No one knew the whereabouts of the silver notes better than Lu Qiqi.

The fact that this person's initial goal was the silver notes indicates that he must have been aware of the agreement between the two villages.

From this perspective, both villages are suspects, but we don't have enough useful information to determine who is behind the trouble.

The only thing we can do now is to wait and see.

Lu Qiqi said, "Things are still unclear. Village Chief Tian should wait and see. With me as his guarantor, he won't run away."

Tian Dalong understood what Lu Qiqi meant. If he went to Tianping Village now, things would really get complicated.

Even if it wasn't someone from their village who set the fire, they would still be suspected of being from Tianlong Village.

Tianping Village has a larger population than Tianlong Village. If a conflict arises between the two villages, Tianlong Village will be the one to suffer.

There was another matter, and Tian Dalong looked troubled as he said, "Several groups of villagers have come to me after hearing about this. How am I going to explain this to them?"

Lu Qiqi said, "You just need to reassure the villagers, tell them that the houses were indeed burned down, but the banknotes are still there, and put their minds at ease."

Hearing Lu Qiqi say this, Tian Dalong felt relieved. With Lu Qiqi's words, even if Niu Dahang burned the banknotes, she would pay the difference out of her own pocket.

Although this was a despicable act, he had no choice but to accept it now. So much money was gone just like that; it would be strange if the villagers of Tianlong Village didn't raze his house to the ground!

"As for how to explain things to Tianmiao Village and Tianxin Village, I don't need to say more, do I?" Lu Qiqi said.

Lu Da and Miao Dajiang immediately understood and said in unison, "Of course."

As it was almost noon, Lu Qiqi said, "You didn't eat before you came, did you? Why don't you stay and have a meal together?"

With the matter resolved, Tian Dalong was in a hurry to go back and inform the villagers, as it wasn't good for these people to keep crowding into his house.

He declined, saying, "Then I won't stay any longer, I need to hurry and tell the villagers the news."

To avoid arousing their suspicions and causing trouble in Hetianping Village, I'll take my leave now.

After Tian Dalong left, Lu Da and Miao Dajiang also got up and prepared to leave.

They were only brought along by Tian Dalong to keep them company, so naturally they didn't take Lu Qiqi's polite words seriously.

After everyone left, Li Changlong came out of the kitchen with a knife in his hand. He saw that only Lu Qiqi was left in the main room and asked, "Are they all gone? I was just saying I'd kill a chicken and treat them to lunch."

Lu Qiqi glanced down at the sharp knife in Li Changlong's hand and said, "They're gone, so we can eat by ourselves and have more to eat."

Hearing this, Li Changlong laughed, "Second brother will save you two chicken drumsticks. You've been working hard these past few days and have lost weight. You should make sure to eat well."

If my mother sees this, she'll blame me for not taking good care of you.

Lu Qiqi smiled and said, "Thank you, Second Brother."

Li Changlong took the knife and went out of the house.

Lu Qiqi poured herself another bowl of water, sighing inwardly, "It's so good to have family around, someone who cares and loves me."

Speaking of this, she thought of a few days ago when she asked a security escort agency to deliver a letter to Luzhou Prefecture. So many days have passed, and she didn't know if the letter had been delivered.

Has anything been done regarding the matter she entrusted in her letter?

Lu Dahai, far away in Luzhou Prefecture, sneezed violently, perhaps because Lu Qiqi had been nagging him too much.

While sitting at the table eating, Mrs. Li complained, "I told you to wear more clothes, but you wouldn't listen! If you catch a cold, you'll suffer!"

Lu Dahai didn't seem to care. He picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and put it in his bowl, saying, "The weather is about to get warm, so how could I possibly catch a cold? I know what I'm doing, so don't worry."

Li glared at Lu Dahai and scolded, "Wait until you complain of a headache in the middle of the night, then I'll teach you a lesson!"

He added, "You're only doing this because when Seventh Sister was at home, there was a doctor in the family, and you didn't take good care of your health then!"

After he finished speaking, everyone at the table, except for the clueless little Xi Bao, paused for a moment while holding their chopsticks.

Li Qingshan broke the deadlock, saying, "Fortunately, Seventh Sister sent a message to the house. Otherwise, if the four of us, who are illiterate, had to ask someone to read what was written in our hearts, it would have been a disaster."

When Madam Lu recalled the letter Lu Qiqi had sent through someone, the things it said made her heart rise and fall, sometimes soaring to the clouds and sometimes plummeting to the bottom.

To her utter surprise, Lu Qiqi was actually granted the title of Township Head by the Emperor and given her her own fiefdom.

Five villages!

That's an incredibly wide area!

Speaking of this, Madam Lu couldn't help but complain, "Seventh Sister is too bold. There's nothing we can do about being forced by the government to treat and save people."

"Now that we're staying in our fiefdom to receive money to help the villagers, can't we just say we don't need to pay the taxes?"

When she saw the banknotes inside the letter, she was truly shocked.

Good heavens! The last time she'd seen so much money in her life was when Lu Qiqi bought the house.

The taxes haven't been collected yet, and that silly girl Lu Qiqi is already using her own money to help the villagers. She's never seen such a stupid person!

Lu Dahai said, "This money was borrowed from people in the neighboring villages. Seventh Sister was just giving them some advice. Once there is a harvest, the taxes will naturally be collected."

That's what they said, but Madam Lu didn't believe it. "How rich must a village be to have so much silver!"

These villages had just recovered from the plague; how could they possibly have money to lend out?

Back when the north was experiencing drought, we couldn't even scrape together an ounce of silver.

They were all people who had suffered, and she really couldn't believe that the village still had so much money left over.

In fact, not only did Madam Lu not expect it, but even Lu Qiqi did not expect that a single household in Tianlong Village could come up with several taels of silver.

This was money lent to Tianping Village, and the amount of silver deposited there was unknown. It was all understandable that Tian Dalong would deal with the soldiers without any fear.

With money in their pockets and higher taxes paid, the officials and soldiers naturally dared not make things difficult for them.

Although Ms. Lu said that, everyone knew she meant no harm; she was just worried about the money.

Lu Dahai said, "I'll be going into the city tomorrow. If you have anything you want to bring to Seventh Girl, prepare it quickly and have the escort agency send it over together."

Madam Li had already prepared everything. Not only Lu Qiqi was in Heshun Prefecture, but also her son Li Changlong. Being away from home for so long, a mother must be worried.

Madam Li said, "Remember to go to the house and ask that girl A-Yao. It's been too long since she's seen her sister. The other day when she delivered the letter to the house, I saw that her eyes were red from crying. She must miss her sister terribly!"

"Got it!" Lu Dahai said, then shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth.