Chapter 13: Emptying Qian Changcai’s House

It would be almost nine o’clock. There were almost no families in the countryside who had televisions, but there were a few radios. However, the batteries were too expensive, and no one would listen to them so late. As for other entertainment activities, there were none at all. Therefore, everyone went to bed early. Qian Xiaolan walked around the whole village. Every household was dark and she didn’t meet anyone. When she reached the back door of Qian Changcai’s house, a deafening snoring sound came from the house. She curled her lips in disdain and climbed over the back wall. She went to Qian Mudan’s room first, but she wasn’t there.

Then she went to Qian Laiwang’s room, but there was no one there either. It seemed that the siblings had gone to their maternal grandparents’ house. That was better, it would be easier for her to do her thing. Sun Honghua and Qian Changcai, a couple indeed, were both sound sleepers. However, Qian Xiaolan, just in case, quietly entered the room and knocked them unconscious. Yesterday, when she came to move the furniture, there were too many people and she didn’t put them in the space. Tonight, she wouldn’t be polite. She took all the tables, chairs, benches, wardrobes, and chests in the room. The room instantly became empty. She picked up the flashlight on the bedside table and shone it around. The light bulb couldn’t be spared either.

 She frowned and glanced at the couple who were sleeping soundly. Qian Xiaolan’s eyes turned to the bed they were lying on. This bed was made by her father who worked overtime every day for a month. She had to take it away today no matter what. She didn’t want to carry the two of them, so she put them in the space and then quickly threw them out onto the ground. It was too cheap for them to stay in the space for a while. She shone the flashlight around the room again, making sure there was nothing left behind. Then her eyes were attracted to a patch of ground under the bed.

The soil on that patch of ground had obviously been turned over. Qian Xiaolan immediately thought of Wang Juhua’s scolding in front of the original owner. Qian Changfu’s mother had left many good things to her younger son and daughter-in-law. Qian Xiaolan’s eyes lit up. She took a hoe from the space and started digging. She didn’t dig very deep when she felt the hoe hit a hard object. She quickly squatted down and brushed the soil aside. A wooden box wrapped in a piece of cloth lay in the pit. The box was not big, about the size of a capitalist lady’s jewelry box.

 And, this one really had something. It was actually a box made of rosewood. When she opened it, she almost blinded her eyes. This wasn’t just a few pieces of gold jewelry. Besides a few pieces of gold jewelry, the whole box was filled with gold bars and silver dollars! It seemed that the biased old lady of the Qian family had a rather unusual identity. She had so many things, but she was unwilling to share even a little with her eldest son and daughters.

 Tsk—but who cares, now they were all hers. Qian Xiaolan happily put the things away. Then she quickly entered the space and picked up a Yuan Datou at random. It was actually a signed one yuan. She grabbed a handful in her hand. Four out of five were signed. There were quite a few, so she put one on the shelf for Wenxuan and asked him to buy two trucks of various medicines, ten tons of grain, and some oil and salt. Then she bought all the remaining money into fabrics, cotton, and quilts that were suitable for this era. She took down a large bag of medicine and dry food prepared by Wenxuan.

She glanced at it. Not only were the medicines and dry food needed by the new customer prepared, but there were also extras. She didn’t take them out, but transferred them all to the new customer. The situation on the new customer’s side seemed to be very urgent. He had been guarding the mall, and her medicine was taken away as soon as it was put on the shelf. Then a Type 65 appeared in the trading bar. Qian Xiaolan took out the things and went out of the space to continue to fleece the sheep. Tonight, she wouldn’t feel sorry for the original owner’s life and the grievances she had suffered over the years if she didn’t fleece Qian Changcai’s family bald.

After leaving the master bedroom, Qian Xiaolan walked towards Qian Laiwang’s room. Collect, collect, collect! She emptied his room, made sure there was no place to hide treasures, and then went to Qian Mudan’s room. As usual, she emptied it. Then she went to the kitchen, the utility room, the firewood room, and the yard. She took everything she could, not leaving them a single piece of firewood or a broom. Before leaving, Qian Xiaolan looked at the tightly closed door. She couldn’t bear to part with such a good piece of wood, so she took it off. After taking down the door, she turned her attention to the doors of the other rooms.

They were all made of solid wood, which was good for burning! In the end, Qian Xiaolan took down everything she could, then clapped her hands lightly and turned to leave. She went back the same way and wiped out the traces along the way. After all this tossing and turning, more than two hours had passed, and Qian Xiaolan was sweating. She went back home, poured out the water from the thermos, washed herself briefly, and then put her bed in the space to sleep. Fortunately, after the courtyard wall was raised today, Hu Guifen knew that she didn’t like to sleep with others, so she didn’t come over. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so smooth tonight. She slept soundly in the space where time flowed very fast. It was only three hours later outside.

 Qian Xiaolan was refreshed and began to tidy up the spoils of war from last night. She counted the jewelry box. There were fifty-three Yuan Datou, four “O” versions, five open-mouth shell versions, and the rest were signed versions. There were also ten gold bars, a pair of gold bracelets, two gold necklaces, three pairs of gold earrings, two gold rings, a pair of jade bracelets, and a jade ring.

What a treasure! After counting, Qian Xiaolan grinned and giggled for a while, then went to tidy up the boxes and cabinets. As a result, she only found twenty yuan. This made her very depressed. She had forgotten to search the two of them. Sun Honghua’s old clothes were all packed into sacks and she would find a chance to throw them away to other villages for others to wear.

The cabinets, tables, chairs, and other wooden furniture were all chopped up and placed in the warehouse to be used as firewood. After tidying up these things, Qian Xiaolan was exhausted, especially from chopping wood. She hadn’t done this kind of work for over ten years, and her arms were numb. Luckily, the bag of medicine Wenxuan had given her last night contained a spray. She sprayed some on her arms and lay down to sleep. Only then did she feel better. Seeing that it was getting late, Qian Xiaolan emerged from the space, refreshed and ready for breakfast.

 Meanwhile, at the front door of Qian Changcai’s house, a scream rang out, followed by two more screams from inside the house. The screams were so piercing, Qian Xiaolan heard them from the end of the village. A glint of excitement flashed in her eyes. She locked the courtyard door and ran towards the village. At this moment, the front door of Qian Changcai’s house was in chaos. Sun Honghua sat in the courtyard, cursing at the thief. Qian Changcai, his eyes bloodshot, demanded an explanation from Gu Shengli. Gu Shengli’s face was grim. He had been the village chief for over ten years, and he had never encountered such a major theft. With this incident, their village had no hope of being named an “Excellent Brigade” this year.

They might even receive a scolding from the commune leaders. The village chief, with a worried expression, looked around the courtyard. Villagers stood at the entrance, looking at Sun Honghua and her husband with shock and sympathy. Sun Honghua’s eyes glared fiercely at everyone she suspected, but she couldn’t see anything.

She continued to wail, slapping her thighs, “Oh, my mother! Which heartless person stole everything from our house, not even leaving a single piece of wood! We can’t live anymore! We can’t live anymore!” “Village chief, you must get justice for us! You must catch that thief and have them shot!”