Chapter 81: The Shi Family (Two Chapters Combined into One)
Xiao Zhen was stunned. He looked at Zhen Wuduo with a deep gaze, like a cold pond hidden in a valley, bottomless. Zhen Wuduo felt uneasy. His eldest son was good in every way except that he was too thoughtful at such a young age.
You can tell at first glance that he is someone who can achieve great things, just like him!
Zhen Wuduo completed his self-comfort in the shortest time possible. Life is beautiful, and it is another day to show off his son.
Xiao Zhen withdrew his gaze and called Xu Le over: "Go find all the human traffickers within a hundred miles and ask them to recall if there was any family that lost a daughter in April or May ten years ago."
This may sound difficult to find, but in reality, not many families report their lost daughters to the police or offer a reward for finding them.
After arranging all the people to leave, they returned along the same route and returned to the bamboo forest.
A blind girl of four or five years old, covered in wounds, would not have been able to walk far even with the help of wild dogs, let alone at night.
Loach quickly found two local people, one was a man in his early thirties and the other was an old man in his fifties.
Zhao Shiqing asked, "Excuse me, how many villages are there nearby? Which is the closest?"
The two of them were stunned for a moment, but they both looked at Xiao Zhen who was standing next to Zhao Shiqing. The man smiled and asked, "Sir, are you here to collect the cloth?"
Zhao Shiqing rolled her eyes secretly. I asked politely, but you ignored me and instead looked at Xiao Zhen’s cold face. Aren’t you just looking at me because I’m a little girl?
Sure enough, the two men got what they wanted.
Xiao Zhen said unhappily, "Stop talking nonsense. I'm asking you a question."
The old man hurriedly pulled the man behind him, bent over, and said to Xiao Zhen, "My son has never seen the world. Young master, please don't argue with him. There are five villages nearby. The closest one is Huangzhu Village. Going forward from this road, there is a fork in the road. Going east over a hillside, you will reach Huangzhu Village. My ancestors have lived in Huangzhu Village for generations."
Xiao Zhen's voice was so cold it could freeze someone to death: "Where are the other four villages?"
The old man said hurriedly, "The village closest to ours is Zhuxitang. Although that village is large, half of its inhabitants are from outside. The weavers are all from the local area. There are only a dozen or so households with looms in Zhuxitang. Therefore, if you want to buy cloth, you should go to our village."
Xiao Zhen frowned slightly: "Why are half of the families in Zhuxitang from outside?"
The old man explained: "That's a far-fetched story. In the past, there was no village called Zhuxitang. Half of that land was wasteland, and the other half belonged to our Huangzhu Village.
When I was young, there was a year when heavy rain lasted for a whole month in the eastern part of Wu. Some places were flooded and people had to flee everywhere. The rain here was small and the disaster was less severe. Later, when the flood receded, many families who had fled from other places did not go back and settled down here.
In order to accommodate these refugees, the government office was divided into two parts from Huangzhu Village, and half of the wasteland was added to build the current Zhuxitang.
Therefore, half of the people in Zhuxitang are from Huangzhu Village, and the other half are outsiders who have fled here.”
As soon as the old man finished speaking, Zhen Wuduo came over and asked, "Are you talking about something that happened thirty-four years ago?"
The old man thought for a moment and said, "That was about thirty-four or thirty-five years ago. I was only fourteen or fifteen then, and now I'm fifty."
Zhen Wuduo asked again, "Did anyone from your five villages flee the disaster back then?"
The old man shook his head. "Not as far as I know. Although it rained here, it was only heavy for a few days. The rest of the time it was just light rain. Furthermore, we have mountains here, and the terrain is high. I haven't heard of any houses being washed away. Although the crops were poor that year, every household wove cloth. Although cloth wasn't as easy to sell as it is now, it could still be exchanged for food to supplement our family income. Although life was difficult in those two years, it wasn't to the point of having to flee."
"Besides Zhuxitang, are there any other villages with refugees from other places?" Zhen Wuduo asked.
The old man shook his head again: "There were definitely no outsiders back then. If there are outsiders now, they must have moved here later.
The government wanted to build a new village because none of our villages wanted to accept outsiders. It just so happened that the Li family in Huangzhu Village was always looking for trouble, so the government simply built a new village and moved the entire Li family to Zhuxitang.
Zhen Wuduo shouted to his followers, "Hurry up, help me get on the horse, and go to that Zhuxitang, hurry up!"
Zhao Shiqing looked at Xiao Zhen: "Are we going too?"
Xiao Zhen: "Don't worry about him, let's go to the nearest village first."
The old man was overjoyed. Until now, he still regarded these people as foreign merchants who came to collect cloth.
Huangzhutang Village is not big. There are more than 50 households in the village, more than 40 of which are surnamed Huang, and the other 10 households have three different surnames.
The old man and his son also had the surname Huang. The Huang family is still proud of the fact that they drove the Li family out of Huangzhu Village.
Old Man Huang and his son took Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing around the village and finally brought them to their home.
Old Man Huang has four looms at home. His wife, daughter-in-law, and two daughters are the family's economic pillars.
Zhao Shiqing said she wanted to see the loom, so Old Man Huang quickly called his little daughter and asked her to accompany Zhao Shiqing to see the loom and cloth at home.
Zhao Shiqing was stunned when she saw Old Man Huang's youngest daughter. She originally thought that the girl, who was not yet married and was the youngest in the family, would be in her teens. However, she never expected that the girl in front of her already had fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.
She quietly asked, "How old is your sister this year?"
Miss Huang whispered, "Thirty."
Zhao Shiqing was stunned. Second Miss Huang was thirty years old, so what about First Miss Huang?
Miss Huang is thirty-four years old!
She took Lingbo to the two girls' room to see the looms, and only then did she realize that there were several other girls in Huangzhu Village who were in their thirties and still unmarried like them. They were the breadwinners of their families, and their parents and brothers had promised to provide for them in their old age, and when they were a hundred years old, their nephews would carry banners for them.
Miss Huang told Zhao Shiqing: "Last year, my father bought a piece of blessed land for the two of us. It's right next to our ancestral tomb. We can be buried there in the future."
Zhao Shiqing took a long time to recover. She asked, "The girls here are so capable. You shouldn't sell your daughters, right?"
Miss Huang Er smiled and said, "Of course not. Every girl is a treasure."
"Do you remember if there was a family in the village that lost a daughter ten years ago?"
The two thought about it, and Miss Huang Er said, "Then it can only be Old Liu's family."
Miss Huang took over the conversation: "No, Liu Erhua is not lost. She ran away with her cousin. The Liu family said she was lost to cover up the shame."
Miss Huang Er said, "Then there is nothing."
Zhao Shiqing said, "If she can run with my cousin, she's definitely not a little girl. The child I'm talking about is only four or five years old."
Miss Huang said, "That's even more rare. Here, little girls as young as four or five are already learning to weave from their parents. Although they are young, they can do a lot of work and can even help their mothers take care of their younger brothers. If a little girl gets lost, her family will definitely look for her."
Miss Huang Er asked, "Miss, are you sure the lost child is from our Huangzhu Village?"
Zhao Shiqing said, "I'm not sure, but it should be from this area. Oh, and that little girl is blind."
The second Miss Huang's eyes lit up, and she said to the eldest Miss Huang, "Sister, do you remember that sister-in-law who used to come to our village? What was her last name? Wasn't her daughter blind? I remember our mother always said her family was mentally ill. Instead of seeking medical treatment for that little blind girl, she might as well find a folk remedy to give birth to a son."
Miss Huang nodded. "I remember her, Mrs. Fu. Her family was from outside the village and moved here later. She once came to our village to help her husband collect cloth. But the villagers knew she was from Zhuxitang and refused to sell cloth to her. But she always went to Uncle Wu's house to buy meat. Aunt Wu said she was a very good person."
"Her surname is Fu? Is that her surname or her husband's surname?" Zhao Shiqing asked.
The two sisters shook their heads together: "I don't know about that. We still listen to Aunt Wu and call her Sister Fu."
Zhao Shiqing asked again, "Is there anyone with the surname Shi around here? Shi as in time."
She knew the origin of her name. Although the tattered clothes with the word "Shi" embroidered on them had disappeared long ago, her father had told her about it since she regained her memory. Girls rarely used this word as their names, so she always suspected that "Shi" was her surname.
The two shook their heads again: "There is definitely no such thing in our village."
"Is the Mrs. Fu you are talking about still coming to the village to buy meat?" Zhao Shiqing asked.
"Oh, it seems like I haven't seen her for many years. It may be that the people in our village are unwilling to sell cloth to the people from Zhuxitang, so she doesn't come. Besides, Uncle Wu is not the only butcher in this area." said Miss Huang.
When leaving the Huang family, Zhao Shiqing bought some cloth. She whispered to the two sisters, "You may not like what I say, so just treat it as nonsense. If you can, save more money for yourself. It's better to rely on yourself than on others. The money is yours, so it's yours. I won't give it to anyone else."
The two sisters lowered their heads and said nothing. Zhao Shiqing sighed silently in her heart. No one was a fool. The two sisters should have thought of what she thought of, but there were too many things in life that were beyond their control.
After leaving Old Huang's house, Xiao Zhen asked, "Where to go now?"
Zhao Shiqing said: "Let's go to Zhuxitang!"
Huangzhu Village is not far from Zhuxitang, and the two villages are closely connected. However, as Old Man Huang said, Zhuxitang is very large, and there is a bamboo forest as soon as you enter the village. You have to walk a long way before you can see people.
I walked to a house whose door was half-open. I could see two children chasing and playing in the yard. A woman yelled at them harshly, "Can't you just stop for a moment? You've been making noise from morning till night, without stopping for a moment!"
Loach shrank his neck and asked with a stiff upper lip, "Aunt, let me ask you something."
Hearing someone talking, the woman and the two children looked over. The woman asked, "What are you asking?"
Zhao Shiqing walked over to Niuqiu and said to the woman, "Auntie, is there any family in our village with the surname Shi? The Shi in the time of the hour."
The woman didn't even think about it: "There's no surname."
"What about the one with the surname Fu? My cousin married here a few years ago, and her family surname is Fu." Zhao Shiqing asked again.
"No, I've never heard of anyone with the last name Shi or Fu. Both of you, get inside! You just changed into clean clothes this morning, and you've got them dirty again!"
The woman ignored Zhao Shiqing and Niu Qiu and went to take care of her own child.
Zhao Shiqing sighed, and Niu Qiu hurriedly said, "Second Miss, why don't you close your eyes and try again? Maybe you can find the feeling."
Zhao Shiqing said, "Since we're here, let's ask a few more people."
The few of them continued on their way, unaware that the woman had just returned to the house, dragging the two children who looked like mud monkeys. Her mother-in-law, while weaving, asked, "Who were you talking to in the yard just now?"
The woman said, "I'm here to look for someone with the surname Shi or Fu. There's no one with that surname in our village."
Her mother-in-law thought about it and said, "Could it be that they are here to visit Mrs. Shi's family?"
The woman was curious: "Which old woman is this? Why don't I remember this person?"
Her mother-in-law rolled her eyes at her and said, "I'm surprised you remember. When you got married, Mrs. Shi and her family had already moved away."
The woman said, "Moved away?"
Her mother-in-law said, "It's the courtyard at the west end of the village that Li Laosi has always been thinking about. That's where Mrs. Shi lives."
The woman remembered: "Didn't Li Laosi say that the family died in another place? Why do you say that they moved away?"
Her mother-in-law snorted coldly, "Don't listen to Li Laosi's nonsense. He just wants to get a yard for free because he sees that the other person hasn't come back. He just relies on his surname Li to take advantage of others. The village head doesn't tolerate him. Although the old Shi family fled here, Shi Pozi's son is educated and knows how to do business. Although his family has no land, they are well-off. Their house is the best built in our village. Otherwise, why would Li Laosi target them?
Li Laosi said that the family died in another place, and that the family had no descendants and that since everyone was dead, the yard should be returned to the village. Bah, what a shameless person! He would bully outsiders like us.
At this moment, the sound of broken porcelain was heard outside, and a child shouted, "Mom, Shuanzi broke the bowl."
The woman was furious and rushed out shouting, "Little Shuanzi, I'll skin you alive!"
Her mother-in-law put down her work and chased after him: "Take it easy, the baby's flesh is tender, don't beat him to death."
......
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were busy dealing with the naughty child, but they didn't know that Li Laosi, who had just been called shameless by them, was frowning and looking up and down at the people standing at his door.
"Are you looking for the surname?"
Seeing that the man was a burly fellow, Niu Qiu quickly put Zhao Shiqing behind him and said, "Yes, uncle, is there a family with the surname Shi in our village?"
Li Laosi shook his head: "No, why are you asking about my last name?"
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