Once you come, you will be at peace.

Zhang Dabin was not in a hurry to go back. He finished pickling the eggs in this village. Seeing that it was still early, he went to Hou Village again.

The rattle sounded, and there was another shout of "Pickled eggs, pickled eggs--" and as usual, a child chased him and started to cheer.

The first person to pickle eggs this time was a young rural wife in her twenties who had a big braid and swayed around. Zhang Dabin's first love partner had such a big braid, which made him a little dazed. When the young wife asked him how much it cost to pickle an egg, Zhang Dabin blurted out: "Look at it."

What he meant was that it didn't matter how much he gave it, and he didn't care. But the young wife was a little concerned. Now she didn't finalize the price. What should I do if I opened a high price for pickling eggs?

The young wife said, "What's up to you? Are there anyone doing this business? Let's make an appointment before pickling."

"Five minutes per." Zhang Dabin was so nervous that he was shaken by the big braid and said casually.

The young wife began to calculate how much it costs to thirty-five eggs. The two hands and ten fingers were connected, which was clearly calculating the amount. But it looked like a monk who was chanting scriptures, such as a flower finger, and a Prajna finger, flashing in the air.

Zhang Dabin looked at her brain cells and felt a lot of death. He felt a little reluctant and said softly: "One yuan, 70 cents, five cents."

The young wife glared at him: "Five points are counting?"

"Then let's get one yuan and seven cents."

The young wife probably felt that she was cheap, so she looked better and said, "Okay, you pickle eggs."

Zhang Dabin felt that the young wife was not scheming, so he asked, "I just pickled eggs in Qian Village. I heard that there was a Qi Huogen in this village, and he had moved out. Then is his house empty? Will it be sold?"

The young wife said in surprise: "Ye! Are you planning to buy his house? Live here? Where are you from?"

Zhang Dabin smiled silly and said, "I'm from Jianan. Your place looks good. The ground is fertile and the water is clear, and things can grow in the ground."

The young wife flattered her mouth and said, "His house will not be sold. I heard that Qi Huogen will return it after a few years."

"Oh? What's going on? Could it be that he moved out to hide from debt?"

The young wife said, "What debts should you hide? You guys! Don't talk nonsense, okay? He made a fortune and took the opportunity to go outside for a few years."

"Then do you know where he moved? I'll go to him to discuss it and see if I can sell the house to me."

The young wife said, "Qi Huogen is weird. No one in the village knows where he moved."

"I heard that he had contracted a fish pond before? Why did he move away? Those who raise fish in the past few years can make money."

The young wife said, "You don't know this, right? He died of a person in the fish pond and was still a county magistrate. No one dared to raise fish in the fish pond later, and they have been filled."

"Ah! Is there any such thing? Will his move away have something to do with this?"

The young wife looked at him and said, "What's wrong with you, a guest? I stared at Qi Huogen?"

Zhang Dabin smiled and said, "I just heard that the people there kept talking about him, so I couldn't help but be curious."

The young wife curled her lips and ignored him. After pickling the eggs, she left with a thick braid.

There are not many people pickled eggs in this village. After the young wife left, another middle-aged woman asked him to pickle eggs, and then she had no business.

Zhang Dabin carried a load and walked into another village. He now had a clear idea. When chatting with the people who came to pickle eggs, he took the initiative to talk about the fundraising funds of Shaozhu Highway and County Magistrate Gu. The information obtained from different people is naturally more and more. In summary, the more consistent response is that the construction of Shaozhu Highway is relatively chaotic and the project cost is relatively high; different methods are adopted for the interest payment and principal refund of the fundraising funds; County Magistrate Gu died strangely, and there may be other hidden information.

However, all this information is heard and the words passed by the people may not be close to the truth. If further in-depth investigation is required, it will inevitably alarm a certain force. Thinking of what Ye Zhiran told me, it would rather return without success than attract others' attention, Zhang Dabin dared not act rashly.

After walking around the city and town, it was a little late. He carried a load back to Zhuzhou County, planning to stay in the county for one night before talking about it.

Zhuzhou County is not big. It only takes half an hour to travel all over the city.

In the center of the county town, there is a clear river in the north and south direction, with small blue bricks and bluestones on both sides of the river. There are a row of old-fashioned buildings with some historical traces on both sides of the river, blue bricks and green tiles and log columns. The commercial atmosphere here is not strong, and many local residents live.

Zhang Dabin found a small hotel. The proprietress was a fat middle-aged woman. She looked at Zhang Dabin at the next moment and asked, "Boss, what business do you do?"

Zhang Dabin smiled and said, "What boss? I am a customer of Pidan."

"Oh, no wonder what kind of room you live in with a burden?"

Zhang Dabin said: "It's cheaper, of course, it's better to have fewer people."

The boss's wife looked bad and said, "You have found a bargain. The business has not been good these two days. There are not many customers staying in the hotel. You can stay in a room for two people for 30 yuan a night."

After finishing the procedures, Zhang Dabin took the things into the room and put them in. He saw that it was still early, so he wanted to chat at the service desk.

It was said to be a service desk, but in fact, the boss’s wife was the only one who looked at the store.

Fat women usually like to eat melon seeds. When Zhang Dabin came out, the boss’s wife was having a lot of fun eating, and her mouth was "slap" sounded.

"Boss, let's talk to you, are there any cheap houses for sale nearby?"

The boss lady asked in surprise: "What? Do you want to buy a house here?"

Zhang Dabin said: "I have a relative who works in business and wants to buy a house here, so please ask whatever you want."

The boss nodded and said, "I asked the right person if I asked me. Do you see the four-story public housing on the other side of the river? The third-floor house has been empty for more than three years. If you want to sell it, the house must be cheap."

Zhang Dabin looked at the small building and said, "The house looks good, it's much newer than the house here. How could it be cheaper?"

The boss lady pretended to be mysterious and said, "The owner of the house died strangely. No one dared to buy this house?"

"Oh? Died in the house?"

"No, I died in a fish pond. Some people said they fell in accidentally while drunk, some said they were killed, and some said they committed suicide. The key is that this person turned out to be the executive deputy county magistrate here, a high-ranking official, and others were worried that there would be trouble after buying it."

"Then where did his family go?"

"I heard that his wife moved away with her daughter for fear of being retaliated. However, sometimes she also came back and heard that she complained everywhere."

Zhang Dabin remembered it all in his heart and said perfunctorily: "What a miserable person."

"If your relative wants to buy it, I will help you pay attention and wait for the woman to come back and ask her."

Zhang Dabin shook his hand and said, "I probably won't buy this family if something happened to me. He has many taboos when doing business."

The boss lady nodded and said, "That's right."

The next day, Zhang Dabin went to a nearby tea shop to have tea, hoping to find out more news. Unexpectedly, most of the tea shops were old men, who made a pot of tea and set up a dragon gate formation, and talked about trivial matters about family matters. In the city, he kept in mind Ye Zhiran's care and did not dare to inquire about this information.

At about 9:30, he came out of the teahouse and saw a lot of people gathered at the door of County Mayor Gu’s house that the boss told him. Zhang Dabin felt aroused in his heart and hurriedly walked there.

As soon as he got there, he saw a police car roaring over, and two policemen got off and went straight upstairs.

Zhang Dabin hurriedly asked the people nearby: "Old man, what's going on?"

The Chinese people are very curious, and any matter happens, a group of people will gather. The elderly man is not surprised at all because Zhang Dabin’s face is strange. He thinks he is also a person living nearby and said, “The third floor, County Mayor Gu’s home was stolen by a thief.”

Zhang Dabin asked, "Didn't you say that no one lives in this family?"

"Yes, after County Mayor Gu's accident, his wife and children moved out, and it's rare to come back. Now, his wife came home to check it out today. When she opened the door, she found that the house was overturned, so she immediately called the police."

"Ah? So? Did you lose anything?"

The old man shook his head and said, "County Magistrate Gu is a good official, but unfortunately good people in this world are not rewarded, which is completely different from the 1960s and 1970s. His wife said that he only lost the previous work record book of County Mayor Gu, and it was probably sent by those who had a ghost in his heart."

Zhang Dabin pretended to be confused and asked, "What are they doing for stealing the record book?"

The old man sighed and whispered: "County Magistrate Gu was killed, we all know. His wife complained everywhere, and maybe she had something in her hand, so these people came to steal information."

"So, most of the records in the record books have records of these people doing bad things."

The old man said, "Yes!"

...It was not long before the two policemen walked down and said to the woman behind him indifferently: "If you don't throw away valuables, you won't file a case. This is not a big deal."

The woman said loudly: "Why is it not expensive? This notebook is the work record book before my old Gu was killed. It records major events that happened in the county, and there may be secret matters of senior officials of the county party committee and county government. If it cannot be found, the impact will be too great."

The policeman spread his hands and said, "This is just a talk. This kind of thief who burglaries comes and goes without a trace and is difficult to find."

The woman was anxious and said, "I have a person who doubts me."

"Who?"

"A director of the Cadre Department of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department. This matter is probably related to him. I just told him last night that I would come back to find a notebook, and it was stolen immediately. Moreover, the one I lost was this notebook. It has been three years and has not been visited by thieves. Why did I stolen as soon as I talked about this?"

When the police heard that the incident involved a senior official from the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee, they hurriedly said, "Tao Xiao'e, go to the police station to take notes and talk nonsense in public."

Zhang Dabin was shocked when he heard the woman seemingly saying that Ye Zhiran was instructing someone to steal the notebook. How could this be possible!
Chapter completed!