Qin Che nodded in agreement, but he was unwilling to sit and wait at home, feeling anxious. He said, "I want you two to go together and wait in the car. If Madam Xu is really Qingyan, I will go to her house. If not, I will go home."
The group rode in a carriage, with only their trusted maid, Nanny Qin, who also knew Chai Qingyan. The driver was Qin Che's long-time attendant.
They didn't know where the Xu family lived, so they went directly to Minhu's house. Qin Ru got off the car and asked Hao, the housekeeper, that his sister had something urgent to ask Miss Xu. Hao told him the address.
The Qin family members were so hungry that they didn't even bother to eat and rushed to the Xu family.
It was already early evening when the carriage arrived at the entrance of the alley where the Xu family lived in the north of the city.
Qin Che lifted the curtain of his car. It was already completely dark. In the drizzle, the alley was long. Only a few households had lights hanging on their doorsteps, and a few small windows shone a little dim light, making the alley seem even longer and darker.
Qin Ru got off the carriage first, opened his umbrella, and helped Mrs. Qin and Qin Hongyu down.
Xu Lanyin and a few others had just finished dinner and were sitting in the living room talking.
"Madam, Miss," Ding Gu's hurried voice and footsteps were heard in the yard.
Ding Gu is usually very steady, and I don’t know what happened that made him so anxious.
He stood at the door and said, "A young man, a lady, and a young lady have come in. They say they are the wife, son, and daughter of the prefect, Mr. Qin."
He was a little unsure of these people's identities. He knew his daughter was in contact with the daughter of Prefect Qin, but it was so late, and in such awful weather, how could they possibly be visiting? He suspected they were impersonating members of an official family, so he told them to wait at the door.
Qin and Xu Lanyin exchanged a glance. Could it be that they had also seen their family today, figured out something was going on, and came looking for them? If they had taken the initiative to come, they must not have been afraid that Qin would be a nuisance and were willing to acknowledge her.
The mother and daughter hurried out, and Zhangqi quickly handed an umbrella to Xu Lanyin. Xu Lanting wanted to follow, but Zhaoqi stopped him, fearing that he would get wet.
Ding Gu, who was following behind, saw the expressions of his two masters and thought that those people must be real. He said embarrassedly, "I was afraid that they were imposters, so I didn't dare let them in."
Qin was homesick, so she didn't dare to go any further when she reached the gate with hanging flowers, and looked at the gate anxiously.
Xu Lanyin came to the gate and opened it.
Three people stood outside the door: Qin Ru, holding an umbrella; Qin Hongyu, holding a goat-horn lantern; and a middle-aged woman in her thirties. Xu Lanyin had also met her twice before; she was none other than Qin's wife, Wu.
Qin Ru smiled and said, "My mother seems to have an old relationship with your mother, so I came to visit her."
Xu Lanyin opened the door wide and said with a smile, "Please come in."
Qin Hongyu supported Wu and walked in first, followed closely by Qin Ru.
Wu stared blankly at Qin in front of the hanging flower gate. Although the light was extremely dim and they had not seen each other for so many years, she recognized at a glance that this middle-aged woman was Chai Qingyan, whom she had not seen for more than 20 years.
She hurried forward a few steps and choked up, "Qingyan, it's really Qingyan."
Qin also recognized Wu and walked up to her, pulling her aside and crying, "Sister-in-law, it really is you. I thought I would never see you again in this life..."
The two of them held each other, suppressing their tears.
Xu Lanyin's nose was also sour, and she advised, "Mom, aunt, let's go inside and talk."
Qin Ru said happily, "You go in first, I'll go call my dad." Then he ran out.
Qin said in surprise, "Cousin is here too?"
Qin Hongyu smiled and said, "My father is here, in the carriage at the entrance of the alley."
Qin wanted to wait here, but Xu Lanyin whispered to her, "Mother, this is not the place to talk. Be careful, there are ears behind the wall."
After hearing this, several people went into the main room of the inner courtyard hand in hand.
Entering the upper room, Xu Lanting and Xu Lanyue stared at the Wu mother and daughter in a daze.
This matter must be kept absolutely secret. The two children are too young to let them accidentally tell others. Xu Lanyin asked Baoqi to take them to the West Chamber to play.
The two of them didn't want to leave yet, so Xu Lanyin said in a low voice with a gloomy face, "Our master has something important to discuss. Be obedient, or your sister will be angry."
It was the first time that Xu Lanyin spoke to them so seriously. Xu Lanting was so surprised that tears welled up in his eyes. Xu Lanyue sensibly took his hand and walked away.
Xu Lanting was very unhappy, with a pout on his face. He felt that his mother and sister treated him like a little kid like Xu Lanyue, and would not tell him even when something important happened.
Wu also knew that some things shouldn't be said in front of children. After seeing the child and the servants leave, she took Qin's hand and cried, "Cousin, how did you end up here? When we heard you were dead, we were so heartbroken... Fortunately, God has mercy on you and you are still alive."
As he was speaking, Qin Che and Qin Ru walked in hurriedly.
Seeing Qin Che, Qin covered her mouth and cried even harder, saying, "Cousin, I never dared to dream that I would actually be able to see you in this life."
Qin Che also shed tears and said, "Qingyan, silly girl, after escaping from the Chai family, why didn't you find a way to go to Jiangnan to find us?"
Qin cried, "I'm afraid of getting you into trouble..."
Several younger generations persuaded them to sit down and talk slowly, and Xu Lanyin poured tea for the Qin family members.
The Qin family member said, "Twenty years ago, our Qin family also had a shop in the capital. After your aunt and you followed Chai Zhengguan back to the capital, it was squeezed out and closed down. Your father-in-law still left a few people in the capital to help you, but the Chai family kept a close eye on you, and we rarely had the chance to see each other.
After my aunt died of illness, those people completely lost contact with you. My grandmother initially suspected that the evil woman, Shen, was responsible for my aunt's death, and she was also worried about my cousin, crying constantly. Not long after, she passed away. My aunt was a concubine, so we had no evidence and could do nothing. Later, my cousin committed suicide by drowning, but we didn't hear about it until a year later.
My father-in-law felt that it was impossible for my cousin to jump into the river for no reason. He was so angry that he ran to the capital to argue, but he couldn't even enter the Chai family. After returning, he asked my master to put down all the business he was doing and study hard to pass the imperial examination. My master also hated the Chai family for hurting my aunt and cousin so much that he vowed to study hard and changed his name to Qin Che. He changed his name because he didn't want to attract the attention of Chai Zhengguan and wanted to thoroughly investigate the cause of his aunt and cousin's death. He concentrated on studying for many years and actually passed the imperial examination at the age of 32 and became an official. He worked hard and was eager to get promoted quickly, and he was particularly willing to participate in investigating cases. Alas, his idea was good, but even if he spent his whole life, our Qin family might not be able to defeat Chai Zhengguan. Although Chai Zhengguan was only a fourth-rank official, he had Pingnan Hou and Nanyang Princess behind him. Who knows how many relatives he had..."
Qin cried bitterly. She had never imagined that her cousin had changed his name and worked so hard to pass the imperial examination and become an official, all for her sake. Her grandmother, who loved her so much, was so enraged that she died.
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