Chapter 352: Unexpected Turn – The Daily Life of the Sickly Aunt in the Courtyard

**Chapter 352: Divine Development—The Sickly Young Aunt’s Gossip-Filled Days in the Compound**

The Mid-Autumn Festival performance was not just a celebration for the factory workers, but also for their families—the families of the workers were the most excited and couldn’t contain their enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, Su Shengnan’s plans were already underway at full throttle.

On the day before the performance, Su Shengnan deliberately wandered around outside longer than usual, hoping to “accidentally” run into Su Dazhuang.

After much effort, she finally managed to corner him.

Su Shengnan feigned surprise as she looked toward Su Dazhuang, who was sauntering lazily toward her. “Dazhuang, Dazhuang! I’m your cousin on your father’s side—you know that, right?”

At eleven or twelve years old, Su Dazhuang already had the swagger of a street punk. How could he not know who Su Shengnan was?

A distant relative who had turned against her own family—never once thinking to include them when there was money to be made!

“Pfft… What do you want?” Su Dazhuang asked impatiently.

Her temper flared instantly, but thinking of her husband’s goal, she forced herself to calm down. Her expression twisted from gritted teeth to a strained grin. “Heh! Well, I do have something to ask you…”

Looking at Su Shengnan’s shifty-eyed face, Su Dazhuang thought to himself that this woman might actually be worse than him. Whatever she wanted, it couldn’t be good.

His eyes darted around calculatingly, clearly deep in thought—but he didn’t make any move to leave.

Su Shengnan glanced around cautiously and decided to cut straight to the chase. “Let’s not beat around the bush. I need you to help me with something. If you succeed, I’ll give you fifty—no, a hundred yuan.”

Now Su Dazhuang was even more convinced—this woman was bad news. No way was he going to let her off easy.

Suddenly, a sense of heroism stirred inside him. Yes, playing the hero! He, Su Dazhuang, the great Bandit King known far and wide in the neighborhood, still had a sliver of honor.

In truth, this mindset came from his mother’s precise scheming. She knew that if her son only stole food or small items, people wouldn’t press charges too hard—it wasn’t a big loss. But stealing cash? That was different. Once the amount got serious, it could land him behind bars.

Mother Su had drilled this into him repeatedly.

“Out with it already! Quit dragging your feet!” Su Dazhuang snapped.

“Ahem…” Su Shengnan tried to suppress her irritation.

“We want you to steal something for us,” she finally admitted.

Su Dazhuang: “…Tsk!” So that’s what this was about.

With an indifferent shrug, he said, “What is it? Something so important that it needs the great Bandit King himself?”

“Uh…” Who does this brat think he is?

“If you didn’t have that reputation, I wouldn’t even be talking to you!” Su Shengnan shot back, clearly annoyed.

“So what is it? Hurry up! I’m in a rush to get back for dinner!” Su Dazhuang’s impatience was obvious. This woman was nothing but trouble—he should keep his distance.

“Forget it then. I’m leaving.” Without waiting for her to finish, he changed his mind and brushed past her.

“Hey—hey!” Su Shengnan failed to stop him, left seething helplessly as she watched him go.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Su Dazhuang let out a mocking snort.

“Dazhuang! Granny’s good boy, why are you back so late today?” Mother Su immediately gave him a thorough once-over, visibly relieved when she saw he was unharmed.

"Granny, drop it!" Su Dazhuang shouted as soon as he entered the yard.

A crazy person? Where? Who?

It took Su Shengnan a moment to realize that the "crazy person" Su Dazhuang was talking about was actually herself!

Clenching her jaw, Su Shengnan felt like exploding with anger right there in the yard, but for their big scheme, she forced herself to hold back.

"What happened? What happened? How did you just randomly run into some crazy person?"

"How should I know?"

Once inside, Su Dazhuang pulled Granny Su aside. "Granny, that two-faced woman across the way actually asked me to help her steal something."

Granny Su's eyes lit up. "Steal what?"

Su Dazhuang shook his head. "I don’t know! She kept taking forever to get to the point, so I just came home for dinner without listening and left."

"Good, good! That’s my smart boy. That woman is no good—she’s definitely cooking up trouble and trying to drag you into it! You better not agree to anything! And if she comes looking for you again, you come straight to me."

"Okay!" The grandmother and grandson quickly reached an agreement.

...

Su Shengnan wasn't ready to give up, but Su Dazhuang wouldn’t budge. Taking advantage of the darkness, she cornered him when he went out to use the toilet.

"What’s your damn problem?!" Su Dazhuang immediately yelled at her.

Before Su Shengnan could even say a word, Su Dazhuang—who nearly had a heart attack—went off on her. "F*** you, you..."

The racket woke the whole neighborhood, and neighbors with flashlights began stepping outside to see what was going on.

"What’s going on?"

"Making all this noise in the middle of the night."

Su Dazhuang shot back, "Noise my ass! This woman scared the crap out of me!"

Everyone paused. "My ass"? This little punk thought he could talk like that?

They turned to look at the panicked-looking Su Shengnan, waiting for her explanation.

"Comrade Shengnan, what’s this all about?" Mother Li asked sternly.

"I... I..." She couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth. "I... just wanted to talk to him real quick."

"What was so urgent it couldn’t wait till morning?"

"Exactly!"

Su Dazhuang threw in nastily, "She jumped out from behind the wall—who’s she trying to give a heart attack?"

Well, well, well…

No one expected Su Shengnan to pull a stunt like that. No wonder Su Dazhuang freaked out!

The crowd looked at Su Shengnan with some alarm—her way of making an entrance was totally unexpected!

"No, I..." Su Shengnan was at a loss for words. She had only hidden by the wall because she didn’t want to be seen.

There was no way she could say that out loud—wouldn't that just raise suspicions?

No way could she do that!

Lin Qing and Cen Xi had also followed the crowd out. Just as they stepped outside, they heard Mother Su’s shrill cries: "Dazhuang, Dazhuang, my sweet boy!"

"Are you okay? Are you okay?"

After checking him over once more, Mother Su finally relaxed, then turned to Su Shengnan. "Su Shengnan, what exactly do you want? Again and again—will you ever stop? Huh?"