Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

In the following days, Li Xiangqian began to pay close attention to the movements in the village. He found that not only his family, but also other places in the village had seen food thefts one after another, and rats were also more active. Whenever night fell, he could always hear rustling noises around the village, especially near his melon field.

After a few nights of observation, Li Xiangqian gradually realized that this time it might not just be a rat problem. On some nights, he saw the shadows of strangers flashing by the edge of the field, as if they were doing something shameful secretly. Although he failed to catch those people with his own eyes, his intuition told him that the problem might be more complicated than he thought.

One night, when Li Xiangqian was inspecting the melon field again, he saw obvious footprints on the other side of the watermelon vine. These footprints were much larger than those of mice and arranged in a somewhat messy manner. Li Xiangqian's heart tightened and he immediately concluded that this was not done by mice, but probably human damage!

Standing in front of the watermelon field that was trampled into a mess, Li Xiangqian's mood gradually turned from anger to calm. He realized that he could no longer wait passively in the situation before him, and he had to take action to reverse the situation. However, the other party was obviously acting in secret, and he could not catch them by observation alone.

After thinking for a while, Li Xiangqian's eyes suddenly fixed, and an idea flashed through his mind - he had to set a trap! If he couldn't catch the person, at least he had to let those people know that it was not so easy to succeed.

So, the next morning, Li Xiangqian went to a small shop in town and bought some chili powder and thick hemp rope. He already had a simple plan in mind. Although this method seemed a bit crude, it might be enough to deal with the current situation.

After returning home, Li Xiangqian didn't tell anyone what he was going to do. He took advantage of the afternoon to secretly set up several simple traps around the melon field. He first tied a thick hemp rope into several snares and buried them in the soil near the melon vines. He sprinkled some fine soil and grass clippings on the snares to cover them, specifically to tie up thieves who sneaked into the melon field.

Then, he prepared chili powder and sprinkled it on several places in the melon field where melons were most likely to be stolen, especially places that were trampled by people. He thought that even if he couldn't catch the thieves, as long as the melon thieves or mice were stained with chili powder, they would definitely not be able to bear it, and at least it could temporarily curb their actions.

After everything was ready, Li Xiangqian patiently waited until night. He didn't fully expect these simple traps to catch the melon thieves immediately, but at least this was a start, the first step in his counterattack. No matter what, he couldn't let these people succeed any longer.

That night, Li Xiangqian once again quietly stayed near the melon field. Although the melon field seemed calm during the day, at night, there was always an inexplicable sense of tension. The sound of the wind blowing through the melon vines was particularly harsh at night, and the faint sound of birds in the distance added a sense of weirdness.

Around midnight, Li Xiangqian was lying on the ridge of a field, carefully observing the surroundings, when he suddenly heard a slight noise coming from the melon field. He immediately held his breath and stared at the direction of the sound. In the faint moonlight, he saw two vague figures quietly walking towards the melon field.

Li Xiangqian's heart tightened. Sure enough, someone was coming! The two black figures were cautiously groping in the melon field, as if they were looking for something. Soon, one of them bent down, as if he was checking a watermelon.

"Now!" Li Xiangqian shouted in his heart, suddenly jumped out from his hiding place and pounced towards the two black shadows.

"What are you doing!" he shouted loudly, his voice sounding extremely harsh in the silent night.

The two shadows obviously didn't expect someone to suddenly appear, and they panicked and turned around and ran. However, at the moment they turned around, one of them stepped on the hemp rope snare that Li Xiangqian had buried in advance, and his feet were tightly entangled, and he fell heavily to the ground.

"Ah!" The man screamed, but the other man reacted quickly and ran away. Li Xiangqian didn't have time to chase the fleeing man, he quickly stepped forward and caught the trapped melon thief.

Li Xiangqian suddenly pulled the hemp rope and pulled the man up from the ground. With the moonlight, he finally saw the man's face clearly, and he was immediately furious - it turned out to be a habitual thief in the village, Erzhu!

"Erzhu? You bastard!" Li Xiangqian gnashed his teeth in anger, "You've been doing this all these days?"

Erzhu was terrified and struggled to escape, but his feet were tied with hemp ropes and he had nowhere to escape. He could only beg, "Brother Xiangqian, please forgive me! I was forced to do this, I... I didn't mean it!"

Li Xiangqian stared at Erzhu, the flames of anger rolling in his chest, as if he wanted to erupt all his grievances and dissatisfactions. This thief who had been in the village for many years actually dared to act recklessly in his melon field, which reminded him of the rumors in the village in the past few days, and he was extremely angry.

"You didn't mean it?" Li Xiangqian almost wanted to laugh, and forced a sneer on his lips, "Then tell me, why did you reach out to my melon field? I worked so hard to grow these watermelons, why should I let you ruin them?"

A look of fear flashed across Erzhu's face, and he hurriedly defended himself, "I know you've been in trouble lately, and I'm having a hard time too. If you can let me go, I will never steal again!" As he spoke, Erzhu tried to bow his head to Li Xiangqian, hoping to gain a little sympathy.

"Let you go?" Li Xiangqian's heart sank. He had not forgotten the trouble Erzhu had brought him in the village during this period. It was because of him that the villagers looked at him with suspicion, making him even more isolated and helpless.

At this time, Li Xiangqian felt a vague pain in his teeth coming from deep inside his mouth. He had tooth decay since he was a child. He didn't like brushing his teeth when he was young, and he loved sweets, which made his teeth unhealthy. As he got older, he had toothaches more and more. At this moment, Li Xiangqian was already very irritable, and the pain in his teeth made him feel extremely annoyed, as if the deeper pain was eroding his patience.

"Do you think you can solve the problem just by bowing your head?" He gritted his teeth, trying to suppress his anger, but found that the toothache came like a beast at this moment. His heart was churning, and he could only clench his teeth tightly, trying to suppress the pain.

"I just want to make a living. My family can't make ends meet anymore..." Erzhu's face was filled with fear, and his eyes were filled with anxiety. "I just wanted to steal a few watermelons this time. You see, I am also a poor person. I beg you to show mercy and let me live!"