My Promotion Story Through Time Travel

Chapter 96 The Box

"Young Master, Young Master." Just as Lin Ziping took out the box and notes, a voice called out to him from outside.

Lin Ziping responded and quickly put away the things he had moved in the main room, covered up the hole, dusted himself off, and then opened the half-closed door and went out.

Standing outside was the village head of Pingding Village. Lin Ziping greeted him as he walked over, "Village Head Zhang, what's wrong?"

As he spoke, he quickly walked to the courtyard gate and reached out to open it.

The village head looked Lin Ziping up and down. Lin Ziping looked at his dusty clothes, scratched his head embarrassedly, and made an excuse: "I'm sorry to have made you laugh. This horse was thirsty. I found a well in the backyard, but the water was too shallow. I tried several times but couldn't draw water out. As a result, I got covered in dirt. Fortunately, I managed to draw water out in the end."

After hearing Lin Ziping's words, the village head sighed: "It's been a drought for a long time, and the well is almost dry."

"Yes, the water we drew up was still murky, and after a while, the bottom of the bucket was full of mud and sand." Lin Ziping said, pointing to the water in the wooden bucket in front of the horse, and then asked, "Village head, what brings you here?"

"I saw it was almost noon, and I figured you might not have eaten yet, so I brought some food with me," the village head said.

Lin Ziping quickly waved his hand: "No need, no need, village head, I brought some dry food with me when I came out."

"Since we've already brought it, it's just a few grain cakes. I hope you won't find them too cheap, young sir," the village head said, handing over the bowl he was holding.

After a few moments of polite refusals, Lin Ziping finally accepted the bowl from the village head, unable to refuse the village head's hospitality.

The village head entered the courtyard and looked around: "This house was designed and built by the Hu family themselves, using the finest materials. I never expected something like this to happen. It's such a pity now."

Lin Ziping said, "I just inspected the house carefully, and it is indeed well-built. But now that something has happened and there is a severe drought, it is too difficult to sell it normally. That's why the county government sent me to take a look."

The village head looked worried: "Yes, the Zhang Ershun family next door is still staying with other villagers and doesn't want to come back."

Lin Ziping looked troubled: "Don't let anyone into this house for now. I'll go back and ask again."

"This...Young sir, you're not going to take this house?" The village head looked at Lin Ziping with a surprised expression, then lowered his voice and said, "Young sir, I understand. I've heard a lot about this kind of thing. You have to bribe people and pay for the transfer of ownership. But compared to a normal house, this is a risk-free deal. With me here, the villagers won't say anything."

Lin Ziping's heart skipped a beat. He remembered what Xiao Jiazheng had told him about reselling empty houses at the county government office. It seemed that a complete industrial chain had been formed behind this.

Thinking about the hidden room inside, I had a lot of fun smashing things up back then, and even played a live version of a treasure hunt in an escape room. Now, how am I going to patch up such a big hole inside? Curiosity really killed the cat!

Lin Ziping didn't say much, tacitly agreeing with the village head's words. He took out a coarse grain cake, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and returned the bowl to the village head: "Thank you very much, village head. I'll clean it up and go to the county government to complete the formalities tomorrow."

The village head took the bowl and said, "Alright, young sir, I'll head back now. I'll come to the county office to find you another day."

"Okay," Lin Ziping saw the village head out, and closed the door after he had gone far away.

He then fetched another bucket of water for the horse before entering the main room.

The hole was blocked with mud bricks that fell during the demolition, the ground was cleaned up, the altar table and chairs were rearranged, and the calligraphy and paintings were adjusted until no clues could be seen.

He took out the box and notes from earlier. The box, though small, was unusually heavy and locked, and the notes were carefully wrapped in kraft paper. He wanted to open them to check, but worried that it might have attracted the villagers' attention, so he decided to return to the county town first.

Fortunately, Dai Qin's house was in a relatively remote area, and there was no one at Zhang Ershun's house next door. The villagers rarely went out, so Lin Ziping was able to leave with his belongings without incident.

When Lin Ziping returned to the county town, the sun was already setting. He put the box and notes back home and returned the horse. Seeing that it was almost time to get off work, he decided to buy some vegetables and meat as a way of celebrating leaving get off work early.

He also bought some wine, intending to brew it himself to make ethanol for disinfection. Although distillation technology existed in this era, it was not widespread, let alone the purification of alcohol for medical use.

As darkness fell, footsteps sounded outside. Lin Ziping peeked out from the kitchen and saw Zhu Zi returning with some things.

"Ziping." Zhu Zi greeted him with a smile, and seeing Lin Ziping in the kitchen, he was about to come in and help.

Lin Ziping quickly stopped him: "Go wash up first, change your clothes, and then you can eat."

Zhu Zi nodded without saying anything more.

Zhu Zi has grown quite a bit taller during this time. Perhaps it's because he's met more people and become more confident, less reserved and respectful. The two of them get along quite naturally, like roommates.

Lin Ziping set out the food, and Zhu Zi also changed his clothes and came out.

"Ziping, from now on, wait for me to come back and cook for you." Zhu Zi said apologetically while serving rice, "Master arranged for me to take care of you, but now instead..."

“I came back early today so I made this. It used to be the aunt next door who made it. Besides, we grew up together, so let’s not be so particular about these things.” Lin Ziping took the bowl of rice. “If you don’t say anything and I don’t say anything, how will Uncle and Granny Liao know?”

"Oh, right, Qingyang sent some things today." Zhu Zi put down his rice bowl and took out a bunch of things. "Ziping, this is your medicine. I'll take it to the pharmacy tomorrow, boil it, and bring it back."

"No need, no need." Lin Ziping took the medicine from Zhu Zi's hand. He wanted to find a doctor to check if there was any poison in the medicine and whether he had been poisoned.

Zhu Zi didn't say anything more, but handed over a purse and said, "This was sent by the master."

Lin Ziping opened his purse, inside were several silver notes.

He had mixed feelings about Lin Zhong. Although Lin Zhong never shortchanged him in terms of supplies, he sometimes felt that Lin Zhong didn't really care. This feeling was strange, so he secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he left Qingyang.

"Young Master, Young Master..." Seeing Lin Ziping come to his senses, Zhu Zi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Young Master, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I was just wondering how my uncle would send the silver notes," Lin Ziping explained casually. "I'll write a letter to ask later. Let's eat."

Zhu Zi looked at Lin Ziping with concern, but seeing that Lin Ziping's expression was normal, he used serving chopsticks to put some meat in Lin Ziping's bowl: "Ziping, eat some meat."

"it is good"