Chapter 139: Flowers can bloom even in the vast expanse of yellow sand

Su Ying's well-behaved and polite behavior in the front hall just now not only allowed Taoxi to stay and serve her, but also made Su Jianrong feel respectable and no longer worried.

Rong Shi saw that her niece had an idea in her mind, so while she was escorting her out of the house, she asked, "What are you thinking about, girl?"

Su Ying knew she couldn't hide it from her aunt, but before she spoke, she asked, "Aunt, why don't you tell me your plan first?"

The aunt easily forced Lin to hand over the certificate of good character with both hands, but she only glanced at it and did not look at it any further. It was obvious that she had a plan in mind.

Seeing her niece's clever look, Rong couldn't help but nod her head and said with a smile, "You little girl!"

"Su Jianrong has been able to keep Lin Meifen safe for more than ten years, which shows that he has found all the possible channels. That document is just a trick, and you can't see anything. However,"

Su Ying was a little disappointed at first, but when she saw Rong change the subject, her eyes lit up again.

Seeing this, Rong's frustration subsided a bit, and she continued, "However, I do notice something strange in that document. Is that scoundrel behind the screen the Lin cousin you told me about earlier?

"Do you know whether this cousin is a relative of my aunt or uncle?"

Su Ying shook her head to indicate that she didn't know, and didn't understand why her aunt asked this.

Rong sneered and said, "The document says Lin Meifen's mother's surname is Li. If she's a relative of her aunt's, it makes sense. But if she's from her uncle's family, the surname Wei is quite intriguing."

"If we want to check the documents, we have to go through the government. Moreover, this document is at least ten years old, so it is indeed difficult to check. But if we want to find out whether this cousin is real or fake, it is much simpler."

After her aunt's words, Su Ying thought carefully and realized that this Wei Liang really seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. In the two years she had been in the Su residence, apart from this so-called cousin who often came in and out of the Su residence, it seemed that this Lin family had no other relatives.

"Aunt, this Wei Liang needs a thorough investigation!"

Seeing that her niece also felt something was amiss, Rong felt even more certain.

My niece has learned about my plan, and it's her turn to ask.

"What about you? Why do you want to stay?"

"I want to find a maid who helped me."

Su Ying put away her smile, a hint of worry appearing between her brows. "Aunt, do you remember the maid I told you about who worked in the laundry room? After she knew my identity, she did a lot of things for me. It was because of her that the plans of Lin and Su Jianrong were thwarted."

"I left in a hurry, and I don't know if she's been doing well these days."

Because no one knew about her close relationship with Xiaocao, before leaving, although Lin made indirect accusations and spoke sarcastically, she could not find out how she had spread the news to the academy.

She planned to look for Xiaocao at night, hoping that Xiaocao was safe and sound.

Somehow, Su Ying noticed that the servants and maids in her courtyard were much more obedient than before. Although Taoxi deliberately acted picky and bossed them around, it shouldn't be so easy to intimidate them who were previously lazy.

However, now is not the time to think about these things. She wants to go and meet Xiaocao. Maybe after seeing her, she will know what happened.

After changing into old clothes, Taoxi sent everyone out, and Su Ying was able to go to the laundry room when no one was paying attention.

The laundry room was thick with humidity on a summer night. The charcoal iron pressed against the fabric, making a sizzling sound from time to time, and a sultry heat rushed towards me.

She called out to Xiaocao a few times, but the person who came was an old woman with poor eyesight.

The old woman squinted her eyes and looked at her, muttering hurriedly, "Young lady, you came at the wrong time. The dirty clothes haven't been washed yet, and the clean clothes haven't been ironed yet. Are you new here?"

Su Ying hurriedly took a half step forward and whispered, "Hello, Ma'am. You guessed right, I'm new here. But I'm not here to collect clothes, I'm here to look for someone."

"Looking for someone? Why are you running to the laundry room?" The old woman was still holding a charcoal iron in her hand, and she was pressing the collar of her clothes flat as she spoke.

Su Ying smiled and followed the conversation: "Before I entered the mansion, I had a fellow villager. She had a sister who worked here. I'm new here and I want to get to know my fellow villagers so that I can have someone to take care of me in the mansion in the future."

The old woman suddenly realized something, put the iron aside, and turned around: "You are talking about the girl named Xiaocao, right?"

"Yes, it's her. Ma'am, do you know where she was transferred to?"

"Alas, poor girl," the old woman sighed, lowering her voice. "A while ago, Madam Wang, who works for Madam, came and said that a gold chain was missing from Madam's clothes, and she happened to find it by the grass bed. I don't know if it's true or not, but she was taken away that night, and they said she was sold. Tell her family to send someone to look for her quickly. If it's a few days later, she would have disappeared."

This sudden news made Su Ying's heart tighten suddenly.

What if there was a gold chain missing from her clothes? Why didn't he look in his own room, but went to the laundry room to search Xiaocao's room? This was clearly a deliberate frame-up.

The old woman's words of "quickly ask someone to find it" made the usually calm Su Ying feel unsure for a moment. She forced herself to suppress her anxiety, thanked her, and quickly returned to her yard.

Seeing her solemn expression, Taoxi didn't dare to say much. He just helped her change her clothes and then gently closed the door.

Su Ying sat down and thought quietly about countermeasures, but her thoughts were tangled like a tangled mess.

She stood up and wanted to open the window to get some fresh air. Her eyes inadvertently fell on the brocade bag and the blue-gray sachet pendant that she had placed on the table when she changed clothes.

During those days on the boat, she counted the days to the Spring Examination. Now, she thought, her cousin should have returned home and was waiting for the results to be announced, right?

Before boarding the ship, he had said he would come to pick her up. If he were by her side at this moment, the situation in the mansion might be more relaxed.

She slowly reached out and took out the Qingtian stone seal he had carved for her from the brocade bag. She originally just wanted to hold it to calm herself down, but she accidentally felt a thin object at the bottom of the bag.

She was slightly stunned, took out the seal, and indeed pulled out a very small piece of paper from the base.

On the paper was a line of vigorous and powerful thin gold script:

Even in the vast yellow sand, flowers can grow.

After learning that Su Ying preferred the Slender Gold style, Du Heng often wrote in this style. This was especially true during that period, when the two of them spent time together reading local chronicles and examining official reports, writing numerous articles about the North, including the essay for Xi Xiyue.

She really liked looking at his handwriting, especially the power and force that was completely different from her own strokes and endings. This was a unique interest that the two of them shared at their desks.

She remembered that day, flipping through a geographical gazetteer describing the scene of yellow sand blanketing the sky in late winter and early spring in the north. She couldn't help but ask him, "Is there no grass growing in the vast expanse of yellow sand?"

He smiled at her, his eyes full of tenderness: "Even in the vast expanse of yellow sand, flowers can still grow."

It turned out that he had known that this trip to Yueqing might not be smooth, so he wrote these eight words, hoping that when he was not around, she could still remain calm and wait until the moment when the flowers bloomed.

Her restless mind finally cleared up a bit. Right now, she had no help except Taoxi, who knew nothing about the Su Mansion. Even if she was anxious, she could only use the excuse of paying respects to her grandparents tomorrow and checking in with her aunt.

With her mind made up, she finally let out the anger that had been pent up in her chest and looked up at the bright moon hanging high in the sky.

But at this moment, there was a knock at the door, and Taoxi's anxious voice came: "Miss, the lady wants to see you."