The fire at the Su family’s courtyard was finally extinguished completely.
Although it had flared up once in the middle, everything that could burn had now been reduced to ashes, leaving behind nothing but bare walls and a roof.
The three members of the Su family sat limply on the steps, their expressions numb and hollow.
Su Mingzhu’s mother wailed at the top of her lungs, “Those damned thieves! Were they specifically targeting our family? Fine, they took the tables, chairs, and cabinets, but they even stole my clothes. If they were going to steal them, why did they throw my underwear onto the floor?”
Su Jianguo glared at her irritably, took a deep drag from his tobacco pipe, and said impatiently, “Our savings are gone, and you’re still worrying about that junk? Hurry up and think about what we’re going to do next!”
He turned to look at Su Mingzhu, who was sitting there in a daze. He knew that her new clothes had been stolen as well. Fortunately, she still had a few pieces hanging outside to dry, so at least she would not be left with nothing to wear.
“Mingzhu, didn’t you go after them with the others? How did you fail to catch them?”
Thinking about the watch and new clothes that had been in her wardrobe, Su Mingzhu felt deeply aggrieved, but she could only suppress her urge to cry.
“I chased them toward the west, but the road was completely silent. I didn’t see a single person. It didn’t look like the thief escaped in that direction.”
As she spoke, a suspicion suddenly arose in her mind. She immediately shifted the blame elsewhere and said, “Dad, do you think that little slut Su Qingwan hired someone to do this? We had just argued with her during the day, and then we were robbed at night. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”
Su Jianguo’s expression darkened.
“It isn’t impossible, but everyone in the village was helping put out the fire. Who could have helped her?”
Su Mingzhu’s mother, however, had not heard a word he said. She simply sat on the ground, beating it and wailing.
“I say it was Su Qingwan and Gu Jinchuan who did this! They said he had returned to his unit, but it was all a lie. For all we know, he brought some of his comrades back and formed a gang to rob us!”
“Exactly! It was a gang of thieves!”
She shouted with absolute certainty.
Su Jianguo’s expression changed slightly.
If Gu Jinchuan had really brought people from the army with him, then emptying the entire house in the blink of an eye might not have been impossible. But how many people would that require? The more he thought about it, the more unrealistic it seemed.
Just then, the area outside the door suddenly became noisy.
Su Qingwan returned with the villagers who had gone after the thief. When they saw that the Su family’s home had practically been reduced to ruins, shock and excitement appeared on everyone’s faces.
Some even had undisguised schadenfreude in their eyes.
Others mocked them sarcastically.
“Old Su, your family had a fire and then got robbed. Could it be that you’ve offended Heaven and brought this punishment upon yourselves?”
Su Jianguo’s face turned livid, but he did not respond.
Su Mingzhu’s mother, however, ignored everyone else and rushed straight toward Su Qingwan, raising her hand to slap her.
“Su Qingwan, was this your doing? Was Gu Jinchuan back all along? Did he bring his army comrades back to stand up for you and secretly set fire to my house?”
Su Qingwan’s eyes turned cold. She pretended to stumble away from the slap, then fell delicately to the ground and covered her face as she began to cry.
“Mom, how could you say something like that? Gu Jinchuan left a long time ago. Everyone in the village knows that. He serves the people. How could he possibly bring people here to do something so disgraceful?”
“Besides, I spent the entire night helping put out the fire. Where would I have found the strength to steal anything?”
Auntie Zhao, who was standing closest to them, could no longer bear to watch. She stepped in front of Su Qingwan and angrily scolded her.
“Huang Cuilan, you really don’t know how to appreciate kindness! Qingwan and I have been helping your family put out the fire all night. If you’re not grateful, fine, but now you’re accusing her of something she didn’t do. Is that something a decent person would do?”
After saying that, she spat to the side, helped Su Qingwan to her feet, then turned toward Su Jianguo and said sarcastically, “Accountant Su, no wonder thieves specifically targeted your family. Looks like the atmosphere in your household isn’t right. You must have invited the thieves yourselves.”
The crowd burst into laughter, though they quickly lowered their voices out of consideration for the Su family’s dignity.
Su Jianguo’s face turned black with anger. Without saying another word, he slapped Su Mingzhu’s mother across the face and shouted sternly, “What nonsense are you talking about? How could Jinchuan possibly be that kind of person?”
“Besides, Qingwan has been helping put out the fire all night. There is absolutely no way she stole anything. If you’ve gone crazy, don’t drag other people into it.”
After saying this, he turned toward Su Qingwan and forced an ugly smile.
“Qingwan, don’t take it to heart. This has nothing to do with you. Your mother has simply become confused with age.”
Su Qingwan gave a miserable smile and said with a heartbroken expression, “Dad, it’s good that you can think that way. I’ll go home tonight and come back tomorrow to help.”
She turned and walked away. Anyone could see that the Su family had hurt her deeply.
“Kindness never gets rewarded. Some people really are shameless!”
Auntie Zhao snorted coldly, gave the Su family a disdainful look, and left with a large group of people.
The Su family’s courtyard immediately became empty. Only a few people of the same generation who were close to Su Jianguo remained, all of them puzzled.
“This whole thing is strange. Did you all sleep too deeply and fail to notice that everything was being carried away until the fire woke you up?”
“Exactly. With that much commotion, how could you possibly not have noticed?”
Su Jianguo shook his head and said firmly, “Impossible. When the fire started, I was still lying on the big bed. When I ran outside, I even bumped into a chair. The things in the house must have been stolen after the fire started.”
The few men exchanged glances.
From the moment the fire started until it was extinguished, only a short while had passed. Who could have emptied the entire Su family so quickly?
Could it really be that the Su family had angered some deity? Has a deity done this?
As soon as this thought occurred to them, fear rose in their hearts. They quickly made excuses to leave.
“With your family in this state, you’d better just make it through tonight first.
I still have things to take care of at home, so I’ll leave now.”
“It’s already the middle of the night. I’m going home to sleep too. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
After leaving the courtyard, they could not help whispering among themselves.
“The Su family must have offended some deity. Otherwise, who could possibly have the ability to do this?”
“I think so too. They’re always causing trouble. It really looks like some evil spirit has been messing with their household. We’d better stop coming here so often.”
“Exactly. Who knows whether being too close to them will somehow bring trouble down on our own families?”
Their voices were quiet, but the people inside the courtyard heard every word clearly.
Su Mingzhu’s mother was furious and began cursing loudly. She got to her feet and was about to chase after them.
“These ungrateful people! How dare they make up such nonsense about us!”
“Enough.”
Su Jianguo stopped her unhappily, then turned toward the dazed Su Mingzhu.
“Mingzhu, you have to go into town tomorrow. Go back to your room and get some rest first.”
The corners of Su Mingzhu’s mouth twitched. She wanted to say that her entire wardrobe had been stolen, so what was she supposed to wear when she went on her matchmaking date tomorrow?
But seeing the expressions on her parents’ faces, she could only swallow her grievances and return to her room.
After she left, Su Mingzhu’s mother cautiously looked at Su Jianguo.
“Husband, do you think it really was a deity? Otherwise, who could have the ability to empty the entire house in one go?”
“What deity? What era are we living in, and you still believe in that nonsense? Instead of wasting time on wild guesses, take a shovel and come with me to dig around inside the house.”
“Those valuable things were hidden deep. The thief probably doesn’t know about them. If they’ve really been stolen, then the only possibility is that we’ve got a ghost in our own family!”
At the edge of the village, in the Gu family’s courtyard.
Su Qingwan wiped the tears from her face and said gratefully, “Auntie, I’ll remember what you said. I’ll make sure to lock the front door properly. If there really is a thief, I’ll make sure to protect my life first.”
Auntie Zhao nodded and sighed.
“You’re living alone now, so you must put your life first. Money and possessions are nothing more than things outside the body.”
“All right, then I won’t see you off, Auntie.”
Su Qingwan watched Auntie Zhao leave, then turned around and locked the security door. With a faint smile on her lips, she walked into the house.
As she raised her hand, an iron box suddenly appeared out of thin air. It was stuffed with thick stacks of banknotes and grain coupons.
“She clearly had more than a thousand yuan hidden away, yet that old hag kept crying poverty to me every day. You deserve to truly be poor now!”