The return of the son-in-law

There have never been any major events in Tonghua County in winter. People here are more or less afraid of Guo Zhan'an's identity, and even their attitudes towards Sun Lao Huo Yu and others have changed a lot. Although they are still alienated, at least they are not so full of enthusiasm. hostile.

Guo Zhanan wrote a note and handed it in, which stated that some of the dossiers in Tonghua County had disappeared in the past five years, and vaguely reminded whether the person who arrested the previous magistrate of Tonghua County took these dossiers away as evidence up.

In addition, the security of Tonghua County was beyond his expectation.

Huo Yu has also been quiet for the past two days. It turned out that he was caught by Mr. Sun to study every day.He got up early in the morning to memorize books in the corridor, with a bitter face, shaking his head, and had to go to his room to write in big characters after reading. He had to copy fifty characters every day, and he wouldn't let him eat if he missed one.

Mr. Sun is also busy recently. There are only four people in the county government. The expenses are very simple, and he doesn't need to spend more time and energy on keeping accounts.

Although Guo Zhanan intends to recruit a new batch of yamen servants, because he is new here and knows little about the people in Tonghua County, he can only temporarily give up.

Fuqing has also settled down a lot in recent days, following behind Guo Zhanan in an orderly manner, without any small movements, and is also polite to Huo Yu and Sun Lao.

On this day, it was rare for Elder Sun to show mercy. Instead of forcing Huo Yu to continue studying hard in his room, he specially bought a batch of chestnuts from the market, added coarse salt and sugar, and fried them in the big pot in the kitchen himself. A serving of candied chestnuts.

Huo Yu was overwhelmed with joy, so he ran to call Guo Zhanan to share the food together. As soon as the latter finished his daily affairs, he asked Fuqing to go to the backyard to clean up the snow on the road last night, while he and Mr. Huo Yusun gathered around the brazier to peel chestnuts and eat .

Speaking of studies, although Huo Yu was miserable, but the character of a child wanted to show off in front of Guo Zhan'an, especially after Guo Zhan'an praised him a few words, his answers were even more eloquent and eloquent.

While the three were chatting and laughing, Fuqing came in, he shivered first, and then said: "Master, everything is cleaned."

Guo Zhan'an nodded, asked Fuqing to stand closer to the brazier, then turned around and talked with Mr. Sun about the tax revenue they had sorted out in Tonghua County for the past two years.

The more Huo Yu heard it, the less he saw it. It happened that he ate too much chestnuts and his throat was dry and itchy, so he went out to pour tea with the teapot.Of course Fuqing refused, he quickly grabbed the teapot and coaxed Huo Yu to stay in the house, while he went out to refill the water.

As a result, before he had gone far, he heard a heavy muffled sound from outside, followed by a crisp cracking sound. Guo Zhanan went out to look, and it turned out that Fuqing was stepping on the ice made of snow and slipped on his foot. , fell down, and was so angry that he scolded his mother.

Guo Zhan'an couldn't help shaking his head, looking at Fuqing who got up from the ground, he couldn't help but said: "I asked you to sweep away the snow on the road, so of course I also want to remove the ice below. You fell yourself, what are you doing scolding?"

When Fuqing was told this, his face blushed and he even claimed it was true.

Elder Sun took Huo Yu into his arms, and then pushed him into the room: "Yu'er, stay inside obediently, don't come out."

Elder Sun walked to the corridor, glanced at the situation outside, turned his head and said to Guo Zhanan: "My lord, it has been snowing for days, and the deepest part of the snow is almost reaching the chest of an adult man. We must prepare for the houses everywhere to be crushed by the snow." The people in Tonghua County don't trust adults very much, if we can help them survive the cold winter this time, it will surely establish prestige in Tonghua County."

Guo Zhanan nodded and said, "Old Sun is right, but this time we have to take the initiative."

Mr. Sun understood that he was referring to the people in Tonghua County, but if he needed anything, he must go to the county magistrate Chen Xiehao, not the county magistrate Guo Zhanan, and nodded in agreement.

At night, Guo Zhanan was woken up by Huo Yu: "Big brother, big brother, wake up quickly."

Guo Zhanan frowned, his tone was not good, and he scolded Huo Yu in a hoarse voice: "You are becoming more and more unruly. Who told you to come to my room in the middle of the night?"

Huo Yu shrank back, obviously frightened by Guo Zhanan, but then he leaned forward anxiously: "Big brother, the county magistrate said he has something to ask for you!"

Guo Zhan'an suddenly lost sleepiness. He ignored the cold clothes hanging on the shelf next to him, hurriedly changed, and found a hair crown to tie up the loose hair, then turned his head and asked Huo Yu: "Where is Chen Xiehao?" where?"

"In the front lobby, Grandpa asked me to come to you, but Fuqing said he didn't dare to wake you up, so I came in."

Before he had time to say anything, Guo Zhanan rubbed Huo Yu's head: "I just scared you, go back to sleep."

Huo Yu shook his head: "No, I want to stay with brother, what if it catches fire again?"

Guo Zhanan's heart was shocked, he didn't say anything more, but rushed to the front lobby with Huo Yu.

Chen Xiehao didn't come alone. He was followed by two young people. When he saw Guo Zhan'an, he immediately went up to meet him: "Master Guo, Mr. Guo, you have to help us find a way."

"What happened?"

Chen Xiehao said anxiously: "The second son of Chen Sheng's family, Chen Aniu, disappeared early in the morning the day before yesterday! We searched for two whole days, but we couldn't find him, so we came here to look for you. Have you ever met Chen Aniu?"

"What does he look like?" Guo Zhanan asked, "I haven't heard of this person, but I may have seen him. County magistrate, please tell me about Chen Aniu's appearance."

"National face, flat nose, thick lower lip, small eyes, oh, and a mole under the left eye. He is about this tall, and looks about fifteen or sixteen years old."

Guo Zhanan searched quickly in his mind, shook his head and said, "I have never seen such a person, how about you?"

Sun Lao, Huo Yu, and Fu Qing all shook their heads.

Chen Xiehao looked distressed, and said: "My lord, please do me a favor, and think about it again, is it true that I haven't seen Chen Aniu?"

Guo Zhanan shook his head and said, "Indeed, I haven't seen it before."

A young man behind Chen Xiehao suddenly said, "County magistrate, why are you talking nonsense with him! I think he did it!"

Chen Xiehao turned his head and cursed. Although the young man shut up, his hostile eyes glanced at Guo Zhan'an from time to time.

Guo Zhan'an sensed something was wrong, and met the young man's knife-like eyes directly: "Why do you conclude that Chen A Niu's disappearance is related to me?"

The young man snorted coldly: "You got into a dispute with Uncle Chen Sheng, arrested his son and tortured him. Isn't that what all officials do?"

Chen Xiehao was angry and impatient, he didn't even have time to educate this young man who spoke lies, he just kept explaining to Guo Zhan'an: "My lord, please don't get me wrong, we didn't mean that, and Chen Sheng didn't doubt you either. "

Guo Zhan'an understands that this is just Chen Xiehao's whitewashing of the peace. I am afraid that this young man's attitude and rhetoric can change Tonghua County's opinion of him at the moment.

"Since I am the county magistrate of Tonghua County, I must do things for the folks in Tonghua County. How about the county magistrate please call Chen Aniu's family and neighbors over, and I'll see if I can find any clues."

Now everyone has no other choice but to treat the dead horse as a living horse doctor. After a while, Chen Sheng and others arrived.

Guo Zhan'an inquired carefully about the situation before Chen Aniu's disappearance. Although Chen Sheng and others were full of resentment and guard against Guo Zhan'an, considering the life of their son, they still told everything.

"So, after your family had breakfast, Chen Aniu said he went out and never came back?" Guo Zhanan turned to look at the others, "What about you? Did you see Chen Aniu the day before yesterday? "

One said that he saw Chen Aniu walking north early in the morning, and the other said that Chen Aniu was carrying an iron fork on his back, saying that he was going to go hunting in the mountains.

Guo Zhan'an looked at Chen Xiehao and asked, "Have you looked for it in the mountains?"

Chen Xiehao shook his head: "Chen Aniu has been talking about going to the mountains to hunt for a year or two. At first we were worried that he would be young and courageous, and that something would happen if he went to the mountains, but he always said that he never went into the mountains. Over the mountains, so we don't take it seriously."

Guo Zhanan tapped the table with his fingers: "Go to the mountain to find it."

"Go into the mountains? My Niu wouldn't be so stupid, go into the mountains in winter!" Chen Sheng stared with anger when he heard this, "I tell you, even if you are the magistrate, if you hurt my Niu, I'll beat you anyway! Don't think I'm afraid of you if you have someone to help! Even if I die, I'll drag you into the water!"

Guo Zhanan glanced at Chen Sheng unhappily. The latter was blushing. If it wasn't for someone pulling him from left to right, he might have rushed forward to fight Guo Zhanan.

"Damn!" A figure jumped in front of Guo Zhanan, Huo Yu pointed at Chen Sheng and cursed, "Why do you scold big brother! Big brother said that he has never seen Chen Aniu, but he has never seen him! Obviously someone saw Chen Aniu The cow is walking north with the iron fork on its back, and there is a big mountain to the north, if you don’t go into the mountain to look for it, what do you mean if you come here to bully my elder brother!”

The more Huo Yu spoke, the more excited he became, his chest heaved violently. At the end of the speech, he rolled up his sleeves and wanted to rush forward to fight Chen Sheng.

Guo Zhan'an had sharp eyes and quick hands, and pulled Huo Yu behind him. He didn't care about Chen Sheng who had lost his mind, but talked to the county magistrate Chen Xiehao: "I have never met Chen A Niu, and I will not harm Chen A Niu because of such a trivial matter. Niu, since someone saw him walking north with an iron fork on his back, and there was no trace of Chen Aniu in Tonghua County, we went into the mountains to search together."

Chen Xiehao had no choice but to feel that this county magistrate was different from the previous one, but the people in Tonghua County were bullied by the former county magistrate, and few people had the same idea as him.

Human life is at stake. If Chen A Niu really entered the mountain, then two days have passed, and if he is not found, something may really happen!

Thinking of this, Chen Xiehao made a decisive decision: "Stop arguing, women and children are resting at home, unless men are over [-] years old, or have injuries on their legs, prepare torches for everything else, and the hunters will take your dinner guys away. Take them all and follow me into the mountains!"

Sun Lao is old and can't bear the tossing of cold winter nights, so naturally he can't go.But when he returned to the room, he turned his head and wanted to tell Huo Yu to go to bed quickly, but he found that there was no Huo Yu behind him!

On the other side, Guo Zhanan was very helpless to Huo Yu who suddenly jumped out: "You are so small, go back to sleep."

Huo Yu shook his head. He didn't bring a torch, so he stretched out one hand to grab Guo Zhan'an's sleeve, "Brother, I can help you."

Fu Qing chimed in: "Yes, Master Huo Yu is not young anymore, but it's dangerous for Mrs. Sun to be alone at home, why don't I go back and take care of the elderly?"

Guo Zhanan glanced at Fuqing, who was shocked and shook his hand holding the torch.

"Huo Yu is not afraid at such a young age, what are you afraid of?" Guo Zhanan took Huo Yu's hand, and the warm palm quickly covered Huo Yu's slightly cold hand.