County Magistrate Gao only returned to the county yamen[1]县衙 (xiànyá) – the yamen, or government office and administrative headquarters of a county magistrate in imperial China. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3351265_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3351265_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); this morning. When he arrived at the county yamen, he heard the constable say that the household that adopted Zhaozhao had fled.
Now, the yamen had already sent people to search for them, but because many places were in a mess due to the matter of the Sky Screen, they were short on manpower. It would probably not be easy to find them.
Especially considering that the other party had just obtained more than two hundred taels of silver, the difference between having money and not having money was simply too great.
County Magistrate Gao had a terrible headache, but he could not concern himself with much else and went to Shangliu Village first.
He didn’t sleep all night and was extremely tired, yet he couldn’t rest for even a moment. If this matter was not handled properly, he feared that his career as an official would probably come to an end as well.
When he arrived at Shangliu Village, Yue Chai was already waiting at the village entrance with his face covered in sweat. Scholar Guo was there as well.
Yesterday, when he heard Zhaozhao mention Shangliu Village, he knew that he didn’t need to say much to the County Magistrate. The county yamen would naturally send people to the village to find out the situation.
Sure enough, that was exactly what happened. A constable came yesterday, and today County Magistrate Gao came personally.
County Magistrate Gao did not exchange pleasantries either and directly said, “Go to the Hu family first.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Yue Chai was extremely nervous. Although he was the village chief, ordinarily, his words only carried a little weight in the village, and this was his first time meeting an official. Especially since he had failed to do his job properly, not only allowing Zhaozhao to suffer all kinds of bullying during the two years she was here, but also allowing the three members of the Hu family to escape, he was now afraid that the county magistrate would punish him for his crime.
Therefore, he desperately pushed Scholar Guo forward, letting him answer on his behalf.
The group soon arrived at the Hu family. There happened to be a constable at the entrance of the Hu family at this time.
County Magistrate Gao went inside and walked around once. Most of the Hu family’s things were still there. That was right, after all. Since they had left secretly, they could not attract too much attention, so the things they could take away were extremely limited.
Some commonly used clothes and bedding were indeed gone. They might have taken a few pots, bowls, ladles, and basins as well, but anything worth even a little money was gone.
County Magistrate Gao went to walk around the courtyard again. Yue Chai said, “Their family originally raised five chickens, two ducks, and a pig. Now one chicken and one duck are missing. They should have taken those away too.”
County Magistrate Gao nodded. After walking out of the main room, he asked again, “Where did that little girl live?”
Yue Chai’s heart gave a thump. After hesitating for a moment, he still steeled himself and led the way in front, “Your Honor, this way, please.”
The door to the woodshed was still open. After Zhaozhao ran out that night, it had never been closed again, so everything inside was clear at a glance.
Especially the tattered bedsheet and straw that had fallen onto the ground, which clearly showed what kind of life the little girl had lived before.
County Magistrate Gao took a deep breath. He walked to the two bed boards and crouched down to touch them. There were still splinters sticking out of the bed boards. He had Yue Chai and the others all step back, then personally examined the things inside the woodshed.
Zhaozhao’s belongings were truly few. There was still one set of clothes to change into, but they were likewise very thin and worn-out. There was also more than half of a hard steamed bun on the ground, along with some smooth little stones that were probably picked up and brought back by the little girl. There were also two little straw-woven rabbits. They looked as though they had been held in someone’s hand and played with many times, and were already very old.
These things had probably accompanied that little girl through many difficult days.
County Magistrate Gao put all these things back in place. Soon, he lifted the straw in the corner again, and then he saw one mark after another scratched into the ground.
He frowned and asked, “What is this?”
Yue Chai and Scholar Guo both came forward to look. After studying them for a long while, they were still completely baffled.
Scholar Guo seemed to think of something and hurriedly said, “Why not ask the villagers who have a good relationship with Zhaozhao ba?”
County Magistrate Gao stood up, “That is good too. I was just thinking of finding them to ask about this little girl’s behavior in the past.”
Yue Chai immediately ran outside, “I’ll go find Lin Lan and the others.”
Actually, he did not need to run far. Lin Lan and the others were all at the entrance of the Hu family.
They were all extremely regretful at this moment. If they had known earlier that the village chief was so unreliable, they would have come themselves to keep an eye on the three members of the Hu family.
When they heard that the County Magistrate had come, they hurriedly ran to the Hu family.
At this time, Lin Lan and the others followed Yue Chai through the courtyard gate. Faced with County Magistrate Gao’s question, the others all shook their heads. Only Lin Lan said, “These marks are the kindnesses that Zhaozhao deliberately recorded.”
“Kindnesses?” The others were all full of confusion.
Speaking of this, Lin Lan felt a little heartbroken, “Don’t be fooled by Zhaozhao’s young age. Although she didn’t have an easy time at the Hu family, she really is a very good and very kind girl. She said that she still couldn’t do anything now, but she would always grow up in the future. When that time came, she would repay everyone in the village who had helped her. These marks were made as reminders in case she forgot. Here is a steamed bun I gave her. There is a pair of socks from Grandmother Zhou. There is firewood that Uncle Dashan carried for her. There are two old pieces of clothing that Aunt Yu gave her. There is the straw-woven grasshopper that Liangping gave her…”
As she spoke, Lin Lan began to feel distressed, “Actually, they were all very small things. To us, they were simply things we could do with a lift of a hand, but she insisted on recording every single one of them very seriously. Her life was already difficult, yet she never complained that Heaven was unfair. Instead, she even said that although many people in the village were not good to her, people like us were still good to her. She did not have absolutely nothing. There were still people in this world who cared about her.”
“That’s right ah.” Grandmother Zhou could not help wiping away her tears, “Such a good little girl. For the Hu family to treat her like this, they have truly committed such great wickedness.”
“Hasn’t this retribution already come?” Liangping let out a cold snort, “I really want to see just how far they can escape.”
“The Sky Screen is hanging up there in the sky. No matter how they run, they can’t escape from the palm of little immortal child Zhaozhao.” Aunt Yu was not worried at all.
She felt that Zhaozhao was right. Evil has its evil retribution, and good has its good reward. Look, it had already been demonstrated in just one day.
The three members of the Hu family, who had committed all kinds of evil, now had a home they could not return to. As for the Zheng family who helped her, even all the things they had accumulated at home were stolen. There was also Third Brother Jiang. When he heard that the County Magistrate had come, he was so afraid that he wanted to hide. In the end, when he ran to the village entrance, he fell into a drainage ditch and even broke his leg. He was still lying in bed now.
But as for the people who took care of Zhaozhao, setting everything else aside, didn’t Lin Lan’s family separate their household? And they separated it very ‘fairly.’
All of these people had benefited along with her, one after another. Those who had looked down on them and made fun of them in the past were now all very polite to them.
County Magistrate Gao listened to them finish in silence. Then, when he lowered his head and looked at those marks again, his feelings became complicated. Yesterday, he was still thinking that the girl had encountered a household that abused her, and now that the Sky Screen had appeared because of her, perhaps for the Great Qi Dynasty, it was a disaster rather than a blessing.
But now, he felt again that perhaps it was a blessing rather than a disaster.
How could such a little girl who knew kindness and repaid kindness have happened to encounter people like the Hu family?
County Magistrate Gao covered the straw back up again. Straightening up, he instructed the constable, “For the time being, do not let anyone enter this room.”
“Yes.”
County Magistrate Gao led everyone outside. Only after arriving in the courtyard did he ask, “I heard that before that little girl left, she gave you all something?”
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