761 Murder and Arson
“Why bring money? It’s just a few dollars. You gave me these things. Look at this ginseng and lingzhi. They’re so hard to find, so we can’t lose them,” Qiao Qiang said as he looked at the stuff in the package like it was a treasure.
He counted them one by one and repeated the action many times before he felt satisfied enough to tie the package up with a knot. He even had to hug them when he slept, otherwise he would still feel worried.
Qiao Mei spread some vine seeds on the ground surrounding the house. Once anything happened, she could protect the house immediately. No one would notice those few seeds on the ground at night.
After countless rounds of surveys, Qiao Gui was finally ready to make his move. He took the only ax in the house and looped it at his belt at the back of his waist.
He waited until Wang Qin and the children were sound asleep before he went out quietly. He also took some rat poison from home. This was something very toxic. Even humans would die if they ate it, let alone chickens and ducks.
After making a long detour, he finally arrived at Qiao Mei’s backyard. When the chickens and ducks in the courtyard heard Qiao Gui’s footsteps, they all looked up in unison in Qiao Gui’s direction. Qiao Gui took out the rat poison from his pocket and scattered it all over the courtyard. After hesitating for a moment, the chickens and ducks started eating.
Qiao Mei had wrapped a thin vine around her wrist. The other end extended underground and was connected to the vines around the house. As long as there was any movement around, Qiao Mei could immediately sense it.
Qiao Mei had already sensed Qiao Gui’s presence through the vines. She quietly woke Qiao Qiang up and the two of them peeked into the backyard through the window to see what Qiao Gui was up to.
Qiao Mei watched as the chickens and ducks she raised ate the rat poison. Actually, those chickens and ducks would stop if she said something, but that would have appeared too strange. Her heart ached for them! Among those chickens and ducks were also the experimental chickens she had been feeding with medicinal herbs!
The few thousand dollars had gone down the drain again!
She could raise new chickens and ducks if the current ones died. The most important thing now was to capture Qiao Gui! She wanted to punish this evil person severely!
“Grandfather… what do you think he’s doing?” Qiao Mei whispered.
“I think he’s preparing to set fire…” Qiao Qiang said as he craned his neck to take a closer look.
Qiao Qiang was right. After the chickens and ducks died from eating the rat poison, Qiao Gui slowly walked into the courtyard, took out a pile of dried grass that he had prepared earlier and scattered them under the house. He even poured some alcohol as an accelerant. He had buried all these in the back mountain two days ago when he was doing his scouting rounds.
Most of the houses in the village were thatched houses. The walls of Qiao Mei’s house were made of stone bricks, but the roof was made of wood. Once it was set on fire, the entire house would instantly be engulfed in a sea of fire.
In addition, the weather was dry and the wind was quite strong today. If their house caught fire, the entire forest at the back of the mountain would be affected and the fire would spread very quickly. By then, no one would be able to control it.
Qiao Gui must be crazy!
“Grandfather… should we take action? He’s going to light it…” Qiao Mei said nervously as she held the hoe in her hand.
However, Qiao Qiang felt that Qiao Gui seemed to be doing something else. He had already piled up the dried grass but he did not light it for a long time and kept pacing at the door.
Just as Qiao Mei was about to look up to see what Qiao Gui was doing, Qiao Qiang suddenly pressed down on Qiao Mei’s head and squatted down as well. The next moment, Qiao Gui walked to the window and leaned against the glass to look into the house.
Qiao Mei held her breath and listened quietly to the sounds outside. Qiao Qiang was indeed a war hero who had fought on the battlefield for many years. He was really good at guessing the enemy’s thoughts.
The curtains were drawn in the room. After looking inside for a long time and seeing that there was no movement in the room, Qiao Gui took out the ax from behind his waist and prepared to hack the door lock and enter the house.
How could a pregnant woman and an old fart fight with him? He heard that Qiao Qiang had also suffered a head injury caused by Qiao Fu at that time. He definitely would not have recovered in such a short period of time.
Now was the best time for him to enter the house and steal their money. The house was nothing. The money that Qiao Mei had was the most important thing!
He had heard from Qiao Zhuang that Qiao Mei had at least 5,000 dollars! The betrothal gifts from the man when they got married, the money from selling vegetables during this period of time and Qiao Qiang’s past savings surely added up to 5,000 dollars!
A man’s heart was insatiable, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Once one became greedy, one would no longer be able to suppress the desire in one’s heart. Desires could also turn a person into a demon.
