Chapter 977: Chapter 977: The Incident of That Day

The money that Ms. Tang stole will be returned to the Wang Family, and then Uncle Cui’s corpse can be collected.

As for Li Xiaoshan’s corpse, Liang Wangsheng came with Ying Xi that day to look at it. After confirming his identity, they didn’t bother further with the matter. After all, Madam Liang had already divorced this live-in son-in-law, and the marriage papers were recovered, so it had nothing to do with their family anymore.

Thus, the personnel from the Office notified the Li family to come and claim him. The Li family had plenty of sons and didn’t care much about Li Xiaoshan. Moreover, being a live-in son-in-law was equivalent to having been “married off.” On top of that, he had done something so disgraceful. Not only did the Li family reject him, but even the extended Li clan didn’t want him buried in the Li family tomb.

In the end, the Li family would most likely wrap his body in a straw mat and find a random place to bury him.

Jiang Kuanyu handled all these affairs, so Shu Yu didn’t worry about it.

Little Ya’er cried her heart out once, and she seemed different afterward. Although she still looked listless, she at least didn’t remain silent anymore.

Sitting in the cart, she slowly began recounting the events of that day. It turned out that when Li Xiaoshan threw her to the ground, her head hit something, and she lost consciousness immediately.

When she woke up, the first thing she saw was her grandfather lying in the courtyard, covered in blood.

Frantically, she ran outside, but her grandfather told her to stay quiet and escape quickly to find help. He pushed her along, instructing her to take good care of herself in the future, and after a few brief words, he breathed his last.

At that time, Little Ya’er thought her grandfather could still be saved. Seizing the opportunity when Li Xiaoshan and the two others were busy cleaning up the bloodstains on themselves, she planned to go find help.

However, her head throbbed with pain. Li Xiaoshan’s violent throw had been far from gentle, and halfway through crawling out of the dog hole, she fainted again.

When the two people from Ms. Tang’s side emerged and didn’t see her, they set out to search for her. Unable to find her, they guarded the area in front and behind the house, fearing she would find someone for help. This way, anyone she sought for assistance could easily be spotted and subsequently controlled.

Little Ya’er didn’t wake up for a long while. When she finally did, she was consumed with worry for Old Man Cui and immediately ran back to the courtyard.

To her dismay, the courtyard contained nothing but blood — nothing else. Though only five years old, she wasn’t entirely ignorant and knew her grandfather had already been killed.

She once again crawled through the dog hole to escape, but the path toward the village entrance was blocked. If she shouted loudly, perhaps the aunt who lived nearest to her house might hear her, but her family only consisted of herself and her sick grandmother at home. She feared that if they came out, Ms. Tang’s people might harm them too.

With her throbbing head clouding her thoughts, she couldn’t think of a better solution and fled in the other direction instead.

When she entered the forest, she encountered someone. Without considering who it was, she approached the person to ask for help.

Unfortunately, that person was a black market guard. He didn’t care and wouldn’t let her wander around in the forest. He drove her away.

Little Ya’er kept stumbling forward, and later she tumbled down a steep slope.

Listening to her story, Shu Yu and Jiang Kuanyu both sighed heavily. Upon arriving home, Shu Yu asked Hua Xian to help wash and clean her up, then began discussing Little Ya’er’s future arrangements with Jiang Kuanyu.

To say Little Ya’er didn’t have relatives wasn’t entirely true. Since Ms. Tang was Uncle Cui’s distant niece, her family and the Tang Family were naturally related.

However, since the Tang Family treated their own biological daughter with such cold cruelty, there was no way they would adopt and care for Little Ya’er.

Jiang Kuanyu said, “I’ll take her back to the manor.”

Shu Yu had no objections, but when they asked Little Ya’er for her thoughts, she fell silent, clearly unwilling.

She wanted to return to the manor instead, because her grandfather was there. She wanted to stay with him.

But now, the choice was no longer hers to make. She was only five years old and incapable of doing much on her own. If she didn’t follow Young Master Jiang back, her only alternatives were the Charity Hall or a life as a beggar.