Xiao Fubao thought for several days about what she wanted to raise. After much consideration, she decided that raising pearls would be best. So she excitedly ran to the dozens of pearl oyster shells she had raised before the fish sank.

She asked Xiao Heng to help her retrieve all the clam shells. Xiao Heng looked at the retrieved shells and said, "These clam shells are all dead!"

Little Fu Bao suddenly turned around with a displeased look, his back to the warm winter sun, and grumbled:

"The clam shell is dead, and Little Lucky Baby's little heart is dead too!"

Everyone in the family has something to do, but she's the only one with nothing to do.

Xiao Heng couldn't help but pinch Xiao Fubao's two little pigtails and said, "Then let your godmother buy some more, wouldn't that be better?"

"But Little Fu Bao doesn't know how to raise pearls!" Little Fu Bao was still a little discouraged. "If the oysters that Little Fu Bao raises also die, Little Fu Bao's little heart will die again!"

Xiao Heng smiled and said, "How will you know if you don't try?"

With that, he picked up Xiao Fubao and carried her to find Chen Yu.

When Shen Yu heard that her daughter wanted to raise pearls, how could she disagree? She quickly gave Xiao Fubao seventy strings of cash. Xiao Fubao hugged the seventy strings of cash like a child, saying, "This money is so heavy! Can Xiao Fubao lift it? If only we had banknotes!"

It weighs six or seven pounds. How can it not be heavy for a three-year-old child?

Silver notes are certainly available, but since many places don't have a single bank, they are not very convenient to exchange.

Xiao Heng laughed and said, "I didn't ask you to carry it." With that, he easily picked up the seventy strings of cash, took Xiao Fubao's hand, and left.

Pearl oyster shells are cold-resistant.

Starting to raise them in the dead of winter is actually quite suitable.

"Tomorrow, I'll bring Zhaodi some pancakes that my family made. I just gave her four steamed buns yesterday, so she won't have any today!"

As Xiao Fubao spoke, he quickly took the steamed buns out of the steamer, wrapped them in coarse cloth, and put them into the Eight Treasures Warm Stove.

When Xiao Fubao arrived, he didn't see Zhao Di, but because he was in a hurry to buy seashells, he thought he had arrived too early and it was still dark when he got to town.

Little Fu Bao also bought a pair of fluffy rabbits in town.

When they returned, Xiao Fubao still couldn't find Zhao Zhaodi. Zhaodi's mother said that Zhao Zhaodi had gone to her maternal grandmother's house!

The little one was a bit frustrated: "Zhao Di went to her maternal grandmother's house, so why is her mother still at home? Zhao Di has never been to her maternal grandmother's house alone before."

As they passed an abandoned ruin, the little rabbit suddenly jumped out of Xiao Fubao's arms and ran past.

"Little rabbit, don't run away!"

"Little bunny, come back!"

Little Fu Bao called out.

Xiao Heng said, "I'll go catch it and bring it back. You sit on the oxcart and move it!" Xiao Heng jumped down and followed the rabbit to the edge of the ruins.

There was a pile of snow on the ruins, mostly covered with discarded and broken porcelain bowls or chamber pots.

When Xiao Heng picked up the rabbit, he saw a child's hand in the snow. He bent down and pulled the child out of the snow.

It was Zhao Zhaodi.

Little Fu Bao jumped off the car. "Big brother, why aren't you moving?" she ran over. Xiao Heng immediately covered Little Fu Bao's eyes and whispered:

Don't look.

"Big brother, I saw it. I'm not afraid. Is it Zhao Di?" Xiao Fu Bao was slightly stunned and pulled away Xiao Heng's hand that was covering her eyes.

She just lay there, motionless.

I saw him just yesterday!

She squatted down and took Zhao Zhaodi's hand, while Zhao Zhaodi was still holding the honey that Xiao Fubao had given her yesterday.

"Big brother, is she dead?" Little Fu Bao was still young and didn't understand the meaning of death, but now she did!

"yes"

Xiao Fubao stared blankly at Zhao Zhaodi in the snow. Winters in Jiangzhou are very cold, and the area is covered with snow all year round. The river is also frozen, allowing pedestrians to walk on it.

“Let’s report this to the authorities,” Xiao Heng said.

"I'll go find Grandma Hu next door. Little brother, you go and report it to the authorities!" Xiao Fubao said.

"Zhao Di is so thin and small, and she's cold. She'll be scared all by herself!" Xiao Fu Bao murmured.

Although they were neighbors, the Zhao village chief's house was quite far from the great-aunt's house. The area was vast but sparsely populated, and there were hardly any pedestrians passing by on a snowy day.

Xiao Heng drove the oxcart home first, then changed to a half-grown horse and rode to town to report to the authorities. When Shen Yu and Niu Yong heard that someone had died, they also gathered dozens of people and went to the vicinity of Zhao Village Chief's house.

Shen Yu and a group of women and men walked to the vicinity of Zhao Lizhang's house. She saw Xiao Fubao staring blankly at Zhao Zhaodi, who had been dead for a long time. "Xiao Fubao, what are you doing here, child?"

It's laughable, really.

Among the group of people surrounding Zhao Zhaodi, only her biological mother, Huang Jingui, showed no sadness; everyone else covered their faces and wept bitterly.

The ones who cried the most were Grandma Hu, the neighbor next door, and the constables and yamen runners who came with the newly appointed county magistrate.

Little Fu Bao turned around and hugged Chen Yu, her small body trembling uncontrollably, and she couldn't help but cry.

"Who is your village head?" The newly appointed county magistrate was a young man who didn't know much about Niushan Village.

An old man wiped away his tears and said:

"After the former village chief Zhao was exiled, the four clans in our village have been arguing endlessly about electing a new village chief, so no result has been reached yet!"

"And what about the Zhao family patriarch?" the county magistrate asked again.

Another old man stepped out from the crowd and said, "Sir, I am the head of the Zhao family!"

"Very well, after I finish this case and execute this wicked woman, you can take the child back to your clan and give him a proper burial!" said the magistrate.

When Huang Jingui heard that she was to be beheaded, her legs immediately went weak with fear.

The Zhao family patriarch was in a dilemma. "This... sir, a daughter who dies before marriage cannot be buried in the ancestral graveyard!"

The county magistrate said, "Are you just going to watch such a young child be abandoned here?"

The Zhao family patriarch looked troubled: "Your Excellency, this is really not acceptable; the clan has its own rules."

Little Fu Bao tilted her head slightly and said, "Mommy, shall we take Zhao Di back and bury her with Old Niu? That's our place anyway."

Shen Yu glanced at Zhao Zhaodi on the ground, then looked away and said, "Okay."

Little Fu Bao came out and said, "Your Excellency, if they won't bury Zhao Di, our Niu family will."

"Look, even a child from another family has more humanity than you!" the magistrate said. "Take that poisonous woman back to the yamen!"

"yes"

Xiao Fubao watched as Zhao Zhaodi was carried away.

For several days in a row, the little one was sullen and unhappy. She even stopped keeping the more than one hundred seashells that she had bought. It was as if she had suddenly developed autism.

Such a big thing happened in Niushan Village, and Xiao Fubao and Xiao Heng were the first to discover it, so Niu Xiaomei naturally came over to inquire about it in person.

"Ever since Zhao Di died, she's been terrified. She won't come out to eat or talk to anyone. Fortunately, she sleeps in the same room as Xiao Heng, and she only opens the door for Xiao Heng," Chen Yu sighed.

"Sister-in-law, won't this child get sick from being frightened?" Niu Xiaomei asked.

Even Chen Yu was worried about this.