The middle-aged man mumbled, “I’m really sorry, officer, our new clan leader, he, he…”

He hesitated, glancing at Robert Bell, and in the end, didn’t say anything after that ‘he’.

But a mischievous child boldly ran up and laughed, “Master Robert is a fool. If you give me a few chestnuts, I’ll prove it to you.”

David Bennett handed five or six candied chestnuts to the child. The child held one in his left hand and two in his right, showing them to Robert Bell: “Master Robert, which one do you want?”

Robert Bell reached out and took the two chestnuts from the child’s right hand.

The child grinned at David Bennett and said, “See that?”

David Bennett was puzzled: “See what? Did he pick the wrong one?”

The child widened his eyes and said, “Of course it’s wrong. Let me pick.”

Still confused, David Bennett also held out one chestnut in one hand and two in the other: “Which do you pick?”

The child took all three chestnuts at once: “I want them all.”

David Bennett was dumbfounded: “Damn!”

The child comforted him, “You’re not a fool. Master Robert used to be the fool. He always picked just one chestnut before. Haha, we always teased him like this.”

William Clark looked at the smiling Robert Bell, and instinctively felt the old man might not be a fool after all.

Could a fool become clan leader?

Who are you kidding!

Chapter 009: Spirit Money

Seeing David Bennett embarrassed, the middle-aged man waved his sleeve and shouted, “Kids, go play somewhere else.”

The children giggled and ran off, gathering together to share the chestnuts.

Charles Foster brushed his sleeve, put on an official air, and said in a deep voice, “Clan leader of the Zhong family, Robert Bell, listen well. I am Du Cao, a minor official from the Office of Heavenly Observation. Today I’ve come to your clan to investigate a strange case. There is a tenant in your clan named Henry Bell. Where is he now?”

Robert Bell instinctively looked at the middle-aged man beside him, who forced a smile and said, “Lord Foster is here for Henry? What bad luck. Yesterday, Henry went somewhere, and when he came back, he was acting all muddle-headed. At night, he even ran into the mountains and hasn’t returned since…”

David Bennett shouted sternly, “Nonsense!”

Charles Foster raised his hand to stop him, then stared gloomily at Robert Bell.

Robert Bell was so frightened he trembled and knelt down. Seeing this, the middle-aged man also knelt.

But regarding Henry Bell’s whereabouts, they stuck to their story that he got lost in the mountains last night.

The atmosphere grew heavy.

The person who reported the case was missing.

Strange!

William Clark looked at the old men squatting by the wall in the sun. Their faces were full of wrinkles, their expressions wooden.

There was something indescribably odd about them.

The only normal ones were the children. After finishing the candied chestnuts, they noisily came back to ask for more.

David Bennett waved them off impatiently: “These candied chestnuts were bought with my own money. Why should I give them to you?”

A child with a bowl-cut hairstyle pulled open his collar and said, “I have money. I’ll buy them.”

“So do I.” The other children all pulled open their collars, revealing a copper coin hanging from a red string around their necks.

Seeing this, Robert Bell became anxious and hurriedly got up to chase the children away: “Go, go, go, all of you go home! Don’t disturb the officers handling the case!”

“Since Henry Bell is missing, there’s no case to handle,” Charles Foster said, grabbing his shoulder, “Robert Bell, take me to your ancestral hall. Samuel Bell and I are old acquaintances. Since I’m here, it wouldn’t be right not to pay my respects.”

He then gave William Clark a look and whispered, “Xiao Qi, get one of those copper coins.”

William Clark was taken aback. Was there something wrong with the coins the children wore?

And Robert Bell suddenly chasing them away—could it be because the coins were exposed?

According to local custom, when someone in the family dies, it’s proper to welcome others to pay their respects.

Especially for big families, the more people who come to mourn, the more prestige it brings. The higher the status of the mourners, the greater the honor.

Some people, for the sake of face, would even hire people to pretend to be high officials or famous scholars to say a few words at the door.

Once, a local rich man went overboard and hired people to impersonate imperial relatives to mourn his dead father. When the truth came out, it wasn’t long before his own relatives came to mourn his whole family.

But the Zhong clan was different. When Charles Foster said he wanted to pay respects to Samuel Bell, Robert Bell and the other man weren’t happy at all, and instead laughed it off and refused.

In the end, Charles Foster was annoyed. His face darkened as he said, “Are you so afraid of me seeing the deceased because there’s something shameful about the way he died?”

Robert Bell panicked: “I wouldn’t dare say anything reckless! The clan leader died of a sudden illness. It’s our ancestral rule to keep funerals low-key, no fuss allowed.”

Charles Foster said, “I once shared life-and-death friendship with your clan leader. Now that he’s gone, I just want to offer a stick of incense. How is that making a fuss?”

Robert Bell looked helplessly at the middle-aged man beside him, who said, “Of course not, sir. Please, this way. But these two gentlemen didn’t know our clan leader, did they?”

David Bennett glared, about to show off, but William Clark stopped him with a smile: “We’ll wait here.”

He snatched the candied chestnuts from David Bennett’s arms to play with the children, making David Bennett anxious: “How dare you snatch food from my mouth?”

The ancestral hall was at the highest point of the inner residence. Charles Foster returned not long after going, then led the two away.

David Bennett was fuming: “We came all this way, the person who reported the case was hidden, the chestnuts were split up by those little brats—what the hell is this?”