CHAPTER 189: CHAPTER 189: ENCOUNTER WITH THIEVES (SECOND UPDATE)

That night, dark clouds obscured the moon, enveloping the entire Er Gui Village in darkness.

In a corner of Old Mu Family’s backyard, a shadow slipped into Mu Dashan’s room and emerged with something in hand. Moments later, a hen screamed in agony from the chicken coop.

Soon after, calm returned to Old Mu Family.

Awakened by the clucking sound in her sleep, Old Mrs. Mu sat up with a start, and startled Mr. Mu awake as well.

"Wife, what are you doing? Why aren’t you sleeping?"

"Sleep for what? I just heard our chicken clucking. Could it be thieves?"

Those few chickens in the house were the lifeblood of Old Mu Family; they depended solely on their daily eggs.

"You’re overthinking it. There’s no chicken clucking. You must have misheard." Mr. Mu replied confidently; still sleepy, he casually reassured Old Mrs. Mu and fell back asleep.

Feeling uneasy, Old Mrs. Mu wanted to check the chicken coop, but afraid of encountering something unclean so late at night, she decided to sleep first and check later.

Early the next morning, Old Mrs. Mu went to the chicken coop to pick eggs from the chickens’ bottoms, only to find one chicken missing. After counting, she realized there were originally five chickens, but now only four remained, missing exactly the egg-laying hen.

The floor of the chicken coop was littered with feathers, clearly indicating someone had entered last night and stolen the chicken.

"Oh no, we’ve been robbed!" Old Mrs. Mu slapped her hands against her thighs and cried out loudly.

"Oh, which heartless scoundrel, shamelessly dared to steal my chicken, may they have children without backsides, truly lacking conscience, evil-hearted..."

The entire Old Mu Family was awakened by this heart-wrenching wailing, they climbed up from their beds bewildered, and crowded in front of Old Mu Family’s chicken coop.

Mu Danian rushed over first, squeezed into the coop and asked Old Mrs. Mu in surprise.

"Mother, what’s going on? What’s been stolen from us?"

"What else could it be, my lifeblood, my heart, the egg-laying Queen Chicken has been stolen."

Speaking of this Queen Chicken, it was personally crowned by Old Mrs. Mu because its eggs were bigger and more punctual than others.

The other chickens, if they missed the laying time, required Old Mrs. Mu to pick eggs from their bottoms, which resulted in smaller eggs.

"What should we do, it’s quite a fortune for our family." Mu Danian said with a face full of grief, contrary to his usual indifferent attitude.

Mr. Mu dressed, stepped past several juniors, entered the chicken coop, and asked the same question as Mu Danian but in a more reserved and genuine manner.

Mu Shuangshuang didn’t initially want to join the commotion, but early in the morning, Yu Si Niang ran to her room saying it wasn’t just Old Mu Family that was robbed, their third branch was robbed too.

Old Mu Family lost a chicken, the third branch lost three pounds of mung beans and half a jar of lard Mu Shuangshuang had bought from the town yesterday.

For farmers, this was a significant loss, just the mung beans alone were worth twenty-four cents, plus the half jar of lard, totaling around seventy or eighty cents, equivalent to half month of Yu Si Niang’s wages.

This incident seemed peculiar to Mu Shuangshuang, Mu Dashan’s room door latch was always flimsy, could be pushed open with a little force, but few knew about this, mainly those who often kicked the third branch’s door in Old Mu Family.

Mrs. Lin, Old Mrs. Mu, and Mu Danian.

With her investigative skills learned in her past life and knowledge of these people’s character, Mu Shuangshuang finally identified the suspect as Mu Danian.

Only he had the audacity to break into the third branch, stealing without fear of the third branch’s man, Mu Dashan.

Meanwhile, after hearing the conversation between Old Mrs. Mu, Mu Danian and Mr. Mu, Mu Shuangshuang became more certain that Mu Danian was responsible.

Stealing her mung beans and lard, as well as Old Mu Family’s hen.

"So, what do you all think we should do about this?"

Mr. Mu himself had no ideas, so he asked the juniors for suggestions.

Old Mrs. Mu continued cursing, from their ancestors down to their descendants, she cursed everyone.

During this, Mu Shuangshuang observed Mu Danian’s expression, noticing it became unnatural whenever Old Mrs. Mu cursed.

"Father, if something is stolen, it’s stolen. There’s nothing we can do. Moreover, we asked earlier for a chicken to replenish our bodies, but mother was reluctant.

Now, it’s been stolen, benefitting someone else. If it had been given to us earlier, this wouldn’t have happened."

Mu Dazhong was a master of sarcastic remarks. He was angry too, but realizing their chicken raised and nurtured ultimately benefited the eldest, he preferred to have it stolen, at least the eldest wouldn’t get to eat it.

"Indeed, Gou Dan’s father is right. Gou Dan has grown so thin, yet mother wouldn’t spare a chicken. If given to Gou Dan earlier, no thief would have thought to steal."

The second branch was unreliable, no one from the first branch had come over yet.

"Fourth son, do you have any thoughts?"

Mu Dajiang quickly shook his head, "Father, whatever you say goes. Mrs. Liu and I don’t understand a thing."

"What about Zhenzhen and Zhuangzi? Where are they?" Mr. Mu inspected the crowd, Zhuangzi and Mu Zhenzhen were indeed absent.

"Probably still sleeping, Zhenzhen won’t get up until noon."

Mrs. Liu replied but was eyed by already upset Old Mrs. Mu.

"You wicked woman, what are you implying, trying to smear our Zhenzhen? How can you be so vile? Now, come here and clean up the chicken coop’s droppings."

Because she was venting, Old Mrs. Mu’s voice was louder than before, scaring Mrs. Liu into trembling, almost dropping the dustpan and broom from her shaking hands.

Mu Dajiang’s face turned slightly red, he struggled for a while and could only speak up stiffly, "Mother, Xiao Xia’s mother isn’t that kind of person."

"If she isn’t that kind of person, then what is she? She dares to speak poorly of the second aunt."

Mu Shuangshuang couldn’t stand it anymore, Old Mrs. Mu was purely acting out, Mrs. Liu was clearly taking the blame for others’ anger, and the instigator was just watching the spectacle.

Shameless!

"Grandfather, I think we can search nearby to see if any clues were left behind, like in the chicken coop, whether anything was left behind by the person."

The crime scene usually contains the most traces.

Mu Shuangshuang wanted to go in and inspect, but with all these people from Old Mu Family present, she couldn’t simply enter, even if the thief was caught, Old Mrs. Mu might think she was framing others.

"Let’s search nearby then; you from the second branch, see if anything is dropped around here."

"You from the fourth branch, glance around the yard for any clues."

( Happy Labor Day～ )