It was the next morning when Liu Qiaoer heard the news.
She was awakened by the crying sounds in the yard.
"The county magistrate was arrested for being a corrupt official, and the eldest son is dead. Their entire family is finished. If we harbor someone from the county magistrate's family, we will also be implicated."
Lu Yunxi is used to his bed and can't sleep in other places. He got up early in the morning and wanted to help Liu Erniu with some work.
Unexpectedly, when Liu Qiaoer's aunt heard the news, she wanted to send Lu Yunxi to the yamen.
"You must be from the county magistrate's family, right? Come with me to the government office. If you harbor a criminal, our whole family will go to jail. You are trying to kill us."
“No, no, I won’t go, I won’t go…” Lu Yunxi burst into tears out of fear, and Liu Erniu also pulled her back to stop her.
"Auntie, please be kind and keep her..."
Liu Qiaoer quickly ran out of the house and grabbed her aunt's arm hard.
"Let her go. She is not from the county magistrate's family. She is a beggar I picked up on the road. If you send her to the government office, the government office will also charge you with framing an innocent citizen. Then getting beaten will be a small matter. They will ask you to sue her with silver. Let's see what you can do."
The aunt's arms were thick and Liu Qiaoer couldn't pull them apart. She pressed hard on the Quchi point on her arm. The aunt felt pain and had to let go of Lu Yunxi.
He stared at Liu Qiaoer with a half-believing and half-doubting look.
"You are a maid in the county magistrate's mansion. How dare you say that the person you brought back is not from the county magistrate's family?"
Liu Qiaoer insisted: "No. They are just beggars. What evidence do you have to prove that she is from the county magistrate's family?"
Liu Qiaoer only told Zhang about the identities of the Lu siblings and did not dare to spread the news at home. Grandma only knew that Liu Qiaoer brought back two beggars.
The aunt was just testing Lu Yunxi, but after hearing what Liu Qiaoer said, she knew that Liu Qiaoer had been honest since she was a child and she didn't dare to lie to her. In the end, she didn't dare to really send her to the yamen, so she let go in a huff.
"Your grandma let you stay for a few days because she felt sorry for you. The little food your mother sent is not enough to feed the three of you."
The aunt's triangular eyes glared and held up three fingers: "Three days, I'll give you three days, either pay or get out, otherwise I'll sell you all out."
The eldest aunt gave birth to two sons for the Liu family. They were usually domineering and bullying Liu Qiaoer's family was a common occurrence.
She could have sold Liu Qiaoer to the county magistrate's house, let alone two helpless children.
Zhang was right, Liu Qiaoer couldn't protect them and their siblings.
Lu Yunxi held her mouth in frustration, tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't understand what mistake her father had made, that not only was he kidnapped, but he also lost his identity.
"Qiao'er, they said my father was a corrupt official and my eldest brother is dead. Is that true?"
Liu Qiaoer's heart softened, and she squatted down to hug Lu Yunxi in her arms, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.
"Your father is a good official, and your elder brother will not die so easily. You have to be strong, and you still have a younger brother to take care of. Don't worry, everything will pass, it will all pass."
Liu Qiaoer decided to go into the city to get information. She didn't believe that the brilliant Lu Yunzheng would die so easily. He still had some evidence in his hand...
Unless someone has silenced him.
If that's true, since he's so handsome, we can help collect his body and build a grave for him, and let Lu Yunxi and his sister burn paper for him every Qingming Festival.
Liu Qiaoer entrusted the Lu siblings to Zhang and Liu Erniu, and went to the county town alone to inquire about the news.
Yesterday, County Magistrate Lu was arrested, and other officials in the county government were also implicated. For a time, people inside and outside the county were in a panic, and people on the road were in a hurry. Everyone felt heavy and uneasy in their hearts.
The refugees had long been settled outside the city by County Magistrate Lu, who provided them with porridge and food every day. He had originally planned to let the refugees return home once the relief money from the imperial court arrived, and the local village heads would help with their resettlement.
County Magistrate Lu was arrested, the porridge stall was gone, and there was no place to get food.
The refugees gathered outside the city and started a commotion.
"If you arrest Magistrate Lu, who will give us porridge? We are the people of the Great Zhou. Someone should come out and take care of us."
"That's right. County Magistrate Lu is a good official, but you arrested him and said he was a corrupt official. Why don't you send someone who is not corrupt to distribute grain to us?"
Refugees are all good citizens. They come to collect relief food because their families are affected by disasters. Unlike beggars, they also have dignity.
After a long commotion, the city gate was finally opened.
The officers and soldiers came out, pushed a few carts of food, and began to continue to provide relief to the refugees.
Liu Qiaoer had been waiting at the city gate for a while. There was such a big commotion in the city yesterday that the gate opened a little late.
Following the crowd, Liu Qiaoer entered the city.
She left in a hurry yesterday and didn't even pack her luggage. Forget about anything else, the storage space she traveled through was left at the Lu family.
Living in the apocalypse, everyone has a storage space, allowing humans to survive in the gaps between zombies and alien creatures.
The storage space is a medium and can be in any form. After traveling through time, Liu Qiaoer turned the storage space into a bracelet, which she never takes off.
The three months of traveling were very slow and comfortable. The storage space was temporarily unused, so sometimes when she was working, she would take it off and stuff it into her pillow.
Who knew that the county magistrate's house would be raided so suddenly that she didn't even have time to clean up.
In addition to inquiring about the Lu family's affairs, the most important thing for coming to the county town is to take away her storage space.
After Liu Qiaoer arrived at the county government office and Magistrate Lu's residence, she did not expect that it was surrounded by soldiers.
"We can't find the thing the prefect asked us to find. We have turned the entire mansion upside down. Do you think the eldest master might have hidden it somewhere else?"
"Who knows? The eldest son didn't say anything even after being beaten like that. If he continues to be beaten, he will be beaten to death."
"But if we don't find anything, we will be beaten to death. If all else fails, we might as well just do..."
The soldier made a gesture to kill the neck.
The old soldier shook his head and said, "It's better not to get blood on your hands unless it's absolutely necessary. Besides, Lord Lu has been good to us. Anyway, there are people above us to support us, so we won't kill all of them."
The soldier nodded: "Let's look for it again. If we can't find it, there's nothing we can do. Maybe the eldest master put such an important thing somewhere else."
The county magistrate's mansion was surrounded by a crowd of people. Liu Qiaoer couldn't get out through the dog hole. It seemed that she could only wait until dark before coming back.
However, Liu Qiaoer felt relieved at this time, at least it meant that Lu Yunzheng was not dead. As for what they were looking for, Liu Qiaoer thought about it and thought it was probably related to the disaster relief grain funds that Lu Yunzheng had been looking for some time ago.
Magistrate Lu and his family were only detained and would suffer temporarily, but they would not die. Liu Qiaoer went to the county government office to inquire when Mrs. Lu's family would come to visit them and take Lu Yunxi and her brother away.