Shen Baizhi decided not to be picky anymore. Starting from where she was standing, she walked forward along the base of the Shen family’s courtyard wall.
The spot where she stood was right outside the second branch’s house. She knew perfectly well what was within two meters of the wall on her side of the property.
To clear the second branch of suspicion, she had already put away everything of her own that she could. While she was at it, she also took a few items of clothing that Susu and her mother rarely wore.
Oh right—and her father’s stash of private money hidden in a rat hole in the corner of the wall. Since he wasn’t letting the three of them use it anyway, there was no point in hiding it anymore!
Moving forward was Fourth Uncle’s house. This place had plenty of good stuff.
Someone was getting married tomorrow, and the new bridal room had already been set up. Brand-new, thick cotton quilts were neatly tied up and placed on top of a newly made wardrobe, just waiting for the bride to arrive tomorrow to make the new bed.
There were also brand-new thermos flasks, enamel washbasins, towels, soap, toothbrushes…
Quite a lot of odds and ends, all purchased for the wedding.
Many of these items had been put there by Shen Baizhi herself, so she naturally knew exactly what they looked like.
Standing outside the wall, she continuously imagined the items she had seen not long ago, and sure enough, she managed to collect quite a few things into her space.
For example, the two brand-new thick cotton quilts she wanted most were now sitting in the storage area of her space.
In addition, there was one thermos flask, one enamel basin, two new red towels, and two new toothbrushes.
She didn’t manage to collect any money. She didn’t know where her Fourth Uncle kept his cash, and besides, with his habit of handing over his entire salary to his partner and living off his parents, he probably didn’t have much money on him anyway.
After finishing with Fourth Uncle’s belongings, she moved on to Third Uncle’s two rooms. Third Uncle’s household, like theirs, didn’t have much to spare. Moreover, she hadn’t been inside his place very often, so after trying to visualize it a few times, Shen Baizhi only managed to collect a few things that even she herself didn’t think much of.
To the east of the main house was her grandparents’ room. As the heads of the family, this room had the most valuable items, but unfortunately, the room was large, and the two-meter range along the wall only covered about a third of it.
First was the large wardrobe in the corner. Inside were the old couple’s clothes and spare sheets and quilts—all of which she took. Along with them came a tin biscuit box hidden inside the wardrobe, which she had discovered by accident back when she used to help clean her grandparents’ room.
That day, her grandmother had forgotten to lock the drawer in the wardrobe, and after realizing that Shen Baizhi had touched the biscuit tin, she had flown into a rage.
Now that it was in her hands, Shen Baizhi was determined to see just how much family wealth her grandmother had accumulated over the years.
Next to the wardrobe was a five-drawer cabinet, usually used to store grain. All the family’s fine grain and eggs were kept here by her grandmother alone, including the meat, eggs, rice, and grain prepared for tomorrow’s wedding banquet.
Besides these, there was also malted milk powder and some snacks that her youngest aunt occasionally brought over out of filial duty.
As for the old couple’s other daily necessities, Shen Baizhi had no interest in them. She went straight around to the other side of the main hall, which was Shen Baiwei’s living area. Since she often helped Shen Baiwei clean up, she was quite familiar with it.
This time, she directly took away Shen Baiwei’s clothes trunk and the desk against the wall in their entirety. As for what was inside, she could take a look when she had time.
On the other side, the first two rooms of the side wing were occupied by the eldest branch of the family. Her eldest aunt was very sly—afraid that good things in the room would be discovered by others—so she always cleaned the room herself and rarely let Shen Baizhi and the others go in. As a result, Shen Baizhi wasn’t very familiar with the layout inside.
After trying a few times without getting anything useful, she gave up.
Next was the kitchen. According to local custom, when the weather was cold, they would steam the next day’s mantou in advance so they wouldn’t run out of time.
Based on her knowledge of how the family usually stored things, Shen Baizhi visualized it—and sure enough, she collected one basket of white-flour mantou and three baskets of mixed-flour mantou, more than a hundred in total.
Without even thinking, she knew the white-flour mantou were definitely prepared for the bride’s relatives. Now they all benefited her instead.
But it wasn’t as if she was taking advantage unfairly. All the grain, meat, and eggs prepared for tomorrow had been bought with the betrothal gifts given by the Lin family.
Under the pretense of preparing a wedding banquet for her, they had used the Lin family’s connections to purchase a large amount of good food. Yet yesterday, at her own wedding, the spread had been utterly meager—the only dish with any meat was napa cabbage stewed with shredded pork.
The Lin family’s faces had darkened on the spot. The Shen family clearly had no regard at all for her future reputation in her husband’s household!
And just now, in her grandparents’ room, she had collected more than half a pig, which looked to be at least forty or fifty pounds.
Tomorrow’s banquet definitely wouldn’t need that much. Shen Baizhi guessed they were planning to save ten-plus pound for her Fourth Aunt to take back to her natal home.
Now she was really curious to see what expressions the Shen family would have tomorrow morning when they woke up and found all the food they had prepared gone!
Finally, she collected the small stove and the little ear-handled pot from the kitchen, took some bowls, plates, and utensils, and then went to the storage room for tools and “borrowed” two large bamboo back baskets. With that, Shen Baizhi’s ransacking of the Shen household came to an end.
She circled around to beneath her own window and gently knocked a few times under the window by the wall where the sisters slept. A small head popped out from inside.
Shen Baisu whispered anxiously,
“Sis, you’re finally here! I was almost asleep waiting for you!”
“Are you hungry? I hid a mantou for you. Where are you sleeping tonight? Do you want me to quietly open the door for you?”
Shen Baizhi pushed the mantou back into her hands, patted her head, and said with a heartache,
“Susu, don’t worry about me. Your sister can take care of herself. Hurry up and eat this mantou.”
She knew this mantou had to be Susu’s own dinner. When she collected the white-flour mantou from the kitchen earlier, she had already eaten two herself. Yet Susu had been waiting for her on an empty stomach, which made her feel guilty.
Susu, just wait a little longer. Once your sister gets out of this quagmire, I’ll take you with me.
Seeing that Shen Baisu still insisted on giving her the mantou, Shen Baizhi took it, broke off a piece, and stuffed it directly into Susu’s mouth.
“Susu, did they give you any trouble today?”
Shen Baisu reflexively opened her mouth and bit into the mantou, replying indistinctly,
“It was the same old thing—they wanted to hit me. But I ran away. Shen Baiwei was so angry she cried!”
“I followed what you said and kept dragging it out with her. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that she finally went out. She even went to the river by herself to look for stones.”
Seeing that Shen Baisu hadn’t suffered any losses, Shen Baizhi stuffed the rest of the mantou into her hand and whispered instructions,
“I’m leaving now. Be smart on your own—don’t let yourself be bullied, and don’t tell anyone that I came back.”
Shen Baisu nodded. She felt that her sister seemed a little different today—but she liked this version of her sister!
By the light of the moon, Shen Baizhi felt her way back to the cave. Outside the cave, she took out a large bamboo back basket, put some pots and bowls at the bottom, then added some rice and mantou.
On top, she placed a thick cotton quilt and an old mattress.
With the basket on her back, a thermos flask in her left hand, and a small stove with glowing embers still inside in her right, she entered the cave like this.
Jiang Yanli, who had been resting with his eyes closed, heard the sound and opened his eyes alertly. Only after seeing who it was did he relax his guard—but the girl’s current appearance still took him by surprise.
Hadn’t she said she was going to find him a little something to eat?
Was this what she meant by “a little”?
She looked like she’d practically moved the whole house over.