Worried about danger on the road, Liu Qingsong escorted Eldest Sister to the wide Rural Road of Huangyu Production Brigade before taking Little Mochi and little sister home.
By the time they got home, it was already past ten at night.
Liu Qingshi and Liu Qinglong had already gone to bed, since they had to study tomorrow.
But Liu Lijuan hadn't slept yet. She was still in the rear courtyard under the kerosene lamp, making shoe uppers and laces.
Since she was a girl, Liu Lijuan made shoe uppers and laces that were far more delicate and refined than Liu Qingsong's.
Even so, Liu Lijuan wasn't happy. A troubled look clouded her face.
When Liu Qingsong entered the rear courtyard, he saw her troubled expression and asked, "Second elder sister, what's wrong? Are you still upset that Wang Xiaohe and Zhong Xinbing won't let our family join the production team's Post-Autumn Hunting?"
Little sister and Little Mochi looked at Liu Lijuan with curiosity.
"No!" Liu Lijuan glanced at Liu Qingsong as he sat down and sighed. "I was thinking about winter. These sandals we made ourselves won't last much longer, and we'll have to switch to cotton shoes."
"But where's the money for cotton shoes going to come from?"
"That's..." Liu Qingsong couldn't answer.
These kinds of food and clothing worries used to be their parents' problem to fret over. He, his second elder sister, and their younger siblings never used to think about such things.
Now that their parents had been taken away for Reform Through Labor, the problem was theirs to solve. Only then did they realize how hard life became without a source of income.
Still, Liu Qingsong wasn't too worried. He had the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump, after all. When the time came, one trip inside would keep his younger siblings from freezing. The only problem would be finding a good excuse for the things he brought out.
"Oh right, there are also Match Ration Coupons and Kerosene Coupons." Liu Lijuan added, her face troubled. "Before I completely fell out with Wang Xiaohe and Zhong Xinbing, I could still get a few by reporting for work."
"But now..."
At this point, Liu Lijuan trailed off, too dejected to continue.
After all, without Match Ration Coupons or Kerosene Coupons.
In 1978, you couldn't even dream of buying matches or kerosene without them.
A lack of kerosene was manageable—they could go without lighting the lamp at night.
But without matches, that would be a real problem.
By then, they might not even know how to cook rice or sweet potatoes.
Liu Qingsong had lived through that time, so he understood his second elder sister's worry. Frowning, he considered pulling out a disposable lighter to help her through the crisis, but decided against it.
He didn't want the disposable lighter to make his second elder sister suspicious of him.
Of course, the most important reason was that their family hadn't actually reached the point of being truly desperate yet.
Seeing Little Mochi follow little sister back to the room, Liu Qingsong came to himself and said, "Second elder sister, things will work out when the time comes. Don't worry about them now. Let's finish the sandals for Qingshi and Qinglong first."
"By winter, our family might have money and be able to afford cotton shoes."
"That's true." Liu Lijuan nodded. In the faint light of the Kerosene Lamp, she and Liu Qingsong focused on making the sandals.
..
At the foot of Wild Boar Ridge.
In a hidden irrigation ditch.
Liu Delei saw that the Kerosene Lamp at Liu Qingsong's house was still burning and frowned. He couldn't understand why Liu Qingsong and Liu Lijuan were still awake so close to midnight.
Mosquitoes had covered his hands and feet with bites.
He was about to give up stealing the Diaozi Fish and head home.
Then the Kerosene Lamp in Liu Qingsong's rear courtyard went out.
Liu Delei grew excited. He rubbed his hands together and crept over.
As he got close, he hid under the big tree by the gate and lay in wait.
After waiting for half an hour.
After half an hour, he used the Dagger he carried with him to pry open the door latch, then held his breath and headed toward the kitchen.
Seeing no Diaozi Fish in the kitchen, he turned and felt his way in the dark toward the rear courtyard.
The gate to the rear courtyard stood open. On the east side, three Winnowing Baskets of Spicy Diaozi Fish lay out to dry.
By the moonlight, Liu Delei saw them and hurried over, excited.
Before he could get close, a dog barked behind him.
That's right, a dog's bark.
The bark startled Liu Delei so badly that he scrambled into a corner.
At the same time, he was also confused.
Liu Qingsong's family hadn't had a dog yesterday.
So how did there come to be a dog in the house today?
At a loss, he saw a fluffy, adorable Five-Black Hound wag its tail and appear at the rear courtyard gate, looking around.
As everyone knows, dogs have Night Vision Ability.
Even though Liu Delei was hiding in a dark corner, he couldn't escape the Five-Black Hound's watchful eyes.
It raised its head and began barking wildly.
It scared Liu Delei half to death.
The barking woke little sister and Little Mochi, who had been fast asleep.
Even Liu Qingsong and Liu Lijuan sensed something was wrong.
Liu Qingsong grabbed the Broken Blade hidden beside his bed and rushed into the rear courtyard.
Seeing the puppy chase a masked figure out in a sorry state, Liu Qingsong swung his blade to block the way. "What are you doing? Trying to steal from my house?"
The masked figure didn't answer.
Instead, with a vicious look on his face, he pulled out a dagger and struck at Liu Qingsong swift and precise.
"Qingsong, watch out!" Liu Lijuan, who had rushed over, screamed in shock at the sight.
But she froze, her eyes widening in disbelief.
In that split second, Liu Qingsong swung the Broken Blade to block the masked figure's dagger strike—and cut the Dagger cleanly in two.
That's right.
In two pieces.
And without losing any momentum, the blade came down on the masked figure's arm.
"AAAH!!!" The masked figure let out a shrill scream of pain. Clutching the wound with one hand, he dropped the broken Dagger and fled into the darkness.
Liu Qingsong wanted to chase after him, but Liu Lijuan, having come back to her senses, reached out and stopped him. "Don't chase him, it's dangerous out there."
"But..." Liu Qingsong hesitated, wanting to argue.
That shrill scream told him something.
He was almost certain.
The one who came to steal from their house was Liu Delei.
In a situation like this, if they didn't catch him red-handed, it could cause endless trouble down the road!
"There's no but." Liu Lijuan reached down and scooped up the puppy nestled at her feet, a look of relief in her eyes. "If you chase after him and there's an accomplice lurking around our house, what then? What about the safety of our younger siblings?"
"Alright!" Liu Qingsong had no choice but to give in.
After all, his second elder sister was right.
Family's safety mattered more.
As for everything else.
As long as people were still around, it could all be earned back.
"Enough talk, let's go to sleep." Liu Lijuan reached out and stroked the puppy's fur, then gently set it down on the ground. "Good thing you accepted the Five-Black Hound that Eldest Uncle's House gave us today, or our family would have suffered a big loss."
Kun gao.
It's a dialect term.
It means going to sleep.
"Mm." Liu Qingsong nodded.
The Five-Black Hound's performance was a pleasant surprise to him as well.
"Oh right, I want to apologize for what I said before. From now on, as long as our family has food, I won't let the Five-Black Hound go hungry," Liu Lijuan said, looking at Liu Qingsong earnestly.
"Sure! Sure!" Liu Qingsong nodded with a smile.
His second elder sister could say something like this to him.
That put his mind at ease.
He wasn't worried about the Five-Black Hound going hungry.
After all, there was plenty of edible household waste in the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump!
A little would be enough to feed the Five-Black Hound.
Still, his guard against Liu Delei hadn't relaxed at all.
Because it's not the thief you fear, it's the thief who keeps thinking about you.
If Liu Delei had set his sights on their family's things.
Then he'd probably come back to steal again sometime.
To protect his family and prevent anyone from discovering the things he brought out of the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump, he had to plan ahead and devise a countermeasure.
..