Demand repayment from the thief.

Collecting Debt from a Thief

The incident where I got my money back from the thief happened two years ago. On that day, a colleague and I were going to Gongyi on business. When we boarded the bus, only the last two rows of seats were available, so we sat in the second-to-last row.

Halfway through the journey, a few men got on. They were all about thirty years old, tall, and dressed very stylishly. Some of them sat in the front, others at the back, and two of them sat right behind us.

After the bus started moving again, while my friend and I were talking softly, I noticed one of the men who had just boarded reaching into someone else's pocket. Seeing this, I instinctively felt my own pocket, only to find that the money which had been there just moments ago was gone. For a moment, I was shocked. Had I accidentally taken it out while reaching for something else? Thinking this, I quickly bent down and looked around the floor, but I couldn't see anything. This made me suspect the two men sitting behind me.

But how could I ask them for it? I didn't want to end up like some people who tried to get their money back but ended up getting beaten instead. As I thought about this, my mind raced, trying to recall any stories of wit and strategy I had read that might help. But after thinking for a long time, I couldn't come up with anything suitable. Just as I was getting anxious, I suddenly remembered how I had just bent down looking for the money, and an idea came to me.

I knew that even if the person sitting behind me was a thief, he would still care about his dignity and face. The reason they steal may be due to bad character, but no matter what, they know that what they do is dishonorable and wrong. I believe that no thief would say: "Being a thief is a glorious and great profession." People say that to strike a snake, you must hit its vital point. Their vulnerability and cowardice may well be their weakness.

With this in mind, I turned around and asked them kindly: "Did either of you see two hundred-yuan bills?"

"No, no," the two men replied in unison.

"You must have seen them," I said.

"How can you be sure we saw them?"

"Minutes ago, I checked and the money was still in my pocket. Now it's gone. It must have fallen out when I was reaching for something, and you two picked it up."

"How can you be sure we picked it up?"

"There are only the two of you behind me. If not you, then who? And it's not on the floor," I replied.

"No, we didn't see it," they said.

"If you found it, give it back to me. This is all the money I have. Without it, I won't be able to go home."

"We didn't pick it up, how can we give it to you?"

"If you didn't pick it up, then never mind. Since I don't have any money, I might as well ask the driver to take the bus to the police station and check," I said, pretending to call out to the driver.

"If you insist it was us who picked it up, then I'll just give you two hundred yuan. Do you dare to take it?" He said this while taking out two one-hundred-yuan bills and waving them.

Looking at him, I hesitated. My heart was racing. I was afraid of wrongly accusing a good person, and also afraid that he was a bad person who might retaliate against me if I took the money. But then I thought, I really only had this much money. If I didn't take it, what would I do? Besides, if he hadn't stolen it, where could it have gone? Thinking this, I reached out and took the money.

Although I had taken the money back, I didn't feel good inside. I was afraid that he might use his numbers advantage and resort to violence, making things difficult for me.

As I was anxiously considering my next move, the bus arrived at a stop. The group of men in the front got off, and so did the two behind me. Watching their towering backs, I was extremely scared, wondering if they would turn around and ask me for the money back. I watched anxiously as the bus doors closed and the bus started moving again. Only then did my heart calm down. At this point, everyone on the bus began to discuss the matter, and the person who had lost money realized they had been stolen from. They insisted on getting off to find those men who were still standing by the roadside, but everyone advised against it. There was chaos on the bus, and everyone agreed that those men were part of a gang.

I sat silently, both relieved that I had recovered my money and saddened by this upside-down society. I remember that when I was a child, in the seventies and eighties, whenever a thief appeared, everyone would unite to confront them, shouting to beat them. Now, decades later, why has humanity not evolved better but regressed? Is Darwin's theory of evolution wrong, or are people in this society abnormal?

No matter how organized or grouped thieves are, is their organization as large as society itself? Are their numbers and strength greater than the number of people on a single street?