"… "
This must be Little Stone! The moment he saw him, a strange emotion suddenly emerged. He didn't know if it was the original owner's emotions that affected him. Jiang Miao felt a blood connection that he had never experienced before, which made his heart swell. He opened his mouth and wanted to call Little Stone, but his throat was choked as if a ball of cotton was stuffed in it.
Little Stone in the yard suddenly seemed to realize something and looked out the door. When he saw the person standing outside the door clearly, his mouth opened slightly and his eyes lit up with joy.
"elder brother!"
He yelled, threw away his broom, and ran towards the door. When he ran to Jiang Miao, he suddenly stopped and circled around him carefully, almost sniffing him like a puppy. When he was sure that the person was real, he suddenly pounced on Jiang Miao.
Jiang Miao squatted down, hugged Little Stone into his arms, and called him with a trembling voice. After the overwhelming joy, there was a huge grievance. Although Little Stone did not cry out, Jiang Miao could feel the thin body in his arms trembling, and the little shoulders, whose shoulder blades he could clearly feel, also shrugged.
From Xiao Shitou's actions, Jiang Miao could clearly feel Xiao Shitou's intimacy and trust in him. He must have thought that in a corner that no one else could see, the original owner had been secretly caring about his younger brother.
When Xiao Shitou's mood calmed down a bit, Jiang Miao stood up and led Xiao Shitou to the yard. When they were about to enter the house, Xiao Shitou shrank back and refused to move forward. Jiang Miao did not force him, and asked him to stay outside. He took two steps forward and knocked on the door.
"Knock, knock!"
The people in the room were still immersed in the warm atmosphere, and were apparently unaware of what was happening outside. It was not until the open door was knocked that the two of them looked up in surprise.
"Uncle Jiang, Aunt Jiang, are you feeding the kids? Let me see what you're eating. Wow, egg custard, bacon, radish slices, quite a rich meal." Jiang Miao walked in without getting permission, and even commented on the dishes on their table with a smile. There were three dishes on the table, three bowls, two pairs of chopsticks and a spoon, and there was no room for the small stone.
"Sanshui boy?" Jiang San's wife was stunned for a moment, then frowned and asked, "Why are you back? What are you doing at my house so late at night? Where is Youcai?"
Little Stone stood outside the door, holding onto the door frame with his little hands, and half of his face stuck out to observe the movements inside. After seeing the obvious anger on his mother's face, he couldn't help but shudder. Hearing her calling him loudly, Little Stone moved in from outside the door and whispered "Mom".
As soon as Jiang San's wife saw him, she immediately yelled at him, "Are you a dead man? Why don't you say anything when an outsider comes to your house? Even my dog knows how to bark, but you, an ungrateful wolf, let the person in directly!"
Jiang Miao was so angry, this trick came again! He had heard Aunt Zhou say that Jiang Lao San's wife loved to make indirect accusations, and he thought that people should be well-mannered and not curse at others. When they went to their house, they should talk nicely and solve the problem peacefully. But now he heard her scolding Xiao Shitou so viciously, he couldn't stand it. Jiang Miao pulled Xiao Shitou into his arms and covered his ears with his hands.
"What is this doing, Aunt Jiang San? Outsiders, who are outsiders among us? I remember clearly that when Uncle Jiang San wanted to adopt my brother, he promised not to stop us brothers from recognizing each other! Now that you have a child of your own, you have forgotten the time when you went to my grandmother with a smug face to beg her?" He looked at Jiang Lao San, who had not said a word since he entered the door, and the questioning in his eyes was obvious.
Jiang Laosan laughed awkwardly and came out to smooth things over: "Sanshui boy, don't bother with your aunt. She is a decent woman and doesn't have any bad intentions. She is just worried that Youcai didn't keep a close eye on the door and let those questionable people in. She is not talking about you."
Jiang Miao finally understood that one of the couple was a murderer, while the other was a smiling but dagger-in-the-mouth person. Neither of them was a good person. It really proved the saying "If you are not from the same family, you become one once you enter the same door"!
"Uncle Jiang, what you said is really interesting. You named my brother Youcai, not Wangcai. He has to guard the door for you? Do you treat your son like a dog? Why don't you tie the dog in your arms to the door?"
Jiang Laosan and his wife had a son in their middle age, and they valued the child more than anything else. They named him "Tianci", thinking that he was a treasure given by God. Hearing Jiang Miao mocking him like this, he immediately couldn't stand it.
Jiang Lao San's face relaxed, and he took out the momentum of an elder: "Sanshui boy, even if you want to act wild, you shouldn't come to our place. In terms of seniority, I am your uncle and Youcai's father, so at least show me some respect! I will just treat what you just said as nonsense and will not bother with you. Go home quickly!"
"What nonsense! I think he just needs to be taught less! I told you not to adopt this unlucky guy in the first place, and now he has caused my son to get scolded. Good intentions are really not rewarded!" Jiang Laosan's wife's face was full of sarcasm as she opened her mouth.
"If I remember correctly, it was you who proposed to adopt Xiao Shitou, right? Isn't it a bit ridiculous to say this now? You are really eating with the bowl in your hand and cursing when you put down the chopsticks. It seems that you are afraid that no one will see you off when you are old?" Although Jiang Miao is usually smiling, he is not afraid of a real quarrel. When he was a child, there were many women in the yard, each one more fierce than the other. He was influenced by them and is not much worse than them.
Sure enough, Jiang Laosan and his wife were furious with him. The fact that they were not able to have children was a taboo that they never wanted to mention in front of others. Now that Jiang Miao had torn the entire fig leaf off, they wished they could eat Jiang Miao alive.
"You need to be polite to those who are polite. There is no need to be polite to those who are unreasonable. Since you asked, I will tell you clearly that I am here to take Little Stone away."
"You mean, you want to take Youcai away?" Jiang Laosan's wife seemed not to understand.
"Of course, haven't you been looking for someone to adopt? Now that I take Xiao Shitou away on my own initiative, shouldn't you be happy?" Jiang Miao said with a sneer.
"What a joke! We raised him to this age, and you just want to take him away? How can such a cheap thing happen in the world?" The sharp voice of Jiang Laosan's wife sounded, making people feel very annoyed.
"So, you don't want to find someone to adopt Xiao Shitou out at all. You want to sell Xiao Shitou to someone else under the guise of adoption, right?" Jiang Miao's eyes were full of anger, and he felt very angry in his heart because he guessed this possibility.
Jiang Laosan felt a little guilty. His eyes flickered, and he didn't dare to look Jiang Miao in the eye. "Don't say such harsh words. What's the point of selling it? It's just that we raised Youcai to this age, and he hasn't enjoyed a single day of filial piety. What's wrong with collecting some money for adoption?"
Jiang Miao was almost laughing out of anger. What kind of person would expect a six or seven-year-old child to honor him? He was the one who said all the good things to adopt Little Shitou, and no one forced them to raise him!
"Let me remind you again, you begged for Little Stone to be adopted. At that time, our family was so poor that we could barely afford to eat, but we never took a penny from you!"
"According to what you said, all the time we have been treating him to delicious food has been in vain?" Jiang Laosan's wife didn't care about that. She was the head of the household and wanted to raise him, so what did it have to do with her
"What kind of life is Xiao Shitou leading in your home? If you ask your neighbors, I'm sure everyone will know. How dare you say that you treat Xiao Shitou well? Look for yourself. Can a child raised with good food be so thin? His face is so thin that he looks unrecognizable!" Jiang Miao held up Xiao Shitou's face. His face was sallow and his chin was pointed. He looked malnourished. "Look at the one in your hand. He's so fat that oil is dripping out. How dare you say that you treat Xiao Shitou well?"
“…Anyway, you can’t take Youcai away. At worst, we’ll just keep him and not pass him out.” Jiang Lao San was speechless and started to act like a spoiled brat.
"Keep him? Keep him like a slave?" Jiang Miao said sarcastically.
"He was adopted by us, so he is our child. Let alone being a slave, I just treat him like a cat or a dog. What can you do? Can you call the police to arrest me?" After saying that, Jiang Laosan's wife looked relieved, and obviously felt that she had found Jiang Miao's weakness. You know, in her mother's village, even if the parents beat the children to death, no one cared, right? In her opinion, the children belonged to the parents, and it was okay to deal with them in any way.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Miao didn't take her words seriously at all. Instead, he said, "Of course we have to report it to the police. If I remember correctly, Little Shitou hasn't been registered in your household registration documents yet, right? He's not your child, but he's being abused in your home. What do you think the judge will think? Will he think you're a kidnapper? The Daliang law stipulates that anyone who kidnaps a child will be beheaded and his family confiscated!"
He didn't know what the law stipulated, but that didn't stop him from making up stories to scare the two men. When he was doing small business in modern times, he had dealt with all kinds of people, like Jiang Laosan and his wife, and he wanted to scare them. If they were scared out of their wits, anything would be possible.
As for the fact that Little Stone was not registered, he had guessed it. From the conversation with Aunt Zhou in the afternoon, it was clear that Jiang Laosan's family was very stingy. If an adopted child wanted to be registered, he would not only have to pay the household registration tax, but also an extra head tax every year. I guess they would not be willing to spend this money.
Jiang Miao was lucky, and he was not wrong. When he said this, Jiang Lao San glared at his wife. It was all because of this woman with long hair and short knowledge who stopped him and said that he could save a lot of money every year by keeping his household registration there. And they paid an extra head tax every year, considering that Xiao Shitou was their relative.
How lucky they were before, how much they regretted now. If this Sanshui kid couldn't get over it and really reported it to the authorities, they would be in trouble!
“You… don’t talk nonsense! What kidnapper? He calls us father and mother, the whole village knows it, and the clan leader himself can testify that Youcai was adopted by us!” When Jiang Lao San’s wife heard about beheading and house confiscation, she became a little timid and even brought up the head of the Jiang family.
"Officials must provide evidence. What people say doesn't count. Can you produce any proof?" Jiang Miao began a new round of probing. With the clan leader as a witness, there was no way to say if there wouldn't be any notes left behind. If there were, it would be quite troublesome. If there wasn't any, then it would be easy!
(End of this chapter)