Chapter 61
61 Waiting
Because Grandma Zhou and the others had gathered at the entrance of the county office to cause trouble, they were imprisoned by County Lieutenant Cao. After entering their cells, they did not panic.
After the others left, Grandma Zhou took out some money from her pocket and waved at the prison guard. “Little Brother, come!”
The prison guard said impatiently, “What are you doing? Stay inside obediently!”
Grandma Zhou knew that actually, people like them would not be recorded in the records. They would only be locked up for three to five days before being released.
But who would get used to being in jail?
Moreover, it was a mixed prison for men and women. If she really stayed for a day, her reputation would be ruined. How could she still be a matchmaker in the future?
“Little Brother, can you help me ask how much I must pay to get out this time?” Grandma Zhou knew that someone like her who did not commit any major crimes could get out after paying a sum of money.
In the past, when the county magistrate was around, one could forget about leaving if one did not have 100 taels of silver.
Ordinary families simply could not fork out that much.
“Twenty taels.” When the prison guard heard that it was about money, his attitude became better.
County Lieutenant Cao was currently helping the Imperial Envoy manage the government office and they had always recorded those sums of money.
The money was usually spent on the government office and commoners but they more or less benefited from it too.
Fifteen minutes later, Grandma Zhou patted her clothes and walked out of the county prison.
However, she only walked out of the prison. As the person who committed a crime, she still had to stay in the county office for half a day and listen to an old pedant’s lecture before she could go out.
The old pedant looked down on women so when he saw Grandma Zhou, he scolded her for embarrassing her family.
Grandma Zhou sat on a cold stool. When she heard the old scholar say “unfilial woman”, she gritted her teeth and thought, “Hu Family Village, right? Just you wait. This matter is not over!”
She wanted to let this person from a dilapidated village know that there was a price to pay for offending her!
When their village needed a matchmaker in the future, they would kneel down and beg her!
Zhang Zhan dealt with the official matters of the county office and walked out of the study while rubbing his shoulders.
“When will the Tian Family send the new County Magistrate over? I’ve almost finished his job for him!”
If he had known earlier, he would not have taken on this Imperial Envoy’s job. He originally thought that he had chosen a small corner to do something good to accumulate merit, but in the end, he ended up stumbling here.
Troublesome.
He casually asked the servant beside him, “Where did the young master go?”
The servant mentioned a place. Zhang Zhan went over and saw Qin Huai sitting by a pavilion, staring at a pool of water in a daze.
It was early spring, and there were only a few small and tender lotus leaves in the pool.
“How are you doing with that little girl? Doesn’t she look like a blessing? Her personality is also nice and obedient and not inferior to the ladies in Wanning City.”
Qin Huai did not answer, and Zhang Zhan did not mind.
This child did not like to talk and he had long gotten used to it.
Zhang Zhan continued to talk about Little Ah Yu, including how she had asked someone to save him during the avalanche.
“Speaking of which, she’s really my savior,” Zhang Zhan said with a smile. “Today, they came to the county office to ask me to fulfill my promise. After thinking about it, the promise they want me to fulfill isn’t difficult, but it might be better if I leave it to you.”
At this point, Zhang Zhan stopped talking.
Qin Huai’s fingertips moved on his knee, and his face involuntarily tilted towards Zhang Zhan.
‘And?’
“Forget it. You’re probably not interested.”
Then, Zhang Zhan left.
Qin Huai pursed his lips, his eyes filled with unknown emotions.
“Chi Jia.”
Someone jumped down from the tree and blocked Zhang Zhan’s path coldly. “Sir, what do you want Young Master to do?”
Zhang Zhan was really shocked. He took two steps back before standing still and saying angrily, “Your Young Master doesn’t know how to open his own mouth to ask? He seems quite diligent in calling out your name every day.”
He was young, but he sure had a temper!
Zhang Zhan walked back to Qin Huai and said angrily, “Alright, alright, alright. I’ll tell you.”
If not for the fact that he understood Qin Huai’s bad temper, he really did not want to tease him. However, every time he teased him, he would anger only himself.
Thinking about it this way, he was probably crazy himself.
“That little girl is not from Hu Family Village. She was picked up by the villagers some time ago. I found out that she was originally…”
Zhang Zhan briefly explained Little Ah Yu’s background and finally said, “Before the little girl grew up, she must have suffered a lot. Therefore, she looks like she’s two years old when she’s actually four years old. They want to register the child as two years old and give her an identity recognized by the government office.”
At this point, Zhang Zhan continued, “I think that Old Madam Wang is quite knowledgeable. I’m afraid that just one registration won’t count, so she came to me and asked me to embellish some information on the register and change her name. This inevitably requires some details like the registration of the pregnant women and the delivery by the midwife. Among your Red Guards, aren’t there two people who are good at this? Let them think about how to make it more realistic.”
Qin Huai listened and remained silent.
Zhang Zhan thought that he was talking to himself, but the young man suddenly took out a small token and placed it on the stone table beside him.
“Hey, I was just mentioning it casually. You’re really generous! Back then, I had something urgent to attend to, so I asked you for this token, but you didn’t give it to me-” Seeing that Qin Huai was about to panic, he hurriedly put the token away and chuckled. “I think that little girl is also very lucky. Perhaps if you help her this time, she will help you greatly in the future!”
Zhang Zhan had only said it casually, but he did not expect it to really come true later.
From the information he had so far, the little girl who was registered as Wang Ruyu was indeed quite special.
Not only her golden eyes, but also her capability of escaping danger several times were worth investigating.
But that was it. He had to help cover up the traces as a repayment for her act of saving his life.
To Zhang Zhan, it was a piece of cake for Old Madam Wang to ask him to help hide Ah Yu’s background.
Hiding the strangeness of her body was the real repayment.
Little Ah Yu didn’t know about this. She was still waiting with Old Madam Wang to receive the food.
As there were too many people receiving food, they waited all day only to reach the middle of the line.
The villagers could not help but feel a little anxious. “If we continue to wait like this, we might run out of food when it’s our turn!”
Village Chief Hu said, “Don’t worry.” Lord Zhang had sent someone to tell them that as long as they waited in peace, there would definitely be food.
However, he could not say this in front of the others lest it caused unnecessary trouble.
For the entire day, Little Ah Yu sat obediently on the cart, not making a fuss.
However, when she fell asleep, Meatball would call her into the spatial pocket and let her plant food with it.
At first, Little Ah Yu wanted to take out the water from the spatial pocket for everyone to drink, but Old Madam Wang calmly stopped her.
[The impurities in their bodies have yet to be eliminated, so they will have diarrhea after drinking the water. At that time, everyone in the village will have diarrhea. Should that happen, who will be left to guard these carts?]
Little Ah Yu thought that it made sense, so she stopped asking Meatball for the water and continued playing with the peony flowers.
For that day in the county city, everyone ate dry rations. Fortunately, the dry rations they brought could last them a day.
Village Chief Hu took out two copper coins and wanted to buy a meat bun for Little Ah Yu to eat.
But Little Ah Yu swallowed her saliva upon seeing a steamed bun. Village Chief Hu did not know whether to laugh or cry and bought her a steamed bun instead.
He then bought her another stick of candied fruit with the remaining copper coin.