Chapter 168
Wang Yanqing stared at Aunt Liu earnestly, smiling and nodding from time to time. In a few words, she figured out Aunt Liu's family situation and age of origin. Wife Liu looked at her mother-in-law chatting, a little embarrassed, and quietly pulled Aunt Liu's sleeve: "Mother, this girl may not have touched the soil before. How can people be patient when you say this?"
"Where." Wang Yanqing smiled, "I actually grew up in the village. When my grandmother went to farm when I was a child, I waited on the ridge, how could I have never seen the land?"
In fact, Wang Yanqing didn't remember these things, she listened to what Lu Heng told her. Wang Yanqing is not without regrets. Her family was destroyed. She lost her parents and grandmother at the age of seven. Now she can't even remember her grandmother's face. If her grandmother was still alive, she would have looked like the old woman in front of her with the same weathered and unyielding appearance.
Wang Yanqing sighed secretly, she had gained the trust of the Liu family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and slowly began to touch the case: "Auntie, I heard that you are here to complain, what is going on?"
When Aunt Liu heard this, her flying eyebrows drooped down, and she sighed deeply: "Yes, my old man and son don't know how to live or die now."
Wang Yanqing asked, "Why?"
"They were called by the court to build a palace in April. In June, the strong men from the neighboring villages came back one after another, but they didn't hear from them. I've been waiting and waiting, and it's already July, and there's still no news. I ran I went to the county government office to ask. At first, the county government office didn’t say anything and just threw us away. Later, I asked people from the village to go together. It is said that the man in Hegu Village encountered a flood on the way to the labor force and was washed away by the flood."
When Aunt Liu said these words, her eyes were dull, and the folds at the corners of her mouth fell heavily, a kind of numb calm. Wang Yanqing thought for a while and asked, "They were swept away by the flood on their way there. The imperial court was recruited in April, why did the county government only tell you in July?"
"I just don't understand this, so I don't think they were washed away by the water." Aunt Liu said, "Later, Li was going door-to-door, saying that the county paid funeral expenses, and each family sent one person to the county hall to pick it up and receive it. Don't mention it again after you get the money. I don't believe my son died like this and didn't go get it."
Wang Yanqing asked, "Did everyone else in the village take it?"
"That's right." Aunt Liu sighed deeply, "The days are going to go on, people are gone, what are you still holding on to? They all say I'm stunned, but I can see it every night when I close my eyes. My son is suffering. I worked so hard to bring him up, and I just married him a daughter-in-law, how can I send him away in such a confused way? Even if there is a flash flood, there must be a corpse."
The Liu family's daughter-in-law was silent, sitting beside her mother-in-law with her head down. The light outside the house dimmed layer by layer, and they sat at the empty wooden table, like statues in a temple, silent and mottled. Wang Yanqing thought for a moment and asked, "Does every village have to recruit labor?"
"right."
"Apart from Hegu Village, has anyone else encountered this kind of thing?"
"I haven't heard of it." Aunt Liu said solemnly, "their people came back early, and our village has been silent, so I feel strange. I went to the county government to complain about my grievance, and the county magistrate called me a lunatic, but they didn't let me. Enter the door. Our osprey flew back, and I finally had the evidence, but I couldn't enter the county government office. I used to hear the village sing a play, saying that someone was wronged and the county magistrate didn't care. He went to Beijing to file a lawsuit successfully. I don't know where the capital is. , I tried to come to the prefect. But I was not familiar with Weihui's life and place. I stayed outside for three days, and I couldn't even get in the door of the prefect."
Wife Liu heard this and added: "Mother has really suffered a lot in order to avenge her father-in-law and husband-in-law. When she went to the county government to file a complaint, the county master almost executed it. After that, we didn’t dare to go to the county government office, so we came to Weihui. But the prefect was busy picking up the car, and even the gate of the government office wouldn’t let us approach. After the flowers are over, my mother is not willing to go back like this, so she risked her life and came to the palace to try her luck."
Couldn't tell if it was good luck or bad luck, the emperor really heard it. Wang Yanqing sighed in her heart for the hard-working mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. She suddenly realized something was wrong, raised her head sharply, and her eyes suddenly lit up: "You said that you first went to the county government to complain about your grievance, and then you saw the Osprey. Why don't you think they were accidental?"
Wang Yanqing's eyes were different from the gentle and kind maid just now. Aunt Liu was immersed in her own thoughts and did not feel abnormal. Aunt Liu licked her lips, struggled for a moment, and said in a low voice, "Actually, it's not just the flood this time. Before the recruitment, other people also went out and disappeared for no reason. Moreover, some time ago, at night, in the mountains There was a rumbling sound. Others said it was an earthquake, but our old man said no. If there was a real earthquake, the fish in the river would definitely run away. I didn't take it to heart at the time. Who knows how long it will be before the county government Many people came to recruit strong men, but no one from the village came back. The more I think about it, the more wrong it is, how can this be called a natural disaster, there must be some ghosts!"
The information revealed by Aunt Liu was very useful. Wang Yanqing was about to ask again when there was a knock on the door behind him. Lingxi's voice sounded from outside the door, slightly tense: "It's time, we should go."