Xiaoyue put down the knife she was using to chop the sauerkraut and hurried over to Lu Xiaomei. Her eyes held a mixture of concern and curiosity, which she couldn't quite put her finger on. As she walked, she asked, "How is Ge Erping?"

Lu Xiaomei's face showed a pained expression: "It's terrible, she's gone mad!"

"He's gone mad, how did he find his way home?" Xiaoyue was eager to know about Ge Erping's situation, so she pulled Lu Xiaomei into the east room.

Lu Xiaomei took off her outer coat and folded it in the cabinet, saying, "Ge Erlin hired an oxcart, and the two of them rode back. I paid for it."

"What did Ge Erlin say?"

Lu Xiaomei climbed off the kang again, turned over to get down, picked up her shoes, sighed and said, "Ge Erlin's leg is broken. He won't say anything no matter what you ask. If you ask him too much, he will cover his head and hide in the corner, facing the corner."

After hearing about Ge Erlin's current situation, Xiaoyue finally let go of the hatred from her past life. Ge Dalin, who could earn money in the Ge family, was gone, and Ge Sanlin's whereabouts were unknown.

Ge Erlin was a cunning, lazy, greedy, and slippery man. Losing a leg was God's punishment for him. Although Xiaoyue had doubts about Ge Erlin's character, she still thought highly of him just because he brought Ge Erping home.

The next morning, Xiaoyue got on the donkey cart. The wind was warm. Li Lei drove the donkey in front, and Xiaoyue called Xu Fanyuan to get on as well.

They headed straight for the town. When they passed through Guaibozi Village, not a single dog barked. Xiaoyue sighed for a moment. When the donkey cart reached Sanjiazi Village, there were always a few people waiting for the cart by the roadside on mornings when people were heading to the market.

Looking out over the village now, all that could be seen was the dried-out ground and the dark red blood splattered on the walls, which was quite jarring. Xiaoyue turned to Shi Lei and said, "Hurry up with the car."

Xiaoyue kept lifting the carriage curtain throughout the journey to observe the changes along the way. After arriving at Sanjiazi Village, Xiaoyue lowered the curtain.

Upon arriving in town, Xiaoyue had Shilei drive the donkey cart into the town. Xiaoyue lifted the curtain and looked at the shops, which were just like they were before the New Year, except that there were significantly fewer people in the town.

Xiaoyue saw Xu Fanyuan off at the yamen gate, then went to Tonghe Medical Clinic to see Manager Tong. Manager Tong greeted her with a smile, looked Xiaoyue up and down, and said with a smile, "It seems that it has not affected you much. Good, very good."

Xiaoyue sat down on the stool in front of Manager Tong's pulse diagnosis and asked with concern, "Are you and your staff alright? Are you injured or has the shop been robbed?"

Shopkeeper Tong laughed heartily: "The soldiers who besieged the town surrendered in less than three days. The county magistrate led the entire county government to surrender. Three officials were replaced, but the rest remained the same."

The new official solved the missing persons case in less than a month after taking office.

The former county magistrate and the top figure in Longcheng, the Seventh Prince, were mining in an illegal coal mine. The mine was short of labor, and when a single or double burly man was caught, he was taken to the coal mine.

Those who obeyed were all taken there to work as laborers, while those who disobeyed were beaten until they obeyed.

Among those rescued were students! Students! How could they dare? I heard that half of the students who were abducted were left disabled—some with injured hands, some with injured feet, and some even with injured legs. Alas, what a tragedy! Everyone says General Feng has rebelled!”

Xiaoyue's mind cleared instantly. Using General Feng's name to do shady things, Xiaoyue slammed her hand on the table and said angrily, "These people are truly despicable."

No wonder I saw Ge Sanlin at the academy.

Xiaoyue then asked, "What happened to the group of people who were in charge of the illegal coal mines?"

"They were executed on the spot; it's said that about a hundred people were beheaded."

"Oh!" Xiaoyue gave a perfunctory reply. It seemed that Ge Sanlin was probably dead, and it was certain that Ge Erlin had been taken to the illegal coal mine. But what had happened to Ge Erping?

As Xiaoyue was thinking, she saw the young shop assistant from Tonghe Medical Clinic come in from outside. Seeing Xiaoyue sitting in the shop, he went to the backyard, poured her a glass of water, and brought it up to her.

Xiaoyue smiled at the young shop assistant. The clinic was empty, so the assistant sat down next to her and announced like a megaphone, "The shop next to Xingfei Fabrics is for sale; the sign is already up. It's probably for that person who used to work at the county government."

Otherwise, the liquor store over there would be perfectly fine, and they wouldn't want to sell it.

Upon hearing this, Xiaoyue became interested. "Could you tell me how much it costs?"

"It's up for sale, fifty taels."

Shopkeeper Tong stroked his beard and said, "Not many."

Xiaoyue thought about it in her mind. She had 127 taels of silver in hand. After deducting 45 taels for building the house, she had 123 taels left. She then asked Manager Tong, "What did that shop do before?"

"The shop selling wine didn't make much money, but it was a two-courtyard house. People could live in the back courtyard, and the side rooms in the front courtyard could also be used as living quarters or storerooms. It was pretty good."

Xiaoyue stood up and moved closer to Manager Tong, saying, "Could you be my introducer? I'd like to take over that shop."

Shopkeeper Tong smiled and pointed at Xiaoyue, saying, "A scholar should be viewed with new eyes after three days of separation."

The young waiter also stood up and said excitedly, "I want to go and see too."

"Stay put, mind your own business."

The young waiter made a face at Manager Tong.

Xiaoyue smiled and said, "Once I've taken over the shop, you can look around as you like."

They arrived at the wine shop across the street with Manager Tong. The door was open, and Manager Huang was idly playing with an abacus. When he saw Manager Tong come in, he hurriedly went to greet him.

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