West of the village.
Qin Zhao sat down in the shade of a tree and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I told you that you are not in good health, but you still insisted on helping us move things." Lin Laoer came over carrying a basket of bricks. He was only wearing a jacket on his upper body, revealing his strong chest.
He had nothing to do recently, so he responded to the notice and came to help Qin Zhao build a house.
In the distance, a group of old men were grunting and moving bricks, and the air was filled with an indescribable smell of sweat.
Qin Zhao felt a little dizzy from the sun and shook his head: "It's okay, I'll just take a rest."
It was almost summer, and the weather was getting hotter day by day. In this weather, Qin Zhao couldn't stand staying outside at noon.
Lin Changzhong also said loudly: "I told him to go back and rest. It's good to have us here, but he refused to listen. I don't know why you are in such a hurry. Are you in a hurry to get married?"
"Uncle Lin, look at what you said. Qin Zhao is already in his twenties. Shouldn't you be anxious? When you were your age, your wife was already pregnant with her second child." Someone in the distance responded and everyone laughed.
Lin Changzhong: "Shut up and work."
This is the advantage of working in the village. Everyone is a familiar neighbor. When they are tired, they can chat and laugh, and they work more efficiently.
Qin Zhao rested for a while, and when he felt his strength had recovered a little, he stood up by holding on to a tree trunk.
The small courtyard in front of me has taken shape. The main house is almost built, except for the roof. The foundation of another small house to be used as a kitchen has also been laid. A deep pit has been dug in front of the main house, which will be used as a pool in the future.
Qin Zhao took a deep breath and picked up the basket of earth beside him.
Just then, shouting was heard in the distance.
"Qin Zhao, Qin Zhao, something happened in your family!"
The person who came was Li Dali. He ran over quickly and pulled Qin Zhao back.
Qin Zhao's eyebrows jumped and he asked, "What's going on?"
Li Dali's shout also attracted the attention of others. Everyone put down their work and gathered around: "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Li Dali panted and said, "I just saw a few outsiders heading towards your house. They are now blocking your door. Several villagers blocked them from entering, and someone has already gone to find the village chief!"
Everyone got angry when they heard it.
"Where are they from?"
"If you dare to come to Linxi Village and let me do this, you are going to kill yourself!"
"I don't know!" Li Dali pulled Qin Zhao, "Anyway, come with me quickly, or it will be too late!"
“Get out of the way!”
"What are you doing here? Trespassing is not allowed in Linxi Village. Aren't you afraid that we will report you to the police?"
"What does it have to do with you? Get out of my way!"
There was a lot of noise outside the door. The little koi sank to the bottom of the barrel, with even the tip of its tail curled up, and it was trembling with fear.
These people... are here to arrest him.
The door was slammed, as if someone was trying to break in, and the little koi's body trembled along with it.
The noise outside the door was getting louder and louder. Fortunately, Qin Zhao had changed the lock, so they couldn't pry it open. But the door was already very rotten and couldn't withstand several external impacts.
There was another bang, and the door was obviously loosened and a lot of dust fell down.
The low cabinet where the wooden barrel was located was right in front of the door, and it could be seen as soon as one came in. Jing Li finally became too scared to stay and jumped out of the water.
He didn't dare to stay outside, so he jumped into the bedroom, searched around for a while, flapped his tail hard, and jumped onto the bed. The small fish body struggled to get into the quilt and wrapped itself tightly.
Where is Qin Zhao
Time passed by, and it seemed that due to the excessive nervousness and fear, the body felt dehydrated faster than ever before. The little koi's tail flapped gently behind him, and he felt that breathing was becoming more and more difficult.
But he still didn't dare to move and waited quietly.
Just then, another voice was heard outside the door.
"What are you doing?"
The little koi's eyes lit up; Qin Zhao was back.
Outside the house, the four or five strange men in front of the door turned around and saw the person behind them clearly.
Qin Zhao stood there, his eyes were clearly indifferent, and when his gaze swept over those people, several strong men felt inexplicably frightened.
But they quickly came to their senses.
The way these people were dressed was different from that of ordinary farmers. The materials of their clothes were high-quality, and they were obviously from wealthy families.
They looked at each other, and someone stepped out from the crowd: "Are you Qin Zhao?"
Qin Zhao: "It's me."
"Someone reported you for hiding koi fish. We need to go in and search."
Qin Zhao didn't answer.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, the man who spoke regained some confidence and said, "If you don't say anything, it means you agree, right? Don't say you haven't seen the notice of the bounty for the koi. You found the koi but didn't return it as scheduled. Do you want to keep it for yourself?"
Qin Zhao said, "If you are talking about that little red fish, I did keep it for a while, but when it recovered from its injuries, I released it. I'm afraid you won't be able to find it here."
"He's lying!" a voice came from the crowd.
Qin Zhao turned his head and looked over. It was the fourth son of the Chen family.
The fourth son of the Chen family was still very young, thin and small, with dark skin. There were quite a few people gathered in front of Qin Zhao's house, and the fourth son of the Chen family had been mixed in the crowd before, so Qin Zhao didn't notice that he was there just now.
Chen Laosi said confidently: "The fish is in the house. I saw it with my own eyes last night!"
Qin Zhao's eyes moved slightly.
It turns out that he was the one last night.
Chen Laosi also looked back at Qin Zhao, feeling a little pleased.
At the beginning, his wife changed the medicine for his mother and almost killed her. He was not unaware of it beforehand. He was a coward who only knew how to drink and have fun on weekdays and had no ability to make money. If it weren't for his wife managing the family, he would not be here today.
So he turned a blind eye to the matter of changing the medicine. After all, once the old lady died, it would be beneficial for him to divide the family property.
But unexpectedly, this person disrupted the situation.
His wife is still imprisoned in the government office. Because of this incident, he only got a small piece of land and a shabby house when the family property was divided.
He can't do any farm work, and now he can't even get married. He doesn't know how he's going to survive in the future.
His life became like this, but this sickly man was still busy building houses everywhere in the village, and his life was getting better day by day.
Chen Laosi was so jealous that he was anxious and worried about how to take revenge every day.
If he doesn't have a good life, this person won't have an easy life either.
These days, Chen Laosi has been walking around Qin Zhao's house.
The folks in the small mountain village were simple and honest, and no matter whether they were at home or not, they rarely closed their doors. But only Qin Zhao's house had its doors and windows locked all day long, as if there was something unsightly in the house.
Chen Laosi was suspicious. Since Qin Zhao's house was locked during the day, he chose to come and check at night.
Unexpectedly, when I checked last night, I discovered a shocking secret.
Qin Zhao didn't let the fish go at all.
Almost everyone in the village knew about the bounty on the koi in the town, and they all knew that Qin Zhao might have kept the fish for a while. Qin Zhao said that he released the fish shortly before he saw the bounty, and Chen Laosi always thought that it couldn't be such a coincidence.
When he saw the fish still at Qin Zhao's house last night, he instantly figured out the whole story.
This person wants to keep the priceless koi for himself.
The notice in the town clearly stated that a reward of one thousand gold pieces would be offered for anyone who could find the koi, and if anyone could provide information that was confirmed to be accurate, they would also receive one hundred taels of silver.
One hundred taels is enough for him to spend for half his life.
So early this morning, he went to the town to report the news.
Not only can I make money, but I can also make Qin Zhao suffer a loss. This deal is a sure win.
Qin Zhao also wanted to understand the whole story, but he shook his head: "No matter how dissatisfied you are with me, you shouldn't take revenge on me and wrong me like this."
"I wronged you? How did I wrong you? I clearly saw you feeding the fish yesterday!"
Qin Zhao withdrew his gaze indifferently and ignored it.
This made the fourth son of the Chen family lose his composure.
"Chen Laosi, don't go too far!" Li Dali had been following Qin Zhao all the time, and finally couldn't stand it anymore and said, "I saw you hanging around here a few days ago. Are you waiting to cause trouble for Qin Zhao?"
The villagers have been particularly fond of Qin Zhao recently, and because of the incident with Chen Laosi's wife, they have some prejudice against him. After hearing what Li Dali said, they also started to talk about it.
"Yeah, wasn't Qin Zhao the one who messed up his wife's issue? He probably holds a grudge against him."
"You can't lie to people, and you even recruited a large group of people to break into their house. Isn't that bullying?"
"That's right..."
Chen Laosi's face turned red and he stammered for a long time but couldn't say a word.
The man who spoke first interrupted without getting tired of it: "Your grudge has nothing to do with us. We came here just to retrieve the koi. Since you said you didn't hide it, then open the door and let us see. If there is really nothing inside, we will leave."
Qin Zhao lowered his eyes and said nothing. At this moment, a voice sounded from behind everyone: "Qin Zhao, please open the door."
Everyone looked back and saw the village chief walking towards them surrounded by several villagers.
The village chief said, "Neither of you can convince the other. Rather than being deadlocked and disturbing the whole village, it is better for both of you to take a step back."
"Open the door. All the villagers are here to bear witness for you."
"Of course, if it is true as Qin Zhao said, that he did not hide the fish, I will punish Chen Laosi according to the village rules."
After hearing what the village chief said, Chen Laosi finally toughened up a bit and said, "No need for punishment, village chief. If there are no fish here, I will leave the village tomorrow!"
As soon as he said this, there was an uproar.
Only Qin Zhao frowned slightly, and no one knew what he was thinking.
After a while, he smiled softly: "Okay."
Qin Zhao walked forward, and the crowd dispersed from both sides. He took out the key to the door slowly, and raised his voice intentionally: "If there is no fish in it, I hope the village chief will clear my name."
After saying this, Qin Zhao unlocked the door and pushed open the wooden door.
Chen Laosi rushed into the house first.
The room was quiet. The wooden barrel on the low cabinet was filled with water, but there was nothing in the water.
"How could it be gone? He clearly put the fish in it last night!" Chen Laosi picked up the wooden barrel and looked around, as if he suspected that Qin Zhao had hidden the fish under the barrel.
Qin Zhao looked calm: "I did keep the fish here before, but I said that I have released the fish."
"Impossible, impossible, I saw him feeding the fish last night, he must have hidden it!" Chen Laosi shouted angrily, "What are you still standing there for? Come in and search, the fish must be in this room!"
The hut was soon packed with people, and most of the villagers were waiting outside the door before they could squeeze in.
Qin Zhao's house was a very small place, and the outer room was quickly searched thoroughly.
Someone drew aside the curtain in front of the bedroom.
But he just stood there in a daze.
"Why are you blocking the door? Go in and search!" Someone from behind pushed the man, and everyone went in one after another.
In the narrow bedroom, a very pale boy huddled at the foot of the bed, looking at them fearfully: "Who are you..."
The young man seemed to be extremely frightened. He hugged the quilt with both hands, covering his whole body tightly, leaving only his delicate and pretty face and a little bare white shoulders.
His eyes were red and his watery pupils looked like those of some small animal, revealing helplessness and grievance.
Everyone present felt their hearts skip a beat and their mouths became dry.
In the silence, Qin Zhao lifted the curtain and walked into the house.
Obviously, Qin Zhao didn't expect the scene inside the house to be like this, and he also paused. But he didn't show it, instead he turned his eyes away and walked over with a normal expression.
Seeing him appear, the boy's eyes became even redder.
Qin Zhao walked to the bedside, without looking at the boy on the bed, but turned around and blocked everyone's sight calmly: "Everyone, did you find the fish?"
"Fish... Yes, find fish, find them all for me!" Chen Laosi was the first to come to his senses.
But there is no place to hide the fish in this house.
Everyone searched around but found nothing.
However, the only ones who were still looking for the fish were Chen Laosi and the people from the town. The villagers didn't care about the whereabouts of the fish at all. Their attention had long been attracted by the young man on the bed.
Countless eyes were looking at the young boy on the bed without any concealment. The latter curled up in the corner, looking helplessly at the man beside him.
But Qin Zhao never looked back at him from beginning to end.
Jingli is very scared now.
He was afraid that these people would discover his identity and arrest him, and he was also worried that Qin Zhao would see him like this and find out that he had been lying.
Qin Zhao... is he angry
Jing Li pursed his lips, raised one hand, and gently and tentatively pulled Qin Zhao's finger: "Qin Zhao..."
The voice was weak and tearful, as if it was about to cry out in the next second.
Qin Zhao closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief silently, but when the young man was about to withdraw his hand, he grabbed it with his backhand.
The scorching temperature came through his fingertips, Jing Li raised his head, and Qin Zhao finally spoke.
"Don't be surprised." Qin Zhao said gently, "This is the man I just brought back to the village. He is a little shy."