Chapter 337: Chapter 337: The Poop I Took
Raina washed her hands, then cleaned Tang Xiaonan’s. She led her out to the yard, and as soon as they stepped outside, she saw the village chief leading two strangers inside. The woman in the lead looked like she spelled trouble, and Raina’s heart sank.
"Raina, someone reported that you’re raising several rabbits. Is that true?" Preston Thorne asked first, giving her a pointed look.
"What damn fool is spouting nonsense? Since when have we ever raised rabbits? That’s a load of bull."
Raina immediately fired back with a curse, but inwardly, she was celebrating. ’Thank goodness my granddaughter moved the rabbits. My little girl really must be a reincarnated immortal. She even saw this coming. She’s more brilliant than Zhuge Liang!’
"See? I told you it was nothing. Why don’t you two head back and get some dinner? My wife’s already got it on the table," Preston Thorne said with a placating smile. "You know what they say, an army marches on its stomach. Work is important, but you have to eat, too!"
"Talk is cheap. We have to inspect the premises ourselves."
Comrade Yang remained stone-faced, her stern gaze sweeping across the yard like an X-ray, unwilling to miss a single nook or cranny.
Phoebe Thorne, who didn’t know the rabbits had been moved, shot Raina a panicked look. Raina returned it with a reassuring glance.
Comrade Yang inspected the front yard and found nothing, so she moved to the back. Tang Xiaonan’s heart leaped into her throat. Rabbit droppings had a pungent, foul odor. Even if they’d been cleaned up, the smell would linger. ’I hope this will be okay,’ she thought.
"This hutch is for rabbits, isn’t it? It reeks of them. Captain Thorne, did you tell them to move the animals?" Comrade Yang demanded coldly. The hutch was obviously for rabbits; she had raised them as a child and recognized the smell of their droppings immediately.
"Now that’s an unfair accusation, Comrade Yang. I had no idea you were coming, and I’ve been with you this entire time. What am I, Sun Wukong? Did I create a magical clone to warn them?" Preston Thorne’s tone soured. ’This woman is a real piece of work. No wonder she got demoted to the countryside.’
"Hand over the rabbits!"
Comrade Yang went over to the vegetable patch and unearthed a few round rabbit pellets. Her expression grew colder, and her commanding tone was infuriating.
"There are no rabbits, so what do you expect me to hand over? The house is only so big, and you’ve already searched it. What more do you want!" Raina had no fear of the work group. She came from an impeccable poor-peasant background—what the hell was there to be afraid of?
"If there are no rabbits, then where did these droppings come from?"
Comrade Yang held up the pellets from the vegetable patch with a mocking expression.
Without batting an eye, Raina pointed at Tang Xiaonan and said, "My granddaughter has been feeling under the weather lately, and her poops have been coming out in little balls. You can’t even tell the difference between human shit and rabbit shit? And you call yourself an investigator!"
Having been singled out, Tang Xiaonan wished the ground would swallow her whole. ’My grandma... she’s really something else!’
"It was me, Ma’am."
Tang Xiaonan looked at Comrade Yang earnestly and confessed without a moment’s hesitation, her cheeks flushing.
’The things I do for a little bit of meat,’ she lamented inwardly. ’Now I even have to take the blame for the rabbits’ poop. Sigh!’
Comrade Yang looked furious. ’This whole family is lying through their teeth! Do they think I can’t tell the difference between human shit and rabbit shit?’
"Do you take me for a fool? This is obviously rabbit shit! Hand over the rabbits now!"
"There are no rabbits! Where am I supposed to find them for you? You officials can’t just go around framing innocent people. My family has been poor peasants for three generations, our record is spotless. What reason would I have to lie to you?"
Raina stuck to her story that there were no rabbits. To catch a thief, you need to find the stolen goods. If they couldn’t find the rabbits, they had no right to act high and mighty in her home. She wouldn’t be scared even if the town mayor himself showed up.
For the moment, Comrade Yang was at a loss. She could intimidate landlords and middle peasants, but there wasn’t much she could do to a poor peasant. ’This family is too cunning,’ she fumed. ’I wonder who tipped them off.’
She shot a suspicious glance at Comrade Hu, who was just watching the spectacle from the sidelines. ’It was probably this useless oaf who tipped them off,’ she thought. ’Hmph. I didn’t get them this time, but I’ll be back!’
