Chapter 87: A Thief in the Night

"On the day Sang Luo was busy shopping in the county, Li Shi, carrying a basket to wash clothes, spotted several boys by the riverbank from a distance, resembling her three sons."

"Too far to see clearly, she waited until the children returned home at noon and called them closer."

"Did you play at Shen An and Shen Ning's today?"

Shen Jin unblinkingly replied, "Yes, we did."

Li Shi scrutinized him, asking, "Did you manage to enter their yard today?"

Pressing his lips together, Shen Jin responded, "It's not that easy. Shen An and Shen Ning are vigilant, and there are many kids around. It’s hard to escape their notice."

So you and dad should drop the idea.

Turning to Shen Yin, Li Shi asked, "What about you, little Yin? Where were you this morning?"

Caught off guard, Shen Yin’s heart raced as he tried not to look at Shen Jin and stammered, "Went... went to the second brother’s place."

Li Shi then looked at Shen Tie, who immediately lowered his head.

During their afternoon break, Li Shi discussed this with Shen San, scoffing, "We've raised three fine sons, always looking out for others rather than us."

Shen San glanced at her, saying, "They’re just kids. Do you really expect them to bring back something useful? Even if they sneak into the yard, what could they possibly figure out?"

Li Shi shot back, "If I can’t count on my sons, should I expect anything from you?"

Shen San chuckled.

Seeing his expression, Li Shi perked up: "Do you have a plan?"

Shen San grinned, "Didn’t think of it yesterday, but today I’ve come up with a trick."

He beckoned Li Shi to come closer and whispered in her ear. Li Shi’s face instantly lit up with joy, giving Shen San a playful shove: "That’s really clever of you!"

Shen San proudly said, "Just wait and see. Those families head out before dawn to fetch stuff. It must be prepared at night. Let’s sneak in and see what it is. Maybe we can replicate it. After all, no one has a monopoly on making money."

His face beamed with satisfaction, evidently pleased with his own ingenuity.

The couple speculated about what Sang Luo might be making to sell to the three families, and indulged in future dreams, imagining a rosy scenario.

In the county town, Sang Luo had already purchased four large locks, four urns, a stone of grain, two pounds of cotton, five liters of salt, and had even secretly bought and stored some spices in one of the urns, along with a bag of flour. All these were now piled on Qin Fangniang’s cart.

Past noon, she decided to treat herself to a bowl of wontons at a local eatery.

The income of the families was now considerable. Gone were the days of hesitating to buy a little something for lunch. Unlike the villagers who ate late breakfasts and early dinners, they couldn’t skip lunch after hours of hard work.

While waiting for the wontons, Qin Fangniang, looking at the cart outside, whispered to Sang Luo, "Grain’s now 150 wen per dou, you still bought it?"

If not for the high prices, even Sang Luo’s visits to the city wouldn’t guarantee easy access to grain.

Sang Luo didn’t advocate hoarding grain but explained, "It’s quite expensive, but without our own land, we need to store some for peace of mind. I can’t buy much, just stock up a bit when I have extra money."

The others agreed, understanding the necessity for those without their own land.

After the meal, they rested briefly before continuing their journey, passing through Sanli Village where Sang Luo asked Qin Fangniang and the others to wait a moment.

Qin Fangniang and others didn't hesitate; they parked their cart outside a villager's house, borrowed a bench to rest, and were kindly offered bowls of water.

Meanwhile, Sang Luo entered the village to inquire about something from the butcher.

As Qin Fangniang and others waited for about thirty minutes, becoming slightly anxious and frequently looking towards the village, they saw Sang Luo returning with two people, carrying a large bamboo cage.

The women stretched their necks in curiosity and, as Sang Luo approached, realized from the loud geese honking inside the cage what she had been up to.

"Did you buy geese?"

Sang Luo nodded, and Qin Fangniang hurriedly made space on the cart for the large bamboo cage, which, to her surprise, contained three large ganders.

She asked Sang Luo, "Why did you only buy big ones? And all ganders at that?"

Sang Luo replied with a smile, "For guarding the house."

She had specifically chosen the fiercest and most aggressive ones.

Qin Fangniang cautioned, “Be careful until they get used to you, they can bite.”

A bite from a large gander can be quite serious, as they tend to twist and could draw blood.

Sang Luo, still smiling, responded, “I’ll keep them caged initially. I need to borrow your saw and sickle to make a fenced area for them. Once they’re accustomed, I’ll let them roam.”

Qin Fangniang agreed to help in the afternoon.

Gan Shi and Feng Liuniang also offered their assistance.

Gander geese are indeed excellent for guarding a property, especially against snakes and other threats, as they fearlessly confront any intruder, even daring to challenge a tiger.

For a young woman like Sang Luo living in the mountains with two children, having geese for protection was very appropriate.

In the afternoon, Qin Fangniang and others, along with their men who brought tools, helped to build a large geese activity area around Sang Luo's house. Except for the front gate area, the geese could roam around the outside of the house.

Shen An and Shen Ning were incredibly fascinated, insisting on personally feeding and watering the geese, determined to bond with the three large geese and win their recognition.

As Sang Luo had purchased a significant amount of goods today, including grains, salt, flour, jars, and large geese, which were transported via mountain paths, only her family and the Chen, Shi, and Lu families knew about the addition of the three fierce white geese.

……

In the deep silence of the night, when everyone in the village was asleep, including Sang Luo who usually made several batches of soybean products before bed, she and the two children were also sound asleep, snuggled in their new quilts.

On the path leading into the mountains, two figures stealthily moved up the mountain, carrying something in the darkness.

They had to be secretive, fearing detection and not daring to light a torch. It was pitch dark on the twenty-fifth day of the lunar month, with clouds covering the sky and the crescent moon barely visible, making visibility almost as bad as being blind.

They cautiously reached halfway up the mountain, first stepping on a stone path and finally reaching the wall of the yard, only to find a bamboo fence blocking their way.

Shen San was puzzled.

He whispered to Li Shi, "What's this fence for?"

Li Shi scoffed softly, "Who knows what Sang Luo is up to; she always has to be different. She even turned a good grassy area into a stone-paved space, and transformed a simple spring into a large pond."

"Pretentious, just showing off her abilities."

She whispered, "Let's go in and talk about it once we're inside."

With their minds set on finding a way to wealth, they didn't overthink and focused on getting over the courtyard wall.

The bamboo fence was about half a person's height. Shen San struggled to climb over, placing the wooden ladder inside against the wall for stability. He helped Li Shi over and steadied the ladder for her.

The couple moved quietly, intent on their stealthy mission, unaware that the three large white geese, which had been sleeping, now extended their necks, their eyes gleaming dangerously in their direction.

Suddenly, the wind picked up in the dark night, and several white figures flapped towards them, accompanied by the near-deafening squawks of the geese launching an attack.

When Sang Luo was jolted awake by the sudden noise, it was not just the geese squawking outside; the human screams were far more agonizing, resembling the sounds of pigs being slaughtered!

Shen San, with his buttocks viciously bitten, was running chaotically. The ladder toppled over, and though he tried to escape over the sturdy, high fence, he was trapped between two geese, one on each side. He could only run straight along the geese's path, howling in terror.

Li Shi fared no better; though only one goose attacked her, its bites were ferocious. She screamed in pain as the goose bit through her clothes, feeling like her flesh might be torn off.

"Sang Luo! Sang Luo! Control your geese!!! Ahh!"

"Help, ah! Help! Somebody! Ahhh!"

Shen An and Shen Ning, who had been sleeping soundly, were startled awake by the nightmare-inducing screams, too scared to even realize where they were.

Sang Luo, after carefully listening, recognized the voices of Shen San and Li Shi, and couldn't help but laugh into her pillow.

She found it hilariously amusing.

Her purchase of the geese, initially just a precaution, had unexpectedly caused such an uproar on their very first night.

Outside, Li Shi and Shen San continued their pig-slaughter-like screams, fittingly, as they were the ones being 'slaughtered'.

"Sang Luo! Sang Luo! Come quick, the geese are going to kill someone! AHHHH!!!"

Shen An finally snapped out of his daze, sitting up with his blanket, and listened closely, "My aunt?"

Shen Ning added, "And uncle too."

Sang Luo chuckled, "What aunt and uncle? Just some thieves trying to climb the wall."

Shen Ning tried to join in the laughter, but the outside cries were too pitiful, causing her to shiver occasionally, "Big sister, aren't we going to do something?"

Sang Luo shrugged, "There's nothing we can do. The geese are new and don't recognize us; if we go out now, they'll attack us too."

"Getting bitten for thieving at midnight is well-deserved."

She wasn’t inclined to intervene.

Besides, they won’t get bitten to death. To ensure the geese's happiness, cough, actually, to ensure effective guarding, the bamboo fence runway was impressively long. It took eight adults half a day to enclose the exterior of the entire house, providing ample space for Shen San and Li Shi to run.

If those two could scale such high bamboo fences in the dead of night, no one in the village could blame Sang Luo for unleashing geese on them.

Moreover, given Li Shi and Shen San's piercing screams, despite Sang Luo living far from the village, separated by two or three mountains, with such a commotion, people would soon arrive.

Indeed, as Sang Luo predicted, the horrific screams of Shen San and Li Shi woke the villagers, who thought bandits had invaded, speculating a family was about to be wiped out. Only upon hearing the geese did they realize it might not be bandits.

Men from various households quickly dressed, grabbed sticks and rods, and headed out, following the noise towards the mountains.

Chen Youtian and others were also among them. Hearing the noise coming from the direction of Sang Luo's house in the mountains, they quickened their pace.

Sang Luo, having just finished dressing and lighting an oil lamp, heard the distant voices and began to unbar and open her door. She, along with the villagers, reached the outside of the courtyard one after the other.

Her oil lamp, dim and needing protection from the mountain wind to not be extinguished, still provided enough light for everyone to discern the scene in the flickering light.

Shen San and Li Shi, with disheveled hair and clothes, were being dragged around the goose pen by three aggressive ganders, screaming and fleeing chaotically. A wooden ladder conspicuously lay overturned in the pen by the courtyard wall.

Well, what do you know – caught red-handed thieving in their own nephew's house in the middle of the night.

Chen Village Head, with a dark expression, instructed the others: "First, let’s pull them out of there."

Sang Luo, observing the sticks in everyone's hands, hurriedly said, "Dear uncles, please don't use the sticks. I specially borrowed these geese for guarding and protecting the house. If they get hurt, I can't afford to compensate."

Guarding and protecting, yes, legitimate defense.

Looking again at the size of those geese, each one weighing at least over ten pounds, and three of them...

The hands gripping the sticks softened at this revelation. Hitting them would be costly; injuring or killing one could cost over three hundred wen. They promptly dropped their sticks to the ground, standing outside the fence, trying to shoo the geese away and catch the people with bare hands.

Shen San, in agony, pushed Li Shi away and desperately clung to the hands reaching out from the village men: "Pull me out, get me out!"

Li Shi, equally frantic, didn't care that the hands she grabbed belonged to men, pulling Shen San backward while throwing herself forward, wailing and howling.

With an oil lamp in hand, Sang Luo stood steadily, smiling as she watched.

Just look at these two clowns.

Sang Luo didn’t know if souls truly existed in this world, but if they did, she really wanted to ask the original Sang Luo and Shen An Shen Ning's deceased parents and siblings if they felt any consolation seeing this scene.