Mrs. Luo narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment before she said, "I'm from the outskirts of Baihe Town. My parents starved to death during the famine. So I've been working on the farm, but that farm didn't originally belong to the Ren family."
"Oh? Which family did the manor originally belong to?" Ren Yaoqi asked.
The Ren family's several large farms were bought when the former head of the Ren family, Baoming, was in office, almost at the same time as the Ren family's mansion.
"Before the Ren family, the farm belonged to a Tang family." said Mrs. Luo.
Ren Yaoqi recalled that this house seemed to have been purchased from a family surnamed Tang. Perhaps when this family bought their ancestral home, they also sold the farm under their name to the Ren family. This was a very common thing.
Seeing Ren Yaoqi asking Mrs. Luo what she was saying, Madam Zhou thought for a moment and called all the maids and servants out of the room. She was the only one left in the room to keep watch.
"I wonder if Aunt Luo remembers a family with the surname Qu? They should have been a wealthy family in Baihe Town decades ago, but later they fell into poverty for some unknown reason." Ren Yaoqi looked at Aunt Luo and asked softly.
Mrs. Luo squinted her eyes and thought for a moment. This seemed to be her usual expression when she was thinking about something. "I have never heard of such a wealthy family."
Ren Yaoqi couldn't help but frown: "Really? Think about it carefully?"
Mrs. Luo really thought about it again, but still shook her head: "No. Sister, are you sure it's near our Baihe Town? Could it be somewhere else?"
Ren Yaoqi couldn't help but feel a little disappointed and nodded, "Maybe I remembered it wrongly." After thinking for a moment, she asked again, "During my grandfather's generation, did the Ren family ever have conflicts with any other family?"
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Luo glanced at Ren Yaoqi and said with an apologetic smile, "Sister, what are you talking about? The Ren family has always been friendly and friendly to their neighbors..."
Nanny Zhou, standing beside Ren Yaoqi, interrupted coldly, "Mrs. Luo, our Fifth Sister didn't bring you all this way here just to listen to your nonsense. Just answer whatever I ask you. If you do, I'll give you a reward and send you and your granddaughter back home."
Mrs. Luo paused, looked at Nanny Zhou, then at Ren Yaoqi, who smiled faintly and remained silent. She thought for a long time before she said carefully, "If it's not compatible... it's not impossible. Back then, the Ren family bought several hilltops in the West Mountain to build coal mines. They once had a lawsuit with the owner of a neighboring hill because the owner wrote a complaint to the county magistrate, accusing the Ren family of digging the coal mine under his hilltop. But later, the Ren family paid a high price to buy the owner's hilltop as well, and the two families reconciled. Also, one year a coal mine collapsed, burying many people. The son of a family led the rebellion and was eventually arrested by the government. However, I heard that the man escaped on the way to be escorted, and before leaving, he even declared that he would never reconcile with the Ren family. But after all these years, he hasn't appeared. I guess he has turned into a pile of yellow earth by now."
Ren Yaoqi listened quietly and made a judgment in his mind.
Mrs. Luo then mentioned several other families, all of whom had had significant conflicts with the Ren family decades ago. Finally, Mrs. Luo racked her brains but couldn't come up with anything. She looked at Ren Yaoqi eagerly and said with an apologetic smile, "Sister, this is all I remember."
Ren Yaoqi looked out the window. It was already past dusk. Lanterns were lit outside the yard and candles were lit in the house.
"Let's stop here for today. You go back and rest." Ren Yaoqi smiled and brought the tea, motioning to Nanny Zhou to send the person out first.
Nanny Zhou sent Mrs. Luo out and handed her to the maid, asking the maid to take her to the outer courtyard to rest, and then turned around and came back.
"Sister, does this old woman still want to stay in the mansion?"
Ren Yaoqi was leaning on the kang, thinking about something. Hearing this, he looked up and said, "Well, let her stay in the mansion for the time being. We'll make plans after I come back from Yunyang City."
She always felt that she could get something out of Mrs. Luo, but she had to leave for Yunyang City early tomorrow morning, so Ren Yaoqi didn't have time to interrogate her in detail today.
"Then I'll arrange for them to live in the outer courtyard. Sister, get some rest today. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning at dawn." Nanny Zhou gave these instructions and withdrew, instructing the maids to come in and help Ren Yaoqi wash up. (To be continued.) This chapter has been read (please click on the next chapter to continue reading!)
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