Zhou Lingling told Cai Xiaomei about her discovery.
After listening, Cai Xiaomei instructed Zhou Lingling not to tell anyone else.
Cai Xiaomei secretly observed that Zhang Cai'er was not only taking rice and flour but also meat, vegetables, and seasonings like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, all taken to the Zhang family.
After careful consideration, Cai Xiaomei announced her decision at the dinner table.
The price of grain had risen too sharply now, and it was hard to buy. The existing rice and flour in the house had to be rationed. From now on, no grain would be kept in the kitchen. All the family's grain would be stored in her room. Every day, she would estimate the amount needed for the family of six and take out the grain accordingly.
Zhang Cai'er, feeling guilty, dared not argue.
Every morning, Cai Xiaomei would scoop out the day's grain and give it to Zhang Cai'er.
However, Cai Xiaomei's method did not stop Zhang Cai'er. She withheld a handful or two of grain from each meal.
Later, it became so excessive that she withheld half.
The whole family lived on thin porridge.
Cai Xiaomei could bear it no longer and laid everything out on the table, exposing what Zhang Cai'er had done. She forbade Zhang Cai'er from entering the kitchen. From then on, Cai Xiaomei and Zhou Lingling would cook for the family.
Zhang Cai'er, dissatisfied, made a huge scene at home.
The Zhou family paid no attention to Zhang Cai'er.
Zhou Dong was fed up with Zhang Cai'er always prioritizing her natal family. He gave Zhang Cai'er two choices.
First, stop caring about her natal family and live properly with their own family. Second, divorce, and she could return to her natal family.
The Zhou family would not support a thief who plundered their own home.
Perhaps frightened by Zhou Dong's harsh words, Zhang Cai'er was quiet for a few days. Then, she brought back a fish from outside.
She told the Zhou family that she had been in a daze recently.
She realized her mistake and had specifically used her own private savings to buy a fish back.
She made fish soup as an apology.
The Zhou family believed her and drank the fish soup.
They slept soundly through the night, but when they woke up, their world had collapsed.
The Zhou house was empty.
Truly empty in the literal sense. The grain was gone, the money was gone, the goods for sale were gone, even the winter cotton-padded jackets and fur coats—anything of any value was gone.
A quick look around confirmed that Zhang Cai'er was also missing.
There was nothing left to figure out.
Zhang Cai'er's fish soup yesterday was not an apology but a way to drug them so she could empty the Zhou house.
Zhou Dong, furious, went to the Zhang family to settle the score.
Zhou Zhong, afraid his son would get into trouble, chased after him.
Cai Xiaomei couldn't withstand the shock and fainted.
Zhou Lingling and her younger brother Zhou Yan used all their strength to help Cai Xiaomei sit in a chair.
Zhou Lingling told Zhou Yan to watch over Cai Xiaomei while she went to fetch a doctor.
On the way back home with the doctor, she remembered the family had no money. Zhang Cai'er had even taken the children's private savings.
Zhou Lingling asked the doctor to go to the house first, while she ran to Sunset Lane to find Cai Damei.
Cai Damei accompanied Zhou Lingling back to the Zhou house.
The doctor was applying acupuncture to Cai Xiaomei.
"Auntie, waaah—" With an elder present, Zhou Yan, who had been holding back, couldn't help but burst into loud sobs.
At his young age, he couldn't understand why his mother would empty their home.
"Auntie is here now, Grandma will be alright," Cai Damei comforted Zhou Yan. She handed a basket to Zhou Lingling and told her to go to the kitchen to make some food.
Zhou Lingling took the basket and went into the kitchen.
Everything that could be taken from the kitchen was gone. The pot was left, but a hole had been knocked in it.
Staring at the hole, Zhou Lingling felt both hatred and confusion.
What had the family ever done to Zhang Cai'er to make her act so ruthlessly, leaving the Zhou family no way to survive?
After rummaging through the kitchen, she found a dusty ceramic pot.
She cleaned it, built a makeshift stove in the yard, and cooked porridge.
After the doctor's efforts, Cai Xiaomei regained consciousness.
"Elder Sister—" Cai Xiaomei's voice trembled, tears streaming down her face.
"Don't cry, don't get agitated. Your body can't take any more shocks," the doctor cautioned.
"Don't cry. With your elder sister here, there's no hurdle we can't overcome," Cai Damei comforted Cai Xiaomei.
After calming Cai Xiaomei down and having Zhou Yan stay with his grandmother, Cai Damei went with the doctor to the pharmacy to get medicine.
When she returned with the medicine, Zhou Lingling brought a chipped bowl to feed Cai Xiaomei porridge.
Nearby, Zhou Yan carefully drank his porridge from another chipped bowl.
"Auntie, the porridge on the table is for you," Zhou Lingling said, knowing she had knocked on Cai Damei's door too early at Sunset Lane, and Cai Damei hadn't eaten.
"Not urgent. I'll brew your grandmother's medicine first. Where's the medicine pot?"
"I washed it clean and left it on the windowsill to dry."
"Lingling is so capable. I'll go brew the medicine." Cai Damei went to prepare the medicine.
After Cai Xiaomei took her medicine, Cai Damei picked up a bowl and drank the porridge.
She instructed Zhou Yan to stay home and watch over his grandmother.
Cai Damei took Zhou Lingling to the market to buy daily necessities for the Zhou family: pots, pans, bowls, ladles, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and so on.
When they returned home, Zhou Dong and Zhou Zhong were silently drinking porridge.
Seeing Cai Damei and Zhou Lingling laden with items, the two men put down their bowls and stepped forward.
"Auntie, we've caused you so much trouble," Zhou Dong said, full of self-blame. It was all his fault.
"Family shouldn't talk of trouble. Did you find Cai'er at the Zhangs'?"
"No." When Zhou Dong and Zhou Zhong arrived at the Zhang house and knocked, a stranger opened the door.
Upon inquiry, they learned the Zhang family had sold the house and left to seek opportunities elsewhere five days prior.
"Did you report it to the authorities?" Cai Damei asked.
Zhou Dong glanced at his busy children.
Reporting it would mean they had a mother who was a criminal who robbed her own family.
Zhou Lingling was fourteen this year, just the age for marriage discussions. She couldn't be ruined because of Zhang Cai'er.
Cai Damei comforted Zhou Dong, "The house and the shop are still here. With hard work, you can always earn everything back."
Thud— What Zhou Dong was holding fell to the ground. Luckily, it was just millet and beans.
"What's wrong?"
"Zhang Cai'er once asked me where the shop's title deed and the land deed were kept," Zhou Dong's voice trembled.
Beside him, Zhou Zhong dropped what he was holding and rushed into the room.
Cai Damei and Zhou Dong followed him inside.
Zhou Zhong stood pale, his lips quivering as he stared at a box on the floor.
Moving closer, they saw the box was completely empty.
"They're gone."
"What's gone?"
"The land deed, the title deed... they're all gone. Our home is gone, our home is gone." Zhou Zhong wailed in despair; a lifetime of hard work had vanished.
Slap, slap, slap…
Zhou Dong began hitting himself forcefully, again and again. It was all his fault.
Awakened by the noise, Cai Xiaomei saw her son slapping his own face repeatedly.
"Dong'er, why are you hitting yourself?" Cai Xiaomei tried to get up agitatedly but was held down by Cai Damei.
"Elder Sister, what happened?"
Cai Damei hesitated. The doctor had said Cai Xiaomei must not suffer any more shocks.
"Elder Sister, tell me quickly, what's wrong?" Cai Xiaomei urged.
"The land deed and title deed in the box are gone," Zhou Zhong said.
"Gone?"
"Little Sister, don't get agitated, your health is important. If they're gone, we'll earn them back," Cai Damei soothed.
Suddenly, Cai Xiaomei grabbed Cai Damei's hand. "They're not lost."
Witnessing the incidents Zhang Cai'er had caused for her natal family, Cai Xiaomei had a bad premonition.
The most valuable things in the house were the land deed and title deed. The day before yesterday, she had taken them from the box and hidden them inside the bed frame.
The several people in the room hastily helped lift Cai Xiaomei. They opened the bed frame panel, and an oilpaper package was there.
Opening it, they found the land deed and title deed were safe.
"Thank heavens!" Zhou Zhong exclaimed excitedly, wiping away tears.
"As for that packet of silver you gave, I've already passed it to your uncle. Their family is in this situation now; they need money for living expenses and to restock goods."
"I meant for Mother to give it to Aunt. As long as people are safe, money and such can always be earned back."
"It's just a pity for the two children." Cai Damei thought of Zhou Lingling and Zhou Yan and couldn't help sighing again.
Regarding this, Ye Yunniang could only say that Zhang Cai'er was utterly inhuman.
She hadn't considered her own two children at all.
"Everything else is manageable, but grain... that's the tricky part." Grain was scarce everywhere these days.
"What if we move a few sacks from our own home for Auntie?"
