Collecting Debt from a Thief
The time I got my money back from the thief was two years ago. At that time, I was on a trip to Gongyi with a colleague. When we got on the bus, there were only two rows of seats left at the back, 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 neatly. Some of them sat at the front, while others sat at the back. Two of them sat right behind us.
After the bus started moving again, while my friend and I were talking quietly, I noticed one of the men who had just boarded reaching into someone else's pocket. Seeing this, I instinctively checked my own pocket, only to find that the money which had been there just moments before was now gone. My heart raced. Could it be that I had accidentally taken it out when I was reaching for something else? Thinking this, I quickly bent down to look on the floor, but found nothing. This made me start to suspect the two men sitting behind me.
But how could I ask them for it? I couldn't be like some people who end up getting beaten without even retrieving their money. As I thought about this, my mind raced, trying to recall any clever stories I had read that might give me some ideas. But after thinking for a long time, I couldn't come up with anything suitable. Just as I was getting anxious, I suddenly remembered the scene where I had just bent down to look for the money on the ground, 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 might be due to bad character or laziness, or perhaps because they have fallen in with the wrong crowd. Regardless, they know that what they are doing is dishonorable and wrong. I believe no thief would say: "Being a thief is a glorious and great profession." People often say that to kill a snake, you must strike at its weakest point — their guilt and fear may very well be their weakest point.
With this in mind, I turned around and asked them politely: "Did either of you see two hundred-yuan notes?"
"No, no," the two of them replied immediately.
"You must have seen them," I said.
"How can you be sure we saw them?"
"A few minutes ago, I felt the money was still in my pocket, but now it's gone. It must have fallen to the ground when I was reaching for something. You two must have picked it up."
"How can you be sure we picked it up?"
"There's no one behind me except you two. If it wasn't you, then who? And it's not on the ground," I said.
"We didn't see it," they both said.
"If you picked it up, just give it back. This is all the money I have. If you don't give it back, 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 have no money, I might as well ask the driver to take the bus to the police station and check," I said, pretending to call the driver.
"If you insist it was us who picked it up, then fine, I'll just give you two hundred yuan," he said, pulling out two hundred-yuan notes and waving them in front of me.
Seeing this, I hesitated. My heart was racing. I was afraid of falsely accusing a good person, but also worried that he was indeed a bad person who might retaliate against me if I took the money. But then I thought, this is really all the money I have. If I don't take it, what will I do? Besides, if the money wasn't stolen by him, where could it have gone? Thinking this, I reached out and took the money.
Although I had retrieved the money, I didn't feel good inside. I was worried that he might use his numbers and brazenness to cause trouble, making things difficult for me.
While I was anxiously considering my next move, the bus arrived at a stop. The men at the front got off, and the two behind me also stood up and disembarked. Watching their towering figures disappear into the crowd, I was terrified, unsure if they would turn around and demand their money back. Only after the doors closed and the bus started moving again did my heart begin to relax. By this time, everyone on the bus was discussing the matter, and the person who had lost money earlier realized they had been robbed. They insisted on going back to find those men who were still standing by the roadside, but everyone advised them not to. The whole bus was in chaos, and everyone agreed that those men were a gang.
I sat silently, relieved to have recovered my money, but saddened by the state of a society where mice chase cats. I remember when I was a child, in the 70s and 80s, whenever a thief appeared, everyone would rise up and shout to beat them. Now, decades later, why hasn't society evolved better? Is Darwin's theory of evolution wrong, or are the people in this society abnormal?
Even if thieves are organized and form gangs, are their gangs as big as society itself? Are their numbers and strength greater than the number of people on a single street?