After hearing this, Zhou Fang immediately replied, “Liu Cuihua, I’ve been negotiating with you in good faith. Don’t push your luck. Look around the village—whose family doesn’t spend one or two hundred yuan to marry a wife? You’re only asking for seventy yuan in bride price, it’s not that much.”
Thinking about the gold bracelets and the gold longevity lock that had gone missing, Liu Cuihua’s heart ached terribly.
Those were all valuable items, and that damned thief had stolen every single one of them.
The most infuriating part was that she couldn’t tell anyone those things had been stolen, nor could she report them to the police.
She could only swallow the loss in silence.
“Fine, fine. Then it’s settled.”
“But let’s agree on one thing—you’re not allowed to raise the price later.”
“I’ll go borrow the money now, and in a couple of days we’ll officially come over with the marriage proposal.”
In the end, Liu Cuihua and Zhou Fang settled on a bride price of seventy yuan.
After returning home, Zhou Fang planned to borrow money from her natal family.
“Zhuzi, let’s go home.”
She took Wang Zhuzi back with her.
After arriving home, she told Wang Tiegen everything that had happened.
When Wang Tiegen heard that the bride price was seventy yuan, he wasn’t particularly surprised.
“That’s true.”
“Marrying a wife these days isn’t like it used to be.”
“Seventy yuan really isn’t much.”
“Just recently, the Wu family’s son got married. They spent over a hundred yuan and even bought a bicycle.”
“I understand.”
“I’ll go borrow money from my eldest brother’s family.”
“You should also write home to your parents and ask to borrow some money.”
“As long as our son can get married, even if I die afterward, I’ll have no regrets.”
“Mm, I know.”
Naturally, Song Wanning knew nothing about what was happening over there.
She was leisurely staying at home, quietly planning her future.
She definitely wasn’t going to stay in the village for long.
If she remained here too long, Liu Cuihua and the others would keep coming to bother her.
She planned to stay in the village for a while first, then, once she had saved enough money, head to the military camp to look for Ke Yizhou.
No matter what, Ke Yizhou was the father of her two children.
When the children were born, they would need household registration.
She could enter a fake marriage with him first, register the children’s household registration together, and then divorce afterward so neither of them would owe the other anything.
After all, they had barely spent any time together and had no feelings for one another.
Still, it would be better to wait until her belly became more noticeable before going.
She remembered that in her previous life, Ke Yizhou had gone out on a mission around this time and wasn’t at the military camp.
As for how she knew this, it was because when Ke Yizhou had returned to the village to take Song Miaomiao away, she had overheard him mention it while passing by.
Song Wanning spent the entire afternoon relaxing at home.
That afternoon, Li Lan came by and told her that Song Miaomiao was going to marry Wang Zhuzi.
Upon hearing the news, Song Wanning wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
If Song Miaomiao hadn’t married him, she would have found a way to push them together anyway.
Only then could Song Miaomiao truly experience the suffering that Song Wanning had endured after marrying into that family in her previous life.
Hearing this news put Song Wanning in an excellent mood.
She chatted with Li Lan inside the house the entire afternoon.
When evening came, Li Lan invited her over for dinner, but Song Wanning politely declined.
She knew Li Lan treated her well, but she couldn’t keep accepting her kindness over and over again.
Seeing that Song Wanning refused, Li Lan didn’t insist.
She simply reminded her to lock the doors before going to bed and then left.
That evening, Song Wanning casually cooked herself a bowl of noodles.
After eating her fill, she set an alarm clock and went to sleep.
She still had something important to do in the middle of the night.
She might as well catch up on some sleep first.
Late that night, the alarm rang.
She got out of bed and quietly slipped out.
She visited both Chen Ailian’s and Li Guihua’s homes, thoroughly emptying everything of value.
Chen Ailian lived at the educated youth residence.
All of her belongings were locked inside a cabinet in her room.
After locating her cabinet, Song Wanning used her spatial ability to collect everything inside into her space.
Li Guihua’s house was much the same.
She took everything in the house that was of any use and stored it in her space.
After finishing everything, Song Wanning returned home completely satisfied and went back to sleep.
Early the next morning, Wangjiawan Village became lively once again.
Chen Ailian and Li Guihua rushed to the village chief’s house at dawn to report the theft.
When Wang Jianguo heard that more villagers had been robbed, he could only sigh helplessly.
Just how capable was this thief?
When had such an extraordinary thief appeared in their village without him noticing?
Since the theft had already happened, there wasn’t much he could do.
However, worried that it might happen again, he organized several villagers to patrol the village every night.
Thus, a nighttime patrol team was formed, with everyone taking turns standing watch.
That day, after Li Lan finished her work and had some free time, she came to chat with Song Wanning and told her about the new patrol arrangements.
Listening to Li Lan, Song Wanning felt a little embarrassed.
After all, she had unintentionally given the village chief yet another burden.
Still, she figured that after a few days without any more thefts, they’d probably stop patrolling.
She silently apologized to them and decided to let them work hard for just a few days.
Just then, loud shouting came from outside the house.
“Song Wanning, you little bitch! Get out here!”
After discovering their belongings had been stolen, Chen Ailian and Li Guihua had been terrified and immediately reported it to the village chief.
Once they had calmed down, however, they suddenly remembered something Song Wanning had said before.
She had once cursed them, saying she hoped all their belongings would be stolen.
The two of them discussed it and found the timing far too coincidental.
Deep down, they became convinced that Song Wanning had done it.
Otherwise, why had only the two of them been robbed while everyone else was fine?
Chen Ailian was especially suspicious.
She lived in the educated youth residence, where each person had a small locked compartment inside a shared metal cabinet.
Eight people lived in the same room.
Everyone else’s belongings were untouched.
Only hers had disappeared.
How could she not suspect Song Wanning?
Inside the house, both Song Wanning and Li Lan heard the shouting outside.
Li Lan frowned deeply.
She stood up from her chair and looked at Song Wanning with sympathy.
“These people… honestly.”
“They’ve got nothing better to do than keep coming here to make trouble for you.”
“Girl, just stay here.”
“I’ll go outside and send them away.”
Truthfully, Li Lan also found the whole series of thefts rather strange.
But she simply didn’t believe Song Wanning possessed the ability to quietly empty entire households without anyone noticing.
She strode outside, opened the door, and stepped out.
Chen Ailian and Li Guihua were just about to start cursing again.
But when they realized the person opening the door was Li Lan, the insults stuck in their throats, and they instinctively swallowed them back.
“What are you two doing here again?” Li Lan demanded.
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear.”
“Just because Song Girl has separated from her family doesn’t mean all of you can come bully her whenever you please.”
“From now on, Song Girl is my goddaughter.”
“Anyone who keeps coming here to make trouble for her is making an enemy of me, Li Lan.”