The night had grown deep. Liu Cuifen and Jiang Fugui lay in bed, sleeping like dead pigs.
He Xiaoman emerged from the Spatial Dimension and began rummaging through Liu Cuifen's room.
The room wasn't large, but it held no shortage of things—a paint-chipped wardrobe, several wooden cabinets. The wardrobe was stuffed with clothes and fabric, while the cabinets were either piled with quilts and blankets or hiding grain stores.
She had read the story, so she knew exactly where this couple hid their valuables. But there was no time to pick and choose now. With a wave of her hand, she swept nearly everything in sight into the Spatial Dimension. In the blink of an eye, the room was left with only a bed and its bedding.
Then she slipped into the Spatial Dimension and tossed their garbage back into the room—sweat-stained rags, greasy stinking shorts, and other such junk.
After that, she grabbed an iron bar and pried open the drawer beneath the wardrobe with a click. Sure enough, money and the remittance slips Jiang Yanchuan had sent were hidden inside.
To keep the original owner from auditing the accounts, Liu Cuifen had withdrawn all the money Jiang Yanchuan sent into cash and hidden it away. She had to count it every night before she could sleep.
He Xiaoman had figured that after taking over six hundred yuan yesterday, the old hag probably didn't have much left. But to her surprise, when she counted it out, there was nearly three thousand yuan in the drawer! Plus a stack of nationwide meat coupons, grain coupons, and cloth coupons!
He Xiaoman was so furious she wanted to curse. This dead old hag had all this money from Jiang Yanchuan, yet made the original owner and the kids drink thin porridge and gnaw on sweet potatoes every meal. What a heartless wretch!
Fine. It all belonged to her now!
After cleaning out Liu Cuifen's room, she thought about checking Jiang Changlin and Li Chunyan's room, but then reconsidered when she thought about tomorrow's plan.
When something this big happened, someone had to take the fall. Anyway, that couple probably didn't have much worth stealing. Let them be the "ones that got away."
He Xiaoman then went to the kitchen and stuffed everything into the Spatial Dimension—pots, bowls, ladles, rice, flour, oil, even the soy sauce bottle with just a bit left at the bottom.
Whether she'd use it later or not, she wasn't leaving a single scrap of benefit for the ungrateful wolves of the Jiang family!
Passing through the main hall, she swept up the corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes piled in the corner, along with the farming tools like hoes and sickles. Even the firewood stack in the yard, the old yellow dog, the four hens, the two pigs, and the four ducks—she shoved them all into the Spatial Dimension to keep.
After doing all that, she returned to her own room and packed everything she could take into the Spatial Dimension. Only when the room was left with just a bed and a blanket did she go to sleep, satisfied.
She opened her eyes again to the sound of Liu Cuifen's screeching, like a pig being slaughtered.
"Thief! There's a thief in the house!"
"Damned bastards! Cursed thieves! My money… my grain… how are we supposed to survive now?!"
He Xiaoman covered her ears. That old hag had some lung capacity.
Scream? Anyone can do that!
She immediately let out a wail at the top of her lungs, her voice drowning out Liu Cuifen's entirely. It startled both kids awake.
The brothers sat up, rubbing their eyes, staring at the empty room in confusion. Before they could ask what was going on, Liu Cuifen kicked the door open and stormed in, fuming: "He Xiaoman, you shameless slut! Did you steal my money and everything in the house?"
He Xiaoman jumped off the bed in a flash and jabbed a finger at her nose, shouting back: "What the hell are you yelling about?! Look at my room yourself—what's here besides a bed? What did I steal from you?"
Liu Cuifen froze at the outburst, only then noticing that He Xiaoman's room had been cleaned out too, leaving nothing but worthless junk.
She was instantly dumbfounded: "This… what happened here?"
He Xiaoman grabbed her wrist and dragged her out: "The six hundred yuan I took from you yesterday is gone! You're trying to weasel out of paying me back, so you stole everything while me and the kids were asleep, right? Come on, let's go find the brigade leader and settle this! Let the whole village see how black your hearts are!"
She dragged Liu Cuifen to the main hall, where Jiang Changlin immediately rushed over to block them: "Stop making a fuss! There really was a thief! Everything's gone!"
"I don't believe it!" He Xiaoman shook off Liu Cuifen and deliberately walked a lap around the house. When she reached Jiang Changlin's door, she suddenly raised her voice: "What do you mean everything was stolen? Isn't Jiang Changlin's room perfectly fine?"
At that, Liu Cuifen and Jiang Fugui immediately charged into Jiang Changlin's room and saw that everything inside was indeed still there.
Liu Cuifen turned and glared at Jiang Changlin: "What's going on? Why was only your room not robbed?"
"Mom, how would I know?!" Jiang Changlin was equally bewildered.
"I think you're the thief!" He Xiaoman rushed up and pointed at his nose. "Otherwise, why is your room the only one untouched?"
Jiang Changlin was rendered speechless. Seeing the suspicion in Liu Cuifen's eyes, he stomped his foot in panic: "Mom, you have to believe me, I really didn't steal anything from the house!"
"That's right, we really didn't!" Li Chunyan quickly waved her hands too.
"Pah!" He Xiaoman sneered coldly. "Not only did you steal my money, you emptied the whole house. Are you even human? I'm going to the commune to report this right now and have the police throw you in jail!"
She said this and rushed out. Jiang Fugui quickly glared at Liu Cuifen and snapped, "Hurry up and go bring her back! This case cannot be reported!"
Whoever could silently empty the house, even stealing the private savings they had hidden so well, had to be someone in the family.
The second son had a habit of petty theft before. If it really was him, then going to the police would be walking right into a trap.
Besides, if the police actually came, forget their three thousand-plus in private savings—other things might not stay hidden either.
Liu Cuifen hurried out after her and grabbed her arm. "Don't call the police! Let's talk this out properly!"
Seeing this, He Xiaoman shook off her hand and plopped down on the ground with a thud, throwing a tantrum as she slapped her thighs and wailed, "Damn you all! My money's all been stolen!"
"You bunch of black-hearted bastards! You won't split the family, fine, but you steal my money too, and won't even give us a bite to eat—you're trying to drive me and my three kids to death!"
"Heavens above! I can't go on living!"
Liu Cuifen's eyelids twitched watching her. This woman was so young, how could she be so shameless, pulling this trick again!
But sure enough, the neighbors fell for it every time. She'd barely wailed a couple of lines before several onlookers gathered at the courtyard gate.
Seeing the crowd, He Xiaoman cried even harder, snot and tears streaming as she accused them: "They gave me the money just yesterday, then in the middle of the night had Jiang Changlin steal it back, and now they're turning around and biting me, saying I'm the thief—"
Everyone had seen what happened yesterday, and now hearing that Liu Cuifen had apparently stolen the money back, the crowd erupted—
"I say, Cuifen, didn't you give her the money yesterday? How could you let Changlin steal it back? Not giving Xiaoman a single cent?"
"Exactly! Even if you don't like your daughter-in-law, you can't push her this far. She did give you two grandsons, after all."
"You're really shameless, pulling a stunt like this just to weasel out of it."
Liu Cuifen's own things had been stolen too, and now she was being scolded with no way to defend herself, hopping around in frustration: "I didn't! I really didn't!"
"Didn't steal? Then why is it that nothing was taken from Jiang Changlin's room? You're just putting on a show for me!" He Xiaoman refused to let them off the hook.
"Xiaoman, I'll go report this to the village secretary right now and call the police for you!" One well-meaning neighbor said and started to leave.
"No, no, no!" Jiang Fugui quickly stopped him, then said to the crowd, "We really don't know anything about this. Our room was robbed too. Xiaoman, get up first, let's talk this out properly."
"Talk my ass! This life isn't worth living!" He Xiaoman stood up and spat at him. "I'm putting this out there today: either I take the kids to the army to find Jiang Yanchuan, or I call the police right now and have Jiang Changlin arrested. We're splitting the family and cutting all ties!"