Looking for me?
Feng Guang cut to the chase and asked, "Tell me, do you know me?"
“This… I don’t know the young lady, but…” the shopkeeper opened a scroll in his hand, “the young lady in this painting… does look just as good as you.”
Feng Guang looked at the painting and saw a graceful woman standing in it. Although she was smiling, there was a look of sorrow between her brows. More importantly, the woman in the painting looked exactly like her.
"Shopkeeper, where did this painting come from?"
"To be honest, this painting was passed down from my grandfather. My grandfather passed it to my father, and my father passed it to me. Along with it, a passage was also passed down."
"What did you say?"
"If one day a woman who looks just like the one in the portrait appears, and if she has another man with her, then don't say anything. If that man is no longer there, then tell her that the person she is looking for has been placed in the Mingshui Manor in the suburbs." The reason the shopkeeper was here was because he saw Su Fa go out and, seeing that the time was right, he thought of coming to find the person.
“The person I’m looking for…” Feng Guang’s heart skipped a beat. “What kind of place is Mingshui Manor? What’s the story behind this painting of yours?”
"Young lady, please don't be in a hurry, let me explain slowly."
It turns out that this painting was done more than a hundred years ago by the first owner of this inn. It is said that he encountered bandits and was rescued by a girl. The girl refused money and gifts, but asked him to do her a favor by hiding a baby for her and taking care of the baby. The old innkeeper naturally agreed. The girl asked him to paint a portrait and left behind that message.
So the old shopkeeper hid the baby in the Mingshui Manor on the outskirts of the city and instructed his descendants to take good care of the children of Mingshui Manor. However, over the past hundred years, the servants of Mingshui Manor have changed generation after generation, but the child still has not grown up...
Feng Guang couldn't take it anymore after hearing this, "Tell me, how do I get to Mingshui Manor?"
"It's in the eastern suburbs, next to the largest banyan tree, that's Mingshui Manor. Just walk straight ahead." The innkeeper had barely finished speaking when the girl before him vanished in a flash of light. He stared blankly at the portrait in his hand, wondering if it was truly as his father had said—that the girl back then wasn't mortal, but a deity. This would explain why the child at Mingshui Manor had grown so slowly; a deity's child is naturally different from a mortal's…
Meanwhile, in her haste, Feng Guang instinctively used her magic. In the blink of an eye, she followed the direction the innkeeper had indicated and saw a huge banyan tree. Beside the banyan tree was a small house with a plaque that read "Ming Shui Manor".
She didn't have time to think about why Xiaoxiao was hidden by her, instead of Sufa hiding her as the letter said. She only had one thought in her mind: to find Xiaoxiao.
As the scenery unfolded in the courtyard of the house, she was looking around to see which way to go when she overheard two old women talking from the other side of the corridor: "I heard that the young master here is over a hundred years old."
"Huh? No way, Miss is clearly a ten-year-old child."
"What do you mean, 'can't'? My aunt is eighty years old this year. She used to work here too. That's what she told me. Have you ever seen someone who's over a hundred years old and still looks like a child? I reckon..."
What are you guessing?
"She must be a little monster!"
...
The two old women didn't lower their voices, perhaps thinking no one would hear them. Feng Guang ignored them and focused her gaze on the child hiding behind the tree. The child was squatting under the tree, seemingly just picking up fallen leaves to play with, completely oblivious to the criticisms of others.
But Feng Guang knew she had heard her. She walked over step by step, her hands gripping her skirt tightly at her sides, her heart pounding wildly.
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