Chapter 38
Ah Yu Is My Daughter
“Of course. Before I came, my Lord had already given me the authority to deal with anything here. I’ve already arrested the people involved. Now, your village has to nominate a witness to follow me.” To officially judge the case, they had to go to the county city. Only after various procedures could the case be closed.
This matter was very important. The Hu Family Village and Shanyang Village would definitely become enemies because of this. However, at this point, shaking hands and making peace was too cowardly.
Village Chief Hu pondered for a moment. “That’s easy. I’ll go with you. In addition, I’ll have four villagers come with me.”
He was the village chief. It would be more convincing if he testified.
Old Madam Wang took a step forward and tidied her clothes. She said firmly, “I’ll go with you.”
“Donkey Zhang, are you stupid? With your old bones, how can you go to the county city! You’ll probably fall apart halfway!” Third Aunt Hu stood a little further away. She was still a little afraid. After all, she had never seen an official before, let alone so many people in front of her.
This Donkey Zhang was also stupid. Who didn’t know that when the people saw an official, even if they didn’t die, they would lose a layer of skin. Why was she in such a hurry to go!
Old Madam Wang ignored Third Aunt Hu. She had to make a trip there to let everyone know that their Wang Family valued Ah Yu.
Shanyang Village wanted to snatch Ah Yu away. This matter was not over!
Moreover, even if others were afraid of officials, she was not. Didn’t the officials also have arms and legs like everyone else?
Would they eat her up?
“Don’t worry, it’s just a routine questioning. It won’t cause any harm. It’s just that the journey will be bumpy. I’m afraid you’ll have to suffer a little.” Zhang Zhan nodded slightly and reminded her.
“Don’t you have a carriage? I’ll take that.” Old Madam Wang raised her chin and said especially casually.
Zhang Zhan was stunned. Then, he thought that this was not impossible.
He quite liked the old lady. She was honest and sharp.
Zhang Zhan saw Little Ah Yu in the crowd. She had already gotten down from Wang Erlang’s neck. A lamb was beside her, and she was lowering her head and talking to it.
Compared to the way she looked a few days ago, the little girl seemed to have changed again.
Originally, her face was a little haggard and she was thin, as if she would collapse if the wind blew.
Now, her black eyes seemed to be filled with starlight. The bit of gold hidden in her pupils was more like the stars.
Her small chin had a round arc. When she smiled, two dimples hung on her flushed face. Her full lips opened and closed, and her white and neat teeth appeared and disappeared.
She was cute as snow and carved like jade, like a little doll that had walked out of a painting. Just one look at her made one feel that she was beautiful.
She did not look like a child raised by a farmer.
His hearing was amazing, and he happened to hear the little girl say to the little lamb, “Little lamb, be good. The adults want to do something, so we’ll all be good. I’ll bring you to eat grass later.”
With that, she patted the little lamb’s head symbolically.
Zhang Zhan especially liked this little girl. Logically speaking, she was also his savior. A mere jade pendant was naturally not enough to repay her.
Zhang Zhan walked over. When Liu Shi, who had followed over, saw this, she endured the fear in her heart and pulled Ah Yu to her side. She asked nervously, “Sir, are you looking for Ah Yu?”
“Yes,” Zhang Zhan replied casually.
When Little Ah Yu heard her name, she opened her mouth slightly and pointed at herself. “Uncle, why are you looking for me?”
He squatted down in front of Little Ah Yu and looked at the little girl’s confused eyes. He asked softly, “Do you want me to help you find your family?”
He heard that this child was picked up from somewhere. However, seeing the look of fortune on this child’s face, he wondered if she was a child from a rich family.
Especially her eyes with golden pupils. They were especially strange, but he felt that there was nothing wrong with them.
It was as if she was born with such eyes, like a deer spirit in the mountains.
Although the people of Hu Family Village were good, they were too poor. To the child, it was still a tough life.
“Uncle, I don’t understand.” Little Ah Yu was confused. Wasn’t her family here?
Could this Uncle be a bad person?
Fifth Brother said that some bad people liked to lie to children like this.
Ah Yu was a little afraid. She secretly tightened her grip on Liu Shi’s little finger.
She patted her small chest.
With Mother around, Ah Yu was not afraid.
“Sir!” Liu Shi mustered her courage and raised her voice. She carried Ah Yu with trembling hands, her fingers almost clenched into fists.
Liu Shi took a deep breath and said loudly, “Ah Yu is my daughter!”
Little Ah Yu did not know what had happened. She subconsciously hugged Liu Shi’s neck and shouted, “Mother.”
“Mother is here. Ah Yu, don’t be afraid.” Liu Shi’s eyes instantly turned red. She looked at Zhang Zhan with pleading and determination. “Ah Yu is my child! I’m her mother.”
The grandsons of the Wang Family hurriedly squeezed over and surrounded Liu Shi and Ah Yu.
They were young and did not have the reverence for adults.
“That’s right. Little Sister Ah Yu is our sister.”
“We’re all her family!”
“We like her a lot, Sir. You can’t take her away.”
“Sir, you can’t break up a family!”
After Wang Liulang finished speaking, his brothers were stunned. Wang Silang slapped his head.
“Stupid. You can’t say that they’re breaking up the family.”
“Then what should I say?”
“Beat him up!” Wang Silang said firmly.
In any case, it was not a real beating.
Zhang Zhan :”…”
Old Master Hu saw Zhang Zhan’s thoughtful expression and cupped his hands at him. “Sir, can we talk in private?”
Zhang Zhan glanced at Ah Yu and knew that there was probably something hidden behind this, so he nodded in agreement.
After the two of them left, everyone gathered around and looked at Little Ah Yu.
“What should we do? Those officials won’t take Ah Yu away, right?”
“Ah Yu is a child of our Wang Family. No one can take her away.” Old Madam Wang straightened her back, her eyes burning. When she looked at the surrounding villagers, her tone was even more firm. “She was born two years ago to my fourth daughter-in-law.”
The villagers were puzzled at first. What two years ago? Didn’t you just bring her back?
Then, they understood. Yes, they should say that.
Ah Yu was young and had already forgotten her original family after interacting with everyone. She only thought that she was the granddaughter of the Wang Family.
They should not remind the child to remember.
The grandsons of the Wang Family looked at each other in confusion.
Was Ah Yu really Fourth Aunt’s daughter? Why hadn’t they seen her before?
Could it be that she was raised at Fourth Aunt’s house?
Village Chief Hu said in a low voice, “I’ll also make a trip with them to register the child. It’s time to register her name.”
The villagers immediately echoed, “Yes, yes, yes. Ah Yu is already two years old. It should have been done long ago.”
“It’s better to do it early. It’ll be more convenient to save up for the dowry in the future.”
When the surrounding officials saw the villagers say this, they were a little uncertain. Didn’t the people from Shanyang Village say that this child was adopted?
If she was really picked up from the streets, the villagers should not be so protective of her, let alone when there was no food.
Little Ah Yu was not sure what they were discussing because to her now, she was her mother’s child.
Both Mother and she frequently fell sick. She was always dizzy and would forget something every time she was sick.
She felt that it did not matter if she forgot about the illness. In any case, Mother and the others were with her.
Meatball chose to remain silent in the space. Ah Yu’s previous memories were too painful. To a four-year-old child, it was more like four years of purgatory.
However, she did not notice it herself. Instead, she lived happily.
If not for the fact that Ah Yu had woken it up when she was facing death, Ah Yu might very well be gone.
The child did not remember those memories, but it knew that she remembered. It was just an attendant and was powerless to change the past. It was better to let her think that she was from Hu Family Village since she was young like the other villagers.
Zhang Zhan learned about the general situation from Old Master Hu. After thinking about it carefully, he knew that Little Ah Yu had probably been abandoned by her family and was not lost.
There might be other implications.
He decided to keep it a secret for the time being and turned a blind eye to it, letting the Wang Family register her under their family name.
When he returned, he would send someone to investigate and see what was going on with her family.
If they were looking for her, he would help her return to her family. If they’d really abandoned her, he would pretend that Ah Yu had died in the snow.
He would help wrap things up.
Zhang Zhan did not mention bringing Ah Yu to look for her family again and pretended that this did not exist.
Then, he brought a few people from Hu Family Village, including Village Chief Hu and Old Madam Wang, to the county city to close the case.
Before leaving, Hu Erpang could not help but ask from afar, “Sir, when are you going to return Grandpa Wang’s pants to him?”
When he went to call Grandpa Wang this morning, he heard him complaining that his pants had been taken by that young man and he had nothing to change into.
Zhang Zhan: “…” Why did he remind him about this?
He gritted his teeth and looked at Old Madam Wang at the side. He forced himself to calm down and said, “I’ve placed it in the county city. I’ll definitely return it when the time comes.”
Old Madam Wang waved her hand. “You can return it anytime.” It wasn’t her pants anyway.
This was because a round trip would take 12 hours. Old Madam Wang would only be able to return the next day.
She said to Ah Yu, “Don’t touch the seeds first. Wait for Grandma to come back first.”
Little Ah Yu thought of the seeds and the Myriad Spirit Water that Ah Ma had poured on them, and her eyes curved as she nodded obediently. “Yes, yes.”
Shhh, she knew. This was her and Grandma’s little secret.