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Chapter 132: Chapter 126: Blaming the Potty
"Ah? The sheep is lost, didn’t you look for it properly?" Dashuan’s wife was quite surprised; at this time, in every household, doors were not closed at night, and lost items were not picked up on the road. There were hardly any homes like Shen Yunfang’s, who would barricade their doors with an iron guard whenever no one was at home. So she was naturally shocked to hear about something being lost, especially since it was something from the team.
"We did look for it. We searched the small hill and, on the way back, I also combed through the entire village, but there was no sign of it." Speaking of which, Shen Yunfang also felt quite frustrated, blaming herself for her carelessness. Usually, letting the sheep graze on the hillside had never resulted in such an incident, and she had not expected to lose a sheep today. A big reason for this was that she hadn’t been meticulous enough and had neglected to take precautions.
After hearing this, Dashuan’s wife felt somewhat worried for Yunfang, guessing that the sheep might not be found and wondering how the team would deal with Yunfang.
As they were talking, they had already arrived at the production team, where many villagers were already standing in the courtyard.
The women’s director saw Shen Yunfang coming over and waved her to the front, since, as the shepherd, she knew the most about the lost sheep.
As more people arrived, Shen Yeqing spoke seriously about the production team’s loss of the sheep in the afternoon, and he emphasized the severity of the matter. Every team member had to take it seriously. If anyone made a mistake in a moment of confusion, as long as they had the courage to admit it and thoroughly correct it, they would still be considered a good comrade. However, if they were stubborn and refused to confess, letting the team find out, it wouldn’t end with just criticism and education.
After this mixture of carrot and stick scared them, the team members looked at each other, but no one spoke.
Seeing this, Elder Shen softened his tone. If the sheep weren’t stolen by someone from Gaijiatun, then that was even better, and the villagers could think together if there were any clues.
In reality, this was like finding a needle in a haystack; most of the time, such an approach would lead to nothing. But the process had to be followed. It wasn’t about being afraid of incidents, but about handling them with the right attitude, right?
Once the people realized their suspicion had been lifted, they also took interest in gossiping. In groups of two or three, they started chattering away. One said it must have been the big animals in the mountains that carried it away, another said it must have been someone from another village who took the opportunity to steal it. They discussed it enthusiastically.
Suddenly, a discordant voice emerged from the crowd, "Was the sheep really lost, or is it a fake? Don’t tell me you got greedy for meat, and then you’re playing the thief crying ’stop thief.’"
As soon as these words came out, the scene grew quiet for a moment before turning into an uproar.
"Who said that? Step forward!" The women’s director shouted sternly from the front.
In the direction from which the voice had come, the villagers in front consciously stepped aside, allowing the person who had spoken to be revealed.
Liu Zhao saw the people to her left and right, then she hunched her body and said with a flattering smile, "Ah, I was just saying, don’t take it seriously, okay? Just pretend I never said it."
Heh, Liu Zhao did it on purpose. Who told Shen Yunfang, that brat, not to come and cut grass for her pigs anymore? She had to teach her a lesson to calm the hatred in her heart.
This is what you call gratitude for rice, and resentment for grain. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝙢
Shen Yunfang looked on coldly and didn’t say a word; it wasn’t the time for her to speak.
"Well, now that you mention it, it really does make you wonder. We never saw the sheep; only you saw it every day. Now you say it’s lost, and you want us all to help you find it. But who knows if it’s not you who stole it while watching it, took the sheep home, slaughtered it for meat? Then you turn around and say it’s lost, and if you can’t find it, you’ll just forget about it? As if it’s that easy!" Shen Fuzhen thought about it and murmured a few sarcastic words after Liu Zhao shrank back.
Shen Fuzhen, seeing everyone looking at her, maintained a forced smile and puffed up her chest as she said, "Although Shen Yunfang is my niece, I don’t play favorites; I stand for justice over family ties."
Shen Yeqing looked at his younger sister with a grim expression, "Whether you help our kin or not, I don’t care, but you’d better take responsibility for your words. You should know that a single word from you could affect someone’s life."
Everyone else was eager to disassociate themselves from this matter, yet his second sister was actually smearing their own family, and Shen Yeqing couldn’t tell whether she had gone mad or was being vicious.
"Big brother, I’m not just talking nonsense. Everyone analyzed it, and it’s clear that the sheep wasn’t carried away by any big animal from the hills. We didn’t see any strangers from other villages coming to ours today either, so both possibilities have been eliminated. That leaves only our own villagers. We were all out working during the day, with other people around us, so we didn’t have the chance to steal sheep. Could the sheep have grown wings and flown away?" Shen Ergu reasoned meticulously.
Upon hearing this, everyone thought, yes, if it wasn’t Shen Yunfang herself who stole it, then it might have been one of them. It seemed, therefore, more likely that Shen Yunfang was the one guarding and stealing.
Seeing the slowly changing expressions and the suspicious looks directed at her, Shen Yunfang pursed her lips without defending herself.
Shen Yeqing took a deep breath, about to speak when the women’s director preemptively said, "We can’t just say it was Yunfang herself who stole the sheep based on just those two points. We can’t speculate without evidence."
The few people sitting in the front didn’t want this incident to be pinned on Shen Yunfang as a case of guarding and stealing, as that would indicate their leadership failure and poor judgement of character. Besides dealing with the sheep thief, they would also face repercussions. So, they would rather believe the sheep had gone missing on its own.
"What evidence do we still need? I’m asking you, did you steal the sheep?" Shen Fuzhen bluntly turned her head and asked a woman beside her.
The woman hurriedly shook her head, "I don’t even know what that lamb looks like, don’t falsely accuse me."
"What about you, did you steal it?" Shen Fuzhen didn’t care, turning to ask another person.
She asked several people in this manner, and everyone, either laughing or angry, denied being the thief.
Shen Fuzhen spread her hands and said, "See, no one admits to stealing the sheep. I didn’t steal it, she didn’t steal it, you didn’t steal it; no one stole it. Where did the sheep go then? She was supposed to watch the sheep, and now you want us folks to take the rap for her?"
"Exactly, she might even be the one causing trouble in the first place," a villager echoed.
"Oh dear, you all got it wrong. How much could that little lamb weigh? At most ten or eight pounds. Yunfang doesn’t care about that little bit of meat at all now," Wang Hengjun’s wife said with an insinuating tone.
"What do you mean? What are you saying?" a curious villager asked.
"Don’t you know? Yunfang’s family raised two big fat pigs this year, four goats, and a yard full of chickens, ducks, and geese. Which of us can compare?" Wang Hengjun’s wife looked around, saw everyone shaking their heads, and then turned to look at Shen Yunfang with a mocking smile, "That’s right, they have meat and eggs. Why would they bother with that skinny lamb? It’s too much trouble even to slaughter it."
Everyone present could smell the sourness in these words.
"Yunfang, this is where you’re wrong. How could you do this? Our village is made up of generations of poor farmers; how could you drag down the whole village because of one person?" Shen Fuzhen started to make a fuss again from the sidelines.
"Shut your mouth; don’t talk nonsense when you don’t know anything. I’ve never seen anyone like you, always ready to sling mud at your own head," Shen Yeqing shouted loudly, his angry tone clearly felt by Shen Yunfang beside him.
