Chapter 14 The Family Division is Settled
Liu Nian, who was watching all this from outside the gate, sneered. This sneaky habit is as usual. In her previous life, Wang Xiuzhi stole a lot from her, almost emptying her dowry.
We'll have to make her pay back everything, with interest!
Before long, several elderly women and the head of the Women's Federation appeared in a large group at the gate of the Su family's house. Liu Nian stood in the middle of the crowd and led them into the courtyard, saying, "Aunties, please wait a moment. I'll go inside first and get you some candy and snacks."
"Nian girl, why are you being so polite?" Several older women smiled and pretended to stop her, praising Liu Nian for being polite.
Liu Nian entered the west wing and glanced at the red cloth bundle on the kang (a heated brick bed), which had clearly been rummaged through. Upon opening it, she discovered that the gold ring her family had given her was missing.
"Oh no!" Liu Nian ran out the door in a panic, clutching a cloth bag, and shouted anxiously, "My house has been burgled! The gold ring my mom gave me is gone! And two hundred yuan!"
"How could our house have been burgled?" The director of the Women's Federation looked at the cloth bag in Liu Nian's hand and then looked up at the main house.
Wang Xiuzhi rushed out in a panic. "What's wrong?" She had just been happily holding the gold ring, thinking about how much money she could get for it, but she never expected that the director of the Women's Federation would come.
Liu Xiangxiang, who was washing the family's dishes, wiped her hands on her clothes and quickly went outside.
"That was passed down to me by my mother! I only went out for a short while and it disappeared!" Liu Nian said, her eyes red. "And that two hundred yuan was the money my mother had kept hidden away in her dowry!"
Liu Xiangxiang glanced at Wang Xiuzhi. She had just seen Wang Xiuzhi leave the house once, and then return happily shortly afterward, before mysteriously entering the main room.
So they went to steal something.
"Our General Village has a thief! What a disgrace!" The Women's Federation director was furious and immediately said, "Report this to the inspection team! Have someone from higher up come and investigate thoroughly!"
This wasn't something the militia could easily handle. Wang Xiuzhi was a little flustered and quickly stopped her, "Second son's wife, look again carefully. Maybe you just put it away and forgot about it?"
Liu Nian shook her head. "Impossible. I remember it very clearly. The gold ring and the two hundred yuan were given to me by my mother before I left home. I put them together in my cloth bag, and I didn't touch them."
A group of older women immediately chimed in, "The person had only been gone a short while when the items disappeared. They must have been targeted."
"What a coincidence!"
After saying that, the men all glanced at Wang Xiuzhi and Liu Xiangxiang, their tone sarcastic: "That's why they say it's hard to guard against a thief within your own family."
"What do you mean?" Wang Xiuzhi blushed and glanced guiltily at the Women's Federation director. "I didn't steal anything!"
Liu Nian sneered, "This is truly a case of trying to hide something obvious."
Liu Xiangxiang stepped forward, opened her own door, and said with a wronged expression, "To clear my name, everyone can search me. I didn't take anyone's things."
She only ate a little rice porridge for breakfast and wanted something drier, but Wang Xiuzhi glared at her fiercely, so she had no choice but to reluctantly put down her chopsticks. Now she was full of resentment towards Wang Xiuzhi, but since she didn't know anything about it, she was completely innocent.
Wang Xiuzhi swallowed hard and gave an awkward smile. "Isn't it a bad idea to just search the house like this?"
"You didn't steal it, so why are you panicking?" Liu Nian looked at Wang Xiuzhi with a forced smile.
"Special circumstances call for special treatment." The Women's Federation director waved her hand. "Search!"
Several people entered the east wing where Liu Xiangxiang was and searched for a long time, but she was nowhere to be found.
After leaving the east wing, the group turned around and ran back to the main room.
Wang Xiuzhi blocked the doorway, saying, "There's nothing in my house, so please don't search it."
"Since you say there's nothing at home, why are you stopping me?" The director of the Women's Federation was an upright and incorruptible person; otherwise, she wouldn't have been in that position. She pushed Wang Xiuzhi aside.
A group of people barged in and started ransacking the place.
Wang Xiuzhi didn't dare to breathe loudly, but she wasn't afraid. She hid her things very well, and unless she took them out herself, ordinary people wouldn't be able to find them.
The group searched the main room where Wang Xiuzhi was located inside and out, but they found nothing.
"I told you I didn't steal it, but you still don't believe me." Wang Xiuzhi put on a wronged look. "Second son's wife, have you lost all your conscience? How could you wrong your own mother-in-law?"
When the others saw that nothing was found, they also started to complain about Liu Nian, "You can't even pack your own things properly, and you've made us all busy with you. In the end, you've wronged us, haven't you?"
"Exactly! How can you suspect your own family?" The Women's Federation director glanced at Liu Nian and said irritably, "Why don't you hurry home and look for it? Maybe you just put it in the wrong place and forgot to remember it!"
Fortunately, she didn't call the inspection team, otherwise she would have wasted their time and energy, and she wouldn't have gotten any credit from them.
Liu Nian never said that Wang Xiuzhi stole the things, but now she's blaming it all on her.
"Mom, if you hand over the things now, I can let bygones be bygones." Liu Nian looked at Wang Xiuzhi calmly.
Before Wang Xiuzhi could say anything, some people started to support her.
"You little brat, how dare you make false accusations?"
"Exactly! If that were my wife, I'd have my son give her a good beating!"
Liu Niandao became the target of public criticism.
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