At this moment, Wei Cuiying felt a brief pang of regret. Had she known that the thief would spare only the small box prepared for Jiang Tang, she would have stuffed a bit more inside it.
However, the feeling lasted only a split second. Wei Cuiying was entirely unwilling to give Jiang Tang a single extra penny; after all, she was a child raised by outsiders and didn’t share her heart.
Even so, because of Jiang Tang’s words, Wei Cuiying completely let go of any remaining suspicion toward her.
After all, for one thing, Jiang Tang didn’t have the guts for such a daring move. For another, Jiang Tang didn’t even know the location of their secret room, and even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to get inside.
At the same time, Su Yinyin finally opened her bedroom door and walked out. She had been crying for a long time, and the makeup on her face was thoroughly ruined by her tears.
“Mom, can my jewelry still be found?”
Wei Cuiying didn’t know whether it could be recovered or not. The public security had searched their house top to bottom, finding no fingerprints or footprints, meaning they could only investigate from the outside.
After all, stealing so many things couldn’t be done easily on foot; there had to be a transport vehicle.
Yet, as of now, no one had seen any suspicious individuals near their home today, so further investigation was required.
Still, seeing Su Yinyin’s aggrieved expression, Wei Cuiying gently patted her back, coaxing her: “Yes, it definitely can be found back.”
Tears were still trickling down Su Yinyin’s face. “Mom, I’m hungry.”
Wei Cuiying hurriedly said, “It’s okay, Mom will go cook for you right now.”
Just then, Wei Cuiying suddenly remembered that Jiang Tang had gone out to buy groceries earlier.
Glancing into Jiang Tang’s grocery basket, Wei Cuiying saw only two eggplants, a block of tofu, and half a catty of pork.
Seeing so few items in the basket, Wei Cuiying wore a look of disgust.
“As expected of someone raised in a petty household—so stingy when buying groceries! Who is this tiny bit of food supposed to feed?”
Jiang Tang tugged timidly at the hem of her shirt, lowering her head as she said, “I’m going to the countryside soon, so I don’t have much money left—only a few yuan. These cost one yuan.”
If it were in the past, Wei Cuiying wouldn’t have cared for a single yuan. Although her monthly wage was only forty yuan, she still had endless wealth left behind by the family.
Now, however, with all those riches vanishing into thin air, Wei Cuiying thought of the twenty yuan left in her hands and found it hard to say anything more.
“Fine, we’ll just make do with a simple meal tonight. Xiaotang, you’ve seen the situation at home too. Starting tomorrow, go back to your adoptive parents’ place to stay, and leave directly when it’s time for the countryside.”
“Okay.”
Wei Cuiying took a glance at Jiang Tang. Seeing her well-behaved demeanor, which didn’t look like she was going to refuse, Wei Cuiying picked up the grocery basket and went into the kitchen to cook.
Jiang Tang felt only cold indifference in her heart. She had originally intended to show a bit of mother-daughter affection by leaving something behind for Wei Cuiying.
Now, it seemed Wei Cuiying didn’t need it at all.
In that case, so be it.
Until Wei Cuiying finished cooking, Su Jianye, who had taken a beating earlier, still couldn’t bear to leave.
Although there was only half a catty of meat and no braised pork was made, it was still a rare treat for Su Jianye.
Su Jiyong was in a foul mood because of the lost valuables and desperately wanted to kick his nephew out, but since he had falsely accused him and hit him, he had to let him stay for a meal.
The five of them sat at the table, each harbouring their own thoughts, eating with their heads lowered.
Su Yinyin took only a few bites before putting down her chopsticks, staring at Jiang Tang with eyes that wished they could bore a hole right through her.
Jiang Tang didn’t care in the slightest. She had gained a bountiful harvest today, packing a vast amount of goods into her spatial dimension, which left her thoroughly satisfied. Su Yinyin could stare all she wanted.
Besides, Wei Cuiying’s cooking was pretty good, and since the vegetables and meat were bought with Jiang Tang’s own money, she intended to eat her fill.
Su Jianye hadn’t eaten meat in days, so he shoveled rice into his mouth the entire time, ignoring whatever expressions Su Jiyong and the other two had on their faces.
Su Jiyong and Wei Cuiying had no appetite either; with so many valuables missing from the house, how could they be in the mood to eat?
As a result, the three of them combined ate less than Jiang Tang and Su Jianye.
After finishing the meal, Jiang Tang said to Wei Cuiying, “Mom, I’ll go back to stay at my adoptive parents’ place tonight. That way, I can have breakfast over there tomorrow morning.”
Wei Cuiying nodded impatiently. Seeing Jiang Tang only made her annoyed now, but fortunately, Jiang Tang would soon be sent off to the countryside.
Jiang Tang stood up, bade farewell to the three Su family members, and left.
Su Jianye also patted his round, stuffed belly, standing up to leave together with her.
Upon stepping out of the Su residence, Su Jianye didn’t forget to express his gratitude: “Sister Xiaotang, thanks to you speaking up for me today and insisting on calling the public security to clear my name, otherwise I really wouldn’t have known how to clear up the misunderstanding.”
Looking at the foolishly smiling Su Jianye, Jiang Tang suddenly understood why Su Jianye had a good relationship with Su Yinyin in the original book.
Although Su Jianye was an idle loafer, his nature wasn’t evil, and he felt genuine gratitude toward those who helped him; no wonder he ended up taking a knife blow for Su Yinyin later on.
“It was me who brought Cousin trouble; I didn’t expect things to go missing at home. If it were Sister Yinyin, she definitely would have spoken up for Cousin as well.”
At the mention of Su Yinyin, Su Jianye’s expression changed instantly: “That’s not necessarily true! In the past, Su Yinyin and I got along pretty well, but this time she didn’t say half a word to defend me. The way she looked at me was like looking at a thief. I’m not going back to her place ever again.”
“Actually, I can tell Cousin is a very good person. Have you ever thought about learning a trade to support yourself in the future?”
Su Jianye was stunned by the question; he had never thought about these things before.
In his mind, surviving by sponging off meals at relatives’ houses was enough, since he was the only one left in his family anyway.
Today, however, the taste of being falsely accused had been truly bitter. Just because he was an unemployed loafer, his uncle and aunt suspected him first when something went missing.
Thinking of this sparked a desire in Su Jianye to prove himself.
However, Su Jianye hadn’t figured out what he wanted to do yet, nor did he know what he was capable of doing.
Sensing that Jiang Tang was offering kind advice, Su Jianye nodded and said, “Sister Xiaotang, rest assured, I’ll carefully mull over this question and see what I can do.”
Seeing that Su Jianye was still salvageable, Jiang Tang was willing to chat with him a bit more.
Only then did Jiang Tang learn that there was a reason behind Su Jianye becoming an unemployed loafer.
He used to be a hard-working and ambitious person, but right after he graduated from high school, the grandfather who had raised him fell ill and passed away.
Su Jianye suffered a huge blow from this, instantly losing his direction in life, and had lived off the charity of relatives for the past few years.
Jiang Tang encouraged him: “Why doesn’t Cousin think about what you wanted to do in the past? It’s not too late to start doing it now.”
A gleam of light gradually surfaced in Su Jianye’s eyes; he seemed to have recalled something he had always wanted to do.
Even so, Su Jianye thoughtfully escorted Jiang Tang right to the entrance of the Jiang family home, watching her step inside before humming a little tune and turning to leave.
Jiang Tang watched Su Jianye’s receding figure through the window, hoping that this time he would walk down the right path.
The next day, Jiang Tang arranged to meet Xiao Xun through her eldest brother, Jiang Sijie.
Xiao Xun had come to Yuan City specifically to find the person tied to his engagement. After finding Jiang Tang, he had written a letter home to explain the situation here.
At the same time, Xiao Xun was also awaiting Jiang Tang’s answer.