The boy's lips were tightly pursed into a straight line, and his face was expressionless at first, but when Lily talked about the village, his expression became more and more ugly, which made Lily feel a little bit unbearable to ask any more questions, but what should be asked should still be asked : "Who on earth killed everyone in the village?"
But the boy didn't speak, his eyes half-lidded to avoid everyone's sight, his hands subconsciously clenched into fists, his body trembling slightly.
Seeing this, Lily said again: "Little guy, we are not bad people. If you don't believe us, we can help you find the government..."
"No, don't!" This time, the boy cried out excitedly, his face turned pale, and he eagerly grabbed Lily's wrist, his eyes full of fear.
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, seeing how excited this child was, could it be that...
Ren Zinan frowned, his eyes fell on the boy's right hand that was holding Lily's wrist tightly.
After a moment of silence, Nangong Yue suddenly asked, "Little brother, can you tell me your name?"
The boy raised his eyes to look at Nangong Yue, and saw that the other party was fourteen or fifteen years old, wearing a plain blue robe, but exuding a noble air, and the respectful expressions of the other people around him obviously looked up to this handsome young man.
The boy hesitated for a moment, and finally said slowly, "My name is Cheng Zhe."
"Cheng Zhe," Nangong Yue said calmly, "the villagers here, as well as your parents and relatives, were all killed. Only you and this little sister survived. Now that we have discovered this, we cannot just sit idly by Ignore it, you must report to the government, you can’t let such a brutal bandit run around in southern Xinjiang! If you don’t want it, then you must give us a reason, a legitimate reason to persuade us. Do you understand?”
Nangong Yue looked directly at the boy with a dignified expression. She didn't regard him as a child, but a peer who could communicate. In other words, from the moment the village was destroyed, this child had lost the ability to be an ordinary child. right!
The boy, namely Cheng Zhe, shrank his pupils and his lips trembled slightly.
Nangong Yue didn't force him anymore, and waited quietly.
After a while, Cheng Zhe finally raised his head, let go of Lily with his right hand, but his eyes became firmer, took a deep breath, and said, "You can't sue the officials. The person in Tucun is County Magistrate Yu of Gangping Town." Almost gritted his teeth and opened his mouth, those eyes as dark as the night burst out with hatred in an instant.
That's really the case... Although everyone vaguely guessed this possibility, they still couldn't help but gasp when they heard the truth.
Cheng Zhe sorted out his thoughts, and told the ins and outs of the matter one by one—
Their village is called Chengjia Village, and behind the village there is a mine that has been abandoned for many years.
One night more than half a year ago, there was a heavy rain, and the rocks near the mine collapsed. A villager accidentally found a silver mine near the mine, and immediately reported it to the village chief.
The whole village was shaken. Originally, the village chief planned to report the matter to the government, but human nature is greedy, and who would be willing to give up the hen that lays golden eggs for nothing. A villager suggested that the matter should be kept a secret, and the villagers would mine the silver mine quietly by themselves. This proposal was immediately supported by more and more villagers.
From that day on, the villagers began to secretly go to the back mountain to mine silver from time to time. In order to hide this secret, although the people in the village are all wealthy, they are all very low-key, and they dare not wear luxurious clothes or gold. Silver jewelry, dare not build a new house, let alone leave this village...
But there is no impenetrable wall in this world. When a villager went to the town to buy hairpins for his wife, he was caught by the government servants by accident, and then brought disaster to the village.
Just a few days ago, County Magistrate Yu showed up in the village with a group of yamen servants, and firstly reprimanded them for stealing the silver mine.
After all, those villagers were simple and simple mountain villagers, and they were not very panicked when they were cheated by the county magistrate casually. They just wanted to be frank and lenient, and revealed the secret of the silver mine.
Unexpectedly, during the day, the county magistrate Yu would kindly say that he would intercede with Shangguan for them, but that evening when the villagers who had gone out returned one by one, he led a group of yamen servants to raid the village and killed all the villagers. Pomegranate and the little girl escaped unharmed because of Pomegranate's mother hiding them in the cellar.
While Cheng Zhe was narrating, the room was silent, everyone was filled with righteous indignation, and there was a storm in their hearts.
The county magistrate is a local parental official, who is supposed to protect the people, but has lost his morals. It is really disgusting to do such a thing that is not as good as a beast.
Nangong Yue pondered for a moment, then asked, "How far is that silver mine from here?"
Cheng Zhe hesitated for a moment, then replied: "Go south from the village for about a mile, there is a small path up the mountain, and the mine is halfway up the mountain..."
It can be inferred that at this moment there must be many men of the county magistrate Yu guarding the vicinity of the mine.
Everyone's expressions became more dignified, especially Zhou Dacheng. They didn't bring many people with them on this trip, and if they were discovered by the other party, it would be bad.
"Master..." Zhou Dacheng clasped his fists at Nangong Yue, "Should we go back to the station first and then make any plans?"
Because Zhou Dacheng was concerned about outsiders, Zhou Dacheng asked very reservedly, meaning, should he go back to the station first and then send soldiers to divide into two groups, one way to arrest the criminal here, and the other way to Nagangping Town to arrest the county magistrate
But even so, Cheng Zhe was slightly taken aback by the "post station" that Zhou Dacheng said.
Although he is not yet eight years old, he is still half-grown. The children of poor families have long been in charge of the family. Before the discovery of the silver mine, most of the families in the village could barely afford to eat, as if he had already been sent to the town He was an apprentice in the past, but he was taken back because of the silver mine. Although he only stayed in the town for a few months, he also heard a lot of things. For example, ordinary people cannot live in this inn, and it is an inn that only government officials can live in.
In other words, the savior of himself and pomegranate must not be an ordinary person!
So, can these people avenge themselves, pomegranates, and relatives? !
Thinking of this possibility, Cheng Zhe's heart surged.
Half an hour ago, when he and Pomegranate were snuggling in the cellar, he thought they would die there so silently, no one would know, and he could only go to the underworld to reunite with their relatives with endless grievances...
Unexpectedly, when he was about to give up hope, there was a commotion outside. He decided to take a gamble. The person who won the bet was not the magistrate Yu, so he threw out the broken porcelain in his hand with all his strength...
When he heard the creaking sound of the cellar door opening and the stranger's accent, he knew that he had won the bet. He bet back two lives for himself and Pomegranate.
But what he never expected was that his bet not only won their lives, but he might even win the chance for his family and all the villagers to pay their debts with blood!
For a moment, Cheng Zhe felt that his originally weak body seemed to have strength again, and his heart, which was originally ashamed, was ignited with a spark of hope. He gritted his teeth, got up quickly, then knelt down on the cold ground with a plop, kowtowed and begged: "Master, please be the master of our whole village!"
He knocked hard once, and wanted to knock a second time, but Baihe and Ren Zinan hurriedly stopped him.
Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps outside the house, and Mo Xiuyu walked in quickly, clasped his fists at Nangong Yue and Zhou Dacheng anxiously, and said, "My lord, Mr. Zhou, there are six or seven people escorting two carriages to I went up the mountain directly behind the village, and my subordinates have ordered Chen Bei and Lu Hu to follow them quietly to check. Those people seem to be dressed like yamen servants..."
"It's them! It must be the gang of thieves from Gangping Town!" Cheng Zhe's eyes widened excitedly, with intense hatred bursting out from them, his voice became hoarse with anger, "I beg you, my lord, to be grassroots people!" Decide with the innocent people in this village!"
He crawled on the ground humbly, his fists clenched tightly.
"Cheng Zhe, as long as what you said is true, I will definitely make the decision for you." Nangong Yue said firmly, "Get up." Nan Jiang couldn't tolerate such a lawless and inhuman parent official!
Ren Zinan helped Cheng Zhe up neatly, Zhou Dacheng and Mo Xiuyu exchanged glances, and the two wanted to urge Nangong Yue to return to the post station quickly, but before they could say anything, another sound of messy footsteps came from outside the house, A tall guard strode into the house.
His complexion was so ugly that everyone's heart skipped a beat.