Song Lizheng shuddered, thinking, didn’t he tell his family not to tell anyone, how did Zhou Jiajun know about it? Could it be that Cao Dashan leaked it?
My heart was in turmoil and cold sweat was dripping down my forehead.
Song Lizheng's mind went blank, but he still tried hard to cover up for the Ling family and Cao Dashan: "I'm afraid the adults are mistaken..."
Zhou Chengyu's eyebrows were stern, and his whole demeanor was extremely low: "I hope the village head will tell the truth, otherwise..."
Song Lizheng fell to his knees with a thud, his whole body shaking like a sieve.
During this period, Cao Dashan was also brought in for questioning.
After learning the other party's intention, he fell to the ground but did not reveal the Ling family's identity.
Zhou Chengyu was a little impatient, but he still suppressed his anger: "Since we have found this far, we will not do anything aimless. Song Lizheng, tell us what you know, otherwise..."
Seeing that he couldn't fool the other party and was afraid that the other party would vent his anger on his family, Song Lizheng sighed and told them about the Ling family's reminder.
He also tried to make up for it, "The Ling family has experienced too many natural disasters along the way. They haven't seen the winter in Youzhou, so they stockpiled some firewood for the winter. Maybe they were misunderstood, which is why the rumors spread like this."
When everyone in Qingshan Village heard that the source of the rumor was the Ling family, they panicked and hurried to speak well of Ling Jiheng.
"Yes, coming from the south and never seeing snow, it's inevitable to be afraid of the winter."
"Yes, the Ling family has good character and will definitely not speak nonsense!"
Zhou Chengyu raised his eyebrows, thinking that the richest man was worthy of being the richest man. Even if all his property was confiscated, he could still thrive.
That's right, he had already investigated Qingshan Village before coming here. The Ling family, as the richest family in Jiangnan, had their property confiscated and exiled here, so they naturally became his main focus.
Zhou Chengyu did not suspect that the Ling family was hiding any private property. After all, when the royal family confiscated property, they would check the account books, and it was impossible for the Ling family to transfer assets in advance.
It is worth pondering that a poor person could still build a big house made of blue bricks and tiles.
"Take me to the Ling family!" Zhou Chengyu calmed down and let Song Lizheng lead the way.
Song Lizheng hesitated for a moment, but still took the first step. However, he gave the villagers a wink.
The villagers were confused and didn't understand what was going on. Only Goudan rolled his eyes and ran away through a small path.
Zhou Chengyu saw it, but didn't care. He just wanted to talk to the person who spread the rumor, and didn't intend to cause trouble.
But he was too lazy to explain and let Song Lizheng go on slowly.
I still had time to look around Qingshan Village and found that most of the houses had been renovated.
It seems they were certain the extreme cold would come and made preparations in advance. No wonder they were so protective of the Ling family.
What Zhou Chengyu didn't know was that the villagers of Qingshan Village protected the Ling family entirely for their own financial considerations.
Many of them had signed contracts with Cao Dashan and even used their own adobe bricks. If they couldn't grow mushrooms anymore, wouldn't they lose everything?
Although there aren't many things, every straw is useful to farmers, so how can they just throw it away?
So he followed Zhou Chengyu from a distance, wanting to see what was happening with the Ling family and whether they could turn the crisis into safety.
Yu Tingzhang's men had met the Ling family before, and they were quite surprised to see this scene.
Unexpectedly, in just one month, the Ling family was able to integrate with the locals.
They have registered so many refugees, but have never seen any family with such a strong ability to integrate into the environment.
The group of people strolled along, feeling that Song Li was taking a detour. But they didn't say much, because no matter how far the road was, they would eventually reach their destination.
On the other side, Goudan cleverly ran to the Ling family mansion and shouted as soon as he entered the door: "Oh no, oh no, Madam, run quickly, the police are coming to arrest you!"
The old lady was so frightened that she sat up from the kang, without even putting on her shoes, and came to the door: "What's going on?"
"Someone from the government has arrived on horseback, saying they're looking for those who spread the rumors. Old Madam, please take your family and run away. The village head won't be able to delay for long."
The old lady was confused: "What rumor?"
Yinbao, who had just hunted a wild boar in the mountains, immediately understood what was going on when he heard this.
He threw the pig to the ground and rushed to Qingfeng Courtyard without even talking to the old lady: "Master, it's bad, the government officials are here!"
Ling Jiheng was very calm when he heard this. He raised his hand and touched Chi Xingyue's long hair: "I'll be back soon."
Although Chi Xingyue had known that this day would come, it would be a lie to say that he wasn't worried when it finally came.
She pursed her lips and tugged at his sleeve, feeling a little reluctant.
Ling Jiheng smiled and soothed her softly, "It's okay, believe me, I didn't lie, did I?"
Chi Xingyue nodded and let go of his sleeve, but she was still worried, her eyes red.
Ling Jiheng tidied his clothes and came to Rongsiyuan. After comforting his grandmother, he stood at the gate of the Ling family mansion, waiting for the officials to arrive.
Chi Xingyue didn't lie on the kang either. She locked the door, went into the space and changed her sanitary napkin before opening the door and asking Baozhu to clean up the room.
After arriving at the East Room, he explained the situation to Shu Muyun and Ling Weicheng. The three of them went to Rongsiyuan together to face the situation with Ling Jiheng.
Jin Bao and Ling Yi were also nervous, ready to fight and escape at any time.
Chi Xingyue didn't want to make everyone too nervous, so she smiled and said, "My husband has done nothing wrong. The county magistrate will definitely see through everything."
Chi Xingyue thought that it was County Magistrate Huang who came, and thought that if he couldn't control the situation, the worst that could happen was to use money to smooth things over.
However, I didn't expect that there were two groups of people who came, and they were all people I had seen before.
The moment she saw Zhou Chengyu, Chi Xingyue's anxiety disappeared. She was certain that Ling Jiheng could survive this disaster safely.
Zhou Chengyu and Ling Jiheng looked at each other, neither of them said a word, but their eyes were fighting.
After a long time, Ling Jiheng bowed and saluted without addressing the other party, just expressing his attitude.
"Are you the one who spread the rumors?" Zhou Chengyu couldn't help but feel a little admiration when he saw that the other party didn't show any panic.
Ling Jiheng shook his head: "Are you talking about the coming extreme cold?"
Zhou Chengyu chuckled: "Yes!"
"I was the one who spread the news, but I didn't lie." Ling Jiheng was calm and determined, not in a hurry, and his voice was sonorous and powerful.
Zhou Chengyu's smile vanished, and he became serious. He glanced at the crowd of onlookers following behind him and told his subordinates to dismiss them.
Then he dismounted, walked up to Ling Jiheng, and looked him in the eye: "Are you sure?"
"Yes!" Ling Jiheng made a gesture of invitation.
Smart people can understand what others are thinking without saying much.
Amidst everyone's surprised and puzzled gazes, Zhou Chengyu walked into the Ling family mansion and headed straight for Qingfeng Courtyard.
The soldiers in armor also followed in, but they stood guard at the gate of Qingfeng Courtyard and did not let anyone approach.
As for the yamen runners from the provincial capital, they were also invited into Rongsiyuan and treated well.
The old lady didn't understand what was going on, but she asked someone to kill the wild boar that Yinbao had killed and make pork belly.
Also steam the big white steamed buns, and be sure not to make the other person feel that you are being rude.
Chi Xingyue went to the kitchen to make tea for the officials and added a pinch of sugar to it.
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