"Anyone? Anyone? The groom knocked on the door, but no one answered.

Through the gap in the door, Su Nianjin saw a child lying on the kang in the house, and as soon as Su Nianjin pushed his hand, the door opened. The door swayed and squeaked, and could break at any moment.

The situation in the house was even more dilapidated than Su Nianjin thought, except for a few rags covered by the children on the kang, there was nothing in the house.

Perhaps because the weather is getting colder and colder, there is a lot of firewood piled up in the house, and I don't know whether it is to block the wind that pours into the house everywhere, or to prepare for burning the kang to keep out the cold when the weather is cold.

Su Nianjin stood at the door and did not enter the house. The little child on the kang didn't know what was going on, and he was skinny and as fragile as paper. His face looked pained, and his lips were so pale that they were bloodless, and there was not even a person to serve such a seriously ill child.

Su Nianjin felt some pity for the child on the bed, but she didn't want to get into trouble, so she stood at the door, not going in and leaving.

Just when Su Nianjin was undecided, the hostess of the house finally returned. With messy hair, dirty faces, clothes on her body that were about to be torn into strips, and a handful of weeds on her rough and blackened hands, she looked at the visitor in horror, "You... Who are you looking for? ”

"May I ask if this is Zheng Tam's house?" Su Nianjin asked. Looking at the woman in front of her, Su Nianjin couldn't help but sigh, even at the feet of the Son of Heaven, there will be people who are too poor to live!

"Yes.. Target.. Who are you? Is it to collect a tax again? We've done it before! The woman said uneasily.

"Madame misunderstood.." Su Nianjin was stunned, she didn't look like a person from the imperial court, did she? How could it be possible to come and collect her taxes? Besides, isn't the per capita tax paid in April every year? Now it's almost November, and it's impossible for the court to pay them back!

As soon as Su Nianjin spoke, before she could explain, the woman rushed into the house and blocked the child on the kang with her trembling body, "I won't let you take my child!" My child's illness is not contagious, really, I stay with him every day, and his body is fine... Please, adults, don't take my baby."

The woman's emotions suddenly got out of control, crying and shouting, in the face of such an unreasonable person, Su Nianjin felt very tricky, and her identity seemed to be misunderstood! Now how can I stop this woman's hysteria?

The woman's cry alarmed Zheng Tam, who was carrying sand and gravel not far away, and he hurriedly rushed back with his brother who was working together.

"The owner!" The groom saw five or six strong men rushing here with a flat shoulder in a menacing manner, and he hurriedly protected Su Nianjin behind him, "Why don't we retreat quickly?" ”

Su Nianjin calmly let the groom get into the carriage first, ready to catch the carriage and escape at any time, "It seems that the head of the house has returned, I'll see if I can talk to him." ”

"No, I have to protect the owner!" Uncle Chen is unwilling to let Su Nianjin deal with it alone, these people don't seem to be good at stubble, if they hurt the owner, how can it be good?

"It doesn't matter." Although Su Nianjin was calm on her face, the hands in her sleeves were already in cold sweat, and she only now realized how kind the people she had dealt with before were, they had quality, paid attention to identity and face interests, as long as they communicated, she could slowly figure out their thoughts. Su Nianjin turned around and glanced at the woman who was still crying and howling, but when she encountered this type of person who didn't listen to people at all, what should she do? Next time, let's bring a few more people around.

Zheng Tam rushed to the door of the house, and was a little surprised when he saw the person who came, a strange woman with a veil and a groom were not the people who came to trouble him before, "Who are you?" ”

"May I ask if you are Zheng Thong?" Hearing Zheng Thong ask, Su Nianjin breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately, it's okay, it's not a person who cries as soon as he comes up.

"I am." Zheng Tam and his brothers, who worked together, were a little surprised to see how politely Su Nianjin asked, this woman did not treat them domineeringly, as if they were treated as human beings.

"Great, I'm the Su family who is trading in the capital," Su Nianjin hurriedly explained his purpose, "I heard a rumor, I heard that you have a secret recipe for growing fresh vegetables in winter, so I came to talk to you.. But your inside-in-law seems to have misunderstood, and she started crying when she saw me, can you please ask her to stop crying first? Su Nianjin doesn't like crying very much, it is the behavior of a coward, and after meaningless catharsis, except for swollen eyes, it will not bring any help.

Hearing the cry will only cause irritability.

"The secret ingredient... Cry.. Ah, Cuihua, don't cry yet." Zheng Tam was ashamed and ashamed, and his dark face was flushed. He wanted to invite Su Nianjin into the house, but realized that there was not even a stool in the room to sit on. That one.. Su shopkeeper.."

"It's okay, it's okay to stand here and talk." Su Nianjin said bluntly, "I think Lingzi seems to be seriously ill, so is the secret recipe because you deliberately spread rumors for the sake of silver?" ”

"Talent needs money to see a doctor... Yes.. No, the fact that you can grow vegetables in winter is really not a small nonsense." Zheng Tam was a little incoherent, it was the first time he had been treated so solemnly, and the shopkeeper in front of him looked very powerful, and he didn't know how to deal with it.

"Is there any evidence?" Su Nianjin has been observing Zheng Thong and the people behind him, and at first glance he is the kind of honest person, without a trace of cunning and treachery in his eyes. Wouldn't you, haven't you really hit the ground running? "Is there any evidence that what you say is true?"

Zheng Thong was stunned, and he stammered a little and said, "I really planted a few Chinese cabbages last winter, on the edge of the kang.." Zheng Tam pointed to the bed where the child slept in the house, and explained vigorously, "But at that time, we were hungry and crazy, and we ate it ourselves when we grew up... So no one has seen it.."

"Does that mean there's no evidence?" Su Nianjin closed her eyes, is she crazy, she actually wasted time here for such unreliable rumors, "You haven't seen anyone behind you?" ”

Zheng Tam shook his head honestly, "Except for Cuihua, no one knows." But shopkeeper Su, what I said is true, you can look at my kang, this is made of earth, there will be something left in it.." Zheng Tam pointed to the soil on the side of the kang, originally wanting to prove to Su Nianjin that this was the soil that could be used to grow vegetables, but because the kang had been burned for a year, the soil on the side of the kang had already solidified into a ball, and it was impossible to leave anything behind.

"Owner, it's not early, if we don't go back, Miss Wanxiang should be worried." The groom shouted from the carriage that there could be no secret recipe for such a person who wasted his time by telling nonsense.