"You dare say you don't care about her?" Cai Lihua gritted her teeth.
Sigh… Ajiu sighed. Old man, can't you be more steady when you do things? Look, you've been caught red-handed again.
"Jiu'er, you go. With Tuoba Yan here, I'm not worried," Cai Lihua said, looking at Meng Shaode. "It's best if you come back a little later. Your mother and I are going to settle accounts today."
"I… How did I anger you again?" Meng Shaode's face paled in fright.
Ajiu had no intention of breaking up the fight. Since one person would back down, they would never fight: "Hui'er, let's go."
Along the way, Hui'er roughly explained the situation. "The soldiers are searching house by house for those who went up the mountain to pick up meat. They found several families, but my mother didn't go up the mountain. She even persuaded them that the meat couldn't be eaten. Even so, they took my mother to the village head's house to be lectured, and said they would take her to the city for a strict interrogation about where the meat she ate came from."
Ajiu listened silently. This decision was quite reasonable from the government's perspective.
"When exactly did your mother eat that kind of meat, and when did she get sick?"
It would be a way for the authorities to trace the origin of the problem, but Hui'er was right, her mother was too frail to endure a long journey.
"I… let me think." Hui'er racked her brains. "It seems to be before the New Year, about three or four months ago. Hui'er really can't remember the exact date."
As she spoke, Ajiu had already arrived outside the village head's house.
The crowd was so thick that not a drop of water could get through.
Ajiu pushed through the crowd and saw more than ten dejected people being held inside, each with a piece of blubber of irregular shape placed in front of them.
Tuoba Yan stood there holding a cudgel, watching these people.
Sitting on a chair was the village head. Beside him sat someone in official attire. Ajiu didn't understand the hierarchy of the government and didn't know what kind of official this was.
"Truly reckless. I have already ordered that anyone who dares to secretly eat salvaged meat will be punished according to the law and sent directly to the Yi Zhuang (charitable burial ground) without any medical treatment. You all remember this."
The official spoke with a powerful and commanding voice.
"Good. The county magistrate is right," Tuoba Yan said, raising his saber. He didn't look serious at all.
"Well said."
"We didn't go pick it up."
"Only those who are not afraid of death would go. We would rather starve to death and receive some rations in the city every day. As long as we don't starve, I won't eat sick meat."
"Exactly, not eating meat won't kill us."
Tuoba Yan's words indeed garnered some agreement.
So, it was the county magistrate, the magistrate of Liu County. This Heba Village was under the jurisdiction of Liu County.
The dozen or so people kneeling on the ground panicked. Their wishful thinking had backfired spectacularly.
"County magistrate, spare our lives! The officials arrived just as I brought it back. I really haven't eaten it."
"I haven't eaten it either, really not a single bite."
Several of them turned ashen with fear.
"He ate it, he ate it! He lives right next door to me. When I returned home, he cooked it that very night. I could smell the meat."
The person being pointed at kept his head bowed, trembling like a sieve.
Now that the county magistrate was involved, Ajiu was no longer worried about the situation escalating. She exchanged a glance with Tuoba Yan.
This reckless fellow was still smiling and watching the judgment. He suddenly looked up, his pupils constricting. "Sister Ajiu, when did you get here?"
Without regard for the county magistrate's presence, he pushed through the crowd and walked over.
Ajiu was too embarrassed to speak and could only turn and leave the crowd.
"Little Yan, where is Hui'er's mother?" Ajiu asked. Hui'er was holding her clothes, looking up at this older brother expectantly.
Tuoba Yan lowered his gaze slightly. Hui'er quickly looked away.
She was actually quite afraid of him. Usually, she saw him chatting and laughing with Sister Jiu'er, but when he stormed into people's homes, his face was full of murderous intent, making her afraid and unable to sleep.
"Sister Jiu'er, you're talking about Madam Qian, right? She has already been put in the carriage and will be taken back with the county magistrate's men for interrogation later."
"Interrogation? What's there to interrogate? The first person who ate the sick meat is the lead. And the person who spread the meat on the mountain yesterday. Catching these two leads is the way to go." Ajiu was also puzzled why they used the word "interrogate" instead of "inquire" or "investigate to understand the situation."
"She refuses to say when she ate it or where she ate it," Tuoba Yan said truthfully. "Moreover, according to the investigation, her husband and father-in-law had businesses in the city before they passed away, so it's impossible for them to have stooped to eating the meat of the dead. The county magistrate found the matter peculiar, so he had her escorted back for interrogation."