Xu Twelve recounted the events of the past one by one.
Xu Jiang's mother's surname was Xi, her real name was Xizhi, and her nickname was Miancun.
The marriage between the Xu family and the Xi family was originally arranged by Xu Yuan's parents when they were still alive.
When Xu Yuan's parents were alive, the two families had close contacts, and Xu Yuan and Xi Zhi were childhood sweethearts who grew up together.
Later, Xu Yuan's parents died of illness one after another, and the two families gradually lost contact. However, although the relationship between the two families was weak, the friendship between Xu Yuan and Xizhi did not fade.
Seeing that they were both adults and it was time to talk about marriage, but the Xi family kept making excuses to postpone it, and even had the intention of regretting the engagement.
Xu Yuan knew that they were dissatisfied with his family's decline, so he wanted to take the imperial examination to revive his family.
Under Xizhi's insistence, the Xi family reluctantly agreed to wait a little longer.
Who would have thought that the imperial examinations were dark at that time, the path to success was controlled by the gentry, and the rankings were predetermined.
Xu Yuan was filled with indignation and stood up to protest against injustice by beating drums in the government office. However, he was severely punished and missed the exam.
He knew very well that he had offended the gentry and that his path to the imperial examination was cut off. He also felt desperate about the darkness in the officialdom and left Beijing in disgrace.
After traveling for two years, he returned to his hometown, but news of the Xi family's cancellation of the engagement came one after another.
Xu Yuan and Xi Zhi naturally refused, and Xi Zhi did not give up on Xu Yuan just because he failed the exam.
However, the Xi family took a tough stance and offered benefits to Xu Yan, the then head of the Xu family. Both sides forced Xu Yuan and Xi Zhi to cancel their engagement.
Xizhi is a woman who is gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, and her ideas are as big as the sky. Seeing that persuasion is hopeless, she sneaks out of the house and stays with Xu Yuan at the cost of tarnishing her own reputation to resist her family's decision to cancel the engagement.
The two of them took refuge in the mountains and spent some peaceful days together, but they were still found by Xi's family and Xu Yan.
Xu Yuan was severely beaten by the Xi family for abducting a decent girl. Xi Zhi was also taken back and quickly found a husband to marry.
Xu Twelve didn't dare tell Xu Jiang that the two were found because he had leaked his tracks.
Xu Yuan didn't know it at the time.
After Xizhi was taken back, Xu Yuan came to her house every day to beg for mercy. Xi's family was afraid that it would affect their reputation, so they notified Xu Yan to arrest him and keep him under guard until Xizhi got married.
However, Xizhi soon discovered she was pregnant. She carefully concealed it, and by the time her family found out, the fetus had already died. Fearing a strong torrent would result in two deaths, they had no choice but to force Xizhi to give birth.
Xu Jiang clenched her palms tightly, trying her best not to be influenced by Xu Twelve's words.
"After you were born, the Xi family wanted to drown you, but she saved your life by threatening to die. But the Xi family also used you to threaten her, forcing her to break off all ties with the master and marry someone else. To save your life, she had no choice but to agree."
"The master received the heartless letter and fell seriously ill. He almost died. Xu Yan didn't care whether he lived or died. It was only I who found a doctor to see him and saved his life."
Xu Twelve boasted of his achievements at the right time, but Xu Jiang showed a sarcastic expression when he heard it. At that time, Xu Twelve had to rely on Xu Yuan to survive, so of course he had to save him.
"By the time the master recovered from his illness, Xizhi had already married, and she had moved to another place."
At that time, Xizhi had already lost her reputation in the local area, so the Xi family asked a matchmaker to find a wealthy family in another place, took over the family's four farms, and secretly carried Xizhi there without even preparing a dowry.
Later, Xu Twelve accidentally heard Xu Yan say that the rich man was a disabled person.
While sighing, he did not dare to tell Xu Yuan about this, for fear that he would cause trouble again and make everyone uneasy.
Not long after Xizhi got married, Xu Yuan picked up Xu Jiang.
Only after meeting Xu Jiang did he slowly recover from his decadence and depression, saving money by writing articles and painting for others and opening a bookstore. Until Xu Jiang was fourteen years old, his originally upward life was like Xu Yuan's legs, suddenly broken, and he fell into the abyss.
"After your mother got married, the Xi family wanted to abandon you. It was your mother's maid who secretly asked the servant to abandon you near the old house."
Xu Jiang asked hoarsely, "Does Master know?"
"I don't know. The servant didn't mention your background because he was afraid he would come and cause trouble again."
"Then how did you find out?"
Xu Twelve avoided her gaze and said, "Later, Xizhi's maid learned that his leg was broken and that his injury was serious and difficult to treat, and he didn't have much time left. So she asked me to tell him about this, to comfort his regret and tell him that Xizhi had not let them down."
He was Xu Yuan's servant, and Xizhi's maid only recognized and trusted him. Feeling guilty, he wrote down what the maid had said in a letter, sneaked back, and gave the letter to Xu Yuan when Xu Jiang was away.
Xu Jiang couldn't stand him. When she saw him, she was like a little wolf, wishing she could bite his throat off.
When he sneaked into the old house and faced Xu Yuan, who was tortured beyond recognition by injuries, he didn't even dare to raise his head. He threw down the letter and ran away.
He didn't know what Xu Yuan would think when he saw the letter.
A few days later, we heard that the person had died.
After the man died, Xu Yan wanted to bury him and take over his property on the pretext of bringing him into his family, but he didn't expect that a fire would burn everything to ashes.
And Xu Jiang also disappeared.
He thought Xu Yuan had recognized Xu Jiang before his death, but he didn't expect that he hadn't told her. So when they met again in the capital, Xu Si called Xu Jiang a bastard, and Xu Jiang admitted to being a bastard, Xu Twelve was so surprised.
Xu Yuan said nothing.
After Xu Twelve finished speaking, the three people present fell silent.
After a long while, Xu Jiang asked, "You said she was seriously ill and about to... die. How did you know that?"
"Last year, after I left Beijing with the caravan, I headed for..." He almost revealed the location, but quickly stopped talking, paused, and continued, "The caravan I was following happened to pass through the county where she was married. I asked the caravan leader to take me to her, hoping to exchange information about you for her to redeem me. But I didn't see her. Her family said she was seriously ill and couldn't see guests. Then, when they heard I was a member of the Xu family, they drove me away."
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