Chapter 112 You Are Not In Exile You Are Clearly Traveling!
Chapter 112
"What are you guys up to?"
Seeing this group of people, the man became instantly wary.
Zhou Ping stood nearby, not wearing handcuffs at the moment. Obviously, someone among them could unlock them and had taken the handcuffs off.
"Your name is Wu Zhang, right? We asked you to join us before, and you refused?" Zhou Ping asked back.
"I won't collaborate with you!" On one hand, he didn't want to do this, as such behavior was against his principles. On the other hand, he felt that if he did, it would eventually be discovered, and the consequences would be severe. He didn't want to involve his wife and daughter in such matters.
So, he refused Zhou Ping.
He didn't expect them to come knocking again.
Upon hearing his words, Zhou Ping sneered, "Is that so? Then hand over what you stole from us."
"Nonsense, when did I steal anything from you!" Wu Zhang was getting angry.
Zhou Ping snorted and pointed to the crabs in his arms, "There, isn't that it!"
Obviously, they had their eyes on the crabs that Wu Zhang had caught.
They had also thought about catching fish, but because of the cold weather, they hadn't seen any fish, and they didn't want to go into the water to catch them.
Unexpectedly, when they saw Wu Zhang catching quite a few crabs in the water, they became tempted. They hadn't seen these crabs before.
But now, even getting enough food was a problem, so how could they be picky? After all, they hadn't eaten meat in a long time.
"Nonsense!" Wu Zhang was instantly furious. These crabs were what he had worked so hard to catch, nearly freezing his legs to feed his wife and daughter with some nutrition.
Now, Zhou Ping and his gang were blatantly lying. How could he not be angry?
"I'll ask once more, hand over what you stole, or we won't be polite."
Zhou Ping said, and the others quickly spread out and surrounded Wu Zhang.
Naturally, Wu Zhang couldn't hand over the crabs. Seeing their actions, he turned and ran.
"Trying to escape!"
Zhou Ping and the others were already prepared. Seeing the man trying to flee, the people lying in ambush nearby rushed out and knocked Wu Zhang to the ground.
"Help!"
Wu Zhang reacted quickly, knowing he wasn't a match for these people. He shouted loudly, hoping to attract the attention of others.
"Damn it!"
"Shut up!"
Zhou Ping and the others' faces changed. They quickly picked up sticks from the ground and smashed them at Wu Zhang, trying to silence him.
But Wu Zhang reacted swiftly, covering himself with his clothes, dodging the attack, and continued shouting.
Zhou Ping and the others didn't expect the man to be so agile, actually dodging their attacks. As they wanted to continue their assault, they heard rustling from the forest, indicating someone was approaching.
"Stop, what are you doing!"
Soon, several bailiffs ran out of the woods, seeing Zhou Ping and the others, and immediately took out their weapons, aiming at them.
"Drop your sticks, or we won't be polite!"
The bailiffs shouted at Zhou Ping and the others, while the man took the opportunity to slip away from Zhou Ping and approached the bailiffs.
"Help, they're trying to kill someone!"
Upon hearing this, the bailiffs' expressions changed. They recognized Zhou Ping and remembered that he had been put in shackles for murder. Why were they now missing?
So, they angrily shouted, "Drop your sticks and squat on the ground, don't move!"
Zhou Ping and the others glanced at each other, with some showing a fierce look, while Zhou Ping shook his head slightly. As long as they didn't act recklessly, Xu Tian wouldn't kill them.
Soon, they put down their weapons and squatted on the ground, while the bailiffs had already sent someone to find Xu Tian.
When Xu Tian arrived, he found a group of people tied up and squatting on the ground, with the bailiffs watching them closely.
"What's going on?"
The bailiff looked at Wu Zhang, letting him explain, and Wu Zhang naturally recounted the whole incident like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, then begged Xu Tian to make a decision.
Upon hearing that Wu Zhang had spent over an hour in the freezing water just to supplement nutrition for his wife and daughter, Xu Tian was deeply moved.
After hearing about Zhou Ping and the others' behavior, he became furious and rushed over to them.
"I spared you once, and yet you not only haven't repented but also..."
Anger, regret, disappointment, various emotions surged in Xu Tian's heart.
"You guys are really something!"
Xu Tian gritted his teeth, a blaze of anger rising in his heart. He had originally wanted to give Zhou Ping a chance to change, but who knew that instead of repenting, he would only worsen his behavior.
A thought of punishing Zhou Ping severely instantly emerged in his mind.
"Captain Xu, spare us!"
Zhou Ping and the others saw this and immediately knelt down, crying and begging for mercy, "We were just confused for a moment, give us another chance, we won't do it again."
"Yes, please give us another chance. We had no choice; we couldn't even eat enough. Winter is here, and there's nothing to eat in the wilderness. This was just a last resort. We were forced into it..."
One after another, they expressed their grievances, revealing the bitterness in their hearts, which instantly poured cold water on Xu Tian's fiery anger.
He fell silent. Zhou Ping was right; it was impossible for them to eat their fill with this little food.
But the problem was, he wanted them to eat their fill, but the key was that there was only this much food. If he let them eat freely, they wouldn't last until the next county. Perhaps halfway there, these people would starve to death without food.
By then, most of these people would likely die of hunger. Therefore, having something to eat was still much better than starving to death.
Thinking this way, Xu Tian also understood that Zhou Ping and the others were indeed acting out of desperation... but... Xu Tian was still somewhat angry.
"Tie them up and keep them under strict guard!"
In the end, Xu Tian didn't order them to be killed. After all, although he was the captain of the bailiffs, he didn't have the right to arbitrarily execute prisoners.
Unless the prisoners insisted on escaping, then they could be killed.
"Captain Xu, please make a decision for us..."
At this moment, some other prisoners surged forward from nearby, apparently running over when they heard the commotion.
Seeing Zhou Ping and the others being captured, those people seemed to have found someone to vent to and complained to Xu Tian.
They didn't want to associate with Zhou Ping either. Although they were exiled, most of them were just servants and the like, only implicated.
Hearing that Zhou Ping and the others had done so many bad things behind their backs, Xu Tian trembled with anger.
But returning to that phrase, Zhou Ping and the others changed their clothes to get more food, it was just to eat a little more, not illegal. The only mistake was coercing and enticing others to join them.
And after others got food the second time, they also had to pay a certain interest, which meant they had to give up half of their food.
"Sigh!"
Zhou Ping sighed, had the bailiffs guard Zhou Ping and the others, and finally went to find Chen Yuan to seek a solution.
Chen Yuan remained silent for a moment, then turned to Xu Tian and said seriously, "So, do you want me to be the good guy or the bad guy?"
Xu Tian was stunned, not understanding what Chen Yuan meant.
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