Seeing her confidence, Old Man Chen was taken aback. "Old woman, do you have a key?"
Old Mrs. Chen rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. "What do I have? If I had the key, why would I have called you here?"
"Without the key, even if we know there's something good here, we can only stare blankly!" Old Chen said listlessly.
"You idiot, who told you to use the key?"
Old Chen, also getting stubborn, said impatiently with a sullen face, "Then what am I supposed to use? I can't just stick my finger in there!"
"You stubborn mule! You seem perfectly fine most of the time, so why does your brain get all clumsy at crucial moments!" Old Mrs. Chen glared angrily. "Stop standing there like an idiot! Go find an axe and smash this lock open!"
Old Chen's heart tightened, his face filled with panic. If they secretly took some good things from their eldest son's house, even if they were discovered, as long as they denied it, no one could do anything to them.
But if they break the lock, and then report it to the authorities, it would be considered theft, and if the authorities find stolen goods, they could go to jail.
Thinking of this, he shook his head anxiously, "Old woman, you can't smash it, that's illegal."
"Look at you, so pathetic. What are you afraid of? Didn't I just say that taking things from your son's house isn't stealing? It's called being filial to your parents."
"W-W-Will this work?"
"Why not? Smash it if I tell you to. What are you afraid of with me here? Even if the authorities come, as long as we hide the things well, they won't dare to do anything to us without witnesses or evidence."
Old Mrs. Chen looked very confident.
"Listen to me, you go find the axe right now, and be quick, or we'll get caught!"
Old Chen couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Fine, then I'll go back and get an axe to chop this cabinet open."
******
At this moment, Chen Ruolan found nothing of value in the outer room, so she turned and went into the inner room.
After looking around and confirming that this was indeed Chen Qingqing's room, his eyes gleamed with a venomous light.
That brat looked alluring in her new clothes; I wonder who she's trying to seduce.
Remembering how much cotton fabric she bought that day, she must have made several new clothes. Now that she had the chance, she was determined to ruin them all.
Chen Ruolan searched for a long time but found nothing, and couldn't help but frown.
Could they still be inside? With that thought, I stepped towards the innermost room.
The moment the curtain was opened, Chen Ruolan froze, her face turning pale with fright.
Just as she was about to call out, she caught a glimpse of the person lying on the bed—a strange man.
Even with his eyes closed, his extraordinary handsomeness was still undeniable.
His eyelashes were thick and long, his nose was straight, his thin lips were slightly pursed, his skin was fair, and his jet-black hair was casually scattered on the pillow...
Chen Ruolan was stunned for a moment. She had never seen such a handsome man before, but why was he lying there motionless?
Even when they made such a commotion outside, he didn't wake up.
Suddenly, a terrifying thought exploded in her mind: dead people.
The moment this thought crossed Chen Ruolan's mind, she trembled violently, her legs went weak, and she almost collapsed to the ground.
She cried out, "Grandpa, Grandma, there's a dead person!"
Old Mrs. Chen was staring blankly at the wooden cabinet, her mind filled with images of gleaming silver, fine rice, and cotton cloth...
As soon as we have money, we'll save some for our third son so he can use it for his education.
She couldn't leave the cotton cloth at home; she had to find a place to hide it and sell it in town once things calmed down.
Then she took the silver and bought a few more feet of cloth, and made herself a new set of clothes made of pure cotton.
With the remaining money, we can buy two pounds of pork, have a good meal, and satisfy our cravings...
Hearing Chen Ruolan's scream, Old Mrs. Chen immediately came to her senses and hurriedly lifted the curtain to enter the inner room. "Good granddaughter, what's wrong?"
Old Chen heard the shouts and hurriedly ran in, axe in hand. "Ruolan, what happened?"
Chen Ruolan was so frightened that her mind went blank, and she could not speak properly, "Grandma, there is, there is a dead person inside."
Old Mrs. Chen was startled and quickly looked out the window. "Ruolan, are you seeing things? There's no one there."
“There really is someone, it looks like a dead person.” Chen Ruolan pointed behind the curtain with a look of horror. “That person is in the innermost room.”
Old Mrs. Chen frowned. She had seen her eldest son's family get on the oxcart with her own eyes, so there couldn't possibly be anyone at home.
"Ruolan, don't panic, there's no one here. You must be seeing things because you're feeling guilty."
"It's true. You'll see if you go in and see for yourself."
Old Chen was timid to begin with. Holding an axe, he lifted the curtain and looked inside. His legs immediately went weak.
"Yes, it's a person, it really looks like a dead person." Old Chen's scalp tingled, and he said tremblingly, "It's true, there really is a dead person behind that curtain."
"You old codger, I'm a scaredy-cat, don't try to scare me."
"Why would I scare you? Go and see for yourself if you don't believe me." Old Chen stamped his feet anxiously.
"Grandma, it's true. We made such a commotion and that person didn't move. He must be dead," Chen Ruolan said, still shaken.
Old Mrs. Chen knew they wouldn't lie. She glanced through the curtain in front of her and was immediately terrified.
After hesitating for a long time, he cautiously took a few steps toward the curtain, then turned back and hid behind Old Man Chen.
"Old man, you, you go ahead, let's go together."
"No, no, no, old woman, let's not look anymore. I was almost scared to death just now."
"Look at you, so pathetic. Are you even a man? Hurry up and take me to see it. If you keep dawdling, I won't let you sleep on my bed tonight."
"Alright, alright, I'll go, okay?" Old Chen had no choice but to bite the bullet and come closer. "Old woman, hold on, don't scare yourself to death."
"Hurry up and lift it up, let me see what's that scared you so much." Old Mrs. Chen was getting a little impatient.
Old Chen steeled himself and reached out to lift the curtain.
The scene before her eyes stunned Old Mrs. Chen. Her mouth gaped open, and it took her a long time to recover. "There really is someone. He looks like he's asleep, not dead."
"Yes, she looks like she's asleep."
"Don't speak yet, let me take a closer look." Old Mrs. Chen picked up a wooden stick, mustered her courage, and tiptoed to the bedside. She sternly reprimanded the man lying on the bed, "Stop pretending and get up right now. If you dare to act wildly, I'll beat you to death with this stick."
After waiting for a while and seeing no movement, Old Man Chen came closer and nudged the man hard, his face full of astonishment. "Old woman, this man looks like he's asleep. Why isn't he reacting at all? Could this be the legendary corpse fainting?"
"What is 'corpse syncope'?" Old Mrs. Chen felt a chill run straight to the top of her head, and the hairs on her body stood on end...
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