Chapter 12

The police officer was asking questions with a serious expression, and Shen Youran almost burst into laughter.

The implication was that they were suspecting if someone in their family was the thief.

But Liu Chunhua was unaware of this. After hearing that the investigation was fruitless, she started her usual act of playing the victim, sitting on the ground and crying and making a fuss: “What are we going to do? All our rice, flour, and everything else was stolen, and our money is gone too. Are you trying to make us die?”

Without food or money, wouldn’t that be waiting for death?

Liu Chunhua was giving the two police officers a headache. They could only turn to Shen Daqiang, “We’ve taken down your case. If you have any new discoveries, tell us as soon as possible. We’ll continue to investigate, and we’ll notify you once we have any results.”

Shen Daqiang opened his mouth, wanting to cry and make a fuss like Liu Chunhua, but neighbors were already coming to watch the show.

He still cared about his face, so he could only nod silently, “Thank you, officer. We’ll rely on you.”

The two police officers left, still discussing the strange case as they walked.

“We’ve seen so many cases, and we’ve heard the old masters talk about it before, but we’ve never seen anything so absurd. We can’t even find a single footprint. Could it be…” They already had the idea that it was someone in the family, but if they said it out loud, they would be in trouble, seeing how Liu Chunhua was making a scene at home.

One of them spoke, and the other hesitated for a moment before nodding.

He also felt that way.

“Let’s continue to investigate. If it really is someone in their family, they probably won’t keep pushing for a result later.” The two police officers thought this was more likely, so they chatted for a few more words before returning to the police station.

The main reason was that they had never seen someone steal food, and they stole it so cleanly.

Could it be that someone in the family was out of money and stole the food to sell?

After the police left, Liu Chunhua was still sitting on the ground, wiping away tears, “My savings are all gone now. Are you going to make our family starve?”

Her cries grew louder. Junjun blinked her little eyes and turned to look at Shen Youran, seeming to not understand why her grandma was acting like this.

Shen Tianci kicked over a chair, “Who stole our money? It was my money for getting married! What about my wife?”

“You’re still thinking about getting married? Don’t you care about your mom’s life?” Liu Chunhua scolded angrily. She was obsessed with money.

Now that the money was gone, it was like a knife twisting in her heart, and she was in excruciating pain.

Her son didn’t care about her at all, but was still thinking about his wife. He was so heartless!

“Aren’t we talking about the same thing?” Shen Tianci mumbled. Shen Daqiang was sitting there, smoking silently, “The police said they couldn’t find any clues, so our case is probably closed, and it’s likely we won’t get our money back.”

Liu Chunhua and Shen Tianci understood this.

But they just didn’t want to admit it!

That was three hundred yuan. Even soldiers like Lu Yifan, with their monthly salary, bonuses, and various subsidies, couldn’t earn that much, and they still had living expenses.

The family was crying and making a fuss. Shen Youran stood aside like an observer.

She yawned, and within a few minutes, she heard Shen Tianci’s stomach grumbling twice. He covered his stomach and complained, “What should we do now? We can’t just starve like this!”

Liu Chunhua wanted to scold him, but now that the money was gone, he was still thinking about eating.

However, her stomach also started to grumble.

Last night, she was already upset by Shen Youran and didn’t eat much. This morning, she was planning to make some porridge and pancakes for a good meal, but things turned out like this.

Whether it was because her stomach was empty or something else, Liu Chunhua stood up and opened the door. A gust of cool wind blew in, making her head buzz.

She instantly sobered up.

She tilted her head and returned with a puzzled expression, “The police officer asked where I hid my money and how many people knew about it. Isn’t it only our family who knows?”

“I don’t know!” Shen Tianci muttered.

Shen Youran finally spoke, “I don’t know either.”

“You two don’t know, then did the money fly away?” Liu Chunhua became increasingly suspicious, “I really didn’t hear anything last night. It must be someone in the family!”

She was so focused on getting the police to solve the case that she didn’t listen carefully to what they said.

Now that she thought about it, there were indeed many suspicious points.

“We weren’t drugged yesterday, I cooked the food, and we went to sleep after we finished eating. How could we not hear such a loud noise from a thief?”

Liu Chunhua thought more and more that it must be someone in the family who stole it. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Shen Youran, “You just came back home not long ago, right? The money was stolen shortly after you came back. Did you do it?”

“No.”

Shen Youran remained expressionless, her grip on Junjun tightened, “Didn’t you already ask me this question? If I stole the money, would I still be in this house? I would have run away.”

“But…”

Liu Chunhua felt that it made sense, but the more she thought about it, the more it didn’t feel right.

She had already walked away, but she turned back abruptly, wanting to see if there was any change in Shen Youran’s expression. She met a pair of very calm eyes.

She was unconvinced. Her first reaction was that Shen Youran did it, “You may not know exactly where I hid my money, but you definitely know I have some private savings. Tell me, did you steal it?”

Shen Youran heard this and paused for a second before pretending to be angry, “Mom, what do you mean? Why are you suspecting me and not others?”

“If I really went into your room, wouldn’t you know? Besides, how long has it been since I came back? How would I know where you hid your money?”

“If I really did it, I would have rummaged through everything, wouldn’t you have woken up?”

Shen Youran’s logic was clear, and Liu Chunhua was swayed by her words. Even Shen Daqiang started to think about the truthfulness of her words.

It was true.

Shen Youran had only come back recently, she knew they had money but didn’t know where it was hidden.

Seeing that both of them were lost in thought, Shen Tianci was pulling his hair in frustration. Shen Youran curled her lips, quickly hiding the smile on her face.

Then, she looked at Shen Tianci and sneered, “Why don’t you say he stole it? He’s always been bad with money. Maybe he made some bad friends outside, owed them some money, and couldn’t repay them, so he thought of stealing from home.”

“Also, what if he wanted to woo some girl, but didn’t dare to ask you for money, fearing you wouldn’t give it to him? It’s not unreasonable for him to steal, right Mom?”

Shen Youran continued to reason, and Liu Chunhua, hearing this, looked at her, her eyes filled with anger, “How can you say that about your brother?”

“Then why did you suspect me first?”

The mother and daughter confronted each other. Shen Tianci stormed over from the chair opposite, spitting fire, “I would never steal money from home. Do you think I’m like you, no money and causing trouble for the family!”

Shen Youran took a few steps back, looking at him with a mouthful of spit, “Who knows, nobody knows what you do outside, I didn’t follow you!”

“Besides, I was just guessing, you’re jumping to conclusions…” Shen Youran didn’t finish her sentence, but her expression became ambiguous, as if she had already confirmed that Shen Tianci was the one who did it.

Shen Tianci was so angry that his chest was heaving, he pointed at her, “Mom, listen to her, she’s making excuses, she’s definitely the one who stole it, she must be!”

Now, Shen Tianci didn’t care whether it was Shen Youran or not. Since she was accusing him, he had to fight back.

How could he steal money?

Even though he did have a few friends outside who owed him a little bit of money, he knew that this money was for his marriage, why would he steal it? It was all for him anyway!

Liu Chunhua, seeing the two of them arguing, naturally believed her son.

After all, she had always had a preference for sons over daughters, and her first reaction was to scold back with Shen Tianci, “Your brother would never do that, you confess honestly, did you do it? If you can bring back the money, I’ll let bygones be bygones!”

“I didn’t steal!” Shen Youran said seriously. She was just taking back the money that the original owner had earned before, how could that be considered stealing?

As for the food she took, it was because they had taken 10 yuan in nutrition fees from Lu Yiyun in her name yesterday, and she bought all those things with that money.

Those things were hers by right.

In the past, when the original owner lived in the compound, sometimes she would spend her salary to buy some delicious food to take home for Junjun, and Liu Chunhua and Shen Tianci would come over to rob her.

They had already eaten all the good stuff, and she was just taking back what was rightfully hers.

She didn’t feel any guilt.

This family of bloodsuckers, if she didn’t make them suffer, she would be the one suffering!