“Catch a thief? What thief?” Village Head Zhang asked in confusion. Weren’t they just talking about severing family ties? How had the conversation suddenly turned to catching thieves?
Lin Wan sighed and pointed toward her room. “When I came back just now, I found the room completely ransacked. It’s obvious a thief broke in, so naturally we should ask the yamen to investigate.”
A flicker of guilt flashed across Old Madam Wu’s face. The room was such a mess because she had been the one searching through it.
As soon as she heard that the wretched girl Lin Wan had gone to the village entrance and bought herself a man, she became convinced Lin Wan must still be hiding money somewhere. So she had rushed over immediately and turned the room upside down looking for it.
In the end, she found nothing at all.
Following Lin Wan’s gesture, Village Head Zhang looked toward the room. The door stood wide open, and the interior was indeed in complete disarray.
His brows furrowed. “Someone dared break into a house and steal in broad daylight? This matter must be thoroughly investigated!”
As the village head, he naturally had to consider the safety of the entire village. Qinghe Village had always been peaceful; the sudden appearance of a thief was no small matter.
“Was anything valuable stolen?” he asked, though judging from the dilapidated house, it didn’t seem likely there was anything particularly valuable inside.
Old Madam Wu curled her lip in disdain. She hadn’t even found a copper coin in the room—what could possibly have been stolen?
But Lin Wan nodded seriously and said slowly, “I checked when I entered the room. The thirty-three taels and four qian of silver that I hid beneath the bed are all gone.”
As soon as those words fell, the villagers exploded into discussion.
Thirty-three taels was no small sum.
For ordinary farming families, being able to save two taels in a year was already considered good. Thirty-three taels represented more than ten years of savings.
At the same time, many people were skeptical. Everyone in the village knew Lin Wan’s circumstances. No matter how they looked at it, she didn’t seem like someone who could possess thirty-three taels of silver.
“Nonsense! There wasn’t a single coin in that room!” Old Madam Wu blurted out before she could stop herself.
This dead girl was really making things up out of thin air. Thirty-three taels? She certainly had a vivid imagination!
Lin Wan turned to her with an innocent look. “How do you know that?”
Ever since declaring she wanted to sever ties with the family, she had stopped calling her grandmother. Now her eyes were filled only with suspicion.
Village Head Zhang also looked doubtful. “Yes, how do you know?”
Old Madam Wu: “…”
She couldn’t very well admit that she was the thief Lin Wan was talking about.
Her narrow eyes darted about before she quickly defended herself. “Isn’t it obvious? This courtyard is so run-down, and everyone in the village knows these siblings live in poverty. If they really had more than thirty taels, why wouldn’t they spend it?”
That part, at least, sounded reasonable. Lin Wan truly didn’t look like someone who possessed that much money.
Lin Wan sneered inwardly. So Old Madam Wu clearly understood how difficult their lives were, yet she still came every few days to take things from their home. She was practically trying to drive the siblings to starvation.
At the same time, Lin Wan grew even more suspicious. What was the real reason behind Old Madam Wu’s behavior? If they were truly family, no matter how much she disliked them, she shouldn’t have gone this far.
Something was definitely wrong.
The villagers murmured among themselves. Even Tian Guihua, who had been supporting Lin Wan earlier, fell silent, uncertain what to believe.
Old Madam Wu pressed her advantage. “And if you really had thirty-plus taels, why would you have sold your farmland?”
News traveled fast in Qinghe Village. Everyone knew that farmland was a farmer’s lifeline. Unless a family was truly desperate, no one would sell good land.
After hearing that Lin Wan had bought a man, Old Madam Wu had immediately learned that Lin Wan had sold an acre of fertile land the day before. She had nearly died of heartache.
Using an acre of good farmland to buy a half-dead man back home—what outrageous wastefulness!
Ever since Lin Dashan died, Old Madam Wu had been coveting those few acres of good land. But with Village Head Zhang protecting the siblings, she had never managed to seize them.
In her mind, though, those fields would eventually belong to her sooner or later.
That was why she had rushed over today.
Faced with everyone’s doubtful gazes, Lin Wan remained completely calm.
The original Lin Wan really had sold an acre of land, but that didn’t stop her from collecting a debt.
She sighed softly and hesitated for a moment before speaking. “When my mother passed away, she left behind a sum of silver. She said it came from my maternal grandfather and was meant for my younger brother’s education. She also warned me that no one must ever know about it, otherwise it would be taken away…”
She emphasized the words no one.
Everyone understood exactly whom she meant.
Old Madam Wu had first seized Lin Dashan’s compensation money, then continued coming to take things from the siblings’ home without caring whether they lived or died. If she had known about this silver, she would certainly have stolen it as well.
“If it weren’t for the money my mother left behind, my brother and I would have been lucky just to fill our stomachs. How could I possibly have afforded to send Lin Sheng to school?”
That sentence changed everything.
Many who had suspected Lin Wan of lying suddenly believed her.
After all, education was expensive. Given the siblings’ poverty, if Lin Wan hadn’t secretly possessed some savings, how could she have supported her brother’s studies?
Moreover, everyone knew her maternal grandfather had once run a medical clinic in the county town. It wasn’t strange that he might have left behind some money.
And in these times, people didn’t reveal their wealth openly.
The more they thought about it, the more plausible it seemed that Lin Wan really did have thirty-three taels of silver.
After his initial shock, Village Head Zhang no longer doubted her much. He had watched Lin Wan grow up; she was usually honest and dutiful. If she were lying, she wouldn’t dare invent such an enormous sum.
He slapped his thigh and shouted angrily, “Report it! We’ll report it to the authorities right now!”
Yes, a thief appearing in the village would damage Qinghe Village’s reputation. But if they didn’t catch the culprit, who knew how many more households would be robbed?
Old Madam Wu nearly jumped out of her skin at his roar.
When she heard he really intended to report the case, panic flooded her heart.
She pointed at Lin Wan. “You little slut is making things up! Don’t believe her! She doesn’t have thirty taels of silver at all!”
Others might not know, but Old Madam Wu did.
Lin Wan’s maternal grandfather had indeed run a clinic, but later he had treated someone to death and been forced to sell everything in compensation. There was no way he had left behind money.
That was precisely why, when Lin Dashan announced he was getting married, Old Madam Wu had immediately split the family and kicked him out.
Most importantly, the reason Lin Wan’s room was such a mess was because Old Madam Wu herself had searched it!
Forget thirty taels—she hadn’t even found a single copper coin.
Lin Wan was obviously lying!
“Thirty-three taels and four qian.”
Lin Wan calmly corrected her, repeating the exact amount with meticulous precision.
Not a single coin less.
She had calculated the number carefully.
It included the thirty taels of compensation money left after Lin Dashan’s death, plus the roughly three taels and four qian that Old Madam Wu had taken from them over the years.
The total came to about this amount.
Lin Wan had said she would make Old Madam Wu return everything she had stolen from the siblings over the years.
But with Old Madam Wu’s personality, there was no way she would hand over the money willingly.
So Lin Wan had chosen another method.
Even if she was technically making part of it up, so what?
The important thing was making everyone believe it.
Besides, she was only reclaiming what rightfully belonged to the original Lin Wan.
Lin Wan didn’t feel guilty in the slightest.
She was openly forcing Old Madam Wu to spit out every last tael.