Chapter 450 Greed
For a moment, all kinds of thoughts flashed through the village chief's mind, so chaotic that he himself couldn't tell what he was thinking.
He could only hear Qian crying, "Village Chief, what should I tell the head of the family when he comes back? There's not even a corpse left for Zhou Yin..."
These words seemed to split the village chief's Ren and Du meridians, making him understand instantly. Who said Zhou Yin didn't have a corpse?
The person Zhou Silang carried back at that time must have been Zhou Yin. Even though the other person's face was scratched, how could he not recognize an acquaintance whom he had just met the day before?
But Zhou Yin was the one who was found by the police and identified as a bandit; while this one was the one who was killed by the bandits...
The village chief looked like he was about to cry but couldn't. He could only say to Zhou Xi and Man Bao, "Hurry up and tell your mother to stop crying. The official is still here."
The yamen runner was a little impatient, but after all, someone had died in the family, so he couldn't stop it.
After Qian's voice gradually subsided, he said, "The county lieutenant asked me to inform you to go back to the county and cancel Zhou Yin's household registration. Do everything that needs to be done. The county magistrate has been very concerned about civil affairs recently. You must not cause trouble for the county lieutenant."
Qian nodded timidly and asked, "Do you need to bring anything?"
The yamen runner then pulled out a notice from his pocket and slapped it at her, saying, "Take this, along with your household registration and the villager's guarantee letter."
Before the village chief asked, Qian had already spoken, "Why do we need a letter of guarantee?"
"Of course we need a letter of guarantee, otherwise who would know if the Zhou silver is yours?" The yamen runner said as if it was a matter of course: "This letter of guarantee simply states that the Zhou silver on the pass is yours."
Without this thing, who knows if their things were sent to the wrong person?
When the village chief heard this, he immediately looked at the pass in Manbao's hand.
Manbao quickly showed it to him.
The village chief squinted his eyes and read for a long time, all kinds of thoughts flashing through his mind. Then, as the yamen runner became more and more suspicious, he nodded and said, "This is her family's Zhou Yin. This, this handwriting is really unique, haha, haha..."
When the yamen runner heard this, he knew that he was not very literate, so he did not make a fuss. He stood up and said, "Well, since your village chief is here, then this matter is settled."
Qian hurriedly tried to persuade him to stay, "It's almost noon, sir, why don't you stay for dinner? I'll ask my son to buy some meat. It's so hot, please come all the way..."
The yamen runner paused after hearing this and became hesitant. Even if he didn't have money, it would be fine as long as he could eat meat.
Seeing this, Qian Shi tried even harder to persuade him to stay, repeatedly telling Little Qian Shi, "Go get some money for Er Tou and Er Ya. Forget it, let the second brother's relatives go and buy some meat. And you can get a few eggs to cook for the official..."
The yamen runner heard this and asked, "You have chickens at home, do you have a lot of eggs?"
Upon hearing this, Qian paused for a moment before apologetically saying, "A few."
Then he turned to Xiao Qian and said, "Forget it. Let your second brother's wife go to the chicken coop and kill a chicken, and then go to the vegetable garden to get more vegetables."
The yamen runner said quickly, "This chicken is more delicious when it's tender. It's best to get one that laid eggs the previous year. Otherwise, even though older chickens smell good, the meat is too tough."
Qian replied "Yes" and said to Little Qian, "Ask your second brother and sister-in-law to catch a tender hen."
Manbao was stunned for a long time before she reacted. She felt a surge of anger in her chest. She opened her mouth to speak, but the sharp-eyed Zhou Xi covered her mouth with his hand.
Hearing the noise, the bailiff looked over.
Qian immediately said, "Hurry up and take your youngest sister away. This child has never seen such a scene before and must be terrified. Take her back to the house and bring her food tonight, then go to the village entrance to call her."
Zhou Xi responded and half-carried and half-dragged Manbao away.
Ertou, Erya and others outside the door also had some anger on their faces, but they were stared at by their mother and aunts, so they were stopped and no trouble happened.
Feng glared at them and lowered her voice, "Why don't you take your brothers and sisters over there quickly? Just play with your aunt in the room and don't go anywhere."
Zhou Xi dragged Manbao back to the room and then let her go.
Manbao felt aggrieved and angry, and tears started to flow.
Zhou Xi hugged her and comforted her, "Good girl, this is different from other things. We can't lose our temper, okay?"
Manbao didn't quite understand. "It's because the situation is different that we should be more angry."
In her memory, even when she encountered bad officials, her parents and brothers would bow and scrape, but they would also fight back neither softly nor harshly. Why did they lower themselves so low this time?
Manbao said, "He's just a yamen runner who came to announce the death. I even know the county magistrate."
"This is different, this is different." Zhou Xi didn't know how to explain to Manbao, so he could only wipe her tears and said, "Don't go out and ruin your mother's business."
Zhou Xi said, "Look at how humble mother is. We can't let this matter go to waste."
Manbao's shoulders slumped, and after a long while he nodded and said, "Okay, I won't scold him, and I won't be angry."
"Good boy."
Manbao looked up and asked Zhou Xi, "Sister, is that really our uncle? I saw on the pass that he's from Shangzhou. If he's from Shangzhou, how can he be our uncle?"
Zhou Xi was stunned, but he remembered that his parents once said that his aunt was from Shangzhou. A few years ago, when their lives had just gotten better, they mentioned that they wanted to go to Shangzhou to look for relatives of the Xia family. However, Shangzhou was so far away that they didn't even know where it was.
Not only Old Zhou and Mrs. Qian, but even Zhou Silang, who was quite brave, was afraid to go to such a far place.
The thought flashed through Zhou Xi's mind, and he immediately stood up and said, "Manbao, just read in the room and wait for your fifth and sixth brothers to come back and take you out to play. I'll go check next door."
As soon as I went out, I saw Erya and the other two leading a few little ones coming over with pouty faces. I quickly said, "Stop basking in the sun outside. Come inside and accompany your aunt. Don't run around everywhere, okay?"
Zhou Xi hurried to the next room, and Qian asked Xiao Qian to serve two bowls of tofu pudding, one for the yamen runner and one for the village chief, and asked the two to sit down and talk.
Seeing her daughter standing outside the door and winking at her, Qian wiped her tears and went out...
Zhou Xi pulled his mother aside and whispered the question Manbao had asked, "Mom, we don't understand this guide either. We have to ask for clarification, otherwise we might find out we made a mistake later..."
Qian nodded, "I thought so too, that's why I wanted to keep him here for a while. When your father comes back, it will be easier to ask him questions."
Qian frowned as she spoke, looking out the door and asking, "Why haven't your father and the others come back yet?"
"Why don't I go look for it in the mountains?"
Qian thought about it and nodded, "Okay, go and take a look. You're alone, so don't go too deep."
(End of this chapter)
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