NOVPUB
Chapter 201: Chapter 194: It’s Hard to Guard Against a Thief Within the Family
Early the next morning, as soon as Shen Yunfang got up, she woke her mother-in-law and little sister-in-law, too. She had cheerfully given them money, so they had to stand the last watch properly.
Qiu Shuping and Li Xianghe didn’t say much; they followed Shen Yunfang to the fields in the morning to harvest soybeans. By the end of the morning, the three of them pushed a cart full of soybean stalks back home.
During breakfast, Li Xianghe nudged Qiu Shuping, signaling her to speak up quickly.
Qiu Shuping gave the girl a glance, then said to her daughter-in-law, who was eating quietly, "Yunfang, after a while your sister and I will head back home. I’m also worried about your father being alone at home these days, and besides, there’s work related to Hongqi that I need to take care of, so I have to hurry back and tend to him."
At this point, her tone was no longer as gentle and soothing as it had been a few days before; she had fully reverted to her usual sharp and scornful demeanor toward her daughter-in-law.
Shen Yunfang didn’t mind her attitude because she had anticipated it, but upon hearing her words, she frowned, "Mother, I have to go to the drying yard later for the corn distribution. Why don’t you leave a bit later, after the corn is divided? Then I can see you off."
"No need, no need for you to see us off. I’m not blind or lame. Go do whatever you need to do. Your sister and I will pack up and leave in a short while," Qiu Shuping said firmly.
Shen Yunfang shrugged; she couldn’t wait for them to leave earlier, and it was even better if she didn’t have to see them off.
"Fine then, just lock the main gate when you leave," she said.
After breakfast, Shen Yunfang checked the time and took a basket of eggs from the cellar, containing one hundred eggs she had prepared for her mother-in-law to take home.
After instructing the two of them, Shen Yunfang headed toward the Drying Yard. Today the commune was distributing food, and at such crucial moments, every household head had arrived early.
As for Qiu Shuping and her daughter, once they saw Shen Yunfang leave through the gate, Li Xianghe even peered out to make sure her sister-in-law had really walked far away. Then they joyfully scampered back inside, and like mice that had found their way in, they rummaged through the house, scavenging whatever they could take away.
The first thing Qiu Shuping thought of was to go down to the cellar and carry up all the eggs the household had gathered these past two days.
The second daughter-in-law’s home had more than a hundred chickens, and nearly every morning they could collect sixty or seventy eggs. The second daughter-in-law usually saved up for a week and then used her bicycle to sell them all at once. During the days Qiu Shuping was visiting, Shen Yunfang, to avoid suspicion, had already sold them twice.
Five days had passed since the last time she went to sell the eggs, so there were nearly four hundred eggs in the cellar now. Qiu Shuping was dissatisfied with only being given a hundred eggs by her daughter-in-law, so she planned to take them all while the second daughter-in-law was away.
She was domineering in her thinking; everyone in the family, young and old, needed to nourish their bodies. And after all, her youngest son would be a university student soon, constantly using his brain — he needed proper nourishment. The basket of eggs given by the daughter-in-law was hardly enough for the whole family to eat. Therefore, in Qiu Shuping’s eyes, her daughter-in-law should give her as many eggs as there were in the house. The eggs sold in the past two days should have been kept instead. Even if they were sold, the money wouldn’t end up in her hands, so it would be better to take them home for her youngest son and grandson to eat.
Of course, in Qiu Shuping’s mind, Shen Yunfang, the daughter-in-law, should have done this without being told. The fact that she had to sneak them away herself was certainly Shen Yunfang’s fault. She felt not a bit of guilt about it.
When Qiu Shuping went down to the cellar, her legs were no longer in pain, nor was her back sore; she scurried up and down several times. Apart from bringing up two baskets of eggs, she also hauled up the remaining half bag of millet from the cellar.
Aside from sweet potatoes and corn, millet was the only thing in the cellar that seemed worth her while.
Over at Li Xianghe’s place, once she entered the room, she pulled out the stack of blankets from beneath the wardrobe and yanked out the towel blanket she had been longing for. She had her eye on it for many days and hadn’t shied away from speaking kindly to her sister-in-law. But her sister-in-law was too stingy, having never agreed to gift it to her.
Ever since she found out how expensive that towel blanket was, she abandoned the hope of asking her mother to buy her a new one. She knew it was impossible, so she planned to steal her sister-in-law’s towel blanket when she went home, no matter what. Once she had brought it home, even if her sister-in-law found out she was the thief, she wouldn’t have the nerve to demand it back, and the blanket would be hers.
When Qiu Shuping entered the room, she saw her own daughter holding the towel blanket and grinning foolishly. She glared at her daughter and scolded, "Look at you, so pathetic."
She herself walked over to the wardrobe and opened the doors again. Then she pulled out the last mattress, which they had been using as a quilt on the bed these days, and also found a piece of blue work cloth at the very bottom, spread it out on the bed, folded up the thick quilt, and placed it on top. Then she turned around and snatched the towel blanket from Li Xianghe’s arms, "What are you playing at holding it like that, hurry up and pack it up, we’re leaving immediately." She then quickly wrapped everything up with the work cloth outside and tied it tightly into a bundle.
She wanted to leave hastily out of fear that her daughter-in-law would suddenly come back. This wasn’t her turf, and she had no confidence that she could win in a fight against her daughter-in-law, mainly because she knew that her second daughter-in-law was not a good person and wouldn’t defer to her just because she was her mother-in-law.
Ten minutes later, Li Xianghe carried off two baskets of eggs on a shoulder pole, with a half sack of millet hanging in front, while Qiu Shuping followed behind, carrying a large bundle on her back, as they exited through the courtyard gate.
Shen Yunfang stacked the two hundred catties of sorghum she had received to one side, ready to have Brother Dashuan help her transport it home when he returned with the cart.
Some villagers at the Drying Yard saw Shen Yunfang standing there alone and approached to ask, "Yunfang, why did you come by yourself? Where is your mother-in-law and little sister-in-law? Why didn’t they come to help you?"
Thanks to Qiu Shuping’s relentless promotion, everyone in the village now knew that Yunfang’s in-laws had come to help her harvest, so at this time, they were all craning their necks, waiting to see.
"No need for help; I’ve managed on my own for all these years, there isn’t anything I can’t do. Besides, my father-in-law is alone at home, and no one feels at ease. They left for home today." Since it’s shameful to air one’s dirty laundry, Shen Yunfang chose her words carefully.
"Oh, why leave at this time? There isn’t any trouble, is there?" An old lady spoke with an expression that clearly showed she suspected there were issues.
Indeed, after having been there for nearly half a month and just when it was time for everyone to lend a hand, those who had come to help were leaving. Anyone would think there was something amiss about that.
"You’re overthinking; there’s nothing happening." Shen Yunfang didn’t wish to talk about it and, seeing Brother Dashuan returning with the cart, hurriedly bent over to start loading it.
By the time Brother Dashuan and his wife helped Yunfang bring the sorghum home, the door to her house was already locked.
"Ah, finally they’re gone, you can breathe a sigh of relief now," Dashuan’s wife said, entering the room and finding no one else there. During those days, with the Li Family mother and daughter around, she hardly visited, and even when she did, there was nothing to talk about. Plus, she had to be on guard like a thief, which felt awkward to untellable extents.
Shen Yunfang unloaded the sorghum onto the ground of the front courtyard; the grains still needed to be sun-dried.
"Exactly, I didn’t even want to come home with them around, but now finally, they’re gone," said Shen Yunfang, not mentioning that it had cost her fifty yuan to send them away.
However, by evening, she learned that her expense was far greater than just fifty yuan.
