A jinx, me? But I bring good fortune to my whole family!

Su Xiulan's eyes lit up, and she quickly ran over to hug Nuannuan's small body. "Captain, my daughter is right. What a coincidence!"

"In my opinion, my second sister-in-law's family did it on purpose."

"With so many families in our village, have any other houses been robbed?"

The brigade leader frowned deeply. What he said made sense. He had just asked around and no one in the village had been robbed.

There was only Gu Lao-er's family.

The captain looked at Zhang Aidi, who immediately bristled, "Captain, if you ask me, it was their family who did it."

"My house was really burgled, didn't you see?"

"Then why was only your house robbed?" Su Xiulan retorted defiantly.

"It must be your house..."

"Then find the things! Didn't you say a lot of things were stolen? My house is so small, find them!"

"I……"

For the first time, Zhang Aidi understood what it meant to be a mute eating bitter melon—having a bitter taste that couldn't be expressed.

Grandma Gu was so angry that she was panting heavily, looking like she could faint at any moment.

Finally, the village head spoke up, "Jianguo's wife, the village will investigate this matter thoroughly!"

"Captain, what happened to the things that were stolen from my house?"

"I don't know if his house was robbed, but my things were indeed stolen by Dayong and Xiaoyong. Many people in the village can testify to that."

Since everyone's here, let's get to the point.

Grandma Gu and the others arrived just in time!

"this……"

The captain didn't know what to do either. It's only right that stolen goods should be returned, but now…

The second brother's family was robbed; they lost everything.

"Let's write an IOU, with a specified deadline."

Gu Jianguo suddenly spoke up, and Old Lady Gu was so angry that she was about to jump up again. Gu Jianguo sighed, "Captain, you can see my family's situation. The whole family is old, weak, sick, and disabled. Xiulan's health is also not good. We don't know how we are going to get through this winter."

"That was money pooled together by the brothers in the forest farm and sent to me. I was counting on it to get through the winter."

"Okay, then write an IOU and return everything."

"And there are medical expenses!" Su Xiulan quickly added, "My husband and two children were beaten so badly, we can't just let them suffer for nothing, can we?"

In the end, the medical expenses were calculated at 10 yuan. Including the stolen items, the total came to 30 yuan.

The brigade leader wrote it down himself. Grandma Gu and Zhang Aidi wanted to renege on their debt, but they didn't dare to in front of the brigade leader.

Finally, I signed it reluctantly.

The group came quickly and left quickly, leaving behind only a mess.

Gu Chengye sighed and told Gu Jianguo, "Jianguo, take good care of your injury. The team will investigate this theft. But I doubt it; there are a lot of vagrants these days, it might have been done by a passing fugitive."

Gu Jianguo nodded. "Thank you for your help, Captain."

As soon as the captain left, Su Xiulan closed the door tightly and bolted it shut.

The room fell silent again.

As Su Xiulan picked up the clothes on the floor, she wiped away her tears, saying, "What kind of mess is this? Day after day..."

Gu Jianguo didn't say anything, but just waved to the two children.

"come over."

Xiao An walked over slowly, while Nuan Nuan was very generous and jumped straight into her father's arms.

"Daddy, does it hurt?" The little girl touched the gauze on Gu Jianguo's head.

Gu Jianguo grasped his daughter's small hand and then looked at his son.

"Where are the things?"

He spoke in a very low voice, so that only the father and his two sons could hear him.

Xiao An's body stiffened.

Nuannuan blinked, leaned close to Gu Jianguo's ear, and whispered, "She's with Jinwawa."

Gu Jianguo's pupils contracted.

Although he had suspected it for a while, he was still shocked when it was confirmed.

The Golden Doll can not only cure diseases, but also hide things?

This is simply divine intervention!

He suppressed his shock, reached out and rubbed his son's head, then pinched his daughter's cheek.

"here you go."

This time, Gu Jianguo didn't spout any grand principles.

When someone bullies you to the point of rudeness, what's the point of reasoning? These two kids are more promising than him.

"However," Gu Jianguo's smile faded, his face hardening, "this matter remains a secret. Don't even tell your mother. If anyone asks, tell them it was done by a fugitive. Understand?"

"It cannot be taken out either."

"We heard that!" the two siblings said in unison.

After tidying up the house, Su Xiulan turned around and saw the father and his two sons huddled together, whispering something. She didn't ask any further questions.

"Alright, go to sleep. You've been up all night, and tomorrow we still need to go to the brigade headquarters to get the documents for the family division printed."

The whole family squeezed onto one kang (a heated brick bed).

The lamp was blown out, and the room fell into darkness.

Nuannuan lay between her father and brother, her little hand quietly groping around under the covers.

Suddenly, Gu Jianguo felt something hard and warm being shoved into his hand.

Next were Su Xiulan, Da'an, and Xiao'an.

Su Xiulan was startled and was about to speak when Gu Jianguo covered her mouth.

"Shhh."

By the moonlight streaming in through the window, Su Xiulan could see what was in her hand.

It was a peeled, hard-boiled egg, still piping hot.

In these days when even food is scarce, hard-boiled eggs are the best source of nutrition.

Su Xiulan woke up just as dawn was breaking.

She reached out and touched the children beside her. The three children were fast asleep, their breathing rising and falling.

The kang (heated brick bed) was warm, the quilt was old but clean, and her most important family members were lying beside her. Su Xiulan felt a sense of relief.

She quietly got off the kang (a heated brick bed) to go to the outer room to see if there was enough brown rice in the earthenware pot to make a pot of porridge.

As soon as I stepped into the outer room, a warm, indistinct baby voice came from the inner room.

"Mommy...chicken...a chicken has come looking for Nuannuan..."

Su Xiulan went back, tucked the blanket around her daughter, and kissed her on the forehead.

"Silly girl, what kind of dream are you having? You even dreamed about chickens. Sleep a little longer, it's still early."

Nuannuan smacked her lips, turned over, and fell asleep again.

Xiao An, at the end of the kang (heated brick bed), opened her eyes.

Others might say their sister is just talking in her sleep, but he believed it.

My sister can even understand what crows are saying; maybe it's the crows outside speaking.

He put on his clothes in the dark, got off the ground, and ran out without even putting on his shoes properly.

It was just dawn in the courtyard, and the air was bone-chillingly cold.

Xiao An opened the courtyard gate, searched around the base of the courtyard wall for a while, and sure enough, he saw something.

A fat chicken lay motionless against the wall, its neck crooked. It looked like it had been flying too fast and had crashed headfirst into the wall to its death.

Xiao An was so shocked that she held her breath. It was true; what her sister said was all true.

He rushed over, bent down and picked up the pheasant. The pheasant's body was still warm, so it must have died recently.

The chicken is quite heavy, probably weighing four or five pounds. It's enough to make a big pot of soup, which the whole family can enjoy and nourish themselves.

Just as Xiao An was about to go back with the pheasant in his arms, a mocking voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Hey, isn't this the idiot's brother? What are you holding in your arms?"

That voice was slick and had a wicked quality to it.