Yang Xiaoye returned home at night and she was exhausted.

The blisters on her feet had not healed, so she had endured the pain to get back. There was no other choice. It was almost dark and if she didn’t leave then, she wouldn’t be able to walk anymore.

Yang Xiaoye just wanted to take a good bath and then go to sleep.

She didn’t even feel like eating.

When she returned to Old Yang’s house, everyone was gathered in the main room for dinner. Yang Xiaoyue stood up, intending to call her.

But Yang Xiaoye was too tired, so she waved and went back to her room.

She didn’t notice the various looks and uncomfortable expressions in the main room.

After a quick wash and change of clothes, Yang Xiaoye resisted the urge to collapse onto the kang. She had been exposed to the sun all morning and her face had turned red. She could bear everything else, but she couldn’t stand her face looking ugly.

Unfortunately, there was no sunscreen available at that time but she luckily brought facial cream. By mixing it with spiritual spring water, it should be fine to apply both externally and internally.

Since she used the cream every day, she had left it outside her space.

There was a kang cabinet in her room, which she and Yang Xiaoyue shared, each taking half. She had placed all her things on this cabinet.

But when she opened the cabinet, she found that the cream was gone. There were signs that the cabinet had been rifled through.

Has someone touched her things?

Yang Xiaoye didn’t say anything and began to take everything out of the cabinet.

Because she has a special space, most of her things were kept there.

On the outside, there were only bedding, two sets of clothes and some necessary daily items.

Yang Xiaoye had decided she would go to the town every half month to pick up letters and other things. This way, she would know where her things had come from and wouldn’t need to explain.

The space was safe and convenient for storing things, so she hadn’t taken out much.

But now, the bedding and clothes were still there, but daily necessities were missing. A face towel, a bath towel and a bottle of cream.

She sneered.

Yang Xiaoye immediately eliminated Yang Xiaoyue as the suspect, even though they shared the same room and she was the most likely to take the items.

However, after spending time with her, Yang Xiaoye realized that Xiaoyue wasn’t like her parents. She was timid and weak and wouldn’t dare to touch her things, let alone steal them.

It was easy to judge who the thief was.

No wonder no one said anything when she came back just now.

It seems there’s more than one culprit.

Yang Xiaoye was a little angry. Not only were they relatives, but even if she is an ordinary educated youth living with villagers, there was no excuse for rummaging through her things.

Meanwhile, Yang Xiaoxiang, who was eating in the main room, was distracted and couldn’t taste the food.

Today, Yang Xiaoye had stood out in the village, catching her off guard.

Yang Xiaoxiang didn’t understand. She had clearly run back secretly, so how did it turn into a story about her mother being seriously ill, even being reported in the newspapers?

She didn’t believe it.

The last time Yang Xiaoye came to the village, she was still the delicate young lady.

Even though many things had changed this time, her delicate appearance remained unchanged.

Someone was seriously ill… Who would believe that?

Yang Xiaoxiang suddenly realized she had found a big opportunity.

If she could prove that Yang Xiaoye had lied, it would be an even bigger crime.

Lying and being reported in the newspapers would only make the situation more serious and sensational.

After figuring this out, Yang Xiaoxiang couldn’t wait any longer and rushed to the town.

She remembered that Yang Xiaoye hadn’t received any telegram at first and she could expose the lie if she checked.

When she arrived in town, she checked the telegram records.

To her surprise, she found a letter. Although she couldn’t see the contents, the timing was exactly right.

Yang Xiaoxiang froze. She didn’t care about the people urging her from behind and just stood there, stunned.

Could it be that everything that happened before was just a dream? It couldn’t possibly be. How could that luxurious life, the one she had always dreamed of, be just a dream?

“Hey, are you going to send it or not? There are people waiting behind us. By the way, are you Yang Xiaoye? Here’s a telegram for you.”

Yang Xiaoxiang snapped back to reality and instinctively admitted it.

She didn’t realize it, but deep down, she was consumed with jealousy toward Yang Xiaoye. She envied everything about her and wished she could be her.

By the time Yang Xiaoxiang came to her senses, she had already read the telegram.

Chen Yu, Yang Xiaoye’s mother, worried that Yang Xiaoye might struggle in the countryside. She wrote many comforting words and promised to send more things in the future. She also asked her not to save the things she had brought back.

‘What! She brought so many things?’

Yang Xiaoxiang felt a surge of anger.

She had brought so many delicious foods, including meat, rice and noodles, but now she had sent dozens of kilograms of them away.

A plan suddenly formed in her mind. Since Yang Xiaoye’s return was a fact, she just needed to make sure she couldn’t stay in the old Yang family.

She didn’t believe that if she took the contents of the telegram back, Grandma Yang would forgive Yang Xiaoye.

This led to what happened next.

Yang Xiaoxiang went home and told Grandma Yang about it, hoping she would take action against Yang Xiaoye.

However, Grandma Yang wasn’t a typical person. After thinking it over, she found Li Shujing and asked her to look through Yang Xiaoye’s things.

Grandma Yang had a clever plan.

Yang Xiaoye is, after all, their real relative. What was wrong with her taking things her son sent for her granddaughter?  

It’s just that rummaging through someone else’s things didn’t sound good if word got out, so Grandma Yang instructed Li Shujing to do it instead.

This way, she could gain something and maintain her reputation, killing two birds with one stone.

In reality, Grandma Yang had her own selfish reasons. Yang Xiaoye was a young girl who had come to their village alone and Grandma Yang, as her elder, felt she needed to control the girl.

After all, she was the elder and she believed that the girl should respect her no matter what.

…

But Grandma Yang never expected that Yang Xiaoye is not a common girl.

Moreover, Yang Guoyao, Xiaoye’s father had worked hard to get where he was today with her mother’s well-off family. Why should Yang Xiaoye endure the bullying from the Yang family?

“You touched my things.”

Yang Xiaoye walked into the main room carrying her bag, spread it out and asked directly.

“What are you talking about, little Ye girl? Everyone is eating, don’t make everything dusty. How can people eat?”

Li Shujing felt uncomfortable and subconsciously used her position as an elder to pressure Yang Xiaoye.

“Xiaoye, stop making a fuss and go back to your room. The adults are eating here.”

Grandma Yang also seemed unhappy.

She wasn’t angry at Yang Xiaoye, but because Li Shujing returned without finding any food.

‘Didn’t you say you brought a lot of things?’

‘Why are there only a few clothes and bedding?’

When Grandma Yang thought of this, her expression turned even worse.

“I asked, did you touch my things?”

Yang Xiaoye’s face became serious. She didn’t back down from the other person’s words.

“Although I live here, I am still an educated youth in the village. I don’t know which rule says villagers can search through the belongings of educated youth living in their homes.”

Yang Xiaoye’s tone was blunt and showed no mercy.

Grandpa Yang, who had been quiet until then, put down his bowl and chopsticks with a grunt, clearly unhappy with Yang Xiaoye talking back to her elders.

“Yang Xiaoye, don’t go too far. You still have to call your grandparents, grandpa and grandma. Didn’t your third brother teach you what filial piety^[1]Basically respecting elders in a familial context. is?”

Li Shujing, feeling guilty, subconsciously yelled at Yang Xiaoye.

Her tone was too obvious and Yang Xiaoye quickly realized who had gone through her things.

Who else could be involved?

Yang Xiaoye looked around. The second wife looked confused. Her cousin, Yang Jiaqiang’s face was flushed, clearly ashamed of what had happened in his family. Yang Xiaoyue’s eyes were red from fear. Yang Xiaoxiang had a gloomy expression and Yang Xiaohua kept her head down.

Yang Jiaxiang just kept eating, not caring about the situation.

Li Shujing, however, was the most vocal.

Yang Xiaoye had a plan in mind.

“My bag was turned over and some things were missing. Shouldn’t this be explained clearly?”

When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.

Even Grandma Yang didn’t expect Li Shujing to be so greedy and secretly take Yang Xiaoye’s things.

“Little Ye girl, please tell me what you lost.”

Yang Guorui, considered the most upright person in the family, stared at Sun Juan beside him, his face pale.

“Why are you looking at me? I just came back from work with you, my son and my daughter. We had dinner right after we got home. How would I know what happened?”

Sun Juan had a bad temper and isn’t intended to be wronged.

“It was my sister-in-law who came back the earliest.”

“You! What are you talking about? You mean I took it?!”

The accusation was aimed at Li Shujing, who jumped up in surprise like a mouse whose tail had been stepped on.

“I didn’t say anything. Why is sister-in-law so anxious?”

Sun Juan curled her lips and sneered.

She and Li Shujing had never gotten along since her marriage. She looked down on Li Shujing’s greed for small things and Li Shujing looked down on her because her parents’ home was in the same village.

Besides, both of them had grandsons. Why did Yang Jiaxiang get to eat so well while her own son, Jiaqiang, only got ordinary pancakes?

Sun Juan had been dissatisfied for a long time.

“Stop arguing. Xiaoye girl, what did you lose?”

Grandma Yang interrupted everyone and looked coldly at Yang Xiaoye.

“A bottle of cream and two pieces of cloth.”

Yang Xiaoye answered slowly.

When Grandma Yang heard this, she became angrier.

Li Shujing was so shortsighted. She thought such small things were worth stealing.

“Oh, they are all small things. Why don’t you go back and look for them? Maybe you just forgot where you put them.”

As soon as Yang Xiaoye heard this, she knew the other party wanted to keep the matter quiet and didn’t want it to be made public.

“Little Ye, you just came to the village. You don’t know that villagers like to talk nonsense when there’s nothing to do. You said we all have the surname Yang, but you can’t write two Yangs with one stroke. There’s no need to make this a big deal.”

Grandpa Yang took out his pipe, puffed twice and spoke.

Yang Xiaoye snorted.

They had a plan. They knew if the matter continued, they would be the ones embarrassed, so they wanted to settle it quietly and then threaten her.

“Well, what Grandpa said makes sense. Maybe I just forgot something.”

Yang Xiaoye spoke slowly.

“I know my last name is Yang and it would be embarrassing if this got out to the public. But I’ve only been here for a day and my bag has already been turned over. Who knows what could happen in the future?”

Yang Xiaoye understood that if she let this matter go easily, she would have no voice in the Yang family in the future.

“Then what do you want to do?” Grandpa Yang frowned, clearly unhappy.

He didn’t like his authority being challenged, especially by his own grandchildren.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered Yang Guoyao. Like father, like daughter.

“How about this, I’ll move my things to the educated youth camp to live and eat with them.”

“What! No way.”

Grandpa Yang slammed the table in anger. He thought of many possible outcomes, but never expected Yang Xiaoye would want to move out.

His Yang family would still be here, but his granddaughter, who had gone to the countryside as an educated youth, would be living in the youth settlement. If outsiders saw this, they wouldn’t know what to say about them.