Chapter 7 No One Can Escape

Aunt Li from next door came over to take a look and was also shocked. “Oh my goodness, you really got robbed!” Then she gave Zhao Xiue a tug. “Stop crying so much, come check what’s missing.” Aunt Li was known for her loud voice, and with her shout, neighbors on the whole floor who were home came out to see what was going on.

“Oh wow, what valuable things do you have in your house that someone would steal from you?”

“Yeah, what do you have that made the thief interested?”

Zhao Xiue’s face darkened. “There’s nothing valuable.”

Seeing the crowd gather, Zhao Xiue was worried more trouble would come, so she quickly took her two sons back inside.

But when she entered the house, she almost couldn’t catch her breath. All the pots, pans, bowls, rice, flour, and cooking oil were gone—only some tables and chairs were left.

Seeing this, Zhao Xiue’s heart sank halfway. She hurried to the kitchen and was relieved to see the pickled vegetable jars hadn’t been moved.

Then she went to the bedroom and started wailing, “That damned thief! Who could be so heartless and cruel? My money! My tickets!”

Song Nanshan also came running over anxiously. “Mom, my stash of secret money is gone.”

“My salary is gone too,” Song Nanfu’s face went pale. That was the money he had saved up since starting work—over two hundred yuan! He had planned to buy new clothes for his girlfriend, but now it was all gone.

Zhao Xiue clutched her chest, nearly fainting. She looked around wildly. “Where is Song Nanting? That dead girl! I told her to come back—why isn’t she here to watch the house and is fooling around outside…”

Song Nanshan’s eyes flickered. “Mom, could it have been Second Sister?”

Zhao Xiue paused her crying, doubted it, then shook her head. “She wouldn’t dare, not with a hundred guts.”

Still, she opened the door and asked the neighbors, “Has anyone seen my Nanting?”

“No, I was home all morning and didn’t see her.”

“Neither did I.”

After asking around with no luck, Zhao Xiue began crying again.

“I can’t live anymore! Someone stole my money! The thief must be among us! Whoever it is, bring it out now! Or I’ll call the police and have them arrested!”

Now Zhao Xiue looked suspiciously at everyone. This was a big courtyard where many lived—maybe someone was jealous of her family’s good fortune and snuck in when no one was paying attention in the morning to steal things. Otherwise, how would they know exactly where she hid her valuables? Even Song Nanting didn’t know.

The women there, who loved to gossip and visit each other, might have seen something when they came over.

These words made everyone unhappy.

“What do you mean by that? What does your family losing things have to do with us? We didn’t come to your house.”

“Yeah, if you lost something, go report it to the police or the security team. Why are you accusing us here?”

“Exactly. With your family’s reputation, you probably offended someone and got robbed. Now you’re trying to frame us? We’re not so easy to bully.”

Aunt Li, afraid of being accused, sneered, “Maybe it was staged by them to extort money. With their family conditions, those things aren’t even clean. Beggars wouldn’t want to steal from them. Who would want their stuff?”

Others laughed in agreement. Everyone in the courtyard knew the Song family’s reputation. It used to be okay, but after Song Nanting went to live with the Pan family, the Song home had become like a pigsty.

Seeing this, Zhao Xiue was angry and embarrassed, and started crying again.

“My money, my things… not even cooking utensils are left!”

Seeing her so upset, someone asked, “Stop crying, tell us how much you lost.”

There wasn’t much money, but quite a few tickets, and also her…

Zhao Xiue looked shocked and hurried inside to search the wardrobe. The glass jars were still there, but the contents were gone.

Her legs went weak and hands trembled as she forced herself to go to the kitchen and move the pickled vegetable jars. When she checked inside—empty.

Zhao Xiue’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the kitchen floor with a thud.

“Oh no, Mom, someone help! My mom’s fainted!” The Song household was in chaos.

Meanwhile, Song Nanting had written her home address on an envelope and placed her household registration book inside, along with the household registration page of Pan Shiying. These things couldn’t be lost—they and the other two still needed these to complete their countryside relocation procedures.

With her affairs settled, she was ready to buy a ticket and leave.

She was thankful the youth office director had scheduled her relocation date before the New Year—it was a good time to leave.

She could only take the train to the northeast, but their place was far from the northeast, and there was no direct train.

In four days it would be New Year’s Eve, so she would have to spend the holiday on the train.

No matter—just thinking about soon seeing Lu Jian’an made her heart warm.

The tickets she had were mostly grain and meat ration tickets from Pan’s family, likely sent by Pan Shifeng to Wei Dani as gifts. These were nationally accepted and could be used after relocating.

Most of the tickets she took from her own home were local and would have to be used up before leaving.

First, she went to the train station to buy tickets. Their small county didn’t even have a direct train to the capital. She had to first take a train to the provincial capital, then buy another ticket northbound, transferring once before finally getting on a train to the capital.

But she had forgotten how hard train tickets were to get now. The provincial capital was close, but many people traveled daily.

She only managed to buy a ticket for 6 PM the next day.

But it was okay not to leave early.

At the train station bathroom, she used makeup tools she had used in her past life to fix her appearance, then covered her head with a local headscarf. As long as she didn’t speak, even her parents nearby wouldn’t recognize her.

Since she couldn’t leave early, she had to find a place to rest for the night and prepare for a big task that evening.

Perhaps because of the busy day, Song Nanting was exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately.

By her bedside was the alarm clock from her space. At 9 PM sharp, she opened her eyes.

It was Sunday. If she remembered correctly, every weekend her eldest brother went out to play cards with friends, usually staying out past 10 PM.

That was perfect—after 10 PM, it would be cold and no one would be outside, so she wouldn’t be seen.

Her good younger brother, Song Nanshan, was said to often not be home lately. Even after today’s big incident, he might have gone out too.

For convenience, Song Nanting wore sweatpants from her space and a worn cotton jacket, carrying a stun baton for self-defense as she stepped out.

Good eldest brother, good younger brother—you better wait for her. She’s going to repay your brotherly love properly.