Reincarnation and Rebirth

Su Qing'er, with her sharp eyes, noticed the curve of Su Wan'er's lips and her eyes blazed with anger. "Grandma, why are you only searching our eldest and fourth branches of the family, but not Second Aunt's and the others' rooms?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present was taken aback.

Old Mrs. Su never even considered the second wife. Every time Su Youlu gave her money, she handed it over. Wang Shi had no income, so how could she possibly hide any money?

But after Su Qing'er said that, and considering that all the money in the house had been taken, she turned her attention to the second branch of the family.

Su Youlu was quite frank, "Mother, we don't have any hidden money. If you don't believe me, you can search us."

Su Qing'er naturally didn't believe that the second branch of the family wouldn't have a single copper coin, so she pulled her aunt, who was watching the show, into the second branch.

Su Wan'er calmly looked at the two men. How ridiculous! She naturally had money, but it was all in a natural safe. It would be strange if they found it.

But Su Xiang'er and the others didn't know that. They had always thought that the food was hidden by their eldest sister beforehand and secretly given to them. Now that they saw their aunt was going to search, they immediately blocked the door and wouldn't let them in. "Eldest cousin, aunt, our family's income is all given to Grandma. Where would we get any money?"

Seeing their reaction, Old Mrs. Su became uneasy. "Get out of the way! If there's nothing there, what's wrong with investigating? Today, our Su family is going to clean house."

Holy crap, Su Wan'er was speechless. This old lady just casually learned a few words and used them like this?

"Xiang'er, Zhao'er, come here." Su Wan'er was afraid they would be taken advantage of, so she called them over.

The two sisters exchanged a glance and obediently went to their eldest sister's side. If their eldest sister said that, she must be confident.

Sure enough, they searched the tiny second house from top to bottom but couldn't find a single copper coin.

Old Man Su had figured it out by now. So much time had passed, if those people really came looking for him, they definitely wouldn't just take the jewelry without doing anything to him. So, it must be that a thief broke into his house. Thinking this, his anger towards Madam Chen and Madam Xiang intensified.

"Alright, isn't this enough already? What time is it? You Fu family, hurry up and cook!"

Chen was taken aback. Normally, Old Man Su would never care who did the housework. As long as it didn't interfere with his eating and drinking, he wouldn't care who did the work or not. But today, he actually insisted that she cook? But she didn't dare to say anything. This kind of thing happened in the family because she was exposed. In addition, the last bag of silver she had secretly hidden had already caused her husband to misunderstand. At this point, she could only keep a low profile.

"Yes, Father, I'll go right away."

Before the group could even return to their room, they heard Chen screaming again from the kitchen.

Grandma Su's heart tightened, and she tiptoed to the kitchen. The next second, ignoring the dirt on the kitchen floor, she sat down with a thud, slapping her thigh and wailing.

"That damned bastard is trying to wipe out our Su family! He even stole our grain!" After saying that, he suddenly remembered something and immediately went to the backyard. He saw a mess on the ground and all the livestock were gone. When he opened the barn, he wished he hadn't looked. He immediately fainted.

The warehouse was completely empty. The hundreds of kilograms of grain that the family had stored away were gone, not a single grain was left, and even the vegetables for the winter were nowhere to be found.

Of course, this was not something two thieves could accomplish; they only moved a portion of it.

Just moments ago, while they were allowing Su Qing'er and Su Hehua to search the second branch of the family, Su Wan'er, in a fit of anger, moved everything out of the storeroom and took away the chickens and pigs from the backyard. She figured they wouldn't end up eating them anyway. Now that they had money, it was up to fate whether they became misers or bought and stockpiled grain while they still could. She had originally intended to kindly leave some for them, but seeing the situation, even if there was food, it wouldn't go to the second branch. So, it was better for everyone to refrain from eating. As for what the Su family elders might do next, Su Wan'er naturally had a way to deal with it.

When Old Man Su heard that the storeroom had also been emptied, he was so angry that he fainted along with Old Woman Su, throwing the Su family into chaos.

At this time, the town magistrate and the Gou family were not in much better shape.

The Gou family was supposed to go to Suhe Village today to formally propose marriage to Su Wan'er. However, their house was emptied overnight, which angered the Gou family patriarch so much that he coughed up blood. The hard work of generations of the Gou family had vanished, except for the houses and fields that couldn't be moved.

“Go, go to the county government to report the case. There’s no way they could have moved all these things out of the city overnight.”

A short while later, the servant who had gone to report the crime returned, "Master, sir, something terrible has happened..."

"Shut up, I'm not dead yet."

"No, sir, the magistrate didn't go to the county office today either. I heard, I heard, that a thief broke into the magistrate's backyard as well."

"What?" Master Gou's face turned pale.

Madam Gou wiped away her tears, "Master, I heard that a group of bandits has appeared outside the city, could it be..."

"Bang!" Master Gou slammed the teacup on the table. "Investigate! Send everyone out to investigate. Make sure you find out who is so bold as to steal from my Gou family."

"Sir, shall we go to Suhe Village again today?"

Master Gou's eyes were ruthless. "Go, bring the land deeds and house deeds of the manor outside the city, plus thirty acres of fertile land."

"Yes."

Su Wan'er was unaware that even though she had stolen the Gou family's gold, silver, jade, and other valuables, the Gou family had not forgotten their intention to marry her.

The Su family didn't even light a fire that day; everyone had blisters on their lips and sat silently in the main room.

Finally, Su Youcai couldn't help but say, "Father, Mother, we can't do without food. How about I take some silver to town and buy some?"

Old Mrs. Su was already anxious because she had lost her money. When she heard that she was asked to give her money again, she was so angry that she picked up her shoe from the ground and threw it at Su Youcai.

"Eat, eat, all you know is eating. How much silver does it cost to buy grain? Will you starve to death if you don't eat? Later, I'll have your wife go up the mountain to dig some wild vegetables."

When Su Hehua heard that she had to eat wild vegetables, she immediately protested, "Mother, I don't want to eat wild vegetables."

Grandma Su wasn't in the mood to indulge Su Hehua right now. "If you don't want to eat, then go hungry."

Just as the gloomy mood was setting in, a noise came from outside the door. "Is Scholar Su home?"

Old Man Su was startled, fearing that something had really happened because of those things, and gestured for his eldest son to go out and take a look.

Su Youfu walked to the door and saw that it was Butler Gou. His previous gloom immediately vanished, and he bowed and scraped, saying, "Oh, Butler Gou, it's an honor to have you here. I'm so sorry for not welcoming you sooner."

"Scholar Su, you're too kind." After saying that, he gestured for the matchmaker beside him to speak.

The matchmaker was the same one who had come before. As soon as she got out of the carriage, she put on a beaming smile and said, "Oh, congratulations, Scholar Su! Today, I'm really lucky to have you all here. Madam Gou has personally brought the betrothal gifts. Hurry up and let your daughter out."

Upon hearing this, Su Youfu was overjoyed. His family was in a state of anxiety because of money. If they had a betrothal gift, they would no longer have to worry about not having enough to eat.

Today, the Gou family learned their lesson and didn't bring Gou Chengcai along, to avoid causing any more trouble.

Su Wan'er was surprised to hear from inside the room that the Gou family had managed to raise the betrothal gifts in such a short time. Peeking out, she saw that only one carriage had arrived, and it didn't seem like it could carry much of the betrothal gifts.

"Father, Mother, the Gou family has come to propose marriage," Su Youfu said happily.

Upon hearing this, everyone inside the house beamed with joy, except for the two members of the second wife who were kept in the dark.

Su Xiang'er held her eldest sister's hand with concern, while Su Wan'er patted her, signaling her to relax.