The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 248 - 237: Association

Chapter 248: Chapter 237: Association

Old Master Bai’s eyes widened in shock.

Ms. Liu said, "I think I know why they’re here. The dam at Kanwei Weir has broken, but the weir is repaired annually—not to mention that in the first year of the Great Zhen era, the court had allocated a significant amount of funding to extensively repair it, amounting to eight hundred thousand taels. How could it possibly breach this year, and with such ferocity at that?"

Old Master Bai felt cold in his limbs and opened his mouth as if to speak about the relentless rainstorm that had lasted for over half a month.

Yet Ms. Liu continued, "Even if there were heavy rains, even if there was indeed a flood, it should not have been this severe. You don’t know, but at the base of Kanwei Weir, barely one-tenth of the people survived."

Old Master Bai’s throat was dry as he asked, "How could Auntie know about this so clearly?"

How could I know?

Of course, by constantly having people to watch and listen!

For the wealthy and well-connected Ms. Liu, this was not difficult.

Old Master Bai thought of this himself and changed his question, "Is Ziqi here because of Kanwei Weir?"

"Yes, he once wrote in a letter home that the repairs of Kanwei Weir were not going smoothly." Ms. Liu did not elaborate on the details, but this was enough for Old Master Bai.

In other words, Bai Qi died from murder, and it was related to Kanwei Weir.

And what could be involved with a major water infrastructure project?

It could only be corruption, accepting bribes, substituting inferior materials for good ones.

Old Master Bai was silent for a long time before asking, "What does this have to do with Zhou Yin?"

Ms. Liu’s gaze was deep as she said, "When Qi’er was fleeing for his life, he had been helped by a couple. I have been looking for them ever since. Although in the end, Qi’er did not survive, we always need to show gratitude to those who assisted. However, I never expected that they too had perished."

The people of Qili Village bit their teeth and remained silent when questioned by the officials, all to keep the secret. Zhou Yin even sold himself into servitude and hadn’t returned since.

In such a remote and impoverished area, besides the villagers of Qili Village, only Ms. Qian’s brothers from her maternal family knew about it—not even Zhou Yin’s uncles.

Fortunately, at that time he had only been back for two days, and since he was planning to return to live in his hometown in the future, he had devoted all his energy to his family and the village. He hadn’t had the chance to inform relatives outside the village, so the matter remained hidden.

If anyone other than Ms. Liu had asked today, Old Master Bai would not possibly have revealed it.

Regarding this matter, even the Old Madam who lived there and Mrs. Bai knew nothing.

Ms. Liu wanted to send someone to investigate; naturally, they found nothing.

Old Master Bai knew that Ms. Liu surely had many things that she didn’t tell him. The issue was so big, he was not even sure if he wanted to know.

For knowing too much was clearly a danger in itself.

Ms. Liu said, "Don’t talk about this with anyone else; it’s best that we are the only ones who know."

"Yes, I won’t mention this to Mother either," Old Master Bai said. "How does Auntie plan to deal with those people?"

Ms. Liu remained silent.

Old Master Bai had a bad feeling and hurriedly said, "Aunt, such people are a bane to keep; you can’t be thinking about keeping them for evidence."

"So we just kill them?"

Old Master Bai’s face turned pale.

Ms. Liu’s expression also seemed troubled.

Neither of them had ever killed or even witnessed a killing.

Even though Ms. Liu had seen many dark secrets, she never involved herself in matters of life and death. These were three living humans; even if she knew they came for them, it would be too much for Ms. Liu to just snuff them out.

After a long silence, Old Master Bai suggested, "Or break their arms and legs, poison them to silence, and keep them at a Little Manor?"

Ms. Liu: ...

That idea was no good at all.

She averted her gaze, taking a moment before saying, "What if we hand them over to Lord Wei?"

Old Master Bai was taken aback.

Ms. Liu looked at the teacup in her hands and unconsciously adjusted the tea bowl, speaking softly, "The dam break at Kanwei Weir is a serious matter; surely Lord Wei isn’t here just for disaster relief?"

Old Master Bai asked, "Does Auntie have any other evidence?"

Ms. Liu shook her head, "No more. The people who followed Qi’er are all gone now. When Zhou Yin was carried back, you should remember, didn’t you say there was nothing on them?"

"Yes, there was nothing."

Ms. Liu nodded thoughtfully.

But handing them over to Wei Zhi...

Old Master Bai clenched his teeth and said softly, "Auntie, I need to think this over."

"We do need to think it over; I also need to think," she replied.

"Grandmother, Grandmother——"

The voice of Bai Shanbao came from a distance, growing closer. Ms. Liu looked toward the door, but evidently, someone was being stopped. The voice of the nanny came from outside, "Young Master, the Old Madam is in conversation with your uncle."

"Let him in," she said.

Upon hearing the Old Madam’s voice, the nanny stepped aside.

Bai Shanbao ran in, first greeting his grandmother and uncle respectfully, and then approached and clung to Ms. Liu’s arm, saying, "Grandmother, I want to go to Manbao; many tiles fell from her room last night."

"You just want to join in the excitement, don’t you?"

"Not at all! You won’t let me go to school, so let me go check on her. Besides, her father is injured, as are her brothers. Didn’t you say we should help our neighbors? I need to go and help them."

"Fine," Ms. Liu considered for a moment, then said, "Since there are many injured in their family, send Daji with some medicine for wounds."

She then instructed the nanny, "Send someone to draw some coins; no, use copper coins instead. Give them to each household that suffered injuries yesterday. The Zhou Family suffered the most losses, so give them five taels of silver, and give two hundred coins to each of the other households."

It was not a lot, just enough to cover medical treatment and medicines, but it was a token of her kindness.

She could feel that the three people who had come were not just after Zhou Yin; they were also after them, and she sensed danger from them.

And there was one thing she hadn’t told anyone, including her daughter-in-law Ms. Zheng.

The Zhou family was also discussing money matters.

Unlike Ms. Liu, who could casually offer financial assistance, the Zhou family’s money matters were different.

Ms. Qian was the first to take out the box of coins. After a glance at the copper coins inside, Old Zhou knew it wasn’t enough, and the others were aware of it too.

Then Junior Ms. Qian went to fetch her private savings.

Seeing this, the second and third wives also brought out their private money, and Ms. Fang pulled Zhou SiLang to retrieve some cash as well.

Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, seeing the situation, slipped away to find Manbao, "Where is the money we saved?"

If there was anyone in the family who could be considered wealthy, it would definitely be Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang.

Manbao handed them their moneyboxes, and despite some reluctance, they still took it and went to the legitimate wife’s quarters.

Manbao also brought her own moneybox along.

Small contributions accumulated to a significant amount. Seeing all the money, especially the savings of Fifth and Sixth, not only did Old Zhou widen his eyes, but even Ms. Qian could not help but be astonished.

Having inspected the money several times, Old Zhou couldn’t resist smacking Zhou Wulang on the head, "Well done, you’ve managed to save so much. How did you do it?"

Old Zhou knew they occasionally checked the boys’ private money, and he often siphoned off cash from the two, aware they had savings with Manbao—but he had never imagined it to be this substantial.

He recalled that they had already contributed significantly when building the new house last year.

Zhou Wulang, rubbing his head, protested, "This is the money I saved for getting married."

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