Cheng Qinghan was stunned for a moment before taking the safety lock.
"I just asked Song Da. He said that Madam Cheng didn't want the dowry and that's why she didn't return it. May I ask Madam if it's true?"
"Bah, it's obvious that he stole my dowry box and wanted to sell my wedding dress to a brothel to pay off his gambling debt before he could get the house deed." Cheng Huaer cursed fiercely in the direction of Song Da: "Yuan
Sir, you can’t let him go. It’s not an exaggeration to behead such a black-hearted person!”
"Sir, please don't believe her. This stinky bitch is just dissatisfied with me for divorcing her. But think about it, she has been married to me for such a long time and has neither allowed us to have sex nor used money to support the family. That box of money is just to compensate.
Give it to me!"
Song Da stared at her fiercely, wishing he could kill her that night.
"If I hadn't taken out the money, you would have starved to death. How could you still stand in front of me and fight?" Cheng Hua'er sneered, "You feel tired when I ask you to grow some food, and you feel the wages are low when I ask you to go out to work.
If I hadn’t taken my dowry and hired a few people, I would have starved to death for so many years!”
"you……"
"That's enough." Yuan Qi had not slept all night, and his head was pounding when he heard the two people arguing: "Song Da participated in bribery, whether he can save his life or not is another matter. If you want to seek justice, wait for the new appointment
After the pavilion chief takes office, we will go to court with him."
When Song Da heard this, his legs went weak. If the attendants around him hadn't pressed him down, he would have collapsed on the ground.
He originally thought that he would just hit a few boards, but he never thought that his life would be endangered.
Cheng Hua'er was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then immediately asked: "Where did you sell the remaining jewelry?"
Song Da's three souls and six souls have long been lost at this moment, how can he answer her words.
Don't worry, Mrs. Cheng, I will let Magistrate Wei ask about this matter." Yuan Qi also noticed it, so he directly asked him to get on the carriage: "The village chief and the pavilion chief have been taken into custody, and all cases will have to wait until the new pavilion chief arrives.
During the retrial, Mr. Wang and Ms. Chen will still have to stay in jail for a few days, and we will inform you at that time."
Cheng Hua'er nodded, agreed, and then moved the dowry box back to the back room.
Cheng Qinghan had been standing behind and watching, and when he saw that everyone had almost left, he slowly walked forward.
"Your Excellency, your words are a bit harsh today. Is it because you didn't sleep all night last night?"
Motoqi nodded.
"Then why don't you go back to your house and take a nap first, and we'll talk about this in the afternoon."
"As I said yesterday, I will give you an explanation this morning."
Cheng Qingwen smiled and took a step back: "I was still thinking of asking you why you came to my house yesterday. Since you are so tired, you should go back and rest quickly."
When Yuan Qi heard this, he took a deep look at her first, and then replied: "Yesterday, I came here specifically to ask you to take a look at the wheat I planted in the backyard. It will be a bit busy these days, and I think I can only spend a few days.
, I will definitely visit you again in person."
After saying that, he got into the carriage and drove away.
Cheng Qingwen was stunned for a while, then turned around and saw the cow on the side. He was annoyed why he didn't return it to others just now and he had to make another trip.
She walked into the house and saw Cheng Huaer ordering the dowry.
Looking at the whole box of golden jewelry and treasures, Cheng Qinghan began to wonder about the origin of the woman's natal family and bought such a large box of dowry for her daughter.
"Mom, this hairpin is so beautiful."
She picked up a five-tailed phoenix hairpin. It was beautifully made. The golden phoenix held a pearl in its mouth, with tassels hanging down, and shook it in her hand.
Look carefully, there are two ancient characters engraved on the phoenix head.
Cheng Qingwen frowned and studied it for a while, then the woman took it away.
"Huanhuan, these will be your dowry from now on." Cheng Huaer put the things away with a normal expression and locked them: "There are still many things missing. I think Song Da took them and sold them."
"Xu Shi was still hidden at home, and he lied to us that day."
"I'm not worried about anything else. I just have a jade pendant. If it is really sold, I have to redeem it as soon as possible."
"Why?"
"Because it's a relic left by your grandmother." Cheng Hua'er rubbed his forehead and said.
Cheng Qinghan nodded, it must be redeemed.
It's just that it's easy to sell it at a low price but hard to redeem it. I'm afraid I won't be able to redeem it for the few taels of silver I have at home.
"Auntie, when will we go to town, sell these grains, and buy some fields by the way?"
Cheng Hua'er looked at the grain piled up in the yard and nodded: "Yes, I have to find time to go to the town. If you just buy the fields, the village chief makes the decision. You have to wait until this matter."
When Cheng Qingwen heard this, she immediately refuted it in her heart. She didn't know when this matter would happen. It's November next month, and she didn't want to wait.
She had been thinking about this problem all day, and when planting soybeans and wheat, she almost got hit in the foot by a hoe.
"What are you thinking about, absentmindedly?"
Cheng Hua'er asked softly as he watched her get into bed half-heartedly.
"I was wondering who would take care of the affairs of the village if the village chief is absent."
"I heard that Mr. Yuan is handling it these days."
"Yuanqi?" Cheng Qingwen's eyes suddenly lit up, and he glanced at the cow at the door: "Auntie, we have been borrowing someone else's cow for a while. I will return the cow tomorrow and buy some land by the way."
When Cheng Huaer heard this, he looked at the person in front of him differently: "Tomorrow, how about I go?"
"Well? Grandma never cared about such things before." Cheng Qingwen looked at her and understood immediately: "You heard them gossiping about me and Mr. Yuan yesterday, right?"
Cheng Hua'er nodded: "You are an unmarried girl, so you should see him less often, so as not to spread the word and make it difficult to find your husband's family. Didn't you tell Mr. Yuan that day to stay away from him in the future?"
"Aunt Liu heard what Qiaoqiao said?" Cheng Qingwen looked at her and nodded, smiling: "I just said it casually that day, but what Auntie said was to stay far away. Then, tomorrow
Sorry for bothering grandma."
Cheng Huaer smiled happily and agreed.
The mother and daughter lay down and planned to fall asleep.
The night is silent and the candles are extinguished.
The woman's voice suddenly sounded: "If Yuan Qi is from Hua County, it would be a good place to end up. But, he is from the capital, and I will never want you to enter the capital again in this life."
Cheng Qingwen heard the meaning of her words and joked: "Mom, you were thinking of marrying me to someone else's attendant a few days ago, but today you have decided on Yuan Qi. Then who will it be tomorrow?"
Woolen cloth?"
Cheng Hua'er was speechless, and then said after a while: "I just hope that you can find a good husband with some wealth, and stop wandering around with me."
"I can also give myself a home." Cheng Qingwen said softly: "Mom, go to bed quickly, I have to go to Mr. Yuan's house tomorrow."
Cheng Hua'er hummed softly and stopped talking.
After a while, the people around her gradually fell asleep, but she had not closed her eyes until dawn.
When Cheng Qingwen woke up, there was no one in the house.
After she had breakfast, she took the kettle to the backyard to water the tomatoes with green fruits, and took a few eggs from the chicken coop.
Then, he walked to the stone mill, took out the soybeans soaked yesterday, added water and put them into the stone mill to grind them.
After nearly an hour, Cheng Qingwen finished grinding the soybeans.
Then filter both sides with gauze to remove the bean dregs, then bring the soy milk into the kitchen and boil it over high heat.
Until the aroma of soy milk came through, she couldn't help but taste a bowl. Then she took out a basin from the cupboard, filled a bowl full, and waited for Cheng Hua'er to come back to drink.
Cheng Qingwen heated the soy milk to about 80 degrees, then added salt water three times until it solidified into tofu curd.
She took out the mold she made a few days ago, put gauze in it, put the tofu flowers in it, wrapped it in gauze, and put heavy objects on it.
After waiting for half an hour, the tofu will be ready.
As noon approached, Cheng Hua'er stood in front of Yuan Qi, feeling a little out of breath, but seeing that he was looking for land deeds for fertile land, it was difficult to turn around and leave.
After a while, he dug out a stack of land deeds from the village chief's messy box.
"Mrs. Cheng knows the farm conditions in the village better than I do. You can make your own choice."
Cheng Huaer took the land deed, looked at it for a long time and took out five: "Just these five."
Motoqi nodded, took out his book and registered it, and then put the five taels of silver given by the woman into a small wooden box.
"Mrs. Cheng, after you sign here, this field will be yours."
Cheng Hua'er nodded and signed the land deed.
"Thank you, Mr. Yuan. I'll take my leave first."
"Madam, go slowly." Motoqi watched her walk out with a smile, and then packed up the things on the table.
A Zhu immediately came up to him and reported back: "Sir, we went to see the pawn shop that Song Da mentioned. The shopkeeper said that he did come and sold a lot of jewelry."
Motoqi nodded, seeing that he was worried, and motioned for him to continue.
"There is a jade pendant, and my subordinates brought it back." A Zhu took out the jade pendant and said, "This jade pendant has a name engraved on it. Yes, it is..."
Yuan Qi saw him hesitating and took the jade pendant over.
The fine white jade is carved with a phoenix and the word Yuanjun is engraved on the side.
"My subordinates have repeatedly asked the shopkeeper and Song Da that this jade pendant was indeed taken from Mrs. Cheng's dowry box."
"Cheng..." Yuan Qi frowned, and he held the jade pendant tightly: "Go check her natal family, her previous husband's family, anything."
"Do you want to report it to the Crown Prince?" A Zhu said, "If it is true, His Highness can transfer you back to the capital."
"Don't make any noise, go check it out first."
"Yes." A Zhu agreed and walked out immediately.
When Cheng Hua'er got the land deed and returned home, Cheng Qinghan had already cooked lunch.
"Wanwan, where did the tofu come from?"
"I made it myself." Cheng Qingwen took out the soy milk with a smile: "Mom, please try it, it's just a little cold."
Cheng Hua'er took a sip in surprise, and her eyes immediately lit up: "This is the same as the one I drank before. If Huanwan's craftsmanship opens a store, it will definitely be a big seller."
Cheng Qingwen smiled and said nothing. But what the woman said reminded her that she should do some business after saving some money.
After lunch, the mother and daughter sat for a while, and then Cheng Qingwen went to the new field with a hoe.
The new field is near Aunt Liu’s house. The five fields connected together are overgrown with weeds because they have not been planted for a long time.
She spent the afternoon pulling out all the weeds.
At dusk, it didn't take long for the seeds to be planted.
Cheng Qingwen straightened up, glanced at Song Qiaoqiao, who had been with him all afternoon, and said with a smile: "Let's go to my house for dinner."
"No, my grandma should have cooked the meal." Song Qiaoqiao held her hand and said with a smile.
Because the adults of the two families are close and move around a lot, the two of them get along very harmoniously, like sisters.
"By the way, Mr. Yuan asked Magistrate Wei to send many people to guard the entrances of each village today. He said that many refugees suffering from the epidemic have fled here." This chapter has been completed!