Chapter 22 Scholar Zhou Ding (Additional Update)
Chang Suining shook his head directly: "I don't remember it at all."
After all, she's insane, so that makes sense.
"Which maid was the one who accompanied Sui Ning on that day?" Chang Kuo asked with a frown.
Chang Sui'an: "It's Xi'er!"
Chang Suining: "Are you still alive?"
Chang Sui'an was stunned by her question, then nodded quickly: "He's alive! He has been detained in the room for questioning since the night of the Lantern Festival...Uncle Bai, bring him here!"
Soon, a maid who was about the same age as Chang Suining was brought over. Her eyes were red and swollen like rotten peaches, and her clothes were not clean. It seemed that she had not washed and combed her hair for at least three to five days. She looked very embarrassed and miserable.
As soon as she entered the hall, her red and swollen eyes that were barely open immediately found Chang Suining. She knelt down in front of Chang Suining and cried, "Girl... you're okay! It's really great!"
It must be said that Chang Suining was a little touched.
So far, this is the first person who has recognized her at first sight.
"...Xier is holding on to this breath, just to wait for the girl to come back!" Xier looked up at Chang Suining, revealing a smile that said "no regrets in death, no worries anymore": "Now that I've seen the girl, Xier is relieved!"
As he said this, he bit his lip, turned around abruptly, and slammed his head against the corner of the table.
Chang Suining: “?”
As expected of a military law expert, are all members of the Chang family from top to bottom so brave and willing to die?
It's really too good.
She quickly grabbed Xier's arm and said, "Don't worry, I still have some questions to ask you."
Xier sobbed a bit, nodded in confusion, and postponed her plan of suicide for a while: "Girl, ask again."
"First, tell me what happened before and after the incident on the night of the Lantern Festival."
While Chang Suining was talking, Chang Sui'an moved a wide chair behind her and whispered, "Ningning, sit down and ask."
Chang Kuo looked at his son with satisfaction and sat down.
Of course, Chang Sui'an was standing.
Xier said in one breath: "...On the night of the Lantern Festival, I went out with the girl to enjoy the lanterns. I suggested that the girl guess lantern riddles, but the girl said that she didn't want to go to a crowded place, so she took me across the Moon Bridge to the other side of the Lantern Festival, and asked me to wait under the bridge, saying that she wanted to go for a walk by the river alone. Seeing that the girl was getting farther and farther away, I was worried and chased after her, but it was too late. When I chased after the reeds, I couldn't find the girl anymore!"
No wonder she spoke so skillfully. After all, she had said it countless times with Manager Bai and Chang Sui'an over the past few days.
Chang Suining frowned slightly after hearing this: "...Have I ever expressed thoughts of committing suicide?"
Xier was stunned for a moment, then shook her head: "Although the girl is a little sentimental, she has not had any troubles worth mentioning recently... and the girl has always been very afraid of pain..."
However, doesn't the girl herself know better than her?
But she continued, "I searched for the girl by the river for a long time but couldn't find her, so I quickly asked the driver to go back to the mansion and tell the gentleman about this. The gentleman said he had dropped something valuable into the river, so he hired a nearby boatman to fish for it all night, but found nothing."
Chang Suining thought - at that time, Ah Li was probably washed away by the water and fell into the hands of the cripple.
Was it really a simple accident? Chang Suining didn't want to jump to conclusions: "Before I left, did I say anything? Did I bring anything? Or... did I have an appointment with someone? Was I going to meet someone?"
Facing Xi'er's increasingly confused expression, Chang Suining said, "I can't remember many things for the time being. The doctor said that I need to rest for half a month before I can slowly recover. Just answer now."
What Xier said before was all true - if something had happened to Ah Li before, the other party could still use her fabricated excuses to deceive Chang Sui'an and Manager Bai, but now that "Ah Li" is back, the other party would definitely not dare to confront her face to face.
In other words, this maid, at least until now, has been telling the truth.
And her words that "it will take half a month of rest to slowly recover" were just a bluff.
Xier was shocked at first, then her eyes revealed a look of guilt and self-hatred: "The girl has suffered... It's all Xier's fault for not protecting the girl well, which caused the girl to suffer like this..."
"It's not my fault to follow orders." Chang Suining interrupted her self-blame: "It's more important to answer first, think about it carefully."
"Yes..." Xier thought for a moment and said, "The girl has never said anything worth noting... The girl doesn't like to socialize with others, and she doesn't have any good friends..."
Chang Suining: "What about the good young man?"
Chang Kuo: “?”
Chang Sui'an: “?”
Xier opened her mouth and said, "My dear, neither...nor..."
As she spoke, she suddenly thought of something: "But there is a young man who is not that young..."
Chang Sui'an suddenly frowned: "You don't mean Zhou Ding?"
Xier nodded quickly.
Seeing Chang Sui'an's disgusted look, Chang Suining couldn't help but ask, "Who is Zhou Ding?"
This was also the first time Chang Kuo had heard of this name.
"He is a fake..." Chang Sui'an was about to curse, but when he thought of his sister's admiration for him in the past, he held back and said tactfully, "He is just a poor scholar who wants to deceive my sister by drinking a few pots of ink and writing a few sour poems!"
Chang Suining didn't rush to answer him, but only asked Xier: "Since I seldom interact with people, he is one of the people I interact with. Then, on the night of the Lantern Festival, will I go to see this person?"
Xier shook her head: "But the girl didn't mention it to me that day, so she probably didn't have an appointment with this person..."
"Or maybe... knowing that my brother didn't approve of my association with him, I didn't tell anyone and used the excuse of going to the river alone, but in fact I was going to see him?" Chang Suining guessed, "The Lantern Festival is for people to gather together for fun, and I went there but said I didn't like crowded places and went to a secluded place alone. If there is no other reason, isn't it contradictory?"
Xier wanted to say something but stopped herself.
Chang Sui'an scratched his head and whispered, "Ningning...it's not contradictory. After all, you have always been like this."
One moment you say you want to be alone, and the next you burst into tears and say that you are extremely lonely in the world...it's a common thing.
Maybe because she lost her biological parents at a young age, my sister's temperament has always been fragile and changeable.
Or maybe it was because he needed to express his emotions and was usually obsessed with poetry and songs, but he, as an elder brother, was not born to be that kind of person. Although his sister did not say it explicitly, he felt that his words and actions were rude and reckless, and gradually he dared not get close to his sister, for fear of scaring her and annoying her.
All in all, my sister likes talented people - and Zhou Ding just has some of that talent.
Chang Suining was silent for a moment, then asked, "How did I get to know this person?"
Although this person may not be related to Ah Li's fall into the water, since this person holds a prominent position in Ah Li's relatively closed life, he deserves more attention.
"It was half a year ago, at a poetry meeting..." Xier roughly recounted what had happened.
Since they met at the poetry meeting, the girl has been exchanging letters with this man, and she has secretly helped him many times.
"...I actually gave him money to spend?" Chang Suining found it unbelievable.
Xier: "Mr. Zhou often sighs in front of me about his poor family. Although he has the title of a scholar and is very talented, the road to the imperial examination is long and difficult..."
"So, I decided to support him in his studies and take the imperial examination?" Chang Suining frowned. "... and he promised to come to me in a grand ceremony to propose marriage when he passed the imperial examination?"
"No, no, no!" Xier quickly waved her hands to deny it.
Ah, I added more chapters successfully! Thank you all for your monthly votes! Have you seen my new avatar? Huahua drew it haha~ (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
