The Exiled Life of the Noble Girl

Li Mingwei looked at Xiao Gang, who had passed by her and grunted several times in a row, and felt a little confused. Why was he still angry?

Reaching out to grab him, Li Mingwei twisted his ear in the same way Wang Chunhua did: "If you have something to say, say it. Don't keep circling around me. I'm getting dizzy."

She didn't use much force, so Xiao Gang wasn't hurt. He didn't struggle free, but he didn't want to directly ask for a gift either. He kept his mouth tightly shut with a stubborn look on his face.

"Not talking? If you don't talk, I'm going to sleep." Li Mingwei yawned. Although she had only been up for a little while, she was incredibly sleepy again. She had really been worn out today.

Seeing that she was about to leave, the 10-year-old boy couldn't hold back anymore. He mumbled: "Auntie, you're biased. You only bought presents for my sisters. My brother and I didn't get anything."

"I did too." Li Mingwei had bought them gifts, she just happened to have a few blank handkerchiefs, so she prepared extra for the girls. "Didn't I buy you all snacks? You didn't eat them?"

"I did eat them." Xiao Gang now realized the snacks were bought by her. He pouted: "At lunch, Auntie opened the snacks, and Mother only gave us each one piece before putting them away again. She said eating too much at once wasn't good and to eat more tomorrow."

"That's not my business. I did buy them after all." Li Mingwei pinched his little face and laughed: "You little kid, thinking too much just because I didn't buy you a gift. Circling around here so many times."

Xiao Gang's face flushed slightly in embarrassment and annoyance. He pushed Li Mingwei into the room and ran to the kitchen: "Auntie was going to sleep right? I'll go get wash water for your feet."

A child's feelings are like the weather in June. One second it's overcast, the next it's sunny once he realized Auntie didn't neglect them. He attentively helped tidy up and take care of things for her.

With his assistance, Li Mingwei quickly washed up and lay back down in bed. She thought of Ah Xiu for some reason. Ah Xiu had followed her since childhood too. This was the longest they had been apart. She wondered how Ah Xiu was doing.

She had returned to the Li family, so even if she was just watching over her empty courtyard, her days must be better than before. No need to worry too much. Li Mingwei just thought about it briefly before closing her eyes.

Most farming families were thrifty and didn't want to waste that bit of oil. They had to sleep before it got completely dark. In the winter, there was not a single chirp from birds or insects. Everywhere was perfectly quiet.

Just as it was in Xinghua Village, it was most likely the same in Qingshi Town. Everyone was asleep. Only a few young men in hemp clothes got up and groped their way through the starlight towards the Dong family home.

"Ow!"

The young man walking in front accidentally stepped on a rock and fell right on his butt. The few people behind him hurriedly covered his mouth.

"Keep it down!"

The young man pushed their hands away and complained: "It's pitch black. No lights. I can't see anything. How can I walk?"

"Lights?" In the darkness, someone knocked him on the head directly: "Are you stupid? We're here to steal stuff. Should I get a sedan chair to carry you? Would that be good enough?"

"Stop arguing. All of you keep your voices down. Hurry up and get this done. We can go into the city to eat and drink well after."

"Yes, Boss Stone."

After Wu Dong was captured, a man named Stone had become their new leader. When he spoke, the others showed respect and nodded obediently.

They were used to climbing through windows and walls. They were all experienced. The group circled the Dong house and quickly chose a good spot.

They really did have great tacit understanding with Dong Shan.

When one person started climbing the wall, someone else stopped him.

He hesitated: "Boss Stone, Dong Shan is not easy to bully. Last time the four of us were beaten up by him. If he finds out, he'll crush us to death."

The worst thing when committing a crime was hesitation. Hearing him say this, Stone's face darkened: "We've come this far. If you're afraid, don't get involved. After we get the goods, you'll have nothing to do with it."

"That's right. If you want to leave, leave now. We'd be happy to take more. Dong Shan and that tigress aren't home. What are you afraid of? Even if he comes back and finds stuff missing, even if he suspects us, there's no evidence."

When it came to dividing the spoils, the man shut up.

Seeing that he closed his mouth, Stone looked at the others: "Anyone else want to leave? Go ahead. Don't waste my time here. That hairpin can be exchanged for loads of meat to eat."

"Yeah, yeah."

Several people here had seen the gold hairpin before. If it didn't look so nice and seem so valuable, they wouldn't have eyed it for so long.

Stone pushed them aside and was the first to climb over the wall. He had just become boss. He still needed to set an example for the younger brothers to listen to him in the future.

"I'll scout ahead first. Follow me."

After speaking, he leapt down. Perhaps his legs weren't as long as Dong Shan's. He didn't jump as far and didn't land in the area with the traps.

"Ah!"

But the pig-slaughtering screams still sounded on time. Because there was snow in the yard, he slipped as soon as he landed and fell forward right into a trap that clamped his entire left calf.

The people outside ready to help were shocked. One quickly climbed the wall to take a look: "Boss Stone, what happened?"

Stone held his calf in pain, breaking out in cold sweat. His body kept trembling: "Tr-trap!"

"Damn! What should we do now?"

He fell back off the wall and looked at the lights coming on in the surrounding houses. His voice shook a little: "Let's...let's run. Boss Stone got caught in a trap so he definitely can't run. We..."

"Huh? Isn't it too unbrotherly to just run like this?"

"Then you stay here and wait to get caught. I'm leaving first."

He turned and ran. The remaining people looked at each other. They didn't want to get caught either.

"What was that sound?"

"Who is it so late at night?"

Angry shouts sounded. They couldn't care about any sense of brotherhood. In the face of disaster, they could only think of themselves first.

Only Stone was left crying in pain in the yard.

The people woken up walked out of their courtyards and asked each other what happened. They quickly determined the target was the Dong house.

"Didn't their family leave with the kid to visit relatives? They aren't back yet right?"

"No, they just left this morning. Coming back tomorrow."

"Then what's going on over there?"

"Shouldn't be anyone home." One woman tentatively knocked on the door. No one responded: "Could it be a burglar?"

Aunt Meng went back to grab the key to the Dong house that Chunhua had given her. She told everyone: "Chunhua gave this to me. I'll open the door and we can go in and see. If anything is missing, you all have to testify for me."

"Uh..."

"Fine, fine. Hurry and open it."

Holding lights, the group walked into the yard and looked around. Yun Sister suddenly remembered something and rushed straight for the back yard. Mingwei had just earned two ounces of silver. Don't let it get stolen.

Hearing the footsteps, Stone anxiously tried moving a bit. The rubbing sounds immediately gave away his location. Yun Sister yelled loudly: "Who's there?"

Hearing this, everyone hurried over with their lights to the corner to take a look. They gathered together for courage and closed in. The lights gradually illuminated Stone's face.

"Stone?"

"It's you, you little punk! Say, what are you doing sneaking into someone's yard in the middle of the night?"

Caught red-handed, Stone had no other choice. He could only beg: "Help...help me!"

Only then did everyone notice his trapped leg, blood continuously flowing out. They were all townspeople after all. Two men came forward to support him to the pharmacy.