C35

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE The Road to Well-off (11)

The moment the three siblings returned home, the door to Uncle Li's house next door opened with a creak.

Auntie Li first looked at the three siblings' expressions. "Why didn't I see you three return yesterday, and even said that he was afraid that something might have happened to you three. Your uncle wasn't at ease, and even said that he would go to the town to ask."

Black Bean said embarrassedly: "It's our fault for making uncle and aunty worry. Originally, he had no intention to stay the night outside. However, something had happened and he was unable to leave. Thus, he could only stay for the night. "Auntie, you didn't disturb your use of the car, did you?"

Auntie Li laughed heartily: "It's fine, I'm not in a hurry to use this. Since all of you have returned safely, I am relieved. "You guys go ahead. If you guys still have any use for this car, then you guys can keep it for yourselves."

Li Yannian smiled sweetly, "Then I'll have to thank Aunt."

Auntie Li waved to them and closed the door before returning back to her room.

Black Bean supported the two little ones out of the car, and told them: "I'll go feed the cows, take a look at the beans, heat up more hot water, and warm your body with the bubbles."

"Yeah, I know. Bro, you're so long-winded."

Li Yannian felt that Black Bean was a nagging naughty guy and chased him away before entering the house with Mao Dou. Furthermore, Li Yannian had the storage system that gave away gifts, so all the valuable things were kept on him. As a result, their house only had a latch on the door, and only with a slight bit of a stick, would they be able to open it.

In the end, they really didn't expect that they, who were in need of money, would be robbed.

Li Yannian felt that something was wrong as she stood in front of the door. She reached out to push, and the door creaked open.

Mao Dou raised his head. "Big Sister, did Big Brother forget to bolt the door when we were leaving?"

Li Yannian shook her head and did not say a word. She had personally seen Black Bean latch the door from the crack of the door.

"Let's go in and take a look."

With that, Li Yannian held onto Mao Dou's hand and continued walking. The door to the kitchen was also open, and the siblings saw that everything inside had been turned into a mess. The new quilt on the door board was gone, as were the salt and oil jar on the stove and the basket of rice on the stove.

Mao Dou anxiously shouted, "Sis, our family has been robbed?"

"Sis, what should we do now?"

Li Yannian patted his brother's shoulder, and said calmly: "It's fine, big sister is keeping all the valuable things. Go to Uncle Li's house next door. If uncle is home, tell him to help find Lizheng, then ask his aunt to report to Master's house. If Uncle isn't home, then you should go to Li Zheng. If he isn't willing to come, then you should say that we are going to the county to report. "

Throwing a bed away, a few kilograms of rice, and adding a few seasoning jars wasn't anything big of a deal. Li Yannian was just worried, that if they were to become thieves again, they would taste some sweetness in their houses, and if they were to become familiar with one another, wouldn't Black Bean alone be able to fight a little, if she coincidentally bumped into one, that would be fatal.

This time, she was determined to make this a big issue, so that the thief would know that his family wasn't someone he could steal just because he wanted to and get bullied for nothing.

Mao Dou came back very quickly. Auntie Li, who had a burnt face, entered the room together with him, and when he saw that the room had been turned upside down, he quickly asked, "Red Bean, did you see clearly what was missing?"

Li Yannian snapped her fingers and told her.

Auntie Li was speechless. "Good boy, are you guys just going to live like this? It's about ten kilograms of white rice. Although you have a few coins, you shouldn't spend it like this. Even the family with the best days in the village will eat rice with the aid of the millet in the valley. I said, where did you get the white rice from? Aiyo, if I want to let your grandfathers and mothers hear this, I will beat you to death. "It's a good thing they're not at home today. They've all gone off to visit relatives." "

Li Yannian thought that it was no wonder that she did not see anyone and was unable to explain to her that buying rice using the system was not expensive at all, but she knew that the other party was actually thinking for her sake and could only nod her head humbly: "My big brother only bought rice because he saw us being greedy. "Aunt, did you hear anything from our side of the house yesterday?"

Auntie Li shook her head at first, but then her eyes suddenly glazed over, as if she remembered something.

Coincidentally, the Uncle Li also brought the Lizheng over, and Li Yannian explained the situation to the two of them. This time, Li Qingfeng did not take their family's matter to heart, and obviously remembered the last time when Zhang Family Village brought people to ask for an explanation. After hearing that, she nodded her head thoughtfully and said, "The person who lost the item must have been from her own village. Everyone in the village is familiar with one another, so everyone will pay attention if anyone comes back."

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement. Just as Li Jun finished speaking, she frowned. She really did not expect that there would be someone in the village who would do such a thing.

The Auntie Li hesitated and said: "Yesterday, these children didn't come home. I was listening at the door and paying attention to their movements. When I took a rest at night, I was still a little worried and did not sleep soundly. It was as if I heard someone talking in their room in the middle of the night, and as I was half asleep, I thought that a few children had come home overnight, so I did not think much of it. "Now that I think about it, the item was probably lost at that time."

Uncle Li had been silent ever since they entered the house, but when he heard his wife say this, his tone carried a hint of reproach, "Why didn't you wake up at that time and take a look, even if a few kids came back, we should have went over to take a look at the commotion at that time. How many children are easy to deal with in the middle of the night?"

Auntie Li immediately felt wronged, "You know it's the middle of the night, did you wake up because I pushed you? I slept like a pig, I was also trapped. Who would have thought that I would be robbed? "

Li Yannian tried to smooth things over: "Uncle, don't blame Aunty, no one is an immortal. Besides, you and your wife usually take good care of us. The three of us will always remember your kindness in our hearts. "This is the mistake of that thief. His heart is filled with darkness, let's not let our friendship be damaged by such a person."

Auntie Li was originally a little dissatisfied in his heart, but seeing Li Yannian being so sensible and obedient, the bit of anger in his heart immediately disappeared like smoke in thin air. She replied after spitting out a mouthful of smoke: "Right, that's the hateful person who killed those thousand times as a thief. Such a shameful event has never happened in our village before. Which village isn't open all year round? If this thief really can't be caught, then no one will dare to open their doors and wander around. "

Li Zheng frowned and nodded his head, "You don't need to tell me about this, I will ask around." "Red Bean, are there any marks on the things your family lost?"

As Li Yannian was struggling to recall her memories, Mao Dou said clearly, "The blanket that we lost at home was yellow in color and was covered with little white flowers. There was a black handprint on the corner of the blanket that I couldn't even wash my hands on. The rice basket had my mother's name written on it. Father said that there were too many people with the surname Li in the village, so he wrote "Sanniang" on it. He even put a red ribbon on it. The salt pipe in the oil tank was similar to other people's salt pipe, so it was hard to recognize. However, there's a seasoning inside. My brother bought it from the manor. The flavor is different from the others', and it's especially fresh. You can taste it just by tasting it. "

She proudly stroked Mao Dou's small head, but then said, "Even if I knew, it would still be difficult. If we have no proof, we can't just go to someone else's room to look at the quilts and go up to the stove to taste it. "

Auntie Li also shook his head, "Indeed, if you change the blanket, you would be unable to see anything. After all, it's just a vegetable basket, so we should be able to check it. "

Li Zheng nodded her head and said to Uncle Li: "I still need to see who else in the village has a basket like this. After we find out who the person is, we can then find some other evidence to catch the thief."

Uncle Li looked at his wife who had a face full of pride, and laughed helplessly: "Alright, leave this matter to me."

Auntie Li whispered: "Uncle is talking about me, what are you fighting for?"

Being glanced at by Uncle Li, he immediately became silent.

Seeing that the matter had been decided, he decided to take his leave. However, when he was about to leave, Li Yannian suddenly walked towards him with a few steps, blocking his path.

"Hong Dou, what's the meaning of this? Do you still have something to say to Lizheng?"

Li Yannian nodded, looked at Auntie Li and Uncle Li with gratitude, and spoke to them solemnly: "Uncle, you don't need to investigate this matter in secret, it isn't important to not catch that thief, and if you capture someone from your village, when the time comes, we will not look good either."

Li Zheng was somewhat surprised. "So you're saying that we should just let this matter pass and not investigate anything?"

He thought to himself, if that's the case, why did he get others to find him? Wasn't this purposely playing around with him?

Li Yannian shook her head and laughed, "Of course I can't let him go just like this. The Li Village has always had a clear name, and stealing from my family is a small matter, if my reputation is ruined by someone like him, it will ruin our Li Village's atmosphere, and that will be huge. "

Li Zheng was confused by her words and said in confusion, "I don't want to capture people and I don't want to smooth this matter over. What do you want to do?"

Li Yannian smiled, "That is simple. Uncle, get someone to set up a stage in the village for a talk tomorrow. Tell everyone in the village about our family and get them to help look for us. There's a blanket with a black handprint on it, and a vegetable basket with big red words written on it.

Razor was getting more and more confused. "Everything has been cleaned up, so what are we going to look for?"

Li Yannian continued to explain, "He did clean up the things, but his heart was not clean. The whole village would talk about it if they didn't catch the thief in a day. Every time someone came to their house to chat, he got scared out of his wits. Uncle, you did not realize that, not only did you not hurt villagers's face, you also did not dare to act anymore, and killed two birds with one stone? "

Li Jun pondered over her words for a moment. Indeed, if they were to find out that someone in the village was a thief, then the reputation of the entire family would be completely ruined. They were all from the same village, and many of the young boys had watched as they grew up. This time, perhaps they were just impulsive and had taken wrong steps. Who hasn't made some mistakes before? He couldn't bear to crush someone to death with a stick.

"Then we will do as you say. Tomorrow, I will have everyone gather at the drying field and explain this to everyone in detail." If such a thing still happens in the village next time, then you can't blame me for turning hostile and doing official business. "

Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Li Yannian stepped aside and sent him out the door while grinning.

Seeing that there was no place for them to sleep, the Auntie Li and the Uncle Li could not bear to look at each other, so the Auntie Li said to Li Yannian: "Oh, Hong Dou, look at your house. Why don't you come and stay at our house for a few days? When winter comes and the house is cleaned up, do you think it's time to go home and live? "

Li Yannian looked at Mao Dou and saw him nod at him. Then she said happily: "I was just about to discuss it with Aunt, can you rent a room for us to stay in temporarily? After a few days, the Old house will have to be pushed down and covered up again. My brother was originally worried about where we live, but now, we two families want to go together. Then when my brother comes back, we'll come together. "

Auntie Li laughed: "We are all neighbors, why are you still talking about renting a house with your aunt? Just relax and come over. Me, I've always liked girls. Ever since that one in my family got married, none of the bad guys in my family are considerate. You live at home, so you can be my partner. Don't bring up the matter of the room money anymore, even Auntie Uncle isn't happy. "

Li Yannian didn't know if she was serious or not, but she made up her mind that she couldn't stay in the house for free. Coincidentally, there was still material on the ox-cart that she needed to ask the aunt to make clothes for him, so she changed the topic and led her out.

"Aunt, I have something I need to trouble you with. We went to the villa to look at the First Uncle and bought some materials, but we didn't know how to make them. If you have time, you can help us make two sets of clothes.

Li Yannian took off the tarpaulin on the oxcart, revealing a few pieces of cloth and cotton under it. Auntie Li's eyes suddenly straightened up. It was no wonder that she, an ordinary farmer, could not make a new set of clothes throughout the year. The children in her family were all old and worn out, while those who could wear a new set of clothes during the new year were people with better conditions. Other than the materials bought at Du Jia Village, there was also the fabric that Li Yannian had brought from the warehouse on the oxcart. The two pieces of fabric that the Zhang Family had gifted him earlier, was extremely eye-catching.

"So many materials. Child, spending money is really too extravagant!"

Auntie Li ridiculed, while lovingly stroking a few pieces of cloth. She thought, in the end, these were all the materials from her first uncle's house, even the same coarse cloth would feel better than touching the clothes in town. Especially the siblings bought a thin cotton cloth to make a jacket, the material was fine and soft, and very comfortable to touch.

"Not all of them were bought, and they were even given to me by the First Uncle. It's just so much material, Auntie, can you keep busy? "

Just as Li Yannian was hesitating, the Auntie Li had already agreed: "There are only a few sets of clothes, if there's anything that's busy, there's no need to look for someone else."

What a joke. With so much material, not to mention getting addicted to cutting clothes and making clothes for herself, the rest would be enough for her to make clothes for her family from head to toe. She could not allow others to take advantage of this ready-made advantage of her!

Li Yannian laughed with relief: "Alright, then I'll leave it all to Aunt."

"En, when Black Bean comes back, you guys should come earlier. I'll go back and make lunch first. Don't open fire at your house, let's eat together. Your uncle and I will bring the things over first. After lunch, we'll measure your sizes. "

Li Yannian answered crisply.

Auntie Li was uncontrollably happy to move the materials as she tugged at the corner of her wife's clothes. She wanted her to be more polite and not think about taking advantage of these children, but as expected, she was stared at and could only shrink back and not speak.