Chapter 33
The old house was even more dilapidated than Fan Changyu's house, and it was obvious that it had not been kept clean. Things in the house were thrown together in a mess. Because of the fire pit burning in the winter, the tables, chairs and benches were covered with a lot of dust, which had not been wiped off.
If you don't wipe yourself off before sitting down, your clothes will be covered in soot when you stand up.
The furnishings in the house were all worthless earthenware jars. Both Fan and his son loved to gamble, and any valuable items in the house would have been pawned for money by them.
The old couple of the Fan family lived in the west room. Father Fan said at the door of the west room: "Old lady, Changyu is here."
Old Mrs. Fan, who was lying on the bed, turned over and faced the door with her back, obviously not wanting to say a word to Fan Changyu.
Father Fan was a little embarrassed and explained to Fan Changyu: "She has been like this for the past few days since Daniu was killed."
Fan Changyu didn't take it to heart at all, nor did she bother to ask any questions. As far as she could remember, Old Lady Fan had never treated her family with a good look.
She wiped the bench with the handkerchief handed to her by Old Man Fan, and sat down next to the fire in the main room to warm herself by the fire.
When Father Fan hung the bacon she brought over the fire pit to continue to be exposed to the smoke, Fan Changyu noticed that the dishes and chopsticks on the table nearby had not been cleared away yet.
It seemed that the old couple cooked rice porridge this morning, and there was no smell of meat on the table during the New Year's Eve dinner.
Fan Changyu frowned, and after Old Man Fan sat down, he asked, "After Uncle got into trouble, the government gave him 25 taels of compensation. Didn't you use the money?"
Twenty-five taels of silver is not a small amount. If an ordinary family is frugal and no one in the family needs to see a doctor or get medicine, ten taels of silver are enough to cover a year's expenses.
Father Fan muttered, "The money should be saved for your cousin to marry..."
Fan Changyu raised his eyebrows and said, "Will he lose to the casino again?"
Father Fan said, "The money is with your great aunt. Your great aunt is afraid that the mourning period will delay the marriage proposal, so she plans to let your cousin get married during the mourning period, and she is already looking for a girl."
After hearing this, Fan Changyu stopped talking.
Everyone lives their own life. In the past, the old couple gave all the good things to Fan Da. Now that their son is gone, they naturally give all the good things to their grandson.
As long as the old family didn't have any evil intentions towards her house, she would be willing to continue to maintain the status quo of the two families not interfering with each other.
She asked, "What was that thing you mentioned earlier about my father?"
Father Fan's wrinkled face reflected the firelight, and he looked even thinner. He sighed slowly, "Daniu's misfortune may be retribution for me."
When Fan Changyu heard this, he felt it was a bit strange. He kept silent and waited for Old Man Fan to continue.
"Although your father is not my biological son, he is the son of my brother. There was a famine that year, and your real grandfather followed the villagers to the government's granary to steal food, but was beaten to death by the soldiers. Your grandmother left all the food in the house for your father to eat, and she starved to death. Before she died, she entrusted your father to me..."
When Father Fan talked about this, tears glistened in his cloudy old eyes: "I wanted to raise the child as my own flesh and blood, but it was a year of famine. People who starved to death on the roadside were cooked and eaten, and the Guanyin soil was also snatched away. With one more mouth to feed in the family, everyone had to share some of the food with your father. The two aunts you never met, the older one was only thirteen years old, and was given to a wealthy man as a concubine in exchange for half a bag of rice and flour..."
Father Fan's voice was shaking, tears were streaming down his face, "Later, that man went to another prefecture. Several decades have passed, and I and I have never seen the child again. We don't know whether she is dead or alive. The younger one was only eight years old, and was sold to a human trafficker for three hundred coins. There was no news of him since then. At that time, there were only Da Niu, Er Niu and your father left in the family, and they still couldn't fill their stomachs. Your father was the same age as my Er Niu, but my Er Niu was also weak. He fell seriously ill on the way to escape famine. In order to treat Er Niu, we had no choice but to sell your father to a human trafficker..."
"Your father was very sensible since he was young. When he was bought by the traffickers, he kowtowed to me three times." At this point, Father Fan couldn't help sobbing: "The five hundred coins I lost made me feel guilty for the rest of my life... Erniu was a man of little fortune. He couldn't be saved even after taking several doses of medicine. I thought I would never see your father again in this life, but who knew that sixteen years ago, he brought your mother back to this town."
"He had been helping to find out about the two sold ladies over the years. He didn't find the eldest lady, but he did find the younger one. I heard that she married a soldier, but she died in the war. In a disaster or war, human life is worthless..."
Fan Changyu had not expected that there were so many hidden secrets behind his father's "disappearance". He was confused for a moment, and after a while he said, "Why did my father use your second son's name after he came back?"
Father Fan said, "When your father came back, he told me that he had made enemies while escorting outside, and asked me if I could live in the town as Erniu. How could I not agree? I told everyone that he was Erniu who got lost while fleeing famine. I have been resentful of your father for so many years, and I think it was because of your father that the two daughters were sold. After your parents came to the town, they often came to cause trouble, saying that they gave up their two daughters for your father and got a lot of benefits from your parents. Later, your mother fell ill after giving birth to your sister. Seeing that your family had no male heir, she thought about passing Daniu's second son to your father so that he could inherit your father's property in the future."
Father Fan sighed heavily, his face full of shame: "She was just crazy. During the famine years, even if she hadn't adopted your father, the two daughters... most likely couldn't have been kept. All the children died, and finally only Daniu was left. She indulged him again and again, and that's why Daniu was raised astray. It's also my fault. I didn't have the ability to raise this big family in the early years. Later, I knew she was wrong, but when she cried for the two daughters, I couldn't have the heart to discipline Daniu..."
Fan Changyu originally disliked Old Lady Fan, thinking that she was sarcastic and mean to his family. But after listening to Old Man Fan's story, he felt that there must be something hateful about pitiful people, but his opinion of her did not change.
Just as Mr. Fan said, in the end, even after selling her father, she still couldn't save Fan Erniu. How could Mrs. Fan be sure that if she hadn't adopted her father, her two daughters and youngest son would not have left her?
It's just that her father happened to become a target for Old Lady Fan to vent her resentment.
Fan Changyu said, "The past is the past. As long as you don't come to my house to cause any trouble again, I will treat you the same way my father treated you in the past."
Father Fan said, "I'm not telling you this for this reason. Before your parents got into trouble, your father came to see me."
Fan Changyu looked surprised.
Father Fan said with guilt and embarrassment: "He arranged how to divide your property and shop, and even wrote a will, saying that the pork shop can be given to your uncle, and the rest will be left to you and your sister. I asked him if it was his old enemy who came to visit, but he refused to say more, and only asked me to protect you sisters in the future. Unexpectedly, the old woman was a talkative person. After your parents passed away, she revealed this to Daniu. Daniu got addicted to gambling in recent years, and he became more and more addicted. He directly stole the will and burned it, wanting to occupy all your property. I am useless with my old bones, and I can't control him at all..."
When Fan Changyu heard that his parents might have gone to die after making all preparations, his hands and feet couldn't help but feel cold. The two hands placed on his knees unconsciously clenched into fists, and his lips turned pale. "You mean, before that, my father might have known that he and my mother would not live long?"
Old Man Fan nodded hesitantly.
Fan Changyu felt cold all over and his mind was in a mess.
According to the government, it was the bandits who were looking for the treasure map who found her father and asked for the treasure map.
Then why did her father think that if he died with her mother, the bandits would not come to kill him in Changning again?
Unless... the bandits have already got the treasure map.
But later on, they encountered thieves twice again, and it was obvious that they had not yet got the things.
However, the two groups of thieves who came later obviously didn't know her home, but they targeted it after getting something out of Fan Da's mouth.
Fan Changyu could only think of one possibility, that the thieves who killed her parents were not the same group of thieves who went to her house to look for the treasure map.
The former got the treasure map, but still wanted to kill her parents. Maybe it was because her parents knew some secret? They had to be silenced?
Fan Changyu originally thought that her parents' death had been avenged after the government cracked down on the bandits, but now she suddenly felt that the murderer of her parents might not have been brought to justice yet.
After all, news came not long ago that the treasure map appeared in the hands of a Chongzhou bandit, and that bandit had also recruited a number of nearby bandits and robbers. The bandit who killed her parents might be under the command of the bandit.
On the way home, Fan Changyu was full of worries.
As soon as I entered the house, I heard Xie Zheng's gentle voice coming from the house: "Wood, Yao, Wood, and a big character underneath, the combination is the word Fan."
Chang Ning said miserably, "I don't want to learn to read anymore. I want to learn how to kill pigs like my sister."
"Your sister can kill pigs and still read."
Changning sniffed and looked like she was about to cry.
After hearing the door open, he immediately ran out with his short legs, opened his arms and hugged Fan Changyu's thighs, raised his head, and frowned: "Sister, why do I have to learn to read even if I want to kill pigs?"
Fan Changyu was still thinking about something, and just touched the small tuft on Changning's head: "Mom once said that after learning to read and write, you will know the general principles and understand the big picture, so that you will not make mistakes in your life."
Chang Ning was a little stunned, obviously not understanding the meaning of this sentence.
Xie Zheng raised his eyebrows and replied, "I haven't seen you like reading."
There was a hint of sarcasm in his words. In the past, Fan Changyu would have argued back, but today he just said wearily, "You'll read it slowly in the future."
Xie Zheng finally noticed the difference in her expression and asked, "Why do you look like you were frostbitten after going out?"
Fan Changyu sat down by the fire pit, sighed lightly, and told him everything Father Fan had said. He then said sadly, "If my parents were killed not just because of the treasure map, I must find out the real cause of their death."
After Xie Zheng heard this, his eyes darkened. Since his father had anticipated this and even prepared for his funeral, did that mean that the person who took his life might have met him in advance?
Her guess was not without reason, but what that group of people were looking for was not a treasure map, but a letter that Wei Yan attached great importance to.
The person who killed her parents got the letter, and she and her sister knew nothing about her parents' past, so that's why they were let go?
Xie Zheng had worked as a butcher for Wei Yan before, so he knew that Wei Yan always wanted to weed out the weeds.
The other party let them go, maybe because of his relationship with her parents? Considering that they had met before killing her parents, this guess seems to be more tenable.
Later, Wei's assassins came to her house to kill people and steal things. The sudden move of He Jingyuan, the governor of Hezhou, to dispatch troops to Lin'an Town is really worth pondering.
The most important thing is that with his uncle Wei Yan's iron-blooded tactics, he lost so many loyal soldiers in Lin'an Town, but he was still able to sit still. This is really unlike his style.
If He Jingyuan wanted to protect the two sisters, and He Jingyuan was the only one Wei Yan could use in the current northwest war situation, then the two of them must have reached some kind of agreement, and perhaps everything would make sense.
When Fan Changyu raised her head, she saw Xie Zheng staring at her with deep eyes. She asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Xie Zheng answered the question irrelevantly and said, "You want to avenge your parents?"
Fan Changyu nodded: "Yes, I do."
Only then did she notice that Xie Zheng was wearing the headband she had bought for him before, and it seemed like it was the first time he wore this headband.
The navy blue color made his features look even colder, and he seemed to have a sense of alienation.
Xie Zheng asked, "What would you do if the government's statements in closing the case were all false?"
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