The brigade leader’s house:

“He’s here, Guodong is here.” The brigade leader’s wife shouted as she entered the courtyard. “Old man, Guodong is here.”

Ning Shu: “…” This sounded like a eunuch announcing the arrival of the emperor.

But it seemed that many people in the village were like this. Whenever someone with a bit of status or accomplishment came to their house, they would shout loudly, feeling very proud.

As soon as the brigade leader’s wife shouted, the brigade leader came out from inside, followed by three police officers.

Two of them were Cheng Ming and Zhengzhou, and the other one was someone they didn’t know.

“Guodong,” Zhengzhou, who was somewhat familiar with Lin Guodong, acted as the spokesperson for the police and said, “Comrade Lin, please come inside to talk. Speaking of which, the brigade leader wanted to find you, and we originally didn’t intend to disturb you.”

Lin Guodong nodded, and they walked inside.

Ning Shu and Lin Xiaojing followed the brigade leader’s wife outside.

Ning Shu asked softly, “Does Auntie know what this is about?”

The brigade leader’s wife said, “It’s not a secret…”

Inside the house:

Zhengzhou said, “Comrade Lin, here’s the situation. After we left Qinglinwan Brigade with Zhuang Tiegen and his wife, we went to the police station. We had Zhuang Tiegen describe Zhuang Daming’s appearance, from his height to his features, and there does seem to be some resemblance between Zhuang Daming and the deceased in X City. By the way, this is the police officer from X City.

However, based on the description, we can’t determine if the person is Zhuang Daming, so we need someone from Qinglinwan Brigade who knows Zhuang Daming to confirm. Originally, Zhuang Tiegen and his wife were suitable for this task. But they committed an offense on the introduction letter, so they will be sent for labor reform and can’t go to X City to identify the body. So we decided to ask Zhuang Daming’s wife, Sun Xiaoyun, and the brigade leader to go together.

But the brigade leader said he had never been to X City and wanted to ask you to go with him. What do you think?”

Lin Guodong naturally didn’t want to go.

He rarely came home and just wanted to spend the New Year with his wife and children at home.

Moreover, it was just to confirm whether the deceased was Zhuang Daming; he wouldn’t serve any other purpose by going.

If there was a need for help in the case, Lin Guodong would certainly not hesitate to offer it.

So Lin Guodong had to refuse, “I’m sorry, I can’t leave Qinglinwan Brigade. Although it’s the holiday, I still need to be on standby at home in case the brigade has any sudden issues. Besides, besides Hongfa Bo and Sun Xiaoyun going to X City, won’t your police station also send police officers?”

Zhengzhou: “Alright, I’ll go.” Hearing Lin Guodong’s refusal, Zhengzhou was somewhat surprised but not too surprised.

After all, it was Chinese New Year, and who would want to go? Moreover, what the other party said made sense—if he left, what if the brigade needed him? So, Zhengzhou could only say to the brigade leader, “Comrade Lin is not available. Let’s see if we can bring someone else.”

The brigade leader didn’t insist on Lin Guodong going with him.

It’s just that he felt a bit uneasy going on a long trip alone, so he felt more at ease with Lin Guodong.

But now that Lin Guodong couldn’t go, he had no choice. “Then take my son with you.”

Zhengzhou nodded, “Okay.”

Then he said to Lin Guodong, “Sorry for bothering you. I won’t delay your New Year anymore.”

“No problem,” Lin Guodong said. “Then I’ll go first.”

“Wait a moment…” Zhengzhou continued, “There’s one more thing I’d like Comrade Lin to pay attention to in the village.”

Lin Guodong stopped and turned around.

Zhengzhou continued, “If the deceased is indeed Zhuang Daming, then the relationship between Jiang Xiaoyue and Zhuang Daming is not just an affair. There are also issues like forging introduction letters. Furthermore, since Zhuang Daming is dead, Jiang Xiaoyue’s whereabouts are unknown. So, I’d like to ask Comrade Lin to pay attention to the village, especially the Jiang family. If there is any news about Jiang Xiaoyue, please go to our police station and inform our colleagues in time.”

This was not a problem. Lin Guodong naturally agreed, “No problem.”

“Thank you, Comrade Lin,” Zhengzhou said.

Lin Guodong came out of the house and saw Ning Shu and Lin Xiaojing chatting with the brigade leader’s wife. He asked, “I’m going back. Are you two going to stay here?”

Ning Shu and Lin Xiaojing both said, “We’re leaving too.”

The two of them left the brigade leader’s house with Lin Guodong.

On the way, Ning Shu asked, “Did Auntie ask you to come because the brigade leader wanted you to go to X City with him?” To be honest, she didn’t want Lin Guodong to go.

It was Chinese New Year, and it wasn’t their business.

Why bother going?

Moreover, it was just to confirm Zhuang Daming’s body in X City, right? What if Lin Guodong didn’t come back from the military? Wouldn’t they be unable to confirm it?

“Yeah, I refused,” Lin Guodong explained the reasons for his refusal, and then he mentioned Jiang Xiaoyue’s situation. “If you see Jiang Xiaoyue in the village, be careful and don’t alert her. If Zhuang Daming’s death is really related to her, she’s also a dangerous person, so be cautious.”

Ning Shu and Lin Xiaojing nodded.

This was indeed something to be cautious about.

Ning Shu said, “I didn’t expect Grandpa and Grandma Xiao Pang to be detained directly. It’s actually a good thing, so they won’t come out to cause trouble for our family.”

Lin Guodong also thought the same, “Although they’ve been detained, the Zhuang family should still be vigilant.” They still had children.

Ning Shu agreed with a sound.

She would naturally be more cautious.

The three of them returned to the old house, where the women had almost finished eating, but the men were still drinking.

“Back already? Was there anything over there?” Lin’s mother asked.

Lin Guodong explained the situation again in front of everyone.

There was no need to hide it; everyone knew about the commotion at the Zhuang family in the morning.

Lin’s mother was also surprised, “I didn’t expect Lao Zhuang and his wife to be detained. Ai…” She sighed.

She had been worried that they would come to cause trouble, but now it seemed that she didn’t have to worry anymore. However, “Why did they want you to go to X City with them? It’s such a long way, and it’s so tiring. It’s good that you refused. It’s better to rest at home.”

After the Lantern Festival, Lin Guodong would be returning to the military. If he went to X City with the brigade leader, who knows when he would be back.

It wouldn’t be good to miss the time to return to the military.

Lin Guodong agreed, “Yeah.”

Originally, Lin Guodong was going to inquire about the Zhuang family in the county town, so he didn’t want to drink much.

Now that he knew about it from Zhengzhou, he didn’t need to go anymore, so he drank heartily with his father Lin Ye, Lin Guofeng, and Lin Guoliang.

The four men drank and chatted.

Although Lin Guodong usually didn’t say much, he was quite talkative now.

However, none of the Lin men were very enthusiastic, so even though they were chatting, the atmosphere wasn’t lively.

Ning Shu remembered that in her past life, during Chinese New Year at her grandmother’s house, uncles, aunts, and cousins would all come over to eat, drink, and play drinking games.

They would be noisy and rowdy, and while some people enjoyed it, she found it annoying.

Perhaps it was because she felt lonely back then.

But now, watching them chat, she felt that it was quite lively. Her mindset had changed.

However, the men didn’t drink for long, just an extra half an hour.

If they continued, all the food on the table would be gone, and even if there was any left, it would have gotten cold and unappetizing.

After the men left, Qian Aifen started cleaning up.

She only had one daughter, so she didn’t usually delegate household chores to her daughter.

Of course, she wouldn’t delegate them to her niece either.

Seeing Qian Aifen start to clean up, Zhang Qinfang’s eyes darted around.

She hesitated between going or not, but before she could make up her mind, Lin’s mother, like the Empress Dowager, directly called out, “Second daughter-in-law, what are you standing there for? Haven’t you seen your eldest sister-in-law busy? Hurry up and go help your eldest sister-in-law clean up!”

“Okay,” Zhang Qinfang answered and, before going in, couldn’t help but say to Ning Shu, who hadn’t moved, “Third sister-in-law, come and help. Let’s clean up together, it’ll be faster.”

Ning Shu thought she was really sick.

Why did she have to be called for everything? “Each household should clean up their own area. You guys clean up here, and I’ll clean up my house.” She really didn’t like washing dishes.

Without dish soap here, even if there wasn’t much oil and water left in the dishes, they would still feel greasy.

At home, she would use a lot of wood ash to wash dishes. Even now, with Lin Guodong here, she had entrusted dishwashing to him and had reminded him to use plenty of wood ash.

Lin’s mother heard the second daughter-in-law being called and heard the answer, and she thought the second daughter-in-law was just trying to show off in front of the third daughter-in-law.

This person really couldn’t go a day without scolding her. If the third daughter-in-law knew how to clean up, did she need to be called? She would have gone on her own long ago.

It was known that in their home, it was always the third daughter-in-law who washed the dishes.

Trying to make her look hardworking by washing dishes here was impossible.

The third daughter-in-law was not someone who would pretend.

If she was willing to do something, she would do it willingly; if she wasn’t willing, she wouldn’t do it.

Ning Shu didn’t know that her mother-in-law had already seen through her.

She wouldn’t wash dishes.

One, because she took care of the house, and it was the responsibility of each house to clean up their own area.

Two, because the old house hadn’t split up yet, she believed she had no reason to clean up.

Splitting up meant giving things away, and coming back meant being a guest.

If the old house had already split up, and they had their New Year’s Eve dinner at her mother-in-law’s house, then… she would ask Lin Guodong to clean up.

Anyway, she just didn’t like washing dishes.

Zhang Qinfang disagreed with this, “Third sister-in-law, what you’re saying is not right. It’s your responsibility to clean up your own house, but since you had lunch here, it should be cleaned up together. Don’t you think so?”

Bullshit.

Ning Shu said, “According to the second sister-in-law’s logic, I prepared four dishes, and the main house and your second house should also each prepare four dishes. Although you are together, the number of dishes should be the same as mine, right?”

Zhang Qinfang: “…”

Ning Shu continued, “Or maybe next time, we don’t need to prepare for the New Year’s Eve dinner. Dad and mom and Xiaojing can all come to our house to eat. If we follow the military, then every year, we’ll have the dinner ingredients sent to Dad and mom, and they can eat it themselves.”