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Lin Yuan’s mouth twitched slightly as she silently worried for her future uncle by marriage.

Xia Zheng, however, greatly appreciated his aunt’s temperament, giving her a surreptitious thumbs-up.

"Open the door! People inside, open the door!"

To their surprise, after they pulled Lady Ma away from blocking the door outside, Lin Yongcheng inside went ahead and latched it. Liu Limin had been knocking for quite a while without anyone opening, and she was getting anxious.

Lin Yuan’s eyes darted around as she saw that Lady Ma and her husband wanted to step up and block again; she shouted at the crowd of onlookers, "Aren’t you all constantly saying you didn’t steal anything?

Why are you now afraid to even open the door?

Hey, could it be that your family really has a thief among you?

How can this be acceptable? Today they stole from my house, what if they start stealing from everybody else tomorrow? "

Provoked by her shout, the onlookers woke up to the realization, thinking the girl had a point.

Although Lin family hollow had seen its fair share of misfits over the years, a thief was really unprecedented—as they were all from the same village, seeing each other day in and day out.

Besides, going back eight or ten generations, everyone might have shared the same ancestors.

But now that there was a thief in the village, they would no longer feel safe leaving their doors unlocked, and they’d have to tie up the doors properly at night before sleeping to avoid having their houses cleaned out, right?

"This won’t do at all, although my house has nothing, we can’t have a thief in our village!"

"Jiazhong, I’m saying, if your Ah Cheng doesn’t dare to open the door, is it because he really did steal something? Hey, don’t panic, if your boy didn’t steal then that’s the best outcome. But this door has to be opened, so we can all have a look and put our minds at ease, right everybody?"

"Yes, indeed."

"Exactly, that’s the idea, just open the door and let us have a look."

"If you haven’t done anything wrong, you shouldn’t fear the knock on your door. Since there’s nothing in the house, what’s the harm in opening up?"

The only thing in the world that can’t be defied is public sentiment, especially when almost half the village is demanding you do something.

Lin Jiazhong’s old face turned the color of liver as he was caught between his wife and son on one side and the villagers whose impatience was palpably mounting on the other.

Judging by their eager demeanor, if he didn’t open the door soon, they were likely to swarm over and break into his home.

Lin Yuan watched the spectacle quietly, enjoying seeing Lin Jiazhong sweat under the scrutiny of everyone else for a change. Nice feeling, isn’t it?

Liu Limin, who had already been impatiently waiting, muttered softly, "What are we waiting for, just kick the damn door in!"

The door was indeed easy to kick in, but the consequences would have been difficult to deal with.

Coerced by the villagers’ mix of intimidation and persuasion, Lin Jiazhong had no choice but to instruct Lin Yongcheng inside to open the door. After all, he believed in his son, whom he trusted would not stoop so low for such meager gains.

Yet, this time he had overestimated his son.

Ever since Lin Jianling had a stroke and Lin Yongle was imprisoned, all the family’s silver had been used by Lin Jiazhong to grease the wheels at the Yamen. Lin Yongcheng, unable to get silver from either Lin Jiazhong and his wife or Lin Jianling’s family, had long been left destitute.

Without silver, he no longer had the means to hang out with his clique of no-good friends every day. After school, he would go back home, claiming to be well-behaved and obedient. But the truth was, he simply had no money to squander anymore.

As soon as they opened the door, they were hit by a stench of urine and feces, forcing Lin Yuan and others to step back two paces from the assault of the sudden foul odor.

Liu Limin crinkled her nose in disgust and sidestepped, "What is that smell? It’s just like a latrine!"