Chapter 93: Brother Lamb is actually him (two chapters in one)
There was a small gap between the bed and the wall. Zhao Shiqing reached in to try, but her hand couldn't get in.
When Xiao Zhen saw this, he helped her move the bed a few inches outward. This time, Zhao Shiqing's hand could finally reach in.
Zhao Shiqing closed her eyes and groped in the gap bit by bit. This was once a secret space belonging to a child. She couldn't see it, and all her imaginations about this place came from touch.
Suddenly, her fingers stopped somewhere, her nails scratched lightly, and then, an envelope was carefully pulled out by her.
She opened her eyes, looked at the yellowed envelope in her hand, and let out a long sigh.
The envelope was written with the words "From my grandson personally."
Zhao Shiqing held the letter, hesitating whether to open it.
The little girl glanced at Xiao Zhen, then glanced again.
Xiao Zhen: "My father has many hobbies, one of which is mounting calligraphy and paintings. When I was young, he forced me to learn some."
Zhao Shiqing exclaimed, "Really? I just happened to have a letter here. Alas, it's very old and not well preserved. The envelope is torn. Could you please take a look at it, Master Zhen? I wonder if it can be repaired?"
Xiao Zhen's mouth twitched, and he took the letter and looked at it: "It can be repaired."
Zhao Shiqing exclaimed exaggeratedly again, "Then I'll have to trouble Master Zhen."
Xiao Zhen: Are you trying to be funny by acting so pretentiously?
However, he still sat down and opened the letter with great concentration.
Xiao Zhen considers himself not a gentleman, but this is the first time he has secretly opened someone else's letter and then restored it.
He quickly opened the letter and handed the three thin pages to Zhao Shiqing: "Be careful, the paper is very brittle."
Zhao Shiqing thanked him and started reading the letter.
As she watched, she frowned and said to Xiao Zhen, "Imperial Physician Yang said that he originally didn't want to associate with the powerful in the capital, but this time, it was Master Meng who asked him to come out of seclusion to treat the Crown Prince. Master Meng had done him a favor, so he couldn't refuse, so he decided to go to the capital. Who is this Master Meng?"
Xiao Zhen said, "The Lord Meng that Imperial Physician Yang mentioned must be the former Minister of Rites, Meng Ziang, who was the father-in-law of the late Crown Prince."
I see.
Zhao Shiqing continued reading the letter and said, "Doctor Yang is worried that this trip might be dangerous, so he told Yang Qiu to remember what he said."
"No more?" Xiao Zhen asked.
Zhao Shiqing nodded: "No, there's a piece of paper at the back that looks like a map, but there's no words on it."
Xiao Zhen took it, and sure enough, the last piece of letter paper was drawn with some winding lines, which really looked like a map when put together. There were only lines, no words. I wonder where this map is from.
Xiao Zhen said: "Draw this map as it is."
Zhao Shiqing: "Hey, thank you, Master Zhen."
Xiao Zhen said that he had learned mounting from his father-in-law, so his attainments in calligraphy and painting must be quite high.
Leave professional matters to professionals, perfection.
A moment later, the picture was traced, almost exactly the same as the original.
Zhao Shiqing was very satisfied. As for how to restore the letter, that was Xiao Zhen's business.
Zhao Shiqing walked out of the house with the map. Seeing the Meng brothers, he handed them the map and pointed to a three-way intersection. He said to them, "Go find that Lu Niu'er and ask him if he knows of such an intersection. Look, there should be a river at this intersection."
Yes, this map not only shows roads, but also rivers.
Meng Da and Meng Er responded and went out. After a while, they came back excitedly: "Miss, Lu Niu'er said that this intersection is very similar to the Baifeng River mouth. It is more than 20 miles away from here. He said he can lead the way."
Zhao Shiqing nodded: "Okay, call Lu Niu'er over."
At this time, Xiao Zhen walked out of the house with the resealed letter. When he learned that the place on the map was nearby and that the river was called Baifeng River, his brows furrowed slightly.
Xiao Zhen really wanted to say something to Zhao Shiqing, but Zhao Shiqing exclaimed, turned around and ran into the room opposite.
That was the house where her parents lived.
Zhao Shiqing thought of the pair of white jade bracelets that Shuanzi's grandmother had mentioned.
That is the Shi family's heirloom.
Although she hadn't found it at home before, maybe her mother also had a hobby of hiding things in crevices.
My daughter Xiao Mu, maybe she takes after her mother.
A moment later, Zhao Shiqing walked out of the house happily, holding a flat wooden box in his hand.
"Found it, found it, my family heirloom, still well hidden."
It was a pair of white jade bracelets, and no one knew which generation of the Shi family's ancestors had given them as dowry. This was also the most valuable thing in the Shi family. Grandma passed them down to my mother, but my mother was reluctant to wear them, so she hid them away early and left them for Zhao Shiqing as a dowry.
For Zhao Shiqing, the meaning of this pair of bracelets has long exceeded their own value. They are the family heritage, the mother's love, and the best gift she has ever received.
Zhao Shiqing looked at the small courtyard reluctantly, then went to the mouth of Baifeng River with Xiao Zhen and Lu Niuer.
Baifeng River is a tributary of Wu River. You can take a boat directly to Baifeng City from here.
This place is over 20 miles away from Zhuxitang. Lu Niu'er pointed ahead and said, "When I was a child, a rich man in Baifeng City took the daughter of a family in Shilipu as his concubine. The rich man was still childless at the age of 40, but this concubine gave birth to two sons for him within three years of marriage.
The rich man was overjoyed and paid for the repair of the river channel and the road from the river mouth to Shilipu.
Because of this, Shilipu now has a market. There is a market on the third and ninth day of every month. People from Zhuxitang, Huangzhu Village, and Qingzhu Village often go to the town when they come to Shilipu to attend the market.
Zhao Shiqing handed the map to Lu Niu'er and said, "Take a look. Is there any road to Shilipu on this map?"
The map looked like a ghostly scribble to Zhao Shiqing, but Lu Niuer recognized it at a glance.
"This road leads to Shilipu, and this one also leads to Shilipu. However, this one was built by the rich man, and the other is a small road. In the beginning, many people chose the small road instead of the main road to take a shortcut. Later, some people encountered robbers on this road, and all their money and goods were stolen. Gradually, no one took this road anymore."
Lu Niuer was talking about things from his childhood. He was only eighteen years old now, and ten years ago, he was eight years old.
Zhao Shiqing asked, "Do people from Zhuxitang still go to the market in Shilipu?"
Lu Niu'er said, "I haven't been going to Shilipu for a long time. Now I go to the town. The market in Shilipu was well-behaved at first, but then a group of bandits came out of nowhere and started looting everywhere. Although the government chased them away, the market's reputation was ruined. As a result, no one went there anymore."
Zhao Shiqing looked at Xiao Zhen and said, "Shall we go to Shilipu?"
"Okay." Xiao Zhen said concisely.
With Lu Niuer as their guide, they soon arrived at the intersection of Shilipu.
Today happens to be the third day of the Lunar New Year, but it is deserted here. No one is buying things, and no one is setting up stalls.
"There are no people in this market anymore. No one from all around dares to come here to shop."
Zhao Shiqing asked, "What about those bandits? Didn't the government catch them?"
Lu Niu'er shook his head: "I haven't heard that those bandits were caught, and they haven't appeared since then, but Shilipu's reputation has become bad, and no one comes here anymore."
Zhao Shiqing looked at the village ahead and said to Lu Niu'er, "Ask around and see if there are any strange families in Shilipu."
Lu Niu'er really wanted to repay Zhen Wuduo and his granddaughter. Now that Zhao Shiqing had something for him to do, Lu Niu'er was overjoyed and ran away.
Seeing Lu Niu'er running away, Xiao Zhen said, "Back then, I sent you to that black-hearted doctor and went to Baifeng City. But we didn't go by boat. We rode horses and rode as fast as we could."
Zhao Shiqing took the map and pointed to a road by the river. "Is this the road you took back then?"
Xiao Zhen took a look and confirmed: "This is the road."
Zhao Shiqing smiled and said to Xiao Zhen, "Since we're here, why don't we retrace our steps and go to Baifeng City?"
This place is more than seventy miles away from Baifeng City. In the evening, Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing arrived in Baifeng City.
This was Xiao Zhen's second time here. He knew where his cousin's house was, but he didn't want to stay there, so he simply stayed in the inn with Zhao Shiqing.
On the way to the inn, Xiao Zhen expressed his suspicions about his cousin.
Zhao Shiqing never expected that Xiao Zhen would dream about his cousin.
While eating, Zhao Shiqing took the map and looked at it. She said to Xiao Zhen, "Why did Doctor Yang draw this map?"
Xiao Zhen: "I guess he must have left something for Yang Qiu somewhere on this map, but it's a pity he didn't mark it."
Zhao Shiqing also had this idea. She slapped her head and said, "Oh, why am I so confused? The private school that Yang Qiu attends is a hundred miles away from the village. Could it be in Baifeng City? It's a pity that I didn't think of it in the village and forgot to ask Chen Lizheng."
However, it was not difficult to find out. After the two of them had dinner in the inn, they knew the direction to look for.
Ten years ago, there was a famous private school in Baifeng City. In addition to teaching academics, it also taught martial arts, and only accepted local students.
The innkeeper still remembers this vividly. The owner wanted to send his youngest son to school, but he was not a local. He took his youngest son there many times, but the inn still refused to accept him. Ten years later, the owner still often talked about this incident.
Zhao Shiqing asked, "Is this private school still in operation?"
The shopkeeper said, "Yes, there is, but the owner has been replaced."
The next day, Zhao Shiqing got up early and went to the private school with Xiao Zhen.
This private school was originally opened by two classmates. Both of them failed the exams many times, so they later opened this private school together.
The current owner of the private school is named Fan, a scholar. He took over the school three years ago.
When asked about the previous owner of the private school, Fan Xiucai sighed and said, "They were both my classmates and we knew each other before.
One of them was surnamed Xu, the other Xu. Three years ago, Brother Xu passed away due to illness. Brother Xu was so sad that he couldn't bear to see the things that reminded him of his father, so he went to Hancheng with his adopted son.
Zhao Shiqing was stunned. Hancheng? It was quite far from Baifeng City.
"Mr. Fan, you said Mr. Xu had an adopted son? Do you still remember him?"
Mr. Fan said hurriedly, "Miss, you don't know that Brother Xu's adopted son is named Yang Shengqiu. He is a natural scholar. His parents died when he was young. Brother Xu was moved by his intelligence and felt pity for him.
Brother Xu and Brother Xu both never married, so they put almost all their energy into Yang Shengqiu.
"You mean the adopted son of Xu Xiucai? His name is Yang Shengqiu? Yang Shengqiu, the favorite for next year's spring exam?"
Although Zhao Shiqing only met Yang Shengqiu once, she had a deep memory of him.
But she never expected that Yang Shengqiu was actually her little lamb brother!
Yes, from Fan Xiucai’s narration, we can know that Yang Shengqiu has been a bookworm since he was young. Such a child is destined to have a successful life.
Perhaps it was because of this reason, and the fact that Yang Shengqiu had no relatives, that Xu Xiucai adopted him as his son.
"Yes, it seems that the young lady has also heard of Yang Shengqiu. Haha, a while ago, a distinguished guest from the capital came to our shop. This distinguished guest also heard of Yang Shengqiu and said that he was very famous in the capital and was a candidate for the top scholar."
"Are you sure that Xu Xiucai and Yang Shengqiu went to Hancheng together? Why did they go to Hancheng instead of somewhere else?"
Mr. Fan couldn't answer the latter question, but he could answer the former: "Of course, many people in the city know about it."
Zhao Shiqing thanked Mr. Fan, but this place was thousands of miles away from Hancheng. Even if she wanted to go, it would not be now.
After leaving the private school, Zhao Shiqing said to Xiao Zhen, "I never thought that Yang Shengqiu is Brother Xiaoyang."
Xiao Zhen didn't expect that he also knew Yang Shengqiu. Although he had never met him, Yang Shengqiu was very famous, so famous that even he, who faked his death, had heard of him.
Now that he had arrived in Baifeng City, Xiao Zhen wanted to go to the Zhong family to meet his cousin.
Baifeng City was originally called Baihe City. Later, a queen was born here, so Baihe was changed to Baifeng.
The Zhong family of Baifeng City is the family of Empress Xiaoshu, who gave birth to a son and a daughter for the retired emperor.
Xiao Zhen said: "Although the Zhong family is an in-law, they are very self-aware. Since Empress Xiaoshu took charge of the harem, the Zhong family has been cautious in their words and deeds, and has devoted themselves to learning. They are well-known in the local area.
The head of this generation, Master Zhong San, is Zhong Ziyang’s father.”
Zhong Ziyang is the person who kills Xiao Zhen again and again in his dreams.
Zhao Shiqing looked at Xiao Zhen's fake face and thought, are you going to meet your relatives in this look?
Xiao Zhen was wary of the Zhong family, especially Zhong Ziyang, so he would not show his true face to others. Not only did he not want to do that, he also did not want Zhao Shiqing to visit him with her true face.
"How's your disguise skills going?" Xiao Zhen asked.
Zhao Shiqing chuckled twice. Xiuxiu's comment on her was that her talent was just barely passing. That was probably why Xiuxiu was trying to comfort her because she was afraid that she would be sad.
But her learning was not in vain, she still knows a little bit.
The next day, after careful preparation, the two of them sent a letter to the Zhong family.
Their current identities are Master Zhen and his sister from the capital.
Young Master Zhen's name is Zhen Gui, and his sister gave herself a more noble name, Zhen Bao!
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