Chapter 22: Caught Stealing Wild Boar Meat

Yun Laotou looked at his several boisterous grandsons and rolled his eyes at them.

“You’re all grown up, yet you still have childish thoughts. You only know how to eat, eat, eat.

Keep your voices down. If others hear you, they might try to steal our things.”

After saying this, he went to where they were resting.

He came back with a small hoe and quietly went to Yun Nian’an again, starting to dig up the ginseng.

He dug up the whole ginseng, wrapped it gently in a cloth, and tucked it into his pocket.

Yun Laotou brought Yun Nian’an back and saw that his family was already making a kind of thick soup. Yun Laotou called everyone together.

Seeing that the other villagers weren’t paying attention to them, he said to everyone, “I have something to tell you, but you can’t be loud. If others hear you, it won’t be good.”

Yun Lao Da heard his father’s mysterious tone and nodded.

Yun Laotou said to everyone, “Our dear one found a ginseng root, and I dug it up.”

Everyone’s eyes widened when they heard this.

Yun Laotou carefully took out the ginseng wrapped in cotton cloth from his pocket.

Everyone looked at the ginseng and swallowed. Yun Laotai hugged Yun Nian’an, “Our dear one is so amazing! I told you she was lucky.

When we get to the capital, we’ll exchange the ginseng for silver and save it for our dear one’s dowry.”

Yun Nian’an heard her grandma say this and felt a lump in her throat.

Their family was living a poor life, and now they had found something, and her grandma was thinking of selling it for silver to save for her dowry.

Yun Laotai looked at Yun Laotou, “I’ll keep this.”

Yun Laotou nodded when he heard his wife say this and quickly handed over the hot ginseng.

He was afraid to keep it in his pocket, afraid that he would accidentally damage it or lose it.

How would he explain to his granddaughter then?

If he kept this treasure on him, he wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink all night.

Now that his wife said she would keep it, he naturally had to give it to her quickly.

The family ate their fill and started to rest.

The village head said that they would continue to leave early tomorrow morning.

Yun Nian’an slept soundly, but she felt someone nearby in the middle of the night and woke up groggily.

She saw an old woman’s figure slowly approaching the Yun family’s tent.

Yun Nian’an rubbed her eyes and looked carefully. She immediately frowned. It was Liu Laotai.

She saw Liu Laotai rummaging around until she felt something bulky at the bottom of the cart. She carried it on her back.

While Liu Laotai was searching, Yun Nian’an quietly picked up a stick.

When Liu Laotai put the thing on her back and was about to leave, Yun Nian’an hit her hard with the stick.

Liu Laotai cried out in pain.

The people around who were sleeping were all awakened from their sleep.

Yun Nian’an hit her while shouting to the people, “Quick! Come and catch the thief! Someone is stealing while we are sleeping!

They stole our wild boar meat. If I hadn’t woken up just now, our things would have been stolen by this thief!”

Liu Laotai heard the little girl’s words and immediately became anxious.

“What are you, a money-losing thing, talking about? I was just passing by your house. What do you mean I stole your things?

Don’t slander people just because our families don’t get along.”

The village head also came over with a torch.

Yun Laotai went forward and saw the bag that Liu Laotai had thrown not far away. The bag contained wild boar meat.

Liu Laotai was furious when she saw this, “You damn woman, you came to my house to steal meat.

This is all the meat we have. All the children in my family depend on this meat. You damn woman!”

Yun Laotai said this and kicked Liu Laotai several times.

After being kicked by Yun Laotai, Liu Laotai’s face turned pale.

“It’s none of my business that you have less meat. I was just passing by, and your crazy girl grabbed me and said I was a thief.”

Liu Laotai finished speaking and looked at the village head, “Village head, you have to do me justice.

I was just passing by, and this family beat me up. They have to compensate me! Otherwise, I’ll report them to the officials.”

The village head looked at the bag on the ground and listened to Yun Laotai’s words. He thought that the bag must contain wild boar meat.

They had just eaten Yun Laotai’s family’s wild boar meat, how could he not do Yun Laotai justice?

The village head snorted, “You know in your heart whether you did it or not.

You’re so old, and you have grandchildren.

Although your grandson hasn’t gone to school yet, it will affect your children in the future. If the top beam is not straight, the bottom beam will be crooked. How can that be?”

Liu Laotai’s face turned red when the village head said this, but it was true. Why didn’t her family have any money? And they didn’t have any food.

So she thought of sneaking over in the middle of the night to steal. Who knew that the little girl would wake up at this time.

She even made a fuss and called everyone over.

Yun Laotai saw that the village head was indeed on her side and went up to Liu Laotai and beat her again.

Yun Laotai knew very well that everyone was running out of food now, and they were desperate to survive.

She couldn’t really beat Liu Laotai to death, so she just beat her a few times to teach her a lesson.

Fortunately, the meat wasn’t really stolen. She was thinking of using the wild boar meat to nourish her granddaughter.

Yun Laotai looked at Liu Laotai and said, “Since this is your first offense, I’ll just beat you twice. If you do it again, don’t blame me for breaking your arms.”

After saying this, she picked up the wild boar meat on the ground and put it on a wooden board.

Then Yun Laotai shouted to the people who were watching, “I think we’ve done enough.

In these times, stealing food can cost us our lives. I didn’t beat her to death, I’m doing this for the sake of our fellow villagers.

If you provoke my family again, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

She glared fiercely at Liu Laotai.

Liu Laotai shivered when she saw Yun Laotai’s glare. She couldn’t help but curse. She only took a piece of meat! Was she going to beat her to death?

But Liu Laotai didn’t dare to say anything more. She got up from the ground.

Yun Laotai, despite her age, was very strong.

She beat Liu Laotai so badly that she couldn’t get up for a long time.