Chapter 18: The Beginning

Wu Dazhuang had no idea that a huge sum of money had disappeared from his home.

He was still obsessing over the money Jing Xi had taken previously. Over the past few days, he had secretly followed her from time to time, trying to see where she went and what she did.

Aside from visiting the Liu family, she either stayed at home cleaning, cooking, or sleeping. Jing Xi hadn’t done anything else, and her room still had nothing of value.

This time, Wu Dazhuang was completely at a loss. Where on earth had Jing Xi hidden the money?

He even went back to check under the large stone where she had hidden money for him last time.

Previously, the four of them had searched the house thoroughly but had found nothing.

Strange.

When Zhang Qiang and Wang Cuihua arrived home, they found Zhang Jianjun sprawled out drunk. As soon as they opened the door, a strong smell of alcohol hit them.

But the moment Wang Cuihua saw their bedroom door open, she had a bad feeling.

She rushed inside and checked the shoebox on top of the wardrobe. It was still there.

She reached out to grab it, but the moment she lifted it, her face changed drastically.

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Meanwhile, Li Tao didn’t go to the Zhang family’s house—he went straight to Jing Xi’s.

Jing Xi was stirring a vat of pickled vegetables when she noticed Li Tao approaching from a distance through the window. She quickly stepped outside to greet him.

“Officer Li!”

Li Tao jogged a few steps toward her. “Comrade Jing Xi, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Go ahead.”

“It’s like this—the Zhang family has agreed to the compensation without any objections. You can come with me now to collect the payment and sign the settlement document.”

Jing Xi’s face lit up at the mention of money. “Great! Let’s go now.”

She locked her door and followed Li Tao to the Zhang house.

Just as they reached the doorstep and were about to knock, a commotion erupted inside. They could hear Wang Cuihua, Zhang Qiang, and Zhang Jianjun shouting.

Li Tao frowned. “What’s going on now?”

He stepped inside without hesitation, with Jing Xi following behind.

Inside, the three members of the Zhang family were frantically searching the room. Li Tao quickly asked, “What happened?”

“Heavens above! The money—it’s all gone! The earnings from selling the land—everything has been stolen!”

Wang Cuihua looked ashen. Losing a little over a thousand yuan last time had been upsetting enough, but this time, it was their entire annual income.

They had planned to use this money to buy seeds, build a house, and arrange a marriage for their son next year.

Several thousand yuan—just gone, just like that.

If they couldn’t get the money back, she might as well be dead.

Li Tao immediately stopped them from turning the house upside down. “Calm down first. Where exactly was the money kept? How much was taken in total? Zhang Jianjun, has anyone visited your home recently?”

Zhang Qiang was anxious as well. “Ten bundles of money, five hundred in each! That’s five thousand yuan in total! It was in the shoebox on top of the wardrobe. There was also a bankbook inside, which had another five or six hundred yuan in it! It’s all gone—just an empty box left!”

Zhang Jianjun sobered up instantly when he heard that all their savings were gone. “No one came to our house! I didn’t bring anyone over.”

He only remembered that the night before, he had come home drunk with Wu Dazhuang and passed out. When he woke up, Wu Dazhuang had just woken up too and then left.

When Wu Dazhuang left, he didn’t seem to be carrying anything.

And in the following days, no one else had come over.

But Zhang Jianjun hesitated. Could it really be… Dazhuang?

His guilty conscience showed—his head lowered, and his lips trembled slightly. Li Tao didn’t miss this detail. “Jianjun, think carefully. Has anyone come by in the past few days? One theft might be a coincidence, but two in a row? That’s definitely intentional. And in cases like this, there’s a 50% chance that the thief is someone familiar! Think carefully—don’t overlook a single detail!”

Zhang Jianjun looked up at Li Tao but still insisted that no one had come. However, his hesitant expression gave him away.

Then, his gaze shifted toward Jing Xi, who was standing behind Li Tao.

“You… what are you doing here?”

Jing Xi remained indifferent. “I came with Officer Li to collect my compensation. I didn’t expect your family to get robbed again. Officer Li, how about this—since there’s an ongoing case, I’ll wait to take my compensation until you’ve caught the thief. Right now, the priority is to find the culprit.”

Li Tao nodded, impressed by Jing Xi’s sense of priority. “Alright. In the meantime, could you go to the village office and call Officer Liu Wei for me? His number is…”

Jing Xi agreed, then left the Zhang house to make the call.

She could barely hold back her laughter.

Especially when she saw the expressions on Zhang Qiang and Wang Cuihua’s faces.

The couple was so panicked that they didn’t even have time to glare at her.

It seemed like they were truly scared this time.

After making the call, Jing Xi discreetly went near Wu Dazhuang’s house.

She found him sitting on his heated brick bed, eating peanuts.

Beside him sat a buzz-cut man she had never seen before. The two of them were whispering to each other, clearly up to no good.

Eavesdropping on their conversation, Jing Xi learned that the buzz-cut man was one of Wu Dazhuang’s gambling buddies.

He was trying to persuade Wu Dazhuang to get Zhang Jianjun to join them in gambling.

Well, well…

Jing Xi listened a little longer.

A moment later, the two men stepped out of the house and headed in the direction of Wu Dazhuang’s home.

Wu Dazhuang arrived just in time. Before even stepping through the door, he could see that the Zhang family’s house was in complete chaos again—something had clearly happened.

“Forget it,” he muttered. “Looks like there’s another mess at home. Let’s just go today.”

The buzz-cut man seemed reluctant, but after a brief hesitation, he nodded.

The two of them then left the village. Jing Xi watched the direction they were heading—it was toward town.

She was now quite curious about Wu Dazhuang’s gambling habits. He had lost five hundred yuan last time, so how did he still dare to gamble again?

And that buzz-cut man—why was he so insistent that Wu Dazhuang bring Zhang Jianjun along? Could there be some kind of scheme behind this?

She pondered for a while before deciding to go home.

She could watch the drama unfold later.

They say good news doesn’t leave the house, but bad news travels a thousand miles.

By nightfall, word about the Zhang family’s huge financial loss had already spread throughout the entire village. The village committee even held an emergency meeting, urging every household to be vigilant about fire prevention and theft. They advised villagers to be cautious of any unfamiliar or suspicious individuals in the area and discouraged unnecessary visits to other households, emphasizing the need to cooperate with the police investigation.

The village loudspeaker didn’t explicitly mention the possibility of an inside job, but the implication was clear.

Jing Xi listened to the broadcast alongside Zhang Rui and a few older village women before heading home together.

“Xiao Jing, do you think the Zhang family offended someone?” Zhang Rui asked. “Why would a thief only target their house? They lost five thousand yuan—if I were Wang Cuihua, I’d be livid! Before we started growing dihuan, a family barely made two or three hundred yuan a year, and after food and expenses, there was hardly any money left. Now that they finally have money, they get robbed—what a shame!”

“Aunt Liu, I really can’t say for sure,” Jing Xi replied. “I don’t know much about their family affairs. As long as they don’t try to frame me for stealing, that’s all that matters. But five thousand yuan is no small amount—that’s a huge sum. The police will definitely investigate.”

Zhang Rui quickly shook her head. “No way. A little girl like you wouldn’t have the guts to steal, even if you wanted to! Besides, so many villagers can vouch for you. You wouldn’t believe it, but when the police were questioning people, plenty of folks spoke up in your defense. They wouldn’t dare twist the truth!”

“Thank you for trusting me, Aunties,” Jing Xi said sincerely. “I’m not good at sweet-talking, but I’ll make sure to help out more in the future.”

Hearing this, Jing Xi felt a bit guilty.

But pretending was her specialty. Innocence was the image she needed to maintain here. She wouldn’t go looking for trouble, but if someone came for her, she would make sure to return the favor a hundredfold.

If you weren’t ruthless, others would be ruthless to you.

She firmly believed that kindness invited exploitation.

That day, Jing Xi also received a piece of good news—

The dihuan she had sent with Liu Jianchang for a taste test at the factory cafeteria had received great feedback. The cafeteria’s top manager had tried it and was full of praise, expressing interest in purchasing it regularly, as long as the price was reasonable.

After discussing with the Liu couple, they decided to sell it to the cafeteria for fifty cents per pound.

After all, these weren’t top-grade dihuan, and selling them at fifty cents a pound was already a great deal. The Liu couple was thrilled.

More importantly, this was a long-term business opportunity!