Chapter 824: Caught Two Thieves

"Close the doors tightly, have everyone ready with hoes and cleavers. The courtyard guards and servants, form into groups of five, each with weapons, patrol along the wall roots and report any situations immediately," instructed Tong Huaqiong.

The city is so chaotic now, it’s hard to tell if someone will take advantage of the mess.

A house full of women and children.

We must stay vigilant.

Gu Dashu and Gu Dahuan stood up to allocate and assign personnel after hearing Tong Huaqiong’s words. The two divided the courtyard guards and servants into two groups, each brother leading one group, patrolling the courtyard continuously in shifts throughout the night.

Gu Jingzhe put down his book and went out to help his brothers assign personnel.

"Let’s also keep the cleavers and sticks within arm’s reach."

Tong Huaqiong had everyone gather in the front hall with cleavers and sticks placed nearby for easy access.

Tonight is destined to be sleepless.

In the latter half of the night, the sound of horse hooves and metallic clashes came from outside.

Tong Huaqiong listened intently with a solemn expression.

"I’ll kill you."

"Trying to take advantage, not even checking whose house you’re touching."

A cry of pain followed.

Tong Huaqiong heard Gu Dashu’s scolding from outside and asked through the window, "What’s happening?"

Su Qing reported, "It’s two thieves trying to climb over the wall and steal from us during the chaos outside, but Second Young Master has caught them."

"Let’s go have a look."

Su Qing carried a lantern as Tong Huaqiong led people into the courtyard.

Gu Dashu had already ordered the thieves to be tied up and thrown on the ground.

"Shopkeeper Tong, have mercy, let us go, our mother is still waiting for us to bring her Lantern Festival goodies," one thief pleaded, his eyes darting around upon seeing Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Huaqiong’s face turned icy; it seemed these thieves knew her.

It appeared they had scouted the place, waiting for Fifteenth Night when everyone would be out watching the lanterns to come in and steal.

There might be accomplices too.

Tong Huaqiong said, "Trying to use your mother to morally blackmail me? If I were your mother, I’d sooner die than have a son like you."

The thief just kept pleading.

Tong Huaqiong asked, "Who else is with you besides the two of you?"

The older thief suddenly smiled and said, "Let us go, Shopkeeper Tong, and I’ll tell you."

Tong Huaqiong swung a stick at him and said, "You dare to bargain with me? Who do you think you are?"

The thief screamed in pain from the stick’s impact.

The younger thief shivered.

Tong Huaqiong said, "Noisy people are bothersome. You had your chance to talk; now throw a bucket of water over each of them, tie them up tightly, and leave them in the snow until tomorrow for the government."

The two shook all over.

In the freezing cold, getting doused with cold water and thrown into the snow, wouldn’t they become ice sculptures? Could they even survive?

"We’ll confess."

"We’ll confess."

The thief who tried bargaining said, "We were instructed by Dongfang Pavilion’s shopkeeper."

Dongfang Pavilion?

Once the largest department store in Shengjing, but since Jufu Supermarket opened, Dongfang Pavilion had to settle for second.

Tong Huaqiong thought Dongfang Pavilion had grace, as they hadn’t caused trouble for Jufu Supermarket since it opened. It seemed she was wrong.

They weren’t causing trouble only because commercial hindrances couldn’t stop Jufu Supermarket’s aggressive expansion.

They had to resort to underhanded methods.

According to their confession, they took two hundred taels of silver from Dongfang Pavilion to either violate the women or abduct Tong Huaqiong when infiltrating her home.

Gu Dahuan, Gu Dashu, and Gu Jingzhe were furious; the three brothers kicked the thieves’ faces, turning their heads into pigs’ heads.

The thieves deeply regretted it, as they had underestimated the opposition, assuming Tong Huaqiong was just someone from Ning City, not knowing the reserve, offending Dongfang Pavilion.

They thought it would be easy to punish her.

It’s said that Prince Ning was behind Dongfang Pavilion.

Thinking of this, the older thief said, "Shopkeeper Tong, Prince Ning backs Dongfang Pavilion. Letting us go benefits us both; offending Prince Ning does you no good."

Dongfang Pavilion is backed by Prince Ning; they were acting on its shopkeeper’s behalf.

Tong Huaqiong wanted to laugh; how did they equate her to being one of Prince Ning’s people?

Such fools exposing themselves first would be the ones Prince Ning would have beheaded.

Tong Huaqiong ordered a bucket of cold water to be tossed on them.

"Shopkeeper Tong... you broke your promise..."

They thought using Prince Ning as a threat would work, but Tong Huaqiong didn’t fall for it.

The cold water shook them to the core, feeling as if their skulls had cracked open.

Tong Huaqiong said, "You’re in my hands, and you expect me to keep promises? How naive can you be?"

With that, she ordered them to be dragged into the woodshed and locked up, instructing the steward to keep them alive until the mess outside subsides, then hand them over to the authorities.

As for Dongfang Pavilion’s shopkeeper, Tong Huaqiong wouldn’t let him off either.

However, learning that Dongfang Pavilion is backed by Prince Ning wasn’t entirely without gain.

She wondered if the rebellious prince tonight was Prince Ning.

He Chao approached Tong Huaqiong with a chilling expression and said, "Boss, I’ll handle the Dongfang Pavilion matter."

Tong Huaqiong nodded.

For Dongfang Pavilion to resort to such tactics, they don’t even deserve to be compared with Jufu Supermarket.

"Alright, leave it to you. If necessary, eliminate Dongfang Pavilion."

Since Dongfang Pavilion was unjust, they couldn’t blame her for being ruthless; let them disappear from Shengjing completely.

"Luckily, we stayed up late tonight, otherwise the house would’ve been robbed," said Liu Yueer, fearfully.

Chen Sufen, pale, said, "We haven’t even offended Dongfang Pavilion, why are they so vicious? In the future, I’ll be cautious when exchanging skills with other pastry shop bakers; we compete fairly, but others may not."

After dealing with the thieves, everyone returned inside.

By then, it was midnight, and no one felt sleepy.

The wind picked up at midnight, snow began to fall, and even with two more trays of coal burning inside, it couldn’t compete with the chill.

Tong Huaqiong, observing everyone, felt like someone was missing.

Thinking this, Tong Huaqiong asked, "Is someone missing from our family?"

Everyone looked at each other, and finally, Gu Xiaoxue exclaimed, "Auntie and Uncle are not here?"

Huh?

Everyone had automatically ignored Gu Honglian and Fan Tong.

Even when watching the lantern show, they forgot to invite Gu Honglian and Fan Tong.

Gu Baishuang said, "Perhaps Auntie and Uncle have gone to rest."

At this time, a servant girl entered and said, "Aunt and Uncle went out to watch the lanterns and haven’t come back yet."

Tong Huaqiong facepalmed.

The crowd was astonished.

Despite not liking Gu Honglian and detesting Fan Tong even more, nobody wanted them dead.

If they didn’t return so late, the chaos outside could result in accidental harm or even death.

Yet sending someone out to search was impossible, who would risk their life to venture out at this time?

"How about I go out to check?" Gu Dahuan suggested.

Chen Sufen’s face was tense with worry.

Tong Huaqiong said, "Gu Dahuan, you can’t go out. We have no idea what’s happening outside, and no one should leave. If faced with extreme situations, how would you protect anyone if you went out?"