Hu Wenning. We were neighbors when we were little. Even now, our relationship is still very good.
It took more than ten minutes of comforting before the emotions on the other end of the phone line slightly eased.
She said with a choked voice, "I... I... I told you before that I wanted to start a business, right? Then I leased over a thousand acres of land because I saw that our Zizhou is suitable for growing pumpkins, which can be profitable..."
"These days, the pumpkins have finally ripened, and I was in the process of contacting buyers..."
Upon hearing this, Qing Lan couldn’t help but speak up, very righteously saying, "Is it that you haven’t found a market? Don’t be too anxious about your startup; if it doesn’t work out, I can help you sell through my live broadcasts!"
She was now a live strear of so renown herself, possessing a certain level of fa, so she could indeed help.
However, on the other end of the phone, Hu Wenning could only respond with a bitter laugh, "Sales are indeed a bit slow, but I’m still managing. The problem is... a few days ago, I suddenly discovered pumpkins were going missing from my field. Soone’s stealing my pumpkins..."
"Missing?"
Qing Lan furrowed her brows and quickly asked, "Did you report it to the police? If you set up a couple of surveillance caras, it should be easy to catch the pumpkin thief, right?"
On the other side of the phone, Hu Wenning sighed, "I did report it. The police ca several tis, and the pumpkin thieves were caught, but..."
Imdiately following, she recounted what happened next.
At first, when she realized soone was stealing the pumpkins, she had people watch over the field and also called the police. The police ca and even caught the thieves red-handed. But... the group of pumpkin thieves were all seniors, over seventy years old! After the police caught them, they just gave the thieves a gentle warning, careful not to scold them too harshly and cause any issues. After the warning... all of them were let go.
It’s true that it’s difficult to punish the elderly; stealing a couple of pumpkins isn’t a major offense, Qing Lan considered. She then couldn’t help but say, "Legally, minors, seniors, and the ntally ill are all entitled to lenient treatnt."
Having watched so many of Qin Mu’s videos, she was quite familiar with this knowledge. In the recent case of a young delinquent scratching cars, Qin Mu had explained in detail how these three categories of people are treated with leniency. Simply put, as long as it wasn’t so heinous cri, they bore little to no responsibility. If ordinary people stole a couple of pumpkins, and did so frequently, it might constitute theft. But these seniors wouldn’t be charged.
Over the phone, Hu Wenning continued, "I know they’re old, and I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I even took the initiative to give them so pumpkins. But after a few days, they ca again, and this ti in groups."
"You don’t know, so were carrying sacks, so were pushing handcarts; they didn’t look at all like they were over seventy and could barely walk."
"After I discovered them, they didn’t even try to hide; they just stood there and calmly continued to pick my pumpkins..."
At this point, Hu Wenning’s voice was full of pent-up frustration and indignation, and she started to choke up again.
"For this plot of pumpkins, I personally invested four hundred thousand yuan, and took out a loan for the remaining six hundred thousand."
"Now... now that the pumpkins have ripened, I was just about to sell them and recoup my investnt. I’d only sold tens of thousands of yuan’s worth, and they’re being stolen like this!"
"They steal during the day, and they co to steal at night."
"They even co in groups to steal; there are over twenty seniors I caught on cara."
"Every day, I’m losing thousands of yuan..."
"I need to eat too; my money doesn’t grow on trees! I’m only growing so pumpkins, and before I can earn anything, I’m nearly bankrupt..."
"Going on like this, I won’t even be able to pay back the bank loan, and I’ll end up a bad debtor..."
Even as she spoke to Qing Lan, she could no longer control her emotions and burst into tears.
These days, the pumpkins stolen by the elderly had already amounted to tens of thousands of yuan in losses. Yet they continued to escalate their actions. The police had talked to them several tis already, to no avail. She was now completely out of options.
This group of old n was blatantly acting shalessly, wanting to take advantage of her, knowing she couldn’t do anything to them. And in truth, she really couldn’t do anything to them. The law couldn’t restrain them.
Furthermore, all these seniors were over seventy years old, with the oldest appearing to be over eighty. She didn’t dare to stop them by other ans. Keeping dogs or installing electric fences, for example... If it caused any injuries or deaths, I’d probably be ruined by compensation, she figured.
Because of this, she had even specifically sought legal advice, but the lawyer suggested she try to appeal to their emotions and reason with them to persuade the seniors. But... if these seniors were capable of listening to reason, they wouldn’t have kept stealing pumpkins.
And after Qing Lan had listened to her best friend’s tearful complaints and watched the videos she sent, she felt equally indignant. The shaless behavior of these seniors truly disgusted her.
Abusing their old age to misbehave. And yet, there was no way to deal with them.
Normally speaking, once people are over seventy years old, they enjoy various forms of preferential treatnt. In normal tis, when lining up, buying tickets, and taking public transportation, preferences are usually given to the elderly first.
Respecting the elderly and caring for the young is a traditional virtue.
Normally, if she saw an older person on the bus, she would give up her seat.
After all, everyone grows old one day.
The seniors that Qin Mu looked after in the nursing ho were of good temperant and deserving of respect.
But not all seniors are deserving of respect.
She couldn’t help but remark with emotion, "What they say online is right: it’s not that the elderly beco bad, it’s that the bad grow old."
There’s nothing wrong with being old. Growing old and frail, losing the ability to work, and walking slowly are all natural processes.
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