Chapter 74 Cat's Past 4
Uncle Chen was kicked out of the Bai Mansion. He looked back every few steps, tears streaming down his face, but he was powerless to do anything.
He still had a glimmer of hope at the time, thinking that these people were after all the young master's blood relatives. Even if they were not close, they would not abuse the child. He wandered around the Bai Mansion, hoping to see the young master again, even if it was just a secret glance.
However, after a few days there was no movement at all, and he could not even get close to the gate. The gatekeeper drove him away in a harsh tone.
He was disheartened and hopeless, so he could only leave Linshan City and return to his hometown in the countryside with a heart full of guilt and reluctance.
"It's all because of my uselessness!" Uncle Chen said this, tears streaming down his face, beating his chest.
"The Master and the Madam trusted me so much and entrusted the Young Master to me, but I... I failed to protect the Young Master and caused him to suffer so much! I deserve to die!"
"I should have risked my life to bring the young master out! How foolish I was! I thought they were the young master's relatives after all, and at least they wouldn't treat him badly... wuwuwu..."
The old man burst into tears, feeling that he had failed his master's expectations and that the self-blame he felt almost overwhelmed.
As Bai Qingchen listened to Uncle Chen's story, those cold memories that he had deliberately forgotten came flooding back.
He thought he had become numb, but at this moment he still felt a dull pain in his heart.
Mo Li listened quietly on the side, and after knowing Bai Qingchen's childhood past, he clenched his hands into a ball.
Bai Qingchen took a deep breath, suppressed his surging emotions, and gently patted Uncle Chen's trembling back: "Uncle Chen, don't be like this, it's all in the past. I don't blame you, you've done your best."
He paused, his eyes sharpening, "It's just that I've always felt that my parents' death wasn't that simple."
Uncle Chen raised his tearful eyes and looked at Bai Qingchen: "What do you mean, Master?"
"You just said that the official report said they encountered robbers and that no one in the caravan survived?"
Bai Qingchen asked calmly, "But what about the goods? If they were really robbers, why didn't they lose any of the valuable goods? They were just scattered at the scene like that? This doesn't make sense."
"Also, I've never heard my father mention those so-called relatives. How did they learn of my parents' death so quickly and come to seize the property right after the funeral? The timing was so perfect, it's like they'd been waiting for it all along."
Uncle Chen's cloudy eyes suddenly widened, and Bai Qingchen's words were like a thunderbolt that split open his dusty memories.
He carefully recalled the details of the chaos that happened that year, and the more he thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. "Master, now that you mention it, I, this old servant, also feel something is amiss! The official who reported the incident did indeed say that all the people in the caravan were dead."
"But later I vaguely heard someone mention that there was a fellow who was lucky enough to survive! He was still breathing when he was found and was rescued! But he was so badly injured and frightened that he seemed to have gone crazy."
"Is there anyone still alive?" Bai Qingchen was excited. This was definitely the key clue!
"Uncle Chen, do you know who that person was? Where did he go later?"
Uncle Chen tried to recall: "I can't remember his name, but I think his surname was Zhou? Everyone called him Zhou Xiong. The place where the incident happened was closest to Anfeng, and it was the Anfeng government that took on the case at the time."
"After hearing that Zhou Xiong was rescued, he stayed in Anfeng to recuperate. After waking up, he went crazy."
"Anfeng" Bai Qingchen silently recited the name, a glimmer of hope ignited in his eyes.
The surviving Zhou Xiong, whether crazy or not, was the only witness to the incident that year.
"Okay, I understand. Thank you, Uncle Chen."
Uncle Chen looked at Bai Qingchen, who had grown up, wiped his tears, stood up tremblingly, walked to his simple bed, and dragged out a long package tightly wrapped in oilcloth from under the bed.
He carefully opened the oilcloth layer by layer, revealing two dark wooden signs inside.
"Young Master," Uncle Chen solemnly handed the wooden plaque to Bai Qingchen, his voice choked with sobs, "This is the spirit tablet of the master and his wife."
Bai Qingchen's eyes fell on the wooden signs, and his breathing stopped instantly. He stretched out his slightly trembling hands and carefully took the two heavy wooden signs.
Bai Qingchen had long lost track of his parents' spirit tablet, but he never expected that it would return to his hands safely.
He held his parents' spirit tablets tightly in his arms, as if he wanted to merge them into his bones and blood. His throat rolled, but no sound came out.
"Young Master." Uncle Chen felt heartbroken when he saw his grief-stricken look.
"A month after being driven away, the old servant couldn't let it go, so he secretly returned to Linshan City."
"By then, the Bai Mansion had changed its owner, and you, young master, had disappeared. I was wandering outside the mansion when I saw a servant sneaking out to throw something away. Curious, I went to see and discovered it was the spirit tablet of the master and his wife!"
"They threw it out like trash! I secretly picked it up."
As the old man spoke, tears began to flow again. "These years, the old servant has been carrying them. My son has become successful and is making a living in the city. I followed him here, always thinking that if I could meet the young master again one day, I would definitely hand them over to you personally."
"I finally fulfilled a wish today." He breathed a sigh of relief.
Bai Qingchen held his parents' spirit tablets and bowed deeply to the old man who still cared about him: "Uncle Chen, thank you."
It was almost dusk when they left Uncle Chen's courtyard. Bai Qingchen felt incredibly heavy, holding his parents' tablets like two heavy mountains.
Mo Li had been staying by his side silently, without asking any questions, but only handed him a clean handkerchief when he was feeling down.
The two found a relatively clean inn in the city to stay in, and Bai Qingchen asked for two adjacent rooms.
"Mo Li, I want to be alone for a while tonight." Bai Qingchen's voice was filled with fatigue and sadness.
Mo Li looked at his pale face and the spirit tablet he was holding tightly in his arms, and nodded sensibly: "Okay, Brother Qingchen, you have a good rest. I'm next door. Call me if you need anything."
It was late at night, Bai Qingchen was sitting alone in the room, the dim light of the oil lamp illuminating the two memorial tablets placed side by side on the table.
He stretched out his hand, and his fingertips slowly brushed across the cold mark of the name, as if trying to draw out a trace of the warmth that had long since dissipated.
The night wind blew outside the window, bringing with it the coolness of late autumn. He was immersed in his own world and did not notice that Mo Li's room next door seemed too quiet.
In the second half of the night, a burst of rapid gong sounds and noisy voices suddenly rang out in the city, breaking the silence of the night.
Faintly, someone could be heard shouting, "There's a fire! There's a fire at the Zhang family's house in the west of the city! Hurry and put out the fire!"
Bai Qingchen was startled and walked to the window to take a look.
I saw flames rising into the sky from the west of the city, lighting up half of the night sky red. I could faintly hear cries and shouts for help to put out the fire.
He watched quietly for a few seconds, the firelight reflected on his face, his expression calm and unperturbed. He withdrew his gaze and ignored the noise outside. He turned around and sat back at the table, his gaze falling back on his parents' spirit tablet.
What does it have to do with him what happens there?
The next morning, Bai Qingchen calmed himself down, carefully wrapped up his parents' spirit tablets and put them into a storage bag.
When he walked out of the room, Mo Li was already waiting in the corridor.
"Brother Qingchen, are you feeling better?" Mo Li asked with concern.
"Yeah." Bai Qingchen nodded, his face returning to its usual calmness, but a hint of fatigue still lingered deep in his eyes, "Let's go."
When I went downstairs to check out, I heard the innkeeper and a few early risers talking about:
"Have you heard? The Zhang family in the west of the city burned down to ashes last night!"
"Wow! Such a big fire, the whole house is burned down!"
"That's right! I heard that the shopkeeper Zhang and his son didn't escape."
"Luckily the fire didn't spread and only burned the Zhang family."
"Tsk tsk, good karma, evil will be punished!"
Bai Qingchen paid the bill expressionlessly and walked out of the inn with Mo Li.
He now has only one goal - to go to Anfeng and find Zhou Xiong, the survivor who might still be alive. No matter what the cost, he must find out the truth about his parents' death.
Mo Li stepped forward and took Bai Qingchen's cold left hand, saying with a firm voice: "Brother, you still have me. No matter what happens, I will be with you."
Bai Qingchen looked at the young man, and unknowingly, he found that Mo Li had occupied a place in his heart. At first, he was moved with sympathy because his face resembled his Taoist partner, but now, he really treated him as a younger brother.
Bai Qingchen forced a smile from the corner of his mouth, pinched Mo Li's fair and tender face, and said unhappily: "Think carefully, you will have a hard time following me in the future."
Mo Li held Bai Qingchen's hand, his eyes clear: "I'm not afraid. As long as Brother Qingchen is here, Mo Li will be the happiest person in the world."
Bai Qingchen was stunned by his sudden words, then laughed out loud: "How old is this little guy, and he's so smooth-talking. I wonder whose girl he'll trick away in the future."
Mo Li said in embarrassment, "No way."
Bai Qingchen stopped teasing him and waved his hand to signal him to get on the horse, "Let's go to Anfeng."
The rising sun shone on their steps, dispelling the coldness of the night.
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