Jiang Yujiao’s eyes flickered.

She hadn’t expected that bitch Jiang Ling to be so clever. With just a few words, she had cleared everyone’s suspicion from herself.

She had only told Li Qiang and Li Zhuang to steal the six hundred yuan—she never told them to rob the other rooms too!

Jiang Yujiao stepped forward and gritted her teeth as she asked the Li brothers:

“Where did you hide everything you stole from my house?”

“When would we even have had time to steal from the other rooms?! Wasn’t it you who told us—”

Before Li Qiang could finish, Jiang Yujiao clamped a hand tightly over his mouth.

Jiang Ling slightly raised the corner of her eyes.

“Oh? Jiang Yujiao, why won’t you let him finish speaking?”

Jiang Yujiao shot Li Qiang a threatening look, and he instantly understood, swallowing his frustration and shutting up.

Back then, Jiang Yujiao had promised that if they didn’t expose her, she’d give them extra money.

Old Madam Jiang clutched her chest in anger.

“Tie them up first and send them to the production team leader tomorrow! The stolen things must still be hidden in their house!”

Besides the compensation money left by Jiang Ling’s deceased father, she had also hidden a gold bracelet.

Now even the bracelet was gone. Her heart was bleeding.

Li Qiang and Li Zhuang weren’t afraid at all. At worst, they’d just be taken to the team leader. The Jiang family had no evidence, so they couldn’t really do anything to them.

What truly puzzled them was why Old Madam Jiang’s underwear had somehow appeared in their pockets.

When they heard the shouting earlier, they had wanted to escape through the window immediately—but the window had been locked tightly shut.

Everything about this was too strange.

The Li brothers both felt the Jiang house was haunted. There had to be something unclean lurking there.

…

At dawn, Old Madam Jiang ordered Eldest Uncle and Third Uncle to escort the tied-up brothers to the production team leader’s house.

People who saw them on the road curiously gathered around.

“What happened to the Jiang family?”

Old Madam Jiang’s face was dark as she refused to answer. She felt too ashamed about the incident.

That morning she had interrogated the brothers for a long time, but they stubbornly insisted they hadn’t stolen anything. Left with no choice, they could only ask the team leader to judge the matter.

Team Leader Li Yong had just gotten up and started brushing his teeth when he saw a huge crowd pouring into his courtyard.

Seeing Old Madam Jiang at the front made his head ache immediately.

“Old Madam, what is it this time?”

Old Madam Jiang pointed at the bound Li brothers.

“Team Leader, these two snuck into our house last night and stole everything! Even Ling girl’s six hundred yuan is missing—we don’t know where they hid it!”

The team leader quickly rinsed his mouth and angrily scolded the brothers:

“You’ve really gotten bold, huh? You even dare steal from people in your own village now?!”

Li Zhuang cried out in grievance:

“We didn’t steal anything! Team Leader, search our pockets if you don’t believe us—there’s nothing there!”

The team leader searched them and indeed found no money.

Li Chunmei angrily cursed:

“It was definitely them! My husband even found Mother’s underwear in their pockets. Who else could it have been?!”

Old Madam Jiang nearly fainted from rage and pinched Li Chunmei hard.

“Why are you shouting so loudly?! Are you trying to make sure everyone hears?!”

She had maintained her dignity for decades, yet now her reputation was ruined by two hooligans!

Li Chunmei’s voice was so shrill and loud that the surrounding gossipers could hardly miss it.

The way people looked at Old Madam Jiang and the Li brothers instantly became strangely suggestive.

Li Qiang hurriedly explained:

“I don’t know how the old lady’s clothes got into my pocket either! The Jiang house is haunted! A ghost put them there!”

The team leader sternly rebuked him:

“Stop talking nonsense! This is the new era—we don’t encourage feudal superstition!”

“Your thinking is crooked. Sneaking into people’s homes at night to steal money? Hand over the money now, or I’ll send you off for reform!”

The moment Li Qiang and Li Zhuang heard that, it felt like the sky had collapsed.

They had loafed around freely for years, and now they were going to be sent away for labor reform? Who could handle that?

The brothers looked toward Jiang Yujiao and decided to drag her down with them.

“Team Leader, Jiang Yujiao was the one who instructed us! She told us to steal Jiang Ling’s six hundred yuan!”

“Yeah! She opened the gate for us herself and promised each of us twenty yuan afterward! She must be the one who stole the rest too—it has nothing to do with us!”

Jiang Yujiao rushed forward, trying to cover their mouths, but Jiang Ling firmly blocked her.

“Jiang Yujiao, so it really was you who ordered them! Hurry up and return my six hundred yuan!”

Jiang Yujiao was completely dumbfounded.

Return it?

She hadn’t even seen the shadow of that six hundred yuan herself.

Facing the suspicious gazes of the Jiang family, Jiang Yujiao stammered:

“…It wasn’t me.”

Li Qiang knew she would deny it. In front of everyone, he pulled out the note she had drawn showing Jiang Ling’s room—from inside his shoe.

“Jiang Yujiao gave this to us. The handwriting is hers.”

Afraid the brothers wouldn’t find Jiang Ling’s room, Jiang Yujiao had not only opened the gate for them but also stuffed them a note.

Old Madam Jiang looked at Jiang Yujiao with complete disappointment.

How had the Jiang family produced such a stupid girl?

Seeing more and more people gathering, Old Madam Jiang finally said:

“Team Leader, our Jiang family will handle this matter ourselves. We won’t trouble you further.”

The team leader nodded. He couldn’t be bothered dealing with this mess anyway.

But the Li brothers definitely had to be sent away for reform. Their behavior was too serious.

Jiang Ling refused to let the matter drop. Looking coldly at Jiang Yujiao, she said:

“So what about my six hundred yuan? You people have to compensate me! Otherwise none of your Jiang family will have an easy day today!”

Jiang Yujiao finally snapped.

“How would I know?! I wasn’t the one who stole it!”

Seeing the crowd growing larger, Old Madam Jiang didn’t want the family scandal spreading further. Gritting her teeth, she said to Jiang Ling:

“Come back with us. I’ll compensate you.”

A trace of surprise flashed through Jiang Ling’s eyes.

Hadn’t she already emptied out the old woman’s room? The old lady still had more money hidden away?

“Fine. But don’t try to fool me. You all know what I’m capable of.”

Old Madam Jiang’s face looked as ugly as shit. She never expected the day would come when Jiang Ling would threaten her instead.

Jiang Ling happily followed the Jiang family back home.

As she walked out of the team leader’s house, she suddenly felt an intense gaze on her.

Following the feeling, she met Shen Yan’s dark, deep eyes.

Wasn’t he someone who disliked watching gossip and drama? Why was he standing outside the team leader’s house now?

Jiang Ling didn’t think much of it. She merely raised an eyebrow at him politely before following the others back to collect her money.

That small eyebrow raise made Shen Yan’s heart itch inexplicably, and even his throat tightened slightly.

This morning, after waking up, he heard from his family that thieves had broken into the Jiang house and that the matter had escalated all the way to the team leader.

Subconsciously, he immediately thought of Jiang Ling.

Shen Yan had a feeling the thieves were targeting her specifically. Without even chopping the firewood he was supposed to handle, he followed the crowd to the team leader’s house.

Only after seeing Jiang Ling unharmed did the tension between his brows finally ease.

“Third Brother, your future wife’s already walked far away, and you’re still staring.”

The one teasing him was his younger sister, Shen Pingping.

Although she was only sixteen, she instantly sensed that the atmosphere between her third brother and Jiang Ling was different.

Just now, Jiang Ling had winked at her brother, and her usually cold and rigid third brother’s expression had instantly softened.

Shen Pingping felt like she had discovered a whole new world.

Her third brother had actually fallen for a girl.