Chapter 7.2

Although Su Ying had clearly seen Aunt Niu take the package, without solid evidence, confronting her directly would lead nowhere. With Aunt Niu’s personality, she would definitely deny it. Su Ying’s mind quickly turned, and she came up with a clever trick. When she explained it to Huang Liang, his eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly.

“Good! Let’s do it like this. I’m counting on you. If we keep losing packages like this every day, I can’t handle it anymore,” he said.

After discussing the plan with Huang Liang, Su Ying first rode her tricycle home to unload her own packages. Then, she pedaled off again—this time heading towards the village head’s house.

Near the village head’s home was a small broadcasting station. The key was kept with him, and anyone needing to make an announcement would have to ask him to open it. Once a broadcast was made, everyone in the village could hear it.

Su Ying knocked on the village head’s door. When he opened it, she put on an anxious expression and said, “Uncle Village Head, something of mine is missing. I need to make an announcement right away. If someone took it by mistake, it could be a big problem!”

“What’s wrong? What’s missing?” the village head asked, startled by her tone.

“I just took my parents to S City and bought a lot of things. I mailed them back, and one of the packages was labeled as pastries—but actually, it’s medicine disguised as pastries. If the wrong person eats it, they could be poisoned!” Su Ying said in a flustered voice.

“I can’t wait any longer, Uncle Village Head! I need to use the broadcast now—if someone eats it, it’ll be terrible!” Su Ying tugged at his sleeve urgently.

Alarmed, the village head hurried with her to the broadcast room. He unlocked the door, turned on the microphone, and shouted, “Whoever took Su Ying’s package by mistake from the courier station—the one labeled pastries—it actually contains medicine and is poisonous! Don’t eat it! Everyone, check your packages right away to make sure you didn’t take the wrong one!”

He repeated the message three times. Soon, the whole village was buzzing. Su Ying’s parents were also puzzled; they hadn’t bought any medicine, let alone anything poisonous. Then, over the loudspeaker, they heard their daughter’s voice confirming the warning.

“Yes, that’s right! The items are wrapped with medicine. If you eat it by accident, you’ll be poisoned!”

Curious villagers began heading towards the village head’s house. After all, people in the village loved a good spectacle.

Meanwhile, at Aunt Niu’s house, panic set in as she heard the broadcast. She had indeed taken Su Ying’s pastry package and had already given a few pieces to her son. To make matters worse, her son had been running to the toilet all afternoon. As soon as he emerged, Aunt Niu grabbed him and the pastry box and rushed towards Su Ying, furious.

She stormed into the village head’s house, shaking the package in Su Ying’s face. “What did you put in this? My son’s been poisoned! You’re going to pay for this!”

Su Ying glanced at the pastry gift box in Aunt Niu’s hands. The foam box had already been opened. Out of ten boxes inside, one was missing, and another had been half-eaten. She nodded calmly.

“So it was you who took my package, Aunt Niu! I was worried sick at the station when I couldn’t find it,” Su Ying said.

She quickly took the package from Aunt Niu. “Now we’ve caught you red-handed, Aunt Niu. Liangzi!” she called out loudly to the crowd.

Huang Liang stepped forward.

“Aunt Niu, in the past two or three days, you’ve stolen three packages from me. You need to pay up,” he demanded, holding out his hand.

Aunt Niu froze. Wait—what? Wasn’t this about poisoning? How had it suddenly turned into catching a thief?

“Pay up? Su Ying should be the one paying me for my son’s medical bills! He’s had diarrhea all afternoon because of those pastries!” Aunt Niu snapped. Her son, however, had already slipped away from her grasp and dashed back into the village head’s bathroom.

“Don’t worry. My pastries aren’t poisonous,” Su Ying said calmly as she tore open another box and popped a piece into her mouth. “But we needed you to hand over the package yourself, Aunt Niu.”

The village head suddenly understood. “So the package was stolen… Aunt Niu, it was you?!”

Everyone’s eyes fell on Aunt Niu. She panicked. “I—I didn’t steal it! I just… took the wrong one by accident!”

“By accident? You stood there for ages, carefully choosing our package. You thought we weren’t back yet and wouldn’t be picking it up anytime soon. Once the pastries were gone, there’d be no evidence, right? But don’t forget—there’s surveillance at the courier station,” Su Ying said, pulling out her phone. On the screen was a clear video showing Aunt Niu sneakily taking the package.

The crowd began whispering and pointing. Aunt Niu, flustered, shouted back, “It’s just one box of pastries! Fine, I’ll pay you back! But you have to pay my son’s medical bills. He’s been having diarrhea all afternoon because of your food!”

Just then, her son emerged, pale and weak, and destroyed her lie on the spot.

“Mom, I told you the meat smelled sour, but you didn’t believe me and forced me to eat it! I’ve been running to the toilet all day! Can you just take me to the doctor already?”

The villagers burst into laughter. Aunt Niu’s face turned bright red. She tried to drag her son away, but Huang Liang blocked her path.

“Pay up. You stole several packages these past few days,” he said firmly.

Aunt Niu, face black with anger, fished a hundred-yuan note out of her wallet. Su Ying smiled as she took it.

“That’s not enough, Aunt Niu. Including my package, let’s assume you ate two boxes of pastries. Ten boxes cost 268 yuan, which is 26.8 yuan per box. I’ll round it up to 50 yuan for two boxes. Plus, you need to compensate Liangzi 450 yuan for the packages you stole from others. That’s a total of 500 yuan.”

From the crowd, Sister Chunjuan chimed in, “That’s right! My husband bought a brand-name insulated cup for 160 yuan, and it went missing. Liangzi had to reimburse me. So it was you who stole it, Aunt Niu!”

Aunt Niu tried to walk away with her son, but Sister Dongdong noticed the silver bracelet on her wrist. Furious, she yanked up Aunt Niu’s sleeve.

“That’s my bracelet! My husband bought it for me for 290 yuan! I wondered why only my package went missing when none of the others ever did. And you even dared to wear it in public!”

The villagers erupted into more angry chatter. Aunt Niu lowered her head as far as it would go. Reluctantly, she took out another 400 yuan, grabbed her son, and fled the scene.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Su Ying walked over to apologize to the village head. But he already understood the situation. Without such a trick, Aunt Niu would never have admitted her theft. He scolded Su Ying lightly for being “a little trickster” and dispersed the crowd.

Su Ying picked out two different boxes of pastries from the recovered package and gave them to Huang Liang as a token of thanks. They were specialty souvenirs from S City. Then, with her parents waiting nearby, she returned home.