Chapter 231: Searching the Corpse and Dividing the Silver
Gu Tianbao took Gu Lianshan to the alleys to find those kidnappers. If they had not yet left, they would catch them and beat them up before sending them to the yamen.
If I leave, I can only bear it.
As for Gu Lian, she was worried about Gu Tianbao and wanted to go with him, but the clan leader's wife, Yang, stopped her and told her to go with him to the city gate.
Gu Qing did not return to the cloth shop, and there was no sign of him in the alley. It went without saying that he had probably gone to the city gate.
Gu Lian went with them. If she saw Gu Qing, she could testify and tie him up!
The villagers of Shanghe Village split into two groups and left with stern faces.
After they left the cloth shop, the shopkeeper, who had been eavesdropping with bated breath, took a deep breath and raised his voice to ask the customers in the shop.
"Does anyone know who that girl named 'Gu Qing' is from? I have to talk to my relatives about it when I get back.
No matter if they are rich or poor, if there is a boy in this family who wants to get married, you must open your eyes and see clearly who the person is! You can't marry a vicious woman!"
"That's the truth! Does anyone know?" Many women thought the same as the shopkeeper and asked.
An old woman with gray hair said loudly, "It seems to be the daughter of Gu Tongsheng from Shanghe Village!"
"Gu Tongsheng from Shanghe Village?"
“Yes, there is only one student in Shanghe Village, he is over 30 years old, he takes the imperial examination every year, but he fails every year.
I heard that Gu Tongsheng had two daughters and one son. The eldest daughter was named "Qing", the second daughter was named "Lian", and the only son was named "Tianbao."
"Oh! This all matches up! I heard the people in Shanghe Village call the brother and sister who risked their lives to save their cousin 'Lian Yatou' and 'Tian Bao'. I guess the one who cruelly hurt them was indeed 'Gu Qing'."
"This is really rare. They are born to the same parents, so why is the eldest sister so different from her younger siblings?"
"Everyone, remember this and go back and tell your neighbors and relatives about this. Especially those who are planning to find marriages for their children, pay attention. This brother and sister are not very old. Gu Qing is only two years older than them.
Think about it, now is the time to talk about marriage, you have to see the person clearly, you can't really bring back a vicious woman, if that happens, I'm afraid the whole family will die!"
These words made the women alert, and they all took the old woman's words to heart.
Gu Qing, the daughter of Gu Tongsheng from Shanghe Village.
Can’t marry!
You can’t even get married if you’ve been single all your life!
…
Gu Lianshan and his group were a group of strong laborers. They moved much faster than the clan leader and his companions, and soon they arrived at the alley.
According to what Gu Lian said, just keep walking inside, then turn left, turn left, turn right, and turn left again, and you will reach the place where Gu Tang is using medicine to spray the beggar.
Before reaching the destination, Gu Lianshan had already prepared himself mentally for the outcome.
After all, Gu Lian and Gu Tang had all run away, and those kidnappers were not stupid. They knew that the two sisters would definitely call for help. If they continued to stay here, one could imagine what would happen to them.
Unless those kidnappers are dead, those people will crawl away and hide.
Gu Lianshan was mentally prepared, but he forgot that the direction of all things in this world is unpredictable.
When he arrived at the place Gu Lian mentioned, he looked at the five people lying in Liuchi Hutong. He was dazed for a moment and rubbed his eyes subconsciously, thinking he had seen it wrong.
"Why are you lying on the ground without moving?"
The villagers who were traveling with him were even more confused than Gu Lianshan. They walked forward and took a few looks. Someone noticed something was wrong and quickly squatted down to check their breathing. They soon discovered that all the people on the ground had stopped breathing.
No breathing...that means death!
"They're all dead! These people are all dead!" After hearing this result, everyone panicked and retreated, not daring to move forward.
When he heard that someone was dead, Gu Lianshan frowned, but he calmed down in his heart.
"What are you shouting about? Shut up!" He glared at them unhappily and scolded them in a low voice.
Gu Lianshan asked them to step back and walked to the pile of dead bodies himself, sniffing the breath of each one.
After the investigation, he nodded and said that they were indeed dead.
"Brother Lian-Shan... could it be that your daughter gave you too much medicine..."
They thought that Gu Tang had poisoned the person to death.
Gu Lianshan was unhappy: "What nonsense are you talking about! Lian said that my daughter only sprayed the powder into the eyes of those kidnappers. I guess it was some powder that stimulated their eyes to shed tears. How could it kill people?"
Too……
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and felt that this made sense.
"These people must have been beaten to death. Look at the sides of their heads, there are large purple patches. Doctor Gu said this spot is called something. Don't hit it when you beat someone up. It can kill them!"
Hearing this, everyone suppressed their panic and stepped forward again. Following the direction Gu Lianshan pointed, they saw a purple mark on both sides of the head of each dead person.
It really looked like he was beaten.
It seems that they were overthinking it just now. The deaths of these people really had nothing to do with Lianshan's daughter.
"Where is Tianbao?" Gu Lianshan asked them in a low voice, not daring to speak loudly for fear of disturbing the people living inside the courtyard walls on both sides.
It was the first time Gu Tianbao saw a dead person. He was so scared that his hands and feet were shaking and he kept hiding behind the crowd.
At this moment, he heard Gu Lianshan calling him, and he came out trembling: "Second Uncle..."
Seeing the people, Gu Lianshan waved to him quickly: "Come, come, come over and take a closer look to see if these people are the kidnappers."
Gu Tianbao's body froze instantly, and he gritted his teeth and moved over there reluctantly.
Gu Lianshan thought he was too slow, so he waited for the man to get closer, then dragged him to the pile of dead bodies and asked him to open his eyes wide and take a closer look.
Gu Tianbao's hair almost stood up!
Looking at the corpses in front, behind, and on both sides, my eyes went dark and I wanted to faint but didn't dare to.
He thought for a while, then mustered up the courage to look at the dead bodies on the ground. He stared at one of the men with moles on his face and nodded continuously.
"It's the kidnapper! I remember this guy! He had a big mole on his face, I remember it very clearly!"
"It's good that it's them." Gu Lianshan spat at the corpses, "They got it so easy! If this falls into my hands, I will skin them alive!"
"I don't know who killed these people. I just counted them and there were five of them!"
"They all look pretty strong. Those who kill people either have a large group of people or have some amazing kung fu skills!"
"Is he some kind of hero or some other kind of person in the martial arts world?"
"Do you think this is storytelling?"
…
The panic gradually dissipated, and everyone began to wonder who killed these people, and they all expressed their own guesses.
Gu Lianshan didn't care about this. "No matter who killed him, he was a good man who got rid of harm for the people!"
That’s right!
Everyone nodded. They all had daughters. Although they did not pay as much attention to their daughters as they did to their sons, they were still raised from childhood.
They follow you around all day long, calling you "Dad" and being bought all the good food and clothes. If they were suddenly kidnapped and sold, who wouldn't go crazy?
Gu Lianshan stared at the corpses for a while, and suddenly squatted down and started searching the corpses.
Everyone was startled by his sudden action: "Brother Lian, Brother Lianshan...what are you doing?!"
"I don't know if these people have any silver on them. Search them all. I don't want the silver I find. I'll divide it all between you!"
Everyone: ...Searching for money from a dead person?!
A group of people looked at each other. Although it was a bit unlucky, they were more afraid of being poor!
"Brother Lianshan, take a rest! We can do it on our own!"
The crowd, having figured it out, were no longer afraid and quickly stepped forward, finding two bodies for each one and quickly stripping them naked, even checking every edge and corner of their clothes. What if someone had sewed banknotes into their clothes?
It’s hard to say for sure!
In short, nothing was left behind and the search was very thorough.
After searching all five bodies, they found ten silver coins of various sizes and two silver notes, one worth five taels and the other worth ten taels.
Faced with this silver, everyone was jealous but also grateful that the Lianshan brothers remembered to search the body, otherwise they would have missed out on this silver.
Gu Lianshan carried a small scale with him. He weighed the silver ingot in front of everyone and found it was fifteen taels.
Fifteen taels of silver bars, plus fifteen taels of silver notes, totaling thirty taels.
Except for Gu Lianshan and Gu Tianbao, it was the first time for everyone to see so much silver.
Excluding Gu Lianshan, there were twelve people left in their group.
The 30 taels of silver were divided equally among the twelve people, with each person getting 2.5 taels.
The silver bars are easy to separate, just use scissors to cut them apart, but the silver notes are a bit troublesome.
If you spend it directly, it's fine, but if you take it to a bank to exchange it for cash, you will have to pay an additional exchange fee.
Who will pay for this?
Deduct it from these thirty taels of silver?
In order to avoid any unpleasantness over the division of silver, Gu Lianshan put away all the silver notes and silver bars.
"I'll go back and find someone to change all of it into small change for you. No exchange fee, you still get two and a half taels each. We'll meet at the city gate at noon tomorrow, and I'll give you the silver then."
"Okay, I'll listen to Brother Lianshan!"
Gu Lianshan's approach was perfect and no one would have any objections.
What's more, they originally came to help catch a kidnapper, but unexpectedly the kidnapper died, and they each got two and a half taels of silver for nothing!
Don’t underestimate these two and a half taels. They can provide a family of more than a dozen people with rice and meat in this winter, and everyone can be full!
Many of them come from poor families and only have one meal a day in winter. Plus, there may be a snowstorm this year, so now is a time of worry.
Now, with these two and a half taels of silver, the food problem has been solved.
Many men in the crowd had red eyes.
Gu Lianshan of course saw this scene, and he sighed secretly, but didn't say anything. He only told them not to spread the matter, and to tell others that the kidnapper had not been found.
As for the clan leader, he will go there and discuss the matter in person.
Gu Lianshan didn't need to remind them of this specifically. They were not stupid. If this matter were to be spread out today, it would definitely attract some jealous people, and then a lot of trouble would be caused.
Therefore, it is best for everyone to keep today's matter to themselves!
Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one around at the moment, Gu Lianshan asked everyone to go back.
Gu Tianbao was stunned: "Not looking for Si Ya anymore?"
Gu Lianshan waved his hand: "Your cousin is so stubborn that she won't suffer any harm as long as she is not trapped by others. Now she has disappeared, where can we find her? Let's go back. She will definitely come back after she finishes her work."
He agreed with this statement, as he had experienced the same thing before.
Gu Tianbao remained silent.
Walking all the way back, Gu Lianshan was the last one to fall.
As they walked, Gu Tianbao also fell behind and followed Gu Lianshan, hesitating: "Second Uncle... I don't want the silver, I want, I want..."
He spoke in a low voice, with his head down, and his speech was intermittent and hesitant. To Gu Lianshan's ears, it was like a fly buzzing in his ear.
Gu Tianbao hesitated for a long time and was unable to say the rest of the words. Gu Lianshan glanced at him and knew what he wanted to say.
"You want your uncle to help you find your mother?"
Gu Tianbao suddenly raised his head, his face full of joy: "Second Uncle really knows me!"
This is sour!
Gu Lianshan said with disdain: "You are not the kind of person who would quibble over words, and you don't even think it's sour to say this!"
Sour! Who says it’s not sour?
Gu Tianbao felt a little aggrieved, but he had no other choice. As long as he could get his mother back, a few sour words didn't matter. Compared with the suffering he had endured these days, they were nothing.
"Wait for your cousin to come back. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I will ask someone to go to Shanyao Village. If you have copper coins, find an inn to stay in. Don't go back in the next two days. If they leave, you can go with them."
"Oh!" Gu Tianbao felt relaxed all over, and the burden on his shoulders suddenly became much lighter.
He leaned close to Gu Lianshan and told him his true story without any defense: "I found some of the silver that my mother hid. There are about ten taels, which should be enough to hire someone..."
Ten taels?
Gu Lianshan thought about it in his mind, then nodded: "Enough."
That's good.
Gu Tianbao pursed his lips and suddenly talked about something: "My mother stole Si Ya's money... This is too hateful, my mother has to pay for this money!
My mother has a sum of money deposited in a bank. My grandmother secretly deposited it for my mother before she died. No one knows about it except me and my mother. The key to get the money is my mother herself..."
Gu Lianshan was confused: "...When you go to a bank to deposit money, don't you take out a banknote or a deposit certificate? When did it become a personal thing?"
"My grandmother spent money to ask someone to do it, saying that my mother was stupid. If she was given a voucher or a banknote, she would be fooled out of everything. Only if it was her, she would not dare to take the money at will.
My mother was afraid of my grandmother, even after she died. She was afraid that my grandmother would come to her at night, and she remembered very clearly what my grandmother had told her before she died. She would never use the money unless she had no other choice.
Thinking of Wei's mother, Gu Lianshan sighed: "Your grandmother died too early. If she were alive, your mother would never dare to do this."
Speaking of this, Gu Ping'an also had a headache. His mother had been spoiled by his grandmother since she was a child.
Ever since his grandmother died, his mother has been like a horse that has broken free from its rope, doing whatever she wants without any order at all.
"I thought, when my mother comes back, I'll ask her to take out the silver and return the money to Si Ya, and then give the rest to my second sister for safekeeping."
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