The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure-Chapter 105: The Object of Suspicion

"Shut up!" Wang Yongzhu directly blocked Xiao Tiantian’s boasting, and when she looked at Song Chongjin again, there was finally something different.

She hadn’t expected Song Chongjin to have such a skill; she had underestimated him. But for a man from a mountain village, with a mother so timid, was this really a skill taught by an old hunter from the mountains?

Wang Yongzhu marked Song Chongjin for special attention. No matter what might happen in the future, at least for now, she couldn’t see through him.

However, this wasn’t the time to be concerned about that. She composed herself, suppressing her shock, and tried to analyze the situation: "So, we’re looking for a young man, slender, weak, naturally with six toes! If he’s from our village and is around my age, there are dozens of boys, most of them quite lean, but they usually have to do field work, so they should have some strength. Excluding those who work the fields, there aren’t many left, so it must be—"

Song Chongjin made eye contact with her: "Someone who attends private school!"

After saying that, Song Chongjin glanced at the faded ink stain on the shovel handle.

For some reason, Wang Yongzhu’s mind instantly thought of someone.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was possible. She collected herself hastily: "Brother Song, I have a suspect in mind, but I’m not certain yet. I don’t know if he has six toes. I must rush to the town immediately to ask my mother; she should know. No, I shouldn’t go ask my mother. I need to find Jinhua—"

With that, she headed down the mountain, and Song Chongjin followed behind, his gaze shifting, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, then he held back.

The anxious Wang Yongzhu sped up her descent. Upon reaching the village, people saw the two of them, one after the other, with Wang Yongzhu’s clothes looking as if they had been rolled on the ground.

Some people looked at the pair with a hint of insinuation in their eyes.

Wang Yongzhu couldn’t care less about that; she didn’t take it to heart and hurriedly bade Song Chongjin goodbye before rushing home to find Jinhua.

After mumbling a few words in her ear, Jinhua didn’t quite understand but still nodded and hurried out the door.

Shortly after, she came back and nodded to Wang Yongzhu.

With some confirmation in her heart, Wang Yongzhu calmed down.

She went over the events carefully again, ensuring there were no oversights, that every link was worth scrutinizing, before she changed her clothes.

She went to the woodshed to check on the Yellow Pine Mushrooms, then told Lady Jiang that she needed to go to the town.

Lady Jiang dared not let her; this young girl had never gone out alone before. With miles of mountain roads, what if something happened? How would she explain it to the grandmother-in-law?

What Wang Yongzhu was most worried about now was that the more time dragged on, the more the killer could destroy the clues. She must rush to the town immediately to inform her parents and cut the knot quickly to find the murderer.

Not wanting to explain too much to Lady Jiang, she only instructed Jinhua a few words, and with Wang Yongzhu’s nod, Jinhua pulled Lady Jiang along.

Wang Yongzhu took the opportunity to slip out the door.

She remembered the way to the town from her last visit, hurried toward the entrance of the village, and ignored the pointing and commenting behind her.

Not until she had walked quite a distance did Wang Yongzhu breathe a sigh of relief, only to find a familiar figure ahead.

Song Chongjin?

Was he also going to the town?

A twinge of unease struck Wang Yongzhu’s heart. Although she was grateful to Song Chongjin for his help with this case, something about seeing him now felt odd.

Upon seeing him, she felt obliged to greet him.

"Brother Song? Where are you headed?"

"I’m going to the town to buy some medicine for my mother," Song Chongjin replied, seemingly unfazed by Wang Yongzhu’s appearance, and nodded.

"Oh, what a coincidence—" Wang Yongzhu felt extremely awkward.

If she hadn’t been certain that Song Chongjin’s feelings for her didn’t even reach the level of friendliness, she might have narcissistically suspected that Song Chongjin deliberately engineered this encounter to meet her and flirt with her.

Fortunately, the System did not indicate that his favorability had reached the level of friendliness, allowing Wang Yongzhu to remain very calm. fгeewёbnoѵel_cσm

The two of them walked one after the other, neither awkward nor relaxed.

Wang Yongzhu tried several times to find a topic to make the atmosphere less strange, but was promptly shut down by Song Chongjin’s very brief responses of "hmm," "ah," and "oh."

She simply closed her mouth and said no more.

Isn’t everyone their own beloved little fairy?

Song Chongjin also couldn’t explain why, just on impulse, he had come to the mountain path to wait specially, to see if Wang Yongzhu would pass by.

Now, he felt that Wang Yongzhu was shrouded in mystery. His past self had been too superficial, merely dazzled by appearances, and thought that Wang Yongzhu was ill-mannered, with nothing to her but infatuation.

Yet, viewing Wang Yongzhu now, from the broken engagement to the recent analysis of who had harmed her brother, she had revealed a new side to herself, making him feel as if he had never truly known her.

In his heart, there was also a desire to see whether Wang Yongzhu could indeed find the culprit, which was why he waited on the road.

Wang Yongzhu’s respectful yet distant attitude toward him was clear to see, but he pretended not to notice.

The two walked in silence along the mountain road...

※※※

Shiqiao Town. Inside Apricot Grove Hall.

"Master of the house? Master of the house—Doctor—Doctor, our master seems to have woken up—" Lady Lin, who had not closed her eyes all night for fear that if she did, her man might pass away, had dozed off sitting up beside him that morning.

Feeling a stir, she opened her eyes just in time to see Wang Yongfu slowly open his, glance at her, then close them weakly.

Immediately, she jumped up and reached out to grasp Wang Yongfu’s hand, but was stopped by Doctor Liu, who had caught a few winks and was now up to check the situation.

"You mustn’t do that, your man is seriously injured, don’t move him under any circumstances!"

Lady Lin, who had been slapped by Old Granny Zhang yesterday, looked like a pig’s head with her face swollen and bruised, as Old Granny Zhang had been wont to heavy labor for years. Even though she had lightened her work in recent years, her strength was still considerable, and yesterday, in her anger, she didn’t hold back at all. With a swollen face, barely able to open her eyes, she was told off by Doctor Liu and withdrew her hand awkwardly, "I was just too happy, got carried away—"

Awoken by the commotion, Wang Laozhu glared at Lady Lin with displeasure, "Clumsy hands, clumsy feet, you just can’t wait to do more harm to your man, can you? Stand aside!"

Being most afraid of her father-in-law, Lady Lin, feeling guilty and short of breath, immediately became meek and retreated to a corner, rubbing her swollen face while eagerly watching Doctor Ma, who had been called by Wang Yongping.

Doctor Ma felt his pulse, examined Wang Yongfu’s eyelids, pried open his mouth to look at the tongue coating, and felt around the waist area before slowly nodding, "Having made it through last night, he has theoretically saved half of his life."

While saying this, he took out silver needles and started inserting them into Wang Yongfu’s body, filling him with needles until he looked almost like a hedgehog.

Then he gestured, "Who will come out and talk?"

Not trusting Lady Lin, Wang Laozhu thought for a moment and asked Wang Yongping to stay and watch, to call for the doctor immediately if anything happened.

Only then did he follow Doctor Ma out of the sickroom that had been cleared out the previous night.

Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are publish𝒆d on freew(e)bnove(l).𝓬𝓸𝓶