Chapter 181 Bad People Love to Gather Together

Back in Liuchang Village, Zhou Hairong collapsed onto his broken bed, lying on his back.

The plaster on the roof had long since peeled away, revealing dark beams. Spiderwebs were still spun in the corners, and a spider was slowly crawling across a crack, as if surveying its territory.

He remained motionless, too lazy even to breathe.

Zhou Hailiang and Zhou Haiqing had long since disappeared; no one knew where they were hiding again, drinking and gambling.

The room was empty; he was all alone, with no one to talk to.

Only the old wooden cabinet in the corner made a creaking sound.

As soon as Zhou Haiwei entered the room, before he even stepped inside, Zhou Hairong didn't even lift his eyelids, muttering something under his breath.

"Brother, Zhou Shufen kicked you out again? I told you not to go, you're just asking for trouble! She's a respectable person in the county now, why would she remember us peasants?"

His voice was dry and lifeless.

"Shameless?"

Zhou Haiwei threw his coat onto the kang (a heated brick bed), the fabric hitting the edge of the kang with a thud.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his lips were trembling.

"She made it clear today: we're nothing but mud, and she can't even touch a hair on our heads! She said she's no longer our mother!"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, veins throbbing on his forehead, and he pointed out the window.

"But we are her biological children! You have no idea how much she loves Yang Qingshan now!"

Zhou Hairong scratched his chin; his stubble felt prickly.

He grinned, revealing a set of yellowed teeth.

"Brother, she's been keeping her distance from us for a while now. From the day she remarried, she's never truly considered us her sons. So, we should..."

He suddenly raised his hand, spread his five fingers, and slowly closed them, making a gesture of reaching inside.

"If no one's around at night, we can sneak in quietly. Her shop is piled high with goods—cloth, cigarettes, soap, candy—all valuable items. Just grab a couple of things, and we'll have enough to eat and drink for half a month!"

Zhou Haiwei had previously been detained.

Hearing this, he felt guilty, shrank his neck, and subconsciously took a half step back.

He swallowed hard, his voice trembling.

"This...this is theft! If you get caught, you'll go to jail. If you go back in, your life will be ruined..."

But Zhou Hairong, fearless and aloof, gave a cold laugh.

He pulled out a half-empty bottle of liquor from beside the bed, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp straight into his mouth.

The wine dripped down the corner of his mouth and a drop landed on his chin.

He wiped his face, a fierce glint in his eyes.

“It’s pitch black, who would recognize us? Besides, what penny of Zhou Shufen’s earnings is clean? If she hadn’t married into our family, and we hadn’t lived off our father’s meager savings, would she be living such a good life? Would she be living in an apartment building? Would she be able to cook for herself? Now she’s eating and drinking like a king, treating the three of us like beggars, not even giving us a scrap of food!”

He slammed the wine bottle down on the kang (a heated brick bed), making a loud "thud".

“If we take some of our own things, is that stealing? That’s called dividing the family property! She didn’t give us a single penny when she divided the family property back then, so it’s only right that we do it ourselves!”

“Let’s set off now and take a trip around the county to find out more about her business. I remember her shop has a back door that leads to a small alley where no one goes at night. Let’s pretend to be customers, go in, buy a pack of cigarettes, ask the price, and while we’re at it, check if the back window latch is secure, if there are any iron bars, and if there are any dogs guarding the yard.”

Zhou Hairong could come up with this plan on the spot.

His eyes gleamed, and his voice was low, yet it carried a ruthless edge.

As Zhou Haiwei listened, his initial fear was gradually replaced by a distorted sense of entitlement.

“How can stealing from our own mother be considered stealing? It’s what we deserve… We didn’t take hers, it was what our father left us…”

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he hadn't lost out, and the slight unease in his heart was gradually masked by Zhou Hairong's words.

"Where are the third and fourth brothers? Should we call them over?"

“We must call! More people means more power, and things will be done more reliably. With more people, we can move things faster and more efficiently, and sell them more easily. We can exchange them for money on the black market, or carry them from village to village. Where can't we sell them? As long as we have enough goods, we won't have to worry about finding buyers. It's better to divide the work than to go it alone.”

"Okay, then go and call them back."

Zhou Hairong shuffled out the door in his worn-out plastic sandals.

He jogged along, crossing the threshing ground and around the old locust tree at the village entrance.

They soon found Zhou Hailiang and Zhou Haiqing burning weeds in the field.

The two squatted by the edge of the field, one throwing dry grass into the fire, the other poking at the scorched earth with a stick.

Upon hearing his older brother say that they were going to Zhou Shufen's shop together to "get something," he immediately understood.

The two immediately perked up.

Zhou Haiqing wiped his face, but the more he wiped, the darker it became.

He rubbed his hands together, grinning, and asked in a low voice, "Brother, is this really going to work? The shop really won't be locked at night? Will we just have made a wasted trip?"

Zhou Haiwei coldly spat a mouthful of cigarette ash onto the ground.

He squinted and said, "Let's go and see what's going on. If there's any movement, we'll make our move; if there's no movement, we'll retreat. We won't force anything. We don't fight battles we're not sure we can win, but when the opportunity comes, we absolutely cannot hesitate."

Zhou Hailiang licked his lips, and the old wound at the corner of his lip throbbed slightly from the saliva.

He swallowed hard and asked cautiously, "Then... Zhou Shufen, she's really not in the shop? Did she suddenly come back in the middle of the night?"

Zhou Haiwei's lips curled up, and a hint of smugness flashed in his eyes.

He said slowly, "I heard it with my own ears at the factory today. Zhou Shufen took a bus to Ningcheng yesterday, saying she was looking for her lover. She was with a good-for-nothing named Yang Yunmu. Bah, rotten people love to hang out together. Dog meat can't be served at a banquet."

He worked a few days of short-term work at the fertilizer plant, and worked on and off for two months, during which time he heard a lot of gossip.

The female workers in the factory gossiped that Zhou Shufen had recently been seen with Yang Yunmu, their arms around each other.

The two of them whispered amongst themselves, making secretive plans to run a "big business" in Ningcheng.

He didn't pay attention at the time, but this morning he heard that Zhou Shufen left early in the morning with her bag.

Yang Qingshan was left to manage everything at the shop.

"Don't worry, Yang Qingshan is the only one guarding the shop right now. But his whole family stays in the backyard at night. The main room is locked tight, and there's a dog at the back door. If there's any noise, they'll be exposed."

He took out his pipe bowl, pinched out a handful of coarse tobacco from his pocket, stuffed it into the mouthpiece, and struck a match with a "snap".

The firelight flickered in and out of the room.

Zhou Haiqing was terrified.

"But...but what if we're caught red-handed while we're stealing...what then? We'd go to jail, and that would be the end of us..."

"Catch my ass!"

Zhou Hairong slapped his thigh and glared at him, cursing.

"What's there to be afraid of! There are several stacks of firewood piled up against the back wall, as high as the window, which will block the view. We'll go there during the day, pretend to be customers buying candy, and observe what the counter latch looks like and remember its location. Then we'll sneak over at midnight, use a thin wire to hook it through the window crack, and easily pry open the latch."

As he spoke, he pulled a rusty wire from his belt.

It was about a foot long, with both ends polished to a shine, and it looked like it had been used a lot.

He skillfully twirled the wire between his fingers, and the wire spun rapidly, winding around and around.