PDLP Chapter 406 My house was burgled
Chapter 406 My house was burgled
When Xu Yiyi opened the door, she felt a little confused.
[When I locked the door this morning, wasn't the lock facing right?]
She glanced down at it. "Did you remember wrong?"
With a creak, she pushed open the courtyard gate and went inside.
The furnishings in the yard were exactly the same, and Er'er's beloved chickens were all still there.
It's fine to leave the sheep tied up nearby.
"Suspicious and paranoid."
Xu Yiyi snorted softly, patted her head, and drew a bucket of well water into the kitchen.
When the water was heated and I went into the room, I realized that something was really wrong.
Everything was still in its original place.
A low wooden table leaned against the east wall, and the vase on the table was placed neatly.
The wardrobe in the corner was closed tightly, and the brass lock remained securely in its place.
The blankets and pillows on the bed were folded neatly, without a single wrinkle.
It's too neat.
……
It was so tidy it didn't even look like her room anymore.
Because she shared a room with Goyuki, her room, while clean, wasn't exactly tidy.
Especially this morning before leaving the house, Wu Yuan was sitting on the bed kicking and thrashing about.
But now it's neatly folded.
Xu Yiyi's feet stopped outside the threshold, one foot inside and one foot outside.
The sea breeze blew into the courtyard and brushed against the back of her neck, bringing an inexplicable chill.
She tilted her head, her gaze slowly sweeping across the room like a sieve.
"Someone came in."
This person was very careful; they didn't move any large items, didn't leave any obvious signs of disturbance, and even restored everything in the house before leaving.
Xu Yiyi sneered, walked in, and opened the wardrobe. The contents were still neatly arranged.
She bent down and reached into the hidden compartment of the wardrobe, taking out a box from inside.
I counted it this morning; after deducting the money I gave Er'er, there were only a little over ten taels of silver left.
Not a single penny has been lost.
"Is it free?"
Xu Yiyi closed the box, stuffed it back into the hidden compartment, and turned to walk into the other rooms.
It's the same thing; it was flipped over and then restored.
"Tsk!"
Xu Yiyi suddenly remembered that Er'er said last night that she had lost her key, and guessed that the thief had taken her key.
She stood motionless in the courtyard like a statue.
"Yi-yi? What are you doing standing here?"
Grandma Yin came out carrying a wooden basin and saw her just then: "Oh dear! Why is she still wet? Hurry up and change your clothes, or you'll catch a cold."
Grandma and Grandma Ah Yin have lost their teeth, so their speech is not very clear.
Xu Yi listened carefully before she could understand what she was saying.
"Grandma, did you see anyone come into my house?"
……
"Your house? I didn't see it!"
Grandma Yin stamped her foot, then suddenly remembered something. "Did a thief break in? That damned bastard! That worthless, crippled filthy thing! He has hands and feet but doesn't use them to make a living, instead he does this sneaking around and climbing over walls! He's disgraced his ancestors for eighteen generations!"
It's obvious they're from the island.
Because Wanghai Island doesn't allow outsiders to come in at all.
“Tell Grandma if anything is missing? Come on… let’s go find your great-grandfather and find that bastard to break his legs…”
Grandma and Grandma cursed and swore, and pulled Xu Yiyi's hand to leave.
"It's alright, Grandma, no thief broke in. I thought the gate had been locked when I came back, but I just remembered that I was in such a rush this morning that I forgot to lock it..."
Xu Yiyi quickly explained.
"You're really not a thief?"
Ah Yin and Ah Nai said in confusion.
"I was in a rush when I took Er'er out this morning and didn't have time to think about it."
Xu Yiyi pursed her lips, seemingly a little embarrassed.
Seeing her like this, Ah Yin and Ah Nai naturally believed her.
"You! You're usually so steady and mature, but now you're acting like a child."
Grandma and Grandma Yin reached out and tapped her nose, their smiles exceptionally kind.
"Since you're alright, hurry up and change your clothes so you don't catch a cold."
Grandma and Grandma patted her hand and bent down to pick up the wooden basin.
"Alright, I'm going to get busy now. Don't forget to lock the door when you leave!"
Xu Yiyi smiled and nodded, watching Ah Yin and Grandma leave.
The smile on his face vanished, and he stared blankly, lost in thought.
He then silently went back into his room to get a change of clothes, and took a shower and changed as if nothing had happened.
……
"What's wrong? What are you doing?"
Xu Anyang watched as Xu Yiyi walked back and forth inside and outside the house, carrying a trap.
"Nothing! Just keeping out thieves."
Xu Yiyi spoke in a calm tone.
He squatted down and set up the animal trap: "Go tell Great-Grandma and Auntie that they don't need to come to boil water or feed the chickens and sheep tonight."
Upon hearing this, Xu Anyang subconsciously looked into the chicken coop, where the trough was full of food and water.
"No! Why is that? Was your house burgled?"
Xu Anyang asked, puzzled.
"You're right, I have to find this thief. He dares to steal from me! He's got some nerve."
Xu Yiyi was definitely not going to let this go, so in addition to the animal trap, she also set up several other traps.
They were just waiting for the thief to come to them.
"Are they from the clan? They're incredibly bold. Should I tell Grandpa?"
Xu Anyang looked slightly sentimental as he began to think about the few children who usually behaved unruly.
"Is it that brat Xu Tiandong? He's always stealing chickens and dogs. I thought he'd changed for the better, but he's still the same..."
After Xu Anyang finished speaking, he paced around the courtyard a few times, then looked at Xu Yiyi, who was setting up a trap: "Something's not right!"
"Xu Tiandong went to school and is not on the island."
I even ran into them when I went out this morning.
Although this kid does terrible things, he is one of the few children on the island who goes to school, and he is spoiled by his parents.
After finishing speaking to himself, Xu Anyang's expression froze. "Who else could it be?"
Xu Yiyi stood up, lifted her thin eyelids, stared at Xu Anyang, and said in a flat tone, "Stop guessing, we'll know when he comes again."
Xu Anyang quickly stepped forward and looked at the traps set up everywhere inside and outside the house: "So many, won't they kill people?"
His tone was unease.
Xu Yiyi said nonchalantly, "He won't die, at most he'll be crippled."
Xu Anyang took a deep breath and then suppressed it.
"You're ruthless!"
Xu Anyang nodded admiringly; it seemed his great-grandfather had no reason to look down on him.
"Let's go!"
Xu Yiyi patted his shoulder, watched him leave, then concealed all the traps before locking the door and going out herself.
When they reached the river, Xu Anyang was already waiting.
"I've already told my great-grandmother and mother that they won't be going in today."
Besides the three children in the family, only the great-grandmother and her family have keys to the house. As long as they don't go in, it's acceptable for them to hurt anyone.
After all, anyone who sneaks in without a key is a thief, isn't they?
Xu Anyang said this, then bent down to untie the rope and board the small boat.
Something suddenly flashed through his mind in that instant, and he looked at Xu Yiyi in disbelief: "Do you think it's possible that it could be your grandmother?"
Xu Yiyi looked ahead calmly: "Stop guessing, let's go."
The small boats headed towards the town one after the other, and by sheer coincidence, they bumped into Du Hehua.
Xu Yiyi's boat crashed behind her and docked at the pier.
Xu Anyang tilted his head and watched her hurried figure as she went to the dock. After gazing at her for a moment, he finally spoke: "She's going to get reinforcements."
Xu Yiyi followed his gaze upwards and saw Du Hehua running hurriedly up the grand staircase.
"You probably don't know, but the Zhao family's ancestors were corrupt officials who were exiled here. Xiao Jun's father is already the fourth generation. Who knows, they might still have some good stuff in their possession?"
Xu Anyang looked on with a gossipy expression.
If Du Yaobang can't pay back the five hundred taels of silver by tomorrow, they might actually cut off his hand.
"Fourth generation? There shouldn't be any more. If there were, they wouldn't have stayed on the island."
How come we still can't afford a small boat?
"That's true! I just don't know when we'll be able to raise enough money..."
Xu Anyang sighed and followed behind Xu Yiyi as a porter.
Watching her move around the dock, picking out the fish.
"Hey! Who's that?"
Grandpa Xu's voice suddenly rang out from behind them, and the two looked back in confusion.
"If you want any of the fish, there's some left on the boat. Go up and get it yourself."
Grandpa Xu looked at the two of them with a detached expression, as if they were strangers.
Upon hearing this, Xu Anyang looked puzzled and turned to look at Xu Yiyi, only to find that she had no reaction at all.
"No need!"
Xu Yiyi turned around and bought all the seafood from the stall next door.
Seeing her reaction, Grandpa Xu shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Whatever, I can sell it if I don't want it."
On the way back to the restaurant, Xu Anyang kept an eye on Xu Yiyi's expression.
Finally, he couldn't help but ask, "Sister Yi, is your grandfather trying to smooth things over with you now that you've become successful? Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to talk to you and even offered you free fish."
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense; Xu Yinli was gone.
None of her three remaining sons were successful, and her daughter married and moved to the county town, only returning to her parents' home once every six months.
Xu Yinli's five children were the most successful in the family.
"Free? How do you know he's not planning to sell it to me for a high price?"
Xu Yi asked in a gentle tone.
"Impossible, he's still your grandfather, isn't he?"
Xu Anyang smiled, then suddenly stopped, because it really was a possibility.
Thinking of this, he curled his lip in disgust, "I've never seen a grandpa like you in eight lifetimes."
Xu Yiyi glanced at him sideways, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"Eight lifetimes? You're only twelve."
In the few months since I opened the restaurant, I've grown taller and gained weight.
But he still looks like a child.
Xu Yiyi carried her things through the back door of the restaurant, and the auntie waiting in the courtyard quickly took the fish from her.
"Yi-yi! Why did it take you so long?"
Aunt Zhao looked at Xu Yiyi with a puzzled expression.
"That's right! The fish hasn't been delivered, and you two are nowhere to be seen. I thought we wouldn't be able to do business today."
"Uncle Haisheng and his crew's boat ran aground and sank at Bai Clam Beach, which is why they didn't come to deliver the fish this morning."
Xu Yiyi turned her head away and said something simple.
With a clatter, the tools in Aunt Zhang's and Aunt Li's hands fell to the ground.
Their husbands went out to sea last night on a boat with Haisheng.
"It's alright, it's alright! The boat sank, but the people are fine. They swam ashore on their own and were unharmed. They were given medicine as soon as they got back."
Seeing the expressions on the two aunties' faces, Xu Yiyi quickly explained.
Hearing this, the two breathed a sigh of relief.
“Aunt Zhang, Aunt Li, why don’t you two go back and take a look first? You can only feel at ease after seeing it with your own eyes. Otherwise, if you just listen to me, you’ll keep thinking about it.”
Xu Yiyi saw that the two of them were so dejected that they had no energy to work.
Aunt Zhang asked hesitantly, "Will this... will this work?"
"Yes! The restaurant is busy, and we're afraid they won't be able to handle it without the two of us."
Aunt Li really wanted to go back and visit, but she was just too embarrassed to ask.
"We can manage, there are still so many people here."
As she spoke, she took the tools from the two of them and called Xu Anyang over to help prepare the ingredients.
"If that's what you mean, then we'll go back and check. If nothing's wrong, we'll be back in a bit."
Aunt Zhang quickly took off her apron and pulled Aunt Li along as they hurried back.
Old Lu only spoke after everyone had left.
"Hmph! You're so nice to them, but you treat me like a beast of burden, how can you be so shameless?"
Lao Lu stood in front of her with his hands on his hips, looking sullen.
Xu Yiyi slightly raised her eyes and forced a fake smile.
"Why are you embarrassed? You should calculate how much money you cost me."
He wanted to eat roast chicken every few days and sneaked into the wine cellar to steal wine every day.
Chicken is so expensive! Xu Yiyi can't even afford to eat it every day.
"Hmph! Sophistry. It's true what they say, you can't make a sale if you're too eager. What you get for free is not valued."
Old Lu haughtily tossed out a remark, then squatted down to kill the fish.
Xu Anyang glanced at him, a slight smile playing on his lips.