Qin said sourly from the side, "Xiao Lan is loved by her parents and her brother. She is raised like a delicate flower in the village. She even showed me her rouge and powder."
She was a year older than Lan Xiaogu, and when she married into the Xu family, she envied and was jealous of the favored Lan Xiaogu.
Lan Xiaogu was beautiful and had a sweet tongue, which made all the elders in the village praise her.
She couldn't learn these things and was even scolded by her mother-in-law and stepdaughter: "You stupid and clumsy wild boar, you wouldn't even dare to lick Lanlan's feet with your tongue."
Jiang Zhi said with a sullen face, "Tomorrow we'll start by asking around the area, and we'll dig out even a single mouse."
He abandoned his parents all these years, harmed his brother all these years, and abandoned his children all these years.
"Don't even mention three things, she'll have to kneel in the ancestral hall for just one!"
There was no ancestral hall in Xujia Village; it had been burned down long ago, and Jiang Zhi had no interest in fussing over those things.
But Jiang Zhi, as her sister-in-law, had the right to punish her, and as the village head of Xujia Village, she also had the right to intervene.
Not only should Lan Xiaogu be investigated, but her current husband's family should also be investigated. Who made the decision regarding this unclear marriage?
The group of people barged into the courtyard in a grand manner, only to find that no one had come to inquire about their whereabouts by dawn.
The next day, Jiang Zhi led people to inquire about the owner of the courtyard.
"I don't know, I don't know. This place has been closed for years when my family came here. We've never seen anyone come here."
"This used to be an old street, next to a stinking ditch. The houses were damp and cramped. Anyone who had a little money to spare moved away!"
I asked several households, and they all said they had just moved in, with the longest they had lived there being fifteen years ago.
Over the past decade or so, Pingchuan County has experienced two major fires, causing some long-time residents to relocate. Furthermore, the recent chaos of war and the influx of displaced people into the city have led to even more migrations.
After asking several companies without receiving any response, Liu and the others gradually began to lose hope.
Xiao Lan is trying every means to avoid me, so it won't be easy to find her.
Finally, at the entrance of an alley, Jiang Zhi asked an old man with a cane who was passing by.
"It seems there used to be a family here who ran a cloth shop. They only had one daughter, and they were looking for a husband to marry into their family."
Later, the young woman gave birth to a daughter who died from postpartum complications. The cloth shop was sold off completely, and the son-in-law disappeared with the child.
The old man explained it clearly, and Jiang Zhi's heart clenched: postpartum wind, also known as postpartum consumption, is a disease that usually occurs during the postpartum period when the body is weak and then infected with wind and cold. It is more common in spring and winter and is generally not fatal.
If Xiaotian's biological mother is indeed the girl from this cloth shop, it makes sense, and the son-in-law who married into the family also has a big problem.
After the old man finished speaking, he sighed and was about to leave when Jiang Zhi quickly asked, "Grandpa, let me tell you the truth!"
I used to have some connection with this cloth shop. They owed my boss five taels of silver. Now that my boss is dead, I want to find them and get that debt back.
I would be eternally grateful if the old man knew anything about this!
Upon hearing that he owed money, the old man immediately stopped and stared at Jiang Zhi with his cloudy eyes: "You owe five taels of silver and you still want it? Why didn't you do this earlier? This debt is not easy to collect."
Jiang Zhi smiled bitterly: "I didn't know about this money before. It was only when I came back from fleeing the famine and was sorting through that dead man's things that I found the IOU."
Thinking that my son and daughter-in-law are still living in a shack and don't even have a house, five taels of silver would be enough for us to eat our fill for a while, so I had to come and look for them.
Beside her, Liu, who couldn't lie, only frowned with a worried expression.
Qin Shi perked up: "Yes, with five taels of silver, let alone eating chicken every meal, at least we can put a handful more rice in the pot, and the porridge can be cooked thicker."
As she spoke, she seemed to be recalling the taste of chicken, and even licked her lips with great anticipation.
Wang Xiaoju and Pi Shi, the two young wives, lowered their heads shyly.
"Five taels of silver doesn't grow on trees; we need to get it back."
The old man looked at the five women from the village in front of him, and did not doubt Jiang Zhi's words. He turned around and pointed to the small courtyard, saying, "This courtyard has been closed for more than ten years. At first, people would occasionally come in to take care of it, but later no one came anymore."
Two years ago, migrants came to the city and, seeing this place overgrown with weeds, didn't try to break in. The family's original surname was Nie, but the son-in-law's surname was Du. I can't remember anything else."
Back in the courtyard, all five of them looked dejected.
After asking around for a long time, all I got was that one of them was surnamed Du and the other was surnamed Nie.
Jiang Zhi is now certain that Nie Fantian is the child of this family.
How did his birth mother die, and how was Nie Fantian taken away by Aunt Lan?
These inside stories will only be known by finding Du's son-in-law and Lan's aunt.
But where can we find people now?
It seems these two really believed that no one knew where they were, which is why they dared to provoke them.
Jiang Zhi frowned and pondered, while Wang Xiaoju said, "Auntie, there's no use waiting here. Let's go to the street and ask around!"
Since we can find some clues here, let's continue asking around on the street. If we spend more time, we'll eventually find something.
Jiang Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Asking around is unreliable and too time-consuming. Let's go to the county government office to inquire. Since there was a cloth shop here more than ten years ago, no matter how big or small the business was, it must have a record in the county government office."
Even though she said that, she was still unsure.
If she went to ask Xiang Dejin herself, he would definitely try to get the clerk to look up the old files, something Lan Xiaogu couldn't have guessed.
My only concern is whether the county government office has been cleaned up and whether the archives inside are complete.
While Jiang Zhi was still thinking, Wang Xiaoju added, "If you can't ask on the street, Aunt Jiang can check the records at the county government office."
Since it was inconvenient for us to go to the county government office, we went to the shops on the street to inquire.
Go to each shop one by one; there are only about a hundred shops in the county town. Ask around and you'll find out.
Jiang Zhi's heart skipped a beat. The image of "going from shop to shop" seemed so familiar to her.
She suddenly remembered meeting a woman at the needlework shop who liked to wander around the shop and talk to people about the affairs of the city.
At the time, I even asked myself if I knew of a Du family who had returned to the county from Jincheng, who had done business in Pingchuan County more than ten years ago, and what about their first and second wives...
Jiang Zhi couldn't remember exactly what was said, but because it was her first time at Qiaozhenfang and she had a conflict with someone, she was impressed by the person who was as friendly as a doorman.
She suddenly felt that there was no rush to get to the county government office; she needed to visit the cloth shops and embroidery workshops where most women were located!
Even in the small courtyard, we can't relax.
Jiang Zhi had observed the courtyard carefully during the day. It was similar to other residential houses, except that the main courtyard was separated by a blue brick wall, which was covered with moss and had long been owned by someone else.
Now, the backyard with its three small side rooms is accessed through the small gate.
After the group left, Jiang Zhi hung the broken brass lock back on the door.
He then tore a piece of cotton thread from his sleeve and wrapped it around the door latches on both sides before saying to Qin and Liu, "You two can't stay in the courtyard. There's a teahouse at the crossroads ahead; sit inside and keep an eye out for anyone coming to check!"
Looking at the teahouse at the alley entrance, Liu hesitated, "It's not right for us to drink tea while you go looking for someone!"
Qin, holding the money Jiang Zhi had given her for tea, happily pulled Liu along, saying, "Sister-in-law, let's hurry up and leave, lest we delay Village Chief Jiang's important business."
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