The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 462 - 451: Suspicion

Chapter 462: Chapter 451: Suspicion

As soon as the person walked away, the Zhou family immediately closed the front gate; Zhou Silang spat outside the door and cursed under his breath, "I hope this eats you alive!"

Ms.Qian’s face darkened, and she called out, "Four!"

"Yes—" Zhou Silang promptly turned around with a smile on his face, "Mother, what are your orders?"

Ms.Qian handed Manbao to him, "Take Manbao to the Bai family so she can study with the young masters."

Zhou Silang immediately stepped forward to pick up Manbao’s bookcase with eager diligence.

Manbao pouted, "Mom, I don’t want to go."

"What do you mean you don’t want to go?" Ms.Qian scolded with a stern face, "Didn’t you just say that Grandma Liu has returned? You promised to go pay your respects, so wouldn’t it be untrustworthy and rude not to go?"

"Go on, the sun is too strong. There’s no need to come back home for a nap; go directly to the teacher’s place in the afternoon to continue your studies," Ms.Qian said, "With the house in such disarray, your father and I still have no idea what to do. Staying at home won’t be of any use to you."

But Manbao felt her mother was hiding something from her. However, since she could not defy her mother, she could only follow Zhou Silang away, dejected.

Zhou Silang walked beside her, shielding her from the harsh sun, and comforted her, "Are you upset because that yamen runner was so annoying?"

"Exactly!" Manbao said, "And also, Uncle has died."

Uncle had died a long time ago.

Zhou Silang thought to himself, but he still put on a look of sympathy, "Actually, father and mother and everyone at home had anticipated this. After all, there was no news of him for so many years."

"The yamen runner said Uncle was married and even had a child. Those bandits are too despicable; they killed the child too."

Zhou Silang nodded repeatedly, "Indeed, they are all bad people!"

"That yamen runner is no good either; with mother so distressed, he was only concerned with taking things from our house."

Zhou Silang then offered her advice, "Manbao, aren’t you well-acquainted with the county magistrate? Next time you go to the city, you should complain to him. I just asked the village chief and now know his name."

Zhou Silang snorted, "Such a bad clerk, continuing to work in the County Governmental Office will only harm others."

Manbao nodded fiercely, taking the matter to heart, and asked, "Fourth Brother, what’s his name?"

The siblings continued their conversation while crossing the bridge. At this moment, Ms.Qian had Ms.Feng confine all the children in the small courtyard, leaving only her six sons and Junior Ms.Qian in the main courtyard.

The entire family and the village chief sat in the main room for a meeting, deliberately keeping their voices down.

The village chief inspected the road pass again and again, still perplexed, "I have to say, this description really resembles Uncle Little Silver."

"Uncle Yin is Uncle Yin; why do you have to add ’little’," grumbled Old Zhou, "So what if they look similar, isn’t this road pass description the same old lines? ’Fair-skinned with well-proportioned features, a slightly prominent nose’... what’s strange is, how this Zhou Yin is also from Luojiang County, and went from here to Shangzhou to get married..."

The village chief couldn’t help asking, "Right, Uncle Jin, wasn’t Little Yin’s wife surnamed Xia?"

Old Zhou muttered gloomily in acknowledgment, "So what a coincidence, right?"

"Indeed!" The village chief put down the road pass, his expression also turning grave, "This is way too coincidental; even the storytellers in the county taverns wouldn’t dare to come up with such a tale."

The room fell silent, everyone at a loss for words.

Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, who had heard various stories from Manbao, looked at each other and couldn’t help whispering, "Father, mother, could it be Uncle had offended someone, but he also had friends. Maybe this was done by a friend to ensure our family doesn’t have to worry?"

Old Zhou replied angrily, "Then why didn’t they come in the previous years and only wait until now?"

"Maybe they didn’t find us in the previous years?" Zhou Wulang speculated, "Wasn’t there an incident in our village last year..."

Zhou Wulang’s words were cut short as the village chief and Old Zhou both changed their expression, recalling the events following the disaster the previous year.

Both felt that what Zhou Wulang said made some sense.

The village chief, visibly troubled, inquired, "What exactly does Uncle Little Silver do?"

Old Zhou said angrily, "What can he do? He only studied for a few years, knows how to farm, and can make some small deals. Do you actually believe what those officials said about him running off to rob homes? Is that the kind of person my Erlang is?"

The village chief didn’t respond.

Old Zhou continued indignantly, "He looked so proud when he came back home, does he seem like a liar? Moreover, those officials who came to the village were very shady themselves, as you well know..." Old Zhou trailed off, his voice growing fainter; although he always believed that Zhou Yin wouldn’t do anything bad, he still felt some doubts over the years.

Zhou Yin’s stay at home was too brief when he returned; he spoke of his experiences over the years, but they hadn’t had the chance to inquire in more detail, and no one could verify the truth of his story.

It was only because of his early good reputation in the village that everyone subconsciously believed Zhou Yin wouldn’t do anything wrong, certainly not the banditry described by the officials.

But Old Zhou couldn’t provide any evidence to support this, not even a more detailed account of the past years.

Old Zhou wrapped his head in his hands and didn’t want to talk anymore.

The village chief sighed and then asked, "So, what do you plan to do about it?"

"We will hold a funeral for him," Ms.Qian suddenly said, "We’ll perform a soul summoning and publicly declare we’re erecting a spirit tablet for him. Over the years, we’ve only dared to secretly burn some joss paper and incense for him; we’ve never been able to properly worship. Now that the County Governmental Office is asking us to cancel our household registration, we should take care of all these matters."

After considering it, the village chief nodded, "That’s a good idea. Settling this will also put the villagers’ minds at ease. And what about the deed of guarantee?"

Ms.Qian looked to Old Zhou.

Old Zhou pondered for a moment and said, "We’ll need you to sign one for us; I’ll seek the other houses for the remaining four signatures. Don’t worry, if anything happens in the future, you just insist you were deceived by my family, and I’ll take full responsibility."

"What strange thing is Uncle Jin saying? Even if there’s trouble, it wouldn’t be our fault. It was the County Governmental Office that told us the person had died. We’ve steadfastly bore the brunt for so many years, and it’s absurd to be more afraid as time goes on."

In such cases, the first year of an incident is the most likely time for the truth to be unearthed. It had been seven years now, and the County Governmental Office had again provided them with such a good excuse; there was no reason for them to falter now.

However, asking someone to sign a deed of guarantee indeed entailed a high risk.

Old Zhou was obviously aware of this too, so he looked to Ms.Qian, negotiating, "Go open the money chest, and take out a string of cash."

The village chief was surprised, looking at Old Zhou — he was really willing to part with that much money, a whole string of it. Was this truly his penny-pinching Uncle Jin?

Of course, Old Zhou was also pained, but his younger brother would soon be able to have the chickens, ducks, fish, and steamed buns they gave him, and their family could finally talk about him without being too cautious. The dagger hanging over their heads had also been shifted slightly, so the pain was somewhat alleviated.