Chapter 11

The usually quiet Lu Baiwei suddenly let out a loud, piercing scream, which not only startled He Ting but also scared Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua.

Not knowing what had happened, Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua followed He Ting into the room.

“Lu Baiwei, what’s wrong?”

He Ting rushed into the room where Lu Baiwei was staying and, seeing that she was fine, let out a sigh of relief.

Before he could fully process the situation, Lu Baiwei suddenly burst into tears and threw herself into his arms. Completely caught off guard, the soft and fragrant Lu Baiwei fell into his embrace.

He Ting was momentarily stunned.

His body stiffened as he gently patted Lu Baiwei’s back, trying to comfort her, “Weiwei, what happened?”

“He Ting, someone broke into my room,” Lu Baiwei said, her voice filled with sorrow. “The three-turn-and-one-sound radio you bought for me yesterday, I had my watch with me when I left, and the sewing machine and radio were in my room.”

“When we went to the commune to get the certificate, I locked the door and the windows.”

“I came back, and the door was locked properly, but when I opened it, I found the radio was gone, and only the sewing machine was left.”

The radio was gone?

Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua were also stunned.

That was a radio!

The three-turn-and-one-sound radio Lu Baiwei got for her wedding should have been for their son, Wenhua.

Now that the radio was stolen, Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua felt a pang of regret. They could only watch as their belongings disappeared, and the feeling was unpleasant.

He Ting, however, wasn’t in a rush. Especially seeing his little wife in his arms, her eyes trembling as if trying to hint at something. This only made him calmer.

He gently patted Lu Baiwei’s back, his eyes moving toward the muddy footprints on the windowsill.

He then asked Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua, “Uncle Lu, Aunt Liu, you’ve been home all day, right?”

Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua were momentarily distracted, still focused on the missing radio and wondering why He Ting was calling them “Uncle” and “Aunt,” rather than “Dad” and “Mom.”

Liu Chunhua, feeling the loss, responded, “Yes, we didn’t leave the house today. You two were getting your marriage certificate, so we stayed here, waiting.”

“How did the thief get in and steal our radio?”

He Ting had been waiting for Liu Chunhua to say this. He looked around the room before moving toward the windowsill.

He Ting had been waiting for Liu Chunhua to say this. He looked around and walked to the windowsill.

“There are muddy footprints here.”

He Ting analyzed the situation, “It rained last night. The thief must have stepped into the muddy ground outside the window and then climbed in through the window.”

“Who would have the time to steal? We can figure it out by checking who didn’t go to work today.”

He Ting reassured them, “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely find the radio. I’ll head to the team office now and ask Gong Minbing to investigate.”

Before Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua could react, He Ting patted Lu Baiwei again and then turned to leave, riding his bicycle toward the team office.

After He Ting left for a while, Liu Chunhua kept staring at the footprints on the windowsill. She leaned out to look at the shoe prints on the muddy ground outside and finally began to sense that something wasn’t right.

The shoe prints looked very familiar, and the shoe size seemed familiar too.

Thinking back to how Lu Jiaojiao had been crying and making a scene since last night, and how she had refused to eat breakfast this morning, threatening that Lu Baiwei wouldn’t have it easy, and accusing her and Lu Jianguo of only favoring Lu Wenhua, Liu Chunhua had a bad feeling.

Especially since Lu Jiaojiao had been hovering around Lu Baiwei’s room this morning, and after Lu Baiwei and He Ting went to the commune to get their certificate, it seemed like she had walked around the window and door several times.

Focused on catching the thief and getting the radio back, Liu Chunhua had supported He Ting when he suggested calling Gong Minbing to investigate. But now, realizing the situation, she began to panic.

“Baiwei, hurry and go after He Ting, tell him not to call Gong Minbing to our house.”

“Why not call? He Ting said that radio was worth over a hundred yuan.”

Lu Baiwei stood still in the room and told Liu Chunhua not to touch the footprints on the windowsill.

“Aunt, don’t ruin the scene. The thief dared to break into my house and steal the radio. Once Gong Minbing catches him, I’m going to report it to the police.”

“Stealing something so valuable? He’ll be locked up and sent to a labor camp.”

Liu Chunhua couldn’t yell that the thief might be Lu Jiaojiao, so she desperately tried to signal Lu Jianguo with her eyes.

But Lu Jianguo, focused on the radio he had just lost, didn’t notice her signals.

That radio was extremely valuable.

Even though he saw Liu Chunhua giving him a reproachful look, he assumed she was just upset and ready to cry.

He comforted her, “Don’t worry. He Ting will bring Gong Minbing here soon. They’ll definitely find clues and catch the thief.”

Not only was Liu Chunhua anxious, but Lu Jiaojiao, who had taken the radio and hidden it in her room, was also panicking.

When she heard Lu Baiwei shout that there had been a thief in the house, and that He Ting was heading to the team office to call for help, she quickly shoved the radio under the bed and hid in her room, too scared to make a sound.

With this delay, He Ting went to the team office and quickly brought Gong Minbing back, along with the team leader, Tang Jinghe, and the village chief, Liu Zhishu.

With the delay, He Ting went to the team office and quickly brought Gong Minbing back, along with Team Leader Tang Jinghe and Village Chief Liu Zhishu.

Tang Jinghe knew a bit about the Lu family and suspected that the thief might be someone from within the household.

Today, Liu Zhishu had been discussing matters at the team office with Tang Jinghe. Seeing that they had two packs of Hongta Mountain cigarettes, Tang Jinghe pulled him along to join the scene.

By the time Liu Chunhua and Lu Jiaojiao, who was hiding in her room, were almost in a panic, Gong Minbing had already been invited into the room by Lu Baiwei.

Upon seeing the dilapidated room that had been converted from a storage shed, with mud on the floor and rainwater dripping through the broken tiles, Tang Jinghe, who had come along, was furious.

“Lu Jianguo, is this how you treat Baiwei? After my uncle passed away, you cried and begged to have Baiwei brought back home. But now you bring her back to live in a shed?!”

Tang Jinghe, already furious, turned to scold Lu Baiwei: “What’s wrong with you? Why didn’t you say anything when you were bullied?”

“When you were with our family, who didn’t care for you? We treated you better than we treated Lingling! And now you go back to your real father’s house and live in this rundown shed?”

“If it weren’t for the fact that you’re married now, I’d tear this place apart and bring you back to the Tang family!”

Lu Baiwei, playing the victim, replied softly, “Uncle, my dad and aunt won’t let me speak.”

“He is my father. What can I do?”

Tang Jinghe was enraged and tapped Lu Baiwei’s forehead: “You’re overly filial. When you were with the Tang family, you were wild, but now you’re back at your dad’s house, you’ve turned into a mute.”

“Ugh, ugh!”

Lu Jianguo, who usually liked to put on airs, was caught off guard by the situation. He had been focusing on catching the thief, but now, almost stripped of his dignity, he cleared his throat and coughed a few times.

“Ahem, ahem! Catch the thief first! If we wait too long, we won’t be able to find the radio.”

Realizing that Lu Baiwei had intentionally set the scene like this, Tang Jinghe decided to hold his temper for now and let the show unfold.

He stepped aside and let Gong Minbing take charge.

After inspecting the muddy footprints on the windowsill, Gong Minbing made his assessment: “This thief won’t be hard to catch. I just noticed that the gutter outside the window is still leaking, and the mud by the window is different from the yellow mud outside. It’s oily, black mud.”

“Let’s check who didn’t go to work today and look at the shoes—if anyone’s shoes have black oil-stained mud on the soles, they’re the thief who stole the radio.”

Lu Baiwei quickly added, “The radio He Ting bought cost over a hundred yuan. If we catch the thief, they’ll be sentenced, right?”