Ye Zhinan was stunned for a moment. Originally, she wanted to crack a few light - hearted jokes, but she never expected Qin Yihuai to say such things.
She patted his shoulder, seemingly in comfort but mostly out of heartache.
"It's okay. From now on, you have us, and you won't be lonely anymore."
Qin Yihuai raised his head and looked into Ye Zhinan's eyes, as if he saw the whole world.
Their gazes met in the air and then quickly dodged away.
Both of them scratched their heads shyly.
Ye Zhinan deliberately enlarged the wheels of the wheelchair so that Qin Yihuai could move around freely even without someone pushing him.
"I've also placed planks at the door so that you can enter the house by yourself. It'll be much more convenient."
She could tell that Qin Yihuai had been a bit down these days. He often sat in the yard writing and drawing.
But most of his works were crumpled into balls and thrown into the fire.
"Moreover, with the wheelchair, you can also go to the brick kiln for inspections. The things you've been concerned about can be done by yourself."
She knew what Qin Yihuai was anxious about, so she wanted to help him out.
When the three of them arrived at the brick kiln, Wu Yangping was obviously taken aback.
His face stiffened a bit and then quickly returned to normal.
He stepped forward with a smile, approaching Qin Yihuai, but his eyes were fixed on his feet.
"I didn't expect you to recover so quickly that you can come and inspect our work."
He said it half - jokingly, but the smile on his face didn't reach his eyes, which sent a chill down one's spine.
Qin Yihuai twitched the corner of his mouth and calmly responded.
"Yes, thanks to everyone's care, I'm much better."
After a few more exchanges of pleasantries, Qin Yihuai excused himself, saying he wanted to take a stroll, and left Wu Yangping's sight.
Ye Zhinan originally thought he would directly check the accounts, but unexpectedly, he just walked around the brick kiln.
When Li Feilong saw Qin Yihuai coming, he quickly stepped forward. He casually wiped his hands on his clothes before putting a hand on Qin Yihuai's shoulder.
"The accounts are useless. A large amount of coal is transported, but little is used. I don't know where he's hidden it."
Things don't disappear out of thin air. There must be a hiding place.
However, Wu Yangping had a very limited range of activities in the village. The only place that belonged to him was a small single - room.
Where on earth could he have transported these things?
"Could he have secretly sold them?"
Ye Zhinan asked Qin Yihuai on their way back.
"No. The government has a special place to sell coal, and coal mines are all mined centrally. No one will buy smuggled goods. So it must still be hidden somewhere."
Ye Zhinan was a bit speechless. Could it be that Wu Yangping was someone related to the county magistrate?
Why did they all like to hide things so much?
But no matter what Wu Yangping's identity was, they had to find out where he had transported the coal.
"I think it can only be nearby. There's so much coal. If it's transported far away, the target will be too big."
Ye Zhinan thought and thought but still couldn't find a clue.
On the contrary, Qin Yihuai was very calm.
"Do you already have an idea?"
Qin Yihuai showed a mysterious smile and then nodded.
"The snake has started to move. We just need to wait and see what kind of big thing it is."
She couldn't figure out how he had planned it, but she wasn't anxious anymore. Instead, she got the idea of watching the show.
Since Qin Yihuai was already confident of victory, she just needed to wait for the result.
On the contrary, Qin Yihuai didn't hear any sound from Ye Zhinan for a long time. He looked up and found that she had long since lost the desire to dig deeper and was already looking around.
Qin Yihuai sighed softly and swallowed all his words back.
... Why didn't she keep asking until she got to the bottom of it?
The brick kiln was producing very quickly. There was clay nearby, and the coal burned well.
Every day, Li Feilong would come back full of enthusiasm. He even started to look at Wu Yangping with new respect.
His words were much nicer too.
"I have to admit, this guy has some skills. He even led us to dig a cellar and said we could store food there for winter."
I don't know if it was just her illusion, but Ye Zhinan always felt that when Li Feilong was speaking, he seemed to be looking outside.
She followed his gaze but didn't find anything unusual. She wanted to go out and take a look.
But Qin Yihuai held her back.
Looking at the hand on her arm, Ye Zhinan didn't dare to move.
"Don't move. It's getting dark. There are snakes outside."
Ye Zhinan immediately understood. Seeing Li Feilong wink at her, she knew everything.
The Oscars really owe him a little golden statue.
"What about the coal?"
Qin Yihuai continued to ask.
Ye Zhinan didn't know why they were bringing up the coal, but she still listened quietly.
"It's been transported to the back mountain. They were afraid that the piled - up coal would cause a mountain fire. The back mountain is empty, so they transported it there first. The quantity is correct."
As Li Feilong was speaking, his hand was writing something in his bosom.
"Stones are used as substitutes."
Ye Zhinan tried hard to control her emotions, but she was still shocked.
This chess game was really intricate.
After seeing Li Feilong off, the yard returned to silence.
Ye Zhinan sat in the yard, propping her chin up, looking worried.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about the snake."
Ye Zhinan said meaningfully, looking up at Qin Yihuai.
"Why do you still want to take the risk when you know it's dangerous?"
He paused for a few seconds and then smiled.
"Maybe you haven't thought about it. Maybe it's not his intention, or maybe there's a tiger behind him."
Ye Zhinan opened her eyes wide, as if she understood something but not completely.
"Stretch out your hand."
Ye Zhinan obediently did as she was told and saw Qin Yihuai draw a totem on her hand.
She just felt it was familiar but couldn't remember where she had seen it.
"Sometimes, inheritance can be either good or evil."
He left only this vague remark and then turned around and entered the room.
Ye Zhinan couldn't figure out his cryptic words, so she simply went back to prepare medicine.
...
The next morning, when she pushed Qin Yihuai to the brick kiln, she saw Chen Zhenhai coming in.
He was holding a scroll under his arm and was out of breath from anxiety.
"We've found out. It's him. But his mother flatly refuses to admit it."
Ye Zhinan craned her neck to look and found that there were two people drawn on the scroll. It looked like a family of three.
The man's face had been erased, leaving only a woman and a young son.
And that unremarkable young son looked extremely like Wu Yangping.
"Is he the son of the county magistrate?"
All the information connected, making Ye Zhinan even more certain.
She suddenly remembered that totem. It was the birthmark on the back of the county magistrate's neck.
And there was an identical one on Wu Yangping's arm.
"Miss Ye is very smart. But his mother refuses to admit it. Even if it goes to court, we can't determine his identity just based on the birthmark."
Moreover, Wu Yangping had changed his appearance and didn't usually appear in front of people.
It would be even more difficult.
Ye Zhinan thought of something and suddenly spoke up.
"I'll go home to visit my parents in a couple of days."
She also had other things to do.
Qin Yihuai didn't know why she suddenly mentioned going home, but he still nodded in agreement.
Counting the days, in a couple of days, the time would be about right.