Chapter 98 The Show with the Suspended Soul Silk
"Master, there's no one at Zheng Ju's house," the servant reported, bowing slightly to the people in the carriage.
The person inside the carriage reached out and lifted the curtain, glancing outside. They then saw a large lock on the door.
"Let's go then!"
"yes."
The person in the carriage was about to lower the curtain when a voice suddenly rang out, attracting his attention.
"Oh? Is that Mr. Han? This student has met Mr. Han before!"
Mr. Han, also known as Han Fangzhi, looked over and saw a familiar face, which made him smile.
"Huaijin, you're back?"
Unexpectedly, the man looked at him with a puzzled expression: "Mr. Han, you must have mistaken me for someone else. I am Zheng Aping, courtesy name Ziqian, not Huaijin as you mentioned."
Seeing the puzzled look on Han Fangzhi's face, the man then looked enlightened and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Mr. Han, I forgot. I have a twin brother named Huaijin. I suppose you must have mistaken me for your brother."
Upon hearing this, Han Fangzhi's doubts deepened, as he had never known that Zheng Huaijin had a twin brother.
The two looked 80-90% alike, and he mistook them at first glance.
However, there must be some unknown secret behind it.
This is their family matter, and he's not curious about it.
Knowing that he had admitted his mistake, he apologized with a look of remorse: "I'm sorry, it was my poor eyesight that led me astray."
Zheng Ziqian shook his head indifferently: "It's nothing. We look alike. It's just that I'm a bit healthier than my younger brother, so I'm often mistaken for him. You don't need to worry about it, sir."
Han Fangzhi smiled, then his gaze fell on the scroll in the man's hand, and he took the initiative to speak: "Is that an article you wrote? Do you need me to take a look at it?"
Zheng Ziqian immediately nodded in delight and handed the article in his hand to him.
Han Fangzhi took the article and began to read it.
Upon first glance, he paused, then suppressed the sense of familiarity welling up inside him and continued reading.
Han Fangzhi noticed his subtle expression and subtly curled her lips into a smile.
He now truly understood why his beloved brother had poisoned him after he expressed his desire to participate in the imperial examinations in his own name.
His younger brother, Zheng Huaijin, was frightened.
He looked up and saw the plaque of the residence belonging to Zheng Huaijin, a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations.
Zheng Mansion.
Hmph, this Zheng mansion originally belonged to him!
Just then, he noticed Han Fangzhi's gaze on him and realized that Han Fangzhi must have noticed something from his article.
Zheng Ziqian looked up and met Han Fangzhi's probing gaze. He was about to grin when Shao Yanzhe's voice echoed in his mind.
"Be careful not to stretch your mouth all the way to your ears. You are a human now, not a ghost."
Zheng Ziqian quickly adjusted the curve of his smile, maintaining a polite angle, and asked, "Mr. Han, what's wrong?"
Han Fangzhi opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately did not speak for some reason. Instead, he began to talk about some problems with the article in his hand.
Zheng Ziqian felt a little regretful, but he quickly listened attentively.
"Do you understand?" Han Fangzhi asked.
"I understand, thank you, teacher!" Zheng Ziqian replied instinctively.
Immediately, the expression on his face froze.
The answer just now evoked his memories of studying at the academy before his death. At that time, after he took Zheng Huaijin's place in the imperial examination to become a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the lowest level of the imperial examinations), he went to the academy in place of his younger brother so that Zheng Huaijin could become a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial level of the imperial examinations). He spent some time with his classmates and the teacher Han in front of him.
It's safe to say that if Zheng Huaijin were here, Master Han would probably be able to quickly distinguish the difference between the two.
Shao Yanzhe's voice rang out again, reminding him, "Alright, leave now."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Ziqian knew that the current level was just right.
Master Han was a wise man, and it's likely that a seed of doubt had already been planted in his mind long ago.
That's enough.
After thanking Han Fang, Zheng Ziqian made an excuse to say goodbye.
Feeling the gazes fixed on him, he knew that the first step of his plan had succeeded.
Now, let's move on to the second step.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Zheng Ziqian's smile was starting to falter.
Shao Yanzhe nodded seriously: "Of course! Your next role is as Zheng Juren's older brother visiting his family. Your character is a poor rural relative who comes to beg for money."
Zheng Ziqian pursed his lips; this was really embarrassing.
But having taken the first step, he had piqued his interest, making it impossible for him to truly give up.
"Fine then! I'm already dead anyway, so let's just accept the embarrassment!"
So, the next evening, the townspeople of Qingqu saw a young man wearing patched and tattered clothes walk straight to Zheng Juren's door with his hands in his pockets, take off his straw sandals with three holes in them, and bang on the door.
The young man patted the door and shouted, "Little brother, little brother! Open the door quickly! Your big brother is here to see you!"
"Little brother! Open the door quickly!"
"Little brother! Don't stay silent! I know you're in there!"
"Brother, I really can't go on like this anymore! You have to help your brother!"
"If you don't open the door, your brother is really going to die!"
After saying this, the young man, Zheng Ziqian, seemed to collapse and slid down the door, but he still pounded on the door with his tattered straw sandals.
The townspeople, like weasels that have smelled a melon, gathered at the entrance of the Zheng residence, forming a tight circle around it.
They pointed at Zheng Ziqian, whispered something to the people next to them, and their eyes gleamed with a strange light.
"What's going on? Does Scholar Zheng actually have a twin brother?"
"I don't know, but judging from his appearance, he doesn't seem to be doing very well."
"Of course it's bad, can't you see this person is starving to death?"
"Is this person really Zheng Juren's elder brother? Zheng Juren lives in such a luxurious house, why didn't he think of helping his brother out?"
"Tch! If Zheng's brother was innocent, why wouldn't Zheng give him the money? His brother must have done something to make Zheng act this way!"
"Not necessarily, right? Could it be that Scholar Zheng is just stingy?"
"Hmph! I don't think either of them are good people!"
Do you think Scholar Zheng will open the door and come out?
"Isn't the door locked? Surely Scholar Zheng isn't home?"
"Hehe, you guys don't know this, do you? I heard that Scholar Zheng is in poor health and the lock is always hanging on the door. Actually, Scholar Zheng is inside right now."
"Such a thing actually happened! I must have been so ignorant."
Hearing the surrounding chatter, Zheng Ziqian tried to lower the brim of his hat.
"Don't pull your hat down! Show your face! That way everyone will believe you really are Zheng Huaijin's twin brother!" Shao Yanzhe reminded from the shadows.
But Zheng Ziqian really doesn't want to show his face.
"Just think of it this way: your face is the same as Zheng Huaijin's. You're not losing face for Zheng Ziqian, you're losing face for Zheng Huaijin. After all, the people here don't know you, Zheng Ziqian; they only know Zheng Huaijin."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Ziqian suddenly realized, "That's right! Zheng Huaijin has the same face as me, so it's his face that's being disgraced!"
Thinking of this, he began to move. As if he could no longer support himself, his body swayed for a moment, and the hat on his head fell off, revealing a face underneath that looked exactly like Zheng Huaijin's.
Upon seeing his face, the people around him immediately erupted in an uproar.
Zheng, the scholar, really did have a twin brother!
What this person said is pretty much true; it's mostly true.
Meanwhile, Zheng Huaijin, who was being waited on, was comfortably reclining in a deck chair, listening to a storyteller in front of him, enjoying himself immensely.
At that moment, a servant rushed in from outside.
"Master! Master, something terrible has happened!"
Zheng Huaijin didn't even glance at him, and asked, "What nonsense are you talking about! Your old man is perfectly fine!"
"Master, outside, outside!" The servant gasped for breath, uttering only a few words before panting heavily.
What's going on outside?
“A man has come in. He says he is your brother and asks you to go out and open the door for him.”
Upon hearing this, Zheng Huaijin's face immediately turned extremely ugly. He sat up abruptly, staring at the servant with a dark look in his eyes.
"What did you say! Say it again!"
His tightly clenched hands trembled slightly, and his palms were sweaty and sticky, making one feel very uncomfortable.
After the servant repeated himself, his breathing became slightly heavier.
"You...you really saw it clearly?"
"Yes! I saw it clearly, the person outside has the exact same face as the master."
Zheng Huaijin immediately became agitated. He rudely chased away the storyteller and paced anxiously back and forth in the room, not knowing what to do.
A moment later, as if he had just thought of something, he stopped and looked at the servant, saying, "You, hurry up! Take the old lady and the old man out!"
The servant didn't understand why this was necessary, but he didn't dare disobey, and soon brought the two of them over.
After the old lady and the old man sat down, they looked at Zheng Huaijin with loving expressions.
"Huaijin, what brings you here?"
Zheng Huaijin briefly recounted what the servant had just told him. He sat in his chair, biting his thumbnail hard, his eyes glazed over.
"That's impossible! We buried him ourselves in the coffin. He couldn't possibly be here. Maybe the person outside isn't him, but someone who knows something and is impersonating him to extort money from us."
“Your father is right. He changed his clothes himself to make sure he was really dead. Huaijin, don’t worry. Tell your father to get rid of that person right now!”
Grandma Zheng looked at Zheng Huaijin with heartache, then turned to the old man and urged him to leave quickly.
Old Master Zheng acted quickly; not wanting to put Zheng Huaijin in a difficult position, he walked out leaning on his cane.
With the help of the servant, they soon arrived at the main gate.
The door was opened, and only then did everyone realize that the lock on the door was just for decoration.
Old Master Zheng walked out of the door with anger on his face, but when he met the eyes of the person outside, he was stunned.
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