“Search.”

Someone shouted loudly, though no one knew exactly who.

At that command, the few people immediately grabbed all the luggage that Qiao Jiuru and the others had left on the ground.

In the yard of the Gewei Committee, the Su family’s luggage was all thrown together, except for a large bundle belonging to Xi and a bag containing items for Dabao and Xiaobao.

Soon, all the bundles were torn open, and the contents were scattered messily across the ground.

The Red Armbands picked up the scattered items, pulling, tugging, and squeezing them.

They even ripped open the quilt covers and dumped out the quilts to search inside, fearing money might be hidden there.

“Why is it all just quilts and clothes? Nothing valuable at all.”

“What the hell, there’s absolutely nothing here.”

“I just don’t believe they have nothing.”

“Probably the city officials in Jing had already ransacked their stuff. What good things could be left here?”

“That’s not necessarily true. Those stinky intellectuals are pretty clever, their brains work differently from ours. Maybe they hid it where we didn’t notice.”

“Good stuff might be hidden on their bodies.”

“I think it must be on those two kids.”

“…”

Inside the small dark room, every single word spoken by those people outside entered Qiao Jiuru and her family’s ears without missing a beat, especially the last remark, which instantly changed their expressions.

They suspected the Su family had hidden money on the two children, so now their attention had turned to Dabao and Xiaobao.

Qiao Jiuru’s face darkened fiercely, her body trembling with anger.

She really hadn’t expected that, even here, they couldn’t prevent these people from harming the children.

Su Huaiyuan, Su Ze, and Zhou Wanwan also heard everything and were furious beyond words.

The adults might still be bearable, but children are the easiest to scare.

They feared those people wouldn’t be gentle if they targeted the two kids.

“Huaiyuan, we have sleeping pills. Should we give some to Dabao and Xiaobao?”

Qiao Jiuru’s mind was racing.

She quickly focused her consciousness into the medicine room inside the spatial West Courtyard and found some sleep aid medicine.

She didn’t want Dabao and Xiaobao to be frightened, so she wanted them to sleep and avoid all this.

“Is it safe?!”

Su Huaiyuan understood the implication behind his wife’s words and was most concerned about the safety of the medicine.

“It’s an ancestral remedy passed down in the Qiao family.”

Actually, Qiao Jiuru was not entirely confident about giving the kids medicine, so she hesitated.

They both remained somewhat suspicious of the medicines in the spatial West Courtyard’s pharmacy.

If it weren’t for their special circumstances, they wouldn’t dare take it themselves, and even now, they only dared to give it to themselves.

Time was pressing. Those people had fixed their sights on the two children and would soon come to search them.

“Everyone, take a little bit and taste it.”

Su Huaiyuan knew from his wife that in their previous life, the two children had died from fright, so this time they didn’t dare to gamble.

After a brief hesitation, he quickly made a decision.

Nearby, Su Ze and Zhou Wanwan heard their parents’ decision.

They had no choice but to agree; they were most afraid something would happen to their two sons.

Qiao Jiuru immediately took two sleeping pills from the pharmacy in the spatial West Courtyard—one handed to Su Huaiyuan, and the other she held herself, softly coaxing Xiaobao to lick it.

Xiaobao was already crying from exhaustion, drowsy and half-asleep.

When he heard grandma telling him to lick it, he obediently stuck out his little tongue and licked a bit.

Fortunately, the sleeping pill wasn’t very bitter, only a slight bitterness. After a few licks, Xiaobao fell asleep.

Dabao was treated the same way.

Just as the two little ones finished licking the sleeping pills, the Red Armbands, who had found nothing in the luggage, maliciously entered.

“Everyone get up, we’re going to search your bodies.”

These people were not polite at all and did not hide their intentions. As they shouted, they grabbed Su Huaiyuan and the others.

“Comrade, can you send a female comrade to search us? We’re really honest; there’s nothing on us. Whatever could be taken was already taken in the city of Jing.”

“Yes, comrade, we’re really not lying.”

Su Huaiyuan and Qiao Jiuru quickly blocked their sons and daughters-in-law and begged earnestly.

Qiao Jiuru herself was not afraid of being searched by a man; after all, she was almost fifty and had lived a previous life up to ninety. Her psychological age was over a hundred—she wasn’t afraid of being taken advantage of!

Besides, she had ways to punish anyone who tried to touch her; the pharmacy in the spatial West Courtyard contained many poisonous powders. Anyone who dared to lay a hand on her would lose their limbs.

“Forget it, go call Ah Xiu and Ah Hua to come search them. We all have wives; if the wives find out, there’d be an uproar.”

Fortunately, one of the Red Armbands listened and stopped the others.

Qiao Jiuru and Zhou Wanwan instantly breathed a sigh of relief. Zhou Wanwan was pale and trembling, almost unable to hold her youngest son.

Soon, Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze were dragged out to be searched.

Not long after, two young female comrades came in.

They first stripped Dabao and Xiaobao of their clothes and threw the clothes outside to the Red Armbands for inspection.

Luckily, during this process, Dabao and Xiaobao didn’t wake up; they were sleeping very soundly and didn’t even open their eyes when their clothes were removed.

Almost all their clothes were stripped off and tossed outside for inspection.

Then, Qiao Jiuru and Zhou Wanwan were thoroughly searched up and down, inside and out. In the end, only seventeen western coins and one-fen coins were found on them.

The two female comrades didn’t hesitate and took all the money. Finding nothing else on Qiao Jiuru and Zhou Wanwan, they finally let them go.

In the yard, those people found less than ten coins on Su Huaiyuan and nothing else. Angry, they cursed and swore, pushing Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze to the ground and even kicking them a few times to vent their anger.

After a few minutes, Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze were pushed back inside, the door locked behind them. They weren’t even given back the scattered luggage that lay in the yard.

Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan looked very grim.

In such cold weather, their thick cotton-padded clothes had been taken away, leaving only thin single-layer clothing on their bodies, which was very hard to endure in such cold.

Especially Dabao and Xiaobao, their clothes were not returned either.

Qiao Jiuru and Zhou Wanwan didn’t even have an extra piece of clothing to give them.

They could only hold the children tightly in their arms, trying to transfer their own body heat to them.

“A family of poor bums, just causing trouble for us.”

“Tomorrow we’ll hold a trial for them.”