Left ten yuan for the captain, hoping he'd help with the matter. It wouldn't be fair to let him do it for free. She still had to go home to take care of the children, so she didn't go herself but left the house key with him. That's why she cleared out everything valuable and useful from the house.
Don't underestimate those firewoods; every winter, due to laziness, there are cases of families running out of firewood. In the bitter cold, people would search for firewood in the grove. The whole village knows about her children collecting firewood, and they are aware that her family has firewood. Just in case someone tries to break into her house while they're away.
Moreover, An Yi unintentionally revealed that she had fetched firewood several times last month and had almost cleared them out.
Last month, many men in the village went out to work. The captain was the team leader, and he wasn't home either, so he wouldn't investigate these details.
