Mrs. Xu rolled her gray eyes and said in a mysterious voice: "That's right, I remember very clearly, when the child was born, I clearly saw three red cinnabar moles on his chest, in the shape of a zigzag, at that time, everyone thought it was a good omen, and they said that this child will definitely be rich or expensive in the future, and he will be glorious to his ancestors." ”

Speaking of this, Lord Zhou was shocked again for some reason, but no one present noticed it.

Mrs. Xu continued: "But I don't know why, since that night, everyone has seen the child again, but his chest is white and pure, and there is nothing. Everyone thought it was a miracle, and when I asked the sister of the He family, she didn't say that we remembered wrong, that the child originally did not have a cinnabar mole on his chest, that is, the child grew and changed a lot, and the cinnabar mole disappeared by itself. ”

"Originally, many newborn children had some red marks and patches on their bodies, which would slowly fade and disappear when they grew, so everyone didn't pay too much attention to them. There was even a saying later that what happened that night not only changed the fate of the He family's sister and their whole family, but even the child's life was changed, and even the cinnabar mole, which symbolized good omen, was gone. ”

Later, this word somehow reached the ears of the husband of the He family's sister-in-law, and he was very unhappy, and seemed to mind this, and a few days later, the two of them had a big quarrel, and the husband died suddenly. ”

After Mrs. Xu finished speaking, the chief on the side quipped: "It seems that the cinnabar mole that disappeared on this child's body is not only not a good omen, but a bad thing, and even his father's death seems to be related to this, as if he was killed by him, no wonder Mrs. He has been angry with her son all these years, ignoring her son, and being indifferent." ”

Lord Zhou didn't say anything, and pondered for a moment before asking Mrs. Xu: "Since Mrs. He is angry with her son and has been ignoring her son for many years, why did she suddenly change her attitude towards her son two years ago?

Mrs. Xu lowered her head and thought for a while, and suddenly said, "I remember what you said, two years ago, there was indeed a time when she mentioned her son to the old body. ”

Lord Zhou asked, "What did she say?"

Mrs. Xu thought about it and said: "I remember that there seemed to be some activity in the city that day, as if I heard that it was the new county magistrate who took office, and he traveled across the streets, and everyone ran to see the excitement, even the sister of the He family rarely followed, and the old man was blind at that time, so he stayed at home." ”

The lieutenant chief on the side nodded and said, "Yes, when Lord Zhou arrived two years ago, he was indeed riding a horse to parade the streets and meet the people. The people originally had a lot of dissatisfaction with the former county order, and when they heard that the new county order had been changed, and it was the Wenqu star of Jinbang High School that year, they were naturally full of expectations, and they all rushed to the street to watch, which can be said to be an empty alley, but it is a rare event in Qingping County over the years. ”

Mrs. Xu continued: "The strange thing is that after the He family girl came back from watching the excitement, something was wrong, and I could hear her constantly sighing in the courtyard next door across the wall, and I didn't know what was on my mind. ”

"At that time, the old body was blind, and I didn't even have the ability to take care of myself, all relying on the kindness of the sister of the He family, for the sake of the neighbors for so many years, they came to clean up for me every day and cook for me, so that the old body could survive and breathe. Curious for a moment, the old body asked what happened to her when the He family's sister came to clean up?

However, she refused to tell me, insisting that nothing had happened, but later in the conversation, she said that others would not understand, and that she had made a big mistake back then, and that she was sorry for her son or something, and she was talking to herself

。 ”

So the old man comforted her, saying that since he knew that he couldn't live with his son for so many years, it was not too late to make amends, and it was not good to take him back to live with the family and Meimei. ”

At that time, she seemed to have figured it out, and said that she must take her son back and give him a chance or something, but the old body didn't understand too much, but as long as she is willing to change her way from now on and treat her son well, isn't it also a good thing?"

Sure enough, from that day on, she began to arrange the house, and then took her son back, and even spared no expense to invite her husband to teach her son to read and write, and kept saying that she would send her son to Beijing to catch the exam, and he won the gold list. ”

"Pity this child has been apprentice and helper since he was a child, and he can't read a big word, even if this child works hard, no matter how talented he is, he wants to enter Beijing to catch the exam, and he wins the gold list, how easy is it? At that time, everyone listened to it as a joke, but only the sister of the He family seemed to be full of confidence and enthusiasm. ”

Lord Zhou blinked, if it was just because he saw that he had crossed the street at the beginning, he had such a big psychological change, it would be a bit too far-fetched.

He opened his mouth and asked, "Then what is the attitude of Mrs. He's son on this matter?"

Mrs. Xu sighed: "That's a good boy! Although he was treated coldly by his mother since he was a child, he was sent to an apprenticeship outside, and he didn't pay attention to it, but he never complained, and his mother was extremely filial. ”

"So since then, my old woman can hear the sound of the child reading in the courtyard next door every day, and sometimes my old woman also thinks that this family is all rare good people, and has suffered so much, the sky has eyes, and it should be bitter. I only hope that the child can really be as his mother wishes, talented, can be ranked in high school, and glorify his ancestors. ”

Master Zhou couldn't help but shake his head, judging from the notes of Mrs. He's son just now, he actually has no talent at all in this area, and now he is afraid that it will be difficult to even be able to read through the whole book.

After thinking about it, he asked again: "Then Mrs. He's family is poor, has she mentioned how to send her son to Beijing to take the exam?"

Mrs. Xu shook her head: "I haven't mentioned this, why, does it take a lot of money to enter Beijing?"

Lord Zhou smiled faintly and did not answer, but asked: "Didn't she even mention that she wanted to marry her daughter?"

Mrs. Xu was obviously taken aback, and asked, "What's the matter? Did the sister of the He family want to marry her daughter before?

Lord Zhou shook his head secretly, it seems that Mrs. He wanted to marry her daughter to the idiot son of Zeng Yuan's foreign family, she did not mention it to others, it was completely her own opinion.

But why did she take such pains to send her son to Beijing to catch this hopeless exam?

Here, Mrs. Xu chattered: "I hope this girl can marry a good family, and the child can really be named on the gold list, and their family can run from time to time and live a good life." ”

"It's a pity that now these He family girls can no longer be seen...... When she leaves, how should I live in the future, a blind lonely old woman......" Mrs. Xu was blind and burst into tears, choking and unable to continue.

Seeing that Mrs. Xu was emotional, it was inconvenient to ask any more, and she already knew almost the questions she wanted to ask, so Lord Zhou got up and said goodbye.

Mrs. Xu kept muttering: "I also bother to ask the eldest brother of the public to tell the county magistrate that the child is a good person, and he is definitely not the murderer of his mother

Don't wronged a good person!"

Lord Zhou's pace slowed down and said: "Don't worry, the yamen will never wronged a good person, we will definitely find the real murderer, so that Mrs. He will be blind." ”

With that, he strode out.

Walking on the street, Lord Zhou seemed to be still immersed in Mrs. Xu's narration just now, and he was in a trance, and the lieutenant who followed behind him called several times before he came back to his senses.

The lieutenant asked respectfully: "As soon as this old lady dies, this blind Mrs. Xu is now helpless and has no place to live, I don't know what good plan the adults have?"

Lord Zhou thought for a while and said, "This Mrs. Xu, you will take care of it first, and the silver taels you need will be allocated by the yamen, and the official will naturally make proper arrangements for her later." ”

The lieutenant bowed and replied, "Yes." ”

After the order was finished, Lord Zhou turned his head, but saw a few people on the corner of the street, who were the catchers of the county government under him, standing there waiting for him.

Lord Zhou wondered in his heart, didn't these people order them to stay in Zeng Yuanwai's mansion? Why did they suddenly come here? Could it be that something happened to Zeng Yuanwai's side?

He hurried over in a few steps, and immediately asked, "Why are you here?" Didn't the official let you stay behind, what happened to Zeng Yuanwai?"

Several of them had a bitter look on their faces, and said: "The lord ordered us to stay in Zeng Yuanwai's mansion, but this old miser didn't care about us, and he didn't even care about food, and a few of us were so hungry that we couldn't stand it and went to ask him, who knew that he actually deduced that there were female dependents in the house, and we were inconvenient in the house, so he blew us out." What are we going to do now, my lord?"

Lord Zhou looked at the few catchers in front of him with hungry faces, and knew that what they said was true.

This former is indeed a miser, a miser, but he is by no means a fool, on the contrary, he is very shrewd.

Now that the thief has temporarily retreated, it is difficult to guarantee that he will not come back, and the county government will stay in the mansion as soon as possible, which is definitely beneficial and harmless to him.

But now he uncharacteristically took the initiative to drive these catches out quickly, he must have already made up his mind and had some plan.

This matter originally involved the affairs of the rivers and lakes, and the martial arts of the idiot son and the fake Ye Feng outside Zeng were by no means beyond the reach of these little catchers, and even if they stayed, they would not be able to make any difference.

So Lord Zhou said to a few catchers: "In this case, you guys should go and eat something first, and then go back to the county government to wait, the Zeng family has other arrangements, so you don't care." ”

Several catchers were relieved and nodded again and again.

Arrangement, what arrangement?

Naturally, it is a matter of the rivers and lakes, and the affairs of the Zeng family have to be discussed with Zhang Fatzi and them, after all, they are the ones who want to find Ye Feng the most.

Lord Zhou pondered while slowly walking in the direction of the county office, and what lingered in his mind was the story he had just heard from Mrs. Xu, three cinnabar moles......

He walked out of the distance, and these catchers looked at his back before they began to talk to each other: "Why does Lord Zhou look weird today?

The other said: "Whatever, adults have their own troubles, so many official duties every day, and this life lawsuit, why should a little person like you and me bother with that heart?"

"That is, the first thing we have to do now is to fill our stomachs, and the rest, when the sky falls, there are tall people on top, what kind of heart do you have?"

In the midst of the joke, several people also left.

The remaining lieutenant was left standing alone in front of Mrs. Xu's house shaking his head and sighing, the adult said that there was a proper placement, how to place it?

I'm afraid that this blind old woman will be smashed in her own hands!