Farm Girl's Manor-Chapter 271 Buying Land to Reclaim and Deceiving Little Flower (8)_1

In the days that followed, Little Flower often went into the mountains to bond with Dabai. Mo Yan didn’t know how Little Flower communicated with Dabai, but every time Little Flower returned, her forehead was topped with several bloody holes.

But this fellow’s resolve only strengthened with each setback. The chicken she was given to eat every morning was always saved to take to Dabai, and when she returned in the evening, she ate like a starved ghost, capable of devouring two full basins of food.

Later on, Mo Yan didn’t pay much attention to this matter, because the low-lying land she had bought for growing rice had surprisingly revealed a spring.

"Yan girl, the spring we dug up can’t be blocked, and it’s no longer suitable for planting rice,"

Lizhong felt somewhat guilty. If he had managed to block the spring in time, the land wouldn’t have been flooded.

"Grandfather Li, don’t blame yourself. Unearthing the spring is good for us,"

Mo Yan was thrilled. She had felt that buying that piece of land would present some minor irrigation troubles in the future, but God had been generous, gifting them a spring. Now, not only was planting rice in that area unquestionably viable, but she also planned to purchase the surrounding hillside plots.

Lizhong was startled, "Does Yan girl have a good plan?"

Mo Yan nodded, "It’s better to dredge than to block! The spring’s flow is strong, and we can dig a small pond to accumulate the water. That way, the land around the pond wouldn’t be affected and we wouldn’t have to worry about irrigation for planting rice. Isn’t that great?"

Lizhong’s eyes lit up, and he slapped his head in annoyance, "How come I didn’t think of that! Seeing the water gushing forth, almost flooding the entire area, my only thought was how to block the spring, without considering digging a pond."

Mo Yan smiled. It wasn’t that Grandfather Li lacked ingenuity; it was just that the spring was too powerful. When it was dug open, the water shot up fiercely, and it was only for a moment that he didn’t think of it.

With a plan in place, Lizhong hurried to the village to find some young and strong laborers to dig the pond.

Many in the village felt it was a pity that the Mo Family had spent so much silver on a useless piece of land, but when word spread that the Mo Family was looking for people to dig a pond, those with quicker wits immediately understood the Mo Family’s intentions.

Suddenly, everyone envied them, thinking that the Mo Family’s luck was just too good. To stumble upon a spring in any random mountain nook, ensuring a water source, meant that as long as the land was properly managed, it couldn’t fail to prosper.

While the Mo Family was busily digging the pond, Mo Yan acted with the quickness of lightning to purchase all the surrounding slopes as well.

The area of the surrounding slopes was much larger than the central piece of land, totaling one hundred and twenty mu. This land was ordinary mountain terrain, costing one or two pieces of silver per mu. Mo Yan took them all for a total of just one hundred and twenty pieces of silver, and seeing as she was purchasing so much barren land, the Government Office didn’t even charge her a processing fee.

Mo Yan’s actions surprised the villagers, but considering her past deeds, no one accused her of squandering. Some of them, curious and enterprising, went to inspect the area closely, but they couldn’t discern anything special.

Lizhong had thought she just wanted to plant trees on those slopes, so he said nothing. Later, when it was time to clear the land, he found out it was to grow rice, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, and he even thought Mo Yan had a fever and was talking nonsense.

On one hand, the Mo Family was expansively clearing land, with Mo Yan acting as a hands-off shopkeeper, enjoying incredibly leisurely days; on the other, Xiao Ruiyuan was so busy collecting evidence of the harm of moldy grain and keeping an eye on the military garrison that he barely had time to sleep.

As time became more pressing and the evidence of life-threatening danger from eating moldy grain still wasn’t compelling enough, Xiao Ruiyuan was getting anxious and frustrated. It was at this moment that a bizarre murder case that shocked Jing City provided him with a breakthrough.

Here’s what happened: In Jing City, there was an ordinary family of seven—three generations under one roof, two healthy elderly people, a young couple, and three lively and lovely children.

This family of seven was kind and never quarreled or feuded with others. Yet, two years ago, the two elderly people who were in good health contracted a severe illness that even doctors couldn’t diagnose. Besides diarrhea and loss of appetite, they suffered chest tightness, chest pain, and weakness all over. They took all sorts of medicines prescribed by various doctors, to no avail.

The illness was aggressive and within six months, both elderly members passed away, so thin that they were nothing but skin and bones.

Everyone thought the old couple had undergone the natural process of life and death. After a period of mourning, they moved on. However, not long after, the youngest child of the family contracted the same illness as the grandparents. The doctors were just as helpless, and despite spending all their savings, the couple couldn’t save their child, who passed away in less than six months.

Then, rumors started to spread that the family had hereditary diseases that were contagious. Suddenly, all their friends and neighbors cut off ties with them.

Just after the family buried their dead and were in deep mourning, they faced such speculation and suspicion, which was hard for them to bear. So they shut themselves in to live their lives in solitude.

However, the misfortune didn’t end there. Within the following three months, the eldest son and the eldest daughter contracted the same illness. They only lasted two or three months before they too passed away.

The couple, struck by one tragedy after another, were in poor health themselves. Then, the breadwinner of the family followed his parents and children to the grave a month ago, leaving behind only the half-mad woman from what used to be a happy family of seven.

Just then, a relative of the family suddenly rushed to the government office and accused the woman, claiming she had poisoned her in-laws, children, and husband to death.

Since there was a formal accusation, especially in a grave homicide case, the government could not ignore it. So, the half-mad woman was brought into custody, and the relative’s supposed evidence was publicly disclosed in court.

Although the evidence was irrefutable, the woman was half-mad and couldn’t be questioned properly, let alone be made to confess. If the woman were alone without any kin, the government office could have made a direct verdict. But with relatives on her maternal side, how could they just watch their kin be sentenced to death with the charge of murder?

Thus, both parties contested in court with reasoned arguments and caused unending noise privately, stirring up the whole of Jing City aware of the major homicide case. The case had become so well-known that the government office could not conclude it hastily. After some discussion, it was decided to exhume the bodies for an autopsy to see if the six family members had indeed been poisoned.

After the exhumation, several experienced coroners examined the bones, finding them blackened and the marrow infiltrated, confirming death by poisoning, specifically by a slow-acting poison.

Since it was a slow-acting poison, naturally it required time to accumulate and take effect. Therefore, the only surviving woman was the prime suspect. Just when the government office was about to pass a judgment, the woman suddenly died violently in her cell, also poisoned...