On March 28, Shen decided to take Zi Yu and her family to Lin Mountain, leaving Zi Qing to watch the house. Coincidentally, on that day, a dental clinic in the city sent someone with a message saying that someone outside the city wanted to sell 50 mu of good paddy fields. Zeng Rui Xiang thought it was a rare opportunity, so after teaching half of the lesson, he let the children practice writing by themselves and rushed home to take the silver ticket and entrust Zi Qing before hurrying away.

  Zi Qing thought that today was the day of rest for her two elder brothers, so she took Zi Xi out to buy some meat and bones. They coincidentally met the market, bought a big fish, and the things were very heavy. The two walked slowly on their way home, but before they reached the village entrance, they ran into Da Mao Ge San coming from the opposite direction.

  Da Mao looked at the things in Zi Qing's basket and carefully reached out to take them, "Cousin, you're carrying such heavy things, be careful not to strain your hands. I know Aunt and Uncle aren't home today, so why don't we send you back home? You can cook a delicious meal for my brother San, Grandma hasn't had meat in a long time, every time Grandpa buys meat he only buys a little bit, not enough for us to fill our teeth with. Your family's food is really good."

  Ziying wanted to grab the basket, but unfortunately, being small and weak, "You quickly give me the basket, Grandma is still at home waiting for you, hurry back. These dishes are not cooked until tonight when my brother comes home, not at noon. I also want to go home quickly, Zishou doesn't have a key and can't get in."

  "That's easy, just let San Mao go back and say something, we don't need to go over. Anyway, you have to cook, I know your family doesn't care what they eat, it must be better than Grandma's house." Da Mao immediately ordered San Mao to run an errand, carrying the basket and walking ahead.

  "Sister, they are so annoying, always snatching food to eat, I don't like it." Zi Xi said with a pout.

  Zi Qing had no choice but to coax Zi Xi to follow him back home, where he saw Zi Shou squatting at the door. Zi Qing whispered to Zi Shou to go inside and hold off Da Mao and Er Mao in the entrance hall while changing shoes, taking advantage of the opportunity to lock up the study. On the bookshelf in the study were some small items that Zeng Rui Xiang had exchanged for. He also instructed Zi Shou to go to the old house and invite Zeng Lao Yezi and Tian Shi to come over for lunch together.

  The main room was temporarily not locked, and Zi Qing was also worried about the two brothers. After all, the family's money was kept in Shen's house. She had to follow them step by step with Zi Xi. Who knew that San Mao and Zi Shou came back and said that Grandpa and Grandma were already done. They didn't come over after all. Zi Qing had no choice but to hastily cook a few dishes to send them off.

  They rushed home before dark, and after dinner, the whole family sat together chatting. Suddenly, Zifu asked: "The ink jade paperweight on my desk in my room is gone, who has seen it?"

  Zi Qing knew that it was what he and Zeng Rui Xiang had bought together on a stroll two years ago, spending two silver coins. She could only say that Da Mao and the others had come in the morning, "I kept an eye on them and didn't let them rummage through Father's and Mother's rooms. Just when I was cooking for a while, letting Zi Shou and Zi Xi keep watch, thinking only of the east wing, forgetting that there were still things in the west wing that hadn't been put away, I thought all these things were in the study. So when entering the house, I locked the study first. Didn't expect to still be taken advantage of." Zi Qing said dejectedly.

  "Two taels of silver can support me for half a year. Besides, I really like it." Zi Fu sighed.

  "I also want to drive him away, he's not material for studying. He can't sit still for half an hour and goes out wandering around, but there's no good way to deal with it. It's easy to invite a god, but hard to send one away." Zeng Rui Xiang also let out a sigh.

  "It's all my fault. My brother and I didn't keep an eye on them, it has nothing to do with sister. Sister had already warned me. I still didn't do a good job." Zi Shou said with his head down.

  Zi Fu patted Zi Shou's head and comforted him that it was okay. After a moment of thought, he said: "I have a way to make him return home."

  "What can you do?" Zeng Rui Xiang hastily asked.

  "Dad, you have to keep an eye on him every day. If he wants to go out, use the ruler to stop him. Lock the door during class time. Don't let him out until it's time, and make sure he learns 20 new characters every day. He has to copy them 20 times, and if he doesn't finish, don't let him leave. I reckon in three days, he'll be complaining and wanting to go home. And by the way, discuss with Grandma too, if he doesn't come back home, don't allow him to attend school. These two days, I'm at home, I'll think of a good plan."

  The next morning, before Zeng Rui-xiang left the house, Zi-fu said to him: "Dad, I think Er-mao took that thing and he can't carry it with him. I'll go to Ah-po's place first to take a look. If we can't find it, I'm sure he must have sold it. In such a hurry, he won't be able to find a good buyer. It should be at the Face Big general store in town. After all, there is no bookstore in town and pens, ink, paper, and inkstones are all sold at the general store. I'll go take a look first. If we can find it, we can buy it back."

  Zeng Ruixiang listened and said: "Then pay attention to your way of doing things, don't provoke your grandparents into anger, if there's anything, come back and discuss it again."

  Zi Fu agreed, and Zi Qing also insisted on following, saying: "Big brother, we'll all go. The more people the better, it's easier to attract Grandpa and Grandma's attention."

  Then Zifu carried a small basket of eggs, along with Zilu, Ziqing and Zixi, the four of them came to the old house. The old man hadn't seen his two grandsons for a month, so he was very happy. Tian Shi took over the eggs and smiled as she invited them to stay for dinner. Ziqing cleverly pulled on Tian Shi's sleeve and said: "Grandma, come with me to buy some meat. I'm afraid of buying it poorly."

  Tian just wanted to change his face, and Zi Qing took out a string of copper plates. Tian happily followed Zi Qing out. Zi Qing knew that Tian loved to eat meatball soup, so he chose a piece of fine meat and asked for Tian's opinion. When Tian saw it, he was even more delighted. The two returned, and Zi Fu said he wanted to go out for a walk. Zi Qing then knew that the thing hadn't been found.

  Before long, Ziqing saw Zifou and the others return with big smiles on their faces. She knew they had found it in the street, but she didn't have a chance to ask them in detail, and was very curious.

  Mr. Tien said it was about time, so Ziru volunteered to go to the school and bring them back for dinner. At the dinner table, Zifu suddenly said: "Dad, I saw a inkstone on the street today that is exactly like mine, and it costs five taels of silver! Dad, I like that one, can you give me five taels of silver?"

  "What, five taels of silver? I had to beg that dog for a hundred coins and he wouldn't give them to me. No way, I have to go settle the score with him." Er Mao immediately got furious upon hearing this, stood up, and forgot what kind of occasion it was.

  "It's really you who stole from my room, what else can you say?" Zifou grabbed Ermao and asked.

  "You were just coaxing me. I didn't know what you were talking about, something worth five taels of silver. Can't I even ask out of curiosity?" Er Mao came to his senses and immediately sat down.

  "Curious? What are you curious about going to someone's house for? What thing did you sell for one hundred coins?" Zi Fu continued to ask.

  "It's you who stole it, you definitely did. At Second Aunt's house, you even stole the copper coins from me and Big Brother, but you won't admit it?" said Zi Lun.

  "You kid, have you stolen something to sell again? You kid, Grandma told you something and you didn't listen. Didn't you promise Grandma that you wouldn't steal anymore? At such a young age, if you don't behave well, what will become of you in the future? I'll beat you to death, you careless thing!" Tian's wife came over and angrily pounded on Er Mao's back.

  "What's going on? Why has no one ever told me? When did Er Mao start stealing things? Zi Fu, you speak first, what did he steal from you?" The old man shouted loudly.