Xiao Qifeng didn’t enter the village; he stopped his bike near the entrance to Xiaojin Village.
Su Qiao jumped off the bike, feeling grateful. “Thank you, Comrade Xiao. I’m sorry for troubling you today.”
Xiao Qifeng didn’t respond, but a trace of hesitation appeared on his face.
Seeing this, Su Qiao felt a bit awkward to leave immediately, so she kindly asked, “Comrade Xiao, do you still have something to do?”
“I told Xiao Wei I’d come by tomorrow morning to help reinforce your fence, so I thought I’d give you a heads-up.”
Reinforce the fence? Su Qiao’s heart sank, her instinct told her something must have happened at home.
Just as she was about to ask, Xiao Qifeng continued, “I won’t be home for long. I have to return to the army next week. So don’t worry—I won’t cause you too much trouble. You might not remember me, but you should know my mother. You and Aunt Qiuyue used to visit our Qingtian Village together.”
“You’re… Aunt Xiuping’s son?” Su Qiao asked hesitantly.
Xiao Qifeng had mentioned before that his mother and Su Qiao’s mother were close, but Su Qiao had spent a long time trying to remember who he was talking about.
After all, those events were decades ago for her.
Especially since she and Xiao Peng had left her hometown, she hadn’t had any contact with family there, so she really couldn’t recall immediately.
She had even planned to quietly ask around in the next few days, but the mention of Qingtian Village instantly triggered some memories.
Her mother didn’t have many friends, and Su Qiao did recall one aunt she was close to who lived in Qingtian Village.
“Right.” Seeing that she remembered, a trace of relief appeared on Xiao Qifeng’s face.
“I’ll only be home for a short time, so you probably don’t remember meeting me before. The point of me saying this is that you don’t need to be too guarded around me.
Back when Aunt Qiuyue was still around, she even asked Uncle Su to come to my house to help. The roof tiles on our house now were actually replaced with your father’s help.
You just moved back home, and there’s no one there who can do much work. Whether you take this as returning a favor or as serving the people… anyway…”
Xiao Qifeng smiled. “I’m just helping out. Don’t think too much about it.”
Su Qiao felt her face heat up at his words.
She had thought she was being subtle, but apparently, even her little thoughts hadn’t gone unnoticed.
Fortunately, having seen the world before, she quickly put away her embarrassment and returned a smile to Xiao Qifeng.
“Brother Xiao, sorry for letting you see me like this. You know the situation between us before, so I can’t help feeling a little awkward facing you. Now that we’ve cleared it up, it won’t happen again.”
Xiao Qifeng didn’t expect Su Qiao to admit her little feelings so openly. It surprised him, and at the same time, it made him feel even more positively toward this girl.
After all, in situations like this, anyone would feel a little awkward inside. Su Qiao handling it so gracefully was already very good.
“Mm, then you should head home early. See you tomorrow morning,” Xiao Qifeng said with a smile and a nod.
“Okay! See you tomorrow morning, Brother Xiao!”
After saying goodbye to Xiao Qifeng, Su Qiao quickened her pace toward home. The closer she got, the more anxious she felt.
“I’m home!” Su Qiao shouted as she pushed open the courtyard gate, while quickly scanning the house.
Looking around from the yard, everything seemed normal; she didn’t notice anything amiss.
Hearing her shout, the two little ones came running out of the house, one on each side, clinging tightly to her arms.
“Sis! Sis!” Su Lan rubbed her little face against Su Qiao’s arm and jumped up and down excitedly.
“Sis, hurry inside to eat! Big brother cooked porridge, it’s cooked perfectly! Let’s go in and eat!” Su Peng tugged at her sister’s sleeve, pulling hard toward the house.
At the same time, Su Wei peeked his head out of the kitchen, holding a small basin filled with steaming cornmeal porridge.
He walked inside with the porridge and said, “Sis, Brother Xiao came today. He brought half a bag of millet, a jar of salted shredded radish, and a jar of fried soybean paste. He said his mother sent it. There’s even some crispy oil residue in the soybean paste, it smells so good. Let’s have some!”
Su Qiao didn’t expect Xiao Qifeng to bring anything when he came, which made her feel even more embarrassed.
Her mind raced, trying to think of anything at home she could use to return the favor, but she couldn’t come up with anything.
There was no choice, she would have to wait until she got the money back tomorrow to figure it out.
“I bought some buns, meat-filled ones. We’ll have buns tonight!” Su Qiao said, taking the buns out of her backpack.
Almost two hours had passed since she bought the buns, and the previously steaming hot buns had now only a little warmth left.
“I’ll heat them in the kitchen,” she said, holding the paper bag and heading that way.
“No need! The porridge is hot, it’s okay if the buns are a bit cool,” Su Wei suddenly called out.
“Eat them cold, sis! Cold is delicious!”
Hearing her brother, Su Peng clung even tighter to Su Qiao’s arm and tugged with all his strength toward the house.
Even Xiao Su Lan copied him: “Cold! Delicious! Delicious!”
“What are you two doing?” Su Qiao asked, suspicious.
“Nothing! Sis, let’s eat. The porridge will get cold soon, and we’re all hungry!” Su Wei explained with a grin.
Su Qiao knew in her heart that her younger siblings were definitely hiding something from her, but seeing how nervous the kids looked, she didn’t say anything. She wanted to see what exactly they were up to.
So she carried the paper bag with the buns and went to the main room with them.
The kids were truly starving; the ten buns were quickly devoured, and the basin of porridge was completely cleaned out.
After the meal, Su Qiao stood up to wash the dishes, but Su Wei immediately stopped her. “Sis, you’ve been running around all day. Go rest; I’ll wash the dishes.”
With that, he practically snatched the empty bowls and basin and rushed into the kitchen.
Su Peng, like a little shadow, followed him closely.
Su Qiao quietly watched everything and didn’t ask any questions.
Following her brothers’ wishes, she first washed up, then helped Su Lan clean herself, and, claiming she was tired, took her little sister back to the room early.
When she said she was going to sleep, the two boys visibly relaxed, as if a weight had been lifted.
Lying in bed, Su Qiao soothed her little sister to sleep while quietly listening to the sounds outside.
At first, her brothers were pacing in the yard, and it was clear they were tidying something. They spoke in hushed tones, obviously thinking their sister was tired and asleep, not wanting to wake her.
Later, they returned inside, and soon the entire house became quiet again. There was no sound, and it was clear they had gone to sleep too.
This truly surprised Su Qiao.
She began to wonder if she had been overthinking earlier.
After all, Xiao Qifeng had only said he was coming to help reinforce the fence; he hadn’t mentioned anything else. Maybe he simply thought the fence at their house needed some repairs.
Speaking of it, ever since their father passed away, the fence hadn’t been maintained for several years, and some parts were indeed loose.
But what about the way her younger siblings acted just now? What secret could there possibly be in the kitchen?
Her mind was a tangle of thoughts, a jumble of questions with no clear answer.
Although her mind was relatively clear, she had been running around all day, and her body was genuinely exhausted. Sleepiness quickly overtook her.
“I’ll check again tomorrow morning,” she muttered to herself and drifted off into a hazy sleep.
She didn’t know how long she slept before suddenly waking with a start.
Then she heard the faint sound of a door opening in the courtyard.
Quietly, Su Qiao got out of bed, dressed, and silently slipped out of the bedroom.
Sure enough, as soon as she opened the door, Su Qiao saw her two younger brothers sneaking out through the courtyard gate.
Watching their backs, Su Qiao gritted her teeth.
She didn’t make a sound, turned, and grabbed an iron hoe from behind the house, then followed after them.
Because it was dark and she didn’t dare carry a light, the two little ones weren’t moving very fast.
Along the way, Su Wei held his younger brother’s hand tightly.
Su Qiao didn’t call out to them; she quietly trailed a few meters behind.
The two kids were careless, such a big person following not far behind them didn’t seem to register at all. They just kept their heads down and walked on.
As Su Qiao expected, they went straight to Su Changfu’s house.
But instead of using the front gate, they went around to the back wall of the yard.
Su Wei and Su Peng stopped where the wall was relatively low, whispered a few words to each other, and then Su Peng nodded firmly.
Su Wei patted him on the head reassuringly, stepped back a few paces, took a running start, and quickly climbed over the wall.
Then Su Peng tipped the long, iron-like rod he was holding into Su Wei’s hands, and Su Wei grabbed it and swung over.
Su Peng didn’t go in. He crouched low and started pacing back and forth along the wall.
From his movements, it was clear he was extremely nervous—Su Qiao felt she could sense his fear even from so far away.
But he didn’t cry or shrink back; he just walked back and forth while keeping watch, diligently looking out for his brother.
Watching her brothers’ actions, Su Qiao felt puzzled. She tried to recall if they had forgotten anything when they moved out.
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out what valuable thing could justify them taking such a big risk.
As for the idea that her brothers were stealing from their eldest uncle, Su Qiao never considered it, it was simply impossible. She would never doubt her brothers’ character.
Su Wei didn’t stay inside long, at most ten minutes, before coming back out.
Seeing him safely jump down from the wall, excitedly whispering to his brother, both of them walking back while covering their mouths and giggling like fools, Su Qiao finally relaxed.
She didn’t linger, walked quickly back, and arrived home before the two of them.