Xu Lanyin was fine with writing with a brush, but she couldn't draw anything this complex, so she made a few quill pens from memory.
The paper was cut into 32-page pieces and bound horizontally. She started by illustrating a few short stories, such as "The Monkey Reaching for the Moon," "The Tadpole Looking for His Mother," "Houyi Shooting the Sun," and "Chang'e Flying to the Moon." Later, she would work on longer stories, such as the adaptation of "Alibaba and the Forty Thieves." In her previous life, she began drawing in kindergarten and continued until she graduated from junior high school. If her father hadn't made her study psychology in her previous life, she would have majored in painting, which is why she's so good at it.
The weather gradually cooled, and in the blink of an eye it was mid-September. The old tree in the yard was left with only a few sparse, dead leaves. The weather grew colder, and the autumn atmosphere deepened.
A few days ago, Min Can took his family to Ningzhou Prefecture to take up his post. Xu Lanyin specifically asked them to bring a lot of things to Min Jia, including a comic book called "Monkey Catching the Moon".
The two scabs on Zhao Xingchen's burns had fallen off, revealing pink flesh. He had gained weight, become more cheerful, smart, and beautiful. Everyone liked him, except for Old Man Xu, who occasionally visited.
It started to drizzle that day and the temperature dropped suddenly.
After lunch, Zhao Xingchen ran to the west room as usual, took off his shoes, climbed onto the bed, pulled the thin blanket folded inside over himself, and lay down to sleep. The little boy was able to take care of himself, and he didn't need anyone to worry about him when it came to eating, dressing, and sleeping.
A moment later, Xu Lanyin called Qin to the west room. She wanted to hypnotize Zhao Xingchen today to see if she could find out more about his family situation. Qin had always wanted to see how hypnosis was done, so Xu Lanyin called her along.
Because of the rain, the light in the room was much dimmer than usual. Xu Lanyin and Qin walked to the bedside.
Zhao Xingchen was about to fall asleep when he was awakened again. He looked at his grandmother and aunt who were walking towards him with sleepy eyes.
Xu Lanyin sat on the edge of the bed and took out a small purse and waved it in front of Zhao Xingchen.
Zhao Xingchen said, "Sister, are you going to give me this purse? I like it very much. Just put it next to your pillow." As he said that, he yawned and closed his eyes again.
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "Yes, it's a gift for you." She then added, "But first, you have to take a closer look at the purse. What color is the little dragonfly on it?"
Zhao Xingchen opened his eyes again, his dark pupils following the purse, and said, "Yellow, green, and black, Auntie, please stop shaking. It's making me dizzy and I can't see clearly."
Xu Lanyin continued shaking her purse and said with a smile, "Well, Xiao Xingxing is right. Do you see the lotus flowers?"
Following Xu Lanyin's verbal hints, Zhao Xingchen's eyes became more and more blurred as he looked at Hebao, and finally he closed his eyes.
Xu Lanyin put away her purse and said in a soft yet magical voice, "Xiao Xiao, Xiao Xiao, your mother calls you Xiao Xiao, right?"
Zhao Xingchen thought for a moment, then smiled, his closed eyes narrowing into a single, dark line. He pursed his lips and said, "Well, Mom calls me Xiaoxiao. Daddy, great-grandfather, and great-grandfather all call me Xiaoxiao. Mom, Mom, I'm Xiaoge'er. Aunt, Grandma, Daddy, Uncle, Aunt Yi, and Sister Jia all call me Little Star." He spoke the first few words slowly and haltingly, but the last sentence flowed smoothly.
Xu Lanyin and Qin looked at each other. This child really came from a wealthy family. He not only had a mother, but also a father, a grandfather (mother), a great-grandfather (mother), and a wet nurse.
Qin was even more unbelievable. This was called hypnosis. Things that he couldn't remember normally could actually be remembered when he was about to fall asleep.
Xu Lanyin asked again, "Why did you come out alone? Daddy and Mommy weren't with you?"
Zhao Xingchen didn't answer immediately. After thinking for a while, he curled his lips and muttered, "Take a ride, go to Xishan to worship Buddha... Mom said, go to see the fish, take a boat..."
He spoke incoherently and in a very low voice, but Xu Lanyin still roughly understood it.
He must have been traveling by car to worship Buddha at Xishan, possibly the Xishan in the suburbs of Beijing. The old beggar who found him said he found him at the dock of Jingchangfu, which is the dock of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
Then, his home is most likely in the capital.
Xu Lanyin asked again, "What's your last name?"
Zhao Xingchen shook his head and said, "No, I don't know."
He was too young to understand what "surname" meant. Xu Lanyin asked again, "Xiao Xiao is your nickname, do you have another name?"
Zhao Xingchen said, "Oh, my mother calls me Xiaoxiao, and she also calls me Chai Zixiao. My aunt gave me a new name, Zhao Xingchen. I also have another name, Xiao Xingxing. In total, I have..." He paused, raised his little hand to make the number four, and then added, "four names."
His original surname was Chai. This surname is rare and should be easier to find out than the more common surnames.
Xu Lanyin asked again, "You and mom went to see the fish, where is mom?"
Zhao Xingchen burst into tears, tears falling from his closed eyes. He cried, "Mom said that you can see fish as big as a table on a boat. Mom is gone, and my uncle took me to see fish, but he's gone too... I'm hungry, Grandpa, give me steamed buns... No, don't cut me, don't burn me, it hurts, it hurts... Grandpa, please. Aunt, brother, please, it hurts... Mmmmm..."
Zhao Xingchen burst into tears and kept begging for mercy.
Xu Lanyin didn't dare ask any more questions, her heart aching. Qin cried out, then quickly covered her tears with her hands. She had heard Xu Lanyin say that during hypnosis, one shouldn't make loud noises.
Xu Lanyin turned her head and whispered to Qin, "His wet nurse was a wicked slave. She deliberately tricked him out, got him on board, and then lost him."
The question is, why did his wet nurse want to harm the young master? Masters and servants generally don't have fundamental interests that conflict with each other. The ones that do conflict with each other are the first and second wives, the legitimate and illegitimate wives, or the property disputes between brothers...
Qin cried and said, "That must be the case. In those big families, there's nothing they can't do, except what you can't imagine. How could they have the heart to do this to such a young child? They are so heartless."
Zhao Xingchen still cried with his eyes closed.
Xu Lanyin snapped her fingers in front of him and said, "Good boy, wake up."
Zhao Xingchen opened his eyes and saw his aunt and grandmother in front of him, not the bad guys he had just "seen". He smiled with tears in his eyes and said, "Grandma, Aunt, I came to your house. There are only good people, no bad people."
Qin picked him up and smiled with tears in her eyes, "This is your home too, our home. Good boy, don't be afraid, those bad guys have been caught and can't harm you anymore. From now on, your grandma will love you, and your aunt will love you..." She wiped Zhao Xingchen's tears and said to Xu Lanyin, "Little Xingxing, take a nap with me today, you go ahead and do your own thing." Then she carried Zhao Xingchen to her room.
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