However, just as they were wiping away their tears, Chuanwen rested his chin on his hand, feeling deeply moved.
[It turns out that Uncle Su burned down that mortuary! He woke up in the middle of the night in the dark and lit a tinderbox. When he left, the tinderbox ignited a straw without him noticing, and then one straw became two, and a small fire grew into a large blaze! By the time the guards were awakened by the heat and discovered the fire, it was already out of control.]
Chuanrui choked back a sob, his eye twitching slightly. He sighed, patted Su Li's shoulder, and that's why when they later went to look for them, they saw the charred corpses, and Er Gou's mother could only identify them by the stone bracelets...
Hmm? That's not right. If that's the case, then what about the stone bracelet?
Chuanrui was puzzled, and then he heard Chuanwen's thoughts: "When Uncle Su was carried to the mortuary, a passerby saw the beautiful stone bracelet on his wrist and took it off when no one was looking. Who would have thought that the man choked to death eating rice cakes at the inn, and so, the day after Uncle Su was taken to the mortuary, he was also carried in! That's why Aunt Su mistook him for someone else."
Oh, I see. Chuan Rui and the others were finally relieved. Seeing Su Li's beggar-like appearance, they stopped asking him questions and quickly pulled him to the dining table in the main room.
There were six dishes and a soup on the table, all prepared by Su Yue. Fortunately, the table was big enough to accommodate so many people. However, considering the large number of people and that her father might be very hungry, Su Yue went to the kitchen and made a few more dishes, while Xu Yan and Qingmu helped her.
After dinner, Su Yue boiled another pot of water, Su Yu prepared bathwater, and Su Yue also prepared a set of Su Heng's clothes for their father. Then she called Su Li to take a bath.
While Su Li went to take a shower, Chuanwen's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he thought to himself: [So here's the question! If Uncle Su isn't dead, then who was it that my father and the others dragged back and buried in the Su family ancestral grave?]
Silence fell over the room. Chuan Rui and Su Heng looked at each other, wondering... who was it?
[Uh...it's actually the father of Dong Zhen, the Imperial Censor!]
Cough cough cough!
Chuanrui choked on his own saliva, and Xu Yan quickly patted his back and poured him water. Chuanwen was puzzled for a moment but didn't pay much attention. She was more interested in knowing about Dong Zhen's family situation, haha!
Chuanrui was given a warning glare by Xu Yan, then sheepishly took a sip of water and, like everyone else, pricked up his ears to listen to his daughter's thoughts.
When Dong Zhen passed the imperial examination with top honors, he sent an old servant back to his hometown to fetch his parents. However, his father choked to death on the way. The old servant had no choice but to place his father's body in the mortuary and gave the guards some money to look after it carefully. But when he returned after escorting the old lady to the capital, he couldn't find the old man's body! The old servant even gave the guards a good scolding!
Thinking about it, Chuanwen sighed. [Dong Zhen's father was really unlucky. He choked to death while eating rice cake, and then got mistaken for someone else while trying to steal their bracelet and was buried in the wrong ancestral grave. He's been dead for over ten years, and his wife has been remarried by his son! If he knew this in the afterlife, I wonder if he would appear in his son's dream!]
Chuanwen suddenly remembered seeing Dong Zhen earlier that day, her steps unsteady and her eyes dark, and he paused, "Uh...maybe she's already appeared in my dream!"
Chuanrui, who was drinking water, managed to hold back his cough this time. However, he was now thinking about a more serious problem: since they had buried the wrong person, how could they dig him out and return him to the Imperial Censor Dong Zhen?
This is also what Su Heng is thinking about, but he still feels a little uneasy. They have been going to pay their respects every year, and even built that person's grave next to their mother's grave. They have been calling for their father and burning paper money for so many years, but it turns out that they have been calling for someone else's father all along!
Hearing these bizarre stories, even Wen Xue, an observer, fell silent. What kind of nonsense is this?!
After Su Li finished showering, it got dark.
He was wearing Su Heng's clothes, but because he was so thin, they looked like a child wearing an adult's clothes that were too loose and baggy. Plus, he wasn't used to them and was a little timid, so the clothes looked even more like they had been stolen.
Seeing her father so thin, practically malnourished, Su Yue felt a pang of sadness. So their father wasn't dead; he'd just gotten lost! Although the reason was rather far-fetched, her father must have suffered a great deal!
She secretly memorized her father's measurements, and tomorrow she would go to the shop to have clothes made for him for all four seasons!
After chatting for a while, seeing that it was getting late, Chuanrui and the others reluctantly left. Chuanrui was reluctant to part with Dali, whom he had just found, while Chuanwen was reluctant to part with her fiancé Ergou, who had eight-pack abs.
After the others left, Su Li tucked a stray hair behind his sleeping granddaughter's ear, and tears streamed down his face again, filled with regret.
He had just learned that his wife had passed away three years after he left home, and that his children had struggled to survive until now.
He had assumed the children had lived a comfortable life for the past ten years because they were dressed well, but it turned out they had suffered so much. The eldest son had been kidnapped and forced to live like a wild man for so many years while looking for odd jobs in town!
If he hadn't thought about restoring his ancestors' glory back then, hadn't gone to the capital to take the imperial examination, and had just honestly worked as a teacher in the town, his wife wouldn't have died from overwork, and his children wouldn't have had to live such a hard life.
In the tranquil night, the clear moonlight casts dappled shadows on the trees in the courtyard, while the chirping of insects in the grass further enhances the stillness of the quiet night.
The light from inside cast several shadows through the window. Su Yue handed her father a handkerchief and comforted him, "Aren't we doing quite well now? My eldest brother is married with a son and a daughter. My second brother has become an official, and a fairly high one at that. He also has a beautiful fiancée, Wen, from Uncle Rui's family. She's clever and mischievous, and has always loved playing with my second brother since she was little..."
Su Yue started recounting funny stories from her childhood, hoping it would make her father feel better. However, her father only cried harder. Su Yue wanted to try and comfort him again, but Su Heng stopped her, saying, "Let him cry; he'll feel better if he cries it out."
In the quiet room, Su Li's suppressed yet overwhelming sobs continued. As the moon reached its zenith, his sobs gradually subsided, and the group began to share their innermost thoughts. Su Yue, fearing her father would be further distressed, deliberately chose to recount lighthearted and amusing stories, which gradually eased Su Li's heavy heart.
It wasn't until snoring started in the room that the three of them turned around and found that Aoki and Kogoro had fallen asleep on the side, snoring loudly. Only then did they end their conversation.
Su Yue had already prepared a room for Su Li. The room was spacious, the bed was soft, and the lights were bright.
Su Li was very curious about the lamp. Unlike the dim candlelight, this lamp was bright and illuminated the entire room. Su Yue taught him how to turn it on and off, which made Su Li even more amazed.
Electricity has been provided to a section of the palace in the capital, and it is being implemented in other areas that are not yet electrified.
All of this was thanks to Chuanwen and the others, and Su Yue, being a woman herself, was quite proud. When she told Su Li, he didn't understand at first, so Su Yue smiled and said, "Tomorrow I'll take you around to see different places."
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