Chapter 449: Death
Qian glanced at Little Qian, who immediately pulled Datou and Daya over and whispered, "You two go find the village chief and ask him to send someone to the mountain to call your grandfather and father down. You are not allowed to go into the mountains by yourselves, understand?"
The two nodded in agreement.
Xiao Qian whispered again, "Call the village chief, go quickly."
The two children ran away hand in hand.
Xiao Qian went into the kitchen and made a bowl of tofu pudding. She reluctantly sprinkled a handful of sugar into it, stirred it, and then sent it to the yamen runner.
The yamen runner had never eaten this before, and after taking a bite, he was very surprised. "What is this? It looks like tofu, but not really."
Qian smiled and said, "This is soft tofu, which we call tofu pudding. It has sugar in it and is very refreshing. I hope you won't mind the trouble you've come all this way."
The yamen runner's expression brightened, and he relaxed a lot. Seeing Qian's anxious expression, he said, "It's not a big deal..."
He paused here, scratched his head and said, "It's a big deal."
Qian's heart was beating fast with his words. She pinched the corner of her clothes tightly and asked carefully, "Sir, may I ask, is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
"It's a bad thing."
Qian's heart sank to the bottom. She forced a smile and asked, "Did my family accidentally do something wrong?"
The bailiff looked at her suspiciously, "Has someone in your family committed a crime?"
"No, no, no," Qian quickly shook her head, looking worried. "Didn't my family buy a cow on credit from the county government at the beginning of the spring? Is it because of this cow on credit..."
Manbao stood behind Qian and thought to himself: There won't be any problem buying the cow on credit. Dad went to the city to inquire about it on the fifth day of the New Year. It's just that the county government office was celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival, so no one was working. But the gatekeeper said that I just need to pay back the money within three years.
Because he said that the first day of the month counts as one month, and regardless of whether it is a full month or not, it will be calculated as one month's interest, so Old Zhou was very stingy and decided to wait until the 29th to go to the yamen to repay the money.
So what's the problem with buying cattle on credit?
Sure enough, when the yamen runner heard about the cattle on credit, he waved his hand and said, "That's the county magistrate's business. What's the problem? Don't let your imagination run wild. I'm just a messenger."
Seeing that his mother was really nervous, Manbao couldn't help but ask, "Is it a secret?"
Only then did the yamen runner see Manbao standing behind Qian. He felt that she looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her.
So he shook his head.
Manbao said, "If it's not a secret, just tell my mother. My family always makes decisions together with my parents. It doesn't matter if my mother knows it or not, just like my father does."
"That won't work. The higher-ups specifically told me to look for Zhou Jin, so I have to look for Zhou Jin."
Manbao couldn't help teasing him, "What if my dad stays in the mountains for ten days or half a month and doesn't come down? We can't find him. What will you do? Stay at my house?"
The yamen runner was stunned and said angrily, "How could anyone stay in the mountains for ten days or half a month?"
"Of course there are hunters who can do that." Manbao's eyes couldn't help but fall behind him, and he asked in surprise, "You're carrying a bag, you're not really going to live in my house, are you?"
Yamen runner: "...This is not mine!"
"That's for my family?" Manbao's eyes lit up. "I see. Did someone send something to my father, so the post station sent it? No, that's not the case. The post station only sends things to officials. Could it be that the person who sent something to my father was an official?"
The yamen runner was really afraid of her and kept saying, "Alright, alright, stop guessing."
Doesn't he just want some money?
Why is it so difficult?
He glared at Manbao and said, "Someone sent something to your father..."
After hearing these words, Qian who was sitting in the room, Xiao Qian and others who were gathered outside the room all breathed a sigh of relief, and then they couldn't help but complain about the yamen runner in their hearts. Really, what's the problem with sending something?
The yamen runner took a bite of the tofu pudding before continuing, "Is there someone named Zhou Yin in your family?"
Qian, Xiao Qian, and the others' hearts suddenly jumped up. Qian even felt dizzy. She grabbed Manbao's arm, and Manbao happily responded, "Yes, yes, he is my uncle. He sold himself a long time ago. Is this something he sent to my father? Is my uncle an official?"
This is impossible!
Although Zhou Yin's face was scratched more than a dozen times, it wasn't him. How could Qian not recognize him?
That's the child I raised myself!
The yamen runner gave Manbao a sympathetic look. Since the bribe money was probably hopeless, he stopped hiding it and simply took the bundle off. He opened it and said, "This is Zhou Yin's stuff. It was sent from Liangzhou. Three years ago, Liangzhou was plagued by bandits. Zhou Yin and his family were killed by bandits when they went out. Last winter, Liangzhou suppressed the bandits, and these are the things they found in their lair. Inside are Zhou Yin's travel permit and some other things."
The yamen runner saw Qian's stunned expression, and Manbao's mouth dropped open. He curled his lips and said, "The Liangzhou yamen felt they had to notify the family of a deceased person, so they checked with the travel permit and discovered that Zhou Yin was from Luojiang County. So, he's from your family, right?"
Manbao picked up the pass and read it to her mother quickly, asking, "Mom, is this my uncle?"
no!
The two words rolled around on her tongue, and Qian thought of the two people who came to the village last year, and the nameless grave on the mountain.
Qian's tears fell like pearls from a broken string. She turned to pinch the things in the bundle, which contained two sets of tattered clothes and a pair of tiger-head shoes.
It was unknown who had stuffed the clothes in there, so Qian grabbed the tiger-head shoes and nodded with a sob, saying, "It's your uncle, it's your uncle. The appearance written on the pass is exactly the same as your uncle..."
Qian hugged Manbao and burst into tears, "My dearest child, I have raised you for so many years, and you have been away for so many years without even coming back to see me. I thought you had forgotten the way home, but it turns out to be like this..."
Outside the door, Xiao Qian and Zhou Xi also started crying immediately. Wiping their tears, they went in to support Qian. Feng and the others all started crying too...
As the adults started to cry, the children couldn't help crying too. For a while, the Zhou family's crying was so loud that the village chief, who had rushed over, heard the crying as soon as he reached the door. He was so frightened that he rushed in and asked loudly, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Manbao also cried loudly. Although she had never seen this uncle, he was her relative after all. And her mother cried so sadly that Manbao couldn't help crying too.
But she was fine, so she said, "Brother Village Chief, my uncle is dead."
The village chief looked bewildered, "Who is your uncle?"
Qian had already realized what was happening and quickly cried out, "It's Zhou Yin!"
The village chief's pupils shrank. Qian had already burst into tears. "The yamen runner said that my Zhou Yin was killed by bandits three years ago. No wonder he never came home and never sent any letters. It turns out he's already dead. How am I going to see my parents-in-law in the future..."
The next update will be at 12 noon. Wow, this is the first time I realize that copying and pasting is so tiring!
(End of this chapter)
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