Chapter 26: Robbery

Zhao Xiaomei, somewhat displeased, said, “Luo Qiao, don’t forget that in this village, our family is the only one that has some connection with you. So what if we borrow some things from you?”

After saying this, she hugged the items and walked out. The two sisters were just thinking about quickly taking the things home and didn’t notice a few villagers coming down the slope.

They thought that as long as they got the items into their house, they could just deny everything. Luo Qiao, a lonely orphan, wouldn’t be able to do anything against their Zhao family.

But they were wrong. Luo Qiao wouldn’t tolerate this behavior. When they ran out the gate and walked another two or three meters, Luo Qiao raised her voice and shouted, “Robbery! They’re stealing my things!

The Zhao family won’t let people live in peace. Everyone, come and see! The Zhao sisters are stealing things. They even bully an orphan girl!”

Luo Qiao had previously found a small piece of scallion in her space, squeezed out some juice, and closed her eyes to smear it, causing her tears to flow.

At that moment, the captain was escorting an official from the township to the village entrance. Hearing the commotion, they both stopped in their tracks.

Luo Qiao’s sharp, high-pitched voice could sing soprano. With this shout, people working in the village’s private plots gathered to watch the commotion.

Now, the Zhao sisters were stuck; they couldn’t advance or retreat, feeling somewhat ashamed as they looked at the gathering crowd.

Among the people coming down the hill was the Big-Mouth Li Xiulan. Li Xiulan was the type who couldn’t stand to see others doing well. Recently, the Zhao family had their son taken in by someone, but they also received two hundred yuan, which made her feel resentful.

She immediately said, “The Zhao sisters are really something. Luo Qiao said she wouldn’t lend them the things, but they tried to take them anyway. And they keep saying that the Zhao family is the only one with some connection to Luo Qiao in this village, so what’s the big deal about borrowing some things? You really have some nerve, bullying a little orphan girl like this.”

Luo Qiao just kept pretending to cry. With the irritating smell on her hands, the more she wiped her tears, the more they flowed. She was really giving it her all.

The captain and the commune cadre came over. Gao Jiefang asked, “What’s going on here?”

Li Xiulan quickly replied, “The Zhao sisters saw that Luo Qiao had just bought a new enamel basin and Liberation shoes. They wanted to borrow them, but Luo Qiao said she couldn’t because she had just bought them and didn’t have anything else.

But the Zhao sisters called her stingy and said that in this village, they were the only ones with any connection to her. They just grabbed her things and ran off. How could she not be upset?”

Zhao Xiaomei angrily retorted, “Aunt Xiulan, why do you always have to interfere? Luo Qiao clearly lent these things to us.”

Li Xiulan was not one to back down easily and snapped, “You did something shameless and still don’t want others to speak up about it? It’s not just me who heard it. We were five or six people together who all heard her say she wouldn’t lend them.”

An aunt standing next to Li Xiulan also chimed in, “Even if she didn’t lend them, you sisters couldn’t just grab them and run. Isn’t that clearly bullying?”

The captain approached the sobbing Luo Qiao and asked, “Luo Qiao, stop crying for a moment and tell us what happened.”

Luo Qiao wiped her face with her sleeve and hiccuped, “I had just returned from the commune when the second sister Zhao came over. She asked if I needed help tidying up my private plot. You can see the plot from my house, so I didn’t understand what she meant. I told her honestly that I had already tidied it up.

Then she asked if I had been to the commune and, without waiting for my response, walked into my house. When she saw the Liberation shoes on the kang, she said she wanted to borrow them.”