Chapter 91

Chapter 91: Little Thief
Night settled over the village, and a cool wind slid through the bare branches.

In daylight, the place was all clucking hens and shouted greetings. Now it lay hushed, as if someone had packed up every color and sound and tucked them away until dawn.

In that silence, a faint scrape came from the Tang family’s wall.

Soft—then heavier. Fast—then slow. A ladder shifting, hands gripping, breath held. And a woman’s voice, strained and urgent.

“Lighter. Slower. Don’t make a sound…”

“Mother, the ladder’s too short.”

“Tiptoe. Just tiptoe and get up there.”

“If I tiptoe, how am I supposed to get down?”

“Are you stupid? Jump—”

Something thudded hard against the ground.

Tang Ming Xiu choked back a cry, scrambling to her feet with shaking hands. Cold sweat slicked her palms. She darted a look around the yard, then hurried toward the kitchen, keeping low like a shadow.

She made it three steps.

A black shape launched out of the darkness.

“Woof!”

“Ah!” Tang Ming Xiu shrieked.

Teeth snapped at her sleeve and caught her forearm with a brutal pinch. Pain shot up her arm. Tang Ming Xiu flailed, trying to shove the dog off, and screamed toward the other side of the wall. “Mother! Save me!”

“What are you screaming for?” Madam Wang hissed back.

“They have a dog!”

“Run, you idiot—run!”

The commotion ripped the Tang courtyard awake.

Li Tao Hua burst out first, hair loose, a feather duster in her hand like a weapon. “Where did you little thief come from, sneaking into my house to steal?”

Tang Da Fu followed with an oil lamp held high, the flame wobbling. He thrust the light close—and froze. “Tang Ming Xiu?”

Behind them came the children, half asleep and blinking in the lantern glow.

Tang Yi Xiao’s jaw dropped. “You don’t sleep in the middle of the night and you come into our yard? What are you trying to steal?”

“I wasn’t stealing!” Tang Ming Xiu’s eyes flicked away. She hugged her arm like it might fall off. “Something of mine blew over here. I… I came to pick it up.”

“What was it?” Li Tao Hua snapped.

“My undergarment,” Tang Ming Xiu blurted, face flushing even in the dim light. “If it wasn’t something so… so important, I wouldn’t come in the middle of the night.”

Qin Hui Yin, already fully awake, lifted an eyebrow. “Then where is it?”

Tang Ming Xiu swallowed. “I couldn’t find it. It’s too dark. Maybe I saw wrong—maybe it never blew over at all. Either way, I didn’t mean to come into your yard.”

Bang, bang, bang.

A fist pounded on the courtyard gate from outside.

Li Tao Hua’s lips curled. “And here comes another one.”

Qin Hui Yin stepped forward. “Mother, let’s call the Village Head. Let him judge this.”

“Fine.” Tang Da Fu nodded at once. “I’ll fetch him. Keep an eye on them.”

He swung the gate open.

Madam Wang shoved her way in—and immediately stopped dead.

Big Black surged forward with a deep, savage bark, his bulk melting out of the darkness. Madam Wang’s knees buckled. She fell hard onto her backside, staring at the dog as if she’d seen a ghost.

In the night, Big Black’s coat disappeared into shadow. Only his eyes showed, bright and fixed, every muscle poised as if he’d spring the moment she moved.

Tang Ming Xiu began to whimper. “Mother… my arm hurts so much… that dog bit me…”

Madam Wang’s voice trembled, but she forced it loud. “You—you let your dog bite people? My daughter was bitten. You have to take responsibility!”

“I’m not wasting words with you.” Li Tao Hua tightened her grip on the feather duster. “We’ll talk when the Village Head gets here.”

—

At the Village Head’s home, the house was dark and warm, the bed still holding yesterday’s heat.

The Village Head’s wife nudged him in the ribs. “Their father, that barking sounds wrong. Nothing happened in the village again, did it?”

“How could there be that many things?” the Village Head muttered, rolling over. “It’s only been quiet a few days. Stop saying unlucky things.”

“But tonight’s barking is different,” she insisted. “Tang Da Fu’s new wife… she’s eerie. Everything lately has something to do with their family. And that dog—I’ve never heard it before. What if they’re stirring up trouble again?”

“There can’t be that much trouble.” The Village Head yanked the quilt higher. “Go to sleep.”

A voice came from outside, clear in the night air. “Village Head! It’s Tang Da Fu. I need to speak with you.”

The Village Head and his wife went silent.

His wife poked him again, triumphant. “See? You said nothing was happening. Then what is this?”

“Annoying.” He sat up with a groan and reached for his robe.

She swung her legs out of bed. “It’s late. If you don’t go, he’ll keep calling and wake the whole village. Go look. If it’s nothing serious, just smooth it over.”

The Village Head shuffled outside, tying his robe. “What is it? It’s so late. What’s so urgent?”

“A thief broke into our home,” Tang Da Fu said.

“What?” The Village Head’s irritation sharpened. “What’s missing?”

“Nothing.”

“If nothing is missing, how do you know you had a thief?”

“Because we caught the thief.” Tang Da Fu’s voice stayed steady. “And it’s someone from our village. Village Head, you have to judge fairly.”

As he spoke, he slipped a small packet into the Village Head’s hand.

The Village Head’s fingers closed around it. He rubbed the paper, curious, then dipped a fingertip inside and tasted.

Sweet.

His expression softened, just a fraction. “All right. I’ll go take a look. Wait here—I’ll put on my shoes.”

He went back inside long enough to grab them and press the packet into his wife’s palm, murmuring a few words.

She tasted it too and sighed, pleased. “That family knows how to treat people. Go settle it for them. If thieves can climb walls in our village, what safety do we have?”

When the Village Head followed Tang Da Fu back, the Tang courtyard was already loud.

Madam Wang and Li Tao Hua stood in the yard trading curses, the lantern and torches throwing wild shadows across their faces.

“We’re not thieves! We’re picking something up!”

“Then where is it?”

“It’s too dark! How would we see it?”

“In the dead of night you climb my wall to ‘pick something up’?” Li Tao Hua spat. “Do you take us for fools?”

Madam Wang threw her chin up. “Back then you said our family wasn’t allowed to step through your door. If we didn’t come at night, would you let us come in the day?”

Tang Da Fu pushed the gate wider, ushering the Village Head in, and someone lit a torch. The flame flared, painting everything in harsh light.

“Village Head,” Tang Da Fu said, “please judge this for us. A thief climbed into our home.”

The Village Head’s headache arrived on the spot.

Madam Wang surged forward. “Village Head, we’ve been wronged! Ming Xiu lost an undergarment. She was too embarrassed to ask in the daytime, so she waited until night and climbed over to look. You know our two families had a huge fight. If we didn’t sneak in, their family would never let us.”

The Village Head rubbed his temple. He was a village head, not a magistrate. Both sides could spit out a story that sounded reasonable.

But Madam Wang wasn’t done.

“Village Head, you have to stand up for us. My daughter was bitten by their dog. They must give us an explanation.”

The Village Head’s brows knit. “Bitten? That’s not a small matter. Ming Xiu, where are you hurt?”

Tang Ming Xiu lifted her arm and sniffled, voice small and wounded. “My arm.”

“Does it hurt badly?”

“It hurts. It really hurts.” Her eyes flicked toward her mother, then back. “Village Head… they have to compensate me.”