Proofread by Peter Gong
Returning to the meat-shop, Jin Weiwei finds that Little Rich is looking at her. She responds him by a naughty blinking with a OK gesture as a hint that she has already hidden the money well. Little Rich, knowing the meaning of the strange gesture of Jin Weiwei, nods his head slightly, showing that he has already got the message that everything is done. However, Tao Xiaoqing doesn’t know the meaning of this strange gesture. He asks, “My boss, what do you mean by this gesture.”
Jin Weiwei smiles and says, “This is OK, meaning that everything is done. No problem!” Jin Weiwei’s explanation makes Tao Xiaoqing feel even more confused. He asks, “OK？” “Exactly, This is OK. You remember. This is our secret code in Jin’s Meat-shop” “My boss. You invented a secret code! I see.” Says Tao Xiaoqing, nodding his head excitedly. He thinks, “My boss trusts me so much that she even tells me the secret code which is only known by her and her husband!” After a while, Jin Dabao returns to the meat-shop. Everyone pretends nothing really happened just now and none of them mention the money container.
Seeing that all the three people, Jin Weiwei, Tao Xiaoqing, and Little Rich have been busy at their own work and the money container is exactly in the same place as it used to, he thinks that no one knows that the money has been stolen. So, he sits before the money container and begins to count the money with some noise on purpose. “Aha! How come the money is missing! Before I leave, six bunches of copper coin were there in the money container, but now only five bunches there. The money must be stolen by someone!” shouts Jin Dabao
Hearing his shouts, they three stop working. Even customers in the shop gather together to explore what happened. “Are you sure of that? The money is really missing?” says Jin Weiwei with a casual tone. “I cannot be so sure. The money is missing. It must be stolen by someone!” says Jin Dabao wearing a sad expression and holding the money container tightly.
“Well...” Before Jin Weiwei speaks out, she is interrupted by Jin Dabao. He says, “I go to find the head of the village and ask him for helping us to investigate who has stolen the money from our meat-shop!” “Who else except people working in the meat-shop has the opportunity to steal the money from your meat-shop? This money container is in the meat-shop, where no one except your own people have the right to go. The thief must be in your own family!” A villager says without thinking too much about the the whole thing.
These words are exactly what Jin Dabao needs badly. “Your words make sense! This money container is in our meat-shop, which means that people except us have no chance to get it. In my view, this money must be stolen by one of us!” “What do you mean? Do you mean that we stole the money?” Jin Weiwei asks on purpose.
“I am not suspecting anyone.” Says Jin Dabao, taking a glance at Little Rich standing by. He continues, “Since money in our shop has been stolen. It is reasonable to suspect everyone who has the chance to steal the money. By searching the shop, we can dig out the thief!” “All right! Let’s look for the money! I’m really interested in finding out who is so bold to steal money from my shop!” says Jin Weiwei. She agrees with Jin Dabao and asks a villager to invite the head of the village to make a judgement.
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Jin Dabao can’t wait for the head of the village. He wants to solve that as soon as possible. Hence, he suggests, “Rather than wait there for nothing, we’d better make a body search first. Maybe the thief can be caught with the money stolen on his body. Then we just wait for the head of village to make the sentence.” Jin Weiwei is amused by his suggestion.
She thinks, “That foolish dunky expects to catch Little Rich with the stolen money? He doesn’t know that the money has already be moved to another place.” “Well, you are right! We four are all standing there. Who is the first? Me?” Jin Weiwei stands up and raises her arms, signing to him that she is ready. “No...You are free of that. You are the boss of your shop. All the money is yours. There’s no need for you to steal your own money, right?” says Jin Dabao, smiling. Then he turns to Tao Xiaoqing, “Start from Tao Xiaoqing. He is a worker in this shop. He is most likely to steal the money.”
Jin Weiwei winks at Tao Xiaoqing, hinting that he should respond to Jin Dabao accordingly. Then, Tao Xiaoqing raises his arms with obedience, implying that Jin Dabao can search him. “No. There’s no money.” Says Jin Dabao. “You sure?” responds Jin Weiwei. “Yea. I am sure.” Jin Dabao pretends to search Tao Xiaoqing. Then he opens his eyes wide with an expression of pity and looks at Little Rich with suspension. Of course, Tao Xiaoqing is not the thief. Therefore, Little Rich, as Jin Dabao designed before, has become the one who is most likely to be the thief. Surely, Jin Dabao, as the father-in-law of Little Rich, has to pretend to be reluctant to suspect his own “son-in-law”.
“Well...” Jin Dabao opens and shuts his month, speaking nothing. He wonders if Little Rich will disallow him to search. However, to his surprise, Little Rich accepts that as if nothing really matters to him. He says, “OK! I am innocent. So I am not afraid of anything!” Hearing this, Jin Dabao goes to Little Rich directly without hesitation. Then he grabs the coat of Little Rich and swings it hard, expecting that the money will drop out of his coat. But to his surprise, nothing drops out of his coat!
He thinks, “What? Where’s the money? I am sure that I put the money into the pocket of his coat. It disappears!” However, he doesn’t want to give up so easily.
Then, he goes through his pockets. Even though he empties all the two pockets of the coat, there is not even a penny here. This sudden change shocks Jin Dabao. “What’s up? Why not search him?” Jin Weiwei reminds him. Jin Dabao has no mood for searching Little Rich because the sudden disappearance of the money in the coat ruins his plan thoroughly. He wonders how the money disappears, because he is quite sure of putting the money into the pocket of the coat. At that moment, the head of the village comes.
Immediately, Jin Weiwei comes to the head of the village and holds his arm. Then she pretends to be sorrowful and says in a soft voice, “Grandpa, finally you come. Now the thief is so bold that he dares to steal my money in broad daylight!” Hearing the vivid description of Jin Weriwei, the head of the village also agrees with the speculation that the thief must be one working here. “Since the head of the village confirms our speculation, the money must be still in the shop, because we are busy at our work the whole day” says Jin Weiwei. She suggests making a carpet search in the shop with the help of villagers there.
The head of the village agrees with that suggestion and he asks two reliable villagers to help Jin Weiwei. However, the money has already been hidden up in some secret place. How can the money be found out? So, after a long while, the carpet search proves in vain. They find nothing in the shop.