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Story 40: Thieves also have Their Ways

Thieves also have Their Ways

Author: Guo Xi

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a county magistrate named Zhang Qing in Chongde County, Xiuzhou Prefecture. He was a scholar, full of knowledge, an upright and honest official, and had an excellent reputation among the people.

Within a few years of Zhang Qing’s arrival in Chongde County, he managed the county in an orderly manner and no stray items were found along the way.

At this time, Lin County was experiencing constant robberies, causing people to panic. With a piece of paper from Shangfeng, Zhang Qing was transferred to the neighboring county as the county magistrate to rectify the mess. Zhang Qing went to a neighboring county alone and lit three fires for the new official to take office.

It’s interesting to say that since Zhang Qing took office, those thieves have disappeared and no more robberies have occurred. Soon, the entire county appeared peaceful and peaceful.

A few months later, Zhang Qing brought his family to live together. After his three-year term expired, Zhang Qing hired a boat and took his family to leave office and return home.
People voluntarily gathered at the dock to see Zhang Qing off.

Zhang Qing said goodbye to everyone, and suddenly a figure flashed before his eyes, and the pair of myopic glasses on the bridge of his nose disappeared. Zhang Qing was shocked and almost fell into the river. Fortunately, the boatman was alert and caught him.

Zhang Qing was puzzled by the disappearance of his glasses. He said they were stolen. These glasses were not worth much, so why did they steal them? Just say it’s lost, why don’t you feel anything at all? He couldn’t help but shook his head, feeling deeply surprised. Fortunately, I also had spare glasses in my luggage, so my eyes were not completely black. So, waved. Tell the boatman to sail.
That night, the ship anchored for the night in a small town on the border with a neighboring county.

Early the next morning, Zhang Qing suddenly discovered that all ten large wooden boxes placed in the cabin were missing. This was Zhang Qing’s entire family property, and he couldn’t help but be stunned. What a bold thief.

Before I even left the county, the thief appeared immediately and stole on my head. How abominable! It seems that the pair of glasses must have been stolen yesterday.

What to do? Zhang Qing thought about it for a long time: Those thieves must have fled far away after they succeeded. Where can I find them? Alas, just consider yourself unlucky. Thinking of this, he sighed and ordered the boatman to sail.

After three days of sailing, they finally arrived at Zhang Qing’s hometown safely. Zhang Qing looked from a distance and saw ten large wooden boxes neatly stacked on the dock. They looked very familiar as if they were the wooden boxes that had been stolen from him. Zhang Qing was very surprised.

He quickly jumped ashore and hurried over to take a look. Oh my god, it turned out to be his own box. There was a letter on top of the box, and the thing covering the letter was the missing glasses.
Zhang Qing was surprised and happy. He immediately opened the letter and saw that it read:

Mr. Zhang:

We are a group of thieves. When you were in office, we admired your reputation for integrity and never stole in the county under your jurisdiction. However, you took ten heavy wooden boxes with you when you left office, which makes us suspicious of you, an upright official. So, let’s steal the glasses first and then the wooden box to give you some color.

But after rummaging through all the wooden boxes, I found that your property is nothing but books, and all your savings are less than thirty taels of silver.

People often say: “One year of clearing the county magistrate is worth one hundred thousand snowflakes and silver.” But you have been a county magistrate for many years and you are still penniless.

It seems that you are indeed an upright official, and the people have not misjudged you. We have offended you many times before, and we are truly sorry, so we will return the stolen items intact to Zhao. I hope you will forgive me.

A few self-righteous thieves

I see! Zhang Qing was filled with sighs and couldn’t help but say to himself: “Hey, it’s true that thieves are also good at it!”