Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

"As I mentioned before, we have recovered ten bushels of grain. Today, we will distribute the grain according to the proportions you reported. Any shortfall will not be made up," said Village Chief Zhao, standing on the stone platform, to the villagers who came to collect the grain in the courtyard.

Upon hearing what Village Chief Zhao said, the villagers began to discuss it amongst themselves, and upon closer listening, they found many doubts.

Village Chief Zhao turned to Xia Yao and said, "Today, Mr. Xia, please join us in doing some notarization."

Xia Yao bowed in response to the village chief.

“Village Chief Zhao, how much can we get? It won’t do if it’s too little,” He Yuan said.

“It won’t be too different. Li Chuan will announce the numbers first, and everyone can hear them,” Zhao, the village chief, turned to Li Chuan and said, “You tell everyone the numbers first.”

Li Chuan took out the booklet and stood in front of everyone. "Everyone, please be quiet and listen carefully to what I have to say. If you have any objections, we can discuss them later. Tian Guang will receive three shi, Tian Feng one shi, Fan Bao two shi, He Yuan... that's all, a total of ten shi."

Looking at everyone's reactions, it seemed that the villagers' reactions were not as intense as he had imagined. He looked at Xia Yao beside him and nodded.

“Since everyone has no objections, let’s collect the grain by signing and fingerprinting,” Village Chief Zhao said, turning to look at Xia Yao. “Mr. Xia, please stay a little longer until all the grain has been collected before you leave.”

Xia Yao nodded.

Xia Lanyue and Dai You walked briskly, and when they arrived at Zhao Lizhang's house, the grain was already being distributed.

Xia Lanyue spotted Xia Yao in the crowd immediately. He was standing in front of a table, looking down at what Li Chuan was writing. In front of Li Chuan, there was a line of people, probably villagers waiting to receive their grain. She recognized Tian Guang among them.

A cart of grain was placed near the gate. People who had signed the papers would walk over, collect their grain, and then leave on their own.

Xia Lanyue glanced at the people in the courtyard, not seeing Zhao Lizhang, and then walked up to Li Chuan with Dai You, saying, "Li Chuan, we've come to bring food to Acheng."

Li Chuan raised his head, pointed to the side room, and said, "He's inside. You guys go ahead. I'm busy right now and can't leave."

"You're busy, we can go by ourselves," Xia Lanyue winked at Dai You, signaling him to go deliver the food, while she herself walked up to Xia Yao and asked, "Xia Yao, is Village Chief Zhao here?"

“He’s in the main room,” Xia Yao said, then looked down at Li Chuanshu and wrote.

"Oh," Xia Lanyue nodded, then walked towards the main house. On the way, she glanced back at Xia Yao. Xia Lanyue felt that Xia Yao seemed to be in a bad mood, talking much less than before, and was also a bit cold towards her.

Xia Lanyue stood in front of Zhao Lizhang's house, knocked on the door, and Zhao Lizhang's voice came from inside, "Come in."

Xia Lanyue pushed open the door and went in, only to see Village Chief Zhao sitting in the main chair, drinking tea.

When Village Chief Zhao saw that it was Xia Lanyue, he put down his teacup and asked her, "What brings you here?"

Xia Lanyue smiled and said, "I wanted to ask about my silver notes. Now that the grain has been distributed, can you return the silver notes to me?"

“This matter will have to wait a little longer,” said Village Chief Zhao.

"When will we wait?" Xia Lanyue asked.

“The case will be closed once the thief confesses and hands over the grain. At that time, the silver notes that should have been given to you will naturally be returned to you,” Zhao, the village chief, took a sip of tea and continued, “If you have any clues about the case, or if you remember anything, you can tell us.”

“What could I possibly know?” Xia Lanyue said.

"That's not necessarily true. Just like before, Miss Yue said that Acheng was sneaking around the village, which confirms what she said," said Village Chief Zhao.

"That was just a coincidence."

"I didn't say that the girl definitely knows anything, but if you find anything suspicious, you can tell us."

"I understand, village chief. As for the silver notes, I'll wait a bit longer."

"Ah."

"I'm leaving, village chief," Xia Lanyue said, turning to leave.

"By the way, please ask Miss Dai not to leave Hegu Village for the time being, so that we can contact you at any time," said Village Chief Zhao.

Xia Lanyue was taken aback. Did this mean she was still a suspect? Xia Lanyue pursed her lips, replied with "Mm," and then came out of Zhao Lizhang's house.

She then went to the side room, where Acheng was picking at his food. When he saw Xia Lanyue come in, he was a little surprised and asked, "You're here too?"

Xia Lanyue glanced at him and said irritably, "Hmm."

"Why haven't we had any eggs these past two days? Did you pick them out and eat them?" Acheng asked Xia Lanyue.

Xia Lanyue was speechless. Was she really such a petty person in his eyes? "Yeah, I even spat in it!"

Acheng stopped chewing and looked at her in surprise, "I knew you weren't that kind, bringing me food every day."

"How are you? Do you still want to eat?" Xia Lanyue asked Acheng, raising an eyebrow.

Dai You smiled and explained, "My sister isn't that kind of person. You should eat."

Acheng still didn't believe it, "Really?"

"Really? Take it or leave it. From now on, I'll bring you every meal. If you don't eat, then go hungry," Xia Lanyue said with a fierce expression.

Looking at her expression, Acheng couldn't help but laugh, "You're quite funny when you're fierce."

Xia Lanyue was taken aback, thinking to herself, "Why isn't this person following the script?" Then she composed herself and rolled her eyes at him.

Frustrated by the unpleasant situation, Xia Lanyue felt stifled and, not wanting to stay inside, headed towards the door.

In the courtyard, Xia Yao and Li Chuan were talking. They seemed to be having a good time, though it was unclear what they were discussing.

As Xia Yao spoke, his eyes unconsciously swept around. When he saw Xia Lanyue, his expression froze, and he stopped smiling and lowered his head.

Is he angry with me? Xia Lanyue thought to herself, I haven't done anything to him lately! Could it be because I called Acheng a thief that he's angry? It was unintentional, why is he holding a grudge?!

Xia Lanyue wanted to ask for clarification, but found that there were too many people around and it was inconvenient to speak, so she decided to ask another day.

At this moment, Dai You came out of the house with a food box in his hand. "Let's go."

"Has he finished eating?"

“Yes, let’s go say hello to Xia Yao and the others, then we’ll go back,” Dai You said.

"No...you go and tell them, I..." Xia Lanyue stammered, unwilling to move forward.

Dai You was a little puzzled, but he didn't think much of it and went up alone to say goodbye to Xia Yao and Li Chuan.

Xia Lanyue had originally planned to go to town to sell rice cakes. She had already wasted a lot of time coming to the village head's house in the morning, so she was a little anxious and urged Dai You to hurry up.

Back at the Xia family home, she spent an hour making a basket of rice cakes and a basket of salted rice cakes. After wrapping them up, she and Dai You carried the two baskets and hurried to town.

They chose a spot at the end of the street and set up their stall there. The bustling areas of the market were already occupied by other stalls, so they had no choice but to set up their stall here. However, this did not affect Xia Lanyue's mood. She firmly believed that "good wine needs no bush."

After arranging the baskets, she opened a bag of rice cakes, placed it on top, and then began to call out her wares.

"Rice cake, try it before you buy! Sweet and savory rice cake, come and try it!"

Dai You remained silent, standing behind Xia Lanyue, watching her skillfully solicit business without any hesitation, his eyes filled with doubt.