The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 37 Ayu is my daughter
“Of course, I keep my word. My family gave me the authority to handle this before I came here. I have already arrested the people from Shanyang Village. Your village also needs to send witnesses to come with me.” To formally adjudicate the case, we still need to go to the county town and go through various procedures before a case closure document can be issued.

This matter is of great importance, and it will inevitably cause a rift between Hujia Village and Shanyang Village. However, since things have already come to this point, it would be too cowardly to shake hands and make peace.

Village Chief Hu pondered for a moment: "This is easy to discuss. I will go with you, and I will also have four other villagers come with me."

He's the village chief; his testimony would be more convincing.

Grandma Wang stepped forward, straightened her clothes, and said firmly, "I will go too."

"Zhang Donkey, are you crazy? With your old bones, you want to go to the county town? You'll probably fall apart halfway there!" Aunt Hu stood a little distance away, still a bit scared. After all, she had never seen any government officials before, let alone so many of them.

Zhang Luzi is stupid. Everyone knows that when ordinary people meet with officials, they'll be badly hurt, if not killed. Why did she still go for it?
Grandma Wang completely ignored Aunt Hu. She had to go there and let everyone know that the Wang family valued Ayu.

The villagers of Shanyang are trying to kidnap Ayu, this is not over yet!

Besides, while others fear officials, she doesn't. Doesn't she have two arms and two legs too?
Are you suggesting we eat her?

"Don't worry, sir, it's just a routine questioning, it won't cause any harm. It's just that the journey is bumpy, so you might have to endure some hardship," Zhang Zhan nodded slightly, offering his reminder.

“Don’t you have a carriage? I’ll just ride in that.” Old Mrs. Wang raised her chin, speaking very casually.

Zhang Zhan was taken aback, then realized that it wasn't impossible.

He quite liked the old lady; she was upright and efficient.

Zhang Zhan saw Xiao Ayu in the crowd. She had already climbed down from Wang Erlang's neck, and a lamb was next to her. She was talking to the lamb.

Compared to how she looked a few days ago, the little girl seems to have changed a bit.

Her face was somewhat haggard, and she was very thin, as if she would fall over with a gust of wind.

Now, her black eyes seemed to be filled with starlight, and the gold hidden in her pupils was like a star adorning them.

Her delicate chin had a rounded curve, and when she smiled, two dimples appeared on her rosy cheeks. Her full lips opened and closed, and her clean, even teeth appeared and disappeared.

Jade-like and lovely, delicately carved, like a little doll that stepped out of a New Year painting; just one glance makes one feel the beauty of life.

He doesn't seem like a child raised in a farming family.

He had amazing hearing and happened to hear the little girl say to the lamb, "Little lamb, be good. The adults have to do things, so we'll all be good and take you to eat grass later."

After saying that, he symbolically patted the lamb's head.

Zhang Zhan was particularly fond of this little girl. Logically speaking, she was also his savior, and a jade pendant was certainly not enough to repay her.

Zhang Zhan walked over, and Liu, who had followed him, suppressed her fear and pulled Ayu to her side, asking nervously, "Sir, are you looking for Ayu?"

"Hmm," Zhang Zhan replied casually.

When Xiao Ayu heard her name called, she opened her mouth slightly, turned her little finger over, and pointed at herself: "Uncle, what do you want to see me about?"

He knelt down in front of Xiao Ayu, looked into the little girl's confused eyes, and asked softly, "Do you want me to help you find your family?"

I heard that this child was found, but I don't know where he was found. I just noticed that the child had a certain air of wealth on his face, so I wondered if he was a lost child from a wealthy family.

Especially her eyes with their golden pupils, which were particularly strange, yet somehow didn't seem out of place on her.

It's as if they were born with such eyes, like a spirited deer in the mountains.

The people in Hujia Village are good, but they are too poor, which is still hard for the children.

"Uncle, Ayu doesn't understand." Little Ayu was confused. Weren't her family right here?
Is this uncle a bad guy?

Fifth Brother said that some bad people like to deceive children like this.

Little Ayu felt a little scared. She secretly moved closer to Liu and held Liu's little finger with her little hand.

She patted her small chest.

With her mother here, Ayu is not afraid, Ayu is not afraid.

"My lord!" Liu mustered her courage, raised her voice, and picked up Ayu with trembling hands, her fingers almost clenched into fists.

Liu took a deep breath and said loudly, "Ayu is my daughter!"

Little Ayu didn't know what was happening, but instinctively hugged Liu's neck and called out, "Mother."

“With Mother here, Ayu is not afraid.” Liu’s eyes instantly reddened, and her gaze toward Zhang Zhan was both pleading and resolute. “Ayu is my child! I am her mother.”

Wang's grandsons quickly squeezed over and surrounded Liu and Ayu in the middle.

They were young and didn't yet have the same sense of awe or respect for officials and their men as adults.

"Yes, Sister Ayu is our sister."

"We are all her family!"

“We love her so much, sir, you can’t take her away.”

"Adults shouldn't force a couple to separate!"

After Wang Liulang finished speaking, his older brothers were all stunned. Wang Silang slapped him on the head. "Idiot, you can't say you're breaking up a couple."

"What did you say?"

"Beat a dog when it's down!" Wang Silang declared resolutely.

Anyway, we just can't fight.

Zhang Zhan: "..."

Seeing Zhang Zhan's thoughtful expression, Old Master Hu bowed slightly to him and said, "Sir, may I speak with you in private?"

Zhang Zhan glanced at Xiao Ayu and knew there was probably some hidden story behind it, so he nodded in agreement.

After the two left, the crowd gathered around and looked at Xiao Ayu.

"What should we do? Will those officials take Ayu away?"

“Ayu is a child of the Wang family, and no one can take her away.” Old Mrs. Wang straightened her back, her eyes blazing, and when she looked at the surrounding villagers, her tone was even more firm. “She is the child that my fourth daughter-in-law gave birth to two years ago.”

The villagers were initially puzzled, asking, "What do you mean two years ago? Weren't we just picked it up?"
Then it dawned on them: yes, that's how they should say it.

Ayu is young, and after spending time with everyone, she has forgotten her original identity and only thinks that she is the granddaughter of the Wang family.

They shouldn't remind the child anymore.

The Wang family's grandsons looked at each other, somewhat confused.

Is Ayu really Fourth Aunt's daughter? How come I've never seen her before?

Could it be that she was raised at her fourth aunt's house?

Village Chief Hu said in a deep voice, "I will also go with them to get the child's household registration processed. He's grown up enough to be registered."

The villagers immediately chimed in, "Yes, yes, Ayu is already two years old, it's about time they got married."

"The sooner it's done, the better, it'll be easier to save up for the dowry later."

When the officials around them heard what the villagers were saying, they became a little uncertain. Didn't the people in Shanyang Village say that the child was found?

If it really was found, the villagers shouldn't be protecting it like this, especially when there's no food.

Little Ayu didn't quite understand what they were talking about, because in her current understanding, she was her mother's child.

Both her mother and she were prone to illness. She was always dizzy and would forget things whenever she was sick.

She felt it didn't matter if she forgot about being sick, since her mother and the others were with her anyway.

Tuanzi chose to remain silent in the space. The child's previous memories were too painful; for a four-year-old child, it was more like four years of purgatory.

She didn't realize it herself, and instead, she happily survived.

If the cub hadn't woken it up when it was facing death, the cub might not be here anymore.

The child doesn't remember those memories, but it knows that it is just a caregiver, powerless to change the past. So, it's better to let her believe, like the villagers, that she has always been a resident of Hujia Village.

Zhang Zhan learned the general outline of what had happened from Grandpa Hu, and after a little thought, he realized that Xiao Ayu was probably abandoned by her family, rather than lost.

There may be other things involved as well.

He decided to keep the secret for the time being, turn a blind eye, and let the Wang family register her under their name.

After he gets back, he'll send someone to investigate and find out what's going on with her family.

If they are looking for her, help her return to her wealthy home; if they have truly abandoned her, then consider that Ayu in the snow as dead.

He will help clean up the mess.

Zhang Zhan didn't mention Ayu finding her family again, treating it as if it never happened.

Then, he took several people from Hujia Village, including Village Chief Hu and Old Lady Wang, to the county town to close the case.

Before leaving, Wang Erpang couldn't help but ask from afar, "Sir, when are you going to return Grandpa Wang's pants?"

When he went to call Grandpa Wang this morning, he heard Grandpa Wang complaining that he had given all his pants to that young man to change and that he had no pants left to change into.

Zhang Zhan: "..." Why did I have to remind him?
He gritted his teeth, looked at Old Mrs. Wang beside him, forced himself to calm down, and said, "I left it in the county town, and I will definitely return it when the time comes."

Grandma Wang waved her hand: "I can return them anytime." After all, they weren't her pants.

Since it would take six hours to travel back and forth, Old Mrs. Wang would definitely not be able to return until the next day.

She said to Xiao Ayu, "Don't touch the seeds yet, wait until Grandma comes back."

Little Ayu remembered the seeds that her grandmother had watered with the water of ten thousand spirits, her eyes crinkled into crescents, and she nodded obediently, "Mmm."

Shh, she knew, this was a little secret between her and her grandmother.

(End of this chapter)