There was a hot stone under the pigskin glue, and it had not yet dried, so Father Jiang's knees were stuck again.
"Village chief, please tie him up first and send him to the authorities tomorrow morning," said Xia Qianqian.
Fan Ming said, "Okay, let's all work together to tie up Lao Jiang! We'll send him to the authorities tomorrow."
"good."
Liu Bo and his men tied up Jiang's father neatly. Fearing that he would be sent to the authorities, Jiang's father kept begging for mercy: "Village chief, please forgive me this time. I will never dare to do it again!"
"It's no use begging me, you have to beg Xia Qianqian." Fan Ming said.
Father Jiang looked at Xia Qianqian unwillingly and said, "Miss Xia, please forgive me this time! I am willing to compensate you as long as you don't sue the authorities."
"How much compensation?" Xia Qianqian had been waiting for this question. Jiang's father was only sabotaging, and his crime was not serious enough to send him to jail. If he went to the government, they would only ask for money. She could ask for more compensation here.
Father Jiang said with a bitter face: "Look, I didn't break a single tile tonight, so I'll just pay you one or two taels of silver!"
"Ridiculous!" Xia Qianqian rolled her eyes. "I was prepared tonight, otherwise the three hundred or so tiles on the ground would have been destroyed by you. And there were more than two hundred tiles damaged last night!"
"Then I'll compensate you for last night. Your tiles have no patterns. One tile costs at most five cents. Two hundred pieces is just one or two taels of silver, right?" said Jiang's father.
"Stop talking nonsense. I'll give you five taels of silver. If you don't pay, you'll be sent to the authorities!" Xia Qianqian was very confident.
Father Jiang's eyes widened: "You are blackmailing me!"
"Will you compensate or not?" Xia Qianqian sneered and refused to give in.
Father Jiang said to the village chief: "Village chief, Xia Qianqian is blackmailing me."
Fan Ming turned his head to look at the scenery and pretended not to hear.
Father Jiang: …
"Oh, and you have to pay me for the pigskin glue. I used two kilograms of pigskin glue to catch you, so I have to pay you another ten taels of silver. And I have to pay you two taels of silver for my mental damages. You have to pay me seventeen taels of silver in total."
The bill was getting more and more expensive, and Jiang's father almost fainted. Seventeen taels of silver, that's an astronomical figure!
"I, I don't have that much money." Father Jiang's voice was trembling.
"Then I'll give you a discount and pay you fifteen taels." Xia Qianqian was easy to talk to and even smiled at Jiang's father.
Father Jiang was frightened by her laughter and said with a bitter face: "My whole family can only afford two taels of silver at most..."
"Send him to the official, send him to the official, there's nothing more to say!" Xia Qianqian immediately turned hostile, "Two taels of silver? Are you sending away a beggar?"
"Yes, send him to the authorities!"
Everyone followed suit and unanimously called for sending him to the authorities.
Father Jiang said quickly, "No, I'll pay five taels."
"Ten taels, no more talk." Xia Qianqian said.
Liu Bo said: "Pigskin glue is very expensive. The market price is five taels of silver per catty. If I let the official judge tomorrow, I will have to pay more than ten taels."
Father Jiang calculated in his mind for a moment, then said, "I'll pay for it! I'll go borrow some money tomorrow morning."
"Write a note and put your fingerprints on it. I want to see the money before lunch tomorrow." Xia Qianqian finally agreed. Everyone present tonight was a witness, so she was not afraid that Jiang's father would deny the debt.
Fan Ming took out a pen and paper and helped write a note, noting the process of Jiang's father's crime, and finally asked Jiang's father to sign and pledge.
"Go away. You are welcome to come back tomorrow." Xia Qianqian waved her hand with a smile, like a winner in life. After Jiang's father left, she said to Liu Bo and others, "Uncles, thank you for your help tonight."
"It's a small matter. Qianqian is smart. She dealt with the guy named Jiang in this way." Uncle Liu praised with a smile.
Xia Qianqian said: "If you don't blackmail this kind of person severely, he won't learn his lesson."
"What if he retaliates again in the future?" Liu Bing asked worriedly.
(End of this chapter)