The two brothers remained silent for a moment, and Lu Qiqi didn't urge them. In any case, she had come here to find out what happened that night.
The matter couldn't be resolved quickly, and she wasn't in a hurry; she would just wait.
Niu Gou Dan, holding the mended clothes, said, "Neither of us brothers saw anything."
"So what did you hear?" Lu Qiqi asked.
Seeing that his brother had spoken, Niu Tiedan mustered up his courage and said, "I think I heard a cat meowing. Nobody keeps dogs in our village, so where would a cat come from?"
Lu Qiqi thought about it. Tianping Village was poor, and raising dogs would cost a lot of food. No one in the whole village kept dogs, so it was indeed strange to suddenly hear a cat meowing.
She even suspected that the meowing sound was someone imitating a cat's meow on purpose.
However, she quickly dismissed the idea. If there really were skilled ventriloquists in Tianping Village, they probably wouldn't need to make a living on this barren land.
"Did you take a lot of things with you when you escaped?" Lu Qiqi asked, looking at the clothes in Niu Gou Dan's hands.
Niu Gou Dan looked at Lu Qi Qi, shook his head and said, "There wasn't time to take it, the fire was too fierce."
Niu Tiedan was a bit more astute than his brother, saying, "These things were all sent by the villagers. If it weren't for their help, my brother and I would have gone hungry."
After all, they didn't even bring a single grain of rice out of the house.
Upon hearing this, Lu Qiqi said, "You two are strong and healthy, and things will get better eventually. If you need any help, you can go to Tianxin Village and find Lu Da. He will help you."
With Lu Qiqi's words, the two brothers' worried expressions changed, and a glimmer of hope appeared.
With noon fast approaching, Lu Qiqi didn't linger and returned to Tianxin Village.
As soon as I returned to the courtyard in Tianxin Village, I heard a lot of voices inside.
The noise is quite loud, and there seem to be quite a few people inside.
"When will you return, village head?"
"Yeah! We've been waiting all morning, are they hiding from us?"
"No way, why would the village head be avoiding us? Something must have gotten in the way."
Lu Qiqi walked into the courtyard and could clearly hear the voices of the people inside the house.
Before she could even figure out who was looking for her, she heard someone shout, "You're back!"
Lu Qiqi walked up the steps, stepped into the house with one foot, and saw a circle of people standing in the main room.
Seeing that they were the village chiefs from three villages, Lu Qiqi was a little puzzled and asked, "What brings you here to see me?"
"Village Chief, you're finally back!" Tian Dalong said. "We heard that the village chief's house in Tianping Village was burned down, but we didn't dare to ask him directly, so we came to you instead!"
When Tian Dalong came to find Lu Qiqi, she could guess the reason, but she didn't know why the other two village chiefs were there.
Lu Qiqi looked up and gestured to the two of them, "And what about you?"
Miao Dajiang said, "Village Chief, you told me to take good care of the saplings, but so much time has passed and I haven't heard anything. So I came to ask when we can loosen the soil."
Lu Da said, "Tian Dalong sent me here, saying I am a witness."
Lu Qiqi understood. It seemed that Lu Da and Miao Dajiang had been summoned by Tian Dalong because of the burning of the village chief's house in Tianping Village.
So she moved the stool in front of the square table, sat down, and then slowly poured herself a bowl of water, saying, "There's no rush for the saplings in Tianmiao Village. I will naturally inform Village Chief Miao when the time comes."
I just got back from Tianping Village. Feel free to ask me anything you want to know.
After saying that, she picked up the water and drank it.
“Then I’ll be frank,” Tian Dalong said, sitting down as well. “Village head, on the night the village chief’s house was burned down, were the silver notes our village lent to Tianping Village rescued?”
No wonder he was in a hurry. If it were silver, it wouldn't be so bad, it wouldn't burn away. But banknotes are a different story; they dissolve in water and turn to ash in fire.
If the situation weren't so serious, he wouldn't have come to bother Lu Qiqi at this critical juncture.
Lu Qiqi put down her bowl and said, "Does Village Chief Tian know that Village Chief Niu insists the house was set on fire?"
Since the fire was set on fire, Tian Dalong has now come in a hurry to inquire about the whereabouts of the money.
It's hard not to suspect that this matter is related to him.
The three people present could easily understand the implication of Lu Qiqi's words.
Tian Dalong was so angry he wanted to bite off his own tongue, feeling he had said the wrong thing.
If he had said this in front of Niu Dahang, he might have been accused of arson.
Realizing this, Tian Dalong's voice trembled with fear, "Your Excellency, please investigate! This despicable and immoral act was definitely not done by anyone from our village!"
Even Tian Dalong himself felt that his words were untenable.
No sooner had Tianping Village been burned down than he found the village chief who had witnessed the incident and together they came to demand an explanation from Lu Qiqi, the guarantor. By all accounts, their village was the prime suspect.
He was starting to regret coming to find Lu Qiqi; he hadn't gotten any fish, and instead had gotten himself into trouble.
Tian Dalong had a bitter look on his face, but Lu Qiqi asked, "Did Village Chief Tian come here on his own, or did he overhear something?"
It's no wonder Lu Qiqi asked that question. If Tian Dalong had gone to Tianping Village the next day to check on the situation and inquire about the silver notes, she wouldn't have asked that question.
Several days later, Tian Dalong finally sent someone to his door; his reaction time was far too long.
After thinking for a moment, Tian Dalong said, "I just heard that Village Chief Niu's house was burned down, and the fire burned all his belongings to the ground."
The whole family lives in a dilapidated house. I'm afraid they burned all the money they borrowed from our village, which is why I came to ask."
Lu Qiqi said, "What you heard is all true. Village Chief Niu's belongings were all burned down."
But as far as I know, Village Chief Niu has never mentioned the silver notes to anyone.
Miao Dajiang said, "That can't be right. People in our village are saying that the Niu family was so busy escaping that they didn't take any money with them."
To confirm Tian Dalong's words, Lu Da thought for a moment and said, "There are similar rumors in Tianxin Village as well."
Lu Qiqi curled her lips into a smile, thinking to herself, "This is getting interesting."
The news that Niu Dahang's house had burned down and that the silver notes had not been rescued spread throughout the three villages in just a few days.
On one hand, Niu Xiaozhou insisted that someone had deliberately set the fire.
On one side, Tianlong Village learned of the news and came to verify the situation.
Even she only learned today that the fire that night had started in a very strange way.
These three points, taken together, indicate that someone is lying or deliberately misleading the villagers to incite conflict between villages.
Tianlong Village lent money to Tianping Village, and not long after, Niu Dahang's house was burned down, and rumors circulated in the village that the banknotes had been destroyed.
So what will happen in the end?
Tianlong Village will demand the land from Tianping Village, and Tianping Village will think that Tianlong Village deliberately set fire to obtain the land.
And what will the person who instigated all of this gain?
In a flash, a thought crossed Lu Qiqi's mind and made her suddenly realize that this person had been after the silver notes from the very beginning!
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