"What? What happened?" The one who came to report the news was Ding Fu, the son of the fifth brother. Meng was a little anxious when she got out of bed, and one of her feet was not stable. Fortunately, old Ding was smoking at the table and caught her with his shoulder in time, otherwise her old bones would probably be paralyzed again.
"Oh my God, what's going on? How come I passed the imperial examination again without any fight?" Old Mrs. Meng slapped her thighs hard twice.
She just couldn't understand it. If she hadn't been reluctant to spend the money on the journey, she and Old Ding would have turned around and filed a complaint with the county government and returned.
"Is the news true?" Old Ding raised his eyelids and looked at Ding Fu sinisterly.
"The news was reported by the county official, riding a tall horse, and the town magistrate came with him. The whole village has heard about it. If you don't believe it, go out and find out for yourself." Ding Fu said.
Old Ding was smoking one cigarette after another, which usually meant that he was confused and his face was so gloomy that you could squeeze out several pounds of water.
Meng was so anxious that she was spinning around in circles. After being yelled at by Old Ding, she pouted and climbed back onto the bed to sit cross-legged. She didn't dare to refute Old Ding now, because he was the only person she could unite with in this family.
After the separation of the family, Liu and Gao no longer cared about her. They even made delicious food every day to appease the eldest and third sons, which made the two sons alienated from them and increasingly unwilling to pay attention to the two old people.
Not to mention Fang, who used to rely on the fact that she had many brothers on her natal side and ignored her mother-in-law before the family split up. Now, he just treats her as if she doesn't exist and goes in and out of the yard as if he didn't see her.
A bunch of ungrateful people.
Old Mrs. Meng cursed in her heart.
Old Ding was also extremely annoyed. After taking a few deep puffs of his cigarette, he didn't even have the mood to roll a pipe. He just threw the pipe on the table, put his hands behind his back and walked out.
He came out of the main house and passed by the eldest brother's kitchen. He smelled the aroma of meat and glanced sideways. He saw Liu holding the iron pot with one hand and picking up a piece of pork belly from the pot with chopsticks in the other hand and putting it into the eldest brother's mouth.
The eldest brother and his wife also saw him. The eldest brother chewed the meat until his mouth was shiny with oil. He smiled and nodded at him, swallowed the meat, and called him "Dad" again.
Old Ding's Adam's apple made an unconscious swallowing motion, and then he remembered that the lazy woman Meng had only made him vegetable porridge for breakfast to save trouble.
I eat vegetable porridge every day, and my intestines have turned green from eating it.
He thought the boss was calling him into the house for breakfast, so he even lifted his heels and pretended to pull off his shoes, and stayed for a while longer.
As a result, the couple, one holding two bowls of vegetables and the other holding a wooden steamer for steaming rice, didn't even glance at him and went straight to the main room.
I’ll see if I can’t kill you two!
Old Ding was so angry that he cursed viciously in his heart and walked out of the yard with a dark face.
When he got outside the yard, Old Ding changed his heroic demeanor from earlier in the day, and went to the village entrance again with his head hung and a heavy heart.
Old Dingtou stood beside the wooden stake under the plaque of Dingxian Village and glanced at the plaque. The village had been renamed, but what happened to his fifth son? He was still nowhere to be seen?
He wanted to report the matter to the police, but he was afraid that if something really happened, Lu's family would take the opportunity to blackmail him. Although marrying into his family meant being part of his family, but now that this person was gone, it was in her right to ask for an explanation.
Old Ding is not an unreasonable person, but if the reason has something to do with money, then so be it!
After much deliberation, Old Ding decided to report to the police. Ding Fu said the town magistrate was at Ding Youtian's, so he planned to wait for him at the foot of the hillside where the old house stood. Having made up his mind, he had just turned around when he heard the sound of horse hooves and saw several men riding towards the village entrance.
The people who came were Huo Jincheng and Xiang Qian, as well as the town magistrate and the county official who had brought the news. Old Ding lay down under the village plaque, closed his eyes, opened his arms and shouted, "I want to report to the authorities! I want to report to the authorities!"
"Whoa!" Huo Jincheng, who was leading the way, reined in his horse. "What's the matter with reporting to the authorities?"
Old Ding recognized him. Now all the villagers knew that he was a first-rank guard in the palace. Although he had helped Ding Youtian throw them out of the old house last year, Old Ding heard that he and Ding Youtian had become estranged and that the two of them were always bickering. So he immediately knelt down and said, "Sir, sir with a sword, please help me, this rebellious son Ding Youtian..."
"Stop!" Huo Jincheng shouted at him, "You've already severed the engagement, and the document is still on file at the town government office. Why are you bringing him up again?"
The Lord of the Town rode his horse slowly forward and said to him, "That's right. We've already separated and severed our relationship, so how could he have offended you? He's a scholar now, with a reputation under his belt. You'd better think carefully. If you make false accusations, you will be punished!"
Old Ding was stunned, speechless, not knowing what to say. After a long while, he stiffened his neck and managed to utter, "Then I am still the scholar's father!"
Zhen Jun laughed twice, then leaned over and said, "Old man, stop talking nonsense. Master Huo just reminded you that the document of breaking off the relationship is still on file in the government office. If you continue to talk nonsense, don't blame me for punishing you. Get out of here now."
Hearing that they were going to be punished, Old Ding instinctively stepped aside. Seeing that they were about to leave with whips whipped, he woke up as if from a dream, rushed over and knelt down again.
"My son and daughter-in-law are missing. They are still related, and they have no achievements. I want to report to the authorities! I want to report to the authorities!"
He looked at Zhenjun with tears in his eyes.
"Your son and daughter-in-law are missing, and Prince Zhao is also missing!" Huo Jincheng said, "I'm going to the county for this matter. Your Wu'er is involved with Prince Zhao. Wait for news at home."
Xiang Qian arrived at Dingxian Village even before the county messenger. He traveled through the night and brought back news from the capital. The long period of silence between Prince Zhao and Master Feng Qingzi aroused Prince Yong's suspicion. The emperor had over thirty princes, both large and small. Those who were not favored rarely saw the emperor year-round, and the emperor himself might not even remember all of them by name.
The Emperor didn't care whether Prince Zhao was missing or not, but he was a prince who served under Prince Yong's orders, and Prince Yong had already reported this to the Emperor. The Emperor might normally ignore the lives of his princes, but that didn't mean he could sit idly by and watch a prince disappear without a word.
Prince Yong has received an imperial decree to investigate Prince Zhao's whereabouts and will soon arrive in Neijin County, Dazhou Prefecture. Huo Jincheng already knows that Prince Zhao and Feng Qingzi, who possessed Old Five, have long since vanished, leaving only the crippled Yang Wuqi still in custody in the county jail.
Huo Jincheng rushed to the county town at this moment to discuss countermeasures with County Magistrate He on how to resolve the matter of Yang Wuqi. He also instructed the people deployed by the Ding family to closely monitor the movements of Prince Yong and his party after their arrival to prevent any trouble before it happens.
Old Ding watched them riding away, his lips trembling with excitement. He didn't hear anything else they said, but only listened to one sentence.
Oh my God, he had to go back and tell Mrs. Meng that their fifth son had made it big and had even made friends with King Zhao. They had hope, hope!
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