The return of the son-in-law

After entering the backyard, Guo Zhanan asked Mr. Sun to take Huo Yu to choose a place to live, while he himself found a special place to store files.

A large copper lock was hung on the gate, and there were two seals on the door. Guo Zhanan touched the copper lock, and there was already a thin layer of dust.

He tore off the seal, took out the key from his pocket, opened the door, pushed the door open, and a damp and rotten air came to his face.

Guo Zhan'an couldn't help frowning, he covered his mouth and nose, stood at the door for a while, and only entered the room after the damp and rotten smell in the room dissipated.

The dossiers are placed on shelves according to category and date. Although Tonghua County is poor, there are still many dossiers accumulated over the years.Guo Zhanan took out one of the volumes, which was about farming matters three years ago.

Although Guo Zhan'an already knew about Tonghua County before he came here, he didn't realize that Tonghua County is really too poor until he read the files!

According to the file, there is a piece of fertile land around Tonghua County, and each household is allocated a corresponding amount. As long as these people are not lazy and do not suffer from a disaster that is rare in a century, the annual harvest can not only feed the whole family. I was full, and there was still enough food to sell and exchange for money for daily consumption.

It's just that there are only two small streams flowing from the mountains near Tonghua County, and a pond going out to the north. The water conservancy for farming can't keep up. Everyone can only grow some cold and drought-tolerant crops.But even so, these crops could not help but die due to lack of water, which caused the embarrassment of Tonghua County's annual harvest to barely meet the hunger.

After reading it, Guo Zhanan felt hesitant. He put the file back, turned around and looked for it on another shelf.

To his surprise, some files of Tonghua County in the past five years were lost.

Could it be that those yamen servants took it away when they left?

impossible!

According to the rules of this dynasty, after the county magistrate commits a crime, the local files must be sealed for future inquiries.Moreover, the seal on the door was not broken. Obviously, those yamen servants never came in after the county magistrate was arrested.

Or did the group that captured the county magistrate take those files away?

It's just that he didn't tell before he took office that if these files hadn't been taken away by officials from the official department who came to arrest the county magistrate, the files would indeed have been lost.

As soon as I took office, these files were lost. Could it be related to Concubine Hua and the Fourth Prince in the palace?

Thinking of this, Guo Zhan'an laughed at himself, he stretched out his fingers helplessly to touch the center of his brow, and advised himself in his heart not to be so suspicious, even if Concubine Hua Gui and Li Shaojin got the favor of today, this matter is not necessarily true. they do.

However, the loss of the dossier is indeed a major event, and the left and right himself did not know it beforehand. No matter who took it away, he must write a note and hand it over to explain the situation, so as not to be taken out to make a fuss in the future.

Guo Zhan'an sorted out the files, put the big copper lock on the door again, and then walked to the backyard residence.

Although the backyard is small, it has all internal organs, and there is a small shallow pond on the west side. A few plum blossoms by the wall are in full bloom, and there is a faint fragrance.

Huo Yu was strenuously sweeping the snow with a broom that was much taller than himself - no one had entered the county office for a long time, and a thick layer of snow had accumulated.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, he turned his head to look, and seeing that it was Guo Zhan'an, he greeted him with a smile: "Big Brother."

This was the first time Guo Zhanan was called "brother" by a child. He didn't know how to respond, so he just stepped forward and touched Huo Yu's head: "Why don't you wear a hat?"

Huo Yu shook his head and said, "Grandpa said, all our things were burned, and I will make the hat for me later."

It was freezing cold this day, seeing Huo Yu's red ears, Guo Zhanan's heart softened, he took off the collar around his neck, and put it around Huo Yu.

Surprised, Huo Yu threw the broom to clear it, but Guo Zhanan grabbed his wrist and said, "Take it with you, it will take a long time to sweep the snow."

Huo Yu insisted on taking it off and returning it to Guo Zhanan: "No, grandpa said, now he is your accountant, and we all have to listen to you, and we can't take your things casually."

Guo Zhan'an looked at Huo Yu's serious and immature look, and couldn't help but ask a few more questions: "What else did your grandfather say?"

Huo Yu raised his head and thought for a while, then said: "Grandpa also said that there may not be so much meat to eat in the future, so be obedient and eat more vegetables."

Guo Zhan'an couldn't help but pinch Huo Yu's nose, "You kid, why do you want to eat?"

Huo Yu explained for himself solemnly: "Only when you are full can you have the strength to sweep the snow."

Guo Zhanan shook his head helplessly. Maybe it was because Huo Yu lived in a cottage before and was protected by Mr. Sun so well that he developed such a contradictory personality—you can say he is stupid, but sometimes he is very smart; he can say he is incompetent. He is not afraid of Boss Liu killing people in front of him.

He helped Huo Yu to tie the collar around his neck: "You continue to sweep the snow, where is your grandpa?"

Elder Sun was boiling hot water in the kitchen. When he saw Guo Zhanan coming, he lowered his eyes and said, "My lord is here."

Guo Zhanan nodded and asked him, "Huo Yu is such a young child, how can you rest assured that he can sweep the snow outside by himself?"

Elder Sun still lowered his head and replied: "Yu'er is not young anymore, he will be 13 years old this year. After all, there is no need for a bandit village here. He is no longer the owner of the village, and we can no longer spoil him with everything."

These words made Guo Zhan'an look at Elder Sun with admiration. At first he thought that Elder Sun was a doting grandson, but unexpectedly he judged the situation rather than doting on Huo Yu.

Since the other party is so knowledgeable, Guo Zhan'an is also willing to help them: "In this case, why not let him be my servant."

"No!" Elder Sun yelled, raised his head and stared at Guo Zhan'an closely, his hands that were hanging on both sides of his body also clenched into fists, as if he would hit him as long as Guo Zhan'an said another word.

"Yu'er will not be a servant for others. I will take care of his life, so you don't have to worry about it. The two of us only need my salary, and Yu'er doesn't need it."

Guo Zhanan didn't expect that his kindness would be met with such a stern rejection from the other party, and immediately felt that it was boring, so he didn't mention it any more.

It was Elder Sun, after he finished speaking, he realized his situation, and lowered his head again: "I lost my temper, please forgive me, my lord."

Guo Zhanan waved his hand: "I'm just mentioning this, if you don't want to, forget it."

Guo Zhan'an took office in a hurry this time, and the only servant with him was still living in the inn of Yong'an Mansion due to illness. Even with the help of Sun Lao and Huo Yu, he had to clean it up himself.

After being busy until night, the three of them cleaned up the place where they lived.

Guo Zhanan took out the broken silver and handed it to Elder Sun: "Go and buy some cooked food and come back with a jug of wine."

Elder Sun counted the amount of broken silver, recorded it in the account, and asked Guo Zhanan: "My lord, can I pay some money in advance? Yu'er's hat was burned, and I want to buy him one."

Guo Zhanan nodded: "Of course."

He didn't mention that he could use his money to buy one for Huo Yu, because Guo Zhan'an understood that Mr. Sun was willing to be an accountant for himself, but he didn't want Huo Yu to owe him anything.

Sure enough, Elder Sun added another sum to the account, and told Huo Yu to stay in his room and not to go out casually, and then left with a basket and broken silver.

After Sun Lao left, Huo Yu quietly took a peek at Guo Zhanan, but was caught by the other party.

"Look what I do?"

Huo Yu's voice was a little weak: "Can I still wear this collar?"

Guo Zhanan laughed again. Huo Yu is such a funny kid. Occasionally, his actions and words would make him feel helpless and funny. He handed the collar on the table to Huo Yu: "I gave you this."

Huo Yu cheered, took it and wrapped himself up carefully: "Thank you big brother."

As he said that, he turned around and wanted to run back to his and Elder Sun's room.

"Wait." Guo Zhanan stopped Huo Yu, "What's in your bag?"

Facing Guo Zhanan's stern gaze, Huo Yu took out a small cloth bag from the bag embarrassingly, and handed it to the other party.

Guo Zhanan opened it and found that it was full of sprouted mung beans.

This was beyond Guo Zhanan's expectation, but after careful consideration, it was something Huo Yu would do. He glanced at Huo Yu, who was anxious as if he had made a big mistake, and deliberately put on airs and asked him: "Since Where did you get it?"

"In the corner of the kitchen." Huo Yu answered with his head down.

"Okay, I'm not bullying you." Guo Zhan'an put away the bag of beans and continued, "You can't eat raw beans if they germinate. Since you like eating them so much, why don't you know this truth?"

"I, I just like to eat it. It's true that I like to eat it." Huo Yu defended himself in a low voice, "Besides, the beans I ate before didn't germinate, and Aunt Xu and the others who germinated used them to cook. Now they all leave It's..."

In the end, Huo Yu's voice was almost inaudible.

"It's true that you like to eat, but you have to be clear about what you should eat and what you shouldn't eat. You always rely on others. When they leave, who do you rely on?" Guo Zhanan frowned, "Remember what I said. In my heart, I went back and thought about it carefully, whether it was your fault or my fault."

"Oh." Huo Yu responded, and left the hall listlessly with his head down.

After waiting for a long time, Elder Sun came back with a basket.The basket was empty, and Elder Sun had obvious red marks on his face.

Guo Zhanan realized that something was wrong and asked him, "What's going on?"

Mr. Sun put down his basket and said slowly: "The people here don't sell me anything at all. They insist that they are sold out. I argued with them a few times, and a group of people took me away. Surround me, and one of them punched me twice." Because the wound was close to the corner of his mouth, every time Sun Lao said a word, his face would twitch.

Thinking of Elder Sun's background, Guo Zhanan asked again: "Could it be that when your village went down the mountain to rob the people in the county, you followed and were seen by them?"

Old Sun shook his head: "I never robbed money with that group of bandits." Speaking of this, Old Sun showed contempt on his face, obviously very contemptuous of those bandits.

Afterwards, he added another sentence: "Don't worry, my lord, Yu'er is raised by me, and she has never committed murder or robbery."

Guo Zhan'an didn't care whether Huo Yu had actually done it, the child was just the grandson of Sun Lao, but because it was fun, Guo Zhan'an would tease him when he met him.

"Since it's not because of the bandit village, it can only be because you are a foreigner."

"Outlanders?" Elder Sun was taken aback, then seemed to think of something, and said, "That's right, I remembered, one of the vegetable sellers said something when she scolded me, 'You group of outsiders, It caused us to suffer and suffer, and even wanted to ask us to buy vegetables, but there is no way!' and so on."

Guo Zhanan recited this sentence several times silently in his mind, and he already guessed roughly: "You go back to rest first, it seems that you can only be hungry today. I will go to the county magistrate tomorrow, and I can't stay hungry all the time. "

Elder Sun nodded and took his basket to leave.