The carriage stopped at the gate of the county government office. The Xia family's people had already arrived, and they had already drank two cups of tea. When they heard the report that the Zhou family's people were coming, the Xia family's clan chief and elders immediately put down their teacups and sat up straight.

When they looked up, they saw Xia Xia being carried in.

Patriarch Xia and others:...

Lao Zhoutou and Mr. Xia asked Mr. Zhuang to go ahead, and the three of them walked in behind. Man Bao and Bai Shan Bai Erlang didn't know why, but they served the three of them very attentively. After they all sat down, they looked to the other side.

Chief Xia and others.

Neither of them knew each other, and they were a little embarrassed. Xia Xia sat up slightly and introduced the two parties, "Madam, this is the leader of our clan."

Regardless of what he was thinking, Man Bao stepped forward with respect, clasped his hands and said, "Zhou Man has met the clan leader."

Patriarch Xia quickly stretched out his hand to support her, and simply took her hand and said excitedly: "They look alike, they really look alike, you and Xin Niang look very much alike."

Lao Zhoutou couldn't help but think: She is obviously more like his family, Lao Zhou, but how does he look like his sister-in-law?

Man Bao then looked depressed.

When Magistrate Zhai arrived, Man Baocai followed Chief Xia to meet all the clan elders and clan members who came. Then Chief Xia and the old Zhoutou Qian family met and talked about Xia Yanlai. When he came in, Chief Xia was saying

Recalling Xia Yan's lifelong help and contribution to the family, when he saw Magistrate Zhai, he quickly turned around and saluted.

Seeing how friendly they were to each other, Magistrate Zhai couldn't help but pick out their beauty, and then he forced out a smile and asked both of them to sit down. He stood up and bowed to Zhou Man, asking Zhou Man to sit down first.

Man Bao smiled and said, "Please sit down, magistrate. I'll just sit down."

Although Xia's people were somewhat prepared, they were still surprised to see Magistrate Zhai being so polite to Zhou Man.

Magistrate Zhai then sat down, then looked to both sides and said, "Since both sides are here today, let's talk openly if we have anything to say, so as to avoid any suspicion or conflicts in the future."

He turned to Clan Chief Xia and said, "Clan Chief Xia should know, right? Mr. Zhou came to Shangzhou to find relatives. The relationship between the two parties should have been confirmed, right?"

Patriarch Xia then remembered that they were not sure yet, so he looked towards the Zhou family.

Zhou Dalang immediately took out the household registration of his brother-in-law that he had prepared, as well as the books of his aunt in the bundle that he found in the mountains.

Chief Xia looked at it and sighed: "This is indeed the household registration of Zhou Yin and Xin Niang. They are the same person. I didn't expect that they had been together fourteen years ago... Alas, I said that Xin Niang's child is filial, and Zhou

Yin is not a heartless person."

When Lao Zhou's family members heard this sigh, they couldn't help but look at each other, as if...the relationship didn't need to be so tense?

Sure enough, I heard Chief Xia say to Man Bao: "I didn't expect to see the eldest lady in my lifetime. I can explain to your grandfather when I go underground in the future."

Man Bao lowered his head with a look of regret.

Xia Xia heard that they were talking nonsense, so he took the initiative and said: "Clan leader, when will the things that Brother Yan left behind be given to the eldest lady?"

He said: "I plan to ask Xiaorui to vacate the shop for her after a while, and I will also give her the rent for so many years. Then I will ask the clan leader to be a witness."

After saying that, he groped around in his arms with trembling hands, but couldn't find anything for a while, so Xia Rui could only step forward and take out the yellowed paper for him.

Xia Xia opened it with shaking hands and said: "This is what I signed with Zhou Yin back then. I rented his shop and gave him eighteen taels of silver a year because he asked me to collect rent and look after the house for him. This is considered as my taking advantage of him."

It's cheap, but I haven't received any rent in the past twelve years, so I plan to add ten taels of silver to it every year..."

Patriarch Xia raised his eyebrows, smiled and stretched out his hand to hold down Xia Xia's hand and said: "Third brother, why are you so anxious? I have been collecting the rent in the field for Xin Niang. Besides, you have worked hard for them for so many years, even if it is Xin Niang."

Even if you and Zhou Yin come back in person, they won’t ask for your extra share.”

Man Bao was stunned for a moment and nodded immediately, "That's right, my uncle broke me."

Xia Xia didn't pay attention to Man Bao's words. He just stared at Patriarch Xia and asked, "You said you collected rent from her?"

Patriarch Xia nodded, "Of course, haven't I been renting a piece of land from Xin Niang? That piece of land was rented to me by you back then."

Xia Xia sneered in his heart. He rented it to him for three yuan back then, but he didn't expect to keep all the land, so Xia Xia didn't feel too angry.

Chief Xia turned to Man Bao and sighed: "Your parents have never come back these years, and the land cannot be left unused. The clan had guessed it, so later I rented out all the land, and I rented one of them."

There is also a piece rented to Xu Lichang, and the other piece is scattered and rented to people in the clan."

"It's just that you don't know that our farming depends on the weather. In the past ten years, there have been either droughts or floods. Not to mention making money, it's good to be able to plant the seeds." Chief Xia said: "Fortunately, in my early years, there were still

I have some rent left over, I will get it for you later."

Man Bao looked at Patriarch Xia with an moved face and said, "Grandpa Patriarch, I am very grateful to you for taking care of my family's fields these years. How can I ask for your rent again?"

Chief Xia said: "It is our duty to rent land to renters."

Man Bao shook his head and said with a sigh: "If nothing had happened to my parents back then, they would have returned home every year. Before I came here, I didn't think that the property left by my parents would still be there, so the land deed I received was just that.

It’s just a thought.”

After that, Man Bao took out the land deed which was well kept but slightly yellowed from his arms.

When Patriarch Xia saw that she was still wrapped in a layer of oil paper, even the fox-like person couldn't help but change his expression. He didn't even think about it. What a liar?

Chief Xia didn't expect that Zhou Man, at such a young age, could talk to people and talk to ghosts. On the surface, he said one thing, but in his heart, he was thinking something different.

He put away the last little thought in his heart and insisted on giving the rent to Zhou Man. He even decided to go back and complete the account books so that Zhou Man could check it.

Of course she couldn't ask for Man Bao. She kept refusing. She really didn't want it. It would just be a matter of picking out the meat from people's mouths. If she vomited out the food in her stomach, she would offend the public.

, it offends people so much.

Moreover, compared to the fields that needed to be cultivated and taken care of, what she wanted more was the house in Songhua Lane, so she refused vigorously, and then sighed: "Leave the fields to the clan leader and the uncles and brothers in the clan to me.

I’m very relieved, it’s the house where my grandparents lived before…”

She said with a sad face: "I was still young when I left home. I only vaguely remember that there was a jujube tree planted in our yard. It produced a lot of green jujubes every autumn. As long as my mother wanted to eat it, my father and I would eat it."

My grandfather took pictures for her to eat, and I just wanted to go back to that house to stay with my grandparents and see where they lived."

Everyone in the Xia family: ...Where is the liar? You have only been away for a few months, how can you remember this?

Everyone became more and more certain that her heart was filled with sesame seeds. Sure enough, no one could be an official easily, especially one who became an official in the capital at such a young age.
Chapter completed!