The next day, Qiao Nian slept until she woke up naturally.
When she woke up and glanced at her wristwatch, it was only a little past eight in the morning.
The watch was something she had dug up in Li Dachuan’s room. After finding the watch, she casually dropped by Wang Xiuying’s room as well—this Li family was truly wealthy; she managed to find a passbook with six thousand yuan in it, along with four hundred twenty-seven yuan, eight jiao, and six fen in loose cash.
Aside from that, there were 10 jin of oil coupons, 12 jin of meat coupons, and a generous heap of food coupons, cloth coupons, sugar coupons, industrial coupons, and so forth—there were even several highly sought-after coupons for refrigerators and televisions.
Even Qiao Nian couldn’t help but gasp at the numbers she saw on the passbook.
This Li Dachuan really knew how to corruptly line his pockets.
Li Dachuan was currently the section chief of the procurement department at the food processing factory, making a salary of 102 yuan. He supported the whole family by himself, and after deducting all the expenses for the young and old in the household, he could save at most around 50 yuan a month—which added up to 600 yuan a year.
He had been promoted to section chief three years ago, so saving six thousand yuan in a mere three years was remarkably astonishing.
One had to keep in mind that all the way until her death in her previous life, “ten-thousand-yuan households” were exceedingly rare, yet this year, this Li family was already halfway to becoming a ten-thousand-yuan household.
No wonder Li Dachuan hadn’t felt an ounce of heartache when giving out the bride price.
However, this shady little pile of cash now belonged to her.
Qiao Nian discovered that despite having never even touched a ten-yuan bill in her past life, she actually possessed a knack for loving money.
Fortunately, passbooks these days were unregistered and had no passwords; Qiao Nian could just take the household registration book and withdraw the money directly.
Since Qiao Nian was bold enough to withdraw it, she wasn’t afraid of Wang Xiuying or Li Dachuan looking into it. They wouldn’t dare admit that they owned this sum of money, and if they truly tried to claim she took it, they would have to provide proof of their income.
If things really escalated, Li Dachuan wouldn’t just lose his job—he would also face prison time.
Six thousand yuan was a large amount to withdraw, making it impossible to carry around on her body like the eleven hundred yuan from the Qiao family. So Qiao Nian simply found a place outside and hid the money away.
Qiao Nian counted it up and cackled internally—she was now a little rich woman with seven thousand five hundred yuan to her name.
In a fantastic mood, Qiao Nian spotted a state-run restaurant on her way back to the Li family home and dove straight inside.
Her luck was pretty good today. It was nearly noon, and the restaurant still had braised pork belly available. Qiao Nian ordered a portion of braised pork, a portion of braised eggplant, and three bowls of rice.
It cost a total of one yuan eighty fen and nine liang of food coupons.
Qiao Nian ate to her heart’s content, let out a satisfied burp, and walked back toward the Li family house in high spirits.
Just as she reached the entrance of the Li family yard, she heard a wave of noisy clamor.
Qiao Nian felt puzzled—what kind of drama was unfolding now?
Or had they discovered that the money was gone?
“Eldest Sister, you told us to come teach Qiao Nian a lesson, and we’ve been waiting all morning. Where is she? I only took half a day off from work, and I have to rush back to my shift this afternoon!”
“Exactly, Eldest Sister! We’re all waiting here on empty stomachs. You’re the one who told us to come, so you have to provide us a meal!”
The second sister, Li Yulan, said this. There was food in the Li family kitchen, but since their mother hadn’t spoken up, none of them dared to make a move—their mother was known for tearing people apart.
“Eat, eat, eat! All you know how to do is eat! Was it me who asked you to come? It was Mom who asked you to come! If you have the guts, go say that to Mom!”
Li Yumei was filled with anger upon hearing those words. Not daring to pick a fight with her mother, she only knew how to snap back at her sisters. Did they think she actually wanted to come here?
“Alright, alright, stop fighting, Eldest Sister and Second Sister. Why don’t we go check the hospital? Maybe she went to the hospital to see Little Brother.”
“Could she possibly be that kind-hearted?”
Li Yumei exploded the moment she heard that. “You have no idea what she did to our little brother yesterday…”
Seeing that Qiao Nian wasn’t around, Li Yumei grew bold again, babbling and recounting everything Qiao Nian had done yesterday all over again.
“What? She even dared to beat Mom? Has she lost her mind? My husband is here with me—just wait till Qiao Nian comes back, and you’ll see how I teach her a lesson! Where in the world does a daughter-in-law dare to walk all over her mother-in-law like that?”
The fourth sister, Li Yuju, said indignantly.
Only the third sister, Li Yuzhu, hid in a corner without uttering a word. She was the only one whose husband hadn’t come today, but she hadn’t dared not to show up.
Qiao Nian stood by the doorway, listening to them talk. There were four women and three men inside the house, grinding their teeth in hatred as they spoke about her.
Qiao Nian gave a cold laugh. She had thought that old shrew Wang Xiulan had some real tricks up her sleeve, but it turned out she had just called a few of her daughters to teach her a lesson.
Well, since they were already here, she might as well let them take the fall for this.
She was just glad she had eaten her fill at the state-run restaurant; otherwise, if she were starving, she would only be forced to take a passive beating.
She glanced at three small children playing in the mud nearby—the oldest was six or seven, while the youngest was only three or four. Qiao Nian reached into her pocket, pulled out a few candies, and handed them to the oldest boy. “Xiangyang, big sister will give you some candy. Go tell your mom that a thief has gotten into the Li family home, and ask her to bring people over to help, okay?”
These kids belonged to the neighboring Hu family. Their mother, Wang Shuzhen, had a strong hatred for evil; in Qiao Nian’s past life, seeing how pitiable Qiao Nian was, she had offered her advice and guidance many times.
Hu Xiangyang’s eyes lit up. He liked this pretty and generous big sister, so he nodded vigorously. “Big sister, I’ll go find my mom right now!”
Hu Xiangyang ran off into the distance, bringing his younger brother and sister along.
Qiao Nian smiled, taking the remaining food coupons and one yuan twenty fen from her meal and hiding them at the base of the wall.
Looking toward the Li family’s house, her gaze deepened.
She took her steps, walking firmly, step by step, toward that sinful direction.
With a loud “BANG!”, Qiao Nian kicked open the half-closed door.
The people inside were startled. Coming to her senses, Li Yuju immediately began cursing, “Qiao Nian, you still dare to come back? You’ve finally shown your face! You venomous shrew! Since your parents failed to raise you properly, I’ll teach you a good lesson today!”
As she spoke, she raised her hand to slap her.
Qiao Nian dodged to the side and fired back instantly, “They say a nephew takes after his uncle, but in your family, the nephew clearly takes after his aunts! Li Dajun reversed the natural order and tried to poison his own father—did he learn that from you lot? Is your own father paralyzed because you harmed him too?”
“You’re fucking talking nonsense!”
Li Yuju was driven mad with rage. What a sharp, vicious mouth this woman had, spewing nothing but wild nonsense!
“What’s wrong? Did I hit the nail on the head? Driven to rage out of humiliation? First you harm your own father, and now your sister-in-law? Come on, your dad is right over there—go look him in the eye and say it!”
While mocking them, Qiao Nian walked straight into Wang Xiuying’s room.
Her movements were swift and precise. The bed, the closets, the trunks, the floor—she tossed and tore through everything bit by bit, leaving the room strewn with clutter.
“Qiao Nian, what kind of madness has possessed you? My mom was right after all; you are a complete and total lunatic!”
Li Yulan couldn’t stay calm either. As Qiao Nian tore through things and threw them aside, she followed behind trying to tidy up, but no matter how fast she cleaned, she couldn’t keep up with Qiao Nian’s pace.
“What on earth are you looking for?”
“Me, going mad? What am I looking for? You’ll all find out in a moment!”
Qiao Nian scoffed mockingly. Once she finished tearing through Wang Xiuying’s room, she moved straight into Li Dachuan’s room, throwing out wallets, documents, and clothes one by one.
“Zhenhua, pin her down for me! See if I don’t beat her to death today!”
After shouting to her husband, Li Yulan dumped the things in her hands onto the floor, stopped cleaning up altogether, and rushed forward to claw at Qiao Nian.
Who could have expected Qiao Nian to completely break character? She immediately crouched down on the floor, clutching her head, and began begging for mercy pitiably, “Second Sister, I don’t dare anymore! I beg you, please spare me!”
Just as Li Yulan was feeling bewildered, an anxious woman’s voice echoed loudly from the doorway: “Everyone, hurry and help! A thief has gotten into the Li family home! Quick, catch the thief!”