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When Yun Cuihe and her two sons arrived at the dock, she turned around to call out to Lu Xinghe and Chu Yue to hurry, but when she saw the young couple holding hands, she quickly turned her head away.
“Don’t look, your sister-in-law will get shy,” Yun Cuihe hurriedly pressed down on her sons’ heads.
Lu Xingping looked at Yun Cuihe. “Mother, don’t you think Big Brother and Sister-in-law are quite well-matched?”
Lu Xing’an rolled his eyes. “Idiot! They’re husband and wife, of course they’re a good match.”
Yun Cuihe smiled helplessly and shook her head.
“You two really are a pair of lively enemies.” She then looked ahead, where two baskets were placed, both full of chicks chirping loudly. She quickly pulled her sons toward them. “Look, someone is selling chicks and ducklings. Let’s go take a look.”
When they got closer, they saw that one basket was filled with chicks, and the other with ducklings.
“Old man, how much are these chicks and ducklings?”
“Three wen each for the chicks, five wen each for the ducklings. The ducklings have been raised for over half a month and are much bigger than the chicks.”
Yun Cuihe squatted down and carefully picked up a chick. “Do you raise many chickens and ducks?”
The old man sighed.
“I raised a few. In previous years, I relied on the chickens and ducks to make a living, but this year, the harvest in the fields was poor, and there’s no food to feed the chickens and ducks. Buying food isn’t cost-effective, so I decided to sell some.” Noticing Yun Cuihe was inspecting the chickens and ducks, the old man added, “Don’t worry, all of these are healthy, and their survival rate is high.”
Yun Cuihe smiled and clapped her hands. “Alright, old man, give me twenty chicks and five ducklings.”
“Alright.”
Eventually, the chicks and ducklings were placed in the basket on Lu Xinghe’s back, and the other things were carried by the group.
On the way back, the boat was still the same as when they left, with the same old man as the ferryman.
Seeing the items in their hands, he smiled and said, “Oh, you bought quite a lot.”
Yun Cuihe smiled. “Just some necessities.”
In the cabin, Chu Yue took out the hairpin Lu Xinghe had bought for Yun Cuihe. “Mother, this is a hairpin that Husband specially picked for you. Let me put it on for you.”
Yun Cuihe was a little surprised. “Why did you buy me one too? You young girls can wear them, but I’m already of an age. It wouldn’t look right on me.”
Though she said that, her eyes never left the hairpin Chu Yue was holding.
Chu Yue smiled and gently placed the hairpin in Yun Cuihe’s hair.
“Who says you’re old? You’re still young. This hairpin looks great on you.”
Yun Cuihe gave her a playful look.
“Where am I young? I’m already thirty-five. If you were a bit older, I might be holding a big, fat grandson by next year.”
Upon hearing this, Chu Yue blushed and lowered her head.
“Mother, what are you saying? Are you complaining that I’m too young?”
Yun Cuihe quickly laughed and took her hand. “Heaven’s truth, I don’t mind at all. I was just joking. As for grandchildren, I’m not in a rush. Besides, Xinghe still needs to focus on his studies. Once he gets good results, then we can think about these things.”
Hearing this, Chu Yue finally relaxed.
An hour later, they finally returned home.
However, as soon as Lu Xinghe arrived, he noticed something was wrong.
Although the gate wasn’t damaged, the corner of the fence wall was noticeably bent, clearly showing someone had entered through there.
He quickly unlocked the door. “Everyone, go inside and check if anything’s missing.”
Everyone was startled.
Yun Cuihe furrowed her brows. “What’s wrong? Could someone have broken into our house?”
Lu Xinghe shook his head. “I’m not sure. Let’s check first.”
Everyone hurried to their respective rooms. When Lu Xinghe placed the basket in the corner and entered the room, he saw his little wife, her eyes red from crying.
“Husband, what should we do? The silver I hid is gone.”
Before they left today, she had brought less than five taels of silver, but had left a hundred and ninety taels hidden in the house. If that was all gone, her earlier efforts would have been in vain.
Hearing her voice tremble with tears, Lu Xinghe quickly approached and held her hand.
“Don’t worry, your silver is fine.”
Chu Yue sniffled, looking aggrieved.
“But, the places I hid it—someone’s definitely been through them.”
Though Lu Xinghe had moved everything last night, after taking out the silver, he had returned everything to its original place. It seemed the house had indeed been burglarized.
Lu Xinghe hid the shadow in his eyes and smiled as he patted his little wife’s back. “Don’t worry. I expected someone in the village would be envious of our new bricks, so I moved the silver to a safer place.”
He glanced at the ceiling beam where the silver was hidden.
Chu Yue understood and quickly wiped the corners of her eyes.
“I wondered why you moved the writing desk into Xingping and Xing’an’s room this morning. It turns out it was because…”
Lu Xinghe gently pinched her cheek. “A certain little money-lover keeps sneaking glances, so I certainly can’t let the silver go missing.”
Chu Yue felt a little embarrassed, and she lowered her head and quickly ran outside.
“I’ll go check if anything’s missing from the kitchen.”
As she left, Lu Xinghe’s gaze darkened.
Lost in thought, who could it be that came to rob the house today?
With this question lingering in his mind, Lu Xinghe went to move the table into the rooms of his brothers, Lu Xingping and Lu Xingan.
Chu Yue took down two hanging baskets from the kitchen rafters and carefully inspected them. Nothing seemed to be missing, so it appeared that the thief’s target was the money.
Before long, Yun Cuihe also came out of her room. When she saw Chu Yue in the kitchen, she hurried over and asked, “Yueyue, did you lose anything?”
Chu Yue shook her head, “No. What about you, Mother?”
Yun Cuihe sighed in relief, “I didn’t lose anything either. I don’t know which scoundrel did this, but my room was ransacked, the sewing basket was overturned, and everything was scattered all over the floor. This person must have waited for us to be out of the house today to strike. I suspect it’s someone from the village. When I left, I didn’t think of this, but luckily, Xinghe left some precautions.”
Chu Yue smiled, “As long as nothing was taken from the house, we just need to be more careful in the future.”
Yun Cuihe nodded quickly.
“That’s right. With the year being so poor, things will only get worse. We must be cautious,” she said, then turned to Chu Yue, “From now on, if you go anywhere, have Xinghe accompany you. You must be careful and not go wandering alone.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you, Mother.”
Suddenly, Yun Cuihe felt a bit dizzy. She rubbed her temples and furrowed her brows.
Seeing this, Chu Yue hurriedly got up and helped her back into the room.
“Mother, you’ve walked such a long way today, you must be tired. Rest for a while, I’ll take care of dinner later.”
“Oh, thank you, Yueyue.”
Chu Yue quickly responded, “We’re family, there’s no need to be so polite. Just take care of your health first.”
Yun Cuihe patted Chu Yue’s hand, thinking that raising a daughter was indeed a warm experience. Though the three boys were also filial and obedient, they didn’t have the same thoughtfulness and comfort as this.