The old village chief was distributing silver to those who were not selected, one tael per person. When he saw Ruan's mother's behavior, he was so angry!
"How dare you say that! People are supposed to be honest, obedient and well-behaved. Your daughter got upset in public when she wasn't chosen, and almost caused all the fishing boats in our village to be taken back by the nobleman. It's good enough that people didn't make a fuss about it. What else do you want?
I tell you, if you really take back the fishing boat, your family will be the sinners of the whole village! I wonder how you can stay in the village then!"
Ruan's mother originally wanted to take the initiative. In the past, no matter what happened, she would always achieve her goal by just throwing a tantrum. She didn't expect to hit a snag today.
He immediately sat on the ground, slapping his thighs and crying, "Why is my life so miserable? You all bully my family. God! Open your eyes and take a look!"
Ruan's mother's crying attracted many villagers to watch.
The old village chief, however, had a stern face and signaled the others to collect the money and go back first.
The nosy villagers asked a few more questions, and Ruan's mother exaggerated the story of how the nobleman looked down on Ruan Haizhu, "Does being rich mean you can mistreat people like this? The village chief actually helped outsiders to bully my daughter! He didn't even speak up for her!"
The villagers were talking about it, but the old village chief remained unmoved.
Father Ruan hid in the crowd. Seeing that Mother Ruan had been making a fuss for a long time but to no avail, he had to come out to ask for an explanation. "Village Chief, you have to support us!"
The old village chief sneered, glanced at the villagers who were standing around and said calmly, "Sure! Return the fishing boat to them now, or you won't have the confidence!"
When everyone heard this, their faces changed.
"Village chief, what does this have to do with fishing boats? Why should we return our fishing boats because of Ruan Haizhu's matter?" Several men who were watching the fun were not happy.
The old village chief glanced at Ruan's father and mother with sarcasm, "Our village doesn't have the money to buy a fishing boat. The fishing boat belongs to a nobleman, and we will have to bear the debt for decades! If you can't even pay the money back, what right do you have to point fingers at others?
Don't say that they look down on people from our village. Even if they come to your door, you have to hold it in! You don't know what's going on!"
When everyone heard this, they all scolded Ruan's father and mother for not being clear-headed. Some people even rushed forward to kick the couple out of the village chief's house and warned them: "If you dare to offend the noble and bring trouble to the whole village, I will kill you!"
Mother Ruan was so frightened that she dared not even fart. She followed Father Ruan home in disgrace and discontent.
When the couple got home, they found that Ruan Haizhu was missing, along with her luggage.
The two thought that Ruan Haizhu was unwilling to give up, so they ran to Xiaogang Village to ask the nobleman to buy her. Not only were they not worried, they were also secretly looking forward to getting the money tomorrow.
The next day, Su Tai and his group set out before dawn.
Before they left, the villagers prepared a lot of dried seafood for them.
For example, dried shrimps, dried balsam pear, small miscellaneous fish, dried shellfish, dried seaweed and so on.
These things are rare in Langya Country and are sold at a very high price, but here they are as cheap as vegetables grown at home.
Xu bought a whole car in one go.
Su Tai thought that they would most likely encounter danger when passing through the uninhabited area of the ice field, so it was necessary to buy some seafood as a backup, especially fish.
I buy dried fish in large quantities in the village.
By the time everything was packed, the sun was almost out.
The convoy sped up and headed on the road, completely unaware that there was a tail following them.
Ruan Haizhu has been waiting in Xiaogang Village since last night. That night she hid outside the house of an old woman she saw yesterday, and waited at the entrance of the village when it was dawn.
When I saw the convoy leaving the village, I immediately followed.
She had made up her mind that as long as she followed the caravan to Langya Kingdom, even if this family didn't want her, she could sell herself to other wealthy families and would definitely be able to live a good life.
After the convoy had been walking for a while, the escort finally spotted Ruan Haizhu who had been following them all the way, and he stepped forward to report the situation to Su Tai.
“Mrs. Shen, that little girl must have been following us for a long time, and it seems that she intends to cross the ice field with us.”
Su Tai lifted the car curtain and looked back carefully, with a little more understanding in her eyes.
Xu asked: "What's going on?"
Su Tai smiled and said, "It's nothing. She's just a girl with an active mind. Don't worry about her. If she wants to follow us, she can follow us. Let's just keep going."
The escort understood and told the convoy to continue moving forward at a faster pace.
Ruan Haizhu, who was following behind, saw that the convoy had no intention of stopping, and her face became more angry. It was obvious that those people had discovered her, but they were indifferent! Are they still human?
At this time, Ruan Haizhu was full of resentment towards Su Tai and had completely forgotten about her family.
Ruan's father and mother waited at home for most of the day but received no news, so they had to go to Xiaogang Village in person.
When they came, both of them were very nervous, fearing that they would run into the noble's guards and get beaten if they were not careful.
When I arrived, I found that the whole village was quiet. Except for the elderly with limited mobility and children who couldn't walk properly, there was no one else.
After asking around, I found out that all the men in the village had gone out to sea, and all the women and children had gone to the beach to catch seafood, even the village chief's family was no exception.
The couple had no choice but to grit their teeth and go to the beach to look for someone.
After finally meeting Yu Xinghai, Father Ruan immediately asked, "Where is my daughter Haizhu? Where did you take her?"
Yu Xinghai looked puzzled. "Who are you? I don't even know your daughter!"
"You are still quibbling! It was you who went to our village and said that a nobleman wanted to buy someone. My daughter must have come to your village!" Father Ruan was very excited.
Yu Xinghai's face changed, realizing that something was wrong, and asked questions repeatedly.
When he learned that the Ruan Haizhu that Ruan's father was talking about was the little girl who talked back to Su Tai yesterday, his face instantly turned very ugly.
"Your girl is quite hot-tempered! She even dares to talk back to an important person! I have asked your village chief to take her back. What? Hasn't she returned home yet? Then I have to go to your village to ask!" Yu Xinghai gave the things to his wife and was about to go to the next village.
Ruan's father and mother felt guilty and had to soften their tone and tell the truth, "My daughter did go back, but she ran away again! She said she came to your village!"
Yu Xinghai denied it hastily, "No, no, no, she didn't come to our village! The noble lady stayed at my house yesterday. My family and the nearby villagers can testify that no one came to our house last night! Don't blame us if you didn't take good care of your daughter!"
Some people in Xiaogang Village who knew Ruan's father and mother came over and said to them, "I wonder if your daughter has gone somewhere because of a temper tantrum? This morning before the noble left, he was still collecting dried fish in the village. Every household that had any in stock sent them to the noble to choose from.
We didn’t see your daughter at all.”
"Yes! Your daughter is very pretty. If she was really there, we would have discovered it a long time ago."
Everyone was talking at once, and the more they talked, the paler the Ruan couple's faces became.
Ruan's mother sat down on the beach and cried loudly, "My Haizhu is lost, my Haizhu is lost! Wuuwuwu" (End of this chapter)
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