Two officials also arrived from the Chen family's side. One of them took out a token from his pocket and said, "We are here to deliver this token to your family. It was sent by the Prince's Mansion and was given to our master to pass on to you."
"If your family ever needs anything in the future, you can take this token to the Prince's Mansion, and the Prince's Mansion will do something for you. This token is a reward for the insecticide your family offered last time."
Old Man Chen accepted the token. The token was quite nicely crafted, but it didn't look worth much, so he put it away.
Old Man Chen thought to himself, "It would be better to give us some silver like last time. The Prince's mansion is so far away. They may never go to such a far place in their lives. What use is this token? Silver is more practical."
Seeing that Old Man Chen had accepted the token, the two constables wanted to go back, as they had other matters to attend to!
Seeing them about to leave, Old Man Chen anxiously asked, "Officer, how did that little thief we sent over last time do? Did he say who sent him?"
One of the constables took out a money bag from his pocket and said, “Look at my memory, that little thief has already confessed. Young Master Liu sent him to your house. We arrested Young Master Liu and put him in jail. After beating him up, he confessed. However, his father has already paid to bail him out. This is their compensation to you, a total of twenty taels of silver. Count it and see if it’s enough.”
The two constables originally intended to embezzle the money, but seeing that the Chen family had already questioned them, they were afraid they would have trouble explaining themselves when they returned, so they took out a portion of it.
Old Man Chen opened his money pouch, counted the money, and found it was indeed twenty taels of silver. He immediately said happily, "Thank you, officer!"
Seeing Old Man Chen's excited state, the two constables realized that the Liu family was afraid of causing trouble, so the compensation they were offering was much more than just this amount of silver. The county magistrate had already taken more than half, and they had kept some for themselves. Old Man Chen was sure to faint from excitement.
If Old Man Chen knew what they were thinking, he would definitely say, "Give me all the money, give it all to me, I wouldn't mind fainting from excitement."
The two men saw Old Man Chen carefully put the money bag into his pocket, so they took their leave. Old Man Chen, with the silver in his pocket, smiled happily and did not stop them.
After watching the excitement, Zhou and his family went home. On their way home, Chen Kai heard that two government officials had come to their house that day. When he got home, Chen Kai ran to his father and asked curiously, "Dad, I heard that two government officials came to our house today. What are they here for?"
The eldest son's wife also asked from the side, "Father, did we send that little thief over to confess last time?"
Old Man Chen said happily, "Yes, but we guessed wrong. The mastermind is a young master surnamed Liu, not that Miss Bai. Their family even compensated our family with twenty taels of silver!"
"Those two officials even brought us a token, saying it was from the Prince's Palace as a reward for the insecticide formula we submitted. They said if anything happens to us, we can take the token to the Prince's Palace and ask them to do us a favor. But if you ask me, silver is much more practical!"
Seeing that Old Man Chen looked indifferent to the token, Xiao Tian solemnly said, "Grandpa, you should put the token away. We might need it sometime!"
Seeing Xiaotian's serious expression, Chen Kai realized that their family might need to use the token in the future, so he said in a coquettish tone, "Dad, just put the token away. If you think the token takes up too much space, you can give it to me for safekeeping."
Although Old Man Chen felt the token was useless, he was worried about handing it over to Chen Kai. What if his family needed the token in the future and it got lost?
Old Man Chen thought for a moment and said, "My good son, I'll keep this token myself. It wouldn't be good if you lost it."
The eldest daughter-in-law of the Chen family asked, "Did that young master Liu compensate our family with money and get released without suffering any hardship?"
Old Man Chen said, "He has been released, but he was beaten up by those yamen runners and suffered some injuries."
Zhou said with a smile, "Since that young master Liu has already been beaten, and our family has received compensation, and we haven't suffered any losses, let's just let this matter go!"
Chen Kai asked, "Since Miss Bai wasn't the mastermind behind that petty thief, were we too rude to her before?"
Zhou picked up Chen Kai and said, "My good son, don't be fooled by her appearance. This time it wasn't her who sent people, but the person who came to buy dye last time must have been sent by her."
Chen's second son's wife also said, "Little brother, even if it wasn't that Miss Bai who sent them, that Young Master Liu's family isn't in the dyeing business, so why would they send someone to our house to steal the recipe!"
“That young master Liu must be a suitor of the woman surnamed Bai. He wanted to give the prescription to Miss Bai to win her favor. Anyway, it’s all Miss Bai’s fault. You can’t talk to her anymore.”
Chen Kai said with a smile, "I think after what happened last time, that Miss Bai won't come looking for Fourth Brother."
Zhou said, "It's good that she's not coming. If she dares to come, I will definitely kick her out."
A few days later, Daya returned home and excitedly shouted, "The selection of workers for Liujiazhuang has been completed. Our village has selected 25 people, the neighboring villages have selected 19 people, and the neighboring county has selected 6 people."
Chen Kai said with a smile, "It seems that the steward of Liu Family Village takes good care of our village!"
At this moment, Chen Shi and Chen Nong ran back. Chen Shi said happily, "Uncle, Xiao Tian, let's go see them set up the shed!"
After Chen Shi finished speaking, the two of them each grabbed one and ran out of the courtyard gate.
Chen's second son's wife quickly called out from behind, "You guys stay out here for a little while and remember to come back for dinner early."
“We understand!” Chen Shi replied loudly.
On the way, Chen Shi said, "Right now, there are quite a few people building thatched huts in Liujiazhuang and on the nearby hills!"
Chen Kai asked in confusion, "Did they build those thatched huts to sleep in?"
Chen Nong said, "Yes, those who stayed behind to work would sleep in thatched huts."
When they reached the edge of the village, they saw a large number of people gathered together, setting up tents!
Many children from their village were watching the spectacle nearby. Some of the thatched huts were almost finished, while others were just frames.
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