Chapter 229 Inquiry
Bai Shanbao: "It's fine again."
Mr. Zhuang: …He was so sick that he had to ask for leave to take care of his grandson, but he got better in just one morning?
What kind of disease is this? It comes and goes so quickly.
Mr. Zhuang glanced at Bai Shanbao and didn't ask him any more questions. After all the students were seated in their seats, he announced that the students of Qili Village would have half a day off this afternoon. They all had to go home to see their parents. As for what to do with their parents, their parents would tell them.
Mr. Zhuang didn't inform them too much.
After Manbao and the others left, hand in hand, carrying their small bookcases, Mr. Zhuang said to the remaining students, "You can take a nap here. The afternoon will basically be calligraphy class. Take out your own paper and pens to practice. Lufeng, you are the oldest, so you will be in charge of them."
Lu Feng often did this kind of thing, so he stood up and agreed.
Mr. Zhuang took the book back to the courtyard, and then walked leisurely into the village with his hands behind his back.
To verify the disaster situation, we have to check the household registration of each household?
Do we still need to distribute subsidies based on the number of people?
Mr. Zhuang was no narrow-minded villager, so he naturally couldn't believe it. Qili Village was a poor mountain village, not to mention that even if it was far away in the prosperous capital, it wouldn't have received such a subsidy after a natural disaster.
Besides, why only come to Qili Village and not go to Dali Village first?
You should know that Dali Village is the largest village nearby. Basically, policies from above will first reach Dali Village before being passed down to Qili Village.
Obviously, Liu was well aware of this, so she took the initiative to lead them to the village chief's house, and rarely did she avoid the local villagers. Instead, she sat in the yard of the village chief's house and listened to the three people's questions bit by bit.
More and more villagers came after hearing the news, and many children followed. As long as they are children, they like to join in the fun, and Manbao and Bai Shanbao are no exception.
Originally, the two of them thought this was a bit boring and it would be better to go back to school and listen to the teacher's lecture, but now that so many children came, they became excited and thought this was indeed fun.
Liu stood up calmly and saw Mr. Zhuang standing outside the crowd. She pondered for a moment and then walked out.
She could feel a pair of eyes watching her from behind.
Mrs. Liu seemed not to notice. She brought her nanny to Mr. Zhuang and greeted him with a smile.
Mr. Zhuang returned the greeting, glanced at the three people surrounded by the crowd, and asked in a low voice, "Were these three brought here by the old lady?"
Liu nodded slightly, her voice just loud enough for the nearby villagers who were listening attentively. "This morning, Lizhi's mother came to call me, saying that there were guests at home. As you know, Lizhi has gone to the provincial capital and is not at home, so I have to worry about him a little."
Liu smiled and said, "At first I thought it was relatives visiting, but when I got there I realized it was three officials. They had a warrant from the Yizhou government office, saying they wanted to compile a disaster statistics for the villages and towns below so the court could distribute subsidies."
"It's just that this is their first time in the village, and they don't know where to go. Seeing the grand Bai family house, they knocked on the door." Liu smiled and said, "But this is the responsibility of the neighborhood head and village chief. The people left behind in our two families are either women or ignorant children. They don't have any ideas, so we can only guide them."
Mr. Zhuang nodded, looked at the clothes and accessories of the three people, and asked, "Madam, are you sure they are holding the seal of the Yizhou government office?"
Liu turned her back to the crowd, her face becoming more serious as she nodded, "I'm sure."
That's strange. Yizhou is suffering from severe disasters now. How could it have the time to take care of a small mountain village like theirs?
But if not, could it be a forged seal?
But what do they want?
Liu also wanted to know what they were trying to do.
If you really want to verify the disaster situation, shouldn't you first go to the county chief clerk?
Well, even if they didn’t want to find the chief clerk and wanted to bypass the county town, they should have found the head of the village after going to the countryside. However, they bypassed the head of the village and found the village.
It would have been fine if he had just found the village, but instead of asking someone to find the village chief, he knocked directly on the door of the Bai family.
Don’t say you can’t find the village chief. At this time, there will be no shortage of people in the fields and at the entrance of Qili Village. If you just grab someone and ask them, they will tell you.
The villagers of Qili Village are very warm and hospitable. Who would refuse to do such a small thing as giving directions?
But they went into the Bai family and chatted with Old Mrs. Bai for a long time, almost asking about all the ancestors of the Bai family.
It was also because their questions were too aggressive. Old Mrs. Bai was afraid that they were scammers and she could not handle it, so she asked someone to call Liu.
Liu was different from her sisters-in-law. She had lived in Longzhou before and was part of a large family. Her knowledge was not very good, but at least she had some common sense.
She had never seen or heard that disaster relief subsidies were distributed on a per capita basis, and it was impossible to give one to each household.
Didn’t you see that County Magistrate Fu was so stingy that he had to collect donations from many local landlords before he could provide subsidies to the people who were most severely affected by the collapsed houses?
Neither Mrs. Liu nor Mr. Zhuang left. Instead, they stood outside the crowd, quietly watching the three people inside and asking various questions.
As if to ensure that everything was foolproof, the questions they asked were very detailed. The village chief was clueless and answered all the questions. He even wanted to pull his ancestors out of the fields to verify with them.
As long as there is subsidy, it will be fine.
It was almost evening before I found out about Manbao's house.
Old Zhou had been waiting for a long time, as had his entire family. As the three of them were escorted into the courtyard by the villagers, Old Zhou greeted them with a smile, "Sir, how about I take you to the fields to have a look? Don't be fooled by the fact that my house is relatively tidy; it was actually severely damaged as well."
Zhou Dalang and others nodded repeatedly.
Old Zhou said: "We borrowed money to build this house. We had no choice. The children are all grown up, and if we don't build a house, they won't be able to get married. So our family is in financial difficulty."
"How many people are there in your family?" the leader interrupted him.
Old Zhou paused and subconsciously looked at the little girl beside him.
Manbao said helplessly: "Dad, there are twenty-one in total."
"Twenty-two," Old Zhou said, "My third daughter-in-law is pregnant again. Your Excellency, if she gets pregnant at this time, it will cause trouble for the family. Her health is not very good, so we will have to tighten our belts in the future..."
"Are they all your children?" The man looked at the crowd of people behind him and asked in surprise for the first time.
"Yes, yes, let me introduce you. This is my eldest son..." After introducing Manbao, he smiled and said, "This is my little girl."
The visitor only took one look at Manbao and asked, "Have your sons ever been out?"
"Out?" Old Zhou said immediately, "Yes, I have. I go out every day."
"...I'm asking if you've ever left Luojiang County."
Old Zhou felt something was wrong and shook his head, saying, "No, that's not the case. Why would we leave Luojiang County? The road is very difficult to travel..."
"I saw in the household registration that you once had a younger brother. Judging by his age, he should be twenty-seven now. How is he?"
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(End of this chapter)
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