Qin Yao urged the children to drink some water to ward off the heat, led Liu Yang into the main hall, and took the notebook he handed over, flipping through it carefully.

Information after the population statistics is more intuitive and clear.

Before opening the notebook, Qin Yao had thought Liu Yang took too long to complete this task, spending half a month just to count the number of migrant construction workers.

But now, upon opening the notebook, she was quite surprised.

No wonder he spent so much time; he had compiled all the current migrant population statistics in Liu Family Village.

Usually, everyone just felt there were many more outsiders in the village, but seeing the numbers revealed that the migrant population outside of Liu Family Village amounted to two hundred and thirty-five people.

Among them, there were seventy-eight migrant construction workers, and the rest were laborers recruited by the stationery factory from other villages.

It’s important to know there’s an Upper River Village deeper within Liu Family Village, with the entire village population, young and old, together numbering less than sixty.

The number of migrant people in Liu Family Village is already very large.

If these migrants are allowed to grow unchecked without management and statistics, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Liu Yang was nervously attentive to the changes in Qin Yao’s expression, seeing her frown seriously at first, then relax her brows and exhibit a slight smile of surprise, his heart finally settled.

Data statistics is a troublesome work, Liu Yang investigated everyone’s name, age, origin, family members, and whether they have other relatives or friends also in Liu Family Village.

The first few items are basic information, the latter is the important screening criterion.

If they have relatives or friends in Liu Family Village, they can not only testify for each other, proving their innocent identities.

They can also act as mutual supervision, reducing the likelihood of crime.

The appearances of the two scouts were remembered very clearly by Qin Yao, she described the physical characteristics to Liu Yang, asking him to point out people matching the description.

Quickly, two pieces of information were filtered out, one named Zhang San, the other named Wang Wu, both were twenty-three years old and both from Luo Family Bay.

"Is that all? No other information? Are they married, what are their wife’s and daughters’ names? Do they have other family members?" asked Qin Yao in confusion.

Liu Yang shook his head, "No, both are orphans, claiming they haven’t married due to poverty."

Upon hearing this, Qin Yao thought, how suspicious, if you’re not thieves, who else could be!

Qin Yao firmly pointed her index finger at the names of these two people, looking up at Liu Yang with a solemn expression.

Liu Yang’s heart skipped a beat, "Village Head, you mean... these two might be thieves?"

"Arrest them." Qin Yao stood up, speaking fiercely.

Liu Yang’s expression changed dramatically, both excited and slightly nervous, as he had never done such a thing before, not knowing for a moment what the protocol was.

"Village Head, should we go arrest them now?"

Qin Yao nodded heavily, "Right now, before they sense something and escape, quickly go find several tall men, seize this moment while they’re preparing dinner and unaware, directly bind them, tomorrow I’ll personally send them to the government office and let the Lord County Magistrate decide."

Liu Yang straightened his demeanor, asking if Qin Yao had any other instructions.

Qin Yao said, "You go find people, I’ll first head to their rented place to keep an eye on them, remember, be quick, act lightly."

"Alright!" Liu Yang agreed, raising his leg to dash out, Qin Yao hurriedly called him back, "Walk there."

It’s still not dark yet, running would be too conspicuous.

"Act as if nothing happened." Qin Yao reminded once more.

Liu Yang wiped his face, immediately took two deep breaths to make himself look normal, then strode quickly towards the village.

Estimating he had entered the village, Qin Yao then found two bundles of hemp rope, came to the outside door, looking towards the riverside, not seeing the two scouts, they should have gone back to cook.

After all, even if they’re professional scouts, they’re human too, they need to fill their stomachs to continue tasks.

Immediately, Qin Yao instructed Da Lang Brothers and Sisters, "You start dinner, I’m going out to handle some matters."

After speaking, she shouldered the hemp rope, swiftly heading towards Zhang San and Wang Wu’s residence.

In the dilapidated abandoned house, several wisps of cooking smoke emerged, vaguely transmitting a few snippets of conversation.

Qin Yao squatted in the grass on the side of the house, Wang Wu standing in the courtyard seemed to sense something, raised his eyes and looked over towards the overgrown area, didn’t find anything unusual, then retracted his gaze.

These two were very cautious, perhaps noticing the village had started investigating migrant information lately, vaguely sensing it might be targeting them.

But seeing Qin Yao appear nonchalant made them doubt again, thinking perhaps they were overthinking.

After all, the scope of this investigation was huge, not leaving any migrant unchecked, real and feigned, leaving people unable to determine what exactly was happening.

But for them, population investigation was certainly not good news.

Yet they never expected the surprise would arrive so suddenly.

The sound of urgent footsteps came, Qin Yao and Wang Wu, who was keeping watch in the courtyard, simultaneously looked towards where the sound happened, one smirked, the other’s face changed abruptly!

"Someone’s coming from the village!" Wang Wu hurriedly shouted to Zhang San cooking inside.

Zhang San rushed to throw down the spatula and came outside, and within this short moment, the fence gate was kicked open.

Led by Qin Yao, followed by Liu Yang and seven or eight sturdy young men from the village, they surged in with imposing momentum.

Qin Yao raised her hand pointing at the two in the courtyard, commanded, "Take down these two thieves!"

The villagers immediately surrounded the two.

Zhang San and Wang Wu, panicking, Zhang San innocently explained, "Village Head, is there a misunderstanding? We didn’t steal anything..."

Qin Yao wouldn’t give them a chance to explain, shouting sternly, "Don’t listen to their nonsense, take them down quickly!"

The two saw this and knew their identities were exposed, without another word, they split off in opposite directions to escape.

Qin Yao chuckled coldly, tossed the hemp rope, looped around each one, tightly cinched, and forcefully tugged, immediately knocking them painfully to the ground.

Liu Yang and others seized the opportunity, swarming in, quickly pinning the two with farming tools.

Qin Yao gave each a blow with a metal fist, before they could counter, they fainted on the spot.

Qin Yao instructed the crowd to bind the two’s hands and feet together with hemp rope, secretly slipping the jade stones she prepared for the two into their arms as stolen goods.

This jade was hardest to determine value, marked with inscriptions, she could declare its worth as she saw fit.

Of course, such clumsy tricks couldn’t fool professional constables.

But fortunately, these two ’orphans’ had no one to complain, this charge was steadfast.

From breaking into the courtyard to capturing the two scouts, the whole process took less than the time to drink a small cup of tea, so quick the rest of the village hadn’t even reacted.

He stood in front of the door with a bowl of rice, watching the procession of escorting thieves parade past, startlingly asked, "What’s everyone up to?"

Liu Yang yelled loudly without turning his head, "Capturing thieves!"

"What?" sputtered a few grains of rice in excitement, hastily calling the family to join the spectacle.