Witty Wife, Better Life
Chapter 131 - 125 Losing Sheep

Chapter 131: Chapter 125 Losing Sheep

"Discussing marriage is a major matter; it’s not something that can be settled in just one conversation. So these past few days, Li Fugui, the matchmaker, had a hard time, running back and forth between Taoshu Village and Gaijiatun several times. His legs almost wore thin. Luckily, both parties were interested in the union, so after some haggling, they finally set the basic tone for the marriage.

Apart from the matter of dividing the family property, everything was mostly done according to Shen Yunfang’s wishes.

After that, Shen Yunfang couldn’t be involved in the details; she delegated full authority to Uncle Shen to make decisions on her behalf, and she continued to work as before. After entering October, there were fewer mushrooms in the mountains and the wild vegetables were past their prime, so she focused her energy mainly on collecting firewood.

The previous days she had gathered many tree branches using her long-handled sickle. These past two days, she had gone to the pine forest to gather pine branches and coincidentally pick pine cones. It had been like this every day, everything going smoothly, but just as she was about to leave the woods and finish work for the day, she suddenly discovered that a lamb was missing from the flock.

At the beginning of the year, a few more lambs had been added to the flock, but they also had to give two adult sheep to the state, and a few were slaughtered for the New Year, so the total remained at fifteen.

These days, Shen Yunfang had been feeling a bit lazy. After all, the flock didn’t move quickly, so she tethered them to a hillside on the front mountain. She had often done this before without any incident, so she had let her guard down and hadn’t expected to lose a sheep today.

Losing a sheep was no small matter. Shen Yunfang felt that it couldn’t have been someone intentionally stealing, as theft of state property, if caught, would mean imprisonment.

Could the lamb have strayed away while playing? So, she put down her basket and searched all around the hillside. Nothing.

She felt a bit anxious and had a bad premonition. Could a wild animal have appeared and carried off the lamb? She searched again carefully, all the while considering various possibilities in her mind.

She dismissed them one by one, concluding that it couldn’t have been a wild animal that took just one lamb. So that left only one possibility: human interference.

Shen Yunfang thoroughly searched twice to no avail and decided not to waste more time. She herded the flock back to the production team, where she saw several village officials gathered in the production team’s house, discussing something. She went straight in to report the incident.

’What, a sheep is missing? How did you watch the sheep?’ Before anyone else could speak, Uncle Shen began to flare up.

Shen Yunfang didn’t say a word; first, because she admitted her fault—the responsibility was hers for losing the sheep. Second, she knew Uncle Shen was irritable lately. The house had been in turmoil due to Shen Yunxiu’s ruckus, and just when the marriage was barely settled, news broke out that Shen Yunxiu was pregnant, which was like slapping him hard in the face again. The problems both inside and outside the home meant he had unvented anger. There was also her own pending marriage with Li Hongjun, over which Uncle Shen had genuinely and feigned anger several times, making him even more irate.

’Let’s not get angry just yet. We need to understand the whole situation first,’ the Women’s Director quickly tried to calm things down.

Shen Yunfang sent a grateful look her way, glad her small gestures hadn’t gone to waste.

So, she detailed how she had discovered the missing sheep and everywhere she had searched.

The three leaders in the room fell into deep thought. They too concluded the sheep couldn’t have been taken by a wild animal. There were no such wild animals near the mountains, and even if there were, there should have been some traces of blood left behind. According to Shen Yunfang, there was nothing at the scene, so it couldn’t be the work of a wild animal.

’Analyzing the situation, it’s possible that one of our commune members is responsible,’ the accountant Li said with a furrowed brow.

’Impossible, the people in our village aren’t the kind to steal chickens or dogs,’ Shen Yeqing rejected the idea outright.

Shen Yunfang rolled her eyes internally. If there were no chicken or dog thieves, then the lamb must have sprouted wings and flown away."

"I think we should first mobilize the members to help look for it, and if we still can’t find it, we’ll hold a meeting tonight to investigate and see if there are any clues. The sheep couldn’t have just hidden themselves," the women’s director suggested.

"All right, let’s decide on that for now. As for you, no matter the reason, you definitely bear some responsibility for not keeping a proper watch. Starting from now, your work is suspended, awaiting the investigation results before we rearrange your position." Shen Yeqing was unable to show favoritism, especially towards his own niece.

So this was stripping her of her shepherd job, Shen Yunfang weighed in her heart. Anyway, she was getting married by Chinese New Year and couldn’t be expected to go on herding sheep after that marriage. Now that they were relieving her of the job, she could enjoy a month of leisure time—an opportunity in disguise.

Seeing the women’s director looking like she wanted to defend her, she quickly said, "I have no objections. It’s my responsibility and I definitely can’t shirk it. I will comply with the leadership’s arrangement."

"That’s settled then, go on home, and come early to the meeting tonight." Uncle Shen waved his hand in a somewhat irritable manner.

Shen Yunfang left the production team’s house and went to the backyard to take a look at the flock of sheep. From today on, she would have to say goodbye to them. It was fortunate that she had the foresight to raise her own sheep, and now there were two ewes at home that had just given birth, providing ample sheep’s milk. Otherwise, she would really be at a loss.

At a certain spot in Gaijiatun.

"How come you’ve brought back a sheep? Where did it come from?" The woman, seeing that her child was holding a lamb in his arms, quickly pulled the child aside and asked, "Did anyone see you?"

"I saw Shen Yunfang tether the sheep up on the hillside, so I grabbed one and brought it back. No one saw me." The child wiped his runny nose with his sleeve. He didn’t have any other intentions; he just wanted to teach Shen Yunfang a lesson.

The woman’s eyes darted around; she quickly opened the courtyard gate to peer outside, then with a clang, she shut it again. "You didn’t run into anybody on the way back, did you?"

"No."

"Heh, son, you did great! Wait, and your mom will stew some mutton for you at lunch." So, the woman took the little lamb to the backyard, quickly killed it, and then skinned and butchered it. By noon, a pot of mutton was stewing, and the family ate their fill without asking where the meat came from.

After lunch, the woman tidied up the house. Even the inedible parts like the sheepskin were neatly packed up, and taking advantage of when no one was around, she slipped out to bury them in a secluded spot.

Once she was back home, she repeatedly instructed her son, "Today, you didn’t do anything and you didn’t eat anything, you hear me?"

Back to Shen Yunfang. After eating at home, the production team’s gong began to sound. She quickly got ready and headed towards the production team.

Approaching Wang Dama’s doorway, she saw Dashuan and his wife coming out, so she caught up to them quickly and walked together.

"I wonder what’s happened, why they’re calling a meeting all of a sudden," Dashuan’s wife muttered as they walked.

The production team’s gong usually rang only when it was time to start or finish work. If it was ringing at night, it meant the team leader had important matters to discuss, and every household had to send a representative to the meeting. However, this was a rare occurrence; thus, when the gong was heard, the entire family would go to the production team. They didn’t have much of a social life, so joining the fuss was also an option.

"I lost a lamb today on the hillside; I’ve already reported it to the team. I reckon tonight’s meeting is to investigate that matter." Shen Yunfang briefly explained the situation, knowing that the matter would spread in the production team eventually.