Before we knew it, dusk was approaching.
Not far from Wanjiao Pavilion, wisps of smoke gradually rose from a small house that looked extremely simple and even somewhat shabby compared to its neighbors.
Inside the courtyard, an elderly man with white hair and a faltering gait was busily preparing a rather lavish dinner for his guests in the kitchen.
Although these were just common dishes from ordinary farmhouses, without any fancy meat dishes, for a family struggling to make ends meet, they were already much better than the dishes they would have for their New Year's Eve dinner.
The reason the old man was so enthusiastic about cooking this dinner was simply because it was the first time in over a decade that he felt so happy.
At this moment, the old woman was wrapping dumplings, a symbol of family reunion, while murmuring, "My daughter, if you know this in the afterlife, you can rest in peace. Our Lanxiang has finally made something of herself; she can now earn a living with her own honest skills. Now, this old body of mine can go to see you in peace. My only regret is that the wolf in sheep's clothing from back then, I still haven't found him. So, this old body of mine must hold on tight; I will definitely avenge you. My poor child, rest assured, you can be reborn into a wealthy family in your next life, and you won't have to suffer anymore."
As she spoke, tears blurred her vision without her realizing it, and the old woman silently wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve.
"Knock knock knock, knock knock knock," just then, a series of urgent knocks sounded on the door.
The old man, startled awake, quickly brushed the flour off his hands and picked up his cane, slowly making his way from the kitchen to the front door. As he walked, he exclaimed joyfully, "Lanxiang and the young lady are back! Oh, they're finally back! What a fine day, why did it suddenly start raining so hard? Did you get soaked...?"
But the moment she reached out and opened the door, she was stunned by the appearance of the person who came in front of her.
The person knocking on the door was a beautiful young woman, dressed in red, as beautiful as fire, yet as thin as a cicada's wing.
The person who came was Yan Hong, who had learned from the madam of Wan Jiao Pavilion that Lan Xiang was being hunted down by her master's men and had come specifically to inform her.
Because the matter was extremely urgent, she didn't even bother to take off her thin clothes in the warm and cozy Wanjiao Pavilion all year round, nor did she care about the torrential rain outside, and rushed out in a fit of anger.
At this moment, the strong scent of rouge and powder that Yan Hong had picked up in Wanjiao Pavilion was almost unbearable. The old man couldn't help but sneeze out, feeling extremely uncomfortable. "Achoo!"
Then, the old man carefully examined the woman from head to toe.
Because of a sudden downpour, the woman's already thin clothes were now completely soaked and clung tightly to her body.
The person was trembling slightly, and the stray hairs on their head had clumped together.
Thus, her exquisite and graceful figure was even more prominent, with her chest exposed and the cleavage between her breasts faintly visible.
And with that strong smell of perfume, she's clearly not a girl from a respectable family. Could she be...?
As the old woman pondered and guessed, the woman spoke first, saying, "Grandma, may I ask if there is a woman named Lanxiang living here? I have something very urgent to discuss with her. Please let me see her, okay?"
As the saying goes, "clothes make the man," and Yan Hong's attire and appearance at this moment certainly lacked composure.
At this moment, no one would want such a flirtatious woman to appear in front of their door.
Before Yi Shangyun told her about Lanxiang's situation outside, the old woman had been terrified every night, even in her dreams, that her granddaughter would go astray and get involved with such a person. At this moment, even if Lanxiang wasn't actually in the house, how could she possibly let Yan Hong see her?
The old man already had a bad first impression of her, and thinking of this, he immediately lost his temper with the woman, saying disdainfully, "Who are you? What business do you have with my granddaughter?"
"Thank goodness, we didn't come to the wrong place after all." Upon hearing the old man's words, Yan Hong exclaimed to herself with joy and excitement.
"Grandma, it's like this, my name is Yan Hong, and I'm Lan Xiang's sister who works with her. Where is Sister Xiang'er? I really have something very important to tell Sister Xiang'er right away." After a moment of clarity, Yan Hong spoke while looking around the yard from behind the old woman's body.
"Hey, hey, hey, you girl, how can you be so rude? What are you doing peeking into other people's houses? How could our Xiang'er have such an impolite friend? Hurry up and leave, hurry up and leave, don't stay at my door anymore. People who don't know better will think we know people from that kind of place. If the neighbors find out, it will be terrible. They'll drown our Xiang'er in their spittle. How will she ever be able to face anyone again?!" Seeing the woman acting suspiciously, the old man angrily spoke to her while forcefully pushing Yan Hong out the door, then prepared to close it.
Yan Hong then realized the old man's particularly suspicious attitude towards her. She glanced down at her clothes and then reached out to gather her clothes around her chest.
But then she quickly realized what she was doing, and slammed her hand on the door that was about to close. In her panic, she blurted out, "Grandma, please! I really have something extremely urgent to tell Lanxiang. Please let me in to see her. It's a matter of life and death, it's so urgent..."
"shut up"
Unexpectedly, before Yan Hong could finish speaking, her mother-in-law shouted angrily to stop her. Yan Hong was startled by the sudden increase in volume and couldn't help but tremble.
The old man continued his reprimand, “I’ve already been very lenient by not exposing your business to your face, but do you insist on humiliating yourself? Look at your appearance as a woman of the night, you’re not a proper girl at all. Our Lanxiang is well-behaved and sensible, how could she possibly work with you? You’re just spouting nonsense. If you know what’s good for you, get out of here right now. Otherwise…”
"Grandma, someone wants to kill Sister Xiang'er. I've come here specifically to warn them." Seeing that the old woman was quite difficult to deal with and the two were deadlocked for a long time, Yan Hong had no choice but to hurriedly tell her purpose.
"What? Someone wants to kill my Xiang'er? How is that possible? Who wants to kill my Xiang'er?" Sure enough, the old man became anxious and worried as soon as he heard that his granddaughter was in danger.
Just as the old man was distracted by this, Yan Hong lowered her body and nimbly slipped through the crack in the door under the old man's arm.
By the time the old man realized what was happening, Yan Hong had already rushed across the courtyard and into the house, searching everywhere for Lan Xiang while calling out, "Sister Xiang'er, Sister Xiang'er, something terrible has happened! Master is fleeing back to his country and has sent many assassins to kill you and silence you. Sister Xiang'er, Sister Xiang'er..."
However, after searching all the houses in this not-so-large courtyard, she found no trace of Lanxiang.
Just then, the old woman came in, panting and hobbling along with her cane. As soon as she entered the room, she tightly grabbed the small, rosy wrist and scolded her angrily, "You little brat, how dare you deceive an old woman like me! I'll teach you a lesson!"
As the old man spoke, he looked around for something he could use to teach someone a lesson. But Yan Hong just stood there blankly, her mind only on the terrible things the madam had just told her.
When she suddenly came to her senses, she quickly reversed her hand and tightly grasped the old man's skinny, calloused hands, which were etched with the marks of time.
Instantly, tears welled up in Yan Hong's eyes as she said with genuine emotion, "Grandma, my dear grandma, Yan Hong is really not a bad person. Yan Hong would rather die herself than harm Xiang'er in the slightest. What Yan Hong said is true. Someone really wants to kill Xiang'er to silence her."
No sooner had she finished speaking than Yan Hong burst into tears. Seeing Yan Hong's seemingly genuine tears, the old man began to have some doubts about the girl before him.
But precisely because of this, when the old woman recalled that an assassin wanted to kill her granddaughter to silence her, she suddenly felt dizzy and her vision went black.
Fortunately, Yan Hong was holding her hand tightly, preventing her from falling to the ground. Upon seeing this, Yan Hong hurriedly asked with concern, "Grandma, what's wrong? Please sit down."
"It's alright, it's alright," the old man said softly as Yan Hong helped him sit down, reaching out his hand to her.
"Girl, tell this old woman, who exactly tried to kill our Xiang'er? What exactly happened?" After resting for a while, under the old woman's repeated insistence and questioning, Yan Hong had no choice but to tell her everything she knew about Lan Xiang...
"That's impossible! You're talking nonsense! Our Xiang'er works hard outside, relying on her own abilities to make a living. How could she... how could she be a..." Upon hearing Yan Hong's words, the old man slammed his hand heavily on the table beside him and roared in astonishment.
With a thud, Yan Hong, seeing the old woman's anger, inexplicably knelt down on both knees, and could only apologize repeatedly with tears streaming down her face, "Grandma, I'm sorry, it's all Yan Hong's fault, it's all Yan Hong's fault, Yan Hong shouldn't have let Sister Xiang'er take the blame for Yan Hong, making her suffer so much bullying..."
"Shut up, stop talking, please stop talking..." Before Yan Hong could finish speaking, the old man shook his head and pleaded desperately, as if he didn't want to hear another word.
Only then did the old woman realize that the so-called good girl she had been talking about was the one who had been deceiving her.
Although she was old, she was not senile. Of course, she knew that the girl had made up such a white lie to keep her from worrying. But she did not expect that it would wake her up so quickly.
What was originally a beautiful dream turned into a nightmare.
At this moment, Yan Hong knelt before the old man, wiping away her tears as she held his hand, feeling the endless sorrow and grief in his heart.
After a moment's thought, Yan Hong finally asked again, "Grandma, where did Xiang'er go? Right now, the most important thing is for us to tell Xiang'er this news as soon as possible. If we're too late, I'm afraid..."
The old man instantly snapped back to reality, hurriedly saying, "Yes, yes, we must quickly tell Xiang'er this news! Where is Xiang'er? Where is Xiang'er? Xiang'er... Oh, right, Xiang'er went to Dream Garden to see the Dream Flowers. I'll go find her right now. My Xiang'er absolutely cannot be harmed, absolutely cannot be harmed..."
As she spoke, the old woman hurriedly grabbed her cane, stood up, and headed outside.
Upon seeing this, Yan Hong hurriedly stepped forward and followed closely behind, saying, "Grandma, I'm going too. Let me go with you."
"Okay, okay, good child, good child, thank you so much."
Just as Yan Hong helped the old man lift the curtain and was about to step across the threshold, a sharp sword, gleaming with a cold light, suddenly appeared before them. Yan Hong immediately gripped the old man's arm tightly and slowly backed away...
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