Looking at the somewhat delirious Cuihua and her dazed son, Grandma Yan calmly said, "Southeast, go to the village chief's house. Xuemei, go to the main room window and look for any small holes. See how many there are. Qiangzi, go to the west room and check on the southwest and north sides."
She got up and neatly folded all the quilts and clothes on the kang (a heated brick bed), then said to Cuihua, "Nannan is a fairy, she'll be fine, don't worry."
The phrase "Nan Nan is a fairy" finally woke Cuihua up. She glanced at Grandma Yan, nodded seriously, and pretended to be calm as she put on her clothes and shoes. Unfortunately, she didn't even realize that she had put her shoes on backwards until Grandma Yan reminded her.
Xuemei ran in and pointed to the window on the left, saying, "Grandma, Grandma, there are two small holes poked in the paper of the window, and there's a pipe under the window, but I didn't touch it."
Grandma Yan nodded, picked up her pipe, went out of the house, and came to the yard. She carefully looked at the door and windows. Sure enough, there were two holes poked in the paper on the window, and there was a bamboo tube on the ground.
Bei Nan and Xin Nan rushed out in a hurry, "Grandma, what happened? Who stole Nan Nan?"
Grandma Yan shook her head. The village was acting strangely today. It was early for work, but there wasn't a sound at all. What happened last night?
Southeast led the village chief over quickly: "Sister-in-law Yan, when did your Nan Nan disappear? Last night was terrifying. The wolves howled all night, and there were even tiger roars. Look, no one dares to go out today, not even to work."
Grandma Yan's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that someone stole Nan Nan and wanted to throw her into the mountains? Nan Nan had said that everything in the mountains belonged to her, so the tigers and wolves would definitely have to listen to Nan Nan.
Why don't you go to the mountains and check it out yourself first? As for the stolen grain, let the village chief investigate: "Village chief, my house was drugged yesterday. Look, the sleeping potion tube is still under the window. Also, all of my grain was stolen, a full four hundred catties."
"What?! It's all stolen! A whole four hundred catties of grain!" The village chief jumped up when he heard this. Stealing is the most hated thing, especially stealing grain. You know, grain is life. If you steal someone's grain, you're taking their life.
These thieves are incredibly audacious and vicious. They didn't leave a single grain of food for the family, which is a large family of eight. This is a serious matter, and we absolutely have to report it to the police. Also, what's going on with that little girl?
Grandma Yan sneered, "I don't know. I'm going to go to the mountains to check. Village chief, you should report this to the police. This is a big deal."
"Going to the mountains? After what happened last night, you still want to go to the mountains?" The village chief shook his head in disapproval: "Sister-in-law Yan, you probably didn't hear it last night, but those beasts were making a huge racket, they were howling all night long."
Grandma Yan smiled wryly, unable to explain, and could only say, "I understand, village chief, you should report it to the police quickly, otherwise the thief will hide the grain and we won't be able to catch him."
The village chief nodded. The matter was urgent, and he hurried off to town. Seeing the village chief's departing figure, Grandma Yan immediately called her family, gathered their tools, and went up the mountain to search for him. So, they took everything—rolling pin, shovel, carrying pole, kitchen knife, rope, and basket—and followed Grandma Yan up the mountain.
Nan Nan couldn't sleep all night because of the howling of the wolves. She finally fell asleep as dawn broke and the wolves left, resting her head on the Siberian tiger's belly.
The mountain was damp and shrouded in mist in the early morning. All the animals knew that a little fairy was sleeping. It was so quiet that even the birds had shut their mouths.
The Siberian tiger lay sprawled on the ground, its body encircling Yan Xiaonan, but the heat emanating from its body made Yan Xiaonan feel as if he was about to sweat.
Yan Xiaonan was fast asleep when he dreamt that the alpha wolf was leading the pack, howling and threatening. Widow Zhang was so frightened that she wet her pants and hurriedly ran down the mountain. Because she was running too fast, she rolled down the mountain and broke her leg. She saw the old bachelor trembling on the kang (a heated brick bed) at home. She saw three thugs fighting over grain on the roadside, resulting in one dead and two injured, lying on the roadside with blood everywhere.
Suddenly, the Siberian tiger's ears twitched. It slowly got up, looked into the distance, its wise eyes flashing. It turned back to look at Yan Xiaonan, then leaped away, but hid nearby to secretly observe.
Halfway up the mountain, Cuihua saw a red hair tie on the ground and quickly ran over to pick it up. Grandma Yan took a look and saw that it was a new hair tie she had bought for Nannan, and that she had tied it on herself.
Grandma Yan and her family perked up and quickened their pace. Since the hair tie had been dropped here, it must have come up this way.
After walking about twenty steps, Yan Xiaoqiang saw a person lying in front of him. He took a few quick steps and gasped in fright: "Your Majesty, it's...it's Widow Zhang. She's dead, she's dead."
Cuihua and the younger children stopped in their tracks in fright and hid behind Dongnan. Dongnan was also a little scared and looked at his grandmother. Grandma Yan nodded and understood what was going on. It must be that this widow Zhang stole their treasure and wanted to make their family heartbroken and desperate so that she could take revenge on her.
He strode over and kicked Widow Zhang. Widow Zhang covered her head and begged loudly, "Don't eat me! I'll never do it again!"
Grandma Yan turned around and left without even glancing at Widow Zhang. Cuihua and the others quickly followed behind, and even ran a few steps faster when passing Widow Zhang.
Grandma Yan's eyes scanned the ground and the trees intently, not missing a single detail. Ten minutes later, she saw a red patch on the ground in front of her, and her heart leaped into her throat.
Yan Xiaonan liked red, so Grandma Yan managed to get a small piece of red cotton cloth and made a vest for the little girl. The little girl liked it very much and insisted on wearing the vest to sleep on the kang (a heated brick bed) at night.
Everyone was puzzled when they saw that Grandma Yan had stopped walking. Cuihua, however, had sharp eyes and rushed over without hesitation. It turned out that the person lying on the ground was indeed her little daughter. She quickly picked her up and hugged her tightly, refusing to let go.
The others, including those from the southeast, southwest, and north, along with Cuihua and Yan Xiaoqiang, excitedly ran over, shouting and yelling, and surrounded Yan Xiaonan.
Yan Xiaonan was sleeping soundly when she was suddenly picked up from the ground, which made her feel a little uncomfortable. There were also many strange noises around her, but the voices were somewhat familiar; they were her mother's voices. Yan Xiaonan suddenly woke up and opened her eyes.
Sure enough, she was in her mother's arms, but it was so cold. "Achoo, achoo, achoo," she sneezed three times in a row. Hearing the sound, Grandma Yan couldn't help but rush over and practically snatched Yan Xiaonan from her arms. She carefully examined her from head to toe and then from toe to head. Thankfully, thankfully, there were no injuries.
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