As soon as Jiang Qiao and Qiao Jie got off the train, they saw the bustling crowd at the station and immediately understood what was going on.

"Grandpa, let's go home first."

Jiang Qiao found a car at the station and took them both back. She didn't care about the money; after riding the train all the way, she needed to go back and wash up properly. It was so dirty, and there were so many people everywhere, much more than before.

In addition, she had already made plans; she would have to hurry to the countryside later.

When Jiang Qiao and his group arrived at the entrance of the tenement with their bags and packages, they were surprised to find no one there. Even Li Meilan, who was known for visiting neighbors, was nowhere to be seen. Not only was Jiang Qiao puzzled, but even the old man muttered something about it.

Why is it so quiet today?

Jiang Qiao kept walking home. "Who knows? We'll find out later. Grandpa, I'm going to boil some water. You rest for a bit—"

Jiang Qiao put down her things, glanced around, and found the house very clean, as if they had never left.

"Huh? What happened? My grandpa and the others came by?"

Qiao Jie also noticed that the house wasn't dirty; it seemed like someone had cleaned it up. But considering that they had given the key to Gu Hanting before they left, it must have been him who brought the child over.

"Perhaps, after all, your grandfather has the key."

However, when Jiang Qiao got to the kitchen, she realized that things were getting serious. The door latch had obviously been moved. Although the lock was still the same, it was clear that the place had been pried open before. The kitchen itself was quite clean, but one of the pots was missing, and all the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar in the kitchen were gone, leaving them with nothing.

Her intuition told her that this definitely wasn't made by her grandfather. There was no shortage of pots and pans at home, and the old man had the key to this place, so there was no need for him to go through all that trouble. Although there was definitely a shortage of iron pots and pans in the countryside, there was definitely no shortage at her grandfather's place. If there was a shortage, it would be in the city. She had heard while she was on the bus that the canteen on the street had already closed down.

"Grandpa, Grandpa, our house has been burgled!"

Upon hearing this, Qiao Jie rushed over to check. After looking at the situation inside the room, the old man sighed and shook his head. "It was probably done by someone who knows the inside story. At least they knew to leave us a pot. Forget it, let's boil some water first and deal with this later."

Jiang Qiao boiled water, and the grandmother and grandson washed up properly in their respective rooms. Just as they were about to cook, Song Lianfeng's voice came from the doorway.

"Grandpa, Jiang Qiao, you're back?"

Jiang Qiao peeked out and saw Song Lianfeng and the other wives and old ladies in the yard, each carrying a basket in their hands, walk in.

"Auntie, everyone, Grandpa Qiao and I just got back today."

Song Lianfeng rushed over, "Girl, did you know your kitchen was robbed?"

Jiang Qiao nodded helplessly. "I saw it. The pot is gone, the oil and salt are all gone. Auntie, do you know who did this?"

Song Lianfeng shook her head. "How are we supposed to know? We woke up this morning and saw it like this. It wasn't just your house; several other kitchens outside were also robbed. We reported it to the police, but they couldn't find out who did it. We don't know which scoundrel did it. Everyone has a hard life, why do such a despicable thing?"

Jiang Qiao paused for a moment, then asked, "What about other families? Did they also lose their pots?"

Song Lianfeng shook her head, looking puzzled. "Other people's families only lost food, but your family lost a pot. Luckily, they left you one. I don't know what this person was thinking."

Jiang Qiao snorted, "I think that thief has probably been caught. We'll investigate thoroughly when we get back. If we leave one behind, at least we'll have something to eat, so we won't care so much."

By the way, does Li Meilan's family have a pot now? As far as I know, they donated their pot to a steel mill. Now that the canteen has closed down, how are they cooking?

Speaking of this, Song Lianfeng actually knew: "To tell you the truth, Li Meilan's family and the other families in our courtyard initially cooked in earthenware pots."

You have no idea how difficult it is to buy a pot these days. You need coupons. We working people only get a few coupons a month, and it takes a long time to save them up.

"But later they did get a pot, and then your pot went missing. I checked, and it wasn't the one that went missing from your house. What, you suspect their family did it?"

Jiang Qiao sighed, "I can't say for sure. After all, we lock the courtyard gate at night. How did the thief get in?"

Speaking of this, Song Lianfeng was also puzzled. "We're wondering about it too. Two days before your family lost their pot, our courtyard gate broke down and it hasn't been repaired yet. That just gave people the opportunity to steal. We don't know if it was a coincidence or if someone did it on purpose. So much time has passed, we can't find out anymore."

Jiang Qiao noticed that the few wild vegetables in Song Lianfeng's basket couldn't really be considered wild vegetables; they were more like weeds.

"Auntie, is your family also starving?"

Speaking of family matters, Song Lianfeng was also full of grievances. She took a stool and sat with Jiang Qiao at the kitchen door, the mother and daughter picking vegetables and talking to each other.

"Girl, you have no idea, the vegetables here are rationed, we can't buy more even if we want to. The wild vegetables on the mountain are all gone, and we only have two ounces of grain a day, not enough for the children, let alone the adults. Look at my legs, they're all swollen—"

Seeing that Song Lianfeng's leg left a deep dent when pressed, Jiang Qiao felt uneasy. It wasn't like this when she left; how come the situation here is also bad?

Song Lianfeng sighed, "At least we're in the city, so we can at least make a living. It's even worse in the countryside. My family is counting on me to help them. I did support them, but only by cutting back on my own family's food. Sigh, you have no idea how hard life is—"

Jiang Qiao glanced at Song Lianfeng. Her already large face looked even bigger. She didn't think she had just gained weight; she was clearly just bloated.

Before she could even speak, Song Lianfeng continued her nagging, "Without food, women's periods have stopped. Chunyue and Chunxia haven't had their periods for half a year. Sigh, I'm so worried. If they don't have that thing, how will your sister Chunyue have children in the future..."

Once Song Lianfeng started talking about her miserable life, she couldn't stop. She couldn't tell her family or neighbors these things, because if word got out, who knows what kind of accusations they would level against her. At least Jiang Qiao was back, and she could confide in the child.

"Fortunately, your grandfather's friend helped us. The old man came over and shared some of the grain he brought back with our family. It's like this every month. We're also fortunate to have your food rations to help us out. Otherwise, our family would really be struggling."

Jiang Qiao nodded knowingly. She hadn't expected that her grandfather would still remember how good Song Lianfeng had been to her back then. The old man was quite adorable.