Chapter 35
With food at home, there's nothing to worry about.
Since Shu Wanxiu received three months' worth of relief food, she has been sleeping much better than before.
Today is the second day after she received her grain rations. She got up when the sun was high in the sky, planning to have breakfast and then go down the mountain to chat with Aunt Chen, and also borrow a ladder to sweep the snow off the roof.
No sooner had they held their breakfast in their hands than they heard Aunt Chen and Village Chief Pang calling from outside.
Sensing their urgency, Shu Wanxiu put down her bowl and went out to greet them.
As soon as she appeared in front of the two, Aunt Chen quickly looked her over and, finding her to be relatively unharmed, asked, "Was your journey to collect your grain rations smooth the other day? Did you encounter any unpleasant things?"
Shu Wanxiu was puzzled, but still replied, "It went very smoothly. What's wrong with you two?"
As he spoke, he invited Village Chief Pang and his wife into the kitchen to warm themselves by the fire.
After Chen Sanhe sat down, she was about to explain the whole story, but Pang Zhishan only patted the back of her hand, and she swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.
Pang Zhishan took over the conversation, glanced around the room, gave a warm smile, and asked, "Are you still having breakfast?"
Shu Wanxiu looked at the bowl of porridge with a bit of embarrassment, but still answered truthfully, "Yes, I overslept today and got up late."
“It’s winter and there’s nothing to do, so it’s normal to sleep in a little longer. We don’t have anything urgent to do, so you can continue drinking your porridge and we can talk as you drink.”
"……Why!"
Shu Wanxiu lowered her eyelids and agreed, obediently picking up the hot porridge bowl again and sipping a mouthful along the rim.
Beneath his obedient exterior, he began to ponder what major event had occurred that made the village chief so cautious in inquiring.
"Shu girl," Pang Zhishan asked calmly, his hands resting on his knees, "When did you set off for the county town to collect grain on the 24th, and when did you return after collecting it?"
'Why are you asking about the grain rations? Could there be something wrong with the grain my family received?' Shu Wanxiu wondered to herself.
But since Village Chief Pang had asked her a question, she couldn't refuse to answer it.
"To be honest, I set off for the county town on the 23rd and stayed at the Fulai Inn in the county town for one night. The next morning, before the city gates opened, I was already waiting at the entrance of the county government office."
"If you do the math, I'm at the front of the line; I'm the third household to receive the grain."
As for the time she returned after receiving the grain, she answered truthfully without concealing anything.
Pang Zhishan's expression was fine at first, but when he heard that Shu Wanxiu had traveled home with her uncle's family, his expression immediately turned serious. He pressed Shu Wanxiu to tell him how many people were in her uncle's family, how many able-bodied men there were, and whether there was anything strange about the men in her uncle's family when they traveled home together that day.
Shu Wanxiu frowned slightly, becoming extremely vigilant.
Worried that some of the questions might be detrimental to her uncle and the others, she initially wanted to remain silent. However, Chen Sanhe reassured her with his eyes, and out of trust in Aunt Chen, she reluctantly answered all the questions.
Based on the answer, Pang Zhishan ruled out Shu Wanxiu and her uncle's family as suspects and finally agreed to reveal the truth: "On the day we received our grain rations, a murder occurred in our county."
This is not suitable for children, so Chen Sanhe got up and covered Shu Shouyi's ears.
As the head of the Shu family, Shu Wanxiu listened to the beginning and end of the case with a chill running down her spine.
"At the hour of Chou (1-3 AM) on the 24th, Lin Wenda from Wutou Village, along with his widowed mother, wife, and children—a total of four people—set off to collect grain outside the county town. Because they were at the front of the line, they received their white rice early. They were supposed to return to the village after collecting their grain, but due to personal matters, they were delayed and did not leave the town until the beginning of Wei (1-3 PM) to return to the village."
"When they reached a mountain gully about three miles from the county seat, someone blocked their way."
Then tragedy struck the Lin family.
"There were about six or seven thieves, all masked, but all of them were young and strong men in tattered clothes. According to Lin Wenda, the thieves made them leave behind all the relief food."
"The Lin family naturally refused and got into a fight with the thieves. Lin Wenda's widowed mother was fierce and grabbed the hem of one of the thieves' clothes tightly, almost tearing off the burlap veil covering his face. Unfortunately, this action provoked the thief's ferocity. The thief hit her on the back of the head several times with the back of his machete, causing her to die from her injuries."
Pang Zhishan couldn't bear to merely recount what he had heard from the constables; he couldn't imagine how desperate the Lin family must have felt when they fought the thieves.
Shu Wanxiu shook her head in disbelief upon hearing this.
"No one could do such a thing; only a beast could."
Recalling the scene of them chatting and laughing with their uncle's family on the second half of the way home that day, Shu Wanxiu first felt a chill run through her body, and then an inexplicable fire rose in her chest.
Which refugee wouldn't be outraged upon hearing about this murder case?
On the road to escape famine, there were people selling their children, exchanging children to eat, taking advantage of the chaos to rob, bullying men and women, and double-crossing... In short, all sorts of situations were common.
Why does fate always seem to bully these poor, honest people? Even after they've settled down, they can't find peace.
No, that's not right.
Shu Wanxiu shook her head again. This was a man-made disaster, not fate.
She touched her face helplessly.
Isn't a peaceful life good enough? It's not hard to survive on relief food, so why do you have to steal other people's food?
Ultimately, although it didn't happen to her, she couldn't help but put herself in the shoes of the family whose food had been stolen.
Seeing her trembling and shaking her head, Chen Sanhe understood that she was feeling lingering fear.
After sighing, he pulled her into his arms and gently patted her like a child.
"Auntie..." This hug gave Shu Wanxiu a brief moment of solace, and she hugged Chen Sanhe tightly as if she had grasped a lifeline.
After a while, Shu Wanxiu mustered the courage to continue investigating. She took the initiative to wriggle out of Chen Sanhe's arms and asked, "And then what happened?"
Pang Zhishan spoke slowly, as if afraid of frightening her: "Lin Wenda examined his widow's injuries with great distress and knew that the situation was not good. But the old lady was still conscious and able to speak at that time, and she insisted on chasing him away to pursue those thieves."
"Lin Wenda had no choice but to leave his wife behind to take care of his elderly mother before leaving, and ordered his son to go to the county town to fetch a doctor."
"He then chased after the thieves in the direction they had fled. At first, the footprints of the group were easy to distinguish in the snow, but gradually, the footprints began to diverge in different directions. Lin Wenda tracked them for a long time without success."
"In utter despair, Lin Wenda took his widowed mother's body and led his wife and children to the county government office to appeal for justice. After explaining the situation, he asked the county magistrate to uphold justice for them, and he and his wife and children knelt at the entrance of the county government office for a long time."
Out of compassion for the refugees, the magistrate of Fangyuan County specially requested instructions from the prefectural government to arrange for them to receive three months' worth of food at once. Little did he expect that someone would take advantage of his good intentions to do bad things.
"Therefore, the magistrate was furious and sent almost all the county yamen runners out of the city to investigate the case. People from our village also came. As soon as we received the news from the county yamen runners, we came up the mountain immediately."
If it weren't for the fact that Shu Wanxiu and Shu Shouyi's birth dates and times recorded in their household registrations didn't match the identities of thieves, the people from the county wouldn't have simply explained the situation to Pang Zhishan and handed it over to him for questioning.
Pang Zhishan had said everything he needed to say. Chen Sanhe sighed with worry, "If the government can capture those people in one fell swoop, that would be fine. But if they are alerted and allowed to escape, the entire Fangyuan County will probably be in chaos."
“We will come up the mountain to see you once a day. You are the only family living on the mountain. Be careful until the thief is caught.”
This reminder instantly made Shu Wanxiu uneasy.
She knew that Aunt Chen was right.
After the village chief and his wife came down the mountain, she thought about it for a while and decided to put the snow-sweeping on hold for now. After all, she had swept the snow once when she came back from collecting grain that day, and although it had snowed a little these past two days, the snow piled up on the roof was not enough to collapse it.
She was extremely suspicious, fearing that some thief might sneak into the house while she was taking Shu Shouyi down the mountain to borrow a ladder.
Two more breaths passed, and the more she thought about it, the more frightened she became. She couldn't even stay in the kitchen, which had no door, any longer. She took Shu Shouyi's hand and hid in the main room, preparing to move the rough pottery basin that Xun Yi had given her from the bedroom. For the next few days, she would stay in the main room during the day to make a fire and warm herself.
Even though Chen Sanhe covered his ears, Shu Shouyi could still vaguely hear things like murder and thieves.
However, he didn't understand how terrifying it was. Hearing more was not as impactful as seeing Chen Sanhe comforting Shu Wanxiu in his arms.
After Shu Wanxiu moved the fire to the ceramic pot, he stared at her with his big, dark eyes and asked his aunt why Aunt Chen had hugged him earlier, and whether he had cried.
"..."
"Auntie didn't cry, Auntie was just scared."
Shu Wanxiu pursed her lips, about to tell him some things, but Shu Shouyi suddenly opened his small arms and hugged her waist.
"Don't be afraid, Auntie, Shouyi will protect you."
He even patted Shu Wanxiu's back gently, the movements and frequency of which were exactly like how Shu Wanxiu usually coaxed him.
At this moment, Shu Wanxiu felt a mix of emotions.
After a long pause, she gently sniffed and hugged the tiny creature back.
...
People who are easily frightened even by the slightest sound of wind at night seem to hear ghosts howling. After Shu Shouyi fell asleep, Shu Wanxiu got up several times to check if the door was properly latched. She tossed and turned for a long time before finally falling asleep with a heart full of fear.
Meanwhile, the county government office in Fangyuan County was brightly lit, and the council hall was filled with yamen runners reporting the results of today's investigation to the county magistrate.
“Reporting to the magistrate, I have investigated three refugee households in Jumu Village and Sanglin Village, with a total of five able-bodied men, and found nothing unusual.”
“Reporting to the magistrate, I have investigated four refugee households in Taolin Village and Heishi Village, totaling eight able-bodied men, and found nothing unusual.”
"..."
Under the bright candlelight, after listening to a series of reports that "nothing was amiss," the 70-year-old magistrate's expression grew increasingly solemn.
"Reporting to the magistrate." Another yamen runner stepped forward.
His name was Mo Daowan. Among the people in the room, he was the youngest, having been in the county government for less than a year. If it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, the wide scope of the investigation, and the extreme difficulty of handling the case in the freezing weather, someone like him would never have had the opportunity to handle a case on his own.
Of course, even when he handled the case alone, while others investigated two or three villages, he was the only one investigating only one village.
"I was ordered to investigate two households of refugees in Wuli Village, totaling seven able-bodied men. One of them..." Mo Daowan swallowed twice before he had the courage to finish his sentence.
"I feel something is amiss."
As he spoke, the entire room fell silent.
The constables standing in front of, behind, to the left and right all turned their gazes toward him. Some were unhappy that a mere young man was stealing the limelight, while others looked down on him or were simply looking forward to a good show.
After hearing his report of something amiss, the magistrate showed no obvious change in expression, only tapping him with his index and middle fingers, asking, "What's wrong?"
Mo Daowan felt uncomfortable under the gazes from all directions. In order to ignore the attitudes of others, he simply lowered his head, bent over, clasped his hands, and addressed them.
"The two refugee families in Wuli Village are surnamed Shu and Liu respectively. The Shu family consists of three able-bodied men. According to my investigation, they have a good reputation. They not only get along well with the villagers, but also took good care of their orphaned niece and grand-nephew on their journey to escape famine. They went to collect grain with their niece and grand-nephew who had settled in Wupai Village. When the Lin family's grain was looted, they had already collected their grain and returned home. I questioned each member of the family individually, and everyone's account was consistent. I found no problems."
"As for the other Liu family, there are four able-bodied men in the family. The village chief and villagers of Wuli Village all dislike them. The reason is that after they settled down, they engaged in some petty theft, unreasonable behavior, and other misdeeds, which made others think that they were like local thugs."
"After finding out the details, I also went to the location where the Liu family lived."
He went to knock on the door wearing his official uniform. Liu Yinxue, the head of the Liu family, who was said to be a bit tough by the villagers, greeted him with bows and scrapes. Whether Liu Yinxue was bullying the weak and fearing the strong or not, the whole questioning process went incredibly smoothly. He asked Liu Yinxue any question and Liu Yinxue answered him without the slightest hint of being a rogue.
There were four things that Mo Daowan felt were not right.
Firstly, he had seen many refugees at the county government office, and even met the Shu family before meeting the Liu family today. As for the Liu family, they seemed to belong to the refugees who hadn't suffered much hardship.
Their entire family, from adults to children, wore clothes with few patches, and were more complete than most refugees. They were also not as thin as most refugees.
According to Lin Wenda's account, the thieves who robbed the grain were dressed in tattered clothes, which did not match the clothing of the Liu family members.
But in Mo Daowan's view, the more guilty one feels, the more one will try to cover everything up.
However, we cannot rule out the possibility that they had a considerable fortune before fleeing the famine.
Thinking this, he then asked Granny Liu a question.
And Granny Liu was the second and third thing that made him suspicious.
Grandma Liu's hair was completely white, unlike Lin Wenda's widowed mother who died innocently in her fifties and lost her husband while fleeing famine, whose hair turned white overnight. Grandma Liu's hair turned white naturally, and she was indeed very old, seventy-one years old this year.
It is no easy feat to survive famine at such an advanced age.
Because Granny Liu's eyesight was poor, Mo Daowan revealed her identity before asking any questions, even though the door was closed.
Upon learning that he was an official investigating a case, the old man could barely hold his cane and immediately asked, "What has my son done wrong?"
It's quite interesting. With so many people in the Liu family, why doesn't the old man mention his grandson or daughter-in-law? Why does he immediately ask, "What has my son done wrong?"
When asked if her son, Liu Yinxue, had ever committed any crimes in the north, the old woman said no. She said she asked this purely out of concern, because she was worried that her son would not behave properly.
As for why she was worried about her son's unruly behavior, Granny Liu refused to say.
He had no choice but to ask about the events of that day when the grain was collected, but the old woman didn't know the time she left home, nor how long the children carried her to the county town.
Finally, Mo Daowan asked how his family made a living in the north before they fled the famine. The old man said they farmed.
Obviously, this answer is problematic. So many farmers fled to the south, and look at their miserable state.
As for the fourth location, it was discovered from Liu Yinxue's youngest son.
This young man is still unmarried and a greenhorn. When he is questioned face-to-face, he always feels that the other man's eyes are shifting and uneasy.
However, his answers matched those of the other people.
As the saying goes, to catch a thief, you need to catch him red-handed; to catch an adulterer, you need to catch them in the act. Mo Daowan's points do suggest that the Liu family is somewhat at fault, but there is no concrete evidence to suggest that any of the Liu family members were involved in the grain robbery.
The magistrate sighed inwardly. This child lacked experience. If it were someone skilled in interrogation, they might have been able to extract something from him on the spot.
He asked, "Did you search their residences? Was the food they received that day white rice or something else? Are there any discrepancies in the amount of food remaining in their homes?"
“I searched them. The village hasn’t helped them build a house yet, so they’re living in several households. I searched each of their homes and found nothing amiss.”
That day, they brought along Granny Liu, who had difficulty walking. The Liu family arrived too late and only received some mixed vegetables.
He touched and looked at the grain sacks of the Liu family, and even put his hand inside to turn them over several times, but there wasn't a single grain of white rice.
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