Chapter 48
48 Pleading
“Lord Zhang, which Lord Zhang?” Old Master Hu and the others had not gone to the county city, so they naturally did not know that Zhang Zhan was an official. Village Chief Hu said, “It’s that Zhang Zhan who came to distribute disaster relief food to us previously. I don’t know what kind of official Lord Zhang is, but I see that the county lieutenant’s attitude towards him is quite respectful. He should be about the same as a county lieutenant.”
Everyone thought to themselves, Oh, that’s probably a county lieutenant from another county.
In any case, it was an official who was even more powerful than the bailiffs and constables.
Old Madam Wang could not be bothered to explain further and said directly, “Lord Zhang said that he helped investigate Ah Yu’s background and found out that she was maliciously abandoned by her family. They said that her eyes were ominous.”
“Ptui! I’m afraid they have a guilty conscience and still blame it on the child!” When the Ma family’s head heard this, he spat.
Although their village often talked about their children like immortals, they had never thrown their children away for such a reason, let alone abandoned them in the deep mountains during a snowstorm.
This was the kind of person who wanted the child to die without a complete corpse!
What a huge sin!
Old Master Hu also shook his head. “Don’t talk about strange things.”
“They abandoned Ah Yu just like that?” The Hu family elder was the most puzzled. “If you ask me, Ah Yu is more like a lucky star. Think about it carefully. If not for Ah Yu, how many people would our village have lost? We might have been reduced to a second Shanyang Village!”
When Ah Yu was picked up, the various families were already tightening their belts. In at most two more days, everyone would collapse.
If not for the fact that the python had alleviated a portion of the famine, they might have really been brought into the ditch by Shanyang Village.
“In short, Lord Zhang said that Ah Yu’s original family wanted her to die.” Old Madam Wang did not even look at the others and said to Village Chief Hu, “Ah Yu is young and petite. When we reported her age, the registrar did not say anything wrong.”
If they were to change the child’s age now, others would inevitably ask why they could even get the child’s age wrong. Then, they would pull out the child to examine her and subsequently arrange for her to be adopted.
Perhaps their original family would find out. If they were a little more crazy and chased after the child to take her away, they would throw the child away again into some deep forest…
Everyone thought about this and shivered. They had seen the evil of human nature before.
“In that case…” Old Master Hu did not continue.
The Hu family elder stroked his beard. “What do you mean by picked up? Isn’t that child your fourth daughter-in-law’s own child? Logically speaking, it’s been three years since she entered the family. Her daughter is two years old and is just right. Don’t you think so, Old Ma?”
The expression of the Ma Family elder at the side froze. Seeing that everyone was looking at him, his mouth opened and closed, but he did not say a word.
In the end, he simply stood up and turned to leave.
Old Master Hu followed behind and asked, “Old Master Ma, look-”
“What? What has it got to do with me?” Elder Ma was furious. He quickened his pace and left in the blink of an eye.
Village Chief Hu: “…” Why don’t you just say that Ah Yu is the biological daughter of the Wang Family!
After he left, Old Madam Wang asked Doctor Hu, “Can even a doctor tell how old the child is?”
“Not exactly.” After all, Doctor Hu was only a country-side doctor with limited knowledge, so he could only say after some deliberation, “The old doctor who once taught me said that as long as one learns medicine seriously, most of them will also learn how to feel and tell the bone age. However, after the child reaches the age of seven, the bone age will not be so easy to measure, and it will not be accurate.”
Old Madam Wang remembered this and did not ask further. Instead, she gave Doctor Hu a piece of silver and said to him, “Our Ah Yu’s body is a little weak. Give her some medicine to nourish her body.”
Doctor Hu accepted the silver and was about to go home to prescribe the medicine.
He did not intend to earn more money from the Wang Family. He only calculated the cost and prescribed something that was effective but not too expensive for Ah Yu. He was afraid that the child would find it bitter, so he even added some licorice.
After Little Ah Yu ran home, she realized that the steamed buns had just been put into the pot. There was still a long time before they were cooked.
She planned to ask her mother for food and send it over to Grandma when Wang Wulang ran back.
“Ah Yu, there are so many people plowing the fields today. Let’s go pick up some loaches!” Wang Wulang called out to her with a smile.
Before Little Ah Yu could answer, she heard an unfamiliar voice suddenly ask, “You’re Ah Yu, right?”
Little Ah Yu turned around and saw people standing outside the bamboo fence. Two of them were adults.
One was about 30 years old. There was a little boy standing beside him and a bundled up little child on his back.
The other person was only 15 or 16 years old with a round stomach. He had one hand on his waist and the other on the bamboo fence.
Little Ah Yu looked around and felt that they were not familiar at all.
[Kid, leave quickly. This is a stranger!]
Children could not talk to strangers and had to look for the adults.
This was what Meatball often said to her.
Little Ah Yu turned around and left. She bumped into Wang Wulang, who had followed her, and the two of them fell to the ground.
“Aiyo! Ah Yu, are you alright?” Wang Wulang ignored his painful knee and hurriedly pulled Little Ah Yu away.
When the people in the house heard the commotion, they came out to take a look and realized that there were a few people standing outside.
Seeing many people walking out of the Wang Family one after another, the two women’s eyes were clearly filled with fear.
The young woman even wanted to retreat.
The older one knelt down in front of Ah Yu in front of these people. Her forehead hit the ground with a bang, scaring everyone.
Everything was fine. What was going on?
“Sister, you-”
Just as Liu Shi opened her mouth, the old woman whimpered and shouted, “Ah Yu, please let our family go! Please be good and let us go!”
The old woman kowtowed firmly on the ground and even pulled the little boy beside her to kneel.
The little boy was extremely unwilling. His eyes were still filled with hatred as he stared at Little Ah Yu, who was trying her best to get up.
The young woman also held onto the bamboo fence and slowly knelt down, but her tears flowed before she could speak. She looked at Ah Yu and said, “Ah Yu, on the account of my unborn child, please spare us.”
[What’s going on?] Not to mention Little Ah Yu, even Meatball was stunned.
What is this situation?
Little Ah Yu was a little frightened. She turned around and ran to Liu Shi. “Mother, I’m afraid!”
These people had frightened her.
When Wang Chuanman saw that his daughter was frightened, he stood forward and slashed the ax in his hand against the withered tree roots beside him.
“Are you here to cause trouble in our house? Where are you from? What are you doing? What are you talking to our Ah Yu about? Speak!”
The old woman was shocked. She even stopped talking, but her tears were still flowing.
Those who did not know better would think that the Wang Family had done something to her.
After a long while, the young woman said, “We’re from Shanyang Village…”