Thanks for the invitation: In ancient times, people shared children

After returning to the temple on the mountain, Pei Xiaohai became more talkative.

Look around with bright eyes.

The old nuns left in a hurry and did not take away many of the things that were buried under the house.

Little Pei even found a quilt from her childhood, wrapped in a piece of cloth and stuffed inside the box.

The box was broken, but there was not a speck of dust on it.

Little Pei gathered the futons in the main hall together, spread a cloth on them, lay down on them, and curled up in the quilt. The pumpkins and the others huddled around her warmly.

that's nice!

After eating and drinking, Pei fell asleep with a dusty face.

Slept well.

The sounds of Pei Nangua and Pei Zhudu fighting with mice at night did not wake her up.

A rat as big as a dog!

After eating her chicken, I still want to eat her!

And at this moment.

Pei Zhu from Pu Luo Village couldn't sleep at all...

"Where's she? Have you found her? It's already dark, where can she go alone?"

Pei Zhu hugged the jingling necklaces and bracelets in her arms, crying and blaming Liu Renben.

"Didn't you say she couldn't go far? We've searched the whole village, but where's she?"

"Yeah, she, she shouldn't have gone far. When I ran away from home as a kid, I just found a place to sleep." Liu Renben saw Shuanzi coming back and hurried forward to ask, "Did you find it? Did you look through all the haystacks in the village?"

"I looked everywhere. I looked in the firewood pile, in the pile of rocks and dirt, and even in the grass nest. But there's nothing there." Shuanzi replied, sweating profusely, with some grass leaves and seeds stuck to his body. "But..."

Shuanzi paused.

Liu Renben slapped his thigh and said, "Come on, what the hell is this?"

"The other missing children were found in Yu Meng's deserted house. They said they saw ghosts and that it was the eldest daughter who told them there were ghosts.

The children are terrified, and it doesn't look good. Their families said they want to get an explanation from you, and they should be here soon."

Shuanzi finished speaking in one breath.

Then I heard someone knocking on the door and calling out "Master Liu". I looked through the crack in the door and saw a group of people holding torches outside.

Master Liu covered his face with his hands: "Oh my God, what is going on?"

Pei Zhu was also anxious: "Why is she saying this to others for no reason! Really..."

Pei Zhu wanted to say that she was really possessed by an evil spirit, but she felt that it was not a good idea to say that now.

Fortunately, the villagers who came to the door were just worried about the child and had no money to see a doctor, so they didn't mean to do anything serious. There were two families who wanted to take the opportunity to extort money, but they didn't dare to offend them and spoke in a humble manner.

Liu Renben and Pei Zhu thought that the incident was caused by the child, so naturally they had no choice but to ask Shuanzi to invite a doctor, and the family paid five taels of silver to settle the matter.

These people took the money, wiped their tears, and left.

What else can I do?

Even if you feel sorry for your child, that's all you can do. To put it bluntly, how many families in this world haven't had a child die? Even the rich and powerful have their children die, so the children of the poor are even less valuable.

Five taels of silver is enough for their whole family to live until the autumn harvest, to get through the hard times, and have another child. It is also a favor for them. The Liu family is kind and righteous, so it will be easier for them to get a job in the future than for others.

These families don't lack children, so this matter is over.

They have moved on, but the Liu family can’t. The person hasn’t been found yet.

They did feel a little bit that Pei Xiaowan was a troublemaker, but they couldn't just give up looking for him. If something happened, Pei Zhu would feel guilty for the rest of his life.

She is not a bad person, it's just that the real Pei Xiaohai is not what she expected, so it is inevitable that they can't get along with each other. But this does not mean that she doesn't care about the life and death of others.

Those children who saw a ghost didn't know where she went.

Liu Renben begged the villagers to help search for him all night but there was no news.

Pei Zhu's eyelids were red and swollen like peaches, and her voice was hoarse from crying:

"If I had known this would happen, I would have said I would never support her, and nothing would have happened."

Liu Renben: "No, Zhuzhu, it's already late, why are you still saying that it's useless? Stop thinking about it and go to sleep for a while. I'll take people to Peijia Town to check. If it doesn't work, I'll report it to the police."

The government really doesn't care much, especially after the county magistrate ran away, but if you have money, those yamen runners can still be of some use.

"To town," Pei Zhu said, not disdaining his harsh tone. She was thinking about something else. "Where do you think she went to see her parents?"

"Not necessarily," Liu Renben said, "but apart from her parents and her godparents' house, she doesn't have anywhere else to go, right?"

Pei Xiaohai was not very close to those people, so Liu Renben was not very sure.

Of course, she wasn't close to them either.

Pei Zhu wanted to go with him, but she had two children at home, and she was so anxious that she couldn't fall asleep for half the night, so she didn't want to leave.

"Then go ahead," Pei Zhu instructed, "If you find her, tell her I didn't mean it. If she wants to come back, bring her back. If she wants to stay at someone else's house, that's fine too. As long as she's fine, that's fine."

"Okay, I get it. You can take a rest. I'll visit all those families. I probably won't be back for a day or two. You don't have to wait for me. I'll take Shuanzi with me. You can take care of the family. Changsui will go to the academy. Ask Aunt Yu to take him there. If he doesn't want to, he can just take a few days off."

Liu Renben asked Shuanzi to harness the cart.

Pei Zhu handed him the jingling jewelry. He took it and put it in his arms, then left with a few villagers.

Liu Renben's brain was still working well. He had thought that little Pei would run back to the temple on the mountain, but he felt that the child would not be so stupid.

Why go back when you know there is no one there?

It would be better to go to her elder sister's place.

The villagers on the ox cart asked him how the child was lost.

Liu Renben was a little embarrassed: "Her mother scolded her for a few words, and then she disappeared. She also took away the cat and piglet from the house."

"My god, that must be a lot of money," someone said with a click of his tongue, "After all, it's not yours, so you can't raise it well."

This was a bit harsh, so someone kicked him and said to Liu Renben:

"Oh, don't listen to him. I think this child is just hot-tempered. Changsui and Baifu are good enough. It doesn't matter whether they are close or not. It will be the same if you raise them for a long time."

This person is also related to Liu Renben, Changsui and Baifu.

Some people also said, "Could it have been stolen by human traffickers?"

Liu Renben felt that this was impossible, as human traffickers would not leave the jewelry behind. He was a little unhappy about what they said about his family, but he also felt that they were right.

The words turned around on the tip of his tongue for a few times, but in the end he didn't say anything to defend Pei Xiaohai, and said casually: "I hope not."

……

In the temple on the mountain, little Pei was woken up by mosquito bites.

She scratched the bumps on her face and muttered to Pei Nangua and the others:

"We must remember to get some mugwort to burn tonight."

After saying this, she woke up the cat and the pig and took them to the back to find food.

The fruit is not ripe yet and is sour and astringent.

They only didn't dislike Pei's pig stomach. Since Pei's child didn't eat it, they ate it all.

Seeing that she really had nothing good to give him, Pei Nangua meowed unhappily, then disappeared into the bushes.

After a long time, he came back with a very small, pink mouse in his mouth. He licked his paws, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and pushed the mouse towards Pei Xiaohai with dignity.

Judging from his expression, this must be a gift that Lord Pumpkin saved from his teeth.

Little Pei poked it with a branch and said woodenly, "Ah, it's still alive."

"Meow~"

Pei Nangua squinted his eyes, raised his chin high, and sat upright.

Pei Xiaohai picked up the fruit and said, "I think... this is better for me. You know, this is a nunnery, we should eat vegetarian food."

Pei Nangua tilted his head, looked at her with confusion on his flat face for a while, and then chewed the little mouse neatly.

He stretched lazily and jumped into Pei Xiaohai's arms.

My stomach is bloated and I don’t know how much I ate.