Chapter 85 A Beautiful Family (Two Chapters in One)
Zhao Shiqing actually had a sense of foreboding in her heart, but she still forced a smile and nodded: "Okay, we will give them a scare then."
Next, Zhao Shiqing and Zhen Wuduo, the young and the old, began to clean up. Lingbo and Niuqiu did not help. They followed Zhen Wuduo's men to investigate what happened that year in the village.
Chen Lizheng went home with a sigh. Xiao Zhen sent Jiang Ping to buy a hemp rope as he was going to repair the swing.
Everyone was busy and no one noticed that Xiaoguai came over at some point.
Zhao Shiqing left marks for it along the way, and Xiaoguai found it by following the marks.
The so-called mark is actually the meat paste made by Lingbo himself. He just smeared a little on the tree trunks on the roadside, and Xiaoguai would be able to find it all the way.
Inside the house, Zhao Shiqing cleaned each room one by one. Unlike the layout of most houses in Wu, the Shi family's courtyard was similar to that in the capital. It was a square courtyard, but at least twice as big as the courtyards in the capital.
The Shi family had no servants, and there were not many particularities in the countryside. The back room in the courtyard looked like a place where the women of the family would receive guests, with a loom and a spinning wheel. There should have been a vase on the Eight Immortals table, but it was stolen by Li Laosi, leaving only a handful of dry branches scattered on the table.
In addition to the vase, there was also a savings box. Perhaps because it had no lid, it was not taken away by Li Laosi. In the savings box were some snacks that the female family members liked to eat. Next to the savings box was a teapot with a cover on the outside. The cover was embroidered with blooming roses. Although it had faded a long time ago, you could still see that the embroidery was exquisite.
Next to the loom, there was a chair with a table attached. The style was very unique and Zhao Shiqing had never seen it before. The chair was covered with an embroidered cushion and a rag doll was lying on it.
Zhao Shiqing stared at the oddly designed chair in a daze. Zhen Wuduo walked over and also saw the chair. He sighed, "This must be specially made for you to sit on. Look how smoothly the small table is polished. A child won't bump into it. And the armrests on this chair are all covered with cotton. How thoughtful."
Zhao Shiqing felt a lump in her throat. She gently picked up the rag doll. The doll was not perfect and had traces of being mended.
Zhao Shiqing's fingers gently stroked the fine stitches, not knowing whether it was grandma's or mother's needlework.
"When I was little, I must have often sat here, listening to my grandmother and mother chatting while weaving."
The exquisite chairs, the dried branches, and the swing in the yard all tell everyone that there was once a family here who lived their lives with hope.
Zhao Shiqing held the rag doll in her arms. She had grown up, and the rag doll seemed smaller. It was a small ball, but it made her feel warm.
Walking out of the back house, facing you are the three main rooms, with an ear room on the east and west sides, and a porch next to the ear room. The three rooms in the east wing are study rooms, and the west wing is the guest room. Just as Chen Lizheng said, the Shi family's house is not only well built, but also has many rooms. That's why Shi's father took the initiative to ask Doctor Yang and his grandson to come to his house to recuperate.
The east room should be grandma's room, but all I could see were children's things. There was a bamboo basket full of toys by the window, including various rattles, bird whistles, and a very short flute.
A smile appeared on Zhao Shiqing's face. These toys can all make sounds.
Because she is blind and cannot see anything, sound is her most direct channel to understand the outside world, so her family bought her all kinds of toys that can make sounds so that she can enjoy herself in the dark world.
Zhao Shiqing laughed until tears welled up in her eyes. She squatted down and picked up the toys one by one, shaking them to make sounds or blowing them.
It was not known how long it took before the sounds gradually stopped. Zhao Shiqing walked through the central hall and into the west room, which should be his father and mother's room.
There was an embroidery frame on the small table next to the bed, but unfortunately the embroidery on it was gone. I wonder if it was taken away by Li Laosi.
The dressing table was in a mess, several makeup boxes were knocked over, and rouge and powder were scattered everywhere.
Zhen Wuduo's voice came from my ears: "My daughter only has these things, it's not enough, I want to give her a dowry, ten miles of red dowry is nothing, I want to give her a hundred boats!"
As he spoke, Zhen Wuduo began to sob again. He had only been married once in his life and had only one legitimate child.
He has so many sons and so many women, whether they are his biological children or not, they all spend his money and use his name.
But his real wife, his real daughter, had nothing.
They never spent his money, never borrowed his influence, and they didn't even have his last name.
Zhen Wuduo bent down with difficulty, picked up the overturned makeup boxes one by one, and wiped them clean. Although these things were not worth much, they were his daughter's precious things and he would wipe them clean every day.
Thinking of this, he wished he could cut Li Lao Si into pieces.
After the grandfather and grandson cleaned up the three main rooms, they went to the study in the east wing.
A businessman's study is actually mainly used for meeting guests and doing accounting. The books on the bookshelf are gone, and the account books are thrown on the ground with footprints on them.
Opposite the study is the guest room, which is the room for Dr. Yang's grandparents and grandchildren.
Unlike the previous rooms, this one was tidy and clean. Apart from the books on the shelves being taken away, there were no other signs of having been searched.
Zhao Shiqing frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled: "Why did Li Laosi show leniency to Doctor Yang's grandson?"
Zhen Wuduo looked around and said, "Do you see anything worth looking through here?"
Zhao Shiqing was stunned for a moment, but soon understood what Zhen Wuduo meant.
There was nothing in Doctor Yang's room except bedding. The table was empty, and there was not even a box.
"Where are Doctor Yang's things? Even if he's just temporarily living here and has nothing, he can't be without even clothes, right?"
Zhen Wuduo stroked his beard and said, "If he goes on a long journey, his clothes and other belongings will be taken with him."
Zhao Shiqing added, "But my parents and grandma's room has a lot of stuff. That means the only person who really left was Doctor Yang. No one from my family went with him."
But if they didn't go far away, where did they go?
Zhao Shiqing said, "I was found in a bamboo forest not far from here. I was just a blind child and couldn't walk far in the middle of the night, so I most likely walked out of my home. Even if I wasn't at home, I was definitely somewhere close to home. My parents and grandma love me so much, how could they let me go out alone? Something must have happened to them, so they couldn't protect me. Grandpa, my parents and grandma, something happened to them, right? Something happened to them, right?"
At the end of her speech, Zhao Shiqing's voice changed due to excitement. What she could think of, how could Zhen Wuduo not think of it? He had already had a guess, and now that he saw Doctor Yang's room, he was even more certain.
The grandfather and grandson walked out of the guest room with pale faces. Zhao Shiqing heard the noise and looked up to see Xiaoguai lying on the eaves.
"Xiaoguai, you're back, did you find anything?"
Zhao Shiqing stretched out her hand, and Xiaoguai flew towards her, landed on her shoulder, lowered his head and made a few low hums in her ear.
Zhen Wuduo looked at the scene in front of him and felt extremely familiar.
Although he did not spend much time with Yuzhu, he had seen her whispering with birds more than once.
His granddaughter indeed inherited Yuzhu's extraordinary talent, but it's a pity that he doesn't know if his daughter has it.
At this moment, he saw Zhao Shiqing raise her little face and look at him. Her little face was even paler than before.
"My dear granddaughter, what happened?" Zhen Wuduo asked with concern.
"Xiaoguai said that the birds nearby don't come here. If they pass by here, they will fly around it. I don't know why, but I heard it from the old birders passed down from generation to generation." Zhao Shiqing said.
Zhen Wuduo: "Is there a story about flat-haired beasts that is passed down orally?"
Zhao Shiqing: "So what if he's a beast? Many people are worse than beasts."
Zhen Wuduo said hurriedly: "Yes, yes, that's right."
Yuzhu also said the same thing.
But then again, why do those birds avoid this yard when passing through it?
I didn't notice it before, but now I look up and sure enough, I don't see any birds flying by.
Zhao Shiqing said, "Birds are also intelligent. They must have witnessed something terrible happen here before, which is why they dare not come here again."
Zhen Wuduo's expression changed drastically: "You mean, you mean..."
Those who have experienced many storms are now feeling flustered.
The grandfather and grandson sat at the stone table in the yard, facing each other in silence. No one noticed that there was a person working in the corner of the yard.
This was the first time Xiao Zhen had repaired a swing in his two lives, so he was clumsy and took a lot of effort. Finally, with the help of Jiang Ping, he fixed the swing.
He looked at the fruits of his labor, breathed a sigh of satisfaction, and was suddenly stunned. When did he start to feel so proud of himself for repairing a child's swing?
Is his pattern a swing?
Xiao Zhen reflected on himself, but couldn't help thinking that it would be nice to have red silk, but it would definitely look better tied to the swing rope than this bare thick hemp rope.
On second thought, Zhao Shiqing is still in mourning period, so red silk won't work. Then let's change to a plain color. I'm not sure if green counts as a plain color.
As Xiao Zhen was thinking this, he suddenly realized that while he was concentrating on repairing the swing, Zhao Shiqing and Zhen Wuduo had already come out of the house.
He walked over and sat down beside them, and was shocked to see the pale faces of the old man and the young boy.
"What's wrong with you?" Xiao Zhen asked.
Zhao Shiqing: "We suspect that Doctor Yang went on a long trip. My parents and grandma didn't go with him. Instead, something happened in this courtyard."
Xiao Zhen's heart sank, and he said, "Nothing has happened to the people we sent out yet. Let's wait for them to come back before drawing any conclusions."
Zhao Shiqing didn't say anything else and turned to go into the house.
She thought that she must have lived with her grandmother when she was a child. There were many of her toys in her grandmother's room, which at least showed that she spent more time in her grandmother's room than with her parents.
She went to the east room. There were two pillows on the bed in the east room, one big and one small. Zhao Shiqing smiled, then lay down with her head on the small pillow.
That night, Zhao Shiqing did not have dinner. She did not even take off her clothes. She slept in the bed she had slept in as a child. However, her heart was unusually calm, as calm as this small courtyard without birds.
There is a faint fragrance of soap nuts lingering on the pillow, which must be the scent of grandma.
Zhao Shiqing sniffed the fragrance, which was faint and unknowingly, she fell asleep.
The dream was dark. She could not see anything, but she was moving very fast. She heard the rustling sound of bamboo leaves rubbing against each other. The rustling sound kept coming and going. This must be a bamboo forest. Was she running in the bamboo forest?
But she clearly couldn't see anything, so how could she run? Wouldn't she fall?
Zhao Shiqing's mind was in a mess. She didn't know where she was. She tried to reach out and feel around again and again, and seemed to touch something. What was it?
Suddenly something hit her, Zhao Shiqing screamed and opened her eyes suddenly.
What she saw was Ling Bo's concerned gaze: "Second Miss, you are having a nightmare. It's okay, don't be afraid."
Zhao Shiqing thought of the darkness in his dream and said to Ling Bo, "Turn up the lights."
Ling Bo lit the lamp, only to find Zhao Shiqing staring at it intently. "Ling Bo, all the methods we tried before were wrong. No, the wrong method was just one of the reasons. The main reason was that we didn't find the right place. Now that we've found this place, I remember a lot of things. Unfortunately, I was too young and blind back then, so I can't remember much."
Ling Bo hurriedly said, "Oh, by the way, Second Miss, this servant and I have heard some news in the village."
Zhao Shiqing was no longer sleepy: "What's the matter?"
Ling Bo said, "We approached several families, and they all said they couldn't remember where they heard the story. Fortunately, almost all of them denied hearing about it from the Shi family. In other words, the Shi family had never told anyone about it. Later, when we inquired about this matter at one family, the little granddaughter of that family suddenly interrupted us and said that she knew her mother had heard about it from the peddler.
The little granddaughter was about fourteen or fifteen years old, and her mother was not old either, only in her early thirties.
But her mother couldn't remember where she heard it from, and insisted that it was said by an aunt in the village.
But the little granddaughter told her that the peddler said it himself when her mother took her to buy something. Later, her mother told her grandmother about it. Her grandmother was the most famous gossip in Zhuxitang Village. Once her grandmother knew about it, the whole village knew about it as well.
After the little granddaughter finished speaking, her mother was stunned and kept asking, "Did I really hear this from the peddler? Which peddler? Is it Xiao Wu who often comes here?"
The little granddaughter shook her head: "No, he never came again after that."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com