Su Jinli was silent for a moment, gazing out the window at the blossoming pomegranate tree. The petals, blown loose by the wind, swirled and drifted into the pond, creating ripples.
"It's better to leave," she said softly. "Staying in the capital will only make me sad."
"You're just too soft-hearted." Jiang Yan scratched her nose, his tone filled with helpless doting, "Have you forgotten how the Wang family plotted against you back then?"
"I haven't forgotten." Su Jinli shook her head, her eyes falling on her mother's belongings in the wooden box. "But there's no need to keep remembering them. They've gotten what they deserved, and that's enough." She turned to look at Jiang Yan, her eyes clear and firm. "Jiang Yan, thank you."
"What are you thanking me for?" Jiang Yan laughed and held her hand.
"Thank you for making my life so good." Tears glistened in Su Jinli's eyes, but she wore a happy smile. "If it weren't for you, my father, my brother, and my elder sister... I might still be that Su Jinli who endured humiliation in the deep house."
"Silly girl," Jiang Yan hugged her tighter, resting his chin on the top of her head, "We are husband and wife, why are you saying these things?" He remembered something, and his tone suddenly took on a hint of cunning, "I also want to thank you. Thank you for snatching my sugar painting on the street that year, and for letting me meet the most important person in my life."
"How dare you say that!" Su Jinli was amused by him and raised her hand to gently hit his chest. "It was you who was squatting there trying to snatch it from me, and you even laughed at the fact that the dragon I drew looked like an earthworm!"
"Yes, yes, I was the one who snatched it from you." Jiang Yan agreed with a smile, pointing to the small rosewood box on the dressing table. "So I gave you my most beautiful phoenix candy painting. Even though the candy has melted a long time ago, do you still have that little piece of bamboo?"
"Of course I'll keep it." Su Jinli nodded and walked over to open the box. Sure enough, there was a smooth piece of bamboo lying inside, with a simple phoenix outlined on it with ink lines. Although the lines were childish, it was the beginning of their fate.
As the two were talking, a familiar clamor suddenly came from outside the door, accompanied by hurried footsteps: "Sister! Sister! Something big has happened! It's not good!"
Su Jinli and Jiang Yan looked at each other and smiled helplessly. It was definitely Su Heng.
"Come in." Su Jinli said loudly.
The door was pushed open with a bang, and Su Heng rushed in, panting heavily. The expression on his face was extremely complicated, as if he was struck by thunder, or as if he had finally solved some big secret. His chest was heaving violently.
"I told you to run slower. You're so old but still act like a kid." Su Jinli handed him a cup of tea unhappily.
Su Heng took the tea and drank it all in one gulp. He wiped his mouth, his voice trembling with excitement: "Sister! Brother-in-law! Do you know? Today I asked the old servants in the mansion to investigate the old beggar from the Wang family, and the result... guess what happened?"
"What's the matter?" Jiang Yan raised his eyebrows and spoke calmly.
"That old man isn't a distant relative of the Wang family at all!" Su Heng slapped his thigh, nearly shaking the table. "I had someone look up the household registration records from Shuntian Prefecture and found a few surviving servants to identify him. Guess who that old beggar is?"
He kept it a secret, but when Su Jinli just looked at him indifferently, he couldn't help but blurt out, "He's the old man from the Wang family back then—Old Master Wang! The old bastard who almost married you to Wang Erlang!"
"What?!" Su Jinli's teacup wobbled slightly, nearly dropping it. Jiang Yan also frowned slightly, clearly startled.
"It's absolutely true!" Su Heng said confidently, "I've seen that old man when he was young. Although his face is full of wrinkles and his hair is completely white now, I will never mistake that nose and eyes! I heard from the old people who used to work in the Wang family that when the Wang family fell into decline, Mr. Wang couldn't bear the blow, and coupled with his son's tragic death, he ran away like a madman. He has always claimed to be a distant relative, but in fact it is him!"
Su Jinli was stunned. The image of the old beggar huddled against the wall immediately emerged in her mind—gray hair, cloudy eyes, and a sour, decadent air. She couldn't connect him with the brocade-robed, arrogant Mr. Wang she remembered.
"He...how could he have become like that?" Su Jinli muttered to herself, feeling a mixture of emotions. In her impression, although Mr. Wang was a snob, he was extremely particular about appearances. He always rode in a sedan chair carried by eight people, and his clothes were always made of Hangzhou silk. How could he have fallen to the point of begging on the streets?
"How else could it possibly change?" Su Heng snorted coldly, a look of relief on his face. "Back then, he indulged his son's misdeeds, and he wasn't a good person himself either. He relied on the Wang family's influence to do many immoral things. Later, Wang Erlang squandered the family fortune on opium, and he was so angry that he fell ill. When he woke up, the Wang family was deserted!"
He rubbed his hands together, as if recounting something truly heartwarming: "I heard his son, Wang Erlang, died a truly tragic death! He collapsed drunk at the back door of a brothel, and a stray dog gnawed half his hand off! When Old Master Wang found out, he went mad, shouting 'karmic retribution, karmic retribution,' to everyone he met. He ended up living on the streets, sometimes lucid, sometimes confused. I guess he was lucid when he was talking to Xiaoyue that day, and he recognized the Prime Minister's carriage and decided to try his luck aboard!"
Su Jinli listened silently, feeling no anger as she had imagined. Instead, she felt an indescribable sense of loss. The man who had once been so high and mighty, who had tried to control her fate, had ultimately met such a fate. The elderly had to send the young off, his family torn apart, and he was forced to wander in a foreign land, even resorting to begging for a living.
Isn't this a punishment more cruel than death?
"So where is he now?" Jiang Yan asked.
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