As the oxcart went farther and farther, the surrounding scenery gradually became desolate. The fields and trees were covered with thick snow, like a silvery world. Although the wind was not strong, a few snowflakes fell on her cheeks from time to time, giving her a slight chill.
After spending more than twice as long as usual, Chen Wanbai finally saw his cabin. It was already noon, and logically, Mrs. Liu should have been lighting a fire to cook at this time, but when she looked up, she found that there was no trace of smoke on the roof of her house.
Could it be that Ms. Liu wouldn’t cook if she wasn’t at home?
Chen Wanbai vaguely felt that something was wrong. She quickened her pace, walked quickly to the front of the house, and casually tied the bullock cart to the wooden stake next to the door. Ignoring the snow slapping on my body, I pushed open the door.
The scene in the house made her heart suddenly tighten - the house was in a mess, and the furniture that was originally neatly arranged was now staggered.
When I got closer, I saw that the doors on the left and right were locked from the outside. Chen Wanbai found that there were some scratches on the lock of her door, but fortunately the lock was of high quality and had not been damaged.
There were signs of being smashed on Mrs. Liu’s door, but there were no signs of being locked.
Chen Wanbai quickly walked out of the main room and found that the lock of the kitchen room had been broken open and it was a mess inside.
The rice vat was overturned and the ground was covered with scattered brown rice. Fortunately, there is not much rice at home.
It seems that the thief was angry because he had nothing valuable to steal, so he smashed the vat and stole the pot.
The warehouse was an old wooden house. It looked very dilapidated. The thieves obviously did not visit there. There were no signs of prying on the lock or door frame.
After looking around, Chen Wanbai stood in front of the door, feeling cold in his heart.
There was obviously a thief at home, so where did Ms. Liu go?
But she guessed that Liu would be fine. A thief can't be so kind as to lock the door for you after taking someone away.
She stood there and took a deep breath. The cold air instantly made her sober. Chen Wanbai first unloaded the things from the bullock cart and locked them all in his room.
Then, he drove an ox cart to Wan Chaogui's house.
As she approached the door of Wan’s house, she heard Wan Guangshan calling her: “Xiaobai, are you back?”
“Grandpa Wan, is my mother at your house? "Chen Wanbai pulled the bullock cart into the yard and asked tentatively.
"Here, I'm chatting with Xiao Huang in the house." Wan Guangshan sighed and pointed to the house.
Chen Wanbai was relieved, and he was indeed here.
After handing the reins of the bullock cart to Wan Guangshan, Chen Wanbai entered the house.
In Mrs. Zhao's room, Mrs. Liu was sitting in a corner, her face full of sorrow, her eyes red and swollen, she had obviously cried a lot.
In addition to the red and swollen eyes,He had a tired face, his clothes were neatly dressed, and he looked fine.
When Chen Wanbai saw that Mrs. Liu was safe and sound, the stone hanging in his heart finally fell.
"Grandma Zhao, mother, I'm back." Chen Wanbai stood at the door of the room and whispered.
Mrs. Liu heard the voice and slowly turned her head, with a trembling look in her eyes: "Xiao Bai, you are back...home..."
Chen Wanbai walked over , softly comforted: "I hope everything is okay."
Ms. Liu raised her head, with tears still in her eyes, and her voice trembled slightly: "I heard something moving in the yard this morning. I thought it was you coming back. Oh...wuwuwu...I heard someone banging on the door again, and I knew it wasn't you...wuwuwu..."
Chen Wanbai figured out the whole thing amidst Liu's sobs.
Last night, Ms. Liu didn't see Chen Wanbai come back until dark, and it was snowing heavily outside. Guessing that he probably wouldn't come back, he bolted the door.
Because she was worried about Chen Wanbai, Mrs. Liu didn't sleep well all night and woke up at five o'clock in the morning. When I woke up, I couldn't sleep much. In a daze, I heard the sound of someone talking outside.
Intermittently, she thought it was Chen Wanbai who was back, so she got up and prepared to open the door for Chen Wanbai.
This chapter is not finished yet, click on the next page to continue reading.
Before she could open the door, she heard a banging sound at the door. This time she was startled awake, and her outstretched hand was trembling.
Not long after, the door was violently smashed open.
What followed was the shouting of two men:
"I say Zhu Da, your ax is useless, it can't even open a door." < /p>
"Zhao Lezi, it's obvious that you can't do it yourself, but you still blame my axe! Now that you've broken my axe, you have to pay me for it."
The two of them went in cursing. After entering the house, Zhu Da blew the fire seal and looked at the empty house, half angry to death.
"Damn it, didn't you say that Mrs. Liu has been with a lot of men? Why is there nothing at home! Why don't I go out in the cold?"
"Why? Is this possible? This family is poorer than mine!" Zhao Laizi was also dumbfounded.
This was different from what he had heard. Mrs. Zhu often talked about Mrs. Liu in the village. It is said that Mrs. Liu was raised by a man and was fat and white. She wore gold and silver, was well-fed and drank hot food, and had a lot of money in her family.
Why now, when I look at it, the whole hall is inside. Just a small broken table and four nondescript stools. There are several bamboo baskets hanging on the wall, several fish baskets and chicken coops on the ground.
There is nothing valuable.
"Bah! If you are so poor, you can see that these shabby baskets were not bought with money." Zhu Da kicked him up.
"We can't come here in vain. Let's go to the back room and have a look." Zhao Laizi pointed to a leftOne right and two doors said.
The two of them arrived at Liu's door first, stretched out their hands and pushed it, but did not push it open.
"Get out of the way, I'll do it." Zhao Lezi stepped back and bumped forward hard. The door didn't open, but he fell to the ground.
"Ouch..." Zhao Laizi's arm throbbed in pain.
Mrs. Liu in the room instantly fell to the ground, panicking and completely at a loss.
"Get out of here, I'm here!" Zhu Da said, picked up the half-broken ax and chopped it over.
After cutting for a long time, the door could not be opened. I don’t know whether it was because Zhu Da’s ax was broken or because Zhu Da was not strong enough.
"Let's change to another room." Zhao Lezi suggested.
The two of them turned to the door of Chen Wanbai's room.
Mrs. Liu, who was still shivering on the ground in the house, finally felt a little relieved when she heard the footsteps of the two people leaving.
She remembered that when the house was built, Chen Wanbai said that the wooden door was made of beech wood to prevent large beasts such as wolves or blind bears from coming down the mountain to attack in the future. Since we can guard against those large beasts, the two people outside the door should not be a problem.
Sure enough, the two people outside were banging on for a long time, and even the door was locked and not a single one was opened.
"There is another building outside, go there and take a look." Zhu Qi panted.
"At the beginning, I said that I can just break down the door alone, and you have to take turns with me. Now it's okay, the ax is broken, and we both have no strength, and now it's a door They didn't even break it open." Zhao Lezi sat down on the ground, very tired, and kept complaining about Zhu Da.
In this winter, he had not had enough to eat for a long time. I had spent so much effort at the gate just now, but now I had no energy at all.
The two rested for a while, regained their composure, left the main room and headed towards the kitchen.
After banging and banging, they finally broke the lock on the kitchen door. The two of them were so excited that they rushed in with their eyes shining.
When they lit the oil lamp on the stove and saw the situation in the house clearly, they were dumbfounded again.