Chapter 172 We're actually quite a good match
Li Mu shook his head, looking dejected.
“I sent someone to the opera troupe he frequented, the Desheng Troupe. All the members of the troupe had gone to perform outside the city.”
There were only some odd-job workers. I asked them, and they said they usually had a private room at the theater where they went to listen to the performance and then left.
"I went to the antique shop he frequents again. The people there said he only goes there when there are good items available each month."
If I saw something I liked, I bought it; if not, I just walked around and left. I didn't find out anything else.
After running around all day without finding out any information, Li Mu was somewhat frustrated.
Song Yi comforted him, "After all, it happened more than 20 years ago. It's difficult to investigate, and it can't be done overnight."
It's a pity there aren't many elderly servants left in the household; otherwise, sending someone over to ask might yield some results.
Li Nanke's eyes flickered.
"Mother, was Manager Qin's father with Grandfather before?"
Song Yi's eyes lit up.
"Yes, how could I forget about him? Manager Qin's father has been in charge of the Marquis's shops since the old Marquis's time. Husband, you can ask him. Maybe you can get some useful information."
Li Mu clenched his fists and braced himself.
"Alright, I'll go find out from Old Manager Qin tomorrow."
Nothing was said that night.
The following day, Li Nanke followed Song Yi to distribute porridge outside the city as usual.
Upon arriving at the destination, she instructed Zisu to prepare a pancake and took a bowl of porridge to find Old Zhou.
Old Zhou sat alone in the corner of the tent, lost in thought.
She watched with a smile as Zisu handed over the cakes and porridge, her voice as clear and crisp as ever.
"Grandpa Zhou, after you finish eating this pancake and drinking this porridge, I'll take you to the woods to die."
One sentence startled Zisu so much that she almost spilled the porridge in her hand.
Old Zhou's cloudy eyes darted around, and he silently took the pancakes and porridge from Zisu's hand.
He finished the pancake in a few bites, drank the porridge, and silently uttered a single word.
"Walk."
Li Nanke took out a rope, hung it on his arm and swung it around, then turned and walked outside.
Zisu followed, looking worried.
"Young lady, this..."
Li Nanke winked at her, "Sister Zisu, it's alright. Go help Mother distribute the porridge."
Zisu left, turning back every few steps.
Li Nanke turned around and saw Lao Zhou pressing his palms to the ground and slowly moving his buttocks.
She couldn't help but sigh.
“Grandpa Zhou, if you keep sitting on the ground and moving little by little like this, it will be dark by the time you get to the woods.”
Old Zhou's beard trembled, and the veins on his hand, which was pressed against the ground, bulged.
Li Nanke pointed to his left leg.
"You've only lost one leg, but you still have another leg, and you can walk with that leg too."
If you can't even stand up, how are you going to hang yourself up there? By luck?
"Judging from the fact that you've died so many times and still haven't died, it seems like you're not very lucky, or is it that your desire to die isn't genuine at all?"
Old Zhou's pupils contracted, and he gritted his teeth, changing to a kneeling position, trying to stand up little by little.
He had just stood still when his body tilted to one side, and he staggered and jumped twice before falling back to the ground with a thud.
Li Nanke squatted down beside him, her round eyes gazing at him.
"Get up and keep going. You can only hang yourself up if you can stand up first."
Old Zhou gritted his teeth and got up again.
Fall again, get back up.
After a whole day of searching, we still haven't reached the edge of the woods.
As the sun slowly set, Li Nanke stood up and spread his hands in front of Old Zhou, who was covered in dirt and had a bruised and swollen face.
"Looks like I'm not going to die today. I promised my grandmother I'd help her till the land today, and I'll come help you tomorrow."
"Grandpa Zhou, you've walked all the way from the tent, so you should be able to walk back by yourself, right?"
Old Zhou's lips twitched.
He didn't walk here, he fell here, okay?
"I'm leaving now, Grandpa Zhou, let's continue tomorrow."
Old Zhou lay on the ground, watching helplessly as Li Nanke skipped and hopped away into the distance.
He wouldn't have asked a child for help if he could find someone else to kill himself.
This little girl... she didn't treat him like a disabled person at all, or even like a human being!
She seems to treat him like a fun toy!
Old Zhou felt a mix of emotions and clenched his fist, pounding it heavily on the ground.
He can definitely stand up and hang himself up!
He gritted his teeth, stood up, and hopped and stumbled toward the tent.
Li Nanke, who was hiding behind the tent not far away, watched him throw himself into the tent before she felt relieved and ran off to find Song Yi.
Completely unaware that Xie Xuanxiao had emerged from behind the tent.
Xie Xuanxiao watched her run away, her red hair ribbon swaying in the wind, and he could still faintly hear her sweet voice calling for her mother.
He thought to himself that although this girl was full of tricks, she was kind-hearted.
For the next five or six days, Li Nanke would first spend an hour in the morning learning business from Huang Sheng, then take a carriage to the outskirts of the city to find Lao Zhou, and return in the late afternoon to help his grandmother till the land.
In just five or six days, Lao Zhou has gone from being unable to stand steadily on one leg to being able to hop and skip a short distance on one leg.
It's just a pity that he still couldn't reach the rope that Li Nanke was tied to.
"It's time, I have to go."
Li Nanke untied the rope and scurried down from the tree.
"It's a pity, Grandpa Zhou didn't jump high enough to reach the rope."
Old Zhou looked at her suspiciously.
"Are you sure you didn't tie it a little too high?"
Li Nanke retorted confidently, "How could that be? If you don't believe me, go up and tie the rope yourself."
Old Zhou...
If he could get up there, would he need to beg her?
But soon, he will be able to reach the rope.
Two days later, the refugee camp began to disband.
Firstly, the floods in all counties had subsided, and the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works began to send people in batches to escort refugees back to their hometowns to rebuild their homes.
Secondly, November is just around the corner, and the weather is getting colder and colder; it would be too cold to stay in the tent any longer.
Within a day, almost everyone in the refugee camp had left.
When Li Nanke found Lao Zhou in the woods, he was struggling to climb up the crooked tree, inching forward, trying to hang the rope himself.
Li Nanke snatched the rope from his hand, her little face hardening.
"You've eaten at my house for so many days, and I've helped you for so many days. Doesn't that count as a huge favor?"
Old Zhou paused for a moment, then nodded.
"Calculate!"
Li Nanke said, "So now you should start repaying your debt of gratitude. You can only die after you've repaid it!"
Old Zhou frowned, "This..."
Li Nanke exclaimed in surprise.
"Grandpa Zhou, you wouldn't happen to be an ungrateful person, would you?"
"Nonsense! I, Zhou Huai... am absolutely not an ungrateful person!"
Li Nanke's eyes lit up.
"Since that's not the case, then come with me. You can die when you've repaid your debt of gratitude."
And so, Lao Zhou was taken back to the Marquis's residence by Li Nanke and sent to the Zhiguan Hall.
Huang Sheng stared at the fist-sized scar on his left eye and looked at Lao Zhou with disgust.
"But girl, where did you find such a smelly thing? It looks like it was just pulled out of a cesspool, doesn't it?"
Old Zhou...
That person speaks so rudely, no wonder he went blind in one eye!
Li Nanke said, "This is Grandpa Zhou. He will be living with Master Huang in Zhiguan Hall from now on."
"Master Huang, this is Grandpa Zhou. He's here to repay a debt of gratitude. Please feel free to ask him for anything you need in the future."
Huang Sheng stroked his beard, his gaze sweeping over Old Zhou's empty trouser leg.
He chuckled and then brought his blind left eye to Old Zhou's face.
"I've lost an eye in my left eye, and you've lost a leg in your right leg. We're actually quite a match!"
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