Yu Jiubei hurriedly said, "Xiang'er, kowtow to the boss and thank him for his righteousness."
“Father…”
“Keep your head down!”
Yu Xianger knelt down in front of Song Yuehua and kowtowed several times.
"What are you doing!?"
Old Lady Yu ran into the room, cursing, "What does this little girl know? Boss, don't listen to him, we want money..."
Mao Da Ge came over quickly and pulled the person out. "Aunt Yu, if you keep making trouble, the boss will be unhappy and will drive your whole family away. You'd better stop causing trouble for Old Yu."
"Don't pull me..."
Old Lady Yu struggled for a long time but failed to get out, so she was pulled away by the big guy Mao.
Song Yuehua waved to Yu Xianger and called him over.
"I'll tell Master Xie that you'll go directly to Class D tomorrow. If you can recognize the entire Three Character Classic within this year, you can continue your studies next year."
Yu Xiang'er didn't know what to say and just hummed blankly.
The next day, the government officials, Zhang Rushan and Pan An all returned.
With so much cotton being burned, Zhang Rushan didn't know how to comfort them. He just said, "I will definitely find out for you. Don't worry. I won't charge you."
Song Yuehua, "..."
The government runners summoned everyone for questioning, whether they were from the South Courtyard or the Main Courtyard, all were interrogated.
Zhang Rushan did not try to investigate anything, but followed the yamen runner, listening and taking notes.
Only the child Pan An ran away and no one knew where he had gone.
After two days of interrogation and investigation, the officials closed the case. In short, it was a wildfire caused by the dry weather.
Baozi didn't expect this result, and he looked quite depressed.
When Zhang Rushan went to see him, Baozi didn't even want to talk.
That night, Zhang Dandan rushed back in a hurry.
He had already signed the contract and was just waiting to receive the cotton, but this happened.
Looking at the black cotton fields all over the mountains, Zhang Dandan wanted to cry.
"Why are they all burned..."
Zhang Dandan found Baozi and learned that he still had more than 600 kilograms of cotton, and Song Yuehua still had more than 800 kilograms. He took them all.
"I'll give you 500 kilograms." Song Yuehua said.
Zhang Dandan said with a sad face, "Sister Song, please give me more."
The two bargained, and Song Yuehua agreed to give 100 more kilograms.
That day, they found a few villagers and quickly took away all the cotton.
After investigating for several days, Zhang Rushan privately told Song Yuehua, "In my opinion, someone set the fire."
“Who is it!”
Song Yuehua suddenly became angry.
Zhang Rushan analyzed with her, "I haven't found out who it is yet. These are just my speculations. Please listen first."
"There are 200 acres of land in the South Yard, but there are not enough people to pick cotton. In order to speed up the picking, Baozi set a daily quota for them. If the farmhands fail to pick a certain amount, their wages will be deducted. Do you think this counts as a cause?"
What this means is that it was the farmhand in the South Courtyard who set the fire.
Zhang Rushan continued, "The place where the fire started is quite remote. Once the fire started, it was impossible to put it out. The chance of this fire starting point is not high. The conditions for spontaneous combustion here are not sufficient. It can only be man-made."
Song Yuehua asked, "Is there no concrete evidence?"
"The actual evidence needs to come from Baozi. Ask him for the accounts," Zhang Rushan said, "In fact, I already have a suspect..."
"Brother Rushan!"
Before the two of them could finish their conversation, Pan An ran in in a panic, "The man is dead!"
Zhang Rushan stood up suddenly and ran out quickly.
The death of a person was a big deal, so Song Yuehua also followed after him.
Following Pan An all the way, they finally arrived at Old Li's house. At this time, the yard was surrounded by villagers and wailing sounds were heard from the yard.
"What's going on?"
"Someone died. Li Er hanged himself."
"Why did he hang himself when he was fine?"
"Yes, the couple, one jumped into the pond and the other hanged himself. How could they not be happy?"
"You think, is it because Li Er's wife is too lonely down there..."
"Don't talk nonsense. Are you going to sleep at night?"
Li Er’s wife, Song Yuehua remembered that she was the one who jumped into the Black Water Pond in the west a few years ago.
Zhang Rushan and Pan An squeezed in early, and Song Yuehua looked for a while and then went back.
Not long after, Zhang Rushan and Pan An also came back, and Zhou Dafu came with them.
"Uncle Dafu?"
Such a big thing happened to the Li family, Song Yuehua didn't expect Zhou Dafu still had time to come.
"Da Ya..."
As soon as Zhou Dafu opened his mouth, he sighed, patted Zhang Rushan and said, "You should speak first."
Song Yuehua, "..."
After they sat down, Zhang Rushan explained, "Li Er was the one who set fire to the cotton field."
"What!"
Song Yuehua stood up suddenly.
Zhang Rushan asked her to sit down and said, "Let me go through the whole story with you."
The daily workload of picking cotton in the South Courtyard is heavy, and there is also the pressure of having your salary deducted.
Li Er worked for more than ten days in a row but couldn't figure it out, so he set fire to the cotton field.
Song Yuehua's cotton field also suffered as a result.
As for why Li Er hanged himself.
When the police came to question them, they were all farmers. It was inevitable that they were a little nervous when they met the police for the first time.
Li Er, who was caught in the middle, was able to hide the truth from others.
Zhang Rushan focused his attention on the workers in the South China University of Political Science and Law early on, and naturally noticed more details.
After the messenger left, Zhang Rushan asked Pan An to follow Li Er quietly.
Apart from working in the South Yard every day, Li Er would stay indoors after returning home.
Having said this, Zhang Rushan sent Pan An away.
Zhang Rushan then said to the two of them, "Pan An was young, and he might have been discovered by Li Er if he had followed him. He was already under a lot of pressure, and with all the suspicions, he couldn't think straight and hanged himself..."
At this point, the three of them fell silent.
"Daya, we are the only ones who know about this now. Rushan told me that as long as we get the account book from Baozi and check it, we can basically confirm whether it is Li Er."
After Zhou Dafu finished speaking, he stared at Song Yuehua and said, "If this matter is exposed, Baozi will not give up, and the villagers will not be able to work in the South Courtyard anymore."
Song Yuehua asked, "Uncle Dafu wants us to pretend we don't know?"
"Everyone is already dead..." Zhou Dafu was indeed a little humble when he said this.
"Uncle Dafu!"
Zhang Rushan interrupted, "Hiding the truth will not bring more benefits to the village. If this happens again next year, should we continue to hide it?"
As the head of the village, Zhou Dafu didn't want to make things too big of a deal. Now that Li Er committed suicide out of fear of punishment, he didn't want to make things worse for the Li family.
But Song Yuehua doesn't think so.
If we fail to solve the problem openly and instead keep covering it up, it will only lead to bigger problems.
"Daya, give me a few days and I will give you a satisfactory answer." Zhou Dafu whispered.
Song Yuehua just said, "Uncle Dafu, please think about it carefully."
"Thank you!"
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