Over the next few days, the whole village was especially lively. By “lively,” she meant people were visiting each other’s homes, chatting about going together to register at the processing plant.
Yes, the plant would start accepting registrations this coming Friday. It was happening quickly, and everyone was pleased.
On the day of registration, Yun Su did not go. The Ji family was coming the day after tomorrow. These past two days, her family had been cleaning the house and preparing the ingredients for the meal.
In total, more than twenty young people from the village wanted to register. Several of them had not even graduated from elementary school. In reality, they had no chance of passing the first round of screening. But they all wanted to try their luck.
The village had been talking about this nonstop, so naturally, people from nearby fishing villages had also heard the news.
Sure enough, those villages also sent their people today.
Yun Su stood at the door of the distribution outlet, watching as the groups from several villages converged into a procession of several dozen people. They would walk together to town to catch the bus. From town, there was a direct bus to the processing plant. The round trip cost forty cents.
“Sigh, I hope this works out,” said Auntie Lin, also standing at the door of the outlet. The villagers who had come to see them off stood there, watching the large group set off.
“Liu Zhaodi is surprisingly generous this time—actually giving her second daughter forty cents for the bus fare.” An auntie spotted Liu Zhaodi in the crowd, pulling Yun Yan aside and giving her instructions, and found it quite remarkable.
Auntie Lin chuckled twice: “That Yun Yan didn’t even finish elementary school. I don’t know why they’re bothering.”
Yun Su, of course, also noticed Yun Yan in the crowd. This girl had never gotten along with Yun Feng. At home, she liked to compete with Yun Feng over everything.
In Yun Su’s memory, Yun Feng had complained about this to her countless times.
It was true that the girl hadn’t finished elementary school. This recruitment required at least a primary school diploma. Going there put her in the same boat as everyone else who was just trying their luck.
Her older brother was also in the crowd, chatting with a few of his close friends.
In truth, their village was relatively fortunate. They had an elementary school right in the village, built with investment from relatives in Southeast Asia during the Republican era. With the school right there, it was convenient for the village children to attend. Unless a family was especially poor, most would let their children finish elementary school.
After the crowd walked out of sight, the people gathered at the outlet dispersed in twos and threes.
Before leaving, Yun Su’s mother told her that she was going to deliver seafood to the military canteen today. If she couldn’t make it back by lunchtime, Yun Su might have to cook. Yun Huaimin had gone to register today instead of fishing, but her father had gone out to sea in the middle of the night.
“Okay, Mom, don’t worry.”
Seeing this, Yun Su’s mother nodded. She thought to herself that as she delivered seafood to the military canteen today, she wondered if she might run into anyone from the Ji family. Though that was unlikely—the Ji family were all busy doctors at the big hospital.
—
At 11:30 a.m., Yun Su checked the time and saw no sign of activity at the village entrance. She knew her mother wasn’t back yet. She didn’t dawdle. She closed up the distribution outlet and headed home.
But as she walked, she felt that something was off.
She observed the houses lining both sides of the village path.
The houses in the village were built in rows along the road, each with its own yard. Every family’s yard was separated by one or two meters.
Normally, if no one was home, people would lock their doors. It wasn’t like in some period novels where people left their doors unlocked when they went out.
But today, as she passed several houses, she noticed that their doors were all ajar. For some families, she knew someone was usually home, so a slightly open door was normal. But others had families where every able-bodied person worked. There was no way anyone would be home at this hour—they wouldn’t return until at least noon.
After realizing something was wrong, Yun Su also remembered that the fishermen hadn’t returned yet.
Usually, they came back around ten. If they weren’t back, it meant either bad weather at sea or a particularly large catch.
On top of that, more than twenty young people from the village had gone to register. The work at the drying ground probably couldn’t be finished. The village children had to go help there today.
Many of those children would normally have been at home.
In short, the village today was eerily quiet.
By the time she reached her own home, Yun Su was certain something had happened.
Her house was in the center of the village. Normally, they would lock the door when leaving. But now the main gate was wide open. Unlike the houses at the village entrance, whose doors were just ajar as if to deceive, her door was fully open.
Fu Zai had gone to help at the drying ground today. Her older brother had gone to register and wasn’t back. Her mother had gone to deliver seafood. Her father had gone out to sea and hadn’t returned. Seeing the house in this state, Yun Su didn’t dare go in alone—she was afraid there might be some bad person hiding inside.
So she simply stood outside the yard and started shouting.
After shouting several times, a few seven- or eight-year-old children finally ran over.
“Sister Su, what’s wrong?”
Seeing that only children had appeared, Yun Su felt a mix of amusement and frustration. Still, she instructed them: “Go to the drying ground and call a few aunties and older women back. And bring your Brother Fu back too.”
“Okay!”
—
The children darted off toward the drying ground in a flash.
After shouting, Yun Su was certain that no one was in her house. The neighboring houses also had their doors wide open. They had likely been visited by thieves as well.
Yes, by now Yun Su was sure that the village had been hit by burglars.
At the village entrance, the thieves had apparently had enough time to leave the doors ajar.
But by the time they reached the village center, they were probably running short on time, so they left the doors wide open without a second thought.
Today, the village was especially empty. The fishermen hadn’t returned from sea. The young people had gone to register. Most of the able-bodied workers left behind were at the drying ground. Only a handful of young children were wandering around the village.
The thieves had certainly picked their moment well.
Thinking this, Yun Su began to form a suspicion.
—
The aunties and older women returned quickly. Fu Zai was running at the front.
“Sis, what’s wrong?”
Yun Su nodded: “The village might have been robbed. From the entrance all the way to our house, no one was around, but every house’s door was unlocked.”
The aunties who had come over immediately changed expression. They forgot everything else and ran to their own homes.
Yun Su didn’t mind. She had called them back, and they were all nearby. If there was a thief hiding in her house, she could shout and they would come. And Fu Zai, though still a teenager, was already over 1.6 meters tall—old enough to handle things.
“Let’s go home. Take this hatchet. I’ll take these fire tongs. We’ll go in together and see if there’s any thief hiding inside.”
Fu Zai was startled at this.
“Sis, let me go first. You cover me from behind.”
Yun Su didn’t argue with her brother. Her little brother was very strong. If they ran into a bad guy, he would definitely be more useful than her.
The siblings walked through the wide-open gate, one behind the other. As expected, the house was in disarray.
No one was in the main room. They checked their parents’ room and Yun Su’s room—no one there either. But their belongings had been pulled out and scattered everywhere. Even the tin box that her mother kept behind the cabinet had been pulled out.
The box was open, empty inside.
Seeing this, Yun Su was glad she had taken the precaution of having her parents bury those six gold bars. The remaining money had all been taken by her mother and brother today.
One was going to the processing plant, the other to the military compound. Both places had supply and marketing cooperatives nearby.
Since they were preparing for the engagement and wedding, both had planned to check out the cooperatives. If they found good things, they would buy them.
Last night, Yun Su had told them not to buy too much, to keep some money at home. Now it seemed that taking the money out had been a good thing—at least they hadn’t lost it.
As for her own room, though it was a mess and she was annoyed, her money hadn’t been easy to find. Her hiding place was intact, with no sign of being disturbed.
The rooms of her older brother and little brother were also a mess. But nothing was missing from there either. Both of them were “daylight spenders” with no savings.
The kitchen and storage room, which held ingredients and grains prepared for the day after tomorrow’s gathering, were untouched. Clearly, the thieves had come only for valuables.
After checking around, the siblings went to look at the chicken coop. Not a single chicken was missing either.
This came as a relief.
—
But other families were not so lucky.
One after another, curses and shouts rose from outside. Clearly, these families had been robbed too—probably of valuable items.
Yun Su had checked her own house. Even the flashlight hadn’t been taken. In those days, a flashlight was a valuable item. It was strange that the thieves hadn’t stolen it.
“Let’s go see what happened to the other families.”
They didn’t lock the door—the lock had been pried open anyway, so locking it was impossible.
Yun Su left Fu Zai to watch the house and told him to light the stove and boil water. They would have rice noodles for lunch.
She herself went next door to Auntie Lin’s house.
Auntie Lin’s house was in the same state as her own—everything turned upside down.
“Xiao Su, how much did your family lose?”
Yun Su shook her head. She didn’t directly say her family had lost nothing. She was afraid that if the other family had suffered heavy losses, and hers hadn’t, the disparity might make someone spiteful—they might end up hating her family instead of the thieves.
Seeing her response, Auntie Lin didn’t press further. She just resumed cursing. But Yun Su could tell from her tone that her losses weren’t great.
The next few houses were the same. Yun Su didn’t go far. She turned back home.
By then, the children who had been sent back to the drying ground earlier had returned one after another.
This time, everyone from the drying ground had come back. They each went home to check, and then wave after wave of shouts and wails rose from the village.
In short, hearing it all was quite painful.
—
The fishermen returned around one in the afternoon.
They were all beaming, carrying fishing baskets full to the brim on their shoulders. Clearly, their catch today had been bountiful.
In fact, they had hit the jackpot.
Soon after setting out, they encountered a school of sailfish. These fish usually only lived in deep waters. Something must have caused them to rise to the shallows.
Sailfish were extremely valuable. Even the purchasing station wouldn’t lowball them.
So everyone gave chase, using their boats to pursue the school. Then they cast their nets—it took every ounce of strength they had to haul the fish in. When they finally turned back, they realized that in chasing the school, they had sailed very far out.
Thus, the return trip took quite some time. At the purchasing station, because the fish were so valuable, they haggled over the price. That took a while too.
But the results were gratifying. With this one trip, every household could expect an extra several dozen yuan when the year-end dividends were distributed. In a single outing, they had earned more than they would in a month.
So even though they came back late, their stomachs growling with hunger, their spirits were high.
But the moment they entered the village, they were met with a chorus of curses. The village had been robbed. Now they forgot about their good fortune and rushed home to see what had happened.
—
“Dad, we’ve been robbed. The house…”
As soon as her father came home, Fu Zai quickly filled him in on the situation.
“The brigade captain went to register and hasn’t come back. The Party branch secretary has already sent someone to town to find the public security. They haven’t returned yet.”
Yun Su brought her father a large bowl of rice noodles and gestured for him to fill his stomach first.
With this incident, the distribution outlet would not open in the afternoon.
“Only the end of the village wasn’t hit. Plus the brigade office, the drying ground, and the outlet.”
The end of the village probably didn’t get robbed because the thieves ran out of time. The other places were occupied during the day.
“The important thing is that no one got hurt. There wasn’t much to steal anyway. How many families have spare cash? The thieves were stupid too—they didn’t steal food. Let me tell you, today we came across a school of sailfish and sold them for a good price. Every household will get an extra several dozen yuan at the end of the year. This one haul will make up for what was stolen today.”
Yun Su’s father was very optimistic. He believed that people mattered most. Having things stolen wasn’t the end of the world. Of course, the thieves still needed to be caught. The question was whether they would be.
Their village hadn’t been burgled in decades. Where had these thieves come from?
Fishermen weren’t wealthy. Typically, thieves targeted towns or communes where there were more factory workers.
“The thieves were really lucky. They happened to hit when the village was empty.”
Yun Su shook her head: “I think it might be an inside job. No one gets that lucky.”
Her father’s expression turned serious: “Don’t say that out loud for now. When the public security arrives, we’ll tell them what we saw. Let’s see how things play out.”
Calling it an inside job was no small matter. One wrong word and they could offend the whole village.
Yun Su understood the gravity of the situation. Besides, the public security comrades would be able to figure it out.
—
Not long after Yun Su’s father finished his rice noodles, two public security comrades arrived on bicycles.
Since the brigade captain hadn’t returned yet, the older Party branch secretary received them.
The women crowded around the public security comrades, chattering all at once about their losses.
The comrades quickly told everyone to calm down. Then they said: “Your village isn’t the only one hit by these burglaries. Several surrounding villages were robbed too.”
The crowd erupted in uproar.
Yun Su finally understood why only two public security comrades had come when the whole village had been robbed. So a whole stretch of villages had been hit.
The thieves had targeted the window when all these villages were empty and struck.
This made it even more certain that the thieves came from somewhere nearby. And the number of thieves couldn’t be small—certainly more than just two.
Yes, Yun Su had previously suspected the siblings Li Hong and Li Biao. They were the only newcomers to the village. They knew what was going on in the village. And today, when everyone else was busy, they had the time to cause trouble.
But if a whole stretch of villages had been robbed, that cleared them of most of the suspicion.
Many in the village had the same thought. Now that they heard the public security comrade’s words, they felt they had wrongfully accused the Li siblings.
Seeing everyone’s expressions, Yun Su knew what they were thinking.
Nevertheless, this incident made Yun Su even more wary of the Li siblings.
Her intuition told her that these two were not clean.
In fact, Yun Su suspected that they might have come for the six gold bars.
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