Chapter 7

Tang Qingqing was lying on the kang. Wang Caoer, her aunt, and her two daughters were all asleep and breathing steadily.

She crossed her hands behind her head, stared at the dark ceiling of the bed, and recalled what she had experienced in the cemetery today.

The contents of the book she "saw" matched her strange dreams, except that the descriptions in the book were more detailed, unlike the fragmented descriptions in her dreams.

The book started when she was about to be taken home, and the time of picking up the child in the book was two months earlier than the real time.

Because in the book, she was asked by Zhao Dahua to collect firewood, and she fell and hit her head, and almost lost her life.

After Tang Jianguo and Su Rong learned the news, they rushed over in advance to pick up the heroine.

Her fall turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Not only was she able to return home early to live a good life, but her family also sympathized with her more. They felt that they had treated her badly over the years and wanted to make up for it.

If all this is true, it means that her life has been changed. She is "Tang Zhenzhen", and the current Tang Zhenzhen is actually "Tang Qingqing".

But Tang Qingqing in the book, now known as Tang Zhenzhen, is not a smart person, and her personality is exactly the same as Zhao Dahua.

She doesn't have many scenes, but she is extremely annoying every time she appears.

She is stupid and greedy, but she thinks she is smart. She often makes some unspeakable calculations and does many stupid things that make people laugh and cry.

But the fact is just the opposite. Tang Zhenzhen has been very smart since she was a child, and now everyone in the village talks about it with great relish.

When Tang Qingqing was still wearing open-crotch pants and could only babble, Tang Zhenzhen was already like a little adult, eloquent and a well-known child prodigy.

She could remember and repeat the slogans written on the wall as long as someone read them once. The next time she saw those words, she would have remembered them all.

They went to play near the village primary school. She would listen to the students reading outside and could remember everything after listening to it once.

Later, she even lay down at the door to listen to the class. Seeing how serious she was, the teacher even tested her.

As a result, she not only understood everything, but also recognized all the words on the blackboard and could accurately express their meanings.

Until now, the teacher still often talks about this incident in the village, saying that he has never seen anyone smarter than Tang Zhenzhen, and often comes to the Tang family to inquire about the recent situation of this non-staff student.

Everyone said that this was because Tang Zhenzhen's parents were both smart people. Tang Jianguo was a college student and a senior technician. He became a factory director because of his intelligence. Her mother was a genuine city dweller and had received a good education. It was natural for her to give birth to such a smart daughter like Tang Zhenzhen.

Tang Zhenzhen's three brothers are all more outstanding than the other.

This made Tang Qingqing doubt the authenticity of the book.

But there was a voice in her heart telling Tang Qingqing that all this was true.

Tang Qingqing's mind was in a mess and she couldn't figure out what was going on.

After thinking about it for half the night without any result, I just put it aside for the time being and thought about something else.

The feeling she had when she recognized the words on the tombstones at the cemetery was unforgettable.

Tang Qingqing had never been to school, but she used to find time to sneak into the school classroom and study secretly for a few days.

Later she was sent to herd sheep and never had such an opportunity again.

Therefore, she only knew a few words and was completely blind.

"It would be great if I could read." Tang Qingqing sighed.

The next day, Tang Qingqing and a few others got up before dawn.

Now that they have found the sheep, they have to hurry back to their team as they still have to herd the sheep today.

The aunt tried to persuade them to stay, "Why are you in such a hurry? I haven't even finished cooking yet. Didn't Heizi ask someone to help herd the sheep? There's no need to hurry so early."

Wang Cao'er waved her hands quickly: "Auntie, please stop busying yourself. We disturbed you last night and we don't know how to thank you. We can't cause you any more trouble."

"Why are you being so polite? From now on, you will treat this place as your home. Come visit us often when you have time."

In the end, the three of them left without staying at Lu's house for breakfast. Wang Heizi did not eat the steamed buns that he took from home yesterday, so he took them out and shared them with Wang Cao'er and Tang Qingqing as breakfast.

Wang Heizi kept looking back as he walked, "Aren't we waiting for Brother Yi?"

Tang Qingqing: "He asked us to leave first yesterday, saying that after we caught the sheep thief, we had to wait for the police to come over, and he would be responsible for explaining the situation."

"Do you think Sun Lai-fu took advantage of the situation by picking up the lone sheep, or did he go out to steal them on purpose?"

Wang Heizi jumped in front of Tang Qingqing and walked backwards in front of her.

Tang Qingqing didn't say anything, but Wang Heizi refused to give in.

"Look at your expression, I must know! Just tell me! Isn't it okay for me to treat you as the boss?"

Tang Qingqing glanced at him and said, "We agreed before that when I find the sheep, you will call me Boss."

"I'm already your brother, why are you still hiding it from me? It's so mean!"

Wang Cao'er also looked curious, but she didn't ask any further questions like Wang Heizi did.

Tang Qingqing pursed her lips and said, "I'm telling you guys, don't spread it."

Wang Heizi patted his chest and promised, "Don't worry, I am a trustworthy person. I kept the secret that Tiezhu wet the bed at the age of ten for a year and never told anyone."

Wang Cao'er, Tang Qingqing: "..."

Tang Qingqing: "He stole the sheep."

"How do you know?"

"I saw his footprints near the hill where Cao'er was grazing his sheep."

Each village has its own sheep grazing area. Although the distance between the two flocks of sheep is not far, no one will run over unless necessary, because after all, they still have to guard their own sheep.

"What if he stepped on it before?"

"New footprints are different from old footprints."

"What's the difference?"

"It's different anyway."

"How did you figure that out?"

"Try to step on one footprint, then step on another one next to it a few days later, and you will know what is different."

Along the way, Wang Heizi kept asking all kinds of strange questions.

Tang Qingqing always has one thing to say: You will understand if you look at it more.

Wang Heizi didn't mind being treated perfunctorily and was still very interested.

"Did you learn this skill by yourself, or do you have a master?"

Tang Qingqing said nothing.

"You must have learned it from someone! And I also know who your master is."

Tang Qingqing looked up at him.

Wang Heizi put his hands on his hips and smiled proudly: "I have a sharp eye and I can tell what's going on at a glance."

Tang Qingqing ignored him, quickened her pace and walked around him.

Wang Heizi quickly scurried up to her like a monkey and said, "Your master is Liu Duyan, who lives halfway up the mountain!"

Tang Qingqing paused, but continued walking forward.

"Haha! Judging from your expression, I was not wrong." Wang Heizi was very proud.

"I think that old man is unusual. He lives alone on the hillside and looks mysterious. But he is so capable, why is he hiding it? If it were me, I would want to hold a loud speaker and tell everyone how capable I am!"

Tang Qingqing was not aware of this either. If she had not insisted at the beginning, the master would never have accepted her.

After accepting her, he once said: I hope you won’t regret it in the future.

Tang Qingqing didn't understand what there was to regret. Who would complain about having so many abilities?

Being able to find the sheep this time made Tang Qingqing more determined to learn tracking well so that she would not be afraid of losing the sheep in the future.

Tang Qingqing didn't know at the moment that Tang Jianjun was going to report to the captain and let her brother Tang Xingwang take over her job of herding sheep.

Zhai Hongyi followed several people from the Liushu Brigade and stayed on guard at the grave mountain. At daybreak, they finally caught the person they were guarding.

In addition to Sun Lai-fu, there were two other lazy guys in the team who were equally idle.

When the people from the Liushu Brigade saw them, they wanted to go out and arrest them, but were stopped by Zhai Hongyi.

It was not until Sun Lai Fu and his two helpers removed all the thorns and saw that the hole was empty, and they were cursing at someone for stealing their sheep, that Zhai Hongyi rushed out first, quickly grabbed Sun Lai Fu and pressed him to the ground.

The others quickly followed and subdued the other two.

Sun Lai-fu and his two helpers were captured without knowing what was happening.

"Let me go! Why did you arrest us?"

Sun Lai Fu kept shouting and still refused to plead guilty even at this point.

Zhai Hongyi ignored him and looked at the other two people, raising his eyebrows:

"If you confess, you will be treated leniently; if you resist, you will be treated severely. You are just accomplices now. If you lie and cover up, your nature will be different."

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you!"

Seeing that the captain and several officers were there, the two men were so frightened that they confessed everything.

Now that his accomplices had confessed, Sun Lai-fu could no longer hide the truth and had to confess.

"I was just possessed by a ghost for a moment. When I saw the two sheep that were alone, I thought about how difficult it was for my parents, so I wanted to take them back to honor them."

Lu Xiangqian was angry: "Don't bring up your parents! You took away all the food from our home before, who would believe you if you say this now?"

"I know I was wrong, so I want to make amends. Those two sheep were stupid and followed me. I didn't want to do that. I had already figured it out. I couldn't take anything from the people, but they followed me anyway. That's why I lost my mind and made the wrong decision."

The captain of the Willow Brigade couldn't stand it any longer and put away his cigarette:

"Who do you think is a fool? You are still talking nonsense at this critical moment. I think you think your life is too good and want to reform yourself for a few more years."

Sun Lai Fu shuddered and dared not talk nonsense anymore.

Sun Lai-fu gambled away his money and owed a lot of debts, so he set his sights on the sheep.

It is not easy to steal sheep from one's own team for fear of being found out.

This is different from ordinary petty theft. Sheep are valuable and if caught, you will be sent to labor reform.

In order to avoid being discovered, he deliberately went to other brigades to scout and steal sheep, so that he would not be easily tracked if the distance was far.

I didn't expect that after all the trouble, I was caught in the end. I was scared to death by the ghost's scream last night.

I specially asked two helpers to come here today to give me courage, but I didn't expect that they were all caught.

After I get out, I will have to spend some money to appease my two helpers, otherwise I won’t be able to explain myself.

Sun Laifu cried, if he had known this would happen, he would not have gone to gamble! And there would be no such thing as what happened later!

After the police arrived, Zhai Hongyi reported to them that some people in the commune were involved in gambling and that they must be eradicated.

Not only did he engage in gambling, but he also borrowed money at high interest rates. He is really a rotten person.

When Tang Qingqing and the other two returned to Rongshan Brigade, the sheep had already been driven to the mountain to graze by the people arranged by Wang Heizi.

The two boys who were helping to watch the sheep breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the three of them coming back with the two lost sheep.

"Luckily you found it. If it was lost, our lives would be even more difficult this year and next year."

Wang Heizi: "Of course! It doesn't matter who we are."

Tang Qingqing sensed something was wrong: "What do you mean? Isn't the harvest good this year?"

The tall boy cried and said, "You guys weren't here last night, but you didn't know that something big happened in our village!"

The other boy's eyes were red.

"What's going on?"

The tall boy pointed at the sky and cursed: "You damn God, don't do anything. For some reason, our team's granary was burned yesterday! So much food, all gone!"

This news came like thunder, shocking the three people who were happy to have found their sheep.

Wang Heizi shouted, "What the hell? The granary is on fire? How can it be on fire?"

Tang Qingqing's mind was buzzing. Such a thing was also written in the book!