Lady Zhang spoke up to this point and then said no more.
"If I could persuade, I would have..." Lian Shouxin also began to say sothing but abruptly stopped.
"Persuade who, about what?" Lian Manman looked at Lian Shouxin and then at Lady Zhang, pressing for an answer.
Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang exchanged a glance but remained silent.
Suddenly, Xiao Qi let out a cry.
"What’s wrong, Xiao Qi?" Lian Manman asked hastily.
"My rice cake, several pieces are missing." Xiao Qi was holding a pastry bag in both hands, a look of heartache on his face.
"Keep your voice down." Lian Shouxin quickly said, "You’re even counting those pastries? How do you know two pieces are missing, did you forget you ate them?"
"Dad, I counted very clearly." Xiao Qi felt a bit wronged, walked over to the kang bed, placed the pastry bag on it, and began counting out on his fingers for Lian Shouxin, "There were ten full pieces and four small pieces left yesterday, and this morning, brother, big sister, second sister, and I ate two pieces, brother ate a small piece, so there should be eight full pieces, three small pieces remaining."
"But now there aren’t there eight and six small pieces?" Lian Shouxin, seeing his son so earnest, also started counting the pastries in the bag, "This is two pieces more, how can you say that so are missing?"
"I didn’t rember it wrong." Xiao Qi pouted, "Dad, look at these pieces, each one is smaller than before, this one is only half left—it wasn’t like this before."
Xiao Qi was correct, the rice cakes were made in molds, so each piece’s shape and size were identical. But now, the rice cakes in the pastry bag had changed from square to round, the corners of each piece nibbled away, and one piece was only half of its original size.
"Xiao Qi is right," said Lian Manman.
Lian Zhizhi and Wu Lang nodded in agreent.
"Your grandma would never steal food," Lian Shouxin said urgently.
The room suddenly fell quiet, all eyes on Lian Shouxin.
Lian Shouxin realized he had misspoken only after the words left his mouth.
"Xiao Qi, it wasn’t you sneaking snacks, was it? Afraid your brother and sisters would scold you?" Lian Shouxin chuckled nervously.
"No way. I didn’t sneak any." Xiao Qi’s lips flattened as his eyes brimd with tears.
Lian Shouxin had rely been anxious and trying to deflect, but he realized now he had said the wrong thing.
"Don’t cry, Xiao Qi; dad was just playing with you," Lian Shouxin promptly assured.
Lian Manman had already figured out what was happening.
"Dad, after we ate the rice cakes this morning, Xiao Qi was with my brother and the whole ti, and he just got ho. He didn’t have the ti to sneak any," Lian Manman said earnestly, "Besides, if Xiao Qi wanted so, he could have just eaten openly, no need to sneak."
"Right," Xiao Qi nodded, "Brother and sister always let have so. If I wanted to eat, all I had to do was ask, so why would I need to sneak around, nibbling like a mouse? I’m not that bad."
Lady Zhang reached out and twisted Lian Shouxin’s arm.
Lian Shouxin grimaced in pain.
"Dear husband, you shouldn’t have done that," Lady Zhang said.
"I was drunk, confused," Lian Shouxin said hastily, "I got so worried that I... I’ll never dare again. Good son, your dad was just joking with you, don’t be mad at him."
Lian Shouxin was sincerely trying to make ands. The only person who would rummage in their room while they weren’t ho was Lady Zhou. Lady Zhou wasn’t new to this kind of behavior. But Lady Zhou never stole or pilfered food.
To know that his own mother would go into his and his wife’s room to go through their belongings and steal the children’s food left him feeling ashad, wishing he could just disappear. It might have passed before; he had begged Lady Zhang to overlook it, and she had endured it. Back then, the children were small, and it was easy to brush off with so excuse. But his words now were an attempt to gloss over the incident—a small child like Xiao Qi sneaking a snack wasn’t really an issue.
If Xiao Qi had been oblivious and didn’t care, that would have been one thing. But Xiao Qi might be young yet was very concerned about the matter. He couldn’t tarnish his own son’s reputation to save his face or Lady Zhou’s out of re pride.
Now that the children were older, deceptions wouldn’t hold anymore.
Lian Shouxin almost felt like tearing his hair out in frustration.
The children had been observing closely and were starting to understand what was going on, and after whispering to each other, even those who didn’t quite get it at first were catching on.
The mother and children all remained silent, just staring at Lian Shouxin.
"Don’t..." Lian Shouxin wanted to say don’t look at like that, but the words wouldn’t co. The one searching their things was his own mother, and he himself had attempted to falsely accuse the children to protect Lady Zhou.
"Thank goodness Xiao Qi can talk, and count too," Lian Manman said with a aningful tone, stroking Xiao Qi’s head. She couldn’t help but wonder, had Xiao Qi taken the bla for Lady Zhou before, or even during her own childhood, had she taken the bla for her.
"We might as well adopt a cat or sothing. Cats can’t talk," Lian Manman suggested.
The children all nodded, while Lady Zhang continued to silently watch Lian Shouxin.
Lian Shouxin felt so cornered he couldn’t remain silent.
"Mom would never steal food," Lian Shouxin said, his face flushed.
Lady Zhang wanted to laugh at Lian Shouxin’s awkwardness but restrained herself. Regardless of what she thought, she had to preserve so dignity for her husband out of respect; after all, Lady Zhou was his mother.
"Perhaps Xiuxiu also had co over," Lady Zhang said. Lady Zhou had a habit of rummaging through her things when she wasn’t around, but Lady Zhou wouldn’t steal or take things. When Lady Zhou searched her daughter-in-law’s belongings privately, she would never bring another daughter-in-law—only Lian Xiu would be with her.
"So what do we do about this?" Lian Manman asked. The thief was identified, but what was next?
*********
Continuing to ask for pink hearts.
Recomnd Ruoyan’s completed book "The Most Enchanting," a fantasy version of my savage girlfriend, less than five hundred thousand characters, moderately long. A direct link is provided below, which you can click to access directly.
Book number: 2184407 (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, I welco you to visit Qidian (qidian) to cast your vote for recomndations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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