"Dad, what's going on exactly?"
Anning blinked her eyes, looking very puzzled at Lin Aiguo.
She actually had a clue.
It was no more than the money at home, which Lin Aiguo believed was stolen by Anjie.
Lin Aiguo looked at Anjie and then at Anning with a stern face: "The money at home is gone."
Anning was hugely startled: "How much money? How is it gone?"
Anping was also terrified: "I didn't take it, I didn't even know there was money kept in the house."
As for the integrity of his second daughter and youngest son, Lin Aiguo was still at ease, and he was sure the two kids hadn't taken it.
It's just that...
Lin Aiguo glanced at Anjie and sighed: "Whether you took it or not, we have to search all three of your rooms."
Anning didn't object: "Let my mom search my room first."
Anjie got a little anxious.
Lin Aiguo was even more convinced that it was Anjie who stole it.
He looked at Anjie trying to go back to her room, grabbed her with one hand: "You stand right here, don't go anywhere."
Lin Aiguo then glanced at Anping: "Anping can't go back to his room either."
Lin Anping didn't really care: "Fine, I won't go back. But Mom, please search quickly, I'm getting sleepy here."
Wang Cuixhua nodded and followed Anning into her room.
Lin Anjie bowed her head, a smile curling at the corner of her mouth, a malicious glint in her eyes.
Anning has been at school these past few days, and she had just come back today. She probably didn't even know there was something extra in her room.
Wang Cuixhua started to carefully search Anning's room.
She first turned Anning's bed inside out, under the pillows, inside the blankets, even took apart the pillowcase to look, and she also rummaged through all the drawers of Anning's desk, as well as looked through the cupboard—indeed, she left no corner of the room untouched.
Wang Cuixhua searched meticulously and took quite a bit of time. In the end, all she found in Anning's backpack was a single yuan.
Anning smiled and said, "This is what I've saved from eating frugally recently, originally planning to add something for my elder sister's wedding..."
Wang Cuixhua came out with that one yuan and repeated Anning's words to Lin Aiguo.
Lin Aiguo was deeply touched: "Silly child, your father knows you are filial and sensible, but you can't starve yourself. You can't do this in the future; you are still growing, and going hungry is absolutely unacceptable."
"I understand."
Anning nodded obediently: "I'll definitely eat my fill in the future. It's just that I was thinking about saving money to buy something for my elder sister."
Lin Aiguo thought of the vile demeanor Anjie exhibited when he said they would search the rooms earlier, and the jealousy in Anjie's eyes towards Anning. He also thought of Anning, who worked wholeheartedly for the family and treated Anjie with such respect and care, and felt an indescribable bitterness in his heart.
He turned to look at Lin Anjie: "See? There's nothing in your sister's room, even this one yuan was meant to buy you something."
Anjie's face changed drastically.
How could there possibly be no money in Anning's room?
Where did the money go?
The money was definitely placed by her, how could it be missing?
"Mom, did you search thoroughly?"
She asked, unwilling to accept it.
Lin Aiguo trembled with anger upon hearing this.
He raised his hand, really furious, and slapped Lin Anjie across the face: "You heartless thing, what do you wish, that your sister is a thief or what? I've never seen someone as heartless as you..."
Wang Cuihua, afraid that Lin Aiguo would get too angry, hurried over to stop him: "Enough, enough, you've already hit and scolded, let me quickly go check Anjie's room, and we can talk after that."
Lin Aiguo took a deep breath and waved his hand: "Go quickly."
When he looked at Anning, his eyes were filled with guilt: "Anning, I'm sorry you have been wronged."
Anning wore a gentle and tranquil smile: "I'm not wronged, the money at home is lost, of course, we need to search thoroughly, it's only right."
Although she was smiling, there was a flash of disappointment in her eyes, and some sadness, along with an indescribable worry.
Seeing Anning's gaze, Lin Aiguo felt even worse.
He touched Anning's head: "Take some extra money with you to school next week, buy some more good food."
Originally, Lin Anjie felt a bit guilty and afraid watching Wang Cuihua enter her room, but when she heard Lin Aiguo's words, a hint of hatred flashed in her heart.
I knew it would be like this, everyone in the family is so biased, always favoring Anning, whatever Anning does is right, everything is good.
As for herself, nothing she does is right; no matter what, she's picked apart.
Lin Anjie concealed the hatred in her eyes, clenched her fists, and vowed to not let Anning have it easy.
Wang Cuihua spent about four or five minutes searching Lin Anjie's room before coming out.
She held a stack of money in her hand: "Anjie, where did this money come from? Didn't you say you didn't take the money from home? Tell me, who gave you this money?"
Lin Anjie was startled and took a step back in fear.
In fact, she had already decided on her plan of action; when she took the money from home, she had thought of an escape plan.
She took advantage of Anning's absence from home and placed some money in Anning's room, thinking that when Lin Aiguo discovered the money was missing and wanted to search, she would somehow manipulate Lin Aiguo to search Anning's room first.
Anning was very good at pretending, always acting especially sensible, just like a Holy Mother White Lotus, and moreover, Anning did not know the money was placed in her room; she would definitely let Lin Aiguo search her room first, and at that time, putting two and two together, the case would be settled.
And there was indeed money in Anning's room.
When the money was found, Anning would be at a loss for words, and both Lin Aiguo and Wang Cuihua would think Anning stole the money from home; once she created a fuss, they were sure not to search her room.
In that case, Lin Anjie could very openly keep the money in her own hands.
Furthermore, she could use such an incident to tarnish Anning's reputation.
As for whether Anning's bad reputation would affect her?
Anjie was not afraid at all; anyway, her engagement with Su Zhiqiang was already set, and soon she would marry into the Su family. Once she was in the Su family, she would have ways to make Su Zhiqiang support her. No matter what happened with Anning, it wouldn't affect her too much.
She had planned everything perfectly, everything was in perfect order.
But what she did not expect was that the money in Anning's room was gone. How did it disappear?
The first thing Anjie thought of was that Anning had found out and hidden the money somewhere else.
But then again, that seemed impossible.
She had hidden the money there just a couple of days ago, and Anning had only returned today. Since coming back, Anning had been busy the whole time and had no chance to tidy her room, so how could she have discovered the money?
But then, where did the money go?
While Lin Anjie was figuring out where the money had gone, Lin Aiguo and Wang Cuihua were already holding her down and beating her.
Lin Anjie felt her hair being yanked, and she was hit hard, the pain was excruciating.
"The money was given to me by Su Zhiqiang, I didn't steal it from home."
Lin Anjie could only use this excuse to fool them for now.
But Lin Aiguo and Wang Cuihua were not about to let her off easily.
Given by Su Zhiqiang?
What a joke, the Su family is so poor right now they're barely making ends meet, where would they get extra cash?
Besides, even if the family had money, with Su Zhiqiang's character, he would save it for his younger brothers to spend, so why would he give it to a fiancée who hasn't even married into the family yet?