Chapter Fifteen: Catch the Thief!
"Everyone in the village is saying you've made a lot of money, it's all very exaggerated. This morning, I heard Aunt Xue say that you're moving to the city, and I was so curious that I asked her about it."
Li Yan laughed upon hearing this, "Before, everyone said I was cursed and that anyone who got close to me would be unlucky. Now that I'm on good terms with you, sister-in-law, is she the one who's unlucky?"
Not only did they not suffer any misfortune, they even made some money along the way.
“Those are just gossips, don’t take them to heart,” Madam He quickly comforted her. “But the attitude in the village has changed now. Everyone says you are a blessed woman, and that the Xue family is lucky to have you as their daughter.”
Li Yan said, "What good fortune could there be? If I were truly blessed, I wouldn't have been rejected by my father and stepmother since I was little. I was raised by my grandmother, who taught me many principles of life. I know that as long as you treat others sincerely, they will treat you sincerely in return. In everything, you have to give your heart to receive a heart in return."
"Some people are not worth it, but most people, like my sister-in-law, are kind-hearted and are worth it."
He had naturally heard about the Li family's affairs.
I heard that on that day, the patriarch of the Li family and his stepmother went to her stall to cause trouble.
What kind of father is that?
"You'll get better and better in the future." Mrs. He didn't know how else to comfort her, so she could only use the most straightforward way.
Upon entering the village, Li Yan went directly to Cheng's house to return the oxcart.
He Shi and Li Yan were not going in the same direction, and it was getting late, so she had to hurry back to take care of her two boys at home and left first.
By the time Li Yan returned the car, the sky had darkened considerably.
The hottest and sunniest period has passed, and now the days are getting shorter. In a few more days, we will gradually enter autumn.
The evening breeze was cool as Li Yan walked slowly. As she neared her house, she spotted a figure sneaking into the Xue family's courtyard in the darkness.
Li Yan instinctively shouted, "Who is it?"
The man seemed not to have expected anyone to suddenly appear, and immediately took off running.
Because it was too dark and she didn't know who the person was, Li Yan didn't dare to chase after them.
Li Yan's shout naturally startled the three people inside the house, the grandmother and grandson.
Xu Ge'er reacted the fastest; upon hearing his aunt's voice, he immediately took off running towards the door.
Aunt Xue was old and reacted a little slowly. But once she realized what was happening, she quickly ran outside into the yard.
Li Yan remained standing there, staring blankly in the direction the thieves had fled. Only after the Xue family members came out to greet her did she look away and smile reassure them that everything was alright.
After entering the house, Aunt Xue quickly brought out the food she had saved for her daughter-in-law.
These days, Li Yan is busy preparing meat and drinks, so Aunt Xue naturally takes care of all three meals a day. Although Aunt Xue's cooking skills are not as good as Li Yan's, everyone is happy to have meat every day.
After dinner, Li Yan washed up and went to bed, but instead of falling asleep as usual, she kept thinking about the fact that someone had been secretly watching the Xue family from the doorway.
If he wasn't feeling guilty, why would he run away when he heard her voice?
Li Yan suddenly remembered the theft at the Xue family a while ago, and wondered if the person sneaking around the Xue family today was the same person who stole Xue Erlang's funeral expenses.
When the Xue family lost their silver, everyone said it was bad luck brought by the original owner of this body. But if the silver was lost, it must have been stolen; it couldn't have just disappeared for no reason, right?
During this time, Li Yan had been busy cooking and making drinks, so she hadn't thought much about the stolen silver. Now, however, she felt it was time to investigate the matter thoroughly.
I lost eight or nine taels of silver at the time. If I could find the silver, it would be much easier to make a living in the city.
Thinking this, Li Yan slowly drifted off to sleep. The next day at noon, after returning from picking mulberries on the mountain, Li Yan found some time to tell Aunt Xue about the stolen silver.
Of those eight or nine taels of silver, six taels were for her son's funeral expenses, and the remaining two taels were what she had saved up over the years through frugality.
The loss of this silver was more painful than having a piece of her own flesh torn out.
Now that her daughter-in-law says there's hope of finding him, she just needs to cooperate in putting on a show, which Aunt Xue is naturally very willing to do.
"Mother, just do as I say..." Li Yan said, leaning closer and whispering in Aunt Xue's ear.
Aunt Xue listened attentively, her expression serious. She nodded solemnly after each sentence. She remembered every word her daughter-in-law said.
After saying this, Li Yan continued making the drinks as usual. Seeing that it was still early, she went to find a lot of clay, just as He Shi had told her the night before.
A ceramic ice chest is a double-layered ceramic jar, with one large and one small jar between which heat (or cool water, ice, etc.) can be placed to achieve different effects of heat preservation (or cooling).
Li Yan only knew the principles before; this was her first time doing it in practice. Lacking experience, her first attempt naturally failed.
After an hour of trial and error, Li Yan naturally figured out some of the tricks of the trade.
When I brought back the clay the next day at the same time, the result was naturally much better than the day before.
However, making these pottery jars is inherently difficult, let alone making them double-layered and the right size, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty even further.
Li Yan wasn't in a hurry to achieve quick results; she simply studied and improved the technology little by little.
In the past two days, following Li Yan's instructions, Aunt Xue has started to intentionally or unintentionally mention in the village that Li Yan wants to take her whole family to the city.
Then, when the villagers asked how much money Li Yan was earning, Aunt Xue pretended to have something to do at home and immediately avoided the question.
After just one or two such incidents, news spread throughout the village that Li Yan had made a fortune by partnering with Yuanbaolou.
Some rumors were even quite outrageous, claiming that Li Yan could now earn one or two taels of silver a day.
That day, Li Yan again had Aunt Xue spread the word that her family was going to Huating County to look at houses. They were busy during the day and could only leave before dark, but that meant they definitely wouldn't be able to return that night.
After making all the preparations, Li Yan and Aunt Xue took the two children and drove to town.
After delivering meat and selling drinks to Yuanbaolou, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went all out with their act, then drove the oxcart towards Huating County.
The person who had been secretly watching the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law smiled upon seeing this, and then hurriedly headed towards Xinghua Village.
When Li Yan had driven the oxcart halfway there, she followed the directions given by Aunt Xue and took another road back to Xinghua Village.
By this time, Xinghua Village was completely shrouded in darkness, with only the occasional bark of a dog. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law moved stealthily, and when they reached their doorstep, they hid outside the gate to quietly observe the situation inside the yard.
Sure enough, a faint light shone from inside the room, and a few soft rustling sounds could be heard from time to time.
Li Yan whispered to Xu Ge'er, "Go and invite the village headman here."
Xu Ge'er was quick-witted. As soon as Li Yan said to find the village head, he knew what was going on. After agreeing to Li Yan's request, he immediately ran towards the village head's house.
Instead of rushing in to catch the thief, Li Yan and her mother-in-law stayed outside and waited patiently for the village head to come and handle the theft.
Since this thief came prepared, he definitely won't stop until he finds the silver. There's no need to worry about him escaping for the time being. As long as we don't alert him, we can just wait for the village head to arrive and catch him on the spot.
Li Yan wasn't in a hurry, but Aunt Xue was very anxious: "Who in this village is so despicable as to steal my son's funeral expenses? And then they framed you for it, blaming you for bringing bad luck. I want to see who this despicable person really is."
Li Yan did have someone she suspected, but she wasn't sure, so she could only comfort her mother-in-law, saying, "We all live in the same village, and everyone's living standards were originally about the same. If someone suddenly has a lot more money, it will naturally attract envy from others. No matter who it is, Mother, don't be too sad."
Aunt Xue said, "I'm not sad. I just want to get my stolen silver back." With more silver, I'll have more money in my pocket, and life in the city won't be so difficult.
Xu Ge'er was quick-witted; even late at night, he quickly invited the village headman over.
Upon seeing the village head arrive, Aunt Xue immediately began to cry, "A thief broke into our house, and we, a widow and her children, dared not enter rashly. Now that the village head is here, we feel much more at ease." She then began to curse, "Which heartless bastard stole from our house? My two sons are gone, and he even stole my silver! He has no conscience whatsoever!"
This Xue family's wife is pitiful; both of her sons died in battle. Her family already lacked able-bodied men and was struggling, yet they still dared to target her family—it was truly outrageous.
Li Zheng immediately promised, "Once we catch the man, I'll definitely ask him a lot of questions for you."
Before coming here, the village head had already sent his son to find some strong men in the village. Even if there is more than one thief, they can handle it in a while.
When the village head's son gathered all the able-bodied young men from the village outside the Xue family's gate, the commotion outside naturally alerted the people inside.
The people inside clearly wanted to escape. Aunt Xue had been watching closely, and with quick reflexes, she rushed into the house.
Seeing this, several strong laborers, including Li Zheng, immediately followed. Together, they quickly subdued the man.
"Ouch, don't hit me! It's me, please don't hit me!"
Xu Ge'er had already slipped into the house, lit an oil lamp, and held it up. He shone the lamp in front of the thief, and everyone was stunned.
"Why is it you?"
A note from the author:
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Keep dropping red envelopes!
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