The barley has been harvested and the rice has been planted, so now we have some free time.

Liu Quanzheng rented a room in the village as a school to teach the children in the village to read.

Many people send their children here for enlightenment, which can be considered a source of income.

But something big happened in Qingshan Village today.

The ladies in the village all gathered at the east side of the village.

"Yun girl, Maodan said that you killed this man?" The person who spoke was an old lady who liked to watch the fun and not mind making trouble.

Su Yun was speechless. She asked Maodan to call for help, but word spread that she had killed someone.

"No, I fished it out of the river."

The ladies nearby finally realized that it was a misunderstanding.

Old Lady Gao at the side said, "How come you are even more deaf than an old woman like me? My son Maodan clearly said that someone died in the river, and Yun girl fished him out."

"Hey, old woman, why aren't you deaf today?" the lady asked curiously.

Old Gao shouted, "What? You were born deaf?"

The old lady was unhappy, "How can you talk like that, old woman?"

"What? Are you a dead old woman? Why are you scolding myself for no reason?" Old Mrs. Gao muttered.

The old lady didn't want to pay attention to Old Lady Gao, so she rolled her eyes and stood on the other side.

Haha, Grandma Maodan is so cute.

Su Yun's mouth curled up. She looked out of the crowd in her underwear, and at her feet lay a swollen female corpse. The upper half of the corpse was covered by a half-sized dress, and only the swollen face and bruised thighs could be seen.

[Why haven't my father and my cousin come yet? ] Su Yun was anxious.

None of the men in the village came; only the ladies who came came to watch the fun.

Su Bing pulled the Su chief and ran in front.

He could hear Su Yun's thoughts from a distance.

Liu Quanzheng and Su Huaiyi at the back were one step behind the two.

"Be good," Su Bing shouted, pushing away the crowd.

A few people finally squeezed in.

They all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that everyone was fine, but they all frowned when they saw the female corpse on the ground.

Chief Sioux stepped forward.

"Yun girl, what's going on?"

"Uncle, Maodan skipped classes, so I went to find Grandma Gao to ask about the situation. Grandma Gao said that Maodan went to the river east of the village to fish early in the morning. I was afraid that Maodan had an accident, so I ran over here."

"As a result, when I arrived, I saw Maodan almost drowning, so I quickly rescued him. After we got out, we wanted to go back to the village, but there was another person floating on the river, so I fished him out." Su Yun described the incident simply.

Maodan ran in front to lead the way.

Li and Liu Xia also rushed over, each holding a baby, and Wang Erniu and Wang Lin also came.

Gradually, many people from the village came.

Liu Xia put Su Xingxue down and draped the dress she was holding over Su Yun's shoulders.

Chief Su stared at Maodan and said, "Su Ke, you can't fish in the small river in the village fields. Why did you have to go to the East River outside the village?"

Maodan's real name is Su Ke, and all the people in Qingshan Village with the surname Su are related to him.

He is eight years old this year, one or two months younger than Su Yun.

His mother died when he was young, and his father worked as a blacksmith in the county, so he and his grandmother stayed in Qingshan Village.

His father had just returned to the county town after finishing work in the fields.

Maodan hid behind Su Yun, lowered his head and said nothing. He was still wearing wet clothes, which were dripping with water.

Grandma Gao heard it clearly this time and she explained.

"Maodan and Licheng agreed that once they earned enough money for a day's work, he would let Licheng come back to accompany him for a whole day. The small river in the village is only thigh-high and there are not many big fish in it, so Maodan went to the river east of the village to fish."

After hearing this, Chief Su didn't know what to say, he could only speak to Old Lady Gao.

"Sister-in-law, you can't let Maodan go fishing alone next time. It's too dangerous."

Old Mrs. Gao nodded.

"Grandpa, can you please not tell my dad? I will never skip school again." Maodan grabbed the corner of the clothes of Chief Su.

His tears fell.

If his father knew that he didn't study hard, he would definitely be disappointed in him.

Chief Su nodded helplessly, "Let's not talk about this, just say you miss your father. Okay, everyone disperse, Erniu and I will go to report to the police. The two brothers Dashan and Xiaoshan will stay to guard the body."

Things are different now than in the past. In the past, when County Magistrate Zhao was on duty, they did not have to report the death of anyone they encountered.

However, as soon as County Magistrate Zheng took office, he went to each village to popularize the law, and required that any corpse encountered must be reported to the authorities.

Even the last time Boss Qian and Aunt Liu were killed, Patriarch Su reported it to the government office.

But he concealed it from Mu Yi.

Boss Qian was already a wanted criminal and he had killed Aunt Liu. The villagers of Qingshan were just trying to protect themselves, so County Magistrate Zheng did not conduct any further investigation.

Wang Erniu lived at the entrance of the village. He drove a horse-drawn carriage and took Wang Lin and Chief Su away with him.

But the villagers who came to join in the fun did not leave and kept chatting.

"How did this female corpse die?"

"I saw it when I came here. He didn't even have a piece of cloth on him. It must be..."

"Enough, what nonsense are you talking about? You think you are the county magistrates and are trying to judge cases one by one. Let's go back. The government will come and interrogate everyone present." Li took the lead, holding Su Xingxue, who wanted to get closer to the corpse.

Liu Xia pulled Su Yun and turned to talk to Maodan.

"Xiao Ke, go back and take a hot shower and change into dry clothes."

"Thank you, auntie." Maodan supported Grandma Gao.

When they heard that they were going to be interrogated, those who were watching the fun ran away faster than rabbits.

Su Yun went home, took a hot bath, and changed into clean clothes.

As soon as she came out, Su Bing was waiting at the door.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

"When did you learn to float?"

"Born?" Su Yun asked back.

[Oh, my dad won't be angry, will he? But Maodan's situation is urgent, there's no time to go back and call for help. ]

Su Bing sighed, "Dad is not forbidding you to save people, Dad is just afraid that you will get yourself into trouble, do you know that?"

"Yeah, I understand." Su Yun nodded.

Li brought a bowl of ginger soup, "Your father is right, you have to ensure your own safety before you can save others. Come, drink a bowl of ginger soup to warm yourself up."

Su Yun drank it in small sips, and the spicy taste went straight to her head.

"Is your sister-in-law home?" Old Mrs. Gao shouted at the gate.

Li replied, "Yes, come in."

Old Mrs. Gao pulled Maodan, who had changed his clothes, and put the basket in her hand on the stone table.

"Replenish Yun's body. If it weren't for Yun, my Maodan would have died."

"No, you can take it back." Li declined.

Although old lady Gao is in good health, her hearing problems are sometimes better and sometimes worse.

She smiled and said, "Thank me? No need to thank me, I should be thanking your girl Yun."

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving. Don't see me off." Old Mrs. Gao pulled Maodan away again.

Li had no choice but to carry the basket to the kitchen, lift the cloth covering it and see twenty neatly arranged eggs and a slaughtered chicken.

It’s hard to tell whether Old Mrs. Gao is truly deaf or just pretending to be deaf.

But, it's thoughtful.

Xiaoshan came running over as soon as the Su family finished lunch.

"Zheng County Magistrate asked Yun to go to the village entrance."

(End of this chapter)