At this time, the autumn harvest had just ended not long ago, and it was not yet time for Dahu Village to pay grain taxes, so the house was filled with stored grain.
Although Gu’s father went into the mountains to hunt, he still acquired five mu of irrigated fields and three mu of dry land.
After all, farmland was the foundation of their livelihood. Rice yields here were not high; even in good years, each mu could only produce around three hundred jin.
This year’s situation was not optimistic. Due to insufficient rainfall, each mu of rice fields only yielded a little over two hundred jin.
Gu Shiyi silently estimated in her mind that the storeroom likely contained over one thousand jin of rice, and two sacks of wheat totaling more than two hundred jin. These were all newly harvested grains from this year.
In addition, there were several more sacks of grain that Gu Shiyi did not have time to open and check.
She did not dare to delay for even a moment and immediately entered her space to begin organizing.
Her movements were quick and efficient, stacking everything that could be piled as high as possible to make full use of the space.
Without hesitation, Gu Shiyi stored all the grain into her space.
These grains were the result of her father’s hard work and must absolutely not be left for Cui Shi.
Once everything was collected, not a single grain was left behind.
After that, she walked around the house again and found that there was nothing else worth taking into her space.
At the doorway of her cheap younger brother’s room, Gu Shiyi glanced inside and took a set of writing tools—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone—as well as several books.
Among them was a book titled Records of the Great Zhou’s Miscellaneous Affairs. Judging by the title, the contents should be quite interesting. She could read it in her spare time and also practice writing to pass the time.
Writing materials in this era were not cheap. She had originally planned to buy them, but since she could take them for free, there was no reason not to.
This cheap younger brother was also fifteen years old this year, only two months younger than her.
Though young, he was quite capable, with excellent handwriting, and had earned quite a bit of money over the years by copying books.
Once, Gu Shiyi had secretly seen him hiding silver, but she did not intend to take it.
Her younger brother was a good person. If it had not been for him tipping her off, she would not have been able to escape. She could not go too far.
Gu Shiyi returned to the backyard and remembered that there were still a few chickens at home. These were raised by her through digging worms and feeding them chicken grass, so she had to take them as well.
Since there were empty chicken cages available, she took two of them and caught all eight chickens at home, placing them into the cages and storing them in her space.
In the garden behind the house, there were also vegetables she had been tending daily. She uprooted them all and threw them into her space.
In the backyard, Gu Shiyi washed her hands in a water vat. The vat had a broken edge, but it could still be used after bringing it back, so she decided to take it as well.
However, she found that it could not fit into her space.
Gu Shiyi had no choice but to remove the two dogs from her space, wipe it again, and then she was able to store the vat.
“Ah Hui, Ah Hua, let’s go home.”
Gu Shiyi called to the dogs, opened the backyard door, and the one person and two dogs strode out into the mountains in a carefree manner.
…
At the Liu household.
Cui Shi was like a starving wolf, trying to squeeze more money out of Master Liu.
Master Liu originally required Cui Shi to come once every five days, but this woman had already rushed over again after just one day.
His medicine could not be taken too frequently. Without it, he was somewhat incapable. Seeing Cui Shi’s seductive appearance, his body once again grew restless.
Without the aid of medication, his strength would be lacking.
This made things difficult for Cui Shi. Her efforts did not achieve the expected results, leaving her in an awkward position—neither advancing nor retreating—yet she did not dare complain.
In order to help Master Liu regain his vigor, Cui Shi had to use every method she could, employing all sorts of techniques and tricks, though they did not seem to have much effect.
Even so, Master Liu was quite satisfied with Cui Shi’s performance.
He asked her to come more often and even kept her at the residence, preparing to continue at night.
Although Cui Shi felt somewhat unwilling, when she thought of the shining silver, she ultimately chose to comply.
As night fell, Master Liu looked at the alluring Cui Shi before him, and his desire grew even stronger.
Unable to restrain himself, he hurried to the study to take a pill that would restore his vitality.
Because he was in a rush, when he poured out the medicine, he did not pay attention and accidentally poured out two pills.
He did not care and swallowed both pills with water.
That night, Cui Shi finally made up for her disappointment from the afternoon and felt thoroughly satisfied both physically and mentally.
The next morning, after some smooth-talking and bargaining, Master Liu readily gave Cui Shi twenty taels of silver.
Cui Shi happily took the money and left the county town, heading back home.
After returning home, she was already exhausted from the night before, and after walking all the way back from the county, she now only wanted to return to her room and rest well.
However, the moment she stepped into her room, she suddenly let out a scream: “Ah?” Immediately followed by heart-wrenching wails and vicious curses.
“Which damned thief dared to steal from my house… Heaven! How are a widow and orphan like me supposed to survive…”
Her voice echoed throughout the house, filled with despair and anger.
Although the Gu residence was not located in the center of the village, there were still several households nearby.
Cui Shi’s cries quickly attracted the neighbors’ attention, and soon several older women and wives rushed into the courtyard.
“Auntie, what happened?”
“Cui Shi, what’s going on?”
“Sister Gu, what’s the matter?”
…
Everyone gathered around Cui Shi and asked questions one after another.
One woman who was on good terms with Cui Shi quickly stepped forward to help her up and seat her on a stool.
At this moment, Cui Shi had completely lost her composure. She could only cry, her mind completely blank.
She could not answer any of the questions, her thoughts fixed on one thing—her belongings had been stolen.
The lost clothes were not the main issue, but the box she had hidden under the bed was gone. Inside were her silver, jewelry, as well as property deeds and land contracts—that was her entire fortune.
It was all gone!
All gone!
While everyone was gathered around comforting Cui Shi, one sharp-eyed woman suddenly noticed that the cabinet door in Cui Shi’s room was wide open, and inside was completely empty.
“Oh! Sister Gu Cui, your house has been robbed?” the woman exclaimed in shock. Her voice was like a sudden clap of thunder, instantly awakening those who had been comforting Cui Shi.
Everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to the room, inspecting the situation inside.
Sure enough, they discovered that the clothes and bedding that should have been in the cabinet were gone, and even the bedding on the bed had disappeared without a trace.
“This must be a thief!” someone shouted. “Hurry and call the village head. This is no small matter!”