Li Wanting arrived at the north room window. She put her hand to her mouth and blew softly, making a small hole in the window. Following the same method, she ventilated the east wing room as well. After a while, both rooms were completely silent, and only then did she teleport inside.
She checked—Zhou Laogen and Zhou Zhangshi were indeed unconscious. Taking out a flashlight, she scanned the room. It was small and not very cluttered.
There was one cabinet, two large chests, both locked, a square table with two chairs, and some miscellaneous items piled in the corner.
This old miser woman hadn’t changed a bit. Back when the original owner lived here, she and her husband and children slept in a small room she built herself. Meals were rationed by the old woman, and other food was locked in her cabinet or stored in the cellar.
“Clang, clang, clang!”
Li Wanting took out a hammer and smashed the locks on the cabinet and the two chests.
Inside the cabinet was half a bag of brown rice, a nearly empty bag of white flour, a bag of mixed grains, some cornbread, and grain cakes in a small basket. There were also a few packets of snacks and some candies.
She opened the two chests on the kang (bed platform). They contained clothes and blankets—not new, but without patches. At the bottom, she found a silver money bag. Opening it, she counted 158 taels.
She put the silver bag into her space, then collected the cabinet, chests, table, chairs, and all visible items in the room, including the blankets covering Zhou Laogen and Zhou Zhangshi and the clothes they had taken off.
Hmph, you took the original owner’s life—this is just a start.
Following the same method, she entered the east wing room and emptied Zhou Dahe and his wife’s room as well. She even found two taels of silver.
“Clang!”
When Li Wanting reached the kitchen, she was about to go in when she heard something fall in the adjacent wing. Startled, she realized this was Zhou Dahai’s room—had he returned from the academy?
Li Wanting turned off the flashlight and teleported into Zhou Dahai’s room. Zhou Dahai was getting up from the floor; a stool had toppled over, and there was some confusion.
“Ah, a ghost!” Zhou Dahai screamed, a whiff of urine coming from his pants.
Tch, such a coward, and he’s supposed to be educated—he didn’t dare make a sound when he heard the noise.
“Clang.”
Suppressing her annoyance, Li Wanting took out a military shovel and struck Zhou Dahai on the head. He collapsed into the puddle of urine.
Annoying!
She took the flashlight and collected everything in his room—the book boxes, brushes, ink, paper, inkstone—into her space. She then went to the kitchen, pried the big iron pot from the stove, and collected all dishes, spoons, dried vegetables, firewood—everything went into her space.
Outside, she collected wheelbarrows, shovels, hoes, buckets, and more. She even brought the chickens from the coop and the cows from the barn into her space.
Finally, she went to the cellar and found three large bags of rice. She hadn’t expected the old miser to have hidden food even in this famine year. Some of it was moldy, but she couldn’t leave it for them. She also collected a few sprouted sweet potatoes.
Coming out of the cellar, she looked at the empty courtyard and couldn’t help but smile. “This is what I call leaving nothing behind.”
Of course, she thought, doing bad deeds deserves punishment. Li Wanting retrieved an electric hair clipper from her space.
Hehe, today she would be like Sun Wukong. Zhou Laogen, Zhou Zhangshi, Zhou Dahe and his wife, their two sons and daughter, and even Zhou Dahai—she shaved them all bald.
“Ha ha!”
She couldn’t help laughing at the thought of their reactions tomorrow morning.
She left quietly, just as silently as she had come, leaving no trace. Returning home, she slipped into her space, washed up, and fell into a deep sleep.
She had a dreamless night. In the morning, Zimo had already finished all the chores and even prepared breakfast—cold cucumber salad, hot buns, and millet porridge.
After breakfast, Li Wanting and her children left the space. The village was no longer as peaceful as usual. Smoke rose from every chimney, and the aroma of pancakes filled the air. Everyone was preparing food for the escape.
At the old residence, Zhou Zhangshi had woken from the cold. Even in summer, nights were a bit chilly. She noticed she was wearing only her undergarments. Where was the blanket?
Looking around, she saw Zhou Laogen was also in his underclothes—but his hair… it was gone!
“Ah!”
A scream pierced the air. The whole family woke up. Zhou Laogen, startled by his wife’s scream, sat upright.
“Wife, what are you screaming about…” he started, then looked at Zhou Zhangshi. Seeing her bald head, he was stunned into silence.
“How did you become bald?” they both asked in unison.
“Ah?” Both of them touched their heads repeatedly—there wasn’t a single hair.
“Ah! My hair!” Zhou Zhangshi trembled, feeling all over, but found nothing.
“Ah, Dad, Mom, you’re bald too? Look at me and Dahe and the kids.” Zhou Wushi wailed, her bald head making her look ridiculous.
Hearing their daughter-in-law, the elderly couple turned to see Zhou Dahe’s family entering. Everyone was only in their undergarments. The shiny bald heads dazzled their eyes—they were shocked.
“Mom, last night I…” Zhou Dahai started, but seeing his second brother’s family, he stopped mid-sentence.
Zhou Dahe’s family turned to look at Zhou Dahai. Zhou Dahe exclaimed, “Dahai, you’re bald too? And you have a lump on your head!”
“What?” Zhou Dahai panicked, touching his head. His hair was gone, and there was indeed a big bump.
“Ah!”
Seeing her youngest son bald as well, Zhou Zhangshi almost spat blood.
“Mom, boohoo… we’ve all become bald. Everything in my room and the house is gone. Your room is empty too?” Zhou Wushi cried, realizing her mother-in-law’s room had nothing left.
“What? Everything’s gone?” Zhou Zhangshi panicked, looking around the empty room. Her silver… gone. Everything… gone! She fainted in shock.
“Mom!”
“Wife!”
“Mom!”
…
The old residence was in chaos, chickens flying, dogs running.
Meanwhile, Li Wanting, unaware of the mayhem at the old residence, took white flour and black rye flour from her space, mixing them into two large bowls to ferment.
She also took out peanuts and sesame seeds. After feeding the cows, Zimo returned to help with the fire, and Li Wanting took charge of cooking, making fried noodles.
Zomeng played with the twins, occasionally tasting the food and praising her cooking.
Li Wanting and her son made a stack of coarse-grain cakes, steamed a pot of cornbread. The dough was now ready, so they steamed another pot of pork and scallion buns, a pot of sweet buns, and one pot each of black and white steamed buns.