Bizarre Cultivation: Starting from Being Beaten Up by Reality

Chapter 52 Grandma

"Where should we begin looking for Officer Chen?" Xiao Wu asked respectfully, crouching down, to the boy who was shorter than him.

He was exceptionally polite.

There was no other reason; he was the constable who had been scolded by Lin Fan that day and had almost been whipped by him.

What's even more crucial is that, unlike the others, he was one of the few people in the yamen who knew that Lin Fan was not Chen Wu, nor Liu Feng, but Lin Fan.

The registrar's casual words still echoed in his ears. He would rather die than reveal Lin Fan's real name to anyone.

Xiao Wu didn't know who Lin Fan was, but he knew he was someone Lin Fan couldn't afford to offend.

Putting aside everything else, he couldn't afford to offend Clerk Jia.

Lin Fan pondered for a moment: "Go find the Feng family's household registration records, and find them all. Also, where are the household registration records for Tulong Village?"

Xiao Wu didn't dare to say much, but simply took Lin Fan to find him.

Fortunately, Xiao Wu also found two clerks to help him.

Lin Fan opened the household registration book. The characters on it were indeed Chinese characters, but he didn't recognize most of them.

This was the first time I experienced the frustration foreigners face when reading Chinese characters; they all look pretty much the same.

Fortunately, there were quite a few people with the surname Tu in Tulong Village, and Lin Fan quickly identified which one had the character "Tu".

Next, regarding the two characters "良才", he only recognized the character "才", so he had to look for all the characters "屠?" and then shamelessly ask the clerk next to him to confirm.

Even when the other party gave him strange looks, Lin Fan didn't care.

After flipping through just a few books, Lin Fan felt his eyes were blurry, as if he were trying to find Hao Jing among a bunch of Wu Jings.

Moreover, Lin Fan checked all the books on his side but couldn't find "Tu Liangcai" at all.

Was he lying to me? Maybe he wasn't from Tulong Village? Lin Fan was filled with doubts.

But Mu Qingfeng didn't know any more. If he wanted to ask, he could only ask Clerk Jia. But Lin Fan didn't want to ask him at all. Who knew what he might do with it?

Just as Lin Fan was at his wit's end, someone came over to him.

"Boss."

Lin Fan looked at Xiao Wu beside him with a puzzled expression: "Have you investigated the Feng family thoroughly? You have time to chat with me?"

“Although the Feng family isn’t a large one, they have branched out quite a bit over the years. To prevent any from being overlooked, we still need to investigate carefully,” Xiao Wu replied in a low voice.

"Then hurry up and go, you good-for-nothing, you lazy black dog!" Lin Fan was a little angry, not targeting anyone in particular, he just simply didn't like him.

"Yes, yes, boss is right. But I have some personal business to attend to. My mistress asked me to pass on a message to you." Xiao Wu wasn't angry even after being scolded, and his voice became even more humble.

"Grandmother? What did the old lady say?" Lin Fan asked, puzzled.

“It’s not an old lady,” Xiao Wu said in a low voice. “It’s my mistress, you should know her. She’s one of the most beautiful women in Baishi County. I’d guess she’s only about twenty-five or twenty-six years old this year.”

"Your grandmother is twenty-six years old, so how old are you?" Lin Fan was even more confused about what this person was talking about.

Xiao Wu was taken aback by his question, and it took her a while to realize what he meant: "No, you misunderstood. It's 'mistress,' not 'grandmother.' Oh, I, Xiao Wu, it's not because my name has 'five' in it, my surname is Wu!"

Xiao Wu pointed at himself and gestured wildly with his hands, as if talking was tiring.

Lin Fan then realized it was the beautiful woman whose husband had died, and said, "Hmm, I understand. What did Madam Pan say?"

"Boss, if you're tired, go and rest for a while. Talking like this is really tiring for me. It's Madam Wu, Madam Wu! There isn't a single person with the surname Pan in our entire county."

Ignoring Lin Fan, Xiao Wu continued, "The mistress is concerned about you and sent me to check on you. If you need anything, just tell me. The mistress said that although she can't get you out, she can at least make you more comfortable in prison. If there's anything you want, don't hesitate to tell me."

"But who would have thought that not only did you not go to jail, but you also started wearing the same leather as me."

As he spoke, Xiao Wu took out a silver ingot from his pocket and stuffed it into Lin Fan's hand.

"The rest of what the mistress gave me was all used for bribes. It was originally meant to save you from being whipped, but now it's all been wasted."

Lin Fan's heart skipped a beat when he saw the silver ingot. The last time he saw such a large silver ingot was with Steward Zhao. This ingot was at least five taels.

Lin Fan recalled the days when he had worked desperately for less than a tael of silver in copper coins, and felt a mix of emotions.

Lin Fan took the silver without showing any joy. His eyes were cold and angry as he looked at Xiao Wu: "You dare to embezzle the silver that Grandmother gave me!"

Xiao Wu's face turned green after being provoked by these words. He looked at Lin Fan's confident expression and immediately smiled and took out two more ingots from his pocket.

Lin Fan looked at the silver and his face darkened: he only wanted to swindle him, but he didn't expect him to actually embezzle it. This man is really dishonest.

Lin Fan put away the silver, then hooked his four fingers together and said, "Give me all of it."

Xiao Wu said with difficulty, "Boss, there's really none left. The rest is my own money."

“Next time I see your grandmother, I’ll say… you only gave me one silver ingot,” Lin Fan threatened.

Xiao Wu fumbled around in his pocket for a while before finally managing to pull out a handful of loose silver and put it in Lin Fan's hand.

"Tell your grandmother to come visit me at the yamen when you have time. Alright, hurry up and investigate." Lin Fan dismissed Xiao Wu, then turned back and approached another person.

"Officer, we've found the person you're looking for," came the clerk's somewhat lazy voice.

Lin Fan immediately perked up and took the book handed to him.

Lin Fan suddenly remembered something, took out a piece of silver from the loose silver he had just gotten from Xiao Wu, and stuffed it into the clerk's hand.

The young scholar accepted the gift without ceremony and smiled politely at Lin Fan.

Lin Fan found Tu Liangcai's name, but he still couldn't understand the surrounding characters, so he had to ask the clerk again.

The clerk, having received the money, was naturally very polite, carefully reading the contents aloud to Lin Fan. He patiently answered even the most basic questions Lin Fan asked.

Lin Fan wrote down Tu Liangcai's address, but it was actually useless. It was just a general location, and without a map or house number, the address was unreliable.

Then there's his family.

"Tu Liangcai's parents have passed away. He has a wife and two daughters," the clerk said simply, recounting the contents of the paper.

How many daughters?

“Two. One, two.” The clerk pointed to the paper with his finger, as if teaching a child to count.

Lin Fan's breathing became rapid: "What are their names?"

"The older one is named Tu Chunhua, and the younger one is named Tu Qiushi."

Lin Fan couldn't immediately identify which little girl he had seen that day, so he simply made a note of her name.

The thought that they might still have family members alive made Lin Fan's mind start to work.

Go see her if you have the chance; it would be great if you could help her in some way.

However, that's a matter for the future. Lin Fan put that aside and continued to look for Xiao Wu.

The household registration records of all members of the Feng family were found. Lin Fan looked through them one by one, but he couldn't understand much of it. He only knew that there were quite a few members of the Feng family.

Lin Fan pointed to one of the names: "What's the note after his name?"

Xiao Wu squinted his small eyes and looked carefully: "Boss, his name is Feng Xufeng. He has become a monk. Once a monk becomes a monk, he has to change his registration. Whether he lives or dies or has descendants, he will no longer be registered here."

Lin Fan nodded: "Alright, write down all the names. Let's go find Mu Qingfeng and see if she's caught them all."

Soon, a list resembling a family tree was handed to Lin Fan.

With the list in hand, Lin Fan immediately went out to find Mu Qingfeng.

Lin Fan and his group hadn't gone far when they encountered Mu Qingfeng, who had a solemn expression.

"What? They got away?" Lin Fan frowned.