After watching the group leave, Lin Qiao began roaming through the village.
It wasn’t until late at night that she arrived at Ge Hongxia’s courtyard, which she had scouted earlier.
As soon as she jumped into the yard, she noticed how spacious it was. Besides a few large tiled houses in the center, there was a row of side rooms. The yard had many things, all neatly arranged—clearly a well-kept household.
Just as she stepped forward, the large yellow dog tied at the gate bared its teeth and barked furiously at her. Its coat was shiny and healthy—well-fed, clearly.
The dog lunged at her, the rope tied to it stretched taut.
With the loud barking, the once-quiet village erupted instantly. Many other dogs in the village joined in, howling in chorus.
“Husband, go check! Could it be a thief?” Ge Hongxia said, nudging her soundly sleeping husband.
Zhang San was awakened, sensing something was off. He threw on a coat, grabbed a flashlight, and headed outside.
As soon as the main house door opened, Lin Qiao slipped into her space.
After a thorough check of the yard, Zhang San scolded the yellow dog a few times and returned inside.
Taking off his coat and lying down, he told his slightly drowsy wife, “Go back to sleep, it’s nothing. Maybe someone passed by outside.”
Lin Qiao lingered a little before leaving the space.
The yellow dog, wrongly accused earlier, saw Lin Qiao again. Its fury surged, barking even more wildly at her.
Zhang San, still awake, felt uneasy and decided to check again.
This time, he circled the entire yard, scolded the yellow dog harshly, and finally returned to the house.
Groggily, Ge Hongxia asked, “What’s up with the yellow dog today?”
“Don’t worry about it. I checked several times, no one’s here. Maybe the dog was just looking for its wife?” Zhang San replied.
By the time Lin Qiao appeared for the third time, no matter how loud the dog barked, Zhang San refused to get up.
The couple slowly drifted off to sleep amid the dog’s wild barking.
Seeing the house remain quiet, Lin Qiao confidently walked toward the chicken coop in the yard.
Don’t underestimate her—Lin Qiao spent her days stealing chickens and pigs. She didn’t need fancy tricks, just effective ones.
Chickens meant eggs, meant meat—good for supplementing the family’s nutrition.
In a time of relative scarcity, eggs and chicken were essential for protein and nourishment.
Chickens were the villagers’ lifeline!
Anyone daring to steal them would face severe consequences.
Lin Qiao’s mission tonight was to “borrow” chickens from the Zhang family and “deliver” them to Captain Zhao.
The Zhang family had five chickens in their coop. Normally, they foraged for grasshoppers or small insects, but mainly fed the chickens corn and rice.
Feeding chickens meant less for humans, so maintaining five chickens was a sign of comfort for a rural family.
Lin Qiao captured all the chickens into her space and, to ensure Ge Hongxia wouldn’t suspect, left one of Zhao Jianjun’s shoes she’d taken earlier at the Zhang family gate.
Following the same procedure, she visited the Xu and Sun households, taking their chickens as well.
Then she went to Zhao Jianjun’s lackeys’ homes and cleared their coops without hesitation.
By the end of the night, she had covered nearly the entire village. The dogs barked in waves, exhausted by the relentless theft—they all sensed a chicken thief in the village.
Before returning home, Lin Qiao deliberately passed by Zhao Hongbing.
He was on duty tonight, and mostly handled nightly patrols. He worked under Zhao Jianjun, who oversaw both production and village security.
Hongbing was simple-minded and not adept at pleasing people, so Zhao Jianjun didn’t favor him. Patrolling every night was his thankless task.
On patrol, Hongbing saw a shadow in the distance, apparently carrying two squawking hens.
Shining his flashlight and shouting, “Who’s there?!”
From behind a tree came Zhao Jianguo’s casual voice: “It’s me. Mind your own business tonight—pretend you saw nothing, got it?”
Hearing the captain’s threat, Hongbing didn’t dare argue and left quickly.
Once he was gone, Lin Qiao emerged triumphantly from behind the tree.
Her skill was still a secret—no one could know. This was her ace up her sleeve!
She had used it before to dismantle several harmful schemes.
But let’s leave past heroics aside; we’ll see what comes next!
Lin Qiao delivered all three families’ chickens to Captain Zhao’s backyard coop.
She confiscated all the chickens from the lackeys’ houses as well.
Satisfied, she returned home; the Su family mother and son were already asleep.
She quietly entered the room Su Peilan had prepared for her.
After washing up, she lay on the bed, legs crossed, humming to herself—excited.
Everything was prepared; now she just had to wait for tomorrow’s results.
Just as she was enjoying herself, the wall rattled with “thump, thump, thump.”
A deep male voice said, “Singing this late at night—aren’t you keeping people awake?”
Lin Qiao jolted upright. Wait, someone else was in the room?
Looking around, she realized… it was the next room.
This old house had terrible soundproofing!
She thought a man was sleeping beside her!
Knowing she was in the wrong, Lin Qiao didn’t dare speak.
The night passed quietly.
The next morning, Ning Wenxiu got up early to prepare breakfast and found a large bowl of rabbit meat in the kitchen cabinet.
At breakfast, she gently asked, “Lin Heng, when did you go up the mountain yesterday? How come I didn’t know?”
Lin Heng sipped his porridge. “I didn’t go. The rabbit meat was brought by the Su family next door.”
Seeing her mother’s surprised expression, he explained, “A female comrade from the Su family came yesterday—Aunt Su’s daughter. She brought it all.”
Ning Wenxiu nodded. “I heard from Peilan about her daughter… she left with her ex-husband long ago. Didn’t expect her to come back to visit.”
“After all these years, finally thinking to check in… the Su family mother and son have had a hard time.”
Lin Heng remained silent, recalling the off-key singing last night and the village’s dogs barking all night. Even the dogs that usually barked in the morning were quiet—probably exhausted from last night.
He had a feeling this girl was behind it all. Trouble seemed to follow her—just what did she get up to last night?
Meanwhile, around the Zhang family yard, a crowd had gathered.
After the dogs barked all night, Ge Hongxia, uneasy, got up early.
To her shock, all the chickens in the coop were gone!
Who dared to steal her property—her chickens!
Running out of the yard, she found a shoe at the corner of the gate wall. Could it be left by the thief?
Holding the shoe, she shouted curses at the gate, waking all the neighbors. Everyone now knew the Zhang family’s chickens had disappeared overnight!
At that moment, a hesitant voice said, “This shoe… seems to belong to Zhao Jianjun.”