The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1199 - 1178: Impossible (Happy Birthday to "Si Qing Lan Yu")

Chapter 1199: Chapter 1178: Impossible (Happy Birthday to "Si Qing Lan Yu")

"Impossible," Bai Shan said, "Military households are all registered. Since you mentioned he brought his elderly mother, it can’t be that he’s a deserter. Otherwise, when he returned to his village, the Chief would definitely know. Sheltering a deserter and failing to report it would result in collective punishment."

"I’m nearly dead, why would I lie to you?" Bapo replied irritably, "When he came back, his bundle contained armor. I used to be a soldier, I could tell just by touching it."

Bai Shan sized him up and asked, "Are you the deserter?"

Bapo: ...

He lowered his head and fiercely bit into a piece of chicken, "Anyway, I’m going to die, there’s nothing left to hide. Yes, I am a deserter. Since fleeing, I’ve dared not return home; I’ve been surviving by stealing."

Bai Shan still frowned, feeling the story didn’t make sense, "How would a deserter dare to return to his village? Most likely, like you, they wander around. Maybe after getting some money, they might change their identities, but they definitely wouldn’t dare to openly return to their village. Once discovered, both the Chief and the neighbors would be implicated."

Being a deserter himself, Bapo was of course aware of this. So he frowned briefly, but then quickly let it go and said indifferently, "I have no reason to lie to you. If he wasn’t a deserter, why would there be armor in his house?"

He continued, "He was all in one piece, limbs intact, and young; it’s impossible that he was discharged from service."

Bai Shan pondered for a moment, "Maozhou’s Qijia Village?"

Bapo ignored him and continued gnawing his chicken.

Bai Shan and Manbao exchanged glances. County Magistrate Tang had said, when things are abnormal, there’s usually a demon; it’s written the same in the books.

Manbao asked, "Are you familiar with Maozhou? Why did you flee to Maozhou?"

"Not very familiar, I know Yizhou and Mianzhou the best," Bapo said, "I’m originally from Mianzhou, but didn’t dare go back for fear of being recognized. Usually, I just wander around Yizhou, snatching a few coin purses to spend. But life in Yizhou has been tough these past two years. The new County Magistrate is particularly harsh. Several times, just as I succeeded, I was investigated, and I had no choice but to flee in the end."

Actually, Bapo had been dodging military service for many years and had some good times in between. But just when he had saved enough money to return home and change his identity, a dam broke, causing the grain price to spike, and he spent all his money on the way back.

After the flood, when he first arrived in Yizhou City, life quickly improved again. Although there weren’t many people in Yizhou City, wealthy families had started returning too.

He stole quite a lot of money.

But after County Magistrate Tang took office, his life became difficult. The city’s defense was much stricter; several times, County Magistrate Tang nearly tracked him down to his residence. Unable to hide, he was forced to leave Yizhou City.

Bapo didn’t hide this fact, but he boasted more about the things he had stolen, "It got better once I left Yizhou. It was quite easy to steal in Maozhou. I stole a box of jewels from a family there. Unfortunately, they were hard to sell. When I was at the pawnshop, I happened to run into someone from that family. I was stabbed unawares and barely escaped with my life."

"Do you know how big of a commotion that was? Seventy to eighty people chased me, but in the end, I ran into the mountains and escaped."

Bai Shan didn’t believe it, "Seventy to eighty people couldn’t catch you even though you were wounded?"

Manbao said, "The wound was bleeding; they could just follow the blood trail, right?"

Bapo smugly replied, "That was the protection of the gods. They stopped chasing me once I entered the mountains."

Bai Shan asked, "And then you ended up in Qijia Village?"

"Correct," Bapo sighed, "Actually, I’m not really a bad person. Old Lady Ban saved me. I had even planned to gift her a jade bracelet I brought with me. But then her son came back from outside, holding a wanted poster with my picture. When I touched his bundle and felt the armor, I knew—my wound in the abdomen hadn’t yet healed; I certainly couldn’t beat him..."

While Bai Shan and Manbao were still deep in thought, Bapo simply picked up a cup and poured himself a drink, babbling, "Brother, if you had just listened to me, and pretended you hadn’t seen me, and I hadn’t known you were a deserter, we would each have gone our own way, and there wouldn’t have been any trouble today."

"But you wouldn’t listen, insisting on capturing me for the reward money. I had no choice but to kill you..."

The color drained from Bai Shan’s face, and he interrupted, "Are you familiar with Qijia Village? Besides Old Lady Ban’s son, do you think there are other deserters there?"

Bapo rolled his eyes in displeasure and said, "Do you think deserters are as common as radishes, available everywhere? Encountering one has already been my bad luck, and besides, I was fleeing for my life. After I got to Old Lady Ban’s house, I barely went out. What if someone recognized my face?"

Bai Shan seriously looked at Bapo and replied, "You don’t go out during the day, but you surely go out at night to check around, right? As a thief, how is it possible not to familiarize yourself with the surrounding environment?"

"Oh, Young Master, you seem quite familiar," Bapo laughed, "You’re not wrong, I did indeed go out at night, but I didn’t see anyone."

"Have you noticed anything different about their village?"

Bapo finally sensed something was off, leaned forward to look at Bai Shan, and asked, "What, do you think there’s something wrong with their village?"

His eyes brightened, he grabbed the railing, "Does that mean I might not have to die?"

Bai Shan spoke indifferently, "Didn’t Lord Xu say you also killed an officer who was trying to arrest you? Do you think you can survive?"

Upon hearing this, Bapo deflated and felt there was nothing left to hide from Bai Shan, waving his hand dismissively, "What differences could there be? Other than their village being wealthier, nothing else really stands out."

"How do you know their village is wealthy?"

"Of course I know," Bapo said, "Many households had lights on at night, and many also had dogs. Those are clearly signs of wealthy families."

Not every family could afford to light oil lamps; even the Zhou Family is so wealthy now, Old Zhou still doesn’t want to light oil lamps at night.

When poor, the number of times oil lamps are lit throughout the year can be counted on one hand. So, many lit houses in the village indicate its wealth.

The female prisoner who had been silent suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice, "Qijia Village is not wealthy."

Bai Shan and Manbao turned to look at her, "How do you know?"

"Oh, she came with me to the capital, she is from Maozhou," Bapo interjected.

Bai Shan’s eyes gleamed as he looked at her, and the female prisoner didn’t hide anything, saying, "I have an aunt who married into Qijia Village. The village is in the mountains and famously poor, it couldn’t possibly be wealthy."

Bapo sneered, "If they are not wealthy, how can their village afford to light oil lamps and keep dogs? And why are their houses built with half-stone walls?"

The female prisoner fell silent again.

Bai Shan, pulling Manbao along, bowed to the female prisoner, "Thank you."

He then said to the two, "Enjoy your meal. We will come to see you in a few days. Manbao and I have other matters to attend to, so we will be leaving now."

With that, he pulled Manbao along and left.

Manbao asked him, "What happened?"

Bai Shan pulled her onto the carriage and spoke in a low voice, "I suddenly recalled the iron ore ledger; several entries mentioned a ’Qi,’ which I previously thought was a surname of someone dealing in iron. But hearing Bapo’s words today, it could mean Qijia Village, the destination for the iron."

"What if we are wrong?"

"Who cares," Bai Shan remarked, "Tell County Magistrate Tang and County Magistrate Yang to check it out. What if they find something?"

Manbao thought it made sense as well.