Chapter 51 : Who do you say is the thief who stole things?

Xiao Cui, who had been lowering her head, suddenly looked up, her eyes flashing with excitement and anticipation.  

“Sister Weiwei, is that true?”  

Song Shiwei smiled and nodded.  

“Of course it’s true! As long as you want to learn!”  

“I do! Of course, I do!!”  

Xiao Cui nodded eagerly, her eyes brimming with joyful tears.  

Zhou Tingyue and Zhou Cheng chuckled beside them.  

Zhou Cheng said, “I still have several pencils and exercise books. I’ll give some to you and Xiaojun later!”  

Xiao Cui hesitated, feeling a little embarrassed.  

“No, no, no, Zhou Cheng, you still need them for school. Keep them for your homework! I can just use a branch to write!”  

Zhou Tingyue thought for a moment.  

“Zhou Cheng, go find your old exercise books, and those of your brothers and sisters, and give them to Xiaojun and Xiao Cui. They can use the blank sides to practice! Otherwise, they’ll just end up being sold as scrap paper!”  

That was a great idea!  

Song Shiwei agreed, and this time, Xiao Cui smiled and accepted without hesitation.  

—  

When they got home, the little ones were still awake.  

Zhou Wei and Zhou Xinxin kept circling around Song Shiwei, their little faces full of concern.  

“Mom, where have you been?”  

“Yeah! We didn’t see you the whole day, and you only came back when it was dark! We were so worried!”  

Song Shiwei chuckled and told them about her trip to Xiao Cui’s house.  

Zhou Xinxin asked curiously, “What does Sister Xiao Cui’s house look like?”  

Zhou Lin and Zhou Wei were also obviously curious.  

The smile on Song Shiwei’s face faded slightly, and she pursed her lips.  

“If you want to hear about it, get into bed, and I’ll tell you while we lie down.”  

The little ones immediately scrambled into bed, running faster than each other.  

Once they were all settled in, Song Shiwei ignored Zhou Tingyue’s pleading eyes and lay down beside Zhou Xinxin.  

Zhou Tingyue looked at his young wife longingly, but seeing that he wasn’t invited, he had no choice but to drag a small stool over and sit by the bed, feeling utterly aggrieved.  

Song Shiwei glanced at him in amusement but pretended not to notice.  

She gently patted Xinxin and began to vividly describe everything she had seen at Xiao Cui’s home.  

She felt that this was a great opportunity to teach them an important lesson  

To learn from Xiao Cui’s filial piety, bravery, diligence, and strength.  

To admire Xiaojun’s love for learning and his determination despite hardships.  

As they listened, all the children fell into deep thought, especially Zhou Cheng. His gaze drifted far away, as if his thoughts had wandered to a distant place.  

Finally, the children spoke  

“Sister Xiao Cui is so pitiful!”  

“Sister Xiao Cui is such a good person. I want to learn from her!”  

And amidst this atmosphere of reflection, they slowly fell asleep, murmuring things like  

“So Brother Xiaojun wants to go to school so badly, and I never even appreciated the chance I have…”  

But what shocked Song Shiwei the most was what Zhou Lin said just before closing his eyes.  

“I’m going to study hard and get into a good university so that I can give all of you a better life!”  

Zhou Tingyue was clearly surprised. His biggest headache had always been the children’s attitude toward studying.  

They skipped school, got into fights, and caused trouble every other day especially Zhou Cheng and Zhou Lin.  

It never took more than ten days before the school called their parents in!  

Even the teachers at school got headaches just hearing their names.  

And yet today, Zhou Lin actually said he wanted to take the college entrance exam?

Although he didn’t quite believe he could keep it up, at least it was a good start.  

The most important thing was that all these good changes had happened after his little girl arrived.  

He glanced at Song Shiwei, who was gently patting Song Xinxin on the bed while humming softly.  

She seemed a little sleepy her eyelids drooped slightly, the corners of her mouth curved into a faint smile, and her face looked peaceful and gentle.  

She looked so quiet and beautiful.  

At that moment, Zhou Tingyue felt an unfamiliar sense of tranquility wash over him.  

It was the kind of feeling that made him wish time could stop right here, forever.  

He wanted to stay like this, with them, until the end of time.  

A warm current slowly flowed through his heart as he watched Song Shiwei.  

—  

The next morning, after breakfast, Song Shiwei watered the vegetable garden in front of the house. It was rare that the children didn’t rush out to play right after eating.  

Zhou Lin, Zhou Wei, and Zhou Xinxin were each holding a book and reading inside the house. Even though Xinxin was just in kindergarten, she already recognized quite a few words!  

After carefully writing out some characters, she proudly ran outside to show Song Shiwei.  

When she heard Song Shiwei praise her exaggeratedly, her little face turned red with joy.  

Meanwhile, Zhou Cheng had gathered all of his younger siblings’ old books and stacked them neatly in the corner of the living room.  

Seeing Song Shiwei watering the plants, he silently walked over, took the bucket from her hands, and said, “Let me do it!”  

Song Shiwei wiped the sweat from her forehead and straightened up.  

Watching the young boy bend over to water the plants, she couldn’t help but smile.  

Well, well, now he was learning how to be considerate toward her. This was quite a change!  

Thinking of rewarding them, she decided to make something delicious for lunch.  

But just as she was about to head back inside, a loud commotion erupted from the small path nearby.  

A group of people was approaching, talking loudly, creating quite a stir.  

Song Shiwei had no interest in joining the commotion and was about to turn around when she suddenly heard a sharp voice yell, “It’s him! He’s the little thief who stole our things!!”  

The voice was so loud that everyone turned to look in the direction the woman was pointing.  

Song Shiwei frowned and glanced up, just in time to see a middle-aged woman angrily pointing at Zhou Cheng, who was still holding the bucket, looking stunned.  

The noise drew out Sun Meimei, Jian Qiu, Wang Chunxiang, and others from their houses.  

The group of villagers happened to stop right in front of Sun Meimei’s house, bumping into her.  

Sun Meimei quickly grabbed the middle-aged woman and asked, “Sister-in-law Jiang, what are you doing? Who are you calling a thief? What happened?”  

Jian Qiu also rushed over.  

“That’s right! Sister-in-law Jiang, what’s wrong? Why are you making such a scene with so many people around?”  

The woman, whom they called Sister-in-law Jiang, stopped and pointed angrily at Zhou Cheng.  

“Our house was robbed! If my neighbor hadn’t told me that he saw this boy sneaking into our yard, I wouldn’t have even known that our things were stolen by this little thief!”  

Being accused of theft in these times was a serious matter.  

Not only was Zhou Cheng already a teenager, but he was also still in school. If this accusation spread, it could ruin his reputation and affect his education.  

In this kind of society, once someone was labeled a thief, they would be looked down upon and criticized wherever they went.  

Even if he was proven innocent later, there would always be people gossiping behind his back.  

Song Shiwei saw that Zhou Cheng was finally starting to turn his life around, and she would never allow anyone to slander him now!  

She stepped forward, standing protectively in front of Zhou Cheng.  

Then, looking directly at the middle-aged woman, her voice turned cold.  

“Who are you calling a thief? If you want to accuse someone, show proof! If you don’t have any, then don’t blame me for being rude!”