CHAPTER 640: CHAPTER 615: INNER TRAITOR

Song Moting whispered softly to Tang Yuan, who was hugging Song Moting’s neck and said a few words.

His parents have been nagging him constantly these past days.

Telling him that if he sees anything, don’t say it out loud, just quietly tell them.

Tang Yuan’s ears were nearly calloused from it. Even Baozi brother, day after day, was like their parents, whispering to him that if he saw anything, he absolutely couldn’t speak of it and could only tell the family secretly.

Now Tang Yuan has already accepted this idea well.

"You guys have wrongly accused this young man."

Song Moting spoke up.

The monks, who were originally forcefully twisting the young man’s arm intending to push him out of the temple, and the onlookers, all halted.

People turned their heads, surprised, to look at Song Moting.

At a glance, with a child by Song Moting’s side, he didn’t seem like a bad person.

"Comrade, when you speak, you need to speak with evidence. What makes you say we wrongly accused him? The money in the box is clearly all gone, and while he doesn’t have any money on him, it doesn’t mean he didn’t steal. If he has an accomplice, then the money has probably been sent away long ago.

If we don’t send him to the police station quickly, so the police can ask about the cause and effect and his accomplices, the money might be wasted by them."

Fa Ming was extremely anxious.

They’re almost jumping in rage; the monks at their temple only eat half a bowl of rice per meal.

This is the age for them to grow, yet to save money to gild the Buddha’s statue, they are always hungry with grumbling stomachs, and now it’s all gone, this person took away the money they’ve painstakingly saved over the years.

And someone is defending him, is there any justice?

Fa Ming felt it’s undeserving for his long-awaited big steamed bun and white rice.

If they had known earlier that this thief would steal, it would’ve been better to let him turn the money into big steamed buns and eat till full.

The young man looked at Song Moting gratefully.

He’s been talking for ages, his throat almost hoarse from shouting, but no one listens to him, and nobody believes him. Finally, there was someone standing up to support him, he felt like a ray of light suddenly appearing in a sky full of dark clouds.

Just like a savior.

"Comrade! I really didn’t steal."

But apart from this dry statement, he couldn’t provide any evidence to prove he didn’t steal. All he could do was hope that once at the police station, the police would uncover the truth.

"I know you didn’t steal it. The money wasn’t taken by you at all."

Song Moting’s calm words infuriated the monks.

"You say he didn’t steal, so he didn’t steal? Maybe you’re an accomplice of the thief."

The senior brother shouted, pointing at Song Moting’s nose, and everyone else, upon hearing this, showed some inexplicable and strange expressions, as indeed, anyone standing up at this time to defend this young man might truly be an accomplice.

Song Moting smiled and walked up to everyone, holding Tang Yuan tightly with one hand.

"Everyone, don’t be anxious. Whether someone is an accomplice isn’t determined by words, but by facts. The money hasn’t left this courtyard; it’s right here. If everyone chaotically captures this young man as a thief and forcibly sends him to the police station,

someone might seize the opportunity to transfer the money away, and then truly the evidence will be impossible to find."

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

The onlookers weren’t brainless, hearing this, everyone agreed.

That’s right, if all these people chaotically decided that the young man is a thief, who would suspect anyone else?

If someone took the money amidst the chaos, wouldn’t they seize the chance to run away? And by then, even if the young man is proven not to be a thief, the money would be gone.

"Alright, since you say the money is here, then show us. No one leaves, and whoever wants to leave now is a thief."

The angry senior brother pointed at everyone.

The onlookers now felt as if on a tiger’s back, unable to get down; they wanted to help, but ended up entangled themselves. Leaving now could easily get them mistaken for thieves.

"Okay, to prove everyone’s innocence, nobody will leave until this matter is clear. Young man, since you say you can prove the money is here, find it and prove that person’s innocence. We won’t wrong an innocent person."

Others spoke up, not only to prove the young man’s innocence but also their own, as nobody could shirk responsibility now.

Song Moting nodded, raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet.

He pointed at the box.

"Everyone sees, this box is the evidence, proving the thief is one of us."

Upon hearing this, the crowd exclaimed, understanding, of course, that the "one of us" referred to the monks.

It couldn’t be the incense-burning tourists, how could they be considered "us"?

The monks refused to accept it.

"How can you spew nonsense? This is just wild talk. How can the box prove it’s one of us? Why would we steal this money ourselves?"

The senior brother was furious.

Fa Ming was also infuriated.

"Senior brother, don’t listen to his nonsense. He’s the thief’s accomplice. To defend the thief, he is falsely accusing us. We’ve been scrimping and saving for years for this bit of money. He says we stole it, but why would we steal? This is our money, there’s no need to steal it."

"That’s right, it’s our money; keeping it, what we want to do is our choice. Why would we steal? This reasoning doesn’t make sense."

Song Moting laughed, "Don’t be anxious, I know this money is saved from thrift, of course, there’s no need to steal. But that’s what you think collectively; the saved money doesn’t represent an individual’s lack of selfishness.

Ultimately, stealing such a significant amount; if someone wanted to feast and indulge, wouldn’t it bring wealth? Know that houses costing ten thousand now are rare, this is twenty thousand; if someone harbored selfish thoughts and took this money,

left the monastery, returned home, built a house, and married, it would be more than enough. Am I right?"

Upon hearing this, the crowd nodded, acknowledging the truth; being a monk doesn’t mean lacking greed.

"That’s quite right, maybe the young monk has thoughts. After all, going back for a warm homestead, twenty thousand bucks! Build a house, marry a bride, it wouldn’t cost much, they could live well."

My monthly salary is just over thirty bucks. Even working a lifetime wouldn’t earn twenty thousand."