Xuexue spoke with a hidden message, and Erlaizi, feeling like a thief with a guilty conscience, couldn't help but skip a beat. He quickly tried to cover it up, saying, "Xuexue, what are you talking about? No matter what, I'm a farmer. I should at least check on how the crops in my field are doing, shouldn't I?"
Erlaizi was known for his laziness in the village. Everyone in the village knew that the weeds in his field were taller than the crops. When harvest time came, there was hardly any grain to gather, not nearly enough for his needs, and that was when Erlaizi would become anxious. He resorted to stealing chickens and sneaking into backyards, taking a chicken from one owner and vegetables from another. It was a common occurrence, which earned him the villagers' dislike. He even had the audacity to claim that he was "robbing the rich to help the poor."
But he was robbing the villagers, and the one being helped, of course, was the rogue himself!