Chapter 2342: Chapter 2406: Robbed by a Thief

"It’s good that you’re taking him away, otherwise he’s still so little... life is just too hard!"

"Yeah, it really is hard," Li Yifei said.

"I’ll pay for her living expenses then. Oh, I don’t mean to look down on you, it’s just... I don’t know what your situation is now, and there are already several kids at home. Adding another child... the burden might be heavy, so let me cover her living expenses. It’s my little way of doing something," Hu Yu’er said carefully, as if afraid of touching a raw nerve with Li Yifei.

"It’s fine, I can afford it!" Li Yifei laughed and said, "After I left the army, I’ve been doing pretty well."

"Doesn’t look like it," Hu Yu’er said, shaking her head.

"You actually don’t believe me?" Li Yifei shot back.

"I do, just... not completely," Hu Yu’er said.

"Alright, we’ve pretty much talked it through, I’ll head back now."

"Can’t you stay a little longer? I... I haven’t seen you for six years," as soon as Hu Yu’er heard he was leaving, her little face was instantly full of reluctance. She spoke cautiously.

"Then I’ll sit for a bit," Li Yifei said, softening.

Hu Yu’er immediately said happily, "Mm, mm, stay a bit longer. Go back after dinner, I’ll drive you back!"

"No need for that, I rode my motorcycle," Li Yifei said.

"I’ll have someone load your motorcycle onto a truck and then take you back," Hu Yu’er said, and without asking his opinion, she picked up the bedside phone, dialed a number, and gave instructions.

Well then, even if Li Yifei wanted to stop her it was too late, so he just let her do as she pleased.

"Then have them buy me some things, but not too much. One batch is for gifts, and the other is for us to use when we get back," Li Yifei said.

"No problem, I’ll have someone get it ready right away!" Hu Yu’er agreed readily.

Keeping Li Yifei until evening, Chen Junxiao was already asleep. At Li Yifei’s request, dinner wasn’t overly lavish, but the ingredients were definitely top-notch. Several kinds of meat were laid out on the table. Li Yifei’s appetite surged; he tucked in and started chewing away. Chen Junxiao gradually let go of his stiffness. Sitting across from them, after learning Li Yifei was that person, Hu Yu’er was naturally in a very good mood. Even though he was already married with a child... she was just happy.

After the meal, Li Yifei got in the car with Chen Junxiao. This time, Hu Yu’er personally drove them back, with a pickup following behind carrying the motorcycle. Li Yifei accepted it all with an easy conscience. At the entrance of the village, Li Yifei asked her to stop.

"Thanks," Li Yifei said.

Hu Yu’er’s eyes were soft; she shook her head lightly and said, "I’m the one who should be saying thank you."

"Then let’s not say it at all," Li Yifei unfastened his seat belt and called to Chen Junxiao to get out. Hu Yu’er stopped him and said, "You’re injured, don’t go out to sea tomorrow. Now that I know you’re you, there’s no way I’m letting you go catch fish again."

Li Yifei thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Mm, I won’t go fishing tomorrow." The reason he’d been working so hard catching fish was just to sell them for some money, to temporarily solve the problem of survival for him and Chen Junxiao. Otherwise, if they kept eating that sweet potato porridge, even Li Yifei couldn’t take it. Now there were still two or three thousand yuan in his pocket, enough for them to get by here.

Seeing that Li Yifei agreed, Hu Yu’er immediately broke into a happy smile and said, "Then... can I come see you tomorrow? You don’t need to run around, I’ll come to you."

Li Yifei had already pushed the door open. Hearing what she said, he thought for a second, then grinned and said, "Bring some food over, but not too much. We’ll have a picnic tomorrow."

"Okay!" Hu Yu’er instantly nodded happily, her eyes full of anticipation.

Li Yifei chuckled, got out of the car, and Hu Yu’er hurried out as well. Standing at the village entrance, she watched as Li Yifei and Chen Junxiao rode the motorcycle into the village. Only when their figures disappeared from sight did Hu Yu’er take a deep breath and slowly exhale, then turn back to the car and drive away.

When he returned to the old lady’s house, the whole family of four came out. Li Yifei apologized and explained, "Sorry, Auntie, Big Brother, something came up today and I’m back a bit late."

"What happened?" that big brother asked worriedly.

"Ran into someone I knew, grabbed a meal together, so I got back late!" Li Yifei said as he put the kickstand down, then picked two items out of the pile of stuff behind him and handed them to that guy.

"No, no, it’s fine, no one uses the bike there anyway, brother you’re being too polite!" The other man waved his hands again and again, but Li Yifei insisted on leaving the things there, then went along with Chen Junxiao to carry the rest back home.

The road was very dark. Li Yifei walked in front, constantly reminding Chen Junxiao to watch her step. Even though it was already very late, the two of them were in a pretty good mood, walking home one step at a time. But when they got home, Li Yifei immediately felt something was off. He hadn’t paid much attention when they left in the morning, but it definitely shouldn’t be... this empty. A bunch of daily necessities they’d bought yesterday were now mostly gone, like laundry detergent, soap and the like. Also, some food they’d bought yesterday was nowhere to be seen. Even the crabs they’d put in the bucket had been taken, along with the bucket itself that Li Yifei had bought.

Chen Junxiao couldn’t see clearly, so Li Yifei took out the battery-powered flashlight he’d asked Hu Yu’er to have someone buy earlier. He put the batteries in and shone it around. The girl saw the situation clearly and exclaimed, "Where are our things?"

"Don’t move yet, let me check first!" Li Yifei stopped Chen Junxiao, who was about to rush into the room to look around, steadying the little girl. Then he started checking from the kitchen. Since it hadn’t rained today, there were no clear footprints or anything like that left behind. After a round of checking, Li Yifei still couldn’t figure it out; in short, of all the things they’d bought, aside from the toothpaste and toothbrush they’d already used, all the food and daily stuff was gone.

Eyes brimming with tears, Chen Junxiao rushed into the room and found the pillow had fallen to the floor. She hurried to pick it up, only to see the pillow filling had been pulled out. She anxiously rummaged through it for a bit...

When Li Yifei walked in, he saw Chen Junxiao standing there, clutching the pillow in one hand and wiping away tears with the other, crying very sadly but without making a sound.

"Those things are gone, so be it, it’s all small change!" Li Yifei came over and squatted down to comfort her.

"Uncle, the money... the money is gone too. The money left from selling fish yesterday, and... and the money I saved up, all of it is gone!" Chen Junxiao said, heart aching beyond words. Never mind her own little stash, barely over a hundred, just the money from yesterday alone was a huge sum to her, and it had been stolen. How could she not be heartbroken.

When Li Yifei saw the pillow he already guessed it. Seeing how upset the little girl was, he took her hand and comforted her, "That’s only a few hundred yuan, it’s nothing. Let it go. From now on we’re not going to live poor anymore. Besides, we might still find the person who stole our stuff, and when we do, we’ll give him a good lesson!"

"Uncle, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have hidden the money in the pillow, wuu wuu, I thought no one would come to steal things!" Chen Junxiao choked out.

"It’s no big deal, don’t cry, okay? Be good. It’s just that little bit of money, you’ll earn lots and lots of money in the future!"

"But... but the person who stole it is too awful. Why did he have to steal my things, and our money!" As soon as she thought of that, Chen Junxiao felt even sadder. Life was already this hard for her, and yet someone still had the nerve to target her.

Li Yifei was about to keep coaxing her when he suddenly saw something on the floor. It was a pendant from a necklace. He picked it up and saw that it was pure gold, a heart-shaped pure gold pendant. Holding it in his hand, with tears still hanging from her lashes, Chen Junxiao saw Li Yifei pick something up.

This clearly didn’t belong to Li Yifei or Chen Junxiao. There was no way either of them would own something like this. A pure gold pendant dropped here, combined with the missing things, made the owner of this pendant the biggest suspect.

"Have you seen this pendant before?" Li Yifei moved the flashlight closer so she could see. The little girl sobbed twice, leaned in for a look, and said, "I know it... it’s... it’s the necklace my mom wore!"

"Hm? Your mom’s?"

"Later, after Mom passed away, when Auntie was going through Mom’s things, she took it and said she’d keep it for me." Chen Junxiao went on.

Li Yifei nodded. The suspect was instantly locked in. Thinking of that aunt’s mean face, it was highly likely she was the one who’d come to steal their stuff. With that in mind, Li Yifei said to Chen Junxiao, "Alright, looks like it was your aunt who took our things. Don’t cry. Tomorrow Uncle will go get them back for you."

"Ah?" Chen Junxiao had also suspected her aunt, but when she heard Li Yifei say he was going to get the stuff back, she couldn’t help freezing for a moment. Then she looked up and asked, "Is... is that okay?"

"What’s not okay about it? Your aunt can steal our things, so we have every right to take them back. Besides, that money was mine. If she dares to steal from me, I’d even be within my rights to hit her!" Li Yifei said. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

After thinking for a bit, Chen Junxiao held onto Li Yifei’s hand and said, "Uncle, let’s not hit her. She... she’s still my aunt after all. We’ll just go get the stuff back tomorrow, that’ll be enough. I’ll help you prove it!"

"Mm, so don’t cry anymore. Go wash your face and brush your teeth, then get ready for bed!" Li Yifei helped her wipe away her tears. She still hadn’t fully calmed down and kept sniffling from time to time, but she did go out to wash up.

Standing in the room, Li Yifei let out a quiet sigh. Having relatives like that was really unfortunate. But heaven has its own way of dealing with bad people. She’d stolen the money but dropped the pendant here.

No, this pendant was originally part of Chen Junxiao’s mother’s belongings, which that woman had basically snatched under the guise of "keeping it safe." Thinking of it that way, they were still the ones who’d taken the loss. And that was a loss Li Yifei wasn’t going to swallow, especially since he didn’t plan to keep living here much longer. Now that Hu Yu’er had recognized him, a peaceful life was clearly out of the question.

When Chen Junxiao finished washing up and came back, Li Yifei had her lie on the bed, while he lay down on the mattress on the floor. Only when he lay down did he notice that there were several footprints on the mattress, with sand and dirt stuck all over it.