Seeing the dirty Su Manao rushing towards him, Su Jin immediately frowned, pushed her away without thinking, and scolded, "How old are you? Why are you still throwing yourself at people? How can you be so shameless?"
As he spoke, he put his hands behind his back and stepped into the courtyard.
Seeing the mess, he paused for a moment, then strode straight to the east wing.
When he saw that his bed was completely bare, without even a blanket, he slapped Su Manao across the face: "What good are you? You can't even keep an eye on the house! How could you let someone take your bedding! Did you see who took it?"
“I don’t know… this is how I came back…” Su Manao covered her face, crying as she took a few steps back.
"Damn it, you're a piece of trash!" Su Jin cursed again. "Where are Mom and Dad?"
Su Manao stepped on the threshold, poised to flee at any moment, and whispered, "I heard from Aunt Wu next door that they've taken Mom away and she might be executed!"
Aunt Wu was a bourgeois woman who owned a handcart. She had always disliked the vulgar and mercenary Guan Yumei, so she told Su Manao about her wish.
Su Jin's face turned ashen: "Don't listen to her nonsense! She just hates Mom, that's why she cursed her! They only had a fight, and Mom might have been the one who got beaten up, how could she possibly be executed?"
Although Su Jin felt he had seen through Guan Yumei, he still couldn't help but defend her in front of Su Manao.
"Where's Dad?" Su Jin asked again.
“I don’t know… When I came back, there was no one in the yard,” Su Manao replied.
Su Jin lit a lantern and squatted at the gate of the courtyard, studying the footprints.
There were too many footprints and they were too messy for him to make any sense of them.
At this moment, Su Manao timidly stepped forward again and tugged at Su Jin's clothes: "Second brother, I'm so hungry."
She had already spent four of her ten dollars, and she really didn't dare to spend the remaining six.
Su Jin returned from having dinner at the steel rolling mill canteen.
Tonight, the cafeteria served noodles with soybean paste. He shamelessly went to ask for more noodles, and the cafeteria lady didn't say anything and just gave him more.
Therefore, Sujin, whose stomach was bloated, could not understand Sumanao's feeling of being starving.
He said impatiently, "Eat, eat, eat! All you know is eating! Will you die if you go hungry for a meal?"
With tears welling up in her eyes, Su Manao said, "It's not just one meal, I've already..."
Su Jin suddenly looked at her pocket, switched the lantern to his other hand, freeing up his right hand, and reached straight into her pocket.
He immediately took out the six dollars she had left.
"Give it back to me, this is my money!" Su Manao suddenly became anxious and jumped up to grab it.
"Get out of here! Where did you get this money? You must have stolen it from Dad! I'll take it back to Dad!" Su Jin shook off Su Manao, stuffed the money into his pocket, turned off the lantern, and turned to leave the house.
The light bulbs in the house were either broken or missing. It was getting late, and when the kerosene lamp went out, the courtyard was almost completely dark.
Su Manao panicked completely: "Second brother, where are you going? I'm going too!"
"The police station called Dad this afternoon. I'm going to the police station now to ask for information! You stay home and watch the house!" Su Jin walked away without looking back.
Su Manao hesitated for a while, but still didn't dare to enter the courtyard, so she sat on the threshold again.
Her stomach ached with hunger, and her money had been stolen; she couldn't help but burst into tears.
Aunt Wu from next door came out: "Manao, can you go cry somewhere else? My Gangzi has to work the night shift tonight and needs to sleep!"
Su Manao wiped away her tears: "Aunt Wu, I'm so hungry..."
"Sigh!" Aunt Wu sighed. "Then come to my house with me. I'll get you something to eat, but you have to be quiet and don't wake up my Gangzi!"
“Yes!” Su Manao nodded emphatically.
Twenty minutes later, looking at Su Manao who was engrossed in eating her noodles, Aunt Wu sighed again.
That bowl of noodles remained in Su Manao's memory for many years afterward.
Sauté chopped scallions in oil, then add flour to the pan.
It's not noodles, it's flatbread.
Handmade dough pieces.
The soup base is made with lard, soy sauce, and vinegar.
I also added a little Sichuan peppercorn oil.
Scalding hot, and filled with the aroma of oil.
Su Manao drank every last drop of the soup.
Looking at Su Manao's swollen, black face, Aunt Wu couldn't help but ask, "Manao, haven't you found the bead you lost yet?"
Su Manao shook her head: "My older sister won't give it back to me."
"Alas!" Aunt Wu sighed, "This is what happens when a great building is about to collapse! Jia Baoyu lost his jade and his spirit, and the Jia family fell into ruin; you lost your pearl, and your family will suffer the same fate!"
Su Manao let out a burp.
“There have been so many strange things lately. This afternoon, out of nowhere, I found a roll of yellow paper in the yard!” Aunt Wu continued. “Agate, if only you still had your beads, I could hold them in my hand and get rid of the bad luck!”
Su Manao bit her lip tightly, not daring to utter a single word.
Just then, a young woman's voice rang out from outside Aunt Wu's yard: "Su Manao! Is Su Manao home?"
"Oh no, it's Teacher Zhang!" Su Manao jumped up.
It has been eight days since she lost the bead.
Sure enough, the homeroom teacher finally came to our home.
Aunt Wu led Su Manao outside and gestured for Zhang to be quiet: "Keep your voice down, we have a night shift worker catching up on sleep at my house!"
Teacher Zhang was a young woman with two long braids and clear eyes. She quickly covered her mouth and whispered, "I'm sorry."
Then he looked at Su Manao: "Is it... Su Manao?"
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