**Chapter 42: The Theft Incident**
I dried my body, put on my clothes, and returned to the hall, but I didn’t see Jayad anywhere. Logically, as a boy, it should have been much easier for him to take a shower than for me.
He didn’t have my obsessive cleanliness and didn’t need to wash every corner thoroughly, or spend half an hour in the bath pondering life before slowly coming out.
I thought Jayad must have already come out before me, and I was even growing impatient while waiting. Feeling a tinge of guilt, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had either not come out yet or if he had left early out of impatience.
At that moment, I noticed that several guests were surrounding the counter, angrily yelling at the young lady there, their emotions seemed quite agitated.
These guests were all men, and they surrounded the counter like a group of burly men trying to intimidate the counter Miss, who appeared distressed and on the verge of tears.
I had a good impression of the counter Miss; she was very warm and welcoming. Even though Jayad and I were just kids and looked somewhat dirty, she didn’t show any discrimination and continued to greet us with a smile, kindly reminding us of the bathing etiquette.
I approached to see what trouble they were causing for the Miss. I feared they were pressing her for debt. I really didn’t want them to smash the place up; this bathhouse was a rare facility that I liked very much, and it would be terrible if it were affected. However, I couldn’t think of a way to intervene at that moment.
As I got closer, I heard a man angrily shouting, “Hey! Who stole it? You need to give me an explanation!”
“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! I don’t know who the thief is!” The counter Miss kept apologizing, and my heart sank, filling me with a bad premonition.
“Ha? How could you not know? It was stolen right here! You have several thieves in your bathhouse, and you are unaware?!” another man yelled.
That remark was harsh, implying that the bathhouse colluded with the thief to steal from customers. The real question was, which bathhouse would be so foolish as to damage their own reputation for such a small sum of money?
However, the incident had already occurred, and with the bathhouse in the wrong, the extremely angry guests were no longer thinking about the reasonableness of the accusation. They glared at the counter Miss with hostile eyes.
“No! Absolutely not! We had no idea and would never do such a thing; there have never been any thefts here before,” the counter Miss said in a panic.
“So you’re saying we are just unlucky? That we deserve to be stolen from?” The men pressed on, their anger increasing.
“I really didn’t mean that! It’s not what I meant! But we definitely wouldn’t steal from our customers, and we will do everything we can to help find your lost belongings!” The counter Miss looked like she would break down in tears.
“The thief has long since run away; how can we find them now? If the loss happened here, the bathhouse should compensate!” one guest exclaimed angrily.
“Yes, the bathhouse’s management is lacking; you should pay us! I had twelve copper coins stolen—compensate me!” another guest echoed.
“My grocery money was stolen! If it’s not recovered, my whole family will go hungry tonight!” said someone with a worried expression.
“I lost five silver coins! Can you afford that?” another man demanded, clearly trying to take advantage of the situation.
“I lost important documents; they were for my boss.”
As the situation escalated and they seemed intent on robbing the counter, I finally couldn’t hold back and shouted, “Stop!”
