Li Gan saw that everyone had quieted down and was looking at him, then he smiled sincerely and said:
"It's only five ounces of gold; it's actually not worth anything.
Being away from home is already inconvenient, and I have my brothers and nephews with me.
My nephew has always been a delicate person with a very delicate stomach, and cannot tolerate the slightest uncleanness. Therefore, it is very difficult for him to eat out.
Fortunately, the young lady invited us so kindly and treated us with such clean vegetables.
As the old saying goes, a drop of water should be repaid with a spring.
We are offering you a small gift of silver and money simply because, apart from these vulgar things, we have nothing else to express our gratitude. Please do not hesitate to do so."
After Li Gan said this, the Xia family felt it was difficult to refuse. However, they also felt that one ingot of gold was too much. They were about to refuse twice more when they saw Xia Daohua putting the gold ingot into her sleeve with a smile on her face.
This girl actually gave Li Ganfei an admiring look.
Mr. Xia, Xia Youtian, and Jiang all felt their faces burning with anger, and said to Li Gan apologetically, "I'm so sorry, so sorry!"
"Alas, the little girl was injured a few days ago, so we couldn't help but indulge her these days. Unexpectedly, she was spoiled a little bit..." He repeatedly expressed his desire to straighten Xia Daohua's temper.
Li Gan smiled and said, "The young lady is innocent, straightforward, helpful, and has a good character. How can you say she's spoiled?"
When everyone in the Xia family heard Li Gan praising Xia Daohua like this, they couldn't help but smile.
At this point, Li Gan felt that the Xia family was simple and honest in character. However, for some reason, these children were much more active than their parents.
Especially this young lady named Daohua, not only was she not stage-frightened, not afraid of me, she even dared to order me to save the situation according to her wishes...
I don't know whether what she mentioned during the dinner, that she had met Xiao Lubuhua, was true or not?
Xia Daohua seemed to have noticed and actually continued the previous topic, saying, "Oh, right, I almost forgot when I was interrupted just now. I saw the person in the portrait before. It was on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month..."
Xia Daohua described the appearance of the man in the alley in detail, but did not mention that she almost robbed him of everything.
Xia Daohua asked:
"What are you looking for him for? That man is not a good person. He set fire to Huanhua Tower!"
Old Master Xia, Xia Youtian, and Jiang's faces instantly turned red with shame - how could a place like Huanhua Tower be mentioned casually by a young lady like Xia Daohua?
Jiang couldn't help but scolded with a red face:
"What nonsense are you talking about? Where did you hear all this nonsense from?"
Xia Daohua looked bewildered and asked in surprise:
"Is this nonsense? Mother, have you forgotten? It was on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month when the yamen runners closed the streets and said that there were bandits who were killing people and setting fire to Huanhua Tower. They also told us to evacuate and go home quickly..."
The expressions of the adults in the Xia family immediately relaxed, and they were no longer as red as before, as if blood would drip out at any time.
Xia Daohua stared closely at Li Gan's eyes and asked curiously:
"That guy doesn't look like a Da Chu person, and you don't look like a Da Chu person either. Could you be from the same place? What you said to Master Shen Qi was actually a lie to him, right?"
After saying the last sentence, she still had a smug expression on her face, as if saying, "Look how smart I am, praise me, praise me."
Li Gan originally wanted to continue asking questions, but after hearing this, he was a little amused:
"I am from the capital, my surname is Li, my given name is Gan, and my courtesy name is Sansi. I have come here to visit friends and to take advantage of official business.
Although Li is not talented, he has an important job.
Although our Great Chu court is benevolent and generous, benefiting the people, we have never set a precedent of allowing barbarians to serve as officials!"
Li Gan finished his words with a smile, and everyone around him laughed too, but Xia Daohua didn't laugh:
"No evidence, how can I know whether what you said is true or false?"
Li Gan took out a gold medal from his waist and showed it to Xia Daohua, but Xia Daohua did not recognize the symbol or emblem on it.
The lines of a white cloud formed the Chinese character "锦". Could it be "Who sent the brocade letter from the clouds?"
This seems unlikely, doesn't it?
Seeing Xia Daohua's eyes change from confusion to doubt, Li Gan realized that she probably didn't know how to read, or didn't recognize the sign.
Li Gan was helpless, rolled his eyes, thought carefully, and said:
"I'm here on official business, and the chief and deputy chief of the Qianhu Office are both aware of this."
When Xia Daohua heard this, she believed it 90%.
The remaining hesitation disappeared after Li Gan borrowed an empty room, a basin of hot water and a sweat towel.
After seeing Li Gan perform the magic trick in front of her twice, Xia Daohua felt Li Gan's sincerity and let down her guard.
She said to Li Gan with a smile:
"When I saw that guy, he was staggering, as if he was about to fall, and then..."
After hearing what Xia Daohua said, Li Gan was surprised and delighted, yet couldn't believe it.
Xia Daohua brought Li Gan into the yard with a smile on her face, and she slipped into the gap of the firewood pile like a little loach.
He stuck half of his body in from behind the pile of firewood, rummaged around for a long time, and finally came out with a head full of thorns and weeds, holding a tightly wrapped oil-paper bag in his hand.
The moment Li Gan saw the oil-paper bag, his eyes started to burn with flames, the heat was so intense that it seemed as if it could burn someone.
Xia Daohua couldn't help but shudder. Li Gan noticed it and realized that he was showing his emotions too much.
He carefully took the oil-paper package, opened it with trembling fingers, and looked at the contents inside.
Looking at the paper and handwriting, it is undoubtedly the original.
Moreover, not a single page was missing.
Xia Daohua's story was not very complete, but Li Gan had to believe it.
Otherwise, he really couldn't explain why the oil-paper bag that caused chaos in the capital city fell into his hands so easily.
After getting this, he was even too lazy to personally track down Xiao Lubuhua's whereabouts.
This incident also answered all the doubts.
Why did Xiao Lubuhua not return to the Northern Barbarians even though his identity had been exposed, but instead stayed in Da Chu, even missing their Queen Mother's birthday?
Why did Xiao Liyou, the king of the Northern Barbarians, not push his army to the border of Jieling Mountain even though he had already mobilized a large army?
Why, even though news of the stolen defense map has spread like wildfire, have those weakly defended nodes on Jieling Mountain remained unattacked?
All of this has been reasonably explained.
Li Gan felt as if he were dreaming. He once again reached out and pinched the defense map hidden in his arms. The dreamlike feeling seemed to become even stronger.
To express his gratitude, Li Gan specially gave Xia Daohua another ingot of gold.
Previously, when Xia Daohua saw the gold ingot, Li Gan saw clearly the sincere love in her eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
