—Chen Wenxing, a native of Xinzhou, whose parents are unknown, was abandoned due to congenital castration and was raised by the villagers of Chen Village…
That scholar was a eunuch!
Bai Yanzhang was taken aback.
How could a castrated person have children?
Was Qin Wenjun deceived into believing the other party was Chen Juzi, or was she just spouting nonsense and randomly making up a dead person to pretend to be Tianci's father?
Either way, it's like meeting the wrong person.
Bai Yanzhang has never been able to sleep until he solves a case. Now that a cold case is in front of him, coupled with a certain secret psychology, he can't let it go.
After a moment's thought, he summoned the man who had tried to impersonate Qin Wenjun and her son as his wife and children.
The man's face was covered in blisters, and he was screaming in pain, unable to answer.
He had someone give him some painkillers.
Only then could the interrogation proceed.
According to the man's confession, he was a scoundrel who was approached by someone who gave him one hundred taels of silver to bring Qin Wenjun and her son home.
He didn't know who the person who contacted him was.
They didn't reveal their faces, but slipped Qin Wenjun and her son's address, a portrait, and instructions under his door.
He was greedy for the hundred taels of silver, but even more so for Qin Wenjun's beauty and status, so he agreed.
"My lord, everything I've said is the truth. You must make that woman give me the antidote."
The man knelt and begged.
That medicine was absolutely terrible; he was in excruciating pain.
I'd rather die on the spot than suffer like this.
Bai Yanzhang did not reply to him.
He asked in a deep voice about the question he had asked earlier: "How did you know she had a mole on her lower back?"
The man replied, "That's what was written in the instructions. It said she had three red moles clustered together on her lower back."
Bai Yanzhang was shocked.
An image that he had kept buried deep in his heart for several years surfaced in his mind.
His father was framed and the whole family was sentenced to exile. His parents died one after another on the way. He was so grief-stricken that he wished he could go with them.
But his father died with his eyes open in disgrace; how could he allow him to continue to bear this stigma even after death?
His belief in clearing his father's name sustained him and helped him through the most difficult and darkest days.
Once he arrived at his place of exile and gained a foothold, he gradually moved up the ranks, from the village to the township, and from the township to the county.
Not long after arriving in the county, he ran into his former classmate Xu Qing.
Xu Qing once studied at the Bai family's private school through a relative's connection.
Not long after he started studying, he was expelled for engaging in group prostitution.
Other academies, knowing this reason, refused to accept him. He left the capital and returned to his hometown, and was never heard from again.
Now the two meet again, but the other is still a wealthy young man, while he has become an exiled criminal.
Xu Qing naturally ridiculed him severely.
He didn't take it seriously.
After the Bai family fell from power, there were plenty of people who would kick them while they were down; Xu Qing wouldn't be an exception.
But he didn't expect that Xu Qing would blame the Bai family for the interruption of his studies and the obstruction of his path to fame, and that he hated him, the former eldest son of the Bai family, to the bone.
They used those underhanded methods on him, drugged him until he was unconscious, and then threw him into the flower garden.
When it happened, he was not in his right mind and didn't even know what the girl looked like.
I felt that her aura was somewhat familiar.
He woke up earlier than the girl, who was sleeping on the inside with her back to him.
A blanket was haphazardly draped over her body, and three small cherry-colored moles were visible on her exposed lower back.
He glanced at it briefly before quickly looking away.
He noticed bloodstains on the mattress and guessed that the other person might have been a prostitute.
I felt increasingly guilty.
He didn't know her, yet he deceived her.
Even if he was framed, it doesn't make sense.
To make amends to the girl, he conceived the idea of redeeming her from servitude and restoring her free status.
However, at that time, all he had was a few dozen taels of silver, which was not enough to redeem him from his bondage.
The only option was to settle for second best and take her in for now, then come back to redeem her once enough money was raised.
The madam agreed.
After that, he searched for clues to overturn the case while selling his paintings at low prices. It took him three months to raise enough money to buy his freedom.
Upon arriving at the brothel, the madam told them that she had died a month earlier.
He didn't believe it at first, thinking it was an excuse. But after checking privately, he learned that a girl had indeed left the brothel a month ago, and that girl's name was the one he had taken in.
The girl died of a sexually transmitted disease and was cremated after her death.
Having no grave to offer sacrifices to, he erected a cenotaph for her, and every year when he paid respects to his parents, he would also burn paper money and clothing for her.
Upon hearing the man mention that Qin Wenjun also had three red moles on her lower back, he was shocked by the coincidence, but a thought flashed through his mind: Could it be that the two of them are the same person?
But he nipped the idea in the bud as soon as it came to mind.
No sooner had the Bai family fallen than the Meng family hastily annuled the engagement for Meng Ke—who is also Qin Wenjun.
When he left the capital, his entourage happened to pass by the Meng residence, but Qin Wenjun did not come out to take a look.
Even now, he still remembers how lost and frustrated he felt at the time.
Even just a glance would be enough.
It will also give him immense courage.
But she didn't.
She didn't even come to see him off, so how could she possibly travel thousands of miles to the border town to find him?
Even if they came to the border town, how could they possibly end up in the flower garden?
If Xu Qing knew it was her, he definitely wouldn't have sent her to his side; he would have been more likely to approach her to humiliate him.
He tried his best to disprove the possibility that Qin Wenjun and that girl were the same girl.
But a slight wavering remained in my heart.
What if?
What if it's just such a coincidence?
If he doesn't pursue the truth, will he never know what happened?
After having the man taken back to the prison, he sat at his desk and pondered for a long time before finally making up his mind.
He needed to find out the identity of his divinely ordained father.
Let's see if that person is someone else, or...
Qin Wenjun was unaware that Bai Yanzhang had made some kind of connection. After leaving the snack bar, she and Tianci continued to stroll along the North-South Street.
I happened to see Meng Qi in a clothing store.
The clothes in this ready-made clothing store are all pre-made, with a wide variety of stylish designs. So, although most young ladies from wealthy families would have their clothes made by tailors, some would also come here to buy them.
Meng Qi came with several of her sisters from the Meng family.
Qin Wenjun saw them from afar and immediately led Tianci to the side.
Tianci, puzzled, looked up and asked, "Mother, what are you doing?"
Qin Wenjun raised her index finger and shushed her: "Mother is playing hide-and-seek, don't talk."
Okay.
Tianci obediently shut his mouth.
Qin Wenjun's heart pounded, and her mind had never been working so fast.
She needed to go to the store to get closer to Meng Qi.
But this is very risky.
If they recognize me, it will cause a lot of trouble later.
Meng Qi would pick a fight with her even when there was nothing wrong with her, and if something did happen, he would definitely want to tear her apart.
She waited anxiously for a while, and when she saw Meng Qi go in to try on clothes, she gritted her teeth, pulled up her scarf, wrapped Tianci in her coat, and went in as well.
Tianci is small, and because he was covered by a coat, he wasn't very noticeable.
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