Chapter 75

How could Yin Zhihe possibly take care of Lu Jiao Jiao?

Ever since Liu Chunhua showed up shouting that he “wasn’t capable” in a certain aspect, the way people in the brigade looked at him had been full of hidden meaning.

He hated Lu Jiao Jiao so much he wished she would just die.

It was only by using the excuse that Lu Jiao Jiao needed meat to recover from her injuries that he got to eat big meat buns himself. In front of his second sister, Yin Yueping, he reluctantly split half a bun for Lu Jiao Jiao.

The moment Yin Yueping wasn’t around, Yin Zhihe wouldn’t even spare her half a bite.

Yin Yueping knew perfectly well that her brother’s injuries had healed long ago. She also realized her mother, Shen Guixiang, was just using the excuse of having her brother take care of his wife to continue freeloading off her family and demanding more meat.

But Shen Guixiang had her tightly under control, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

After much persuasion, Shen Guixiang finally agreed to return to the family home in Xiangyang Brigade to check things out. Yin Yueping sighed with relief.

Ever since her mother and brothers had moved into the hospital, her life had been a mess: arguments with her husband, her mother-in-law’s biting sarcasm, and even her children complaining that she cared more about their uncle than about them.

Managing to convince Shen Guixiang to leave the hospital felt like a small victory. Yin Yueping secretly hoped the family home really had been burglarized—it might give her a few days of peace and quiet.

Since Yin Yueping was so insistent that there had been a break-in, Shen Guixiang took advantage of the time when the brigade’s members were out working to sneak back to Xiangyang Brigade.

Tang Yunling, playing by the stream with Ranran, saw her but didn’t think much of it.

After what had happened with Zhao Yongsen’s betrayal, she didn’t even have the energy to gossip.

She was the biggest piece of gossip herself.

Even though she had been hiding out at Weiwei’s place, she knew full well that the whole brigade had been talking about how her fiancé, Zhao Yongsen, had cheated on her. About how she had been “greened.” Even her father, Tang Jinghe, couldn’t hold his head high anymore.

Tang Yunling glanced at Shen Guixiang, sneaking home like a thief, and sat down on a blue stone slab by the creek. She dangled her feet in the water, splashing small waves, tears welling in her eyes.

Tang Yunling was strong-willed, and when it came to Zhao Yongsen’s betrayal, she acted like she didn’t care.

But how could she simply throw away a bond nurtured since childhood?

When she was alone, she couldn’t help but wipe away her tears. Since returning from Red Flag Brigade, her pillow had been soaked night after night as she silently cried herself to sleep.

“Auntie, don’t cry. Here’s a flower for you.”

She had only been lost in thought for a moment, but somehow little Ranran had managed to gather a handful of flowers from by the stream.

The child’s big, clear eyes, even purer than the creek, looked at her as she offered comfort with her soft, sweet voice.

Tang Yunling nearly broke down in tears right then and there.

Not far away, she noticed Zhou Yanfeng squatting by the creek bank, pulling at some weeds, his eyes full of concern as he glanced over at her. She quickly forced her tears back and pretended nothing was wrong.

“Aren’t you going to help your brother Ting with his work?”

“Hah, slacking off, are we?”

Tang Yunling preemptively scolded him.

Zhou Yanfeng didn’t argue with her.

Zhou Yanfeng didn’t bother arguing with her.

He pointed in the direction of the Yin family. “Want to see some drama?”

Tang Yunling, being the center of the biggest drama herself, was hypersensitive to the word and didn’t respond.

“Oh, so Shen Guixiang coming back from the commune hospital counts as drama now?”

She gave him a disdainful look. “Unless Shen Guixiang gets into a fight with Weiwei’s stepmother, then maybe it’ll be worth watching.”

Zhou Yanfeng raised an eyebrow. “What if Shen Guixiang comes back to catch a thief?”

“A thief? Who?” Tang Yunling asked, suddenly curious.

“Your sister-in-law’s dad and stepmom—those two house thieves.”

Zhou Yanfeng actually knew that ever since Zhao Yongsen’s betrayal, Tang Yunling had been secretly crying in private.

His sister-in-law had told him that every morning when she checked, Tang Yunling’s pillow was soaked through.

Even though she was deeply hurt, she put on a strong front, pretending nothing had happened, not wanting to lose face in front of others.

But at her core, Tang Yunling loved drama—it was part of who she was, and no amount of heartbreak could change that.

And now, the best way to distract her from Zhao Yongsen’s betrayal was to offer her some real drama to focus on.

Sure enough, as soon as she heard that Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua might have been caught stealing, Tang Yunling perked up.

“Then let’s go and see!”

She still had to bring along Ranran, her little shadow. With a quick leap off the stone slab by the creek, Tang Yunling crouched down to coax the child.

“I’m taking you to see something exciting with Uncle Zhou. But you have to be quiet and behave, okay?”

“Okay!” Ranran nodded obediently. “Auntie, don’t cry. Ranran will be good.”

Zhou Yanfeng was watching the exchange, amused.

Tang Yunling kissed Ranran on the cheek. “Who said Auntie was crying? There was just sand in Auntie’s eyes.”

Tang Yunling expected that, knowing Shen Guixiang’s personality, the moment she realized her house had been robbed, she’d cause a scene loud enough for the entire brigade to hear.

She and Zhou Yanfeng took Ranran and crouched at the slope below the Yin family’s house, watching.

As soon as Shen Guixiang entered the house, she quickly came back out and headed toward the brigade office.

Tang Yunling glanced at Zhou Yanfeng. “Didn’t you say she was going to make a fuss?”

“This old lady is learning to stay calm,” Zhou Yanfeng said, genuinely surprised. “Or maybe my sister-in-law was right. She said Shen Guixiang would stay quiet, knowing she could catch the thieves red-handed and make them pay up.”

Lu Baiwei had been certain Shen Guixiang wouldn’t create a scene about the burglary.

Last night, when Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua left the Yin house, the mess they’d made pulling things out from under the bed was still all over the place.

Initially, Shen Guixiang hadn’t believed the house had been robbed.

But when she came home and saw the bed had been moved, revealing a hole in the floor, her first instinct had been to shout loud enough for the entire brigade to hear.

When Shen Guixiang got home and saw that the bed in her room had been moved and a hole dug beneath it, her first instinct was to raise a ruckus loud enough for the entire brigade to hear.

But after searching the house thoroughly, she found that nothing was missing.

Then, she spotted a carrying pole left behind in the room. It didn’t look like hers, and it even had the character “Lu” carved into it.

Of course, Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua wouldn’t be foolish enough to leave their own pole in Shen Guixiang’s house. The truth was that He Ting had sent Zhou Yanfeng to grab a pole from the Lu household and plant it there on purpose.

Shen Guixiang began to suspect that the thief might be someone she knew.

The way the hole under her bed had been left unfilled made it clear the intruder intended to come back and dig further.

Fine! She was determined to find out what this familiar thief was searching for in her house.

This time, instead of making a fuss about the burglary, Shen Guixiang held her tongue. Quietly and discreetly, she made her way to the brigade office to speak with Militiaman Gong.

Zhou Yanfeng and Tang Yunling stayed hidden, watching as Shen Guixiang and Gong Militiaman came to an agreement.

“How about I take you out to see the action tonight?” Zhou Yanfeng invited Tang Yunling.

The way he said it, inviting her to watch the thief being caught, sounded almost like the way young men in the brigade asked girls out to the movies.

Anyway, every time Tang Yunling closed her eyes, all she could see was Zhao Yongsen and Liu Cuifang wrapped up in each other, kissing. She wasn’t sleeping well anyway.

Uncomfortable, Tang Yunling averted her eyes to Ranran.

“Hmm,” she hummed softly, agreeing to Zhou Yanfeng’s suggestion.

Then, she turned to tease Ranran. “Ranran, do you want to come with Auntie tonight to watch the thief get caught?”

Ranran looked at Tang Yunling, then at Zhou Yanfeng.

Was Auntie going to climb into Uncle Zhou’s bed too?

Sigh!

Auntie cries, and Uncle Zhou comforts her.

Little Ranran shook her head obediently. “Ranran will sleep and grow tall.”

Tang Yunling hadn’t forgotten being “force-fed” dog food earlier that morning.

Thinking about leaving Ranran with Lu Baiwei and imagining He Ting’s frustration made her grin.

“Ranran is so good,” she said, kissing the little one on the cheek. “You’ll sleep with your little aunt tonight, and Auntie will go watch the thief being caught.”