good season

Zhao Shiqing actually had a sense of foreboding in her heart, but she still forced a smile and nodded: "Okay, we will scare them then."

Next, Zhao Shiqing and Zhen Wuduo, a young and an old man, started to clean up. Lingbo and Niuqiu did not help. They followed Zhen Wuduo's men to investigate what happened that year in the village.

Chen Lizheng went home with a sigh. Xiao Zhen sent Jiang Ping to buy a hemp rope as he was going to repair the swing.

Everyone was busy and no one noticed that Xiaoguai came over at some point.

Zhao Shiqing left marks for it along the way, and Xiaoguai found it by following the marks.

The so-called mark is actually the meat sauce made by Lingbo himself. He just smeared a little on the tree trunks on the roadside, and Xiaoguai would be able to find it all the way.

Inside the house, Zhao Shiqing cleaned the room one by one. Unlike the layout of most houses in Wu, the Shi family's courtyard was similar to that in the capital. It was a square courtyard, but at least twice as large as those in the capital.

The Shi family had no servants, and there were not many particulars in the countryside. The back room in the courtyard seemed to be a place where the women received guests, with a loom and a spinning wheel. There should have been a vase on the eight-immortals table, but it was stolen by Li Laosi, leaving only a handful of dry branches scattered on the table.

In addition to the vase, there was also a savings box. Perhaps it was not taken away by Li Laosi because it had no lid. In the savings box were some snacks that the female family members liked to eat. Next to the savings box was a teapot with a cover on the outside. The cover was embroidered with blooming roses. Although it had faded long ago, one could still see that the embroidery was exquisite.

Next to the loom, there was a chair with a table attached. The style was very unique and Zhao Shiqing had never seen it before. The chair was covered with an embroidered cushion and a rag doll was lying on it.

Zhao Shiqing stared at the odd-looking chair in a daze. Zhen Wuduo came over and also saw the chair. He sighed, "This should be specially made for you to sit on. Look how smooth this small table is polished. Children won't bump into it. And the armrests on this chair are all covered with cotton. How thoughtful."

Zhao Shiqing's nose felt sour. She gently picked up the rag doll. The doll was not perfect and had traces of having been mended.

Zhao Shiqing's fingers gently stroked the fine stitches, not knowing whether it was grandma's or mother's needlework.

"When I was a child, I must have often sat here and listened to my grandmother and mother chatting while weaving."

The exquisite chairs, the dried branches, and the swing in the yard all tell everyone that there was once a family here who lived their lives with hope.

Zhao Shiqing held the rag doll in her arms. She had grown up, and the rag doll seemed even smaller. It was a small ball, but it made her feel warm.

Walking out of the back house, facing you are the three main rooms, with an ear room on the east and west sides, and a porch next to the ear room. The three rooms in the east wing are study rooms, and the west wing is the guest room. Just as Chen Lizheng said, the Shi family's house is not only well built, but also has many rooms. That's why Shi's father took the initiative to ask Doctor Yang and his grandson to come to his house to recuperate.

The east room should be grandma's room, but all I could see were children's things. There was a bamboo basket full of toys by the window, including various rattles, bird whistles, and a very short flute.

A smile appeared on Zhao Shiqing's face. These toys can all make sounds.

Because she is blind and can't see anything, sound is her most direct channel to understand the outside world, so her family bought her all kinds of toys that can make sounds so that she can enjoy happiness in the dark world.

Zhao Shiqing laughed until tears welled up in her eyes. She squatted down, picked up the toys one by one, and either shook them to make sounds or put them to her mouth and blew them.

It was not known how long it had passed before the sounds gradually stopped. Zhao Shiqing walked through the central hall and entered the west room, which should be his father and mother's room.

There was an embroidery frame on the small table next to the bed, but unfortunately the embroidery on it was gone. I wonder if it was taken away by Li Laosi.

The dressing table had been turned upside down, several makeup boxes had been knocked over, and rouge and powder were scattered everywhere.

Zhen Wuduo's voice came from my ears: "My daughter only has these things, it's not enough, I want to give her a dowry, ten miles of red dowry is nothing, I want to give her a hundred boats!"

As he spoke, Zhen Wuduo began to sob again. He had only been married once in his life and had only one legitimate child.

He has so many sons and so many women, whether they are his biological children or not, they all spend his money and use his name.

But his real wife, his real daughter, had nothing.

They never spent his money, never borrowed his influence, and they didn't even have his last name.

Zhen Wuduo bent down with difficulty, picked up the overturned makeup boxes one by one and wiped them clean. Although these things were not worth much, they were also his daughter's precious things and he would wipe them clean every day.

Thinking of this, he wished he could cut Li Laosi into pieces.

The grandfather and grandson cleaned up the three main rooms and then went to the study in the east wing.

A businessman's study is actually mainly used for meeting guests and doing accounting. The books on the bookshelf are gone, and the account books are thrown on the ground with footprints on them.

Opposite the study is the guest room, which is the room for Dr. Yang’s grandparents and grandchildren.

Unlike the previous rooms, this one was tidy and clean. Apart from the books on the shelves being taken away, there were no other signs of having been rummaged through.

Zhao Shiqing frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled: "Why did Li Laosi show leniency to Dr. Yang's grandson?"

Zhen Wuduo looked around and said, "Do you see anything worth looking through here?"

Zhao Shiqing was stunned for a moment, but soon understood what Zhen Wuduo meant.

There was nothing in Doctor Yang's room except bedding. The table was empty, and there was not even a box.

"Where are Doctor Yang's things? Even if he is living here temporarily and has nothing, he can't be without even clothes, right?"

Zhen Wuduo stroked his beard and said, "If he goes on a long journey, his clothes and other belongings will be taken with him."

Zhao Shiqing added, "But my parents and grandma's room has a lot of stuff, which means that the only person who really went on the trip was Doctor Yang, and no one from my family went with him."

But if they didn't travel far, where did they go?

Zhao Shiqing said, "I was found in a bamboo forest not far from here. I was just a blind child and couldn't walk far in the middle of the night, so I probably walked out of my home. Even if I wasn't at home, I was not far from home. My parents and grandma love me so much, how could they let me go out alone? Something must have happened to them, so they couldn't protect me. Grandpa, my parents and grandma, something happened to them, right? Something happened to them, right?"

At the end, Zhao Shiqing's voice changed tone because of excitement. What she could think of, how could Zhen Wuduo not think of it? He had already had a guess, and now seeing Doctor Yang's room, he was even more certain.

The grandfather and grandson walked out of the guest room with pale faces. Zhao Shiqing heard the noise, looked up, and saw Xiaoguai falling on the eaves.

"Xiaoguai, you're back. Did you find anything?" Zhao Shiqing stretched out her hand, and Xiaoguai flew towards her, landed on her shoulder, lowered his head into her ear and made a few low hums.

Zhen Wuduo looked at the scene in front of him and felt it was extremely familiar.

Although he did not spend a long time with Yuzhu, he had seen her whispering with birds more than once.

His granddaughter indeed inherited Yuzhu's talent, but it's a pity that he doesn't know if his daughter has it.

At this moment, he saw Zhao Shiqing raised her little face and looked at him. Her little face was even paler than before.

"My dear granddaughter, what happened?" Zhen Wuduo asked with concern.

"Xiaoguai said that the birds nearby don't come here. If they pass by here, they will fly around it. I don't know why, but I heard it from the old birders passed down from generation to generation." Zhao Shiqing said.

Zhen Wuduo: "Is there a saying about the flat-haired beast that is passed down by word of mouth?"

Zhao Shiqing: "So what if he's a beast? Many people are worse than beasts."

Zhen Wuduo said hurriedly: "Yes, yes, that's right."

Yuzhu also said the same thing.

But then again, why do the birds avoid this yard when passing by?
I didn't pay attention to it before, but now when I looked up, I really didn't see any birds flying by.

Zhao Shiqing said: "Birds also have spirits. They must have witnessed something terrible happening here before, which is why they dare not come here again."

Zhen Wuduo's face changed drastically: "You mean, you mean..."

People who have experienced many storms are now feeling flustered and confused.

The grandfather and grandson sat at the stone table in the yard, facing each other in silence. No one noticed that there was a person working in the corner of the yard.

This was the first time Xiao Zhen had repaired a swing in his two lifetimes, so he was clumsy and took a lot of effort. Finally, he fixed the swing with the help of Jiang Ping.

He looked at the fruits of his labor, exhaled a breath of satisfaction, and was suddenly stunned. When did he start to be so proud of himself for repairing a swing for children?

Is his pattern a swing?

Xiao Zhen reflected on himself, but couldn't help thinking that it would be nice to have a red silk tied to the swing rope, it would definitely look better than this bare thick hemp rope.

On second thought, Zhao Shiqing is still in mourning, so red silk won't work, so let's change to a plain color. I'm not sure if green can be considered a plain color.

As Xiao Zhen was thinking this, he suddenly realized that while he was concentrating on repairing the swing, Zhao Shiqing and Zhen Wuduo had already come out of the house.

He walked over and sat down beside them, and was shocked to see the pale faces of the old man and the young boy.

"What's wrong with you?" Xiao Zhen asked.

Zhao Shiqing: "We suspect that Dr. Yang went on a long trip. My parents and grandma didn't go with him. Instead, something happened in this courtyard."

Xiao Zhen's heart sank, and he said, "There's nothing wrong with the people we sent out. Let's wait for them to come back before we draw any conclusions."

Zhao Shiqing said nothing more and turned to go into the house.

She thought that she must have lived with her grandmother when she was a child. There were many of her toys in her grandmother's room, which at least showed that she spent more time in her grandmother's room than with her parents.

She went to the east room, where there were two pillows, one big and one small, on the bed. Zhao Shiqing smiled, then lay down with the small pillow as her pillow.

That night, Zhao Shiqing did not have dinner, and she did not even take off her clothes. She just slept in the bed she had slept in as a child with her clothes on. Her heart was unusually calm, as calm as this small courtyard without any birds.

There is a faint scent of soapberries lingering on the pillow, which must be the scent of grandma.

Zhao Shiqing sniffed the fragrance, which was faint and unknowingly, he fell asleep.

It was dark in the dream. She could not see anything, but she was moving very fast. She heard the rustling sound of bamboo leaves rubbing against each other. The rustling sound kept coming one after another. This must be a bamboo forest. Was she running in the bamboo forest?
But she clearly couldn’t see anything, so how could she run? Wouldn’t she fall?
Zhao Shiqing's mind was in a mess. She didn't know where she was. She tried to reach out and feel around again and again, and it seemed like she touched something. What was it?

Suddenly something hit her, Zhao Shiqing screamed and opened her eyes suddenly.

What she saw was Ling Bo's concerned look: "Second Miss, you are having a nightmare, it's okay, don't be afraid."

Zhao Shiqing thought of the darkness in his dream just now and said to Ling Bo, "Turn up the lights a little brighter."

Ling Bo lit the lamp, but saw Zhao Shiqing staring at it without blinking: "Ling Bo, all the methods we tried before were wrong. No, the wrong method was just one of the reasons. The main reason was that we didn't find the right place. Now that we have found this place, I remember a lot of things. Unfortunately, I was too young and blind at that time, so I can't remember much."

Ling Bo said hurriedly, "Oh, by the way, Second Miss, this servant and I have found out something in the village."

Zhao Shiqing was no longer sleepy: "What's the matter?"

Ling Bo said: "We approached several families, and all of them said they didn't remember where they heard it from. Fortunately, almost all of them denied that they heard about it from the Shi family. In other words, the Shi family never told anyone about it. Later, when we inquired about this matter from a family, the little granddaughter of that family suddenly interrupted and said that she knew her mother learned about it from the peddler.

The little granddaughter was about fourteen or fifteen years old, and her mother was not old either, only in her early thirties.

But her mother couldn't remember where she heard it from, and insisted that it was an aunt in the village who said it.

But the little granddaughter told her that the peddler said this himself when her mother took her to buy things from him. Later, her mother told her grandmother about this. Her grandmother was the most famous gossip in Zhuxitang Village. When her grandmother knew about it, the whole village knew about it as well.

When the little granddaughter finished speaking, her mother was stunned and kept asking: "Did I really hear it from the peddler? Which peddler? Is it Xiao Wu who often comes here?"

The little granddaughter shook her head: "No, he never came again after that." (End of this chapter)