Chapter 452 Suspicion
As soon as the man left, the Zhou family immediately closed the door. Zhou Silang spat outside the door and cursed inwardly: "I'll eat you to death!"
Qian's face darkened and she shouted, "Fourth Brother!"
"Hey—" Zhou Silang immediately turned around with a smile on his face, "Mom, what do you want me to do?"
Qian handed Manbao to him and said, "Send Manbao to the Bai family to study with the young masters."
Zhou Silang immediately and attentively went forward and picked up Manbao's book box.
Manbao pouted and said, "Mom, I don't want to go."
"Why not?" Qian said sternly, "Didn't you say Grandma Liu is back? You promised to go over and pay your respects. Wouldn't it be both dishonest and rude if you didn't go?"
"Go ahead. The sun is too strong, so you don't need to come home for lunch break. Let's go to the teacher's house together this afternoon," Qian said. "The house is a mess right now, and your father and I haven't come up with a plan yet. There's no point in you staying home."
Manbao felt that her mother seemed to be hiding something from her, but she could not disobey her mother, so she could only follow Zhou Silang in a depressed mood.
Zhou Silang walked beside her, shielding her from the scorching sun, and comforted her all the way, "Are you unhappy because that yamen runner is so annoying?"
"That's right!" Manbao said, "Also, my uncle is dead."
My uncle died a long time ago.
Zhou Silang thought to himself, but he still put on a look of regret, "Actually, my parents and the family had anticipated this a long time ago. After all, there has been no news for so many years."
"The yamen runner said my uncle is married and has a child. Those bandits are too abominable to even kill the child."
Zhou Silang nodded repeatedly, "Yes, they are all bad guys!"
"That bailiff wasn't a good person either. Mother was so sad, but he was still busy taking things from our house."
Zhou Silang gave her some advice, "Manbao, aren't you familiar with the county magistrate? Next time you go to the county town, go and file a complaint with him. I just asked the village chief and I know his name."
Zhou Silang snorted coldly, "Such a bad officer will only harm others if he continues to work in the government office."
Manbao nodded vigorously, taking this matter to heart, and asked, "Fourth brother, what's his name?"
The brother and sister walked up the bridge while talking. At this time, Qian asked Feng to detain all the children in the small courtyard, leaving only the six sons and little Qian in the big courtyard.
The whole family and the village chief sat in the main room for a meeting, and even their voices were deliberately lowered.
The village chief looked at the pass again and again, still confused. "Don't tell me, the writing on it looks a lot like Uncle Xiaoyin."
"Uncle Yin is Uncle Yin, why did you have to add a little one to his name?" Old Zhou muttered, "What's the big deal about the resemblance? Isn't the description on the pass the same over and over again? Regular features, fair skin, slightly raised nose... What's strange is that this Zhou Yin is also from Luojiang County, and he even came from here to Shangzhou to marry a wife..."
The village chief couldn't help but ask, "By the way, Uncle Jin, I remember Aunt Xiaoyin's last name is Xia, right?"
Old Zhou responded sullenly, "So, is it a coincidence?"
"Coincidence!" The village chief put down the pass, his face heavy. "This is too coincidental! Even the storytellers in the county tavern wouldn't dare say that."
The room suddenly fell silent, and no one knew what to say.
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, who had heard all kinds of stories from Manbao, looked around and couldn't help but whisper, "Dad, Mom, maybe my uncle has offended someone, but he also has friends. His friends helped to do this, so that our family wouldn't be frightened."
Old Zhou said angrily, "Why didn't you come a few years ago? Why did you have to wait until now?"
"Maybe they didn't find us in the past few years?" Zhou Wulang guessed, "Didn't something happen in our village last year..."
Before Zhou Wulang finished speaking, the faces of the village chief and Old Zhoutou changed at the same time, and they also thought of what happened after the disaster last year.
The two of them actually felt that what Zhou Wulang said made some sense.
The village chief was extremely worried and asked, "What on earth does Uncle Xiaoyin do?"
Old Zhou said angrily, "What could he possibly do? He just studied for a few years, knows how to farm, and does some small business. Do you really believe what those officials said about him robbing people? Is my Erlang that kind of person?"
The village chief didn't say anything.
Old Zhou said angrily, "You saw him when he came back. He looked so proud. Does he look like he was lying? And you knew there was something fishy about those officials who came to the village..."
As he spoke, Old Zhou's voice became lower and lower. Although he always believed that Zhou Yin would not do anything bad, he still felt a little guilty over the years.
Zhou Yin's time at home was too short at that time. Although he told them about his experiences in those years, they didn't have time to ask for more details, and no one could confirm whether what he said was true.
Over the years, it was because of his good reputation in the village in his early years that everyone subconsciously believed that Zhou Yin would not do bad things, let alone become the bandits who robbed and looted as described by the officials.
Don’t even think about asking Old Zhou to produce evidence. He can’t even tell you any more detailed experiences.
Old Zhou held his head and didn't want to talk.
The village chief sighed and asked, "So what are you going to do about this?"
"Hold a funeral for him," Qian suddenly said. "We need to summon his spirit and tell everyone that he's going to have a cenotaph built. All these years, we've only dared to secretly burn some paper money and incense for him, and haven't been able to pay our respects properly. Now that the government has asked us to remove him from the register, let's get started."
The village chief thought about it and nodded. "That's good. Once this matter is settled, the villagers will have their minds at ease. Where's the guarantee?"
Qian looked at Old Zhou.
Old Zhou thought for a moment and said, "I'll have to trouble you to sign one for me. I'll look for other families for the remaining four. Don't worry, if anything goes wrong in the future, and you insist you were cheated by my family, I'll take full responsibility."
"Uncle Jin, what are you talking about? Even if something happened, it's not our fault. It was the county government who told us the person died. We've been holding on for so many years. It doesn't make sense that we should be afraid the longer it's been."
This kind of thing is most likely to be dug up in the first year after the incident. It has been seven years now, and the county government has given such a good excuse this time. It doesn't make sense that it should be overturned.
However, asking people to sign a guarantee is indeed risky.
Old Zhou obviously knew this, so he looked at Qian and said, "Go open the money box and take out a hundred coins."
The village chief looked at Old Zhou in surprise. He was really willing to spend money, a whole tael. Was this still his stingy Uncle Jin?
Of course Old Zhou was also heartbroken, but his younger brother would soon be able to eat the chicken, duck, fish, steamed buns and rice they gave him. In the future, the family would no longer have to be too shy about talking about him. The sharp knife over his head was also moved a little, so the heartache was alleviated a lot.
(End of this chapter)
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