Chapter Fifty-One Another Person Being Gossiped About

  "Our family knows that this child will grow old and have no children by his side, so we must adopt one." Lan Niang was very determined on this point.

  Erni smiled wryly and couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic for the poor guy who had caught Xiao's eye, not to mention Liu Yu, who was actually quite decent. Unfortunately, Xiao hadn't even considered him in that way.

  In front, Zhi Xiao and Liu Jian sat on a low stool, listening to several people chatting and boasting, while the vegetable vendor next door sent over a bowl of hot tea for each person, holding it in their hands and savoring the flavor.

  "...That's really amazing, Miss Jingyue's golden hairpin was on her head all night, and all the guests in the room were witnesses. But in just a blink of an eye, the largest and most valuable pearl on it disappeared, but the golden hairpin is still intact on her head...You guys say it's strange or not..."

  "Isn't it possible that it wasn't inlaid properly and fell off when you were moving around?"

  "It's impossible, when Mistress Jingyue was greeting the guests, there were always two maidservants closely following her. When they were receiving the guests and making them sit down, everyone saw that large pearl on top, which was specially made by the Magistrate for his daughter as a hairpin for her coming-of-age ceremony. She had been sitting in the same place without moving, but when no one noticed, it suddenly disappeared. At that time, they searched for it for a long time but couldn't find it. The golden hairpin on her head was still there, only the pearl was gone."

  "I heard that it was one of the ancient artifacts left over from the previous dynasty, and Madame Prefect's family had spent a lot of money to get it. This pearl was given to Miss Jingyue to congratulate her on her coming-of-age ceremony. The prefect and his wife had also specially found the best goldsmith in the city to set it, with exceptional craftsmanship. They thought that wearing it would bring good luck, but who could have expected something like this to happen."

  "Yes, the inlaid edge was also carefully examined by people, and it didn't seem to have been tampered with either. It's still exactly the same as when the east pearl was inlaid, every single edge of the clasp is neat and forms a circular pattern inside. But this east pearl has mysteriously disappeared into thin air without any trace. Although our Prefect has solved many strange cases before, he's been stumped by this one too. And to make matters worse, it happened at his own daughter's hairpinning ceremony. Isn't that interesting?"

  "The Zhifu Miss who lost the Eastern Pearl is really unlucky, the girl's family had only one coming-of-age ceremony in their lives and it was ruined like this. For ordinary people like us, it's not a big deal, but she's an official's daughter, especially from a family that values etiquette, they attach great importance to such things. Especially on that day, many guests were invited, including officials, even the small heads of the yamen went, now look at what happened, the Zhifu young lady's coming-of-age ceremony had such an important and strange event, don't you think it's all over for her? It's really pitiful." Someone couldn't help but feel sorry for the Zhifu Miss.

  Another rolled his eyes, shrugged and retorted: "You're stupid, if you don't know, don't talk nonsense. This Miss Zhifu is who? Just the 'Quiet Moon' title on her head was given by the Emperor after her uncle rendered meritorious service. Now, the queue of people coming to propose marriage to her family has been long since she came of age. Who would care about such a small matter? Moreover, her status is obvious."

  Just now someone else continued to spread rumors: "I heard that this Dongzhu relic from the previous dynasty is estimated to have a spiritual nature, otherwise how could it disappear out of thin air?"

  Zhi Xiao and his father sat on a low stool, listening to the three of them also chiming in: "I wonder if this thing will run back to the East Sea Dragon King's head."

  "Hahaha, oh my, someone actually said that, but we ordinary people can't control it." The person almost laughed to the point of breathlessness, rubbing his belly while squatting on the ground and unable to get up. "The next day, this became a joke, passed from mouth to mouth among the guests invited for dinner, now the whole city knows about it, hahaha..." Another burst of triumphant laughter.

  Moreover, the county magistrate sent many people to investigate that day, but so far not a single clue has been found. In the end, he even offered a reward of 500 taels of silver to whoever could crack the case. 500 taels of silver is a huge amount of money, it's probably something we'll never see in our lifetime, let alone earn.

  Alas, it's indeed lamentable that in this era of underdeveloped information, rumors spread like wildfire. The people living on the mountain all know about the scandal at the Magistrate's residence, and they discuss other people's business with such relish, their faces alight with excitement. One person speaks with great interest, while another listens intently, their ears perked up. This incident happened over half a year ago, yet they're still enthusiastically debating it like it's a raging fire. The power of gossip is truly frightening.

  It's as if this matter is shrouded in mystery, like a detective story. You'd think that since the hairpin was on someone's head and they didn't take a single step away, how could the pearl just disappear? There wasn't even any sign of the teeth marks on the hairpin loosening.

  It must be a human trick, but I don't know what kind of magic this person is playing, confusing the eyes of those present.

  However, the reward of 500 taels is quite attractive, but I don't know if it will be investigated in the end, and it's estimated to be difficult.

  The whole city is talking about this hot topic, but no one can provide any clues, because there are simply no leads at all.

  ……

  Around noon, a family finally drove their horse-drawn carriage back and forth again.

  Zhī xiǎo just now had asked Lán Niáng to buy another jar of wine, which weighed as much as five kilograms. At this moment, Zhī Xiǎo was holding the jar and smelling the strong aroma of wine coming from the seams, his face was intoxicated, with a happy expression on his mouth.

  "Little wine ghost, look at your greedy appearance." Lan Niang was both angry and amused. Her daughter had a special fondness for the sweet wine brew, and if she didn't drink some every three days, she would feel uncomfortable all over, like someone with a drinking problem. There were nearly a hundred jars of wine brew from that old shop in town stacked up at home, and Lan Niang was at her wit's end as to how to deal with them. It was giving her a headache, and if things continued this way, she had no idea when they would be used up.

  Lan Niang watched her and also asked the neighbor Liu Er's wife, Zao Hua, to teach her how to make it. However, no matter what she did, she just couldn't get that special flavor that the young girl wanted. Even with store-bought ones, there was still a big difference, and she got scolded for it.

  "Mother, I'm just fond of this stuff. Drinking it won't get me drunk, but what I'd love is to have a bowl every day - that's the most blissful thing in life! Especially on winter days, smelling its aroma and holding it in my hands to warm up before taking a sip... that's truly living like an immortal!"

  Sneakily lifting the stone wax paper-sealed pot mouth, can't help but want to take a sip now.

  "You know, you have a rather low ambition for yourself." Erni said with a smile, while knitting a net and letting the restless Mutian hold one end to keep it steady, as she listened to the conversation between the mother and daughter.

  "That's called getting drunk today with today's wine, you don't understand." Suddenly, a heroic spirit emerged, and with a flick of his small hand, he lifted the clay pot and took several gulps. The weather had already turned cold, and the chilled wine in the pot felt refreshing as it reached his mouth.

  "Stinky girl, it's fine, we're about to get on the road and you'll need to use the restroom. Do you want to do your business in the wilderness?" Lanniang rolled her eyes, snatched the jug from her hand, covered it with a lid, and scolded her with a stern face, to which she responded with a look of helplessness.

  Knowing that the wine cup was snatched away, he was stunned for a moment, and in anger, he pulled open the curtain of the carriage beside him and took a deep breath. Wasn't it just because he loved to drink? He had drunk a few more mouthfuls, what's wrong with that? Taking a deep breath, hmm, although the outside air no longer had this wine fragrance, it was also exceptionally refreshing.

  In the distance, she saw a person staggering ahead, and she knew that this was what a truly drunk person looked like. She couldn't help but wipe her chin, amused by the sight. But in an instant, when she clearly saw who it was, she put away her amused expression, and her eyes turned cold.

  Who is this person, who can make her unreservedly hateful?

  A long, pancake-like face, a collapsed nose, thick eyebrows and small eyes, she could see clearly this time. He was still thinking of taking advantage of her family, throwing down the carriage curtain to isolate the ugly face outside, and for Li Dazhuang's dignity, she couldn't give a higher evaluation.

  Since you've slandered me to this extent, what's left for me to be polite about?

  What you can do, I can also do, just wait and see.