Chapter 020 Chapter 20 Thief

It was already dark when Lin Yue returned to the village.

Before she even reached the front door of her house, she saw from a distance a man sneaking out of her house and running away along the wall.

She quickly protected her two children and ran home.

The door of the house was wide open, the quilt on the kang and the boxes on the floor were all in a mess, and the kang mat was also lifted up, as if something had been robbed.

Lin Yue was so angry that she wanted to curse her mother. Although the figure was far away, she recognized it as her good mother-in-law Sun Hongmei at a glance.

Lin Yue had the habit of putting important things in the space. In addition to the heavy household items and some food, there were a few worn-out clothes and bedding left by the original owner. None of these things were taken away. Her mother-in-law came to look for money or her and Zhang Yuandong's marriage certificate and household registration book.

Both of these were placed in her space. Sun Hongmei didn't find anything, so she threw all the mattresses on the floor, smashed a few bowls, and then sneaked away. Unexpectedly, she was caught by Lin Yue who came back.

Lin Yue stood on the ground with his hands on his hips. The house was turned upside down. There was no place to stay, and no place to put the children. Just as he was getting angry, the voice of Aunt Su's third son came from outside the door: "Sister-in-law, is sister-in-law back?"

She pushed the door open and saw eight-year-old Zhang Shouliang walking into the yard carrying a basket with water dripping out of the basket.

She rushed over and took the thing from the child's hand. A smell of the sea came over her. She asked, "What did you bring?"

Zhang Shouliang chuckled and said, "Sister-in-law, today Xianli and Xianle went to the beach with their uncle and picked up a lot of seafood. My sister-in-law asked me to bring some to you for you to try." Xianli and Xianle are Wang Xiuxiang's two sons.

Lin Yue let the child into the house. She lit the oil lamp and went over to take a look. The basket was full of seafood, including big swimming crabs, small stone crabs, shrimps, and clams. The basket must have weighed at least ten or twenty kilograms, and it was a relief that a child as small as Zhang Shouliang could carry it all the way.

She hurriedly said, "What is your sister-in-law doing? There are so many people in your family, and this little bit of stuff is not even enough for you to share. Why are you sending it here? Take it back quickly! No, I will send it back with you. How can you, such a small kid, carry it here?"

Zhang Shouliang laughed and refused to take it: "Sister-in-law, please accept it quickly. There is still a lot at home. My sister-in-law packed it back in a sack. My mother said that these things are not easy to store. If we can't finish them at home, they will go bad. So she asked us to share them with several families. My sister will send it to my second uncle's family. After I send it, you still have to send it to Aunt Zhang's family."

Lin Yue accepted it after hearing this, poured the seafood in the basket into the basin, went back to the inner room, took out a bundle of sweet potato vermicelli from the space, and handed it to Zhang Shouliang together with the basket: "I made this myself, it doesn't cost much, take it home and ask your aunt to cook it for you guys."

Zhang Shouliang didn't dare to take it at first, but after Lin Yue glared at him, he obediently took the vermicelli and skipped away.

After seeing Zhang Shouliang off, Lin Yue took out a small bed from the living room and temporarily placed the two children on it. Seeing that the crabs and shrimps were about to crawl out of the basin, she simply washed them, put them in the pot and covered it with a lid.

This place is not far from the sea. Wang Xiuxiang's parents live on the seashore. It is a famous fishing village in this area.

Lin Yue heard from Wang Xiuxiang that there was a beach near their village. When she was young, she often followed her brothers and sisters to go to the sea to catch fish, crabs, and clams. In the spring, they picked sea sluice. Even in years of famine, they would never go hungry.

However, it was the first time for Lin Yue to be so extravagant as to eat crabs and shrimps by the bowl. In later generations, seafood would cost dozens or even hundreds of yuan per pound. The shrimps, which are not popular now, have been transformed into "mantis shrimps" in a few decades, and their value has increased many times.

After sorting out the seafood, Lin Yue began to clean up the mess in the house. There were several footprints on the quilt, so she couldn't cover it directly. Fortunately, it was not a new quilt she had sewn. Three or four people came into the yard in a noisy manner. She went out and saw that it was Aunt Su and Wang Xiuxiang.

Seeing Lin Yue coming out, Aunt Su grabbed her arm and led her into the house: "I heard from my kid that your house was a mess, with broken bowls all over the floor. What happened? Did you get robbed? Why didn't you tell us!"

After saying that, people also saw the situation in the house. Although Lin Yue had cleaned up some things, it was still a mess. Things in the house were turned upside down and there was no place to step in the stove or the room.

Zhang Shoutian turned around and was about to go find the public security team, but Lin Yue quickly called him back. She didn't intend to cover up for anyone, so she said, "Don't go. It was my mother-in-law who did it. When I came back, I saw her just coming out and sneaking away."

Aunt Su was furious when she heard this: "What on earth is Sun Hongmei trying to do! What other mother-in-law is like her, sneaking into her own son's house to rummage through things and destroying so many things! She couldn't just ask you for something, but had to do such a dirty thing!"

Wang Xiuxiang said angrily, "Even if she tells you directly, you are not allowed to give it to her. Do you hear me?"

She always acted like a big sister, and she was also a big sister-in-law. When she was angry, her aura was even stronger. Lin Yue could only obey her. She waved her hands hurriedly: "No, no, I hid it well, she couldn't find it!"

Wang Xiuxiang nodded and said, "You'd better know what's going on. Don't be like a quail like before. The good days have only lasted a few days, so don't rush to suffer again."

Although Aunt Su didn't say anything, she still thought that a daughter-in-law shouldn't criticize her mother-in-law. It was just that Sun Hongmei had gone too far before, so she didn't stand by her daughter-in-law. Zhang Shoutian didn't think so much. He saw something at this time and said, "Is your mother-in-law still thinking about the allowance and thinking about stealing the household registration book and marriage certificate back?"

Wang Xiuxiang said, "Don't you see that she is from a poor family, and apart from those things, what else is there for others to care about?"

Lin Yue touched his nose again in embarrassment. "Sister, you are too blunt. You really don't give me any face at all."

Zhang Shoutian said anxiously: "If she is not found today, what should we do if she comes again in the future? No, I'd better go and tell the public security team!"

Aunt Su hurriedly grabbed her reckless son and scolded him, "She is your sister Lin's mother-in-law after all. What's the point of going to the public security team? You can't just arrest her, right? It's New Year's Day, who doesn't value family harmony? If things get out of hand, the word "filial piety" can overwhelm your sister-in-law!"

Lin Yue didn't care about that. She even thought about calling the police and arresting Sun Hongmei. But she was alone here, with no one to support her. She only dared to think about it, not really do it.

Even though Aunt Su is scolding Sun Hongmei harshly now, if Lin Yue really dares to call the police, it is estimated that no one in the village will stand on her side.

So what Sun Hongmei did was quite malicious. She relied on the fact that Lin Yue couldn't do anything to her.

In the end, they didn't come to any conclusion and just scolded Sun Hongmei over and over again. Before leaving, Wang Xiuxiang secretly winked at Lin Yue and followed her mother-in-law.

Lin Yue cooked spicy stir-fried swimming crabs, deep-fried stone crabs and braised shrimps in the evening. He had a great meal and finally put his depression at ease.

But this matter cannot be let go like this. The next day, before she could even go to invite him, Wang Xiuxiang brought Liu Jianhua to her house.

Lin Yue brought out the five-spice peanuts and sorghum candy prepared for the New Year, took a stool and sat under the kang, let the two sit on the kang, and talked to the children while entertaining them.

A small head with burnt yellow hair popped out from outside the house. Lin Yue took a look and found that it was his sister-in-law Zhang Xiaoxi who came again.

Seeing that she had been discovered, Zhang Xiaoxi stopped hiding and went into the house. She looked around with her eyes gurgling, and secretly observed Lin Yue.

Lin Yue was unwilling to pay attention to her, and Zhang Xiaoxi did not call anyone or speak. Seeing the peanuts and candies on the kang, she leaned over to grab a handful of them and ran away, through Lin Yue.

Lin Yue was so angry that he laughed.

Wang Xiuxiang pouted and said, "Look, here comes the spy."

Without waiting for Liu Jianhua to ask, he told her what happened last night. Then he said to Lin Yue, "Last night, my mother-in-law said that this is not okay. You don't even have a courtyard wall. You have to find someone to repair the courtyard wall after the first month of the year."

Liu Jianhua said angrily: "So this matter is over?"

Wang Xiuxiang said: "How is that possible? We can't do anything to her openly, so why should we do it secretly? Why should we keep it to ourselves when we are angry? We are not a pushover!"

As he said this he glared at Lin Yue.

Lin Yue quickly begged: "Good sister-in-law, I wanted to ask you to come and discuss it early. Please give me some advice. I don't want to just let it go like this."

Liu Jianhua was a timid person. He muttered quietly, "But she is Xiaoyue'er's mother-in-law after all. What can we do? If a daughter-in-law talks about her mother-in-law, people will spit on her."

Wang Xiuxiang hated Liu Jianhua's temper. She used to be very disappointed with Lin Yue. After hearing what Liu Jianhua said, she was about to get angry again: "Thank goodness your mother-in-law is a good person. If you had met a bad mother-in-law, you would have been beaten to a pulp! Lin Yue, tell me, what do you think?"

Lin Yue was originally afraid that these two people had the same idea as Liu Jianhua, but now seeing Wang Xiuxiang's tough attitude, he revealed his plan: "I think we should promote her. If she can steal things from me, she might be equally dishonest if she goes to other people's houses! We have to warn others. Also, let's say someone saw her stealing things from someone else's house, and we don't need to say whose house it was, let everyone guess!"

Liu Jianhua thought it was useless. The village was the place where people could not keep secrets. If a couple had a fight at night, the whole village would know about it the next day. No one felt ashamed because their family affairs were known to others. She asked, "Is it so simple? Can it work?"