Chapter 183 The Girl Zhao Ergou Brought Back
The fifteen-year-old girl was pale.
She was panting heavily, unable to utter a single word.
Shen Zheng and Zhao Ergou stood by and waited for her to rest before speaking, but the girl didn't utter a single word.
Zhao Ergou patiently asked, "If you don't remember where your home is, we can take you to the county government office, and the government will send someone to take you back."
The girl remained silent, her head bowed, her hands clutching her sleeves.
"Could he be mute?" Shen Zheng thought with a headache. "Send him to the authorities."
Zhao Ergou nodded, guessing that the girl's family must be frantic with worry.
However, his sleeve was grabbed, and the girl bit her lower lip and gently shook her head.
This means that they don't want to go to the government.
"Ergou, you're the one who saved this person, so you'd better get this sorted out for me right now." Shen Zheng crossed his arms. "I've always been a man of integrity, so don't come looking for me to offer myself in return."
The girl suddenly let go of Zhao Ergou's sleeve.
She took a step back, distancing herself from the two of them.
Zhao Ergou said gently, "Then you can go home after you've rested here. We have something to do, so we'll be leaving now."
He took a step to leave, but after a few steps, he heard footsteps behind him.
He turned around and saw the girl following them from a distance. They stopped, and the girl stopped too.
They took one step, and the girl took one step too.
Shen Zheng immediately rushed forward: "I don't care anyway, I'll go first."
He rushed to the city gate and jumped onto the ox cart.
Immediately afterwards, Zhao Ergou got into the car.
The girl followed up.
Zhao Da asked curiously, "Er Gou, whose daughter is this?"
Shen Zheng looked up at the sky, his expression one of complete indifference.
Zhao Ergou couldn't tell the truth either. He couldn't very well say that she was rescued from a brothel. If that got out in Dahe Village, how would the girl face anyone afterward?
He paused for a moment and then said, "My cousin."
Dahe Village.
Cheng Wanwan watched the carpenter work in the courtyard of the new house.
Originally, she planned to contract out the furniture, such as tables, chairs, and cabinets, to Old Man Zhao. However, the old man said that his skills were not good enough. He said that it was fine to make a table temporarily when needed, but he could not make do with the new house. So he helped her find the best carpenter in the next village to make the furniture.
These are all high-quality materials cut from the mountains, with a pleasant woody aroma, so there's no need to worry about formaldehyde pollution.
Cheng Wanwan would occasionally offer her own opinions.
For example, villagers are used to storing clothes in boxes, which are huge boxes that can be opened up and all the clothes are put inside without any distinction.
She asked a carpenter to make a cabinet, similar to a modern wardrobe, with doors that open to divide the space into small compartments. Clothes for spring, summer, autumn, and winter were stored separately, so she could just grab what she needed without having to rummage through the whole chest.
Zhou the carpenter was from the next village. He had heard that a village woman in Dahe Village had been rewarded with one hundred taels of silver by the county magistrate. At the time, he scoffed at it, thinking that she had obtained the reward through some underhanded means. But after chatting with Cheng Wanwan for half an hour, he was immediately convinced. Some people are just so clever. He didn't know how their brains were structured, but they could come up with such a cabinet, which was much more convenient for storing clothes than chests and cages.
Old Zhao was always helping out as a laborer, but while he did manual labor, he was actually secretly learning the skills.
Especially when Cheng Wanwan expressed her opinions, he would listen intently, writing down every single word, and then observe how Zhou the carpenter made it, memorizing every detail with all his might.
"mother!"
Zhao Sidan's voice grew louder as it approached.
He rushed into the courtyard of the new house, his face beaming with excitement, and exclaimed, "Second Brother is back!"
Cheng Wanwan chuckled: "Look how excited you are. Did your second brother buy you something delicious again? Only your second brother spoils you like this every day."
"No, no." Zhao Sidan pulled Cheng Wanwan's arm and walked outside. "Second Brother brought back a beautiful girl, a really beautiful girl, even prettier than Sister Shuiqin..."
Cheng Wanwan's smile vanished.
In her past life, she really liked good-looking people. As the saying goes, "the face reflects the heart," and good-looking people naturally inspire goodwill.
But when she arrived in Dahe Village, the two prettiest girls she had ever met, Sun Shuiqin and Li Xiuhong, were not easy to deal with, and she was genuinely afraid.
She knew very well that the second son was a sucker for good looks and had no resistance to pretty girls.
Please don't bring any big trouble back to your family.
Cheng Wanwan quickened her pace and hurried home. Before she even reached her door, she saw a girl in a light yellow dress standing at the door.
The girl's hair was disheveled, her clothes were in disarray, and she lowered her head, twisting her fingers nervously.
Zhao Ergou breathed a sigh of relief: "You can only stay if my mother agrees to let you stay."
Shen Zheng rushed to Cheng Wanwan's side and whispered the whole story: "This has nothing to do with me. It was all Zhao Ergou's decision. Auntie, please don't go to my dad to complain."
Cheng Wanwan sighed helplessly. This kid is usually fearless, so why is he always worried that she will tell on him?
She said, "Don't worry, as long as you don't tell anyone, your father won't know."
She walked up to the little girl and saw her clothes. Although they were a bit dirty, it was still clear that they were made of high-quality satin. The collar and cuffs of the clothes had intricate embroidery. This set of clothes probably cost three or four taels of silver. The girl in front of her should be from a wealthy family, but she had ended up in a brothel. After being rescued, she refused to go to the government or go home. She vaguely guessed a certain possibility.
She took the little girl's dirty hand and led her into the yard, poured a basin of water, and handed her a clean handkerchief.
The little girl took the handkerchief and washed the dirt off her face, making her face look even prettier.
Cheng Wanwan glanced at Zhao Ergou. The boy went straight to work as soon as he got back and wasn't keeping an eye on this side, which meant he wasn't interested in the girl yet.
Before understanding the girl's personality and background, she couldn't let Er Gou get involved.
She spoke gently, "Can you tell your aunt why you don't want to go home?"
Shen Zheng's voice came from the side: "Don't ask anymore, she's just a little mute, you can't get anything out of her."
"I'm not dumb."
The little girl suddenly spoke up.
Shen Zheng spat out the dry grass in his mouth: "Then why didn't you say a word when I asked you so many questions?"
"Thank you for saving me..." The little girl lowered her head. "Half a month ago, my father went to another city on business. My stepmother arranged a marriage for me with a fifty-year-old man. I didn't want to marry him, so I ran away from home and was kidnapped and taken to a brothel... If I go home, I'll be forced to marry him, so I might as well die... Going to the authorities won't work either, because my stepmother must have reported me to the authorities after I ran away... My father will be back in a month, and he wants me to hide here for a month. I'll leave after a month, Auntie, please..."
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