Those old men and women were the village’s intelligence agents. Within half an hour, the news spread throughout the village.

Ma Xiuzhu's elder brother and his wife raised more than 20 chickens at home, most of which were old hens. They had saved up 200 of them and wanted to sell them at a good price at the market before the New Year when there were many people buying things, so that they could have a prosperous New Year.

I was very happy and even bought a pound of meat to take home. But when I arrived at the village entrance, I was stopped by an old lady.

"Why are you two still here? Didn't you go to Xiuzhu's house?"

Ma Xiuzhu's sister-in-law smiled.

"I have something to do today. I'll go tomorrow."

They also heard about Lu Shishen's return, but she knew that Niu and Cao were going there today, so she wanted to go there at another time.

The two sisters-in-law had a small conflict some time ago because of their grandsons' fight and they are not on speaking terms now.

When the old lady saw that she could still laugh, she guessed that they must know nothing, so she patted her thigh and said.

"Oh my God, you still don't know after all this time? Something happened to Xiuzhu's second son. I heard he died in the army."

Brother Ma Xiuzhu felt his head buzzing and asked for confirmation.

"Why is it gone?"

"Go back and ask your sister-in-law! She knows." The old lady didn't know much and couldn't just say anything.

Brother Ma Xiuzhu and his wife didn't care about their face anymore and hurried to find Niu and Cao to verify. Without a doubt, the answer they got was that Lu Shishen was dead.

In order to vent their anger, Niu and Cao deliberately exaggerated the matter and said that Lu Shishen's body was dismembered and Yang Niannian came back holding the urn of ashes.

Upon hearing this, Ma Xiuzhu and his wife lost their composure. They went home and called their son and daughter-in-law. The whole family rushed to the Lu family. People who were related to the Lu family also bought some paper money and went to pay their respects.

As soon as they arrived at the village entrance, they were recognized by the villagers of Dayu Village, who stopped them and asked them questions.

"Hey, there are so many of you here, what are you doing here?"

Before Ma Xiuzhu's brother and his wife could say anything, tears came out first, especially Ma Xiuzhu's sister-in-law, who burst into tears as soon as she opened her mouth.

"My poor second nephew Shi Shen is gone. He was still so young. My poor Shi Shen..."

Ma Xiuzhu's sister-in-law sang like she was singing an opera, with the ending note drawn out very long.

The villagers thought they had misheard and started asking questions.

"Who's missing?"

"I haven't heard anything happened at Guozhi's house?"

"I heard Xiuzhu and Guozhi say a few days ago that Shi Shen would be back in the next two days, how come he suddenly disappeared."

"I didn't hear anything from the Guozhi family either!"

"Don't mention it. I actually seemed to hear someone crying in Guo Zhi's house this morning. I thought Guo Zhi and his wife had a quarrel."

Ma Xiuzhu's sister-in-law listened to what everyone said, leaned on her husband's shoulder, closed her eyes and cried out loudly.

"This child had a miserable life. He sacrificed his life for his country..."

When the villagers heard this, they were immediately excited. With so many people from Ma Xiuzhu's family coming, this must be true.

There is a rule in the countryside that when a young person who has no descendants or parents still alive dies, a big celebration cannot be held. The body is kept at home for a day, and then a coffin is bought and buried directly in the ground. If the person is under the age of adulthood, they are simply rolled up with a straw mat and buried.

Lu Shishen is still young and has no children, so it is normal that there is no movement in the Lu family.

We are all from the same village. If we didn't know, it would have been fine. But now that we know, we have to go and burn some paper money to express our condolences.

So the villagers hurried home to spread the news and buy fire paper.

Ma Xiuzhu's elder brother and sister-in-law came to the door of Lu's house crying. Seeing that the door was closed, Ma Xiuzhu's sister-in-law collapsed at the door and cried while banging on it.

The Lu family was eating in the main room. They were stunned when they heard the noise. They thought it was the cow and the grass making trouble again, but the sounds didn't seem like it.

Ma Xiuzhu's ears were sharp. "Why does this voice sound a bit like my sister-in-law's?"

Lu Guozhi looked at his eldest son and said with a stern face.

"Qingyuan, go open the door and see what's going on. Who is crying at the door in the middle of the day?"

The more Ma Xiuzhu listened, the more she felt that the voice belonged to her sister-in-law, so she followed Lu Qingyuan to see what was going on.

Yang Niannian also stared at the door with curiosity, waiting to see gossip. Lu Shishen picked up a piece of chicken and put it in her bowl.

"Eat first, it will get cold later."

Yang Niannian nodded, eating chicken in her mouth, but her eyes were still fixed on the door, her eyes shining as she waited for the show.

It was noisy outside, as if a lot of people had come.

As Lu Qingyuan unbolted the door and opened the wooden door, the crying outside became louder. When Ma Xiuzhu's sister-in-law saw the door open, she cried even louder.

When Lu Qingyuan saw the crowd of people outside, he was stunned. It was Ma Xiuzhu who reacted first and asked her sister-in-law who was lying on the ground.

"Sister-in-law, what are you doing?"

Then he looked at his eldest brother, "Did you two have a fight?"

Unfortunately, there were too many people around, and Ma Xiuzhu's sister-in-law was crying too loudly, so she didn't hear what Ma Xiuzhu said clearly at all. With the help of her husband, she stood up and threw herself into Ma Xiuzhu's arms.

"Xiuzhu, think more positively... Shi Shen is a miserable child... If he were still alive, he wouldn't have the heart to see you sad..."

She was almost crying and her words were out of breath. Her husband was standing behind her with tears in his eyes.

Others also came over to express their condolences. Ma Xiuzhu and Lu Qingyuan were stunned.

Looking again, she saw that all the elders from her mother's family had come, some of them even had burning paper in their armpits. Ma Xiuzhu became a little panicked.

Could it be that after my brother's wife and nephew were driven away, they suddenly became upset and something happened to them?

Thinking of this, her face changed and she shouted anxiously.

"Hey, stop crying. What happened to Yue Jie and his mother?"

Ma Xiuzhu's sister-in-law was still a little confused. She cried and said, "What Yue Jie and his mother? Didn't Shi Shen get into trouble?"

However, Ma Xiuzhu's eldest brother noticed something was wrong. Looking at the expressions of Lu Qingyuan and Ma Xiuzhu, it didn't look like there was going to be a funeral at home.

Just as he was thinking about it, he saw Ma Xiuzhu standing sideways by the door and pointing at the main room.

"Isn't Shi Shen sitting in the house eating? What could happen to him?"

At this time, Lu Shishen and Lu Guozhi heard the noise outside and just walked out of the main room. When everyone saw him, they immediately got goose bumps all over their body.

Someone opened his mouth and shouted.

"Oh my god, is this a ghost in broad daylight?"

Ma Xiuzhu glared at the man. "Bah, bah, bah, what are you talking about? My son is alive and well, what the hell are you seeing? You are old, do you know how to speak?"

The person who was scolded also realized that he had said the wrong thing and kept a straight face without saying anything back.

Ma Xiuzhu now understood that it was not her sister-in-law or her nephew's family that had an accident, but everyone thought that something had happened to Lu Shishen.

She refused to take it anymore, and angrily she slapped her thigh and jumped around, cursing with a red face and thick neck.

"What are you doing? In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, you came to my house with paper money to mourn. People who didn't know would think someone died in my family. How did my family offend you? My Shishen couple finally came back to stay for a few days, and you guys are trying to kill them. How can you be so wicked? Aren't you afraid that your son will be born without an asshole?"

At this moment, not only Ma Xiuzhu's brother and sister-in-law were dumbfounded, but everyone else was also stunned. They looked at each other, not knowing how to end it.

It was an elder from the Ma family who was relatively calm. He stepped forward and explained tremblingly.

"We came here because Yue Jie told his mother that Shi Shen was in trouble and died."