He remembered that when they left the house, the front door had been locked, which was unusual as they normally didn’t lock it. However, as everyone from their team was busy working in the fields, and a stranger could enter the village unnoticed, people generally locked their doors. The Ruan Family had done the same.
But now, the door was ajar, and the lock was open!
Could it be that a thief had entered?
Ruan Chi put down the teapot he was carrying in the corner by the wall and pulled out a relatively large stick from the pile of firewood stacked against the wall. He pushed Ruan Jiaojiao behind him, "Sister, you stay outside, don’t come in. If you hear your brother shout, run as fast as you can! Don’t come in no matter what, got it? Go back to the fields and call Grandma and the others!"
Seeing his serious expression, Ruan Jiaojiao was also nervous. She grabbed his sleeve and nodded. After nodding, she still felt uneasy, "Brother, shouldn’t we call Grandma?" She was afraid that his slight frame wouldn’t be a match for the thief.
"That won’t do. What if the thief runs away in the meantime?" Ruan Chi said, reassuring her, "Don’t worry, I’ve got a stick in my hand. I might even be a match for the thief. Just remember to run and don’t come in, got it?"
"Okay!" Ruan Jiaojiao nodded vigorously.
Only then did Ruan Chi grip the stick in his hand firmly and cautiously pushed open the door, tiptoeing cautiously inside.
Once inside the courtyard, he held the stick to the right side of his face, first checking his own door, which was open. Frowning, he considered entering to take a look, but then he heard noises coming from his uncle’s house directly opposite.
Had the thief seen there was nothing to steal in his house and moved on to his uncle’s?
Ruan Chi retracted the foot that was about to step towards his own door and walked instead toward his uncle’s house.
The closer he got, the clearer the noises inside became.
Ruan Jiaojiao stood at the entrance, craning her neck to glimpse inside, breathing so lightly she was afraid of startling the person within.
She watched Ruan Chi inch toward their house, wanting to follow him inside, but fearing she might hinder her brother if she did. Anxiously, she waited outside, watching as Ruan Chi entered the living room and from there, moved into the inner room...
Ruan Chi, stick at the ready, might have seemed fearless, but his heart was beating faster than anyone else’s, almost leaping out of his throat.
He heard the noise coming from the kitchen. Approaching the kitchen door, he raised the stick and shouted, "Which petty thief is in there? Come out now!"
In the kitchen, Liao Zhaoji, who was holding a knife and cutting the pork hanging over the stove, was already on edge. Startled by the shout, she nearly gasped for breath.
Her hand, clutching the knife, trembled, almost cutting herself.
When she turned and saw her own son standing at the doorway, stick in hand, she was just as shocked and stared at him wide-eyed.
Ruan Chi had never imagined that the person sneaking into their house to steal while they were all out planting seedlings would be his mother, Liao Zhaoji.
Liao Zhaoji was initially frightened, but upon seeing that it was her son at the door, she immediately relaxed.
She withdrew her arm and hid the hand holding the pork behind her back, looking at Ruan Chi with a plea for mercy, "Chizi, weren’t you working in the fields? Why did you suddenly come back?"
Ruan Chi glared at her, ignoring her attempt at a charming smile.
He had never detested his mother before; it was only her unbounded acts of favoring her maternal family that he despised. He didn’t have any feelings of loathing towards his mother. Still, the last time she had slapped him without cause.