The horizon unveiled the first hazy ray of dawn, and a sprightly figure was approaching from the distant mountain path.
He didn’t have much luck last night hunting, he was worried about missing the market today, so as soon as he caught this porcupine, Di Yelei hurried home.
The house was quiet, it seemed that Sisi hadn’t gotten up yet.
He pushed the main entrance a couple of times, but it remained closed.
“Sisi, Sisi, are you up? Please open the door.”
Di Yelei called out a few times, but the house remained silent.
Could it be that Sisi was sleeping too deeply? Di Yelei was about to shout again, but then he changed his mind.
He walked to the side, looked at the tall courtyard wall, took a few steps back, ran and leaped, directly jumping over the wall, and landed in the courtyard.
“Sisi, Sisi, are you awake?”
Di Yelei knocked gently on the bedroom door. Could she really be sleeping so soundly that she hadn’t heard anything?
“Dad? You’re back.”
Xu’an came out from the adjacent room, rubbing his eyes.
“Um, I’m back, Xu’an, go wash your face quickly.”
Since Sisi was still sleeping, he should go cook breakfast.
With that thought, Di Yelei turned towards the kitchen, randomly glanced at the chaotic scene of the wet spot and the wide-open door at the entrance of the bathing room, which suddenly alerted him.
The broken door lying on the ground, the overturned wooden barrel, the wooden stick that was snapped in half, and a pair of wet underpants arbitrarily hanging from the oil lamp holder, swaying continuously in the early morning cold wind…
Sisi was meticulous and couldn’t bear even the slightest mess at home, but the scene before his eyes clearly pointed out a horrifying fact.
Startled, Di Yelei felt chills spreading from his heart; his head was booming! He suddenly let out a shrill cry: “Sisi!”
Boom!
The bedroom door couldn’t withstand Di Yelei’s violent kick and collapsed instantly.
Before his eyes, Liu Sisi was huddled in the corner of the room, almost wholly wrapped in a quilt, not daring to move.
“Sisi, Sisi, what happened to you?”
Di Yelei quickly walked in and reached her bedside in the blink of an eye.
Last night, Liu Sisi spent the entire night in fear and loneliness. A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind. She even thought of hiding it all. But how could she hide the collapsed door? After much deliberation, she stared at the door so intently that she stayed up until dawn.
Just as she had just closed her eyes for a while, she heard the sound of Di Yelei returning home.
She wanted to get up, but her legs had already gone numb after sitting motionless all night, and she couldn’t stand up at all.
As soon as she saw Di Yelei enter, she seemed like a helpless little bunny who had been injured, her eyes reddened from hiding in the thin quilt, raising her eyes to look at him.
“Ye Lei——”
As soon as she called out his name, her tears streamed down.
“Ye Lei, last night…there was a thief in the yard, woohoo…”
A thief came in last night?
Di Yelei held Liu Sisi tightly in his arms, thinking about the chaos in the bathroom, then about the thief who broke in last night. His heart couldn’t help but skip a beat, and he hurriedly asked in a soft voice.
“Sisi, don’t cry. What exactly happened? Tell me, I will surely seek justice for you!”
Seeing such deep concern from Di Yelei, Liu Sisi could no longer contain the bitterness in her heart. She hurled herself into his arms and began to sob.
After a while, she managed to tell him the important details of what had happened.
“Last night while I was washing my hair, I heard noises from outside in the courtyard. I thought YingEr had woke up, so I called out to her. I didn’t expect it to be a thief. I…I fought with him, I…”
Liu Sisi stuttered on for a long time, but she couldn’t clearly articulate what had happened.
Even though she only gave vague details, it was not hard for Di Yelei to infer exactly what had happened last night. No wonder the bathroom was in such chaos!
“Sisi, be good! Take a nap; everything will be over once you wake up. Ah! Sisi, be obedient, close your eyes and go to sleep!”
Di Yelei’s eyes had the storm brewing, but his words were especially gentle.
Whoever dared to harm Sisi in his absence had better be prepared for his storm-like revenge!
No matter who this person was, he would definitely find him out!
Liu Sisi, who had cried her heart out hardly had any strength left. In his warm and broad chest, the overwhelming sense of security made her relax and unable to resist the call of sleep, she fell soundly asleep.
After a long time, Di Yelei gently laid Liu Sisi’s body flat, propped up the pillow, and carefully covered her with a thin quilt, and then only then he stood up.
The next moment, he was attracted by a flash of bright red on the quilt.
His eyes shrank, and when no one noticed, his pupils narrowed almost to the shape of a needle before squinting. His trembling hand reached out to touch the bright red patch.
Immediately after, his eyebrows twitched a few times, his eyes darkened, and he slowly withdrew his hand.
It was blood! He had just checked in secret, Sisi had no wounds on her body, and the color of the blood was still fresh.
He casually lifted a corner of the quilt and found a similar hint of dark red at the hem of Sisi’s skirt.
Could it be that last night, Sisi was violated by that thief…
Such speculation made his heart ache, and a severe shortness of breath spread throughout his heart.
He slowly withdrew his hand, clenched it into a fist, a strong gust of wind flashed in his eyes.
But after a moment, his face regained its calm, as if nothing had happened. He turned and walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind him.
Outside, Di Xuan was standing at the bathroom door, looking curiously at the chaos inside.
“Di Xuan! What are you sneaking around for? You should hurry up and get the fire started!”
The sudden yell from Di Yelei behind him made Di Xuan jump with fear, he paid no attention to anything else and dashed into the kitchen.
There was no expression on Di Yelei’s face, he quickly surveyed the surroundings and indeed found a thief’s tracks. He measured the size of the shoe print on the top of the wall, and then with a swipe, wiped off a thin layer of dirt on the wall to cover the trace.
Only then did he go back to the room to get his tools and returned to the bathroom to fix the door.
By the time he had fixed the door and cleaned up the room, the sun had risen high in the sky, and only then did he return to the kitchen.
Di Xuan was considerately combing Di Ying’s hair. When they were young and had no one to take care of them at home, Di Xuan would comb Di Ying’s hair. At this moment, Di Ying had clearly just woken up, rubbing her eyes and demanding to see Liu Sisi.
“Where is mom? I want mom to comb my hair, brother is so bad! Dad, YingEr wants mom!”
YingEr’s tantrum did not receive the usual response, Di Xuan stole a few glances and instinctively realized that their dad was in a bad mood.
Di Yelei grabbed a couple of handfuls of soybean sprouts from the dustpan, rinsed them, and quickly stir-fried them.
When he served the dishes on the table, there was a stir in the bedroom, Liu Sisi woke up!