"I've looked for it, but there's no sack." He pointed to a shallow pit not far away, and said, "I found a mark over there, like a sack." ”

Following the direction of his finger, Liu Hanshan found the mark, which was indeed left by the sack, and the sack still had some weight.

The dense forest where the little girl was found is located in the middle of two villages, called Sheung Shui Village and Xia Shui Village. There are more than 100 families in Sheung Shui Village, who make a living by farming and selling mountain fruits. Xiashui Village is located outside the dense forest, the terrain is relatively flat, and it makes a living by farming and growing vegetables.

In Anping County, most of the farmers who sell vegetables come from Xiashui Village.

Qin Ye's side was not going well, he asked the entire Shangshui Village, and they all said that there was no girl missing in the family, and just when he was disheartened, a child who was playing with mud provided a clue.

The child told Qin Ye that there was a sister named Xiaocao in Xiashui Village, who often came to their Shangshui Village to hunt mountain fruits. The person Qin Ye said was very much like Sister Xiaocao.

Before the child could finish, his mother squeezed out of the crowd and covered the child's mouth.

"Don't listen, official, my kid is talking nonsense."

"Is it nonsense, this chamaster will find out by asking." Qin Ye knew that the child's mother wanted to avoid trouble, but the clues that he had finally obtained could not be easily let go: "If the cha master knows that you are deliberately concealing it, the county master will have to beat the board." ”

Hearing the three words of the county master, the child's mother's face turned white.

Seeing this, Qin Ye changed his words and said: "You can say whatever you know, the county master will not wronged a good person, let alone let a bad person go." ”

The child's mother looked at the neighbors on the left and right, and then said: "What my child said is true, Xiaocao came to our Shangshui Village to hunt mountain fruits, and everyone in the village knows about it. We also let her come because we saw her pity, but we didn't hurt her. ”

"I didn't say that the little girl must be Xiaocao." Qin Ye squinted: "How do you know?" ”

"Clothes, the clothes that the official said, Xiaocao wears that every time he comes." The child's mother lowered her voice: "It's very difficult at her house, no matter spring, summer, autumn and winter, she wears that." The clothes looked clean, but they were full of patches. When the villagers saw that she was pitiful, they often gave her the leftover clothes that the children were wearing. She was reluctant to keep it for her brother. ”

"Xiaocao, has she been here today?" Qin Ye asked, "Have any of you seen her?" ”

"We've all met, but we're not here today." A woman spoke, pointed to the big locust tree at the entrance of the village and said, "Last afternoon, it was very late, and I, Daqing's sister-in-law, and the lotus girl stood under the tree and chatted. While chatting, I saw Xiaocao coming down from the mountain road over there. The mountain path is so narrow that adults like us can't go up, and even if we do, it's not easy to walk. The kids go out to play a lot. And when you go around the mountain path, you will have a lot of fruit. Those fruits are not rare among the adults in our village, because they are hard to pick. The children couldn't reach it, and they didn't want to bother with it. There is only grass, and every autumn the fruit is harvested cleanly. ”

"Go on!" Qin Ye urged the woman.

"Xiaocao carried a big sack full of mountain fruits, and she was a little girl who had a hard time carrying it." The woman said: "It's easy to go up the mountain and difficult to go down, especially if you are carrying a bag of dried fruits, which will slide down or roll down if you are not careful." A few of us saw that she was pitiful, so we helped her. The little girl was shy, and when she left, she said thank you to us. ”

"How many of you watched her go?" Qin Ye looked at the road he had taken when he came to the village.

"She did it herself." The woman pointed to the road and said, "We have such a road in Shangshui Village, and those who leave the village and enter the village have to pass under this old locust tree." The little girl was not easy, her face and arms were all cut by those branches. But what's the use of a few of us being distressed, our family is not rich, so we can't help her. ”

"What time did the grass leave?"

"What hour?" The woman pondered, "Just after dark, we had just eaten. ”

"Is anyone tailgating?" Thinking of what happened to Xiaocao, Qin Ye couldn't help but ask a few more words.

"What's tailgating?" The woman scratched her head: "I know, the official wants to ask if anyone is following Xiaocao." No, not really, at least we didn't see anyone. This poor little girl, who has nothing to do with her. ”

"Where's Xiaocao's home?"

"Xiashui Village, her family lives in Xiashui Village." The woman stood on tiptoe and pointed to the other side of the road: "Xiaocao, this child has a miserable life, there is a blind grandmother at home, and a mother who has been sick for many years and is bedridden. My sister is married, but the conditions of her in-law's family are even worse, let alone helping, and she can't even take care of her daily. There is a younger brother behind Xiaocao, who is just over a year old, and it is the time of ignorance. The family relies on grass farming and picking mountain fruits for a living. A little girl of seven or eight years old, what kind of field can she grow, it is nothing more than to make the family starve to death. ”

"Doesn't this grass have a father?"

"Yes, I died two years ago." The woman avoided Qin Ye's gaze: "Xiaocao's father was a soldier and was arrested by people in the government. After three years, there was no news. Xiaocao's mother's body collapsed at that time. A woman, who is both a mother and a father, works hard, how can she not be tired. ”

"And then?" Qin Ye asked, always feeling that there was something wrong here.

"In the fourth year after being taken away by the government, Xiaocao's father came back. But it's better not to come back than not to come back. The woman said, "His father is blind in his right eye, and only half of his left arm remains." The leg was also injured and he walked with a limp. That's it, her father also said that his life was big, and that some people couldn't even go home. ”

"I can't go back." Lotus muttered, "My husband and two brothers-in-law didn't come back, they were taken away in the same year as Xiaocao's father. ”

"What about the little grass daddy?" Qin Ye said: "Even if you are blind, your arms are gone, and your legs are lame, there is always a life." I remember that there was a rule in the imperial court that a subsidy of money would be given in the case of Xiaocao's father. Although it is not much, it is enough for the family to barely live. ”

"Silver?!" The woman sneered: "The official went to ask, who has seen the silver given by the government in our ten miles and eight villages." It would be nice if those officials didn't let us give them silver. Xiaocao's father was like a beggar when he came back, if Xiaocao's mother hadn't heard the voice, who would have dared to believe that monster-like person was Xiaocao's father. But just such a monster-like person saved the lives of several children in our village, one of whom was our fat tiger. ”

The woman said and pinched the corners of her clothes: "In the summer two years ago, it rained heavily for several days. Rainwater collects into the village, forming small pools of various sizes. The children were playful, and they secretly ran behind us adults, and somehow fell into the water. Xiaocao's father passed by and rescued the children one by one, he ......"

The woman glanced at Qin Ye: "After Xiaocao's father died, her mother couldn't afford to get sick, and we people couldn't help it, so we let Xiaocao come to the village to hunt mountain fruits, and a few of us can help some of them." Official, is the little girl you are talking about really Xiaocao? ”