The neighbor's death was quite mysterious, but the person was indeed gone just like that. In winter, there would usually be ropes or poles outside to distinguish directions.
Old Liu's family also had them, but they might not have been secured properly and got blown away by the wind. When she went out, she was unaware of this.
There was also someone in the house - her husband was heating the place, and he knew she had gone out to fetch firewood.
She felt that when she left, the other person knew about it, so she never felt any danger in leaving the house.
Ironically, Old Liu did know when she went out, but he didn't care when she came back.
After all, many times when he was asleep, she was busy at work. Who knew what she was doing?
When Old Liu woke up, it was already the next day. He found no one in the house, then went to the pot to look for food, but it was cold and empty.
That's when he thought to go look for someone, yes, to ask this woman why she didn't leave him any food.
In the end, he found the deceased person by the wall.
Her hands had already rotted, possibly from freezing or from banging on the wall.
The wind and snow were so heavy that inside the house, he could only hear the wind outside, not any calls for help.
However, it was so cold that not only was there thick snow on the ground, but the soil was also frozen. Old Liu tried to dig but couldn't break through.
So he first buried his wife in the snow, planning to bury her properly when spring arrived.
As soon as spring came, Old Liu spent great effort digging a pit and buried the curled-up body directly, leaving a small mound as a grave.
He didn't notify the neighboring villagers, and there was no coffin, clothing, or gravestone.
When his own father died, it was his wife who had arranged everything. Who would have thought that when she died, this would be her treatment?
This was her entire life.
He knew there was no way to explain in detail, so he just said she froze to death.
In reality, upon hearing this news, who wouldn't find it strange?
She wasn't a child or elderly person, nor was she ill - a grown, living adult had just vanished like that. Some people thought the husband and wife must have quarreled, and the man killed his wife.
Regardless of others' speculations, they were just that - speculations. At the time, only the couple was present, and no one else knew exactly what had happened.
It was just that everyone knew this was a person they couldn't associate closely with, so the neighboring villagers were also unwilling to interact with him further.
After all, the previous dealings were out of respect for the deceased. Now that she was gone, the connection was severed.
Old Liu was now left alone, with no one to care for him. However, with one fewer person, there were still many belongings left in the household.
After burying his wife, Old Liu didn't stay once the weather warmed up. He gathered his belongings and left to wander.
Of course, he would return from time to time. When his wife was alive, they used to grow crops and raise pigs, but after winter passed, Old Liu didn't bother with any of that.
He felt that spring had just arrived, and winter was still far away. It would be soon enough to store up supplies again in the fall since there were still plenty of things at home.
Currently, there was no one at his house. The state he left it in was the same state he returned to find it, just with an added layer of dust and lack of human presence.
Back then, he had a wife and children, yet he didn't pay much attention to them. But when he was truly alone in this place, he would sometimes feel afraid and lonely.
The more he felt this way, the less he wanted to come back. But if he couldn't make it on his own, he had no choice but to return to this roof, and his days became increasingly difficult.
In the past, he only cared about himself and didn't bother with others, even though he worked. But money and time were spent solely on himself.
Later, when he had someone to fall back on, he gradually lost even the "work" habit. Before, he at least went hunting, which didn't yield much but was still something.
Now he felt increasingly weary and didn't want to do anything, but a person needs to eat and sleep to live.
After returning, Old Liu cleared some of his old traps, hoping to catch some fresh food for himself.
He knew fishing for three days and mending nets for two wasn't ideal - a slight change in weather, a few extra days of rain or snow, and he'd be in trouble.
So he set his sights on Wen Qian's household since she had fewer people.
He figured he couldn't take on larger households, but if there was only one person, an ambush should be possible.
But then he thought about her pointing a gun at him and the high walls around her house, and Old Liu abandoned that plan.
The one person in the Wen household might actually be harder to deal with than others.
Fortunately, he didn't go, because after his wife's death, Wen Qian had raised her guard again against this man.
She thought that if she wanted to get something for nothing, her household seemed the easiest target nearby.
So she inserted more glass shards along the top of the walls, made from glass bottles she had collected from her own space before.
She set up outdoor alarms in the courtyard and placed traps and snares behind the small iron gate.
She also moved her sleeping area to the small upstairs room.
These were all measures to ensure her safety while sleeping at night, though she was mostly fine during other times when awake.
Wen Qian also instructed the children not to talk too much to strangers, not to eat anything given by strangers, and not to disclose information about their household to strangers.
Upon hearing that bad people might want to steal their food and money, the children immediately promised not to tell others anything.
They knew where these things were kept since their mother never hid her storage from them. If others found out, their belongings would be taken away, and they would go hungry.
The children only considered the issue of going hungry, while Wen Qian's concerns went beyond that.
She wondered if she should eliminate the threat if this person saw her as an easy target.
After all, this person had a prior record, and now he was alone, which would make striking much simpler.
Wen Qian continued implementing precautions, while Old Liu's intentions were fleeting. He chose to check out the village to see if there were any opportunities to take advantage.
As for places, the only area with slightly more people was the village market.
At that time, doctors, merchants, hunters from various places, and villagers would all come.
So Old Liu set his sights on careless-looking men or seemingly frail women - those two types seemed easy targets.
After his first successful theft, Old Liu felt so clever. He used the stolen money to buy plenty of goods, including grains.
However, he wasn't so lucky the second time. While trying to steal a woman's purse, he was caught at the marketplace. Someone grabbed him and took him to a secluded area, giving him a severe beating.
It wasn't that the assailant had a deep-rooted hatred for thieves; it was because this burly man had lost some of his belongings at the market earlier and wanted to vent his frustration on Old Liu, the petty thief.
In fact, the money Old Liu tried to steal had originally been stolen from the assailant by Old Liu himself some time ago. So in a way, the beating wasn't entirely unjustified.
Old Liu failed to get any money and ended up getting beaten instead. Fortunately, the assailant didn't break any of his limbs, so he could consider himself lucky.
Thus, Old Liu slunk back home, thoroughly humiliated.
