The yamen runner looked at the old man’s pitiable state but spoke without kindness.
“Arresting you is illegal. Stay put and only speak when asked!”
Illegal?
How could that be? He was currently running between the village and the shop, and hadn't done anything else!
Not only were people arrested, but the workshop was searched thoroughly by these officials, and even the finished cloth dolls were packed up.
“Chief, there are no blueprints in this workshop!”
The yamen head frowned. It shouldn’t be like this. Could it be that because the workshop had too many eyes and ears, they kept them at home instead of here?
Soon, the yamen head found the village chief. “Speak, who is in charge of this workshop!”
The village chief had a bitter tale to tell, but at this moment, Liu Qinshi, standing nearby, spoke up. “I am!”
Seeing that it was an old woman, the yamen head strode forward and kicked her, pinning her under his foot. He demanded, “Hand over the blueprints you stole from the Chu mansion, or you’ll risk your worthless life!”
Blueprints? From the Chu mansion?
She knew about the blueprints. These were the lifeblood of the workshop, as Fan Niangzi had said. She would never hand them over. As for stealing from the Chu mansion, that was pure fabrication.
Not to mention the more than a hundred blueprints she had, the blueprints for the popular cloth dolls were drawn by Fan Niangzi right before her eyes. How could they possibly be considered stolen?
At this moment, her mind raced. She was kicked again, which finally jolted her back to her senses. She retorted on the spot, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. The cloth dolls in my workshop are all my own ideas. The blueprints are in my head. How can they be considered stolen!”
The village chief also chimed in, “That’s the logic of it. Besides, the Chu mansion sounds like a wealthy family. Mud-legged folks like us can’t even get through their main gate. How could we possibly sneak in and steal things!”
The steward then walked out from behind the yamen runners. He hadn't expected this old man to be so eloquent!
“Do you still recognize me?”
The village chief’s eyesight was a bit blurry, but as the man approached, his mind went blank. He truthfully nodded. “I’ve seen you. Aren’t you from the family that bought our cloth dolls in Hexinzhou!”
“I did buy a few things from you, but they weren’t cloth dolls. Because the items were too numerous, you sent them to our mansion. But in the end, you were greedy for money and stole over three thousand taels of silver notes from our young lady, and you also stole the blueprints that our young lady painstakingly drew!”
As he spoke, other mansion guards dragged out people from the money exchange. The people from the money exchange recognized the silver notes that had been exchanged a few days prior.
One of them immediately identified the village chief. “It was him, and a young man. They went to my shop to exchange silver notes. It was three thousand one hundred and seventy taels at the time. That’s a huge sum, I won’t forget it!”
The steward sneered and stared at the village chief. “What else do you have to say!”
Seeing them like this, the village chief was furious. “Your young lady wanted to buy our cloth dolls. And because there were too many dolls, she couldn’t carry them, so she asked us to deliver them to the mansion, and then you settled the payment. These silver notes were also given by your young lady. How could we have stolen them!”
Seeing him stubbornly deny it, the yamen runner slapped him hard. “Still trying to quibble! These cloth dolls you make have been selling like hotcakes in Hexinzhou for the past few days, and you’re only just starting to sell them here. And you still say these blueprints weren’t stolen!”
Liu Qinshi, seeing them twist the truth, also became angry. “We sold them to that young lady first. She took the finished cloth dolls and resold them. Can’t you, as a yamen runner, understand such a simple matter?”
This completely enraged the yamen head. He kicked her again and ordered his men to search.
“The people in this village are simply stubborn and unruly. If we don’t teach them a lesson, they’ll really think we’re pushovers!”
“Search every household, one by one. If you find any blueprints, I’ll smash their teeth in!”
At the yamen head’s command, a few men were left to guard the villagers, and the rest went to search.
Like bandits, they stormed into the houses and turned everything upside down. In the process, they even broke bowls and chopsticks used for eating, as well as some pots. After they searched a house, there was almost nothing left intact. Except for the roof, which wasn’t blown off, they even rummaged through the large vats used to hold water.
Seeing that there was grain in the houses, these men also packed it away. Even bandits would be ashamed of their actions, for they were outlaws, but they still had some conscience, at least not preying on the common people.
Liu Qinshi, lying on the ground, was not afraid at all. She had already hidden the blueprints in a place where no one could find them.
She had originally done this to prevent the villagers from stealing them and selling them for money. But she never expected that this would inadvertently help her escape this ordeal.
The village chief saw his wife being kicked several times. He leaned over and whispered, “How is it? Can you still walk?”
Liu Qinshi’s eyes glistened with tears at her husband’s concern. “Don’t worry, I’m tough. I’m fine!”
The village chief lowered his head and sighed heavily. “It’s a good thing they left early, otherwise…”
Liu Qinshi knew who he was referring to and quickly said, “Don’t mention it, lest they suffer with us again!”
Half an hour later, all the men returned, shaking their heads at the yamen head. “Nothing. We’ve searched every household three times and still haven’t found anything!”
The yamen head gritted his teeth, and the hand holding the whip struck the people on the ground twice. “If anyone knows where the blueprints are, just tell me, and I’ll release your family and give you ten taels of silver. If you don’t, all of you will go to jail and eat prison food for the rest of your lives!”
The villagers were all bewildered. Let alone blueprints, they didn’t even know what silver notes looked like. Of course, no one stepped forward to speak.
Seeing this, the steward thought that these people genuinely didn’t know the whereabouts of the blueprints. So, he leaned into the yamen head’s ear again. “There’s a hunter’s family in this village. That young man and his wife are very shrewd. The blueprints must be with them. Why not search there!”
Upon learning that there was still one family in the village they hadn’t apprehended, the yamen head immediately grabbed the village chief. “Speak, where is the hunter!”
“What hunter? Everyone in this village is right here. If you don’t believe me, check my records, or go to the town magistrate. They all have records!”
The yamen runners didn’t believe him. They grabbed another villager. Seeing him trembling, they glared, gritted their teeth, and asked, “Where is the hunter?”
That villager was scared stiff and shook his head. “There isn’t!”
One after another, even the children said the same thing. At this point, the yamen runners were truly enraged!
They couldn’t get any information, and beating them a little didn’t work. It seemed they hadn’t been beaten hard enough.
Tired from the commotion, and having found nothing, the yamen runners had no choice but to have them escorted back to Jinchang County to be handed over to the county magistrate. The magistrate would handle the rest of the investigation.