Not long after Min Wenwen disappeared, the villagers from the Taoist temple began to return home one after another, including Niu Xi's father Niu Bao.
Jia Zhengjin has been squatting in the attic, secretly observing through the mouse hole.
Niu Xi was sitting in a large wooden bucket specially used for bathing, cleaning his body and treating the wounds on his shoulders. He did not notice that a silver ingot appeared among the dirty clothes thrown on the ground behind the wooden baffle.
When Niu Bao returned home, he saw the door was open and heard the sound of water in the room, so he knew his son was taking a bath.
Niu Xi heard the footsteps and knew that his father was home.
The father and son have a tacit understanding. They both know that the other is at home, but they don't say a word.
Niu Bao went back to his room and hid the wages he received at the bottom of the box, covered it with his clothes, then turned to the kitchen to prepare for cooking.
Passing by my son's room, I saw the door was open and his dirty clothes were scattered everywhere. I couldn't help but shake my head, walked in and bent down to clean them up.
"What are you doing?" Niu Xi stood up when he heard the noise and stood on tiptoe to look from behind the wooden baffle.
"Won't you put it in a bucket?" Niu Bao lifted up his son's dirty clothes and shook them, preparing to take them outside to soak them for easy cleaning later.
As a result, the silver ingot hidden by Min Wenwen fell down and hit the ground with a dull sound.
For a moment, Niu Bao, Niu Xi and his son were stunned, staring at the silver ingot on the ground.
"Where did the money come from?!" Both father and son asked almost in unison.
After looking at each other for a few seconds, Niu Xi's eyes averted.
He suddenly thought, could he have accidentally brought it with him when he came down from the mountain? But such a large ingot of silver must be heavy, and he would be unconscious?
Or was it that Xizi secretly stuffed the firewood into her own firewood, and then dropped it into her clothes when she got home, without her noticing?
It was clearly agreed that each person would have half of the treasure in the maze, so there was no reason for Xizi to secretly give me a piece at this time!
Sure enough, you brought it back accidentally, right?
Niu Xi was thinking in his mind, but his avoidant eyes made his father Niu Bao suspicious.
The father knows very well how much his son weighs.
This large ingot of silver is probably many times more than the money I hide in the box.
Going to a Taoist temple every day, the wages are very considerable.
My son followed Niu Shun up the mountain to chop firewood every day, and he never saw a bundle of firewood being sold. Other than that, he was at home.
According to his character, he spent all his money gambling with his friends. He had just learned to behave at home recently. How could he suddenly have such a huge amount of money? There was only so much room in the house, and his son couldn't hide the money.
Besides, the silver inside the clothes must have been found only today.
So the question is, he and Niu Shun went up the mountain to chop wood for a whole day, where did the money come from?
Why is his eyes evasive? Could it be that the money came from something shady?
The more he thought about it, the more worried he became, and the more he thought about it, the more scared he became. Niu Bao was extremely anxious: "Xizi, what happened to the money? Have you done something shameful?"
"Shunzi and I went up the mountain to chop firewood, what shameful things could we do?" Niu Xi felt that he had brought the money back accidentally, and he was equally anxious.
"How can you bring back such a big ingot of silver from cutting firewood in the mountains? I have never heard of people picking up silver in the mountains." Niu Bao said anxiously, "Where did it come from? Tell me clearly! If it's not ours, return it as soon as possible.
"
"Don't worry about it, give me the money!" Niu Xi stretched out his hand from behind the wooden baffle, "I will handle it myself!"
"Handle it? You should explain this matter clearly first. You can't do anything illegal!" The more Niu Bao thought about it, the more frightened he became. He originally thought that his son had restrained himself recently and was much more well-behaved. If something like this happened suddenly, everyone would have to think wrongly. Could it be that his son
On the pretext of going up the mountain with Niu Shun to cut firewood, he actually went to other places? But no one in the village had such a large ingot of silver... No! The Yang family should have it. Could it be that he stole it from the Yang family?
?
"What can I do?" Niu Xi was very anxious, "Give me the money."
"What on earth did you do today? Dad can still help you here, but it will be troublesome if other people know about it!" Niu Bao decided that there was something wrong with the origin of the money, "Tell me honestly, and we will find a way.
....."
"What are you thinking of? This money is mine!" Niu Xi saw that his father's voice was a little loud in excitement, and he was afraid that Niu Shun would hear him. After all, the two families lived very close to each other.
After getting the silver back, I can still find a way to sneak into the maze the next day, sneak in among the treasures, and pretend that nothing happened.
Niu Shun shared half of his treasure, there was no need to get into trouble for a piece of silver.
Of course, the premise is that Niu Shun cannot know. If he mistakenly thinks that he is not satisfied with half of the treasure and steals the money without telling him, the consequences will be disastrous.
In his desperation, he didn't care much, so he jumped out of the barrel naked, ran over and grabbed the silver from his father's hand.
The words were not made clear, so Niu Bao certainly wanted to know. When his son reached out to grab it, he subconsciously stepped back, but the young man moved faster. When the silver was taken back, he was carried forward by the inertia and fell forward.
to the ground.
It wasn't broken, but I felt more and more that there was something wrong with the money. Otherwise, why would my son be so nervous? He felt scared and annoyed, and his tone suddenly rose: "Xizi! What did you do today?! Where did the money come from?!
"
"What are you yelling for?! What are you yelling for?!" Niu Xi clutched the silver ingot tightly, "You don't want others to hear you, don't you?"
"If the money is fine, what are you afraid of?! I'm your father, tell me honestly, what did you do today? Where did the money come from?!" Niu Bao almost beat his chest, "We can't do this.
!We are a family with a duty and cannot do evil!"
"Why did you do evil? There is no problem with the origin of the money!" Niu Xi said anxiously, "What are you yelling about? Can you speak in a low voice?"
"If the money is fine, why are you anxious? Why do you want me to speak in a low voice?" Even so, Niu Bao still lowered his voice, completely worried about his son, "To be honest, are you really going to the mountains to chop wood with Niu Shun? Impossible, right? You
Tell me, what on earth did you do today?!"
"Don't think too much here," Niu Xi casually picked up a clean piece of clothing and put it on, "I'm telling you, there's no problem with the money! I was just on the mountain with Shunzi and didn't go anywhere. Just pretend you didn't see this.
, do you know?"
"It doesn't matter if you don't tell me!" Niu Bao was trembling all over, "I'll go to Shunzi and ask if you really went up the mountain with him today!"
"I asked Shunzi the same thing. If I hadn't gone up the mountain to chop wood, would my shoulder be like this?" Niu Xi showed his wound.
"Where does the money come from?"
"Why do you care about this? Anyway, let me tell you, the money came from a clean source and there was absolutely no wrongdoing!" Niu Xi said in a deep voice, "Don't ask Shunzi either, this is a matter between him and me."
"Then you have to tell me what's going on, right? Could it be that Shunzi said he was taking you to chop wood, but he was actually doing other important things without telling us?" Niu Bao became more and more afraid as he thought about it.
"What big things can an honest person like him do?" Niu Xi looked out the window cautiously, "Anyway, I will explain the money matter to you clearly in the future. There will be absolutely no problem."
