Chapter 38
Twelve years ago, in the Xie Mansion in the capital.
Mrs. Xie was lying on the bed, with beads of sweat dripping down her forehead and her lips chapped. She looked very uncomfortable.
Seeing the lady in pain, the maid beside her could only wipe the lady's sweat and feed her some water with a spoon from time to time, but the lady was unconscious and the water was not absorbed.
Just as the maid was stamping her feet anxiously, Xie Heng came in.
In the past few days, Xie Heng visited famous doctors in order to cure his wife, but every doctor who came to Xie's house just shook his head and could not tell what disease his wife had.
The maid watched from the side, hoping that the doctor today would find the cause of the illness so that the lady could get better soon.
After the doctor finished taking the pulse, Xie Heng anxiously took his hand and asked anxiously, "Doctor, how is it? What's wrong with my wife?"
The doctor didn't say anything directly. He just asked Xie Heng and him to leave the room, and then said, "General Xie, the lady doesn't look sick, but rather like she's been poisoned."
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Xie Heng seemed to be in a trance, unable to believe it.
"Poisoned? What kind of poison?" Xie Heng clutched the doctor's sleeve, as if he was afraid that he would leave.
"This... we don't know yet, and even if we knew, it would be useless. The poison has already penetrated into Madam's internal organs and cannot be cured."
After hearing this, Xie Heng felt speechless. How could his wife be poisoned? Why?
Afterwards, Xie Heng did not send the doctor back, but threatened the doctor to find out what poisoned his wife and cure her.
The doctor was trembling with fear and wanted to escape, but he knew who General Xie was. He was a general, and killing him in the capital would be easier than killing a bug.
So the doctor gritted his teeth and made medicine to detoxify Mrs. Xie, and he also found out that the poison Mrs. Xie was poisoned with was called Xiangluo.
Fragrant Drops are colorless and odorless. No one can detect their presence in food, not even a silver needle. A small amount of Fragrant Drops will not kill a person, but prolonged consumption will undoubtedly lead to death.
The doctor knew that Mrs. Xie's poison could not be cured, but seeing the situation, the doctor had no choice but to continue prescribing medicine, hoping that Mrs. Xie could survive.
But that winter, Mrs. Xie died, and the doctor was executed by Xie Heng for his poor medical treatment.
Afterwards, Xie Heng was depressed for a while, but soon he received a transfer order and he was going to Shuzhou. Before leaving, he entrusted his son Xie Yuwang to his most trusted brother, Lu Xing.
It was also on that day that he learned that Lu Xing was the murderer of his wife.
It was because he saw the servants burying incense and powder under the tree in the backyard of Lu's house.
He originally didn't know what Xiangluo looked like, but later he found out that the lady was Xiangluo, so he started to care about her and bought a lot of Xiangluo for the doctor to prepare medicine.
He originally thought it was just a coincidence, but when he was in Shuzhou, he continued to look for the murderer, and all the clues eventually pointed to his good brother, Lu Xing.
So, Xie Heng began to plan how to take revenge.
"You're in Shuzhou, how did you find out that the murderer was my father?" Lu Ling looked at Xie Heng, paused, and continued, "What if your subordinates lied to you?"
Xie Heng snorted and replied, "These are my trusted aides, how could they betray me?"
Lu Ling laughed when he heard this. "Confidant? How could a confidant fire you? How could a confidant drug your wine when you were in Shuzhou?"
Lu Ling approached Xie Heng and said with disdain, "Xie Heng, how could your confidant not come back with you when you returned to Beijing and not serve you?"
Xie Heng raised his head and met Lu Ling's gaze, his face full of disbelief: "You mean..."
Lu Ling didn't let him continue, but simply explained what Xie Heng had just said: "The thing you saw when you brought Yuwang to my house was not Xiangluo, but cassava flour. I buried it under the tree because I believed that everything could grow from the soil, so I asked the servants to bury it."
"How could that be? I've clearly seen it, and that's Xiangluo."
Lu Ling lowered his body, his eyes sharp. "The color and texture of cassava flour and fragrant glutinous rice are very similar. It's normal for you to admit your mistake, but you shouldn't have brought this matter to my father and suspected him."
"Hahahahahahaha——" Xie Heng laughed so loudly that tears began to flow down his face.
Lu Ling stood up, looked at him, took out the jade pendant from his hand, and asked, "Do you recognize this jade pendant?"
Xie Heng's laughter gradually died down. He glanced at the jade pendant and said, "Is this something poisoned again? The emperor won't even let me go to the execution ground? Let me solve it myself in prison?"
After these words were spoken, Lu Ling and Shen Wangyou were stunned.
Logically speaking, Xie Heng should recognize this jade pendant, but judging from its current appearance, Xie Heng seems to have no idea of the origin of this jade pendant.
Everything became complicated again.
Lu Ling learned about Xie Yuwang's death the next day. She did not go to see Xie Heng being executed and planned to pack up her things at home.
Early in the morning, Jiang Yun came to tell Lu Ling the news that Xie Yuwang had left.
Lu Ling's mind went blank. She should have thought of this earlier. Xie Yuwang seemed carefree but was actually quite proud. He had lived a life of luxury since childhood. How could he be willing to be a slave? And he looked guilty yesterday...
"You mean, he committed suicide with a dagger?" Lu Ling asked Jiang Yun.
"Yes, someone recognized that the dagger was the one Miss Su Yun gave him."
Lu Ling nodded, and then seemed to realize something: "How did he get the dagger?"
As far as Lu Ling knew, the government would take away all the prisoners' belongings before detaining them, but a dagger was found on Xie Yuwang's body. Who gave it to him?
"Well..." Jiang Yun paused, "I don't know."
Lu Ling didn't say anything, but his mind was filled with the scenes when Xie Yuwang was at home.
The young man's lips curled up, revealing his dimples. He followed Lu Ling and called her "Sister" one by one.
At that time, both of them were carefree, without family feuds or separation.
*
A few days ago, the imperial court sent someone to the Lu family and told Lu Ling the time of taking office.
In two months, Lu Ling will go to the military camp to take up his post. Before that, Lu Ling wants to go back to Leping Village and bring Zhao Zhenzhen over.
The house has been cleaned up in the past few days. After a while, Lu Ling will receive his salary and hire some servants. Zhao Zhenzhen will not feel lonely when she comes here.
As Lu Ling thought about this, he found that he missed Zhao Zhenzhen more and more. He wondered how Zhao Zhenzhen was doing during this period.
"A Ling, what are you thinking about?" As soon as Shen Wangyou entered the room, he saw Lu Ling frowning and looking worried.
Lu Ling came back to his senses and looked at Shen Wangyou: "No, I was just wondering how Zhenzhen was doing?"
The moonlight was bright and spread on the ground. Shen Wangyou approached Lu Ling and took Lu Ling into his arms.
"Zhenzhen must be doing well. We should trust Uncle Dong."
In fact, what Shen Wangyou said was right. When Lu Ling and Shen Wangyou returned to Leping Village again, Zhao Zhenzhen ran to them.
But this time, Zhao Zhenzhen no longer called Lu Ling "Sister" like before.
"Hello Uncle Shen, hello Auntie Aling."
When Lu Ling heard this, he was stunned, wondering how he suddenly became a higher generation.
Lu Ling thought about it and felt that his sister's words sounded better to him.
Lu Ling squatted down and planned to talk to Zhao Zhenzhen about this matter.
"Zhenzhen, why don't you call me sister? Don't you think sister sounds better than aunt?"
Zhao Zhenzhen nodded and shook her head, and said in a baby voice: "Uncle Dong said that Uncle Shen and you are a couple. I call Uncle Shen uncle, so I should also call you aunt."
Lu Ling nodded, then said, "Then Zhenzhen, don't you think brother and sister sound better?"
Zhao Zhenzhen shook her head: "Uncle Shen looks older, so brother is not appropriate. Besides, if I call him brother, I will have to call you sister-in-law." Zhao Zhenzhen looked at Lu Ling, "Sister-in-law doesn't sound good, auntie sounds better."
Lu Ling didn't expect Zhao Zhenzhen to care whether it sounded good or not, but then he remembered that since she called Shen Wangyou uncle, shouldn't she call him aunt? Why did she call him aunt?
I don’t know what’s going on in the kid’s mind, but Lu Ling feels that auntie does sound better than sister-in-law.
"You little naughty boy." Lu Ling rubbed Zhao Zhenzhen's head.
Zhao Zhenzhen also gave her a funny face.
"Zhenzhen, would you like to go to the capital with us?"
Zhao Zhenzhen was stunned where she was, thinking she would say no, but then she said happily, "Sure! I heard from Uncle Dong that there are a lot of delicious food and fun things in the capital!"
"Okay, when we get to the capital, I'll take you to have fun and eat delicious food."
Lu Ling and Shen Wangyou did not stay in Leping Village for long. The Chinese New Year was approaching, and Lu Ling thought of taking Zhao Zhenzhen home before the New Year to let her experience the customs and habits of the capital.
Two days before New Year's Eve, the three returned to the Lu family in Beijing.
On New Year's Eve, Jiang Yun went to the street to buy a lot of things, Chen Wangyou decorated the house with lights and lanterns, and Lin Yao and Lu Ling were busy in the kitchen preparing dinner.
"Higher, higher."
"Is that so?"
"No, it needs to be higher."
"Is it okay?"
Shen Wangyou's hands were already sore, but Zhao Zhenzhen kept saying no and kept leaning, so he kept his hands raised.
But this time, Zhao Zhenzhen didn't say anything. Shen Wangyou looked at the right spot and pasted the couplet.
"Ah! Did you move just now? It's crooked again." Zhao Zhenzhen suddenly shouted.
Shen Wangyou looked as if he had lost all hope in life and cried out "Ah".
So tired!
It happened that Jiang Yun came back after shopping and saw Shen Wangyou standing on the ladder with a look of despair on his face, so he asked Shen Wangyou the reason.
Shen Wangyou told Jiang Yun what had just happened, and Jiang Yun said that he would watch and let him continue.
Only then did Shen Wangyou agree to continue pasting the couplets.
Lu Ling and Lin Yao were very skillful and cooked a full table of dinner.
Lu Ling picked up the wine glass. She was not very good at drinking, but this year was the first time she had cleared the Lu family's grievances and the first year she no longer had to hide from people, so she wanted to drink.
When Shen Wangyou saw Lu Ling raising her glass, she wanted to stop Lu Ling from drinking, but after seeing Lu Ling's expression, she decided to let her drink. It was rare for her to be so happy.
"Today, I toast to you, to the past, to the future, and to everyone who has helped me along the way."
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