Volume 1 Chapter 35: A Different Kind of Thief

  Xie Wenjing originally thought she would fall to the ground, but unexpectedly fell into a young man's arms.

  Xu Yin's sleep had never been deep, and at night, although he went to bed early, he wouldn't fall asleep right away. Instead, he would lie in bed thinking about the book he read during the day, and also listen to the movements of his neighbor's daughter.

  Mother's body is not good, unfortunately, the family is too poor to have extra money for mother to recuperate. Even her eyes, she herself took me to ask an old doctor, who said that as long as mother rests more and doesn't strain her weak eyes with embroidery, they will naturally get much better over time.

  Ke Niang said she must fight for herself, take the imperial examination and become a top scholar to avenge her deceased father, even if she goes blind with joy.

  If you don't study hard, Mom will cry even more.

  Tonight, mother ate very little, saying that her stomach was small and she couldn't eat so much. But mother only ate half a bun, how can this be good?

  So Xuyin was even more thoughtful tonight, unable to fall asleep. It wasn't until after the hour of hai that he suddenly heard the sound of someone entering the courtyard, although it was very faint, but he heard it clearly.

  At first, Xu Yin was a bit afraid. After all, this was his first encounter with such a daring thief. However, thinking that he was the only man in the house, he naturally couldn't let the thief harm his mother and sister.

  Xu Yin quickly got out of bed, picked up his own inkstone, and prepared to throw it at the thief.

  Who knew that the thief would rush straight to his own house? Xu Yin tightly grasped the inkstone, waiting for the thief to enter before giving him a blow.

  The thief didn't come in, but quietly threw something in through the gap under the door and then retreated.

  The thing that was thrown in just fell at my feet, picked it up, although I couldn't see it, but slowly felt around, and could guess that the outside was wrapped in a piece of paper, but inside were four pieces of paper, however the paper inside was clearly different from the paper on the outside.

  What? It actually feels like a silver note? Xu Yin carefully felt it, and his heart was shocked. These four pieces of paper really feel like a silver note.

  Yes, I'm sure I didn't make a mistake. There's still the money house's engraved seal on this silver note. It's a nationwide usable Huitong Money House, four 100-yuan silver notes, a total of 400 taels. Who is it? Who would throw such a large amount of silver notes into their own home? Is it a frame-up?

  Just as Xu Yin was holding the silver ticket and thinking wildly, he felt that the person who came had not left, but was standing at his own door.

  Xu Yin knew that his family was extremely short of money, but this unaccounted-for money, he couldn't take it. If he took it, it wouldn't be just a matter of money. If he lost the lives of all his family members for the sake of this huge sum of unaccounted-for money, it would be better not to have it at all.

  Xu Yin took a deep breath, first dropping the silver ticket, one hand holding the inkstone high, and the other gently opening the door. It was just that Xie Wenjing was too emotional at this time and didn't feel the door latch being suddenly opened, resulting in her falling down without warning. Fortunately, she fell into Xu Yin's arms and didn't hit the ground.

  Xu Yin raised his inkstone, originally intending to smash it at the person by the door. Who knew that the person by the door suddenly fell into his arms, and only then did he realize that the newcomer was a young girl. The girl's refreshing scent wafted up to him.

  It so happened that in his panic, Xu Yin's arms tightly wrapped around Xie Wenjing who had fallen over, and Xie Wenjing's tears were dripping onto Xu Yin's neck, flowing down to his chest. Those scalding hot tears suddenly burned Xu Yin's heart.

  Xie Wenjing knew she was facing Xu Yin, but her heart didn't feel any fear or shyness at all. She only wished that she could be held tightly in Xu's arms forever, until old age.

  Xu Yin was encountering such a situation for the first time and was somewhat stunned, never having thought that the thief would be a girl half a head shorter than himself.

  And this girl seems to be crying still, is she heartbroken? What's making her so heartbroken?

  "Who are you? What are you doing at my home?"

  Xu Yin determined that the thief in his arms was just a weak and feeble girl, or rather a crying and heartbroken girl, so he didn't shout to wake up the people at home to catch the thief.

  He gently straightened her up while softly asking her, but to prevent her from running away, Xu Yin's hand still tightly grasped Xiao Wenjing's small hand.

  "Me? Me? You let me go, I didn't take anything from your family!"

  Xie Wenjing suddenly came to her senses, a young lady from a noble family like herself sneaking into someone's private residence at night, being caught by Xu Da Ge, if he knew who she was... wouldn't he look down on her even more?

  As soon as she thought of this, Xie Wenjing hurriedly wanted to run away and struggled to break free from Xu Yin's hand. Xu Yin knew that the girl would run away and used both hands to tightly grasp Xie Wenjing's two hands.

  Xie Wenjing was anxious and suddenly opened her silver teeth, biting Xu Yin's wrist, but didn't dare to bite too hard, fearing it would hurt Xu Yin, only wanting to scare him into letting go.

  Xu Yin originally thought that this girl would bite down and his wrist would definitely be bitten through, but unexpectedly, this girl looked fierce but was actually just scaring herself, wanting to run away!

  Xu Yin was determined to get to the bottom of things and didn't want to accept such a large sum of money without knowing what it was for, so he immediately moved to the door and locked it.

  After the door was closed, Xu Yin took out a flint and suddenly Xie Wenjing was so frightened that she lowered her head to her chest, with her back to Xu Yin, covering her ears and regretting it. If she had thrown away the silver ticket and left, how would she have been caught by Xu Yin?

  Xu Yin may not know how to deal with himself, but from now on, he will probably never look down on himself again. Thinking of this, Xie Wenjing couldn't help but burst into tears and sob quietly.

  Xu Yin was stunned, and under the dim light of the oil lamp, he clearly saw that the other person was actually the girl next door who liked to peek at him.

  Isn't she the eldest daughter of the Xie family? How can this be? Her nerve is not ordinary! Wait, let's take a look at the paper she threw away. As expected, it contains 400 taels of silver notes. Did she give them to me?

  Xu Yin Zheng was about to take another look at what was written on the paper, but suddenly Xie Wen Jing snatched it away and stuffed it into her sleeve. Xie Wen Jing felt extremely embarrassed. She wanted to flee in embarrassment, but Xu Yin blocked her way back.

  "Bring it out and let me see! Otherwise, I'll report you to the authorities and have you arrested!"

  Xu Yin knew that the paper must be something crucial that the girl had prepared for her own family, and she couldn't help but take a look. If it affected the lives of everyone in the family, it wasn't something that could be let go of just because of a soft heart.

  "No, that silver ticket is my punishment, I'm going home!" Xie Wenjing didn't want Xu Yin to know more. If she saw what she had written on the paper, such as not being able to go out for ten days before New Year's or having to bring an umbrella when going out, how would Xu Yin look at her?

  In that case, Xu Yin would not only despise himself but also fear himself. He might even think he's a ghost or something. Otherwise, how could he have known about things that hadn't happened yet?

  "No, nothing, let me go, I have to leave Yangzhou for Hangzhou tomorrow, spare my life, okay?" Xie Wenjing begged.

  "You handed me the paper and I let you go. Look, I didn't even call anyone, just wanted to let you off. Hurry up and take out the paper, or else?"

  Xu Yin suddenly pretended to be fierce and reached out with one hand to grab Xie Wenjing's sleeve, wanting to snatch the paper slip to see what it was all about.