53 Audio transmission
◎Even if he became the emperor, he wouldn't necessarily tell her.◎
After sorting out the valuables, Tian Nongxi wrote a letter and gave it to Jiang Miaojue, asking her to give it to Wen Tingluan when he went to the shop.
Wen Tingluan didn't know what he was busy with, but if she told him in person that she wanted to go back, she was afraid that he would drop his important business and insist on going with her.
She went back to find someone to assist her, and to see if she could run the business as usual. The most important thing was to find a few suitable new shops to make money. She was afraid that Wen Tingluan would think too much, so she ran away quickly with a box of gold on her shoulder.
This trip took half a month, and even if the people of Tiannongxi were not in a hurry, they would be almost exhausted.
She sat in the carriage, counting the twenty gold ingots over and over again. After missing the stern driver beside Wen Tingluan for the eight hundredth time, the curtain like a prison door was finally opened. The driver found from the pawnshop asked her to get off the carriage in a thick rural accent, saying that he had to pick up someone else.
Carrying an unremarkable wooden box, Tian Nongxi got off the car by a tree at the entrance of Tianjia Village.
This is the bad thing about small places: everyone who passes by knows everyone, and if you don’t say hello, you will be ruined in less than half an hour.
Passing the stream delayed us for quite some time. When we finally set off again, we saw a fat woman stopped at the intersection from a distance.
Tian Nongxi went to meet her and called out crisply, "Aunt."
The fat auntie's eyes narrowed in a smile, and she said cheerfully, "Second Mother is back too." She had been friends with Tian's mother, Chen Peilan, since childhood, and her tone was much more enthusiastic than the previous ones who had just been there to observe the fun. "I saw Guangzong return a few days ago. Now your family can be reunited."
She was still saying things like, "Don't be too concerned about what the villagers say," but Tian Nongxi's thoughts had already flown away.
After a while, she continued, "Everything's fine at home." She shifted the wooden box to her other hand and relaxed. "Grandma and Xiaozu are both fine."
The fat aunt smiled with relief, "I'm relieved that you are all well, Perrin is down there."
"Aunt, I'll leave first and go home to see them." Carrying a box of gold was really tiring, and Tian Nongxi's forehead was already covered with sweat.
She declined the fat aunt's offer to see her off and hurried home.
Not far away, Tian Guangzong was walking home from the other side of the alley. Seeing his little sister's anxious expression, a trace of sadness flashed through his heart.
"Hmm? Hey - brother." With his hands free, Tian Nongxi smiled at Tian Guangzong who appeared.
"You're back." Tian Guangzong's face was full of worry, and he had no time to care about how such a small wooden box could be so heavy.
He followed Tian Nongxi into the house and as soon as he heard the lock being locked, he hurriedly asked, "Did grandma say where she was going before you left?"
Tian Nongxi shook his head and said, "Grandma is not in good health."
"I just came back from my aunt's place. She said she had never seen them. I didn't dare ask any more questions, for fear of arousing her suspicion." Tian Guangzong sighed heavily. "My family is... so I didn't tell the neighbors, not even my clan."
After taking the wooden box and putting it in her hut, Tian Nongxi returned to the courtyard and said, "Maybe they went somewhere else." An old man and a child had no relatives, so where could they go? She stopped talking awkwardly before she finished speaking, and said, "They didn't leave for long, so there's no need to worry too much."
Tian Guangzong nodded, "I know this, but my ancestor could read but didn't leave a single word. I'm really worried that someone might take advantage of the fact that only the elderly and weak are left at home and break in to steal money and kill people."
Looking up and around at the bare walls of his house, Tian Nongxi opened his mouth and said weakly: "This should...not be possible. There are so many people in the village who are left alone with their elderly parents." His family should be the poorest.
As for murder... Tian Nongxi pondered, "What do the authorities say?"
"There is no sign of outsiders breaking in, but what if they broke in while they were sleeping?" Tian Guangzong didn't dare to think too much. His facial features were twisted together, looking even more ferocious than when he was injured.
"Even if he was sound asleep, he would have cried out." Tian Nongxi remained calm and followed his train of thought, "Unless it was a group... several people who committed the crime together."
Seeing that Tian Guangzong was about to collapse, she comforted him, "It's not impossible, but it's extremely unlikely. After all, everything is normal at home, and there's no blood or anything." As the two of them talked, she walked around, "Unless he knocked himself out first...Okay, okay, that's impossible. They don't have any enemies."
"But why would they leave without saying goodbye?" Tian Guangzong leaned his hands on the stone table, seemingly trapped in a logical dilemma.
"Pa--" she slapped him hard on the back. Tian Nongxi saw the look he cast at her as she wished and shrugged, "Brother, don't forget that they don't know you are back. People in the village said you were dead, and your cenotaph is still next to grandpa's tomb. I'm going on a long trip again, and I don't know when I will be back. In this case, the two of them might not leave letters when they go out." She missed one point. Ever since the ghost marriage incident, that is, after Tian Nongxi came in, the relationship between the three has been very delicate. Even if he became the emperor, he might not tell her.
Tian Guangzong looked at his sister with a wry smile and said "hmm" softly.
They were different. She had just returned, but he had been searching for her for half a month. There was no news from his grandmother and younger brother, and the county government had lost patience with his daily visits.
He was afraid of the fog, and even more afraid that when the fog cleared, he would only be able to see the corpses of his relatives.
After scratching his face, Tian Guangzong turned and walked into the kitchen. "You must be tired from the journey. I didn't expect you to come back so early. You didn't cook many dishes. Let me heat them up for you."
Tian Nongxi stopped him: "No more eating, I'm going to the county. Brother, after you finish eating, ask if anyone in the village has seen Grandma and Xiaozu recently."
Tian Guangzong looked embarrassed and hesitated to agree.
-
Nearly half a year had passed since Tiannongxi came in. Although it was late summer, the sun was still very hot at noon, and there were only a few people standing in the shops on the street.
The waiter at Huijiaofang was leaning against the door and yawning. When he opened his eyes again, a pretty girl was standing in front of him. A smile immediately appeared on his face, and he bent down to invite her in.
"Can you help me draw a portrait? I'll describe it and you draw it." The girl said in a clear voice.
The waiter agreed and called a pale-faced scholar from the backyard.
Although he is shy, he can understand what others say.
Tian Nongxi sat next to him and described the appearance of Huang and Tian Yaozu in a few words. The scholar took half an hour to draw two lifelike portraits.
"It's about 80% like." Tian Nongxi took out a silver ingot from his pocket and said, "Please paint 50 pieces each. This is the deposit. I'll come and pick it up when you're done. If everything is perfect, I'll pay you another 200 taels."
"When do you want it?" The scholar's hand holding the pen froze, and he didn't know whether to take the job or not.
Seeing his expression, Tian Nongxi was surprised: Could it be that earning two taels of silver for a painting is not considered a profit?
She doesn't understand painting, so naturally she doesn't know the market price.
"Tomorrow at 9:00 PM." She drew her brush and wrote a line of words, pointing at it and saying to the scholar, "Write this sentence at the bottom of each painting. Remember to make sure the words are conspicuous. The price for the words is also 200 taels."
The scholar leaned over to look - this person is missing, and anyone who provides clues will be rewarded handsomely, followed by a line of small characters with a place name.
He nodded seriously, "Leave this matter to me, young lady, and rest assured."
After finishing the portrait, Tian Nongxi went to Bu Qin without stopping.
The sun was at its brightest, and even the branches of the trees looked gloomy. She stopped in front of the stall and called out to Bu Qin, but she ignored her. She strode over to her side and waved her hand in front of her dazed face.
"Huh?" Bu Qin came back to her senses. "It's you! You're finally back."
Her eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed again the next moment.
Sitting on the wooden chair that Bu Qin brought over, Tian Nongxi asked worriedly, "Why don't you look happy?"
"Don't mention it." Bu Qin shooed away the flies that had landed on the stall, looking at her with a helpless and lonely look. "You left, and my sickly child is gone too. Why do you both like to leave without saying goodbye?"
Tian Nongxi recalled that face and didn't know what to say to comfort him for a moment: "Oh - it's okay, there are plenty of men, hahaha..."
"Him? A man? There are many men, but he's not a man either." Bu Qin rolled her eyes angrily, "This ungrateful wolf has disappeared right under my nose again."
"Again?" Tian Nongxi widened his eyes.
"It's been like this since his parents died. He runs away at the drop of a hat. When I forget about him, he comes back as if nothing happened, bringing a bunch of stuff that no one wants. Who would want it?"
"You want him to accompany you, right?" Tian Nongxi said bluntly.
Looking at her clear eyes, Bu Qin choked and said in a coquettish tone, "How is that possible! It's just that his parents' graves are here, and I think he is being filial!"
"oh oh."
"You don't believe it?" Bu Qin straightened her back and kept talking about how good the man's parents were to her, as if she wouldn't stop until she made Tian Nongxi cry.
Tian Nongxi interrupted her: "Do you know what he does?"
"Him? What can he do? He's as weak as a newborn baby. He coughs every few steps. I really don't know how he earns so much..." Bu Qin's tone suddenly became horrified. "It can't be, it can't be some evil job, right?"
Before she could think of words to comfort him, Bu Qin abandoned the topic and said, "Forget it, it's a waste of time thinking about him. By the way, how have you been these past few months?"
"It's okay. If this one doesn't work, try the next one." Tian Nongxi nudged her shoulder. "Don't you want to know what I've been doing?"
She picked out a few things that happened this month and talked about them, especially focusing on how she made a lot of money, which left Bu Qin stunned.
"How about it? Do it with me?"
"Oh, forget it." Bu Qin put away her envy, "I can't leave here."
Tian Nongxi nodded in understanding and stood up, "Let's go, I'll treat you to a meal at Linqing Pavilion."
"Wait, I'll give you the silver you left here. I don't know when you'll leave again."
-
I stayed at home for half a month and posted the paintings for half a month, but there was no news.
Tian Nongxi rented a house in Ruiyang County on a monthly basis and ran between three places every day: the government office, the house, and various shops.
In half a month, she received no less than a hundred people who said they had news, and without exception, they were here to cheat her out of money. Tian Guangzong became more and more anxious, and his face was gloomy all day long.
She wasn't sure if they were still alive.
Tian Guangzong asked her, and her tone was no longer firm.
Tian Yaozu is the protagonist of the original book. Even though she traveled through time and space and the world today is no longer exactly the same as in the book, he is still the protagonist after all - if he is the protagonist, he will not die easily... right?
"No." Tian Nongxi comforted him day after day, but his smile became increasingly forced.
Because of her insistence, Tian Guangzong no longer concealed the disappearance of his relatives, and all the villagers in Tianjia Village knew about it.
Although they were disgusted by the family's behavior, everyone took the initiative to look for someone.
There were so many villagers, so many missing person paintings, and so many government officials, but they couldn't even find the whereabouts of Huang and Tian Yaozu.
The two of them either went to a very far place, or went to an even farther place - the underworld.
I couldn't find anyone, but it didn't prevent me from doing other things.
A month after she came back, she did not forget to look after the shop while looking for people. She revitalized a restaurant and persuaded Bu Qin to expand the stall together.
The day of returning to Beijing was postponed again and again until it became a distant prospect.
Business in the capital is probably very good, and the fourth level reward of the system has arrived.
Tian Nongxi tried his best to persuade Cai Cai not to throw away the gold and seal the reward in the system space.
Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, I heard a knock on the door.
It had just rained, and the sky was still gray. The dark clouds were in close contact with the distant mountains. Anyone with good eyesight would not go out.
Tian Nongxi was stunned and walked quickly to the door, stepping on the puddles.
Raindrops soaked the hem of her skirt, and her heartbeat, filled with foreboding, was deafening.
After unbolting the door, four yamen runners in short shirts stood at the door.
The leader was already an acquaintance. He had a serious expression on his face and looked at her with meaningful eyes.
"Is there any news?" Tian Nongxi asked in a deep voice, with Tian Guangzong rushing over behind him.
"The body of a young child was found in the suburbs and was linked to this case after comparison."
Tian Guangzong held onto the door, his throat tight and his voice dry: "A... corpse?"
The leading bailiff nodded, his tone sympathetic and compassionate: "Please, both of you, come with us to identify it."
"One?" Tian Nongxi stepped over the threshold and asked with his head tilted.
"Exactly. No one else has been identified around here yet."
It started to drizzle on the way to the yamen while Tian Guangzong was being supported. By the time he got inside, his shoes and socks were soaked.
Tian Nongxi had no time to care. She looked at the person beside her with a frown on his face. Her heart was in a tangled mess, and she didn't know where it started or ended.
Following the yamen runners around, we walked into a gloomy courtyard.
The innermost room is where corpses are kept. As soon as you enter, you will see a corpse covered with a cloth in the middle of the room.
Because of its short stature, it only occupies half of the stone platform.
Tian Guangzong staggered forward and stretched out his hand.
When he opened it, he saw a familiar face——
A dirty, childish, sleeping face.
His face turned blue and his pupils bulged.
His legs went weak and he staggered backward.
He trembled and threw himself onto the stone platform, his tone sad: "Brother——"
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