Zheng Xiu nodded and called Xue Shao to sit beside her.

As a steward, Manager Li naturally did not have to serve them meals. There were a few old maids released from the Duke of Qing’s mansion on the farm, and they were happy to serve. But Zheng Xiu saw that they were hunched over, with crow’s hair, and looked older than her grandmother, so she felt embarrassed to let them stand by her side. Besides, she had brought enough maids and servants with her, so she was not short of manpower.

After everyone on the farm left, Fen Ge and Bai Zhu served Zheng Xiu and the others meals.

Fen Ge said indignantly: "How can the masters eat these things? This Manager Li is too much. He doesn't take the masters into consideration at all."

Xue Zhi glanced at Zheng Xiu and said, "You can eat some first. I have asked the servant to go out to buy some food. He should be back soon."

"There is no village in front and no store behind. Where can we buy it?"

Xue Zhi said, "I asked them to go to the farmhouse." On the one hand, it was to buy some good food, and on the other hand, it was also to find out about the life of the tenants on the farm. If the tenants' lives were okay, then this Manager Li must be pretending to be poor.

Zheng Xiu nodded, without asking any more questions, but smiled and said: "There are fish and chicken, it's not bad. Let's change the taste."

Although Xue Shao was still young, he had suffered a lot following his father outside these years. In his opinion, these meals were not so unpalatable. Moreover, he had been waiting for the horse for half a day, so he was already starving. As

soon as Zheng Xiu called, he wolfed down the short-term meal.

Zheng Xiu was not used to it. Not only were the dishes dry and without oil, but even the rice had a taste of stale rice. In addition to chicken and fish, there were two wild vegetables on the table, which were cooked with sesame oil and tasted refreshing. She ate half a bowl of rice with the dishes and couldn't eat it anymore.

Xue Zhi and Xue Shao each ate a large bowl of rice, and put down their chopsticks only when they were full.

Zheng Xiu watched them eat with relish, and she didn't feel unhappy at all.

After they finished their meal, Fen Ge and Bai Zhu helped to clear the table.

The servant also came back from outside. They took a walk outside and found that the tenants here did not even live as well as ordinary people in the capital. When every household had dinner, only a few could eat rice, and they all ate bean rice. Not to mention the vegetables, they were all wild vegetables dug nearby.

This was too weird. The land was good, but it couldn't grow food, and the manager and tenants on the farm became so poor. The servant also inquired and said that when the disaster struck that year, the son of Li Guanshi was so busy that he actually fell ill with a strange disease. He has not sought medical treatment for so many years and has been kept on the farm. I heard that he is now so sick that he has lost his human form.

Xue Zhi also felt that it was a bit tricky for a while. Originally, he thought that this matter should be the work of Li Guanshi, but now it seems that the actual situation is different from what he thought.

After lunch, Xue Zhi wanted to take Li Guanshi out for an inspection, and let Zheng Xiu and Xue Shao rest on the farm.

Xue Shao felt sleepy after lunch. Zheng Xiu watched him fall asleep, left Baizhu to take care of him, and she took Fenkudzu to walk around the farm.

The structure of the manor is somewhat similar to the foreign manors in TV dramas. The people kept on the manor are all the old people who used to serve in the mansion of Duke Qing. Those who are too old to work and have no connections to stay in the mansion are sent here. Of course, there are also some who made mistakes in the mansion, and the master remembered her previous merits and did not kick her out and sell her, but sent her here.

Zheng Xiu took Fen Ge and walked around with Shu Liu. All they saw were some elderly women in reed-pinned cloth skirts. Those people were really old, and their eyes and ears were blurry. Even if Zheng Xiu wanted to find out something, they couldn't tell a thing or two.

She asked, "Are there still people from the Duke's Mansion in our farm? Why are all the people we see today older?"

Shu Liu said, "When the harvest on our farm was not good, we reported it to the mansion. The princess was lenient and did not punish us. Since then, no one has been sent to the farm."

Zheng Xiu nodded and continued to ask, "Has anyone left the mansion in recent years?"

Shu Liu lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment. "There was one, but he was crazy and incoherent. He was imprisoned in the backyard."

Crazy? The rich and powerful families always had some shameful things. Some people were guilty because they did too many private things, or knew too many secrets, so they were prone to so-called madness. In the eyes of a modern person like Zheng Xiu, this is a kind of mental illness or psychological illness, so she is not so shy about it.

"Take me to see it."

Shu Liu hesitated for a moment, but still responded with a "yes".

In the dilapidated backyard overgrown with weeds, there is a locked house.

As soon as Zheng Xiu and others entered the backyard, they heard a series of miserable cries.

Fen Ge advised: "Madam, this is not the place you should come to, let's go back."

Zheng Xiu was indeed a little scared. There was a window in the locked house, and the window was nailed shut with several wooden boards. But there was still a gap between the wooden boards, so she said: "Let's go to the window and take a look, and then we will go back."

Fen Ge walked a few steps ahead of her and went to explore first.

It was a little dark in the room. Fen Ge only saw a vague figure huddled in the corner, but there was nothing particularly scary about it.

Fen Ge then stepped back a few steps and let Zheng Xiu go forward to check.

Zheng Xiu looked inside from the gap, but when she looked in, she didn't see any figure. Just when she felt strange, a magnified human face suddenly appeared in front of her - she screamed in fright and stepped back repeatedly.

The man inside was clinging to the wooden board on the window, laughing strangely, and the laughter was so weird that it was chilling.

Fen Ge hurriedly helped Zheng Xiu stand farther away, "Madam, are you okay?"

Zheng Xiu touched her chest and felt her heart beating like a drum. She was really scared.

Looking at the window again, a woman with dishevelled hair and a dark face was still staring at her...

Shu Liu quickly apologized: "Second Madam, are you okay? This madman is so scary. It's my fault that I didn't explain it clearly and made you scared."

"Second Madam, Second Madam, hahahaha..." The person inside laughed more and more creepily.

Fen Ge quickly said: "Madam, you should go back first. I will send someone to inform the second master and ask him to invite a doctor to see you."

The person inside continued to laugh strangely: "Second Master, Second Madam, hahahaha..."

Zheng Xiu calmed down, listened to Fen Ge's advice, and followed her back.

The group did not hear the strange laughter lingering in their ears until they left the backyard.

Zheng Xiu let out a long breath and asked Shu Liu, "Who is imprisoned here?"

Shu Liu said, "It was Jingying, the maidservant who used to be by the old lady's side."