There weren't many big trees on the nearby slope, just a handful. They picked one with a sturdy-looking trunk, though neither knew what kind of tree it was.
Any tree they could hang someone from was a good tree.
As they dragged him along, the man woke up again, whimpering, groaning, gasping for breath, and begging for mercy nonstop.
"Shut up! It's the middle of the night. Other people need to sleep, you know? Have you got no consideration for anyone?" Ye Yaodong said righteously, kicking him twice more.
"Exactly. Can't you behave yourself and shut up?"
Tears streamed down the thief A-Qiu's face, mingling with his snot in a sticky mess. They'd beaten him like this, and they still expected him to behave? He couldn't even cry out loud...
"I'll untie his hands behind his back and tie them in front. It'll be easier to hang him up that way."
"Sure. He can't get away anyway."
The two worked at it for a while longer. Whenever A-Qiu refused to cooperate, he got beaten, and by the end, he'd been thoroughly tamed. When they told him to stand under the tree, he obediently crawled over to it. He was getting hung up no matter what, so he might as well spare himself the immediate suffering.
Ye Yaodong was very satisfied too.
"Wouldn't it have been better to listen and behave from the start? Isn't sleeping at home comfortable enough at this hour? You just had to come out stealing. This is the price."
"Ever heard of Xu Laifu from our village? He was always wandering around at night, and then one morning, someone found him lying in the road covered in blood, missing a hand. Cut clean off at the wrist. Nothing left but a bare wrist, with a wound