After finishing with the acupuncture, Song Wanning searched Wang Zhuzi’s room one last time. There was nothing left worth taking.
She left his room and, upon stepping outside, saw that the dog that had been barking so energetically earlier was now lying motionless on the ground.
She merely glanced at the dog’s corpse before walking away without looking back.
By the time she returned home, it was already past three in the morning.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to report for fieldwork the next day, so she could sleep in.
After washing her face, she climbed into bed and went to sleep.
The next morning, Song Wanning didn’t sleep for very long.
After getting up, she took a loaf of bread and a carton of milk from her space for a quick breakfast before heading into the mountains to gather firewood.
Back when she lived with the Song family, all the firewood had been collected by her.
The day before, she had also stored all the firewood piled in their courtyard into her space. She couldn’t take it out now—it would be too conspicuous.
Noticing a wicker basket in the yard, she slung it over her back and headed straight toward the mountain.
The old house where she now lived was near the village committee, making it the closest residence to the mountain entrance.
As she gathered firewood, she also searched for valuable medicinal herbs.
If she found any rare ones, she wanted to transplant them into her space.
She still wasn’t sure what could be grown in the fields inside her space, but she planned to experiment later.
While carefully searching, she identified every herb she came across.
The area only had common medicinal plants.
She picked some dandelions and motherwort, but found nothing especially valuable.
By the time she had gathered enough firewood, she looked up at the sun.
She had already spent over half an hour in the mountains.
It was time to head back.
By now, the Song family and Wang family should already be in chaos.
I’d better hurry back and enjoy the show.
She came down the mountain and headed toward home, planning to put down the basket before going to watch the commotion.
But as soon as she reached her front gate, she found a crowd gathered outside.
Liu Cuihua and Song Miaomiao were both there.
It seemed she didn’t need to go looking for excitement.
The excitement had come looking for her.
“Mom! Look! Sister’s back!”
Standing beside Liu Cuihua, Song Miaomiao had been scanning the road the whole time.
The moment she spotted Song Wanning returning, she immediately pointed at her and shouted.
Liu Cuihua also turned to look.
The instant she saw Song Wanning, she rushed over, reaching for her ear.
Song Wanning sidestepped, easily avoiding her hand.
Whenever Song Wanning had done something Liu Cuihua disliked in the past, Liu Cuihua would twist her ears.
She had long grown used to it.
The old Song Wanning had always endured it silently.
But the current Song Wanning had no intention of letting herself be bullied again.
“What are you doing at my house?”
“You little wretch! Did you steal our grain? And our chickens too? Hand everything back right now, or I’ll beat you to death!”
Liu Cuihua had been awakened that morning by Song Miaomiao’s scream.
Since Song Wanning had moved out, it was Song Miaomiao’s turn to prepare breakfast.
She had gotten up before dawn and gone into the kitchen, only to discover that everything inside had disappeared.
Terrified, she had screamed.
Liu Cuihua had been awakened in a foul mood.
Hearing Song Miaomiao shouting that there was a thief, both she and Song Dashan immediately got up.
Even Song Bao, who had been sleeping soundly, was awakened.
Together they saw Song Miaomiao run out of the kitchen in a panic, telling them that everything inside was gone.
At first, Liu Cuihua hadn’t understood what she meant.
But after checking for herself, she realized every single item in the kitchen had disappeared.
Even the two laying hens she had been raising were gone.
“Mom! It has to be Sister! She just split from the family yesterday, and today all our grain is gone. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”
After hearing Song Miaomiao’s reasoning, Liu Cuihua thought about it.
It really did seem suspicious.
So the two of them had rushed over.
However, when they arrived at Song Wanning’s house, she had already gone into the mountains.
Assuming she was hiding because she had done something wrong, Liu Cuihua and Song Miaomiao stood outside cursing for over ten minutes.
Their shouting eventually attracted a large crowd.
That was why Song Wanning found so many people waiting when she returned.
Aunt Li had also heard the news and hurried over.
“Are you sick in the head? When did I ever steal your things?”
“You just open your mouth and accuse me. Where’s your evidence?”
Now that they had officially split the family, Song Wanning no longer showed Liu Cuihua any courtesy.
After all, Liu Cuihua wasn’t even her biological mother.
There was no reason to treat her politely.
“You… Song Wanning! You dare insult me?”
“Have you completely lost your mind?”
“You bitch! How dare you curse Mom? I’ll smash into you!”
Song Bao had also come with them that morning.
With the hens gone, he wouldn’t have any eggs to eat anymore, so naturally he had come to see what was happening.
He hadn’t been home during yesterday’s family division because he had been out playing.
So he had no idea that Song Wanning had changed.
He still thought she was the same older sister who had always let him bully her.
He backed up several steps before charging toward her with all his strength, aiming straight for her stomach.
He had knocked her down this way countless times before.
The moment Song Wanning saw what he was doing, she deliberately stepped behind Liu Cuihua and Song Miaomiao as if trying to hide.
Seeing this, Song Bao grinned and lowered his head as he charged forward.
“You still dare dodge? I’ll ram you to death!”
Just as Song Bao rushed over, Song Wanning suddenly stepped several paces backward.
Liu Cuihua and Song Miaomiao had assumed Song Bao would continue chasing Song Wanning.
Instead, he slammed directly into the two of them.
He crashed straight into Liu Cuihua’s stomach.
As Liu Cuihua fell, she instinctively grabbed Song Miaomiao, pulling her down as well.
Carried forward by his momentum, Song Bao also fell on top of Liu Cuihua.
“Ow!”
The ground was covered with small stones.
Liu Cuihua scraped her palms badly, and Song Bao’s weight pressing against her abdomen made her cry out in pain.
Song Miaomiao had fallen the least heavily.
She quickly climbed to her feet, pulled Song Bao off Liu Cuihua, then helped Liu Cuihua stand.
“Sister! Why did you dodge?”
“If you hadn’t dodged, Mom wouldn’t have fallen like this!”
“No matter what, she’s still our mother! How could you treat her like this?”
Song Wanning nearly rolled her eyes.
“Song Miaomiao, if you aren’t going to use your eyes, you might as well gouge them out.”
“It was obviously Song Bao who knocked her over. How is that somehow my fault?”
“What, am I supposed to stand there like an idiot and let him ram into me?”
Song Miaomiao was left speechless.
The reason neither she nor Liu Cuihua had dodged was because Song Wanning had never dodged before.
They hadn’t expected her to move this time.
Who would have thought she’d actually avoid the collision instead of obediently standing there?
Liu Cuihua rubbed her sore backside as she stood up and glared at Song Wanning.
“Hand over everything you stole from us!”
“I knew it! Raising you was a mistake. You’ve been stealing ever since you were little!”
As soon as those words left her mouth, the villagers watching exchanged confused glances.
None of them understood what Liu Cuihua meant.
Seeing their puzzled expressions, Liu Cuihua remembered how she had just embarrassed herself by falling.
Unable to swallow her anger, she sighed dramatically and turned to the crowd.
“You all probably don’t know this.”
“This girl has had sticky fingers ever since she was little.”
“I never said anything before because I wanted to preserve her reputation.”
“But now that everything in our house has been stolen, I have no choice but to tell the truth.”