Horse Bandit Officer (Six)
A drop of water condensed on the edge of the water tank outside the door. Under the reflection of the scorching sun, it shone with oily light, swayed for a few times, and finally fell gently into the small puddle on the ground, stirring up a circle of fine ripples.
"He is now wearing an official robe, and he and I have no home anymore." Ai Ye said.
It was so quiet that even the sound of the stove next door could be heard. Xiao Lin and Mu You had no idea that things would turn out like this. They looked at each other in silence, exchanging panic glances several times.
What was going on? When they mentioned Tong Huan just now, Ai Ye was extremely happy and welcomed them into her home. Why did her expression change now?
Could it be because he became the magistrate of Hanlu County?
Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Mu You happened to catch a glimpse of an oil lamp in the middle of the table and quickly stood up and puffed his lips: "It's such a bright day, isn't it a waste to light an oil lamp..."
However, just as the air in his mouth was about to burst through his lips and teeth, the oil lamp was immediately protected in Ali's arms.
"You can't blow out this lamp!" Ali twisted her body, her eyes stern, "Otherwise my mother won't be able to see!"
After these words were spoken, Xiao Lin and Mu You stayed where they were.
What do you mean, I can’t see?
What happened to Ai Ye's eyes?
Before the two could ask, Ai Ye took the oil lamp from Ali's arms and put it back on the table. He then explained, "My eyesight isn't very good. I'm half blind now."
"Why...why?" Xiao Lin asked subconsciously.
But Ai Ye glanced at Ali, feeling worried and hesitant to speak.
Finally, she pursed her lips and told the truth: "Ali originally had several brothers and sisters, but they died young and couldn't survive the harsh winter. The doctor said that I was too sad and that's why I hurt my eyes..."
Before this, Xiao Lin always felt that he was somewhat familiar with Ai Ye's life experience, and he was even more impressed by the name "Zhao Mugen" that Si Niang blurted out.
Until that moment, when Ai Ye said that her child could not survive the cold winter, she suddenly had an idea - Ai Ye, wasn't she the first poor person mentioned by the group of women earlier?
At that time, she and Mu You had intended to go look for her! But they were distracted and ended up going to Si Niang's house by mistake!
It’s her! It’s her!
When he realized what was happening, Xiao Lin hurriedly grabbed Mu You's sleeve and whispered, "It's her! Those women said it at the beginning..."
After her reminder, Mu You suddenly felt enlightened and immediately danced with excitement. Fortunately, Xiao Lin held him down in time, otherwise the whole table of delicious food would have been knocked over by his knee.
But it was too late to react now. Ai Ye's eyes could not be restored, and so could the suffering she had experienced.
"After you two finish your meal, please go back." Ai Ye smiled and lowered her head to take out the wooden pendant that Xiao Lin had brought earlier from her pocket and returned it to her. "Please help me return this pendant to Ah Huan."
Xiao Lin held the wooden pendant in his hand and took another look. He still asked with unwavering determination, "Are you really not going to see County Magistrate Tong? He...he's really been looking for you for ten years..."
However, Ai Ye kept his head down as usual, took a mouthful of rice silently, and then shook his head.
After receiving this reply, Xiao Lin looked at Mu You again.
Mu You immediately learned of her request and began to advise, "The county magistrate has done so much, and all he wants is to see you once. Can't he even see you once? This is just a small request."
Ai Ye was moved, but remained resolute.
Si Niang and Ali sat on both sides, watching the others talking to each other, unable to interrupt.
Xiao Lin was at his wit's end, so he took a deep breath and revealed a secret: "But he's dying!"
"What?" Ai Ye was shocked.
"That's right!" Mu You followed suit and shouted, "County Magistrate Tong will be framed by villains in a few days, and then you won't be able to see him even if you want to."
Mu You admitted that he had exaggerated a bit in order to persuade Ai Ye to change her mind, but in general, the story that Tong Huan would meet a bad guy and die was not his nonsense.
Not only Ai Ye, but even Si Niang and Ali who were watching the show on the side were shocked by his words.
In an instant, he became the focus of everyone at the table.
At this point, Ai Ye put down her bowl and chopsticks and asked Mu You again, "Could you please explain more clearly? What do you mean by 'Ah Huan will die at the hands of a villain in a few days' time?' What do you know?"
Of course they knew it all.
They knew Tong Huan's original ending and their mission, but they were unsure whether to involve Ai Ye in this mystery.
After hesitating for a long time without being able to reply, Mu You knew that he had caused trouble by speaking too hastily, so he could only give Xiao Lin an earnest look.
Xiao Lin smacked his lips and had no choice but to grab Mu You's hand. His eyes flickered as he hurriedly covered up, "We made a mistake. Sorry, sorry. We've disturbed you today. I'll come back another day with a gift."
After saying that, regardless of how many bites the two of them had taken, Xiao Lin felt that something was wrong and pushed Mu You out through the door.
She thought that at least they had found Ai Ye's residence, so they could report back. As for whether she was willing to recognize Tong Huan, it would depend on the person involved.
However, after they ran away from Ai Ye's house, Xiao Lin looked back a few times.
Seeing that she didn't chase after him, he felt confused.
But if she thought about it carefully, whether Ai Ye and Tong Huan reconciled or not had nothing to do with them. After all, the purpose of this journey was just to find out the murderer who poisoned Tong Huan and restore his innocence.
"That being said." Mu You walked behind Xiao Lin, his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky. "Even if we know how Tong Huan died, it won't be easy to find the person who killed him and to be on guard against him being poisoned."
Xiao Lin stood on tiptoe and leaped over a puddle. When he landed, he startled a little frog in the corner and replied, "I think County Magistrate Tong must have found out something, so he's being hated."
"What did you find out?" Mu You pouted, pretending to think. "What else could you find out? Isn't it just the secrets of the human trafficking gang in this place?"
Yes, the secret of the human traffickers. According to Chu Mo, Tong Huan fell into this mystery and died.
But where did he find out, and when was he discovered?
They know nothing about it.
Forget it. Instead of speculating here, I might as well go to the county government office and ask him everything in person.
It's time to tell the truth about Ai Ye.
After that, the two of them walked together for a long time, asking questions along the way, and finally returned to the county government office after their feet became numb.
At this time, Tong Huan was working in the backyard, so Xiao Lin and the others, under the guidance of the yamen runners, knocked on the door of the study.
"Come in." A calm voice was heard occasionally amid the clamor of books. Upon hearing this, Xiao Lin and Mu You cautiously entered the room.
However, what caught their eyes were piles of cases and scattered straw papers on the ground.
Tong Huan looked up at the sound and saw Xiao Lin and Mu You. He couldn't tear his eyes away. "What's going on? Have you found any clues?"
Xiao Lin and Mu You looked at each other again, and finally Mu You spoke: "I found it... but..."
"but?"
"But she won't see you..."
Mu You's voice became weaker and weaker, finally sinking to his throat.
Tong Huan's pause in writing and his slightly parted lips clearly indicated that he was also having trouble accepting this reality, so he asked again, "You don't want to see me?"
Xiao Lin and Mu You nodded in unison.
"She...did she say anything? Did you give her the token?"
"I gave it to you, I gave it all to you." Mu You's face was filled with helplessness. He waved his elbow to urge Xiao Lin to return the pendant to Tong Huan. "We don't know why, but she said she doesn't want to see you."
Then, Xiao Lin slowly took out the wooden pendant from his body, held it in his palm, and handed it to Tong Huan with both hands.
Picking up the red string, Tong Huan glanced at the zongzi-shaped wooden pendant again, then raised his eyes and looked directly into Xiao Lin's eyes: "So... how is she now?"
What was to come finally came. Even if they kept silent about it, they still could not escape Tong Huan's questioning.
They looked at each other in silence. Xiao Lin scratched his wrist and told Tong Huan everything they had heard.
From the gossip of the group of women to what they saw with their own eyes.
Killing her husband, going to jail, falling ill, remarrying, losing her son...everything in the past, as long as Xiao Lin and Mu You knew even a little bit, they both told them everything.
Tong Huan leaned his hands on the table and listened to the two of them talking with a blank expression.
After Xiao Lin finished his closing remarks, Tong Huan's arm became unstable for some reason and trembled.
In fact, not to mention Tong Huan, even Xiao Lin and Mu You, two bystanders, couldn't help but feel sad when they heard about Ai Ye's experience in the past ten years.
What's more, Tong Huan, who treated Ai Ye as his closest relative, must have felt heartbroken and as if his liver and liver were broken when he knew Ai Ye's pain.
As expected, after a moment, all his strength seemed to be drained away, and he suddenly fell on the wooden chair behind him. Facing the scattered documents in front of him, there was only a dead look in his eyes.
The study fell into a dead silence, so quiet that even the sound of ink soaking into the rice paper could be clearly heard.
Xiao Lin and Mu You leaned against each other, knowing that Tong Huan was in urgent need of being alone. They were also sensible people, so they exchanged glances, then stood on tiptoe and cautiously pushed open the door.
When the mortise and tenon joints creaked, Tong Huan came back to his senses and called out to the two of them, "Please wait a moment. Please take me to Ai Ye's residence."
"Ah?" Xiao Lin raised his eyebrows, looking surprised.
But Tong Huan was resolute: "If she doesn't want to see me, then I will go see her."
Although Ai Ye may have a special meaning to Tong Huan, now that Ai Ye has said that she doesn't want to see him, what difference does it make even if he goes to her residence specially?
Xiao Lin was puzzled. He stepped around Mu You's arm and stepped forward. "County Magistrate Tong, Ai Ye...she's made it very clear. She must have some unspeakable secret that's why she refused to see you. You still have so many documents to deal with. Why don't you go see her later?"
"No, I must see her as soon as possible."
"You are the people's father and mother. You must have more important matters to deal with than mugwort leaves, such as... such as human trafficking?"
Xiao Lin said so much, hoping that Tong Huan could understand her deeper meaning.
However, things went against his wishes. Tong Huan's heart was completely on Ai Ye at this time. His gaze remained unchanged and he remained determined.
Yes, no matter how much Xiao Lin said, it couldn't stop his obsession of searching for ten years.
For Tong Huan, there was no other trivial matter, the most important thing was to see Ai Ye.
No one knew how peacefully he slept during these ten years, and how he was troubled by nightmares several times and went through countless twists and turns before he got any news about her.
Day after day, my heart is like a broken duckweed. How can her words "I don't want to see you" repair this flaw?
Even if she was in a thousand kinds of pain, she should not be brought here by outsiders. He wanted to hear with his own ears why she didn't want to see him.
Xiao Lin's eyes wandered, finally landing on Tong Huan's pupils.
His eyes reflected the light from the window frame, and on the other side of the light was the beam of light shining from the eaves of Ai Ye's residence.
After Xiao Lin and the others left, Ai Ye cleaned up the dishes and sat on the bed in a daze, thinking back to everything she had heard about Tong Huan.
Had he really been searching for her for ten years? Had he truly become the magistrate of Hanlu County? Given his background, how could he have participated in the imperial examinations? If he hadn't participated in the imperial examinations, how had he obtained the position of magistrate?
Her mind was occupied by trivial matters, and the needlework in Ai Ye's hands slowed down.
Suddenly, while she was dazed, Ali's voice came from the yard: "Mom! Mom! Someone is looking for you!"
"Come...come!" Hearing the voice, Ai Ye slowly folded Ali's pants, straightened the threads, and then lifted the curtain and walked out of the inner room.
However, when she followed Ali's finger and was only a few steps away from the door, she was able to see the face of the person in front of her clearly.
That face had been buried deep in her heart more than ten years ago.
Tong Huan's eyes suddenly lost focus. The Ai Ye in front of him was completely different from the one he remembered.
She still had those almond-shaped eyes, but the light scar at the corner of her eye was invisible against her dark skin, and the drooping corners of her eye spoke of the fatigue she had accumulated over the years.
"Ai Ye..." Tong Huan choked up for a moment, and uttered the name that he had engraved in his heart for ten years.
Although Ai Ye was half blind, he could still make out his face in the crowd.
He is the benefactor who saved her from danger, the person for whom she is willing to scoop up mountain spring water with her own hands and allow her to taste its sweetness first, and the person for whom she is willing to give all the prosperity in the world to.
Time flies, ten years have passed like a dream, the affection is unforgettable, the longing is engraved in her heart, how could she forget him and not recognize his true appearance?
Before he knew it, Ai Ye's hand was already hanging in the air.
She wanted to hold him in her arms and tell him all her sufferings, but all of this was shattered when Ali coughed.
Indeed, for her now, just meeting him again is a lifetime honor.
So she bent down, took Ali's hand, and pulled him behind her, and said with a hardened heart, "Master, what is it that you are looking for me?"
Tong Huan couldn't believe it. The person he had been looking for for ten years, the person he worried about every day, the person he gave up his dignity and exchanged for an official position just to see her, actually called him "Master" the first time they met again?
"You called me...what?" Tong Huan's breath was unstable, and he was joking. "Now, to you, I am just the master?"
Ai Ye ignored him, squatted down, pushed Ali, and taught him to call Tong Huan "Master Tong".
Xiao Lin and Mu You, who were following behind and leading the way, felt uncomfortable watching this, not to mention Tong Huan.
But Ai Ye still couldn't raise her head again. She pulled Ali to kneel on the ground, pressed down the back of Ali's neck, and kowtowed to Tong Huan twice.
Why did it become like this?
Tong Huan's eyes suddenly became warm, and the light in his eyes became more intense.
He stood up, then bent down, and between the two, the defense line in Tong Huan's heart suddenly collapsed and could no longer be mended.
Xiao Lin was standing beside him, looking at him from the side, and saw a bitter smile on the corner of his mouth.
Yes, anyone who has been looking for someone for ten years, only to find that everything has changed and the person has changed, will be disheartened.
However, before he could indulge in self-deprecation for a moment, the hot wind blew over him, carrying the neighbors' greetings - "Hey? Mugen is back?"
Xiao Lin was startled and shivered.
What? Zhao Mugen is back? Ai Ye's husband, is he back now?
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