Chapter 19: She lost Guan Qing
"Eight years ago, you accompanied me to go horseback riding. We rode the same horse. The horse got frightened and threw us off. Was it that time?" Jiang Tong's voice was still steady, but the knuckles of his hand holding the bamboo stick had turned white.
Su Guanqing didn't dare to hide it from her anymore: "...Yes."
"I remember that you held me tightly in your arms and fell down with bruises all over your body, but I was unharmed. I even despised you for not knowing how to ride a horse, so I never asked you to ride with me afterwards..." Guilt surged like a tide, drowning Jiang Tong in an instant.
Su Guanqing was a little embarrassed and said shamefully, "I'm really not very good at riding a horse."
Jiang Tong remembered the situation at that time. She wanted to learn horse riding, but her father was never able to teach her. So she sneaked to the stables, hoping to learn on her own.
When Su Guanqing found out, he was against it at first and threatened him that if he told his parents, he would not play with him anymore.
This advice worked wonders for Su Guanqing. Feeling helpless and worried about himself, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask to ride with him.
In the end, he was fine, but Guan Qing was hurt. Afterwards, he despised Guan Qing's poor riding skills and was even more unwilling to play with him.
Jiang Tong closed his eyes and wondered what he had done!
"It's my fault that I hurt you. I'm sorry for you." Her voice finally trembled.
Feeling Jiang Tong's self-blame, Su Guanqing hurriedly comforted her:
"I don't blame you, it was just an accident. Besides, if we're talking about responsibility, I'm more responsible. You were only eight years old that year, so it's normal for you to be a little naughty. It was Brother Guanqing who failed to set a good example. He knew he couldn't ride a horse, but he still took you riding with him."
But he seemed to have forgotten that he was only twelve years old that year and was just a child.
Jiang Tong raised her eyes to look at him, and saw that he was looking towards her with concern, but his eyes, as dark as lacquer, were unfocused.
She sighed in her heart, thinking that she would never be able to repay what she owed him in these two lifetimes.
Jiang Tong trembled and said, "Even if you can see again in the future, you'll have to take medicine for the rest of your life. I know you don't blame me, but it's my fault that you've become like this..."
Su Guanqing could hear the pain in her tone and couldn't bear to see her sad, so he hurriedly said, "That's not the case. My illness can be cured! The imperial physician once prescribed a prescription for me that could cure it. The herbs are hard to come by, but my father has already found them and ordered them to be made into pills. Unfortunately, before the pills were delivered to me, something bad happened to the Su family."
He eagerly looked in her direction: "So it's not your fault that I still can't see it!"
"Where is the medicine now?" Jiang Tong was concerned.
Su Guanqing shook his head: "After the house was searched, it disappeared."
"Do you still remember the prescription?"
Su Guanqing still shook his head.
As the two were talking, Zhong Wanci suddenly walked in.
"Tongtong, you're finally back!"
Jiang Tong forced himself to suppress the chaotic emotions in his heart, turned his head to look at Zhong Wanci, and asked, "Mom? What's wrong?"
"I want to tell you something. Your father won't let me tell you," Zhong Wanci said mysteriously. "I'll tell you quietly. Just keep it to yourself."
When Su Guanqing heard that they were about to tell a secret, he hurriedly said, "Tongtong, give me the bamboo stick. I'll go out first."
"Oh, it's okay. Guan Qing is one of us," Zhong Wanci said, glancing out the kitchen window before saying, "Jiang Xuan's biological father is here."
"Hmph, if you don't come earlier, he's in jail now, and there's no way to take him back even if he wants to." Jiang Tong sneered.
Su Guanqing didn't respond. He had already groped his way towards the stove, ready to start cooking lunch.
"That's not the case! He came to your father to ask him to withdraw the case." Zhong Wanci wanted to pull her daughter's hand, but Jiang Tong was still playing with the bamboo stick. "Give the stick back to Guan Qing!"
"Oh," Jiang Tong walked over a few steps and handed the bamboo stick to Su Guanqing, "Dad won't agree."
"Your father agreed! Before you came back, he and Jiang Xun's father had already gone to the government office to withdraw the case!"
Jiang Tong was shocked, and a fire immediately ignited: "How long has he been gone? I'll go catch up with him."
"We've been gone for a long time, how can we catch up?" Zhong Wanci hurriedly grabbed Jiang Tong and said, "Listen to me first! I won't let you go for nothing!"
"What's the meaning?"
"It turns out that Jiang Ming didn't gamble away all our family wealth in the past two years. He even secretly gave some to his parents. His father said that he was willing to return the land in exchange for his son's life. When your father saw that the land deeds were returned, he agreed."
"Since it's my family's land, he should get a share of it if it comes back! Why should I use my family's wealth to exchange for his worthless life?" Jiang Tong was so angry that he kicked the stove wall, causing mud to fall down.
When Su Guanqing heard Jiang Tong yelling in his ear, he had a strange feeling, as if the Tongtong he was familiar with, who dared to love and hate and whose face showed all kinds of emotions, had returned.
Little did she know that Jiang Tong had hated Jiang Tong all her life, and the hatred that had accumulated for most of her life was enough to burn away all her composure.
Seeing her daughter so angry, Zhong Wanci was also confused. "Your father has already withdrawn the case... This... He is the victim in this matter, and he knows those officials. If he says he won't sue, what can you do? Or, let it go?"
"It doesn't matter!" Jiang Tong pulled out a kitchen knife, his eyes gleaming with ferocity. "I don't care. I just want Jiang Ming to pay the price. If Dad really withdraws the case, I will kill Jiang Ming myself!"
If this was just a dream before her death, then it would be a pleasure for her to kill her enemy in the dream!
Zhong Wanci's face turned pale: "Tongtong, don't do anything rash, don't scare mother!"
However, Jiang Tong didn't listen to her at all. In the blink of an eye, he rushed out with a kitchen knife in his hand.
Zhong Wanci chased after him for two steps but failed to catch up. She was so anxious that tears streamed down her face. She called out "Huaishan" several times before she remembered that her husband was not at home. She quickly turned around and ran to the kitchen: "Guan Qing! Guan Qing! What should I do?"
"Auntie!" Su Guanqing hurriedly chased after her, lighting his bamboo stick. "Don't panic, I'll go after her. Nothing will happen. I won't let Tongtong do anything wrong."
Su Guanqing's pace was quick, but his tone was steady, which made Zhong Wanci feel a little relieved. She even forgot for a moment that Su Guanqing couldn't see her at all.
She cried and said, "Go and get her back quickly. Don't let her do anything stupid."
"Don't worry, auntie."
…
Jiang Tong rushed out holding a shiny kitchen knife, with an attitude of wanting to see blood.
For a moment, all the passers-by on the street avoided her.
However, just as she ran out one street, her eyes suddenly blurred and a figure blocked her way.
"A-Tong!"
Jiang Tong suddenly stopped and found that it was A-Qiao who stopped him.
"Who do you want to kill?" A Qiao's eyes fell on the kitchen knife in Jiang Tong's hand.
"Jiang Ming."
As soon as Jiang Tong finished speaking, her hands were empty. She was shocked to find that the kitchen knife had actually gone into Aqiao's hands.
"I'll help you kill it, you wait for my news." After saying that, A Qiao turned around and was about to leave.
Jiang Tong was shocked: "How can this be possible! Killing someone means paying with your life. If you go, you will lose your life in vain."
Ah Qiao turned around and smiled at her, his almond-shaped eyes narrowed into a line. "Why not? You saved my life in the first place, so consider it a favor. Besides, with my skills, I can definitely escape before the yamen runners catch me. At worst, I can move to another place and change my name."
Jiang Tong's mind buzzed.
She knew Aqiao's abilities. Of course, Aqiao could escape unscathed. After changing his name, he could even establish a huge and complex gang, calling the shots in the underworld.
But when she finally grew tired of the underworld and tried to escape, she found it was too late. The gang's vast, complex roots had entangled her tightly. She wanted to retreat, only death could do it.
Jiang Tong still remembered that on Ah Qiao's 49th birthday, he personally cooked longevity noodles, waiting to celebrate her birthday. But what he finally waited for was her sword, broken into three pieces and stained with blood.
In this "dream", Jiang Tong didn't want Aqiao to go down the road that was destined to have no return.
"Wait a minute!" Jiang Tong chased after him a few steps and grabbed A Qiao. "I've changed my mind. I won't kill him."
Aqiao raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Jiang Tong is a man of all vices: drinking, whoring, gambling, and all the other vices. His family has long been emptied out by him, yet he refuses to change his dissolute habits. He must be running on credit everywhere. Those creditors may have allowed him to go into debt before because of the Jiang family, but now he has no connection with my family. Do you think those creditors will still tolerate him?" Jiang Tong said this, and he really convinced himself. "Gambling houses and brothels are places with ruthless tactics."
A Qiao laughed: "In that case, we don't have to do it ourselves."
"I'm afraid they don't know that my family has severed ties with Jiang Xiao."
Ah Qiao returned the kitchen knife to Jiang Tong: "Leave this matter to me. I guarantee that as soon as he gets out of the prison, someone will be there to take care of him."
…
When Jiang Tong returned home, Zhong Wanci was still anxiously pacing in the yard. When she saw Jiang Tong come in, she hurried over and grabbed her daughter, "Tongtong! You're finally back! Did you do anything?"
"No." Jiang Tong went to the kitchen to put the knife.
When he entered the kitchen, he found that Su Guanqing was not there, so he asked, "Where is Guanqing?"
"He went after you."
Jiang Tong was shocked: "He can't see, and you let him go out alone?"
Zhong Wanci stammered, "I was so anxious at the time that I forgot."
"I'll go find him." Jiang Tong said and walked out.
However, as she walked from her home to the entrance of the yamen prison, she did not see Su Guanqing along the way.
Jiang Tong thought that he might have run too fast and missed him on the way, so he started looking from the gate of the yamen in the direction of home, asking along the way, but no one had seen the young man with a bamboo stick.
Realizing that Guan Qing was really lost, Jiang Tong's heart was gripped with grief.
She had clearly sworn that she would take good care of Guan Qing this time and repay his kindness in two lifetimes, but it had always been Guan Qing who had taken care of her, and now she had caused him to get lost!
Where is he now? Is he afraid without anyone he knows around him? Will he be bullied?
Jiang Tong ran on the bustling streets in spring, but his heart was cold.
The sun was setting. If Guan Qing still couldn't find his home by curfew and was caught by soldiers, he would be flogged thirty times.
He had just recovered from his illness, how could he endure the flogging!
Jiang Tong moved back and forth among the crowd returning home, but she could not feel the liveliness of the crowd at all. It was as if someone had taken away a large piece of something important from her heart, leaving only a sense of emptiness and loneliness.
…
When Su Guanqing first went out, it was quite easy for him to find out where Jiang Tong was going.
After all, a man charging down the street with a kitchen knife in hand would be too conspicuous. But before he had gone far, the street quieted down.
Su Guanqing couldn't find the direction, so he tried to stop two passers-by to ask, but they both said they didn't see any girl with a knife.
Su Guanqing was anxious, fearing that he would be too late to stop it and cause a big mistake.
He pondered: "If Tongtong wants to find Jiang Tong, she must go to the jail in the government office. I will definitely find Tongtong there."
Jiang's house was about a dozen blocks away from the government office, not far, but he couldn't see, so walking on this road was extremely difficult.
He walked and asked, and sometimes he met kind people who pointed him in the direction, but sometimes the direction pointed by the "kind people" was completely the opposite.
Su Guanqing had already walked more than ten streets, but still hadn't reached the government office. Instead, he was so thirsty from asking people questions at the top of his voice that he became thirsty.
As he walked, the bamboo stick tapped in front of him, making a tapping sound.
He tapped the ground with his bamboo stick deliberately, to remind the people in front to move aside. Unfortunately, he was in a busy city, and the noise was so loud that the sound of the bamboo stick tapping the ground was drowned out.
He was anxious and walked fast, bumping into others several times and attracting a lot of scolding.
After poking a passerby's foot with his bamboo stick again, drawing a barrage of scolding, Su Guanqing bowed in apology while suppressing the self-loathing that was rising in his heart. He raised his already hoarse voice and asked, "Excuse me, which direction is the government office?"
There was a hustle and bustle around me, but no one responded to my questions.
Su Guanqing cleared his throat and shouted again, "Excuse me, which direction is the government office?"
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