At Zhou's house, Zhulan heard about the garden and went to see Mingling in person. Halfway through the walk, the siblings also walked towards the main courtyard. When they got closer, Zhulan raised her hand and touched her grandson's head. "Well, there's no swelling. Does it still hurt?"
Ming Ling felt a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry that you made me worry. I'm fine."
That means it doesn't hurt anymore. Zhulan felt relieved and reached out to gather her grandson's cloak. "Let's go, have dinner with grandma in the main courtyard today."
Ming Ling curled his eyes and said, "Yeah."
Yuyi signaled to the maid to call Yujiao. Their parents were not around, so they were the third room that had the most meals with their grandparents.
Back in the main courtyard, Ming Ling took off his cloak and imitated Master Yu, "Nanny, I also felt the dimple."
The little guy was very proud because he was the first one in the family to touch it.
Zhulan listened to her grandson with a smile on her face. She did not ask her granddaughter about the result. Her granddaughter came in and said nothing, but she had already made her attitude clear. "Does Mingling like Master Yu very much?"
"It's easy to bully her. My sister is so powerful. Mr. Yu won't dare to let my sister get angry in the future."
Zhulan asked, "Your sister can marry the eldest son and become a clan wife."
Ming Ling was stunned. He was young but knew a lot. Being born in a marquis's mansion meant that he was destined to be not simple. He pursed his lips and said, "Too tiring."
His mother was tired enough. In Qizhou, she seldom accompanied him. If his sister became a clan member, everyone would stare at her. That would not be good. He always felt that Sister Yu Lu was very tired.
Zhulan touched her grandson's hair and said, "Grandma is very happy."
What is important to Sun Zixiao is family, not sacrificing anyone for the sake of profit.
Ming Ling's ears turned a little red. All the children in the family were eager to get praise from their grandparents. When he just returned to the capital, he would be happy for several days if his grandmother praised him.
In Tujia Village, Changli brought his son to Dong's house. The little girl was the child he was looking for. The little girl also had a brother.
The Dong family had built several new rooms that were very conspicuous. The headman and his men came in and went straight to the woodshed. Changli was tall and strong, and he was well dressed. People in the village did not dare to approach him, so Changli and his son walked in smoothly.
As soon as Chang Li saw the situation inside, the fire got bigger. A ten-year-old boy was lying on the firewood, his face was frighteningly pale, and he was already twitching.
The head of the village asked someone to invite a doctor, and Changli said, "I have a doctor here."
As he said this, he made way. He was afraid of encountering such a situation during the investigation, so he brought a doctor and a lot of medicine.
The headman froze in his tracks. He thought that the child could not be delayed, so he politely said, "Sorry for the trouble."
The doctor had checked the child's pulse, took out a needle, and fed the child a pill. Finally, he untied his cloak and wrapped it around the child before standing up. "We are so lucky today. If it had been a little later, the child would not have been saved."
Changli knew that the doctor was not exaggerating. He saw the relief in the doctor's eyes and said coldly, "How vicious is the mind to be so cruel to a child?"
Minghui sneered, "For the sake of compensation money, the whole family is not satisfied with sucking the blood of the dead, and they want to occupy it openly. Isn't this child an eyesore? Look at this new house. Tsk tsk, I heard that the child's mother hanged herself the night she received the news. Why do I find it suspicious?"
The Dong family was afraid of the head of the village because this was a Tujia village and they were outsiders who had fled here to settle down. They were afraid that if they really angered the head of the village, he would drive them away.
The eldest son of the Dong family didn't want to say anything, but he would just say it anyway. After the head of the village left, he could do whatever he wanted with the child. The news had spread throughout the village anyway, so he didn't have to care about his face.
But this rich young man was too sharp-tongued. He felt that everyone was looking at him in the wrong way, and he shouted, "Nonsense, we adopted them with good intentions."
Minghui raised his hand, "Stop, I don't want to hear you talk, it will pollute my ears. In fact, the louder you yell, the more guilty you are. I am more suspicious now. It is said that a mother is strong. Even the weakest woman cannot abandon two children and hang herself. I seriously suspect that you hanged them for the sake of pension money. Tsk tsk, this involves murder and you should report it to the police."
Changli had already winked at the servant, asking the officer to come over, and then he said, "It's a murder case, we must see the officer, yes, and two children were almost killed, three lives, today I have learned a lot, it is said that poor villages produce unruly people, I think Tujia Village is also a prestigious village, how can there be such a vicious person?"
The headman's hands trembled. Today, the whole Tujia village lost face. If a murderer appeared in Tujia village, the headman would be furious. How would people in the surrounding area look at Tujia village? Tujia village had a good name, and the Wang family had a good reputation!
Minghui took a quick glance and thought, he had not intended to make a big fuss. He had a good impression of the Wang family, but what his father needed was time. Today's incident showed that the situation was very common. Of course, there were people with conscience, but when there were so many children, the children were really not worth the money, especially when the whole family was short of food and needed to survive. Grandpa said that human nature was most vulnerable in the face of disaster.
If the incident gets out of hand today, it will spread all over the place. Those who have no conscience and want to abuse the child will at least keep quiet for a few days, buying time for the father and son.
In the evening, Zhou Shuren came back and saw the table full of seafood. He was silent for a few seconds and said, "I ate too much seafood this winter."
"Yes, we have eaten a lot of seafood this year."
Because there is a lot of fishing, there is more seafood on the market.
Zhou Shuren sat down and motioned for his granddaughter and grandson to eat, "Today the emperor told me that the division of Rongchuan was not going smoothly."
"I've expected this a long time ago. The grassland is huge, and many tribes have had fixed places to live for generations. Not only are they suddenly asked to migrate, but the places where they have lived for generations are also divided. Naturally, they can't stand it."
Zhou Shuren picked up a meatball for his grandson and replied, "There are still some slaves. Many of them died as cannon fodder on the battlefield. There are still many left, plus the prisoners. Everything needs to be resolved."
Zhulan asked, "Ming Teng hasn't written back yet. Are they adapting well to the grassland?"
Zhou Shuren, "It snowed heavily on the grassland. It's good that they can come back this winter."
Zhu Lan asked, "Can the court select the ministers to be sent there?"
Zhou Shuren signaled his grandson to eat more vegetables. The child has liked eating meat since he was young and doesn’t like to eat any vegetables at all. He is a serious picky eater.
Zhulan also picked up a piece of vegetables for her grandson with her chopsticks. Seeing Mingling eating the vegetables with a bitter face, she was happy.
Zhou Shuren, "It was quite noisy."
Since no one wants to send people out anyway, in the eyes of the aristocratic families, what's the point of rebuilding the wild land? Everything is difficult at the beginning, and they would rather pick peaches than plant peach trees.
The emperor has a candidate in mind, but he deliberately hasn't decided on one just to watch the fun!
After dinner, Yuyi left with her brother and sister. Zhulan talked about Yuyi's attitude, "Yuyi is a child with big ideas. She is satisfied with Yueyang."
Zhou Shuren felt bad. Yuyi had been with them since she was little. Without her parents around, they paid more attention to her. They loved their granddaughter very much. "Hmph, it's a bargain for the Yu family."
"You say it or I say it?"
Zhou Shuren stroked his beard and said, "The Yu family is really not good enough. Look at how active the Liu family is."
Zhulan was amused, "It's true that I'm not very active."
Zhou Shuren said, "I will chat with Lord Yu another day after the court session."
"Um."
In the county town, Changli is no longer in Tujia Village. He is in the county government office. The county magistrate invited him to dinner and promised that the case would be investigated strictly.
The next day, Changli sent everyone around him out and went to inquire in person. The county magistrate thought it was just an isolated case encountered by the prince of the marquis's mansion and did not dare to inquire.
Chang Li was very quick this time and did not dare to delay for a moment. He found out everything about the children in the surrounding area within a day. Feeling very heavy-hearted, he wrote a letter to his parents.
When Zhulan received the call, it was already a few days later and Changli had already gone to another state.
Zhulan read her son's letter carefully. The handwriting was still ugly at first. The eldest son was just like his eldest daughter-in-law. No matter how much they practiced, they made little progress. Well, the eldest son wrote all the letters himself without asking Minghui to write for him. It showed how deeply touched the son was.
The eldest son wrote a lot, five pages of letters, and he seemed to have not finished writing, as if there was still a lot that he had not written down. Zhulan touched the letter papers, put them away carefully, and took out the prepared plan. Her son did not know how to use rhetoric to beautify his words, and his writing was very simple. She did not need to make any changes, as true feelings were the most touching.
The next day, Zhulan submitted a letter to enter the palace. The Queen Mother was surprised that Zhulan never took the initiative to enter the palace, but she replied to the letter and set a date to enter the palace the next day.