.

“Who are you cursing?” Lin Changshu blew his top, charged over and delivered more thunderous blows to the thief’s face.

“Your Lin Family will get your deserved punishment sooner or later, and your entire family will be wiped out!” The thief ranted on.

Lin Ziyin threw down the rod in her hand, reached out arm, and twisted the thief’s arm forcefully. Everyone heard a cracking sound and then saw the thief’s arm unnaturally hanging down.

“Ah,” the thief couldn’t help but cry out.

Lin Ziyin remained stoic, and did it again, another cracking sound, and his other arm also looked as if it had been broken.

“My arm, my hand.”

“Speak. What did Ma Erlang ask you to do?” Lin Ziyin sternly questioned, keeping her face rigid.

The villagers were shocked by Lin Ziyin’s brutality. Never having imagined her capable of breaking the thief’s arms without batting an eye, scared them involuntarily into stepping back. Many made up their minds to avoid her in the future, never to cross her.

“Got a tough mouth, do you?” Lin Ziyin chuckled coldly, not giving the thief time to react, she moved to another thief and twisted fiercely. The tragedy was repeated, his arm was also broken.

“You don’t have to hit me, I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything.” This one wasn’t tough. Just losing one arm scared him enough to spill everything, just like pouring beans from a bamboo tube. “Ma Erlang told us that your Lin Family has the techniques for making soybean oil and tofu, which made a lot of money for you. He also said that you offended some important people at the market. Those profitable techniques will be taken from you sooner or later, so he asked us to take the initiative, to snatch those techniques, and also rob the Lin Family’s silver.”

Upon hearing this, another wave of discussion erupted among the villagers. Even though they harbored petty-minded thoughts, they were not brutal people at heart. The Lin family were villagers like them, and they didn’t want their fellow villagers bullied by outsiders. Ma Erlang’s betrayal was seen as something utterly unforgivable.

“How can we be sure you are telling the truth?” Lin Ziyin asked, grinning coldly.

“We have evidence. Our boss was afraid that Ma Erlang was lying or would back out if anything happened. So before all this started, Ma Erlang had to put his fingerprint on a contract for us.” Seeing his partner had confessed everything, another thief hurriedly chimed in, hoping to curry favor.

“Where is the fingerprint?” Lin Ziyin persisted, great, as long as there was tangible evidence, Ma Erlang’s family couldn’t escape.

“Our boss has it.” Figuring that there was no point in lying now that they had confessed, the thief answered Lin Ziyin’s questions straightforwardly.

“Uncle Lou Zheng, what do you think we should do next?” After finishing her questioning, Lin Ziyin looked at Lou Zheng, pushing the remaining matters onto him.

“Go grab a few people and fetch Ma Erlang from his house.” There was a traitor in the village and Lou Zheng was very angry at this moment.

The villagers were equally irate. The morals in the Shili Village had always been good, with rarely any cases of pilfering or theft. Although they were a bit poor, the villagers still felt a sense of pride and simplicity in their community. But today, they discovered Ma Erlang, who had committed a great betrayal. Today he could make a move on the Lin Family, tomorrow he could conspire with outsiders to bring harm to the whole village.

As soon as Lou Zheng finished speaking, several people went off to catch Ma Erlang.

Many people left, and they returned quickly. However, there was no sign of Ma Erlang among the people who came back. Instead, Bao and her two crying kids had come.

Lin Ziyin’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and the others in the Lin Family also showed signs of displeasure.

“Where is Ma Erlang?” Lou Zheng was furious.

“Damnable fools, you guys are just bullying us. What are you trying to do, waking us up in the middle of the night?” Bao started to throw a tantrum as soon as she entered the courtyard.

Lin Ziyin watched coldly, waiting for Lou Zheng to handle the matter.

“Stop wailing,” Lou Zheng roared and Bao’s voice quieted down. “Open your eyes and see. These thieves were attracted by Ma Erlang. They all have evidence from Ma Erlang.”

Bao cried louder upon hearing the first half but as soon as Lou Zheng mentioned that the thieves had evidence, she immediately opened her eyes wide and could no longer cry.

“Speak, where has Ma Erlang gone?” Lou Zheng glared at her and asked harshly.

“Lou Zheng, I don’t know. That dead man said he was going out to have some drinks with friends, and he never came back. Lou Zheng, it couldn’t possibly be the Lin Family that beat him up and hid him, could it?” Bao quickly tried to turn the tables. “My Erlang is fond of the drink, but is a coward at heart. He wouldn’t dare engage in such dangerous business. It’s clearly the Lin Family colluding with others, trying to frame my Erlang.”

After finishing, she started crying again.

Lin Ziyin, hearing her words, had a slight smirk on her lips. She was certain in her heart that Bao had some knowledge of Ma Erlang’s deeds.

“We truly have evidence. Were it not for Ma Erlang inciting us, how would we have known about the Lin Family’s matters?” One of the thieves yelled out.

“Ma Erlang is missing, Ziyin, what do you think we should do next?” Though Lou Zheng was very annoyed with the Ma family, he didn’t want to make a big fuss about a traitor in his village and lose face. Thus, he was rather reluctant to throw Ma Erlang into the government offices.