◎ Third update ◎ 

There’s a thief in the courtyard?! 

Everyone checked their cabbages one by one and found that most of the missing cabbages were from Aunt Luo’s family, which was short by six cabbages. Sun Zhiqiang and Chen Yulian each lost two cabbages, and their family was short by three cabbages. The other families were unaffected. 

Although not much was stolen, the nature of the theft was terrible! 

Aunt Luo stood with her hands on her hips in the courtyard and cursed for nearly twenty minutes. She pointed fingers directly at Wu Changlong’s family, who lived in the east wing. 

“I don’t know which blind person stole the cabbages! How shameless!” 

She stood at the door of the east wing and cursed at everyone there. Everyone knew what she meant. 

A few months ago, the two had an unpleasant argument over a watermelon. 

Wu Changlong couldn’t stand listening to this anymore, so he rushed out and cursed back, “Luo Hongmei, what do you mean? Who are you calling a thief?” 

“Whoever jumps the most now is the thief!” 

Neither of them was easy to mess with, and they started cursing at each other in the courtyard. Several other uncles and aunts hurried to try to stop the fight, and the scene was chaotic for a while. 

Liang Baozhen closed the window and looked at Xu Shengjie, who was catching up on sleep after finishing his night shift. Worried that he would be woken up, she pulled the curtains shut and looked at the man on the bed, who was sleeping soundly and was not disturbed at all. 

What a pig! 

Xu Shengjie was the type who could sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and was not easily disturbed once asleep, unlike her. 

Liang Baozhen looked at the man who looked quite handsome even while sleeping and felt a bit envious. 

“Sister-in-law,” Xu Shengya called softly from outside while pointing at the commotion, not wanting to disturb her eldest brother, who was catching up on sleep. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Uncle Wei said he wanted to have a meeting.” 

Another meeting? Liang Baozhen felt a little uncomfortable. 

Not only her, but no one in the courtyard wanted to have a meeting. It was okay in the summer, but it’s almost winter now. Who can stand being outside in the cold while listening to his nonsense? 

Wei Jinrong took the issue of the thief in the big courtyard very seriously. Thieves are hated by everyone, and they must be caught. He first took several men from the courtyard to check around, but unfortunately, they found nothing. The only thing they could be sure of was that not many cabbages were stolen, so it probably wasn’t a well-planned theft. 

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a waste of effort? 

At the meeting, everyone sat together and listened to Wei Jinrong analyze the dangers of thieves. As he spoke, he went off topic and began to talk about his heroic deeds in catching thieves when he was young. 

The people below were not idle either. Liang Baozhen, who was attending the meeting for the second time, had some experience, so she placed the bench in the outermost circle so they could talk quietly without attracting attention. 

“Sister Hua, how is your work going?” Liang Baozhen had asked Liu Nianhua a few days ago how she felt about being a ticket seller, but she seemed too busy and didn’t have time to say much. 

Liu Nianhua recalled being pushed on the crowded bus and felt a little embarrassed. “It’s okay. I’m still getting used to it.”

Yesterday, Liu Nianhua was criticized by the captain. She had always been gentle and quiet, and while that was fine in the courtyard, it didn’t work on the bus. 

The bus was always packed, with people of all ages squeezing in to the point that everyone was suffocating from the crowd. It was a test of skill for ticket sellers to handle the money and tear tickets in such situations. 

Liu Nianhua had just arrived, and her voice was still soft, so she didn’t dare to be rude to the passengers, but she couldn’t control the situation. 

“Nianhua, you need to learn quickly. You can’t handle the money and tear tickets like this. If you don’t improve, you’ll never get things right,” the captain’s words made Liu Nianhua lower her head and just say yes repeatedly. 

During this morning’s shift, she looked at the bus full of people and mustered the courage to shout. When her voice couldn’t drown out the noisy sound on the bus, she turned up the volume even louder. People always tried to squeeze in, believing that it was only right since they were paying anyway. 

“You did a good job then!” Liang Baozhen felt that Liu Nianhua had adapted well. “You just need to ask for things one by one. You should learn from Aunt Luo, her voice is so loud, you can hear it in the next courtyard.” 

Liu Nianhua chuckled, especially since Aunt Luo was making a fuss again and her voice was indeed loud. “I’ll try my best to learn. This is my first time working, and I’ve learned that it’s not easy to work outside this time, but I can learn a lot. Today, our bus company actually gave everyone a piece of peach cake, saying it’s an employee benefit.” 

Employee benefits sound like a great sense of belonging. Liu Nianhua divided a piece of peach cake into three pieces and ate them with her two children. She thought it was the most delicious peach cake she had ever eaten, given that it was from her work. 

“That’s great; your benefits are pretty good. You’ll be even happier when you get your salary. Really, nothing is more exciting than having the money in your own hands.” 

*** 

When Xu Shengjie woke up from his sleep, the room was quiet except for some talking and noisy sounds outside. 

He went out to wash his face with cold water and saw that everyone in the courtyard was sitting outside, listening to Uncle Wei’s meeting. 

When he got closer, he heard Uncle Wei speaking passionately. 

“We must deal with this matter seriously and make sure to bring the criminal to justice! Everyone, please think carefully about whether there is anything unusual after you go home. Comrade Xiao Liang has provided important information. Something hit her window last night. It is very likely that it was the thief…” 

“A thief came to our door last night?” Xu Shengjie pulled Liang Baozhen aside from the crowd. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“You just got back from the night shift, it’s important that you sleep first.” Liang Baozhen told him about the noise she heard last night and pointed to her bedroom window. “It sounded like something hit it.” 

Xu Shengjie reached out and touched the window, then looked under it. There was only a little black ash and nothing else. 

He picked up the black ash with his fingers and put it to his nose to smell. There was no strange smell. Xu Shengjie put the black ash into a wooden box and kept it for later.

However, with the thefts in the courtyard, he needed to be cautious. He immediately checked the locks on the doors and windows again. 

Fortunately, his night shifts this month are over, and he can be at home starting tonight. 

After all the hassle, the meeting was not over yet. Liang Baozhen and Xu Shengjie exchanged glances, “Should we go back?” 

Xu Shengjie listened to what Uncle Wei was saying from a distance, “Let me say three more points. First…” 

Good grief, he said this ten minutes ago, exactly the same thing, three points after three points. 

“Let’s go back.” Xu Shengjie pulled her into the house, too lazy to listen to Uncle Wei’s nagging. 

After returning to the house, Xu Shengjie went to take something out of the clothes he had changed in the afternoon. Liang Baozhen was still looking towards the window, trying to find out something. When she turned around, she saw Xu Shengjie taking out a bundle of money. 

“Where did you get so much money?” As soon as she asked, Liang Baozhen realized something. “Did you go to the black market again?” 

Xu Shengjie spread the money on the table. It was a thick stack, probably around a hundred pieces. 

“I really didn’t do it on purpose” Xu Shengjie, who handed over the money, felt really wronged. 

After getting married, Xu Shengjie stopped going to the black market because it was dangerous. If something went wrong, his family could not afford the risk. But his brother Zheng Chengcai knew that he could assemble radios, so he asked him for help. Xu Shengjie initially helped assemble a few radios after Zheng Chengcai said that his family needed them. However, he soon realized that Zheng Chengcai needed more and more, which was clearly for selling at the black market. 

Despite that, Zheng Chengcai wasn’t ungrateful. He immediately shared the money with him. Each assembled radio was sold for eighty yuan without a ticket. Xu Shengjie assembled four radios in total; they were sold for three hundred and twenty yuan, and he received one hundred and fifty yuan as his share. 

Liang Baozhen knew that the black market could be profitable, and many people had made their fortunes there, but she was thinking about the upcoming economic reforms that would soon be approaching and how they would soon be able to conduct business openly. Why would they take the risk to make money now? 

“What kind of friend is that? Don’t associate with him in the future.” 

“That person is my comrade-in-arms. Something happened at home. He is not very well off, and he urgently needs money. But he mentioned the buyer is not someone he found himself; he said he’s working with others on the black market.” Xu Shengjie understood his wife’s concerns and didn’t want to take risks either. “I ended up on the ‘pirate’s ship’ by mistake. Don’t worry, I definitely won’t go to the black market.” 

Liang Baozhen put the money away. Recently, they had four hundred yuan at home, and it was safer to deposit it in the bank. “Remember, if you really want to do business, we can wait a little longer. Maybe soon we’ll be able to do business openly.” 

On Sundays, the people in Damei Village was also resting. With winter approaching, there was little work in the fields. The commune had organized the villagers to dig water ditches for half a month, but recently things had quieted down again. 

Liang Baozhen asked the villagers to pass on a message in advance. When Song Chunhua knew that her daughter was coming back today, she was so excited that she couldn’t sleep well all night. 

Liang Baojun bought two pounds of pork ribs and two pounds of pork yesterday. Today, they planned to make corn rib soup and boiled pork slices. 

His second son said that he had found a job in town and could buy some good things every now and then, and even get meat tickets. Song Chunhua always suspected that her child might be taking the wrong path and repeatedly told him to be careful and not to be careless in anything. 

Liang Zhigao, on the other hand, was very pleased. He felt that his son should go out and try his luck, as long as nothing serious happened. 

Liang Baojun has been in high spirits recently. He bought some good things for his family and even brought back several feet of cloth. Baozhen had previously established a relationship with the town’s winery, and Liang Baojun went to discuss cooperation. He dug up some iron thorns and supplied them to the winery, it was purchase at the market price and he make another fortune. 

However, he did not only make money by digging up iron thorns. Recently, he actually sold four radios and made fifty yuan! 

Just when he was getting ready to get down to work, Zheng Chengcai, who was working with him, suddenly informed him that the person assembling the radios had quit, which made him extremely angry. 

He mention to him that the person assembling the radio said that he was married and didn’t want to do such a dangerous thing. Liang Baojun shook his head and disagreed. What’s so great about having a wife? Is your wife a fairy who has fascinated you? 

If you don’t make money when you have the chance, you’re a fool! 

The author has something to say: 

Xu Shengjie: Who is scolding me? 

Liang Baozhen: Who is praising me? 

Liang Baojun: “…”