Feng Daping wanted his son to go find that dead girl, but then he thought building the kitchen was more important, so he started arranging work for his two sons.
"Tiezhu, you pull the handcart to the river to dig dirt, and Tie Dao and I will tidy up the foundation at home."
Feng Tiezhu looked at the still steaming "kitchen" and thought digging dirt by the river was a good job, at least it was cool, so he readily pushed the handcart and left with a shovel.
The remaining family of three also started to get busy, but after only a few minutes, they were covered in sweat. This was because they were under the scorching sun, and the ground below was still hot from the burning ashes.
Old Woman Feng quickly lost interest in working. She picked up an iron pot to wash it, then set it up to prepare lunch, and then discovered that their flour was missing, and the rice was also missing, and more than half of it was gone!
She couldn't help but cry out loudly again, "Eldest son! Come quickly and see, this is terrible, our grain has been stolen too!"
After Feng Daping entered the house to look, his expression became somewhat heavy. How could so many things have been stolen in such a short time?
Perhaps these things weren't lost this morning, but yesterday.
"Mother, stop crying, I'll go check the grain."
After Feng Daping looked at the grain, he was even more convinced that these things were definitely not lost this morning. Since more than half of the grain was also missing, the most likely time it was stolen was the first half of last night.
Why guess like this? Because last night, several of the men in their family went to the river to bathe, and the women in the family went outside to cool off, so that time was the best period for theft.
There were no markings on these things, and so much time had passed, so reporting it to the Public Security Officers would be useless. But he could find the Brigade Leader and ask him to lead him to find those ruffians who stole chickens and dogs, and search their homes for any extra grain. If they found any, even if it wasn't stolen from his family, it must have been stolen from someone else's.
Wang Xihua returned home with her arms crossed. Upon learning that their grain had also been stolen, she was furious!
However, she was a little puzzled. Were there such good thieves in the world? They even left some for them, perhaps fearing they would starve?
"Husband, something isn't right about this? How could a real thief leave some things behind?"
"If you say that, could it be that our own family stole it? But that's even more absurd. Who would steal from their own family? And where would they take it?" Feng Daping said.
Wang Xihua said with a look of certainty, "Where are you going with that? Of course, it wasn't stolen by our own family, but it's very likely stolen by someone in our village. Perhaps out of consideration for being fellow villagers, they left us some."
Feng Daping turned and went out the door. He was going to find the Brigade Leader.
Old Woman Feng wanted her daughter-in-law to cook, but seeing her with her arms crossed, she cursed, "You're also useless, getting injured by that broom star."
After scolding her eldest daughter-in-law, she looked outside, wanting to see why Feng Chuxiao hadn't returned yet. But how could she know that Feng Chuxiao was lying asleep in a tree?
However, Feng Chuxiao was not sleeping soundly, because she dreamed of the moment she was killed by a bomb, and then woke up with a start.
Looking at the sky, it was already noon, and the sun was starting to shine directly down. In a little while, it would be even hotter here, so it was better to sleep by the stream where it was cooler.
She untied the rope, put it into her space, then nimbly got down from the tree. Standing under the tree, she drank half a bottle of mineral water before leaving.
As soon as she reached the river, she saw a sturdy young man digging and loading dirt. For some reason, she suddenly felt that this person looked familiar.
Feng Tiezhu felt someone looking at him and suddenly turned his head, then saw his sister Chuxiao standing by the woods on the other side of the river, staring at him blankly.
He straightened up and looked at Feng Chuxiao, questioning, "What are you doing on the other side?"
Seeing that Feng Chuxiao didn't pay attention to him, he got angry again, "Come back quickly, it's dangerous in the woods!"
Feng Chuxiao directly sat down. It was shady here, and a gust of wind blew, making it quite cool.
She saw the young man who was speaking about to wade across the water and stopped him, "Don't come over, I don't know you. If you come any closer, I'll scream for help."
Feng Tiezhu froze on the spot. As he walked over, he had heard people discussing their family, saying they were heartless and ignored Chuxiao when she had a high fever. Chuxiao was burned silly, and heaven punished their family, which is why their kitchen caught fire.
Could Chuxiao really be silly?
He still asked, "Chuxiao, do you really not know who I am?"
Feng Chuxiao shook her head and retorted, "I don't know, who are you?"
Feng Tiezhu's expression was complicated. Was Chuxiao really silly? She didn't seem silly, more like she was delirious and didn't recognize her family members.
"Chuxiao, I am your Eldest Brother."
"But we don't look alike. Look, you're tall and strong, and I'm so thin I could be blown away by the wind," Feng Chuxiao said innocently.
"..." Feng Tiezhu was speechless.
After a while, he said, "Come home with me, or Mother will hit you when she finds you."
Feng Chuxiao snorted coldly in her heart. She wondered who would be hitting whom in the future.
She stood up and said, "Since you say I'm your sister, then I'll go home with you."
She wanted to go back and see what the situation was like at home now, and if there was a place for her to sleep at night.
Feng Tiezhu pulled a cart of dirt and walked ahead, while Feng Chuxiao slowly followed with her arms crossed, showing no intention of helping.
There weren't many people outside at this time, as everyone was cooking or resting at home.
Feng Tiezhu looked back and saw Chuxiao following obediently, so he didn't say anything.
"Where did that broom star go? How did she know to come back? Why didn't she die outside!"
As soon as Feng Chuxiao appeared at the Feng family's house, she was met with a scolding from Old Woman Feng. Feng Chuxiao immediately had the urge to hit someone. She was no longer the pushover she used to be and was unwilling to be scolded by Old Woman Feng again.
She grabbed a stick and charged at Old Woman Feng, cursing, "You're the broom star! You are the broom star! You were supposed to watch the house, and the house burned down and the money was stolen. Why weren't you any good then? So you should have died long ago!"
Feng Tiezhu and Feng Tiedao looked at Feng Chuxiao with shocked expressions. Was she silly? She was crazy!
After the stick landed on Old Woman Feng, Feng Tiezhu finally reacted and quickly reached out to stop her, "Chuxiao, are you crazy? How can you hit Grandma?"
"This isn't my Grandma, she's just a wicked old woman!" Feng Chuxiao argued righteously.
If this old woman had truly treated the original host as her granddaughter, she wouldn't have abused the original host so terribly, ultimately starving her to death! Dying of illness!
Her soul, which had transmigrated here, would never recognize this family as relatives. Let alone relatives, they were more like enemies.
Seeing her mother-in-law being beaten, Wang Xihua felt a surge of excitement for some reason, but she also felt her arm hurting more.
✦✦✦