Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

"Nian Nu, you're... Hey, what's wrong with you two? Why didn't you say anything in there? You're acting like a coward!"

When Jiang's mother opened the door curtain and came in, she saw the two children sitting in a row at the table, with Jiang Shangxian holding a stool under their legs. She looked at their faces suspiciously for a while, but couldn't see anything. She immediately put her hands on her hips and started scolding, "There are so many things going on at home. Zhenying is still waiting over there, and Erlang, you're still sitting here gossiping with your sister! Are you itching for trouble?"

She was still angry after saying this, and she came up to twist Jiang Wangri's ear, "You stupid kid!" She screamed in the yard for a long time, and she felt so cold!

Jiang Wangri felt guilty and didn't even dare to run. He hugged his head and hid in Jiang Shangxian's arms: "Sister, sister! Sister, save me!"

Working all day, Jiang Wangri was as strong as a calf. Jiang Shangxian was knocked back, holding on to the table behind him with one hand, and pushing his round head out with the other hand: "Mother, Erlang saw that my stove was out, so he came in to help me light it! Ouch, my waist! Erlang, get out of the way!"

After all, she was still thinking about Xia Zhenying's legitimate business of making money. Jiang's mother didn't scold him for too long. She pulled Jiang Wangri's ear and dragged him to deliver the noodles. Jiang Shangxian breathed a sigh of relief and walked around the beam under the house to look carefully for a while. Although the beam was thick enough, the box was also a bit big, and it could still be seen if you looked closely.

But there is no other way now. The secret cannot be concealed for long. Jiang's mother said that if she doesn't, it will be discovered tomorrow. She would rather be scolded than hand it over. She can't be beaten because there is Old Madam Xia. At worst, she can hide behind her grandmother. Jiang's mother can't beat her own mother!

Jiang Shangxian's judgment this time was very accurate. When Jiang's mother woke up in the afternoon of the second day, she found that her money box was missing. She was so scared that her hands and feet went limp and she broke out in a cold sweat. Even Old Lady Xia, who was sitting in the same room, mending the soles of her cotton shoes around the stove, was frightened.

(Some sources indicate that cotton was not grown in the Central Plains before the Song Dynasty, and people wore sheepskin coats in winter. However, I also found a pair of Tang Dynasty cotton-padded shoes with a variant Baoxiang pattern and brocade cloud toe in the National Museum. The inside of the shoes was a little bulging, so I guess they were filled with silk cotton.)

At first, the two men thought that there was a thief in the house. They searched the house up and down for an hour, even delaying their dinner, but they still didn't see the box.

Old Madam Xia was old, and she sweated less than others in the summer. Now in winter, she hardly sweated at all. Even after this ordeal, she was sweating all over. She pounded her lower back and sat down, wondering, "No one usually comes to our house, and we're always here. And you hid this thing so well, who could have known about it and stolen it?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang's mother frantically froze in her tracks, then slowly sat down. After thinking for a while, she suddenly slapped the bed hard, gnashing her teeth and saying, "It must be Nian Nu!"

"Don't talk nonsense."

Old Lady Xia looked unhappy. "You didn't hide the things yourself, and you blame the child for that? I don't think Nian Nu is the kind of child who would steal money. Even if you give her money, she rarely spends it. I see that the clothes she wears are all made from old year's cloth, and she doesn't even look disgusted. She works hard every day to earn money. How could such a good child steal money from our family?"

Jiang Shangxian is indeed a person who has basically no material desires other than food and drink. The main reason is that the money she earns now is not enough for her to spend lavishly, and her appetite can be satisfied at work. Therefore, she really has no place to spend money on weekdays.

But the problem is that this statement is not accurate. Jiang Shangxian doesn't spend any money himself, but Cui Bianxu does. It's so satisfying for the top guy on the list to get gold coins.

"Mother, why are you only talking about the clothes she wears when she's working? Why don't you mention what she wears every day? That fox fur coat of hers is more valuable than everything our family wears combined."

Otherwise, we can't attract the attention of the neighbors and say that their family is trying to marry their daughter off to marry richer man!

Jiang's mother waved her hand and said, "Mother, that girl must have done this. Who knows, Erlang might have been involved as well."

"Oh, why did you drag Erlang into this?"

Old Madam Xia was even more unhappy. They only had this one child left from both families. "Erlang is busy from the moment he opens his eyes until dinner time. When he's home, we're all home too. Could he have snuck in at night? Not to mention you being in the kitchen, could it be that Zhenying and I are dead?"

She is old and has a light sleep. If someone comes in in the middle of the night, how can she not wake up?

"Oh, mother, don't worry about it. They will be back soon. Just wait and see." Jiang's mother didn't want to argue with her about this matter. She would know whether it was true or not later.

Old Madam Xia disagreed: "It's better to report it to the authorities now while it's still light. The days are getting shorter. If we wait until tomorrow to report it, we're sure they won't be able to find it."

The mother and daughter were arguing when Jiang Wangri and Xia Zhenying came in: "Grandma, Aunt, we're back."

"Hey, there's no one in the kitchen. Could it be that my aunt slept?" Xia Zhenying went into the kitchen carrying the leftover marinade and minced meat. The pot and stove were cold, and no one was in sight. She came out and said to Jiang Wangri, who was covering the cart with hay, "Cousin, go check inside. No one's cooking."

Hearing that the meal wasn't cooked, Jiang Wangri, the cook, became anxious. He casually swept the hay in his hand, ran to the outside of Jiang's mother's room with his short legs, and slammed the door loudly: "Mother! Mother! Don't sleep! It's getting dark!"

Inside, Old Madam Xia glared at her daughter. She was old, yet she hid the money and lost it. She even wanted to blame it on her child. She didn't act like a mother at all. "Look, if Erlang did it, would he be so brazen? How old is he? How can he be so calm?"

Jiang's mother rolled her eyes. Who knows, this kid might just forget about it after doing something bad!

She stood up and opened the door: "Erlang, come in, mother has something to ask you."

"What's going on?" Jiang Wangri looked at her expression and felt something was wrong. Remembering what he and Jiang Shangxian had done yesterday, he took two steps back strategically: "Mother, it's almost time for dinner, and they haven't cooked at home yet. I'll go help my cousin."

Having said that, he immediately ran away. Jiang's mother did not try to stop him. She looked at his back and became even more certain that it must have been done by these two damn kids.

Don't worry, there is still one left.