Chapter 404: Chapter 404: Passing Through

This really couldn’t be more serious. There were always people at home every day, which meant it had to have been an inside job.

Yang Dahai and his wife gathered the whole family for an interrogation.

Li Hong directly accused Bai Hehua of being the culprit since Bai Hehua was the only person who had entered Zhang Minghua’s room that day; she was referring to the time Bai Hehua went in to hold Xiao Bao.

Bai Hehua immediately wanted to fight Li Hong. Fortunately, the family was all together, and there were plenty of men to break it up. Li Hong did end up with a scratch mark on her face from a fingernail, and she began to cry pitifully.

Bai Hehua, on the other hand, cursed Li Hong, her vitriolic and filthy words shocking everyone present. In mid-tirade, Bai Hehua turned the tables, accusing Li Hong of the theft, suggesting that it was too much of a coincidence that Li Hong’s family had just needed money. She claimed Li Hong had the motive.

One was crying, the other cursing, and the room descended into chaos.

It took Zhang Minghua several shouts to calm everyone down.

Yang Dahai tried to reason with everyone, reminding them that they were all family and could talk openly about any need for money. If the reasoning was fair, the family wouldn’t leave them in the lurch. He urged whoever took the money to come forward and no further consequences would follow.

Everyone stated their innocence, but also made it clear that no matter who took it, they would forgive if the person just returned the money.

After a while, still no one confessed.

Zhang Minghua’s gaze then turned to Bai Hehua, who was the prime suspect.

Bai Hehua cursed and swore she hadn’t taken it, even inviting everyone to search her room. She pointed at Li Hong and Zhang Minghua, saying, “Mother, it’s Li Hong who’s playing the thief crying ‘catch the thief.’ Her family’s waiting for this money to save her brother. And how did her brother get caught, if not for stealing? People with such a brother tend to be the same. Everyone knows the fate of a thief—jail. It’s not as if we’re starving, needing to steal to survive. Though we’re not rich, we have enough to eat. There’s no need to steal. That’s what I think. Yes, I may talk too much and be a bit greedy, but I know better than to commit a crime that could land me in jail!”

Li Hong looked at her and sneered, “All that talk, but not one shred of evidence that you didn’t steal. Maybe you saw my family was in trouble and just took the opportunity to blame me. You always like a bargain, don’t you? Even my mother’s goodwill isn’t off-limits to you.”

“You, Li Hong—I’ll rip your mouth off!” she shouted and lunged at her, but Yang Peihua held her back, whispering words of comfort. Bai Hehua found him useless and thought she had to rely on herself. Then she had a thought and loudly proposed, “Father, Mother, didn’t Li Hong just say her family’s problem had been resolved? Let’s go find out if it’s true. If it is, then fine. But if it hasn’t been, then she must be the thief!”

Zhang Minghua exchanged looks with her husband and son, then nodded in agreement.

Li Hong quickly interjected, “Mother, how can we drag my family into this? Family scandals should not be aired in public. I swear I didn’t steal. I can have my family come over and confirm, even bring my uncle to see if he borrowed the money. If the people from our village hear that my in-laws are inquiring about this, they’ll start gossiping, saying my in-laws look down on me. My parents are getting on in years, and I cannot bear to see them subjected to this kind of talk. It’s not beneficial to our Yang Family either.”

Li Hong made a fair point.

Bai Hehua then said, “We don’t need to inquire ourselves. We could send an intermediary.”

Li Hong glared at her bitterly, “For all I know, you might have bribed the person beforehand.”

Bai Hehua retorted sharply, “Don’t you even trust our own father-in-law?”

Li Hong was choked with emotion for a moment, but her face was an expressionist panorama. She suddenly looked so aggrieved, covering her face and crying softly, even starting to sob.

Zhang Minghua caught Yang Dahai’s eye signal and began to comfort Li Hong, “Don’t cry, everyone in our family is a suspect now, not just you. Since no one admits to it, your dad and I have no choice but to do this. You and the second brother’s family have been arguing all night too. Since it has come to this, let’s start with you. If we, the elders, are wrong, we’ll apologize to you.”

Yang Dahai followed Bai Hehua’s suggestion, but there was no need to look for anyone. He was very familiar with the captain of Upper River Village, and a mere inquiry sufficed to enlighten him.

The very next morning, before they had even finished breakfast, they learned of the situation. It turned out that Li Hong’s family’s second younger brother was still detained at the base, because the family whose chickens he had stolen declared they wouldn’t release him until they received the full amount of money, and his two adult sons from their family took turns guarding him there.

The matter was clear now.

The money had been stolen by Li Hong.

Yet, Li Hong argued, “It’s because this incident is too embarrassing. I said I had borrowed the money, also thinking to get the family to forget about this as soon as possible, otherwise I’d feel too ashamed; my face would burn with embarrassment…”

However, no one believed her words, not even Yang Peiguo’s six-year-old daughter.

At first, Yang Peijun firmly trusted his wife, standing united with her against Bai He and searching for evidence.

He never expected that it was his own wife who had stolen. Yang PeiMin, who valued face above all, couldn’t bear such a thing. If it weren’t for the fact that Li Hong was pregnant, he truly would have wanted to slap her. He detested this kind of thievery the most. Ever since he was a child, he had dreamed of becoming a hero, imagining himself like a soldier or a policeman overcoming enemies and capturing the bad guys. Even though he had grown up now and was dragged down by his circumstances, only able to be a farmhand, it didn’t mean his ideas had faded away.

Now his own wife, the bride he had brought back himself, had turned out to be a thief, stealing his parents’ money—this was more painful than death to him!

Watching Li Hong still crying and making excuses, Yang Peijun stormed into their room, rummaged about, and pulled out a thick stack of money from under Li Hong’s pillow. His eyes reddened at the sight of the money. Without even counting it, he strode out, flung the money onto Li Hong’s face, “What’s this? Where did it come from?”

Li Hong had not anticipated that he would actually find the money.

Bai Hehua swiftly went over to pick up the money and handed it to Zhang Minghua, “Mom, please count it quickly. Isn’t it the four hundred yuan?”

Zhang Minghua wore a grim expression, “No need to count. This stack is a hundred, four in total. The red string tied around the top is one I braided myself. Can’t I recognize it?”

Seeing the inevitable, Li Hong began to admit her wrongdoing on the floor.

Bai He then started to mock and deride her, kicking her while she was down.

Disappointment covered the faces of Yang Dahai and Zhang Minghua.

Yang Peiguo and Jiang Erni were struck with shock and disbelief.

Yang Peijun couldn’t bear the psychological pressure anymore and turned to rush out, heading towards Li Hong’s family’s house. Yang Pei followed close behind, unable to catch up. When he arrived at Li Hong’s family’s house, he found that Yang Peijun had unleashed his fury inside, smashing things, and was being pinned to the ground and beaten by several men from the Li family.