The second update, asking for pink votes.

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The wife of He Laoliu and others were taken out for a body search, and shortly afterwards, there was a result.

The three children had no money on them, but twenty wen money was found on the wife of He Laoliu.

"Where did this twenty wen money come from?" Lian Manman asked, calling the wife of He Laoliu back in.

"It was... it was..." the wife of He Laoliu, having been searched, was no longer as noisy as before. She stammered as she sneaked a glance at Lady He.

Lady He turned her face away, avoiding eye contact with the wife of He Laoliu.

Lian Manman naturally saw this clearly from the side, realizing that the wife of He Laoliu might want to claim that the money was given to her by Lady He. However, in the Lian Family Main House, all silver coins and valuables were managed by Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou, so having twenty wen money on Lady He was also inexplicable.

Moreover, if Lady He really admitted it, she would inevitably have to endure a storm of rage from Lady Zhou.

Lady Zhou would not just scold Lady He casually. To punish her through meals was certain. Furthermore, since Lady Gu ran away, the daily tasks of grinding rice and flour and all the hard labor in the yard, if not given to Lady He, who would they be entrusted to?

Lady He was not the type of person who would sacrifice herself for her brother-in-law’s wife from her maiden family.

"Where did it come from? Speak clearly, I don’t have time to waste on you. If you don’t want to say it here, then we’ll change the place and send you to the county town to talk. How about that?" Lian Manman said with a frown.

’Sending to the county town to talk’ implied sending the wife of He Laoliu to the County Yamen.

The wife of He Laoliu had been penniless when she arrived at the Lian Family and lived there free of charge, having no source of income. The twenty wen money found on her was enough evidence to send her to face the officials.

"...with just this twenty wen money, miss, a little leak from your fingers would be more than this. What’s the big deal? Why go to the Yamen? I’ll, I’ll give up the money, can’t I?" The wife of He Laoliu was somewhat frightened.

Just because others have money, does it mean you can steal? Just because the amount stolen is small, does it not count as stealing? If the stolen item is discovered, can simply renouncing it remove the guilt?

It was truly unclear whether this was ignorance or shamelessness!

"If you don’t want to go to the County Yamen, then honestly say how the money was stolen," Lian Manman asked.

"No, no..." the wife of He Laoliu stammered in response.

"Moreover, why is there only twenty wen money? Where is the remaining over one hundred wen money?" Lian Manman asked again, "If you don’t state how you stole the money and are unable to produce the over one hundred wen money, I can only send you to the County Yamen. Once there, someone will surely have ways to make you speak the truth."

"Xiao Xi," Lian Manman called out to Xiao Xi, "put ropes on them and use my brother’s letter to take them to the County Yamen. It’s imperative to find out where the money went."

"Don’t, don’t rush," the wife of He Laoliu hastily waved her hand and said, "We, we didn’t steal. We’ll, we’ll repay the money within these two days, and double it. Can’t that work out? We’re not strangers after all."

Lian Manman did not respond to the wife of He Laoliu but instead focused her gaze on Lian Shouyi and Lady He.

Considering the character of Lian Shouyi and Lady He, if the people of He Family stole something, how would they react? One hundred and twenty-six wen money, the wife of He Laoliu only had twenty wen money, could the remaining one hundred and six wen money be with Lian Shouyi or Lady He?

This possibility was quite small, Lian Manman thought, as Lian Shouyi and Lady He did not seem to offer sufficiently tempting conditions to make the people of He Family hand over most of the stolen wealth to them. However, Lian Manman still suspected that there might be a portion of the stolen items with Lian Shouyi and Lady He, or at least with Lady He.

Should this opportunity be used to give Lian Shouyi and Lady He a good warning?

Of course, it should.

"Grandfather, it seems Yeye Household’s money was indeed stolen by them. However, so far only twenty wen money has been recovered, and the whereabouts of the over one hundred wen money is still unknown. Once they’re sent to the Yamen, those people will surely extract the truth." Lian Manman instructed Xiao Xi to take the few people with the wife of He Laoliu away, and then said to Old Master Lian, "Grandfather, do you want to wait and hear back from the Yamen, or do you have some ideas to try to recover the over one hundred wen money?"

Old Master Lian hadn’t spoken, internally pondering over the whereabouts of that one hundred and six wen money, and his suspicious gaze also landed on Lian Shouyi and Lady He.

It was truly wrong to have taken in those people from the old He Family. Now look at this, not only did it not gain any good reputation, but because of the theft by those from the He Family, the neighbors are filled with complaints. If, because of the He Family, Lian Shouyi and Lady He are lured into splitting the stolen goods, that would indeed be even more troubling.

Lian Manman’s words reminded him that if the wife of He Laoliu mentioned Lian Shouyi and Lady He at the County Yamen later, it would ruin the reputation of the Lian Family Main House.

"Over the past two days, the people from the old He Family haven’t really left the house, so it’s likely that the remaining one hundred and six wen money is still in this yard. ... We should search properly ourselves first." Old Master Lian said after some contemplation.

"Second son, you and your wife should help search well." Old Master Lian looked at Lian Shouyi and Lady He, his gaze full of warning, "If it’s not found and the wife of He Laoliu points fingers at someone later, whoever ends up in jail will be going to jail, and hoping for a rescue would be futile."

"Father, are you suspecting me?" Lian Shouyi caught the implication in Old Master Lian’s words, "Father, I may lack success, but I’ve never been involved in petty theft. Don’t you trust me still?"

"Second son, I’m asking you to handle something, why do you have so much to say? Are you listening or not, just say it and spare me the irrelevant talk." Old Master Lian said coldly, "Since the people from the old He Family live in this yard, they visit your room the most. Start searching from your room."

"If you don’t want others to search, then take the items out yourself!" Old Master Lian lowered his eyelids, seemingly unwilling to look at Lian Shouyi and Lady He any longer, and waved his hand toward them.

While discussions were ongoing inside, sounds of a carriage were heard from outside the main entrance.

A green mule cart stopped at the entrance of the Lian Family Old Mansion. Aunt Sun and Xiao Hong alighted from the cart one after another, and subsequently, both respectfully helped two people out of the cart.

Those two people were undeniably Lady Gu and Lian Duoduo, missing for a day and a night.

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Here’s the second update, asking for pink support, and the ranking on the Pink List has fallen off again.

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Recommendation from Ruoyan of completed farming literature:

Book title: "Rebirth: A Full Blossom in the Bright Moon" (Completed with epilogue) (There is a fast track below, click to reach directly)

Introduction: Reborn as a wrongly accused woman abandoned for loss of chastity, living sweetly with her little bun and an economically suitable man. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)