A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

The cicadas were chirping so loudly under the eaves in the front courtyard of the academy that it gave me a headache.

Chen Shuyan came out not long after.

His complexion was poor; he had lost weight, his cheekbones were prominent, his eyes were sunken, and there was a ring of blisters around the corner of his mouth. Ever since Chen Tianfang forced him into the latrine, he hadn't been able to eat for seven whole days, and he would gag at the smell of anything pungent.

"Why are you here?" Chen Shuyan lowered her voice. "You're heavily pregnant, you shouldn't be running around like this. What if something happens—"

"Five taels."

Liu Yiyi took the silver ingot out of her bosom and waved it in front of him.

Chen Shuyan's words caught in his throat.

"What five taels?"

"I took three items from Chen Tianwei's dowry: two tubes of lip rouge and a jar of face cream. I took them to Jinxiang Pavilion, and the manager gave me five taels on the spot."

Liu Yiyi stuffed the silver back into her bosom, looked at Chen Shuyan's expression, and said, word by word, "Three small items, five taels. Chen Tianwei's box has a complete set, worth at least twenty taels."

Chen Shuyan's Adam's apple bobbed.

"Are you crazy? You stole your sister-in-law's cooking, how could she not know?"

"So what if she knows? The goods have already been sold. What proof does she have?" Liu Yi leaned against the wall, her hand on her stomach. "Besides, that was Tianwei's dowry, not goods from her family's workshop. It's gone, it's gone. With so many people coming and going on the wedding day, who will know who took it?"

Chen Shuyan remained silent for a while.

Five taels of silver. He helps people polish their writing and gives pointers on their articles, but he can't even save two taels of silver a month.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Liu Yiyi lowered her voice: "The cosmetics Wang Jinzhu is making now, a batch is worth at least a hundred taels. Her new workshop isn't even finished yet, all the stuff is piled up in her room."

"You want me to steal it?" Chen Shuyan's voice rose half an inch.

"Shh!" Liu Yiyi quickly covered his mouth. "What are you shouting?"

She released her grip, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and continued, "Not now. The goods are in her room, and the master sits in front of the door every day, so he can't get in at all. But her new workshop is almost finished. The front and back yards are separated by a moon gate, and all the goods will be moved into the warehouse in the front yard. Think about it, although the wall is high, the back side, which faces the hillside..."

"You scouted the location?" Chen Shuyan stared at her.

Liu Yiyi didn't answer directly, but just smiled and said, "I'm pregnant, so I have to walk around the village and get some exercise."

Chen Shuyan leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

Only one thought kept running through his mind—he had studied hard and lived frugally, yet he still worried about money every day. Wang Jinzhu, a plump girl from a butcher's family, could easily build a large brick house with just a little makeup.

On what grounds?

"Even if we stole it, who would we sell it to? Which shop in town?"

"The manager of Jinxiang Pavilion said they'll take as many as you have, and we can negotiate the price." Liu Yiyi's eyes shone brightly. "I've calculated it; stealing a batch will net you at least thirty or forty taels. That's enough to rent a courtyard in the prefectural city and prepare for the exams in peace."

Thirty or forty taels.

Chen Shuyan opened his eyes.

"Come find me again after the workshop is finished and everything is moved in."

On the third day of the seventh lunar month, the new workshop was completed.

Master Zhao handed over the keys, and Wang Jinzhu personally inspected each room. The warehouse door had two locks, and the windows had iron bars. The front gate was made of two-inch-thick cypress planks, and the bolt was iron.

"It's securely sealed." Chen Tianfang patted the door. "No ordinary person can get in."

Wang Jinzhu didn't reply, but walked around the courtyard wall. She stopped when she reached the section with the back wall.

The back wall is right next to a gentle slope covered with waist-high wild grass. The drop from the top of the slope to the top of the wall is less than three feet. In other words, an adult man could reach the top of the wall by standing on tiptoe.

Although there were broken pieces of porcelain embedded in the wall, it was not difficult to climb over as long as a thick cloth or straw mat was placed on it.

"Tianfang."

"Um?"

"Tomorrow, clear the weeds off that slope outside the back wall with a hoe."

"Clear grass?"

"Clean it thoroughly." Wang Jinzhu paused, "Then, lay a layer of gravel at the base of the wall. The kind that makes a crunching sound when you step on it."

Chen Tianfang glanced at her, didn't ask why, and nodded.

On the day of the move, Wang Jinzhu divided the finished products into two batches. Most of them were moved into the warehouse and locked. But a small portion, worth about ten taels of silver, was placed separately on a shelf near the window in the distribution room.

Chen Tianfang asked, puzzled, "Why aren't these locked in the storeroom?"

"Leave it here." Wang Jinzhu neatly arranged the jars on the shelf. "Just put it here."

On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, Liu Yiyi came to the academy again.

"They've moved in; I saw it with my own eyes. There's a shipment of goods near the window in the distribution room. The window has wooden bars, and you can stick your hand through the gaps between the bars."

Chen Shuyan frowned: "Isn't this too easy?"

"You want to make things difficult?" Liu Yiyi rolled her eyes. "Her warehouse is locked twice. You're going to break in?"

Chen Shuyan thought for a moment: "When should we make our move?"

"The day after tomorrow, the ninth day. That day is market day in town. Wang Jinzhu is taking goods to the county to deliver to Young Master Liu's people, and Chen Tianfang is going with her. Tianrun is at school, and Old Man Chen's legs are weak, so he can't walk far. The workshop is empty all day."

"daytime?"

"It's safe during the day," Liu Yiyi sneered. "If you get caught climbing over the wall at night, it'll be hard to explain. During the day, just say you're visiting and passing by the new house; no one will suspect anything. You climb over the back wall, take the things, and come out the same way. I'll be waiting for you on the slope."

"Those shards of porcelain..."

"I brought you a pair of old cotton gloves, and a burlap sack as a padding."

Chen Shuyan took a deep breath and nodded.

-

The ninth day of the seventh lunar month, at the hour of Chen (7-9 AM).

Wang Jinzhu and Chen Tianfang loaded the goods and drove the donkey cart out of the village.

At 9:00 AM, the village quieted down.

Chen Shuyan asked for half a day off from the academy, saying he had a headache, and the teacher didn't keep him any longer. He took a long detour back to the village, avoiding the main road and choosing instead the narrow paths along the field ridges.

When they arrived at the hillside behind the new workshop, Liu Yiyi was already waiting there.

She leaned against a crooked tree, clutching a folded burlap sack and a pair of cotton gloves in her hands.

"Hurry up, don't dawdle."

Chen Shuyan took the item, walked a few steps down the slope, and stepped on some gravel.

"Crunch—"

Chen Shuyan paused, staggering slightly. His voice was exceptionally clear in the midday silence.

"Hurry up!" Liu Yiyi urged from above.

Chen Shuyan gritted his teeth, draped the burlap sack over the wall to cover the broken porcelain shards, and used his hands to climb up. He peered into the courtyard from the top of the wall; it was empty, no one was there.

He climbed over the wall.

The door to the mixing room was ajar; you could push it open and go inside. On the shelves, a dozen or so earthenware jars and about twenty tubes of lip rouge were neatly stacked.

Chen Shuyan took out a cloth bag wrapped in his sleeve and began to stuff it into it.

His heart pounded when his fingers touched the jars. They were smooth and exquisite, as respectable as his inkstone and brush, yet worth a hundred times more.

He filled the bag to about half full, estimating there were fifteen or sixteen items, and turned to leave.

He was stunned when he pushed open the door to the mixing room.

There were three people standing in the courtyard.

Wang Jinzhu sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, holding a bowl of cold tea, with a plate of sliced ​​watermelon beside her. Chen Tianfang leaned against the moon gate with his arms crossed, blocking the path to the backyard.

There was another person, Chen Defu, the village chief of Chenjia Village, who was looking at him angrily.

The cloth bag in Chen Shuyan's hand fell to the ground with a "thud," and several tubes of lip rouge rolled out.

Wang Jinzhu blew on the foam in her teacup and looked up at him.

"Shuyan, you've come at the right time." She gestured with her chin towards the wall. "Have your wife come down too. Otherwise, with you two on opposite sides of the wall, I can't say this at the same time."

Outside the wall, Liu Yiyi turned and ran.

But she only took two steps—Wang Xiaobao and Chen Tianwei stood up from the bushes on either side, blocking her way to the top of the slope.

Wang Xiaobao patted the grass clippings off his hands, grinned at her, and said, "Second Sister-in-law, don't run, watch your stomach."

Liu Yiyi's face turned pale.

In the courtyard, Wang Jinzhu put down her teacup. Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear:

"Uncle Village Chief, you saw it. Burglary, caught red-handed. Is this our family's case, or—should we hand it over to the authorities?"