Chapter 82 Chapter 82 Qin Sizhao's Secret
"Rong'er, do you really want to be with me?"
His brows furrowed slightly, and his voice grew fainter and fainter, drowned out by the sound of wind blowing through the leaves.
"Of course I really do."
She squeezed his hand and pulled him towards her.
"Let's go, let's go to your mother's grave together."
Qin Sizhao was like a man who was eagerly waiting to be punished. He was silent for a while and then made the difficult decision to take this step.
Qin Sizhao silently swept the grave with his mother and placed some tributes on it.
Tao Jinrong looked at his mother's tombstone. Unexpectedly, it was a solitary grave. It did not say whose wife she was, but her name and that she was Qin Sizhao's mother.
"A Zhao, your father is still alive, right?"
“Not anymore.”
"Then why aren't your father and mother's graves together?"
He fell silent and confessed as if he was struggling.
"I think my mother might not want to be buried with him."
He looked around and said:
"There are too many people here. I'll talk to you after we get back."
The lonely grave watched the two of them leave. The setting sun shone on them, and Qin Sizhao said nothing along the way.
Tao Jinrong looked at him with some worry, but did not take the initiative to break the silence.
If he didn't want to talk to her and wanted to remain silent, he must have his reasons.
She chose to respect him.
"This is the ancestral home my father left me. It hasn't been cleaned in a long time, so it's a bit dusty. Wait for me to clean it before you go in."
He picked up the dusty broom and used the method of cleaning the room non-stop to relieve his anxiety. He had to give his proud mind a break for a while and numb himself with repetitive work.
He recalled how Tao Jinrong had kissed him yesterday, with a touch of cunning, and his guilt grew even stronger. He couldn't deceive her in exchange for a selfish relationship; he wouldn't allow himself to do that.
"Rong'er, come in."
Tao Jinrong found that his eyes were full of bloodshot and his lower lip was bleeding from being bitten. She did not feel scared, but just worried.
He drew a bucket of water from the well, boiled it, and poured her a cup.
"When I was eight years old, I killed my father."
Only after she finished drinking a glass of water and sat down peacefully on the kang did Qin Sizhao confess his sins.
He gave a bitter smile:
"After committing such a crime, wouldn't being torn into pieces by five horses be too much of a punishment?"
Tao Jinrong was silent for a while and put the cup away.
"I want to hear your explanation of the whole story."
"My father was a scholar. He went to the city to study and take the exam. He was away for a year and failed. When he came back, he found that my mother's belly had grown big."
"I was only eight years old that year and didn't know why. I only knew that my father was very angry, slapped my mother and ran away from home."
As he spoke, his eyes became red and sore, his hands trembled, and a tear slid down his cheek.
"My mother...my mother asked me to buy a rope, so I went...My mother gave me a lot of copper coins and asked me to go out and play for a day..."
"When I came back...when I came back...my mother had already..."
Qin Sizhao only hated that his memory was too good. He couldn't get rid of it, couldn't get out of it, and couldn't forget it.
His body was swaying in the air. He stood in front of a hanged corpse and suddenly recognized that it was his mother.
"The next day, my father came back. He held my mother's body and cried."
"I had learned a lot of words that year and read a lot of books, but I really couldn't figure out the secret. I just felt that my father had killed my mother."
"After my mother died, my father changed. He drank heavily and lived in a daze. I had read some medical books at the time, so I made a pot of aconite and mutton soup for him to nourish him, and I specially added more aconite."
He covered his face in pain:
"Only when I grew up did I realize what crime I had committed. I couldn't help but wonder, if I hadn't bought that rope, would my mother have survived? Would it have been possible for our family of three to return to the past?"
He confessed all his sins in one breath. Patricide was the greatest crime in the world, a crime worthy of being torn into pieces by five horses.
"A Zhao, you were just too young at that time."
She wiped his tears with the handkerchief she carried with her.
"I don't know how to judge your past. I can only tell you that you have saved many people in your life, myself included."
She opened her eyes wide, raised her chin slightly, looked at him firmly, and said in a resounding voice:
"I can tell you plainly that without you, I wouldn't have the courage to live."
Tao Jinrong placed his hand on his chest and said with a slight smile:
"But now I want to survive, and no matter what happens, I will persevere."
She paused and added:
"With you, of course."
Qin Sizhao hugged her and burst into tears.
He was once weak, helpless, and cowardly, unable to even protect his own mother.
From then on, he only wanted to protect the only person he loved in the world with his own hands.
When he met her for the first time, he secretly swore in his heart that he would never let her repeat that tragic fate.
He has done it now.
"There's nothing to be afraid of now."
Tao Jinrong patted him on the back gently.
"We're already home."
Qin Sizhao put one hand on her shoulder and wiped her tears with the other.
"Rong'er, let's have a wedding."
Tao Jinrong was stunned for a moment and said:
"There's no need for that. You can just tell everyone that we're married, right? If we have a wedding banquet, we'll have to spend some money."
"It's okay. My pharmacy is still open and generates income. It's not too far from here. My previous imperial examinations all count, so I don't have to pay taxes. I can just get a sinecure like a teacher through a recommendation. You don't have to worry about that."
Tao Jinrong said dejectedly:
"I didn't take my indenture with me when I left, and it seems that Gu Shi changed my indenture."
"It's okay, I'll ask someone to get you a new identity."
She gritted her teeth and thought that since Qin Sizhao had confessed everything, she had no choice but to confess as well.
"A Zhao, do you understand that you can't strike a stolen gong? Gu Shi thought I was dead."
Seeing Qin Sizhao stunned, she explained:
"I had originally agreed with Gu Shi to leave openly, but he got angry with me and evacuated all the palace inmates, leaving me alone in the palace. Luckily, a palace maid I knew well helped me find a shortcut. As soon as I left, the bedroom caught fire, and they even found a female corpse. Gu Shi thought I was dead, and he's probably having a fit in the palace right now."
Tao Jinrong felt a headache when he thought of the two words "Gu Shi".
Who on earth was so unlucky to die in there? This situation is of no benefit to her at all. She will have to hide from now on, like a rat that cannot stand the light.
Only after getting rid of him did I realize how happy life was without him. The six years before that were really a waste.
"From what I know about him, he'll definitely investigate whether you're married from time to time, and then find me out. Otherwise, you can just say I came to seek refuge with your cousin."
"How can that be possible?"
Qin Sizhao looked at her with some grievance.
"Then I will give up my official position and become a teacher to educate children. That way I can marry you openly."
"Oh, it's really unlucky that something like this happened and now you have to hide with me too."
Tao Jinrong lowered his head.
“It’s good enough to be like this.”
He kissed her forehead.
"This room is a little shabby, so stay here for one night. I've already prepared the bridal chamber. Wait for me to clean it up and make you two new clothes. I won't let you down."
Hearing this, Tao Jinrong was a little surprised. She really didn't expect that he had even prepared a wedding room.
"A Zhao, don't tell anyone that you've passed the imperial examination. If they find out, they'll know everything. Just say that I was sold to a noble lady as a personal maid and you redeemed me."
"Don't worry, the villagers only know that I went to the imperial examination."
To be honest, the name Qin Sizhao sounds very literary. The villagers are generally uneducated and cannot even write their own names, let alone remember this name. They only know that he is the son-in-law of the Tao family. Even if someone comes to inquire about him, the villagers often repeat the same things over and over again, and soon turn to things like the daughter-in-law and the father-in-law having an affair, and they can't find out anything.
As long as he stays away from officialdom, there shouldn't be any big problems.
"It's getting dark. Are you hungry?"
"It's okay. I eat a lot at noon, so I don't eat at night."
To be honest, Tao Jinrong's habit is to eat only one meal a day, and eat a lot at a time, and spend the rest of the time helping with housework. Gu Shi's aristocratic style of eating small meals frequently is really not suitable for her.
"This quilt is a little damp, and it's hot tonight. Don't cover yourself with it. Cover yourself with my coat instead."
Due to limited conditions, the two of them could only lie together on a brick bed, and he took off his coat and covered her with it.
Tao Jinrong pushed his coat back and said impatiently:
"Hey, why cover yourself with a blanket when it's so hot? I wish I could sleep naked."
She took off her outer and middle clothes at once, threw them aside, and went to sleep wearing only her knee-length panties and bellyband.
There was no light in the room, so Qin Sizhao couldn't see what she was wearing. He turned over and his hand hit her smooth shoulder squarely. He felt a thin thread hanging on her collarbone and suddenly pulled his hand back.
"I... didn't mean to..."
"It's okay even if you did it on purpose."
She leaned closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"It's a bit hot and humid tonight..."
Tao Jinrong deliberately leaned close to his ear and spoke, hooking his finger with his.
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