Ling'er and Lao Niang were taken to the open space in front of them by the officers and soldiers, and the people heard that they had seen the bandits, and they all quieted down and looked at them. It was the first time for the old lady to be watched by so many people, and she was holding Ling'er's hand so nervously that she trembled a little, but she instinctively stopped Ling'er behind her.

Behind the table, a middle-aged man dressed as a literati raised his pen and said, "Have you ever seen a bandit? ”

"I... I... I ......" the old lady stammered, and couldn't say a complete sentence for a while, Ling'er's mind flashed, "Yes, sir, we have met!" ”

"Oh? When? Where? Which have you seen? Come on, bring the portrait! ”

Ling'er took a stack of portraits and flipped through them, hesitated for a moment, took out Liang Daming's portrait and said, "This!" ”

The middle-aged man glanced at it and said with a little joy: "Tell me quickly, where did you see it?" Where is this person now? Say it's rewarded! ”

Ling'er shook her head with a bitter face and said: "Uncle, my mother and I sold baskets in the market last time, this person came to buy two pairs of baskets but left without giving money, I went to chase it, there were too many people to catch up, I don't know where he went!" ”

The middle-aged man frowned: "Really? Little girl, if you lie, you will go to jail! ”

"Really, really! I also told the official who spoke on the stage before, if you don't believe it, you can ask him! ”

The middle-aged man looked at Ling'er for a while, as if to gauge whether she was really lying? After a while, he waved his hand and said, "Let's go!" But little girl, next time you meet this person again, you must report to the official, understand? ”

Ling'er nodded immediately: "Okay, okay, master, I will remember his whereabouts next time, and then report to the official!" ”

The middle-aged man nodded with satisfaction and waved his hand. Ling'er hurriedly helped the old lady to the place of the old man in the crowd. But they hadn't walked a few steps when they suddenly heard someone behind them shouting, "Stop! ”

Ling'er turned around and saw that it was actually the pavilion chief who wanted to seal the shop last time and secretly asked for a bribe from him, and half a step in front of him stood the leader of the officers and soldiers who had led people to break into his shop before, followed by the former manager.

"What's the matter, Pavilion Chief Wen, what's wrong with these two people?" The officer and soldier leader asked.

"Returning to Captain Wu. They ...... "The pavilion chief glanced at Ling'er's mother and daughter. "That's what they mentioned to you before, the owner of the shop who opened a special grain shop to buy grain at a high price and only accepted it but didn't sell it!"

"Oh?" Captain Wu stared at Ling'er's mother and daughter with his hands on his chest, and asked with interest, "Is there such a thing?" ”

The old lady knelt on the ground with a puff. While kowtowing, he cried and begged: "The official spares his life, the official spares his life, everything is the fault of the old woman, and it has nothing to do with my children." Please spare my child! Please let them go! ”

The old lady's sudden action made everyone present stunned, and Ling'er was even more startled. She hurried to help the old lady, but the old lady pushed away Ling'er and continued to kowtow! Captain Wu narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Old woman." You get up and say, 'What the hell is going on?' ”

The old lady didn't react, just kowtowed. Captain Wu waved his hand impatiently, and immediately two officers and soldiers came up to lift Ling'er. They took the old lady's arm and pulled her up. Captain Wu said: "Old woman, what has nothing to do with your children? As long as you are honest, the captain of this school can consider letting your child go, if not, hum! ”

Ling'er didn't quite understand why the old lady was suddenly so out of shape? Even if you haven't seen the officers and soldiers, and you're afraid, you don't have to kowtow and confess, right? What else do you say to let the child go? We are ordinary people, this group of officers and soldiers are catching bandits, so they shouldn't do anything to us, right?

The old lady was trembling, speechless for a long time, Ling'er wanted to step forward to relieve the siege, and suddenly saw the steward surnamed Zeng behind Captain Wu leaning into Wen Tingchang's ear and muttering, Wen Tingchang's eyes obviously lit up when he looked at the old lady, but Ling'er chuckled in his heart! and they will do evil again!

Sure enough, Wen Tingchang shouted: "Old woman, say, where did your shop collect so much grain?" ”

When the old lady heard this, her legs were weak and she was about to kneel down again, and she repeated: "Official, it's all my fault, it's all my fault, it has nothing to do with the children, please let them go!" ”

Pavilion Chief Nawen snorted coldly: "If you don't say it, I'll say it for you!" When your grain is spread out, you buy grain for the bandits! All your food has been transferred to the bandits, and you are in the same group as the bandits! Yes and no? ”

Everyone was stunned, coaxed, and the discussion suddenly started: "No, this family looks quite honest!" ”

"Oh, no wonder! I said how dare they pay such a high price to collect grain, and only collect it but not sell it, how dare a real businessman do this? It turned out to be a spy sent by a bandit! ”

"No, maybe they're secretly helping the bandits to inquire about the news, no wonder I always think that the people in the town are weird lately! It must be the ghost of this family! ”……

The so-called wall fell down and everyone pushed it, now almost everyone thinks that Ling'er's family is a spy sent to the town by thieves, pointing at Ling'er and the old lady and scolding, and the father and ten sisters who are still in the crowd are also beaten, and after a while, they are all pushed out and come together with Ling'er's mother and daughter, which reunites their family!

Ten sisters and Ning Ba were a little frightened, and when they saw Ling'er, they all ran over and hid behind her! Looking at these familiar faces, the neighbors who usually have nieces and nieces and short screams are now like wolves and tigers one by one, eager to swallow their own family! It's only been less than a quarter of an hour, and the so-called turning of the face is like turning a book, which is probably what it looks like!

Dad was crumbling on crutches, he coughed twice and said, "Ling'er, what's going on?" ”

"Nope! It's nothing! Dad, you sit down and rest first, I'll explain, Ning Eighth and Tenth Sisters, you take care of Dad! Ling'er looked at the old lady, and the reprimand of the pavilion chief reminded her, she finally knew why the old lady took the initiative to confess! Most of the old lady has already recognized that one of the thieves on the portrait is Liang Daming, who disguised himself as a big proprietor to transport grain during the day.

Ling'er took a deep breath, walked to the old lady's side and knelt down with her, and said to Captain Wu: "Official, I won't tell you that my family's grain is indeed only for the purchase of grain, but it is definitely not what the pavilion chief said, it is for the thieves!" Our family originally lived in Wangjia Village, which is three miles away from here, and my father and mother are innocent villagers. ”

"Humph! If you don't collect it for the bandits, for whom? Who wants thousands of stone of grain at once? ”

Ling'er glared fiercely at the pavilion chief who was constantly stirring up trouble, "May I ask the pavilion master, how can you be sure that my grain is harvested for the bandits?" Do you know the bandits? ”

The pavilion chief choked for a moment, and pointed at Ling'er with a red face: "You... You...... Okay, you sharp-toothed little girl, you don't admit the ugly things in your family, but bite me back!

Lord Lieutenant, early in the morning, felt that there was something strange in his family's grain shop, saying that there was a big proprietor who urgently needed food, and asked his family to buy it. I have sent someone to the county seat a few days ago to check, there are no big proprietors in the city who are in urgent need of food, and all the grain stores have not come to our Yamaguchi Town to collect grain recently, this girl is obviously lying!

I can guarantee that the big proprietor must be a thief, and this girl must have come out of the thief's den! ”

"Pavilion Chief, the big boss has been here during the day, everyone has seen it, the grain shop in the town is not only our family, other families also sell grain to him, and the people nearby also sell grain directly to the big boss, you say I'm a thief, so aren't they all thieves who sell grain to the big boss?"

Everyone was in an uproar, and some people immediately objected: "Nonsense, I have lived in the town since I was born, and I have been to the county seat as far as the farthest, when did I become a bandit?" ”

"Yes! Little girl, you can't open your mouth and bite indiscriminately! We're all white! ”……

Ling'er said loudly: "It was the Pavilion Master who said that the one who sold the grain to the big proprietor was the thief, not me!" ”

After hearing this, everyone's limelight immediately changed again, and they all accused the pavilion chief, and some people even said that the pavilion chief had many subordinates and knew many people, and it was most likely to collude with the bandits. The pavilion chief was naturally dissatisfied, and immediately retorted, and after a while, the square became lively again, but it was a scolding mutual accusation, and there were even signs of fighting!

Captain Wu clasped his hands around his chest and looked coldly at this group of people dog-eat-dog, until a quarter of an hour later, he raised his hand, and the two officers and soldiers took out two gongs, and rang for a while: "Quiet!" Be quiet! ”

The crowd finally quieted down, and Wen Tingchang, who was arguing with everyone with a red face and a thick neck, was so tired that he was panting, and he arched his hand to Captain Wu and said, "My lord, the lower officials are innocent, don't listen to their nonsense!" ”

Captain Wu didn't look at him, slowly paced in front of Ling'er, and looked at Ling'er condescendingly: "Girl, you say, where does the big owner live?" Why do you just let you collect the grain? Where does the grain go? ”

Ling'er sat deferentially on the surface, and secretly shouted bad luck in her heart, she originally thought that by changing the topic, she would be able to get this group of people in, and her own suspicion would be cleared! Unexpectedly, this captain is a clear-eyed person, and he was stuck at the point all of a sudden! But fortunately, she was prepared before, and she said unhurriedly:

"Back to the official, half a month ago, I came to the town to buy things, and I met a little brother, I saw that he had a kind face, so I played with him for a while! He said that he came to the town with his family to buy grain, and asked for a lot of grain, but he couldn't collect it for a long time! I remembered that there were many uncles in our village who were selling grain, so I said that my father and mother could help them collect it, and then they would come directly to the town to transport it!

I talked casually at the time, but I didn't expect the little brother's family to agree, and took me to the alley, told me how to do it, and gave me fifty taels of silver, and said that as long as I did a good job, they would pay me. I saw that the wages they gave were high and the work was not difficult, so I agreed!

Official, look at our family, there are only a few people in total, my father and mother are old, we are young, we open a shop and collect food, we all ask helpers to do it, we keep accounts at most, run errands! Every time the grain is harvested, someone will come to transport it, even the big proprietors are rare, and the others don't know anything! ”

"Nonsense! There are so many people in the town, why is the big proprietor only looking for you and not others? With such an important matter and so much silver, how can they rest assured that they will hand over to you a stinky little girl?

Also, why didn't your big proprietor come during the day, but came to deliver grain in the middle of the night? The direction of their grain is obviously the vast mountain, which is the place where the bandits gather, you say that they are not bandits, who believes it? (To be continued)