CH 173

Lin Lan didn’t want to have the concern of the cadres. She leaned on her sickle and said, “Just a bit dizzy.”

Dong Huaihua asked her to go back and rest.

Lin Lan thought that the work points should not be wasted. If workers wanted to go back, they risked not even getting half a day’s worth of points, so they would usually bear the discomfort until it was time to clock out.

At this time, Dawang came out of the cornfield and grabbed her sickle. “That’s enough, I’ll cut it for you, you can go home and rest,” The people around her were confused. She didn’t seem to be that prone to the heat when she was busy collecting the debts from the Han family, after all.

Seeing Dawang’s concern over her, Lin Lan was quite happy, “My good, filial son, mother will-“

Before she could finish speaking, Dawang had already taken the sickle to the other side to harvest the beans, seemingly afraid of her nagging and lectures.

Lin Lan smiled before she fanned her straw hat and drank some water.

The water from the well here was sweet and it is very refreshing to drink. After drinking it, she quietly stuffed a piece of rock candy into her mouth.

She managed to buy half a catty of rock candy by borrowing a sugar ticket as she ate it for an energy boost, worn out from the labour. She made it a habit to give two pieces of candy to the children daily whereas Xiaowang would get one.

When Lin Lan returned home, the children were not there. Some of them were harvesting the autumn foods from the field while others were tasked to cut the grass. Either way, everyone had a particular job allocated to them.

After eating a piece of pancake, she no longer felt that dizzy. She didn’t want to lie down either, so she took out the cotton. She planned to fix the cotton for a bit in order to make sure that she could make a quilt or two when the weather was not faring well.

Suddenly, she realised that something was wrong. Was the cotton moved?

Although the house wasn’t big and there were items all over the house, Lin Lanhad an eye for details and she could immediately tell that something was up.

Something’s wrong!

Lin Lan was a very meticulous person. If she felt that something was amiss, she would definitely check it out. It turned out that there was truly something wrong with the way things were in the house.

Several places in her house seemed to have been turned over!

Her heart thumped loudly and she hurried to check on her money. Fortunately, her hiding spot was rather inconspicuous and secretive, so her money remained safely tucked. 

After thinking about things slightly, she took the money and stuffed it into Xiaowang’s pillow. On top of the pillow, she even placed a tattered cloth over it.

It seemed like if they had gotten a dog earlier, this wouldn’t have happened. Perhaps it was about time to get one. But for now, she had to lock everything in the house.

She went out of the house and found a few children. She asked them, “Have any strangers come to our village recently?”

These children were all five or six year olds who weren’t able to work yet, so they were often out on the streets, playing without a care in the world. If there were any strangers, they were the ones who would be able to tell at a glance. 

The children all shook their heads, “Not really, there were only those who came to sell bowls or plates and the other guy who sharpened knives,” The children laughed ecstatically as they played.

Lin Lan knew that there were truly no strangers that came based on that statement. Those who walked the lanes to sell their products or services didn’t count— they knew better than to walk into someone’s house uninvited.

Which meant that the culprit was one of the villagers.