Old Master Wei glanced at Old Madam Wei and said, "Take Xiaoyan back for dinner first. The old lady and I have some things to discuss."
Seeing that Old Master Wei was preoccupied, Old Madam Wei nodded and, without asking any further questions, coaxed Xiaoyan out of the room.
The old lady put down her chopsticks, her cloudy eyes revealing a shrewdness.
"Go ahead and ask me anything."
Old Wei sat down next to the old lady and flipped through the photo album to the picture of the girl: "Mom, do you recognize this woman in the photo?"
Upon seeing who Old Wei was referring to, the old lady's pupils constricted sharply, and she fell into a long silence.
When Old Master Wei saw that the old lady was silent, he immediately understood.
"Do you know this person?"
"Why are you suddenly asking about this person?" The old lady took a sip of soup and spoke slowly.
Old Wei recounted what happened at the police station that day.
“The girl named Bai Qianmo in the police station looks almost exactly like the person in the photo, even their expressions are similar. How can there be two people in this world who look so alike? And there is such a long time between them, so I guess, could this person be an ancestor of the Bai family? If so, the resemblance can be explained.”
The old lady frowned, looking at Old Wei with some disbelief: "You said they look exactly alike?"
“It really is exactly the same. If you don’t believe me, I’ll bring that child to my house for you to see another day.”
The old lady looked out the window, her thoughts seemingly drifting away.
"How could that be? She has been dead for many years."
Old Wei asked, "Who exactly is this 'she' you're talking about?"
"Her name is Xu Jin'en, the fourth young lady of the Xu family in Shanghai, and also the first head of our Jinling Hall!"
Old Master Wei was shocked: "Wasn't my grandmother Kong Ling'er the first head of our Jinling Hall?"
The old lady shook her head: "The real founder is Xu Jin'en, but she is very low-key and never puts herself in the spotlight. The fact that the Xu family has such a good business today is also closely related to Xu Jin'en."
Old Wei exclaimed, "Everyone says there's a Xu family woman in the south, and she truly lives up to her reputation. But we've always had dealings with the Xu family, so why have we never heard them mention Xu Jin'en?"
The old lady sighed deeply: "This matter is a secret of the Xu family. Before your grandmother died, she kept calling Xu Jin'en's name. She said that the Xu family, the Qin family, and the Gu family all owed Xu Jin'en a debt, and that they were the ones who killed her. As for the reason, I have no idea."
Have you met Xu Jin'en?
The old lady was lost in memories: "I was fortunate enough to meet her once. I was only eight or nine years old at the time. If it weren't for the relationship of being a child bride in the Wei family, we might not have had this connection. She came to say goodbye to your grandmother. When she learned that I had entered the house, she asked your grandmother to call me over to meet her. I remember it very clearly. It was a very cold winter. It snowed heavily the night before. When I saw her, she was standing in the snow, wearing a red cloak embroidered with plum blossoms. She was so beautiful that she seemed otherworldly. Although I was still young, I remembered her appearance at a glance."
Recalling this, the old lady sighed deeply: "Beautiful women have always had tragic fates. Xu Jin'en's life was destined to be a tragedy. She came to say goodbye to your grandmother that day, saying she was going on a long trip. Your grandmother asked her when she would return, and she smiled and said calmly, 'Perhaps it's goodbye forever.' Unexpectedly, a few days later, news of her death came. Your grandmother was heartbroken for a long time because of this. Your grandmother often regretted seeing her one last time and blamed herself for not understanding the meaning behind her words."
Old Wei asked with a face full of curiosity, "Does Xu Jin'en have any descendants?"
The old lady was taken aback.
"I don't know about that. Xu Jin'en's beauty wasn't just external; she had a transcendent aura, a unique aura that no one else could imitate. Your grandmother once said that in her eyes, Xu Jin'en was omniscient and omnipotent, yet such an extraordinary person passed away so suddenly. By the way, please invite that girl to our house another day; I must meet this young lady."
"Okay, I'll contact her tomorrow and see when she's free."
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