Chapter 128 Liu Zhuo provokes

In the past few days since Ye Ansong was taken away, Wu Xianglian had not slept a full night's sleep.

　　She would go to Chen Xiucai's house and Zhao Lizheng's house three or four times every day to ask for news about her precious grandson.

　　She couldn't understand why her eldest grandson, who had become a scholar, was taken away by officials.

　　Sun Caihe, Ye Ansong's biological mother, was even more worried and cried day and night. Ye Chenghai was so annoyed that he hid out early in the morning every day and didn't come home until midnight.

　　He was also worried, but he was just a farmer. He hadn't even been to Tianshui Town a few times, so he couldn't help his son.

　　On the other hand, Ye Quan, the father of the Ye family, after hearing the news, sat on the threshold and smoked a cigarette in silence. After sitting there for a long time, he called his third son Ye Chenghe over.

　　Ye Chenghe naturally knew what his father meant. In his family, he was the only one with greater "skills" and his father-in-law opened a pawn shop in the town.

　　Ye Quan wanted Ye Chenghe to ask Zhou Zaiqian for help, even if it was to borrow some money, he had to get the child out of the Yamen first.

　　He had a good idea, but Ye Chenghe, who had always obeyed his advice, quit.

　　Zhou Zaiqian already looked down on the old Ye family, and he was a bride-in-law. Something happened to his nephew, and he was taken away by people from the Yamen. He wanted to keep the news secret, for fear that the Zhou family would know about it, and he and his wife would be taken away. Zhou Rong's marriage was canceled.

　　Seeing that Ye Quan could not be persuaded, he thought about it carefully and gave up.

　　The old man thought that it was nothing serious. With his family's Ansong's relationship with Fangzhi County, he was released after being detained for a few days.

　　If it was really a major matter that even the Fang Magistrate and County could not handle, it would be useless for them to find someone. Instead of doing useless work, they might as well find a way to stabilize the marriage with the Zhou family first.

　　In this way, everyone in Lao Ye's family spent three very long days in anxiety.

　　Until the early morning of the fourth day, Wu Xianglian went to Zhao Lizheng's house as usual to see if there was any news about Ye Ansong, but she met Liu Zhuo coming from the town.

　　At first sight, Wu Xianglian guessed that this young man, who was wearing a green shirt and full of bookish air, must be Ye Ansong's classmate.

　　She didn't care about anything else, stepped forward and grabbed Liu Zhuo's arm and asked, "Where is my An Song? Why hasn't he come back?"

　　Liu Zhuo stumbled back a few steps due to her grabbing and pushing. Zhao Lizheng quickly reached out to help Wu Xianglian and pulled Wu Xianglian away.

　　"What are you doing? They just came to tell you the news about Song Xiaozi."

　　"Then what happened to Ansong? Where are they now?"

　　"Grandma," Liu Zhuo was afraid that she would get emotional and pounce on him again, so he quietly moved a few steps towards Zhao Lizheng, and then said, "Ansong... I'm afraid he won't be able to come back for a while."

　　"What do you mean?! Why can't he come back? What happened to him?!" Wu Xianglian became anxious upon hearing this.

"He... because he impersonated a scholar surnamed Yuan for a scholar's quota, he is now locked up in the Yamen Prison. I'm afraid he won't be able to come out until three years later. Also, you'd better go home and raise some money. The scholar surnamed Yuan jumped into the river. After his death, the Yamen ordered him to compensate the Yuan family one hundred taels of silver."

　　"What...?"

　　Wu Xianglian felt her head buzzing, her legs lost control, and she fell straight to the ground.

　　Zhao Lizheng quickly gave her a hand and helped her sit down on the kang.

　　Wu Xianglian waited for a long time, then trembled and said: "Then... is the other person okay?"

Liu Zhuo was silent for a moment, and then said slowly: "I'm afraid... it's not good. His knee was injured and he was beaten again. I'm afraid there is no doctor in the prison right now. If he doesn't fix it, his leg will be useless."

　　"Oh my God!"

　　"My miserable grandson!"

　　Wu Xianglian's heart trembled when she heard this. It had only been two or three days. How could her precious grandson be like this?

　　Seeing her crying like this, Zhao Lizheng couldn't bear to see her, but what could he do? The children they taught themselves had already known this, so why did they do it in the first place.

　　"Grandma, please stop crying now. It's better to collect some money quickly, bring some clothes and bedding, and go to the Yamen Prison to see An Song."

　　Liu Zhuo said with a concerned look on his face: "I don't know much about Ansong's specific situation. But you can ask Brother Nian. He and Doctor Jiang also went there that day."

　　His words successfully silenced Wu Xianglian.

　　"What did you just say? Say it again." Wu Xianglian stared at Liu Zhuo with red and swollen eyes.

　　Liu Zhuo looked confused and said: "I said... you'd better bring your money and clothes to have a look..."

　　"The last sentence!" Wu Xianglian almost shouted at the top of her voice.

　　"Brother Nian and Langzhong Jiang were also there that day..." Liu Zhuo was confused, "Brother Nian, didn't he tell you?"

　　"I knew it was that little bitch!"

　　Wu Xianglian could no longer hear what Liu Zhuo was saying. All she could think about now was that the day Ye Ansong was taken to the county government, Ye Annian and Jiang Zhu were both there, but they did nothing?

　　Just let her precious grandson be imprisoned? !

　　No, they must have done this together! Just to harm her eldest grandson!

　　She was so furious that she left in a hurry, regardless of Zhao Lizheng and Liu Zhuo calling her from behind.

　　After Liu Zhuo achieved his goal, he said goodbye to Zhao Lizheng and prepared to leave.

　　Zhao Lizheng's expression turned pale.

　　He originally thought that this young man who claimed to be Ye Ansong's classmate came to the village early in the morning to tell him about this because of his friendship with his classmates, but he didn't expect that he came to stir up trouble.

　　Ye Annian and the others told him about Ye Ansong when they came back last night. Early in the morning, he was about to go to Lao Ye's house to tell them the news. Who knew that he hadn't gone out yet? The gentle Liu Zhuo is here.

　　"Don't come to Yueya Village again in the future. You are not welcome in our village." Zhao Li was standing at the door and said with a pulled face.

　　The smile on Liu Zhuo's face froze, but his attitude remained soft: "I wonder why I offended you for being old?"

　　"Hmph," Zhao Lizheng, who was old and had never seen such a person before, snorted coldly and said, "You are just a little ninety-nine, old man, I can see everything clearly."

　　"Brother Nian and his wife are at odds with the old Ye family. You came to the village so early in the morning and said those words to Wu Xianglian. What are you worried about?"

　　Seeing that his thoughts were exposed, Liu Zhuo stopped pretending, bowed his hands to Zhao Lizheng and said, "Don't worry, I will never come to this small village again."

　　Zhao Lizheng was so angry that he almost beat him with a stick.

However, when Zhao Le, who was sweeping the floor in the courtyard, heard this, he rushed out with a big broom and whipped Liu Zhuo directly.

　　While slapping, he cursed: "Then get out! You come to my house early in the morning to stir up trouble. It's really unlucky!"

　　Liu Zhuo was beaten with a broom, covered in dirt, and walked away limping and disgraced.

　　When leaving the village, I passed by the home of Ye Annian and Jiang Zhu, and saw the two of them talking and laughing together in the yard through the fence.

　　Liu Zhuo remained silent and clenched his fist hidden in his sleeve.

　　…

　　Unlike the restless life of the old Ye family, Ye Anyian and Jiang Zhu had a peaceful night's sleep.

　　Ye Annian got up early in the morning. Seeing that the weather was good today, he took Jiang Zhu and took out the bedding to dry in the sun.

　　Now that we have entered October, the weather is getting colder and colder day by day. If we don't get sunshine now, it will be even worse in the future.

　　Ye Annian took a kang broom and was beating the dust on the quilt when Fuzai unexpectedly ran up to him holding a paper pinwheel made of bamboo.

　　"Brother, this is what Sister Zhao Nan did. Can you take a look?"

　　Nowadays, Zhao Nan, Yang Chi and the others are not only able to make clay figures and scream with them, but they can also make bamboo dragonflies and paper pinwheels.

　　Ye Annian took it, looked at it carefully, and said, "It's not bad. In a few days, I can try to teach them to tie lanterns."

　　The New Year will be here in a few months, and lanterns will be a hot-selling item by then.

　　While the two were talking, they suddenly heard a rush of footsteps at the door, followed by Wu Xianglian's loud voice.

　　"Brother Nian, come out!"

　　"Your brother was arrested, why didn't you care about it while you were there!"

　　"You bastard! The old Ye family raised you for nothing! Get out of here!"

　　"Woof! Woof woof woof!"

　　Tongqian heard the noise and rushed out first, baring his teeth fiercely at the fence gate.

　　"Ouch!"

　　Wu Xianglian and Sun Caihe outside the door were startled unexpectedly. They stumbled and had to hold each other up to avoid falling.

　　As soon as Ye Annian heard this gesture, he knew that they already knew about Ye Ansong and had come to settle accounts with them.

　　He wanted to open the door, but Jiang Zhu stopped him: "I'll go."

　　When the fence door was opened, Wu Xianglian held back her breath and was about to curse, when she unexpectedly saw Jiang Zhu's smiling face, and her success was broken.

　　Jiang Zhu leaned against the door and looked at her calmly: "We also want to help. But Ye Ansong committed a big crime this time. Even the magistrate of Fang County couldn't save him."

　　"Stop bluffing me!" Wu Xianglian glanced at Jiang Zhu and said, "Ansong's classmate told me that he just outdid other scholars. What's the big deal? It's because Yuan couldn't figure it out and locked up my family. What's wrong with Ansong!"

　　Jiang Zhu disagreed with this, but he smelled something unusual in Wu Xianglian's words.

"Ye Ansong's classmate?"

　　"Just..." Wu Xianglian was confused for a moment, and then she realized that she didn't even know the name of the guy in green shirt.

　　"Anyway, he's wearing a green suit and is a weakling." She said impatiently.

　　As soon as he heard this, Jiang Zhu immediately knew who it was. Except for Liu Zhuo, no one had time to come to the village early in the morning to say these gossips.

　　"No wonder." He deliberately looked like he suddenly realized something.

　　"What do you mean?" Wu Xianglian suddenly became alert.

　　"Didn't the little brother tell you that he was there on the day of Ye Ansong's trial? Moreover, if it hadn't been for him, maybe Fangzhi County could have protected Ye Ansong." Jiang Zhu said leisurely.

　　"What do you mean by that?!" Wu Xianglian was confused, "What did he do to Fang Magistrate?!"

　　"On the day of the court hearing, the prefect Yao of Shuozhou was also there." Ye Annian walked out of the courtyard and stood next to Jiang Zhu.

　　He looked at Wu Xianglian's frightened and angry face and spoke softly: "It was Liu Zhuo who exposed Magistrate Fang and brought down Ye Ansong's backer. Magistrate Yao finally sentenced Magistrate Fang and Ye Ansong together."

　　"If you want to find the person who put Ye Ansong in jail, you might as well go to us to find Liu Zhuo. After all, Jiang Zhu and I were almost implicated that day."

　　After Ye Anian finished speaking, without waiting for Wu Xianglian's reaction, he slammed the fence door.

　　Wu Xianglian felt frustrated and felt that her mind was buzzing and she couldn't understand it.

　　Didn't she come to settle accounts with Ye Anyian and his wife? Why, how come it was Brother Liu's fault in the end?

　　"Mother, mother..." Sun Caihe called her softly from the side.

　　"Why don't we pool the money together first? Do we need to go and have a look at Ansong's side?"

　　Wu Xianglian came back to her senses and rolled her eyes: "Collect money? That's easy to say! That's a hundred taels! Where can I collect money?!"

　　"Brother-in-law, don't you think..." Sun Caihe was cautious.

　　"Don't bother with Cheng He's ideas!" Wu Xianglian squeaked, "If Cheng He's marriage is ruined because of your An Song, let's see if your father will beat you to death!"

　　Sun Caihe didn't dare to speak anymore. Her poor Ansong's leg was broken, and she didn't know how long she had spent in prison. She, as a mother, must be the only one feeling distressed.

　　She lamented, but she was thinking about how to get some clothes and bedding and go to Anxing County to see Ye Ansong.