Chapter 123 Ye Family

Seeing Ye Rong's father appear, Feng Xiaoyu took a step forward. She really wanted to ask Ye Xianfu whether Ye Rong had left three days ago and where he was now?

Xia Mufan reached out and held Feng Xiaoyu, whispering in his ear, "Don't tell them about Ye Rong's disappearance yet."

Village committee director Ye Jinggui said that Ye Rong had left the village early in the morning three days ago. This was said by Ye Rong's father himself. Whether it is true or not remains to be verified.

Ye Rong is so famous in the town, and he is even more well-known in the village. Just now, when chatting on the road, the village committee director Ye Jinggui had said that Ye Rong was the only college student in the village who had been admitted to the university since the restoration of the college entrance examination system. His return home and departure were major events in the village. As the head of the village, Ye Jinggui should be very clear about his whereabouts.

However, when Ye Jinggui answered the question just now, he used many words like "seem", "maybe" and "perhaps". In a sense, this may be a way for him to shirk responsibility.

Now everyone has just entered the village, and Meihui has just been sent out to gather information. The situation is unclear. If Xia Mufan directly tells them that Ye Rong is missing and Feng Xiaoyu has called the police, he is worried about alerting the enemy.

Feng Xiaoyu listened to Xia Mufan's words very much. Although she wanted to know Ye Rong's whereabouts immediately, she still nodded palely and kept silent.

When Ye Xianfu saw so many policemen coming with the village committee director Ye Jinggui, he looked a little frightened, his hunched back bent even lower, and he looked very honest.

The villagers were all afraid of the police. He wiped his hands on the hem of his clothes to make sure there was no mud on them, then he stretched them out and said, "Comrade police, welcome to my home."

The director of the village committee had just sent someone to deliver the message, so Ye Xianfu knew that his son’s girlfriend wanted to visit the house. His eyes wandered between Xia Mufan and Feng Xiaoyu, and he asked cautiously, "Which one is our Arong's girlfriend? This is your first time here, and I'm not prepared at all. I'm really sorry."

Feng Xiaoyu stood up and said in a hoarse voice: "Hello, Dad Ye Rong, I am Feng Xiaoyu."

After calming down, Feng Xiaoyu had figured out why Xia Mufan didn't let him directly tell them the news of Ye Rong's disappearance. We cannot alarm the villagers without knowing whether Ye Rong is dead or alive, so as not to make them alert.

If Ye Rong was imprisoned by his family or villagers, the arrival of the police would most likely make them desperate, and Ye Rong's life would be threatened. Therefore, everyone must remain calm and respond carefully.

Her mind was clear, but her emotions were out of control. Feng Xiaoyu felt as if her heart had been bitten by a bug, the pain was so severe that her voice trembled slightly.

Feng Xiaoyu, in uniform, was graceful and gentle. Ye Xianfu was flattered by her initiative to ask, "Hello, hello. A Rong said he had a girlfriend in the city who was also a government employee. I didn't expect she was a police officer. Police officers are great, very impressive."

Feng Xiaoyu frowned slightly.

It seems that Ye Rong and his father do not have a close relationship.

Most people, when hearing their sons have a girlfriend, would ask all sorts of questions, wanting to know every detail of the other person's family history. However, Ye Xianfu didn't even know his son's girlfriend's occupation.

Seeing Feng Xiaoyu frowning, Ye Xianfu became nervous. He hunched his back, opened his mouth and tried hard to force a smile, but ended up revealing a mouthful of big yellow teeth.

The only sideline job for the villagers in Hongfeng Village is growing tobacco. Almost every man here smokes dry tobacco, and their teeth are burnt yellow by smoke. Ye Xianfu is no exception.

Ye Xianfu didn't know what he said wrong, so he said flatteringly: "Our family is poor, and you are a city girl, please don't despise me."

Ye Jinggui made an inappropriate joke at the side: "You have to look at the pigpen before buying a pig. It is normal for a girl to see the basic situation of your family before marrying into your family. Our village is extremely poor, and girls simply don't want to marry here. It is really a blessing for your family, Ye Rong, to find such a good girl who has a job and is capable."

Buy a pig? See the pigsty?

No one present laughed, only Ye Xianfu laughed awkwardly twice, rubbing his hands and saying, "Yes, yes, the director is right. Since you are here, don't be disgusted by the mess at home. Come in and sit down."

The Ye family only has three dilapidated houses. The main room is in the center.

As soon as I walked into the main room, I saw two worn-out enamel basins in the corner, half full of rainwater that was slowly leaking from the roof. The enamel basin had rusted where the porcelain had fallen off, and the water was extremely dirty, making people frown.

The ground is rammed earth, which has been trampled into potholes and unevenness. The white coating on the wall had begun to peel off, revealing the yellowed wall underneath, and spider webs hung on the beams.

Feng Xiaoyu felt uncomfortable when she thought that Ye Rong grew up in such an environment.

But now is not the time to be sad and worried about Ye Rong's poor childhood. Feng Xiaoyu thought of Ye Rong's unknown life or death, and asked directly without waiting to sit down: "Is Ye Rong back?"

While Ye Xianfu was arranging for everyone to sit down, he turned around and called his wife to come out to the kitchen to pour tea. When he heard Feng Xiaoyu's question, his hands shook unconsciously: "Oh, I'm back, but I went back to work three days ago. Um... why didn't you come back together?"

Feng Xiaoyu said: "He told me before he went home, but he was out of town at the time and couldn't make it back. Today, my colleagues and I happened to pass by Qingshi Town, so we stopped by to take a look."

Hearing Feng Xiaoyu's words, Ye Xianfu seemed relieved and responded dryly: "Oh, well, well, well."

Feng Xiaoyu couldn't help but care about Ye Rong and asked, "I called Ye Rong's pager, but he didn't reply. I don't know what's going on."

Ye Xianfu looked at Feng Xiaoyu, bewildered: "What chicken?"

Ye Jinggui laughed at the side: "Brother, that's what the city people use to communicate. It's a small black box, like a phone, and you can leave messages."

Ye Xianfu shook his head: "Oh, there is no telephone in our village, and the postman only comes once a week. If you want to contact us, you have to go to the town."

Ye Jinggui looked at Feng Xiaoyu, secretly wondering what the purpose of these policemen coming up the mountain was. Could it be that Ye Rong looked down on Feng Xiaoyu, so he didn't contact her, but Feng Xiaoyu was eager to come to his house?

Thinking of this possibility, Ye Jinggui felt more and more regretful.

Such a beautiful girl, who is also a police officer, it would be great to marry her. Why is Ye Rong still not satisfied? What kind of fairy is he looking for?

Feng Xiaoyu felt that she was communicating at cross purposes and it was very difficult.

Taking a deep breath, Feng Xiaoyu got to the point: "I called Ye Rong's workplace, and his colleagues said he didn't go home. I thought he had stayed in the village, so is he not at home?"

Ye Xianfu stretched his neck forward and pounded his lower back with his hand: "He's not at home. He went back three days ago. Did something happen on the way and delayed him?"

Feng Xiaoyu frowned slightly: "You are Ye Rong's father, don't you worry about him?"

Ye Xianfu looked calm: "Well, Arong has been independent since he was young. He walked along the mountain road to go to school in town by himself in elementary school and never asked anyone to send him. Now he is 26 years old, why does he need me to worry about him?"

Even Ye Jinggui couldn't stand it anymore: "Brother, you still have to care about your own child. Officer Feng couldn't find Ye Rong, so he came to visit. Tell us what you have to say. Let's try to find the child as soon as possible, right?"

After all, he was the director of the village committee and had a good brain. After hearing this, he finally understood that Ye Rong was missing and his girlfriend happened to be a police officer, so she came to investigate.

Feng Xiaoyu patiently asked Ye Xianfu: "You sent a telegram to Ye Rong saying that you were seriously ill and asked him to come back, right?"

Ye Jinggui's tone became heavier, and he complained to Ye Xianfu: "Why did you curse yourself for no reason? You lied to Ye Rong that you were seriously ill? Your waist problem is old. You can still do some leisurely work during the busy farming season. How did you become seriously ill?"

Ye Xianfu sighed and said with a bitter face: "I am anxious to ask him to come back. Alas! Arong seldom comes back since he started working, and I have no choice."

Feng Xiaoyu asked: "What's the urgent matter that requires Ye Rong to take leave and go home at this time?"

Ye Xianfu wrinkled his face and said, "I have no choice. Now that my youngest son has grown up, I want to arrange a wedding for him, but there is no money at home. Ye Rong works outside and gets paid every month. He must have saved a lot of money, so I thought of asking him to come back and give some money."

Feng Xiaoyu couldn't help but feel sorry for her boyfriend when she heard him say that. "Although his monthly salary is only a few hundred yuan, because you said you wanted to build a new house and your family was short of money, he left the money for basic living expenses and sent the rest back. All this money added up should be several thousand yuan, right? I see that your family hasn't built a new house at all, so the money should have been saved. Isn't this money enough for his brother's wedding?"

Ye Xianfu's face was wrinkled like a bitter gourd. He refused to sit down and squatted aside to smoke a pipe, which made a crackling sound and filled the room with the smell of smoke.

A woman in her forties or fifties walked out of the kitchen, wearing a southern apron around her waist. She was not tall, had pockmarks on her face, sunken cheeks, and a mean look on her face.

The woman held a clay teapot in her left hand and a stack of tea bowls in her right hand. She skillfully placed the bowls one by one and poured tea for everyone.

While pouring tea, the woman said, "When I married into the Ye family, Ye Rong was only seven or eight years old. I worked hard to take care of him for so many years, and sent him to high school and college. Now that he is working, he should repay his parents, right? He has a job and a girlfriend, so he doesn't have to worry about getting married, but what about my son? My son has only been to school for a few years, and he doesn't have any skills, just a lot of strength. He can go out to work and earn money, but if he goes out, what will happen to us old couple? Who will farm the land at home?"

Feng Xiaoyu looked at Ye Rong's stepmother Qian Huifen carefully. She started talking quickly and was obviously a person who would not suffer any loss with words. Ye Rong's stomach and intestines are still not in good condition. I heard that it was a disease caused by hunger when he was a child. It's a pity that she still has the nerve to say that she works hard to take care of him.

Feng Xiaoyu was in a bad mood, so naturally what she said was unpleasant to the ear.

She snorted and said, "I heard from Ye Rong that you didn't agree with him going to elementary school. If it weren't for the fact that several of his teachers saw that he was talented in studying and were willing to pay for his books, tuition, and food, plus scholarships, I'm afraid he wouldn't have been able to finish elementary and junior high school in town, and then go to the city to study in high school and take the college entrance examination. When he went to college, you didn't even want to pay for his travel expenses. It was only then that Ye Rong kowtowed to each family, and the neighbors felt so sorry for him that they chipped in two or five yuan a family to make up the travel expenses to Xing City, and he was able to take a bus to the university. During college, he worked part-time to support himself and never asked his family for a penny. How come you say that you worked hard to take care of him?"

Qian Huifen didn't expect Feng Xiaoyu to speak so harshly, nor did she expect that she knew so much about Ye Rong. She glanced at her sideways, her eyes stung by the uniform she was wearing, and all the words of rebuttal in her mind were stuck in her throat.

Qian Huifen walked up to Ye Xianfu and kicked him in the back: "Master, please be fair. The girl has already come home. We can't let her misunderstand that there is discord in our family."

Seeing that the situation was tense, Ye Jinggui stepped out to smooth things over.

"There are no parents who are not right. Ye Rong did suffer some grievances when he was a child, but he grew up safely. He also went to college and got a good job. Now that he has the ability, he should repay his parents and help his brothers and sisters at home, right?"

Feng Xiaoyu held back her anger and continued to ask: "You called Ye Rong back home just to let him help your brother get married, and then what?"

Ye Xianfu continued to squat in the corner and smoke his pipe, making a puffing sound, without saying a word.

Qian Huifen said, "What else is there? This ungrateful bastard refused to pay a penny and had a quarrel with us at home. He said he was going to get married and wanted to save money to decorate his home in the future. He didn't pay a penny and even criticized his father. He's a college student and a government official, but this is the least filial piety he has!"

While Feng Xiaoyu was communicating with Ye Rong's parents, Xia Mufan was observing the surrounding environment.

Ye Xianfu's house is built on a small hillside, with a dirt road in front and vegetable fields on both sides. The nearest farmhouse is about fifty or sixty meters away. If a quarrel occurs at home, no one would know unless the neighbors come to inquire.

To think even worse, if the whole family teamed up to kill Ye Rong, and then announced to the public that Ye Rong had passed away early in the morning, no one would know about it.

Xia Mufan, who had solved several homicide cases, looked around subconsciously.

Is there any blood in the corner? Are the corners of the table in the main room damaged? Are there any signs of a fight in the house?

Thinking further ahead, is there any loose soil in the vegetable garden? Are there any personal belongings of Ye Rong in the pigsty or toilet?

Thinking of this, Xia Mufan stood up and said, "You guys chat while I walk around."

Sun Xianbing and Yu Jing also stood up and protected her behind her.

The three of them had just walked out of the slightly depressing main room and took a deep breath at the same time. The air in the mountains is fresh. Although there is a smell of artificial fertilizer from time to time, it is much better than the smell of cigarettes in the house.

A dozen villagers gathered in the large yard in front of the Ye family's old house to watch the fun and chattered. As soon as they saw them coming out in uniform, the discussions suddenly became much quieter.