Two days later, Amber replied to Shiyi Niang.

"The Fifth Young Master often goes to bookstores and buys books occasionally. After buying books, he sits in a private room in the teahouse next door to drink tea and read, or goes to the lobby of the teahouse to listen to storytelling. The Fifth Young Master usually goes to the bookstore alone, but he made two friends in the lobby of the teahouse who often go to listen to storytelling. One of them is surnamed Sun, a native of Jiangnan, whose father is a secretary of the Ministry of Revenue. The other is surnamed Liu, a local, whose father is a gentleman in charge of a museum. The three of them only get together to listen to storytelling, invite each other for a cup of tea, and chat, but they don't have any other interactions." At this point, she paused, "Housewives head Xiu Lian said that in the afternoon, the Fifth Young Master went to a place called Wuliugou in the east of the city to find a man named Liu Kui..."

Eleventh Lady's mind exploded with a buzz: "Liu Kui? Who is he? Wuliugou? What kind of place is that?"

Amber was an insider of what happened back then.

"Xiulian said that this Liu Kui was one of the four great Jing actors in Beijing. He was addicted to gambling and borrowed money from all his relatives and friends. Gradually, no one wanted to associate with him. Liu Huifang, a famous female actor in Beijing, was his son. In order to pay off his gambling debts, he sold her to a troupe when she was young. Later, Liu Huifang became famous, so he went to claim her as his relative. Liu Huifang refused to admit that she was Liu Kui's son. This incident caused quite a stir back then. Everyone in the opera world who was a little older knew about it. Later, Liu Huifang lost his voice and was cheated out of all his money. After getting the money, she moved in with Liu Kui. Eight years ago, Liu Huifang went out to visit a friend and never came back. Liu Kui fell ill not long after and died a few months later. It was the neighbors who helped with the funeral. Now the coffin is still stored in the temple with no place to bury it. "He added, "Wuliugou is a small ditch outside Chaoyangmen, where people from the lowest class live. When it rains, your feet are covered in mud, and when it's sunny, you're covered in dirt. There's nothing wrong, so most people won't go there..." At the end of the words, his tone was already a little hesitant.

So I bought a pair of shoes outside and changed them temporarily!

"What about those servants? Didn't anyone notice that he was going to the wrong place?" Shiyi Niang shouted in a deep voice, "Didn't anyone stop him? What about Si Xi and the others? It must have taken them more than a day or two to find that place, so didn't anyone notice that he was different?" At this point, Shiyi Niang became a little annoyed. She walked around the room, looking very angry.

Amber said hurriedly, "Madam, the more you explain, the worse it gets." She said in a soft voice, "There are some things I didn't let Xiulian find out! If you want to know, I'll go and ask quietly!" She added, "Si Xi is a cautious person. Since the fifth young master has even kept it a secret from her, he must have already made up his mind. I think this matter..."

This means that Xu Sijie had kept it a secret from others. If anyone were to find out, he would surely be alarmed.

Eleventh Lady thought about how she had asked him again and again, but he didn't say anything.

It is obviously unwise to pursue who is responsible at this moment. The most urgent task is to know how much Xu Sijie knows? What is he thinking? His gradual weight loss is probably related to this matter!

Thinking of this, Eleventh Lady felt that she couldn't wait any longer. She stood up and walked out: "Let's go and take a look!"

Amber didn't dare to let anyone follow her, so she went to the outer courtyard with Shiyi Niang.

Xu Sijie went to Xu Sizhun.

Eleventh Lady turned to Danbo Zhai.

Xu Sijie is not here.

Hearing that Shiyi Niang came to see Xu Sijie, Xu Sizhun was stunned. Then he helped Shiyi Niang's arm and sat on the big kang by the window: "Mr. Zhuo, the Minister of War, resigned and returned to his hometown. Daddy asked me to go with him to see him off. But it happened that Chief Steward Bai sent someone to say that the two restaurants near the Lantern Festival have private rooms with good locations, and asked me to go and see which one is better. I was afraid that Daddy would not be able to find anyone if I left, so I asked my fifth brother to go in my place." Then he called the servant Wang Shu, "Go and wait at the door. Come back and report to me as soon as the fifth young master comes back."

Wang Shu responded and left.

Eleventh Lady looked at Xu Sizun, whose smile was a little nervous, and became puzzled.

She decided to wait for Xu Sijie to come back.

"It should be difficult to book a private room for viewing the Lantern Festival at this time, right?" Eleventh Lady was talking to Xu Sizhun, "Can we still choose the one we like?"

"Those restaurants are very smart!" Xu Sizhun personally served tea to Shiyi Niang and sat beside her on a brocade stool to talk. "Every year, many people go to the Lantern Festival to watch the lanterns. They are afraid of offending people they cannot afford to offend, so they will secretly reserve a few private rooms with better locations for emergency use."

"Oh!" Eleventh Lady laughed, "I didn't expect Zhun'er to understand this!"

Zhun Ge'er said with embarrassment, "I also heard it from Chief Steward Bai." He added, "Chief Steward Bai also said that we should prepare for a rainy day. When the time comes, we should not only announce the name of our mansion, but also find out who booked the private rooms on the left and right. If anything happens, those people will also be cautious..."

The two men were talking, and almost an hour had passed but Wang Shu still hadn't come back, nor had he waited for Xu Lingyi to call him.

Xu Sizun began to become absent-minded.

Jinger ran over and said, "Mom, mom, I've finished writing." He looked like he was taking credit for it, "I left the study only after I finished writing!"

Since he was punished, Shiyi Niang started to accompany him to trace the red characters from beginning to end every day, and later she would go out a few times in the middle. Today was the first time she didn't accompany him to trace the red characters.

"Really?" Eleventh Lady hugged her son with a smile, "Not bad, not bad!"

"Brother will reward you with a topaz Buddha's hand!" Xu Sizhun said in a funny tone.

When Jin Ge'er heard this, his eyes lit up. But when he saw that Shiyi Niang didn't say anything, he hesitated for a long time before whispering, "No need! Mother said that I can't just take other people's things casually, and I can't take away what others like!"

"My brother gave it to you. It's not what you wanted!" Xu Sizhun went to hold Jing'er's hand, "The Buddha's hand is on my desk. Come and see if you like it?"

"I'm not going!" Jing'er didn't move, and his tone sounded a little weak.

Eleventh Lady nodded secretly: "Zhun'er, you don't have to spoil him like this. He just did his job well." As she said that, she put her arm around her son's shoulders affectionately, "However, since you can listen to me and concentrate on copying the red characters, I still want to reward you - let's make braised lion's head tonight, okay?"

"Okay!" Seeing that his mother approved of what he did, Jinger was happy, "I want to eat three!"

"When did I stop you from eating?" Eleventh Lady laughed.

Xu Sizun and the servants in the room also laughed.

Wang Shu rushed in: "Fifth Young Master is back!"

Xu Sizhun was surprised when he heard this and stood up suddenly: "Hurry up and let the fifth young master come in. Mother has been waiting for him all afternoon!"

So exciting!

Eleventh Lady narrowed her eyes and looked at him.

Feeling the strange gaze from his mother, Xu Sizun sat down a little uneasily: "Mother, I'm afraid you've been waiting for too long..." He looked quite guilty.

Eleventh Lady smiled and said nothing.

Wang Shu welcomed Xu Sijie in.

Xu Sijie turned pale, called out "Mother", lowered his head and said nothing.

"Didn't you go to help me look for a private room?" Xu Sizhun asked anxiously, "How is it? Which one did you choose?"

"I, I..." His face flushed red. He looked at Eleventh Lady, then at Xu Sizun, and stuttered for a long time without uttering a word.

Jie Ge'er, never lied to her.

Eleventh Lady sighed softly in her heart and stood up: "Okay, I came to the outer courtyard just to see you two brothers. Since you two brothers have something to say, I will go back first. You should pay more attention to the Lantern Festival and make sure there is no trouble."

Xu Sizhun breathed a sigh of relief, but Xu Sijie looked ashamed. When Shiyi Niang walked out, he even pulled her sleeve: "Mother, I, I..."

Eleventh Lady stood there quietly, with infinite patience.

Xu Sijie's expression was unclear and he didn't say anything in the end.

Eleventh Lady hugged Xu Sijie affectionately and left Tanbo Pavilion.

Xu Sizhun dragged Xu Sijie to the inner room. As they walked, he ordered Wang Shu: "Stand by the door and don't let anyone in!"

Wang Shu responded.

Xu Sizhun had closed the lattice door with a "click".

"What did you do?" Xu Sizhun's expression was unusually serious. "I went to look for you these two days, and Si Xi said you went to the bookstore. But your personal servant said you went to the teahouse to listen to storytelling. What happened?"

Xu Sijie looked down at the bluestone bricks under his feet and said nothing.

"Did you get into trouble outside?" Xu Sizhun thought for a moment and said, "Even if that's the case, you should tell me - I can ask Gao Pan or Tao Cheng to help us deal with it without alerting the people in the mansion."

Xu Sijie didn't say anything and continued to remain silent.

"Okay, if you don't tell me, then I'll have to... have to..." After thinking for a long time, I still didn't know what to do.

Xu Sizhun was so anxious that he stamped his feet and told Xu Sijie that Shiyi Niang had been sitting with him for the whole afternoon today: "...Do you want your mother to be worried about you all the time?"

“No, no!” Xu Sijie raised his head, his eyes full of panic, “I just don’t want my mother to worry about me…” Then he thought of the way Shiyi Niang waited for him to speak, and his eyes couldn’t help but moisten, “I can’t say, I can’t say!” He squatted on the ground, holding his head and sobbing, “I’m not going to look for her, I just want to know what kind of person she is…where I come from…My mother treats me like her own child, I’m afraid she will be sad if she knows…but I can’t help it…I didn’t expect she was that kind of woman…My father must have been fooled by her…If I wasn’t…would my mother not want me anymore…”

It was all chaos and Xu Sizhun didn't understand a word at first.

When asked about Xu Sijie, he just shed tears silently with his lips tightly pursed.

In the flash of lightning, Xu Sizhun thought of his childhood...

He stood there, staring blankly at Xu Sijie, speechless for a long time.

* * * * * *

As soon as Eleventh Lady left the house, she told Amber, "Ask Wan Daxian to come see me!"

Amber bowed and left.

But in the next few days, Xu Sijie went to and from school obediently and did not go anywhere.

Eleventh Lady was just wondering why Xu Sizhun started going out more frequently.

She couldn't help but frown and asked Xu Lingyi, "Did the Marquis ask Zhun'er to do a lot of things?"

"Didn't he want to take Jing'er and the others out to see the Lantern Festival?" Xu Lingyi was looking at Jing'er's red painting these days, and his tone seemed very casual, "He said that just in case, we should take a look around. It's rare for him to be so concerned, so I agreed!"

※

It was a bit long-winded, and then I sped up the progress. I spent all my time deleting posts, so the update is a bit late.

O(∩_∩)O~

PS: The update is a little late, please get up tomorrow morning and read it!