Chapter 47: Emei Jingting
Qiandeng looked at him in front of him, speechless for a moment.
The moon-white robe made his jade-like face look even brighter and gentler. The eyes he looked at her were clear and bright, without any blushing or embarrassment after saying something wrong.
How come this elegant and noble young man, who was brought up in a centuries-old family, always casually said shocking words, making others panic, while he himself looked so nonchalant and hateful?
She hastily avoided his gaze, lowered her head and pursed her lips in silence for a long while, then she suddenly thought, but, you were not on my list of candidates for fiancée at that time, how could you be included in the people my mother pointed out?
Besides, according to what he said, then the mother was referring to ten people, right?
The last person...
That person...
The frantic scene of hugging him tightly last night came to her mind again. She was so ashamed that she dared not think about it anymore. She turned around and went into the mourning hall as if escaping.
Meng Lanxi wept bitterly, her body trembling as she knelt before the coffin. Qiandeng burned incense and then walked over to him, wanting to offer a few words of comfort. However, she had recently lost her mother and didn't know how to begin.
Several maids in the back hall packed up Mrs. Meng's personal belongings and brought them to the coffin one by one, allowing Meng Lanxi to decide whether to put them in the coffin for burial or burn them.
"There's nothing else here, but this jade pendant looks quite valuable. What should I do with it?"
The old women held a piece of mutton-fat white jade pendant and asked Meng Lanxi.
Meng Lanxi took the jade pendant with trembling hands and stared at it for a long time.
Qiandeng was right beside him. He saw that the jade pendant was carved with sparse mountains, a wisp of cloud in the sky and a few flying birds, which created a profound artistic conception.
There is a line of small characters carved on the corner of the jade pendant, which is a five-character poem: "Never get tired of looking at each other."
It looked like this jade pendant was a pair with the one from last night. Qian Deng thought that the larger and thicker one was suitable for a man, while the smaller and more delicate one was probably for a woman.
Meng Lanxi said in a trembling voice, "I heard that after the rebellion, bandits and beggars arose everywhere, digging up graves and doing whatever they wanted. This jade pendant should not be buried with them..."
As soon as the word "burial" came out, huge grief surged into her heart. Meng Lanxi breathed rapidly, holding the jade pendant tightly, and was about to faint on the ground.
Fang Zheng, who was standing next to him, quickly supported him and pulled him onto the couch to help him catch his breath.
He felt dizzy, his eyes were blurry and he couldn't focus on anything in front of him.
In this empty and distorted world, everything is covered with a layer of dazzling light, and behind the crowd of people, there is a familiar figure coated with a layer of light, which is exactly the same as the outline of the figure seen through the curtain when they first met.
The county lady...she came to see him, a man in such a miserable state with nothing.
Meng Lanxi looked at her closely, and his vision, which was blurred by tears, gradually became clear. He saw her pure and beautiful face, which truly appeared before him in this fleeting world.
He also saw the concern and nervousness in her eyes. In an instant, his empty and lonely heart was filled with warmth because of her concern for him. The tears that he had barely stopped burst out again, and he could no longer control them.
Seeing that he was looking at her sadly, like a young animal abandoned in the wilderness, Qian Deng couldn't bear it and looked at Cui Fufeng for help.
Cui Fufeng stood nearby and whispered to Meng Lanxi, "Your mother's misfortune is truly heartbreaking, but your injustice remains unresolved. If you grieve excessively, how can you wait for the truth to come to light?"
He was the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple and was in charge of this case. The mention of the word "unjust" was a clear indication to him that there was hope for the case.
Meng Lanxi was dazed as he pondered the meaning of his words. Of course he understood, but with so many eyes on him in the hall, he naturally couldn't speak. He just stood up and bowed deeply to him and Qian Deng, then rushed to his mother's spirit, knelt in front of the coffin and kowtowed again, holding the spirit tablet tightly in his arms, choking with sobs.
After he had gotten over this period of grief, Fang Zheng took the spirit tablet from his arms and placed it back on the altar.
Meng Lanxi looked up at her mother's tablet for a long time. Suddenly, she froze in shock. She crawled over to it on her knees and took it down again. She raised her sleeve to wipe away the incense ash. She looked at the words on it, shook her head and muttered, "It's written wrong. My mother's name...is not this."
Qiandeng was a little surprised. After a closer look, he saw that on the black lacquer tablet, there were very neat words written in gold lacquer - "The tablet of the late mother of Mengmen, whose taboo name was Emei".
Meng Lanxi stroked the word "Emei" with her fingers and said in a choked voice, "My mother's name is written wrong."
The Fangzheng came up to take a look and said in surprise, "Isn't your mother's name Emei? All the neighbors call her that."
Meng Lanxi replied, "My mother was born in Mount Emei in Sichuan. She missed her hometown so she took the name Emei to evoke it. That's why it's the "E" character next to the mountain, not the "woman" character."
"I see. I originally said you should write the memorial tablet, but the Meng family was in a hurry to finish it, so they wrote it hastily and neglected it for a moment." Fang Zheng looked at the memorial tablet and said, "Fortunately, it's just a minor mistake. It can be corrected in time."
Meng Lanxi nodded silently and borrowed some paint from a funeral business. He held his mother's tablet and carefully painted over the female character in front of "E" with black paint. After the paint dried, it was indeed the same color as the surrounding paint. He then took the brush, dipped it in gold paint, and added the mountain character.
Emei.
Qiandeng looked at his elegant handwriting and the two words "Emei", and suddenly thought of the pair of jade pendants.
There are many fairy mountains in Shu Kingdom, but Mount Emei is unmatched.
The only place that never gets boring is Jingting Mountain.
The words carved on the jade pendant used by the man hint at Madam Meng's name. Could it be that the piece next to Madam Meng hints that Meng's father's name is Jingting?
But, if it was his father's relic, why would Meng Lanxi bring it with him to the palace without showing it to anyone, secretly hiding it in such a secluded place, and even taking secret measures to protect it?
Seeing the maids taking Madam Meng's clothes and about to leave, Qian Deng walked outside and pretended to casually follow one of the plump and kind old women and asked, "Mother, do you know anything about Meng Jingting?"
The old woman was a little surprised. She looked at her hesitantly and asked, "I wonder who the man you are talking about, Meng Jingting?"
Seeing that she didn't know, Qian Deng thought about it and said, "It's the young man named Jingting. What's his last name..."
The old woman suddenly realized, "You mean Mr. Jin, right? He came here quite frequently a few years ago. I heard Madam Meng call him that a few times. That's right."
"Oh, yes, Jin Jingting..." Qian Deng pretended to suddenly remember, "Where is he now?"
"Who knows where this unfaithful man has gone? Pah!" The old woman spat fiercely, "They were inseparable when they were doing well, and he kept pestering Madam Meng in every possible way. But when he let go of her hand, he turned his face away and disappeared without a trace. Most of Madam Meng's illnesses were caused by him!"
Qiandeng watched the old woman leave, then turned around thoughtfully and saw Ling Tianshui striding towards him from the other side of the alley.
She had clearly pretended to have lost her memory about last night's ambiguous relationship that could not be seen by others, but the moment she saw him, the memories suddenly came back to her, making her scalp numb. She opened her mouth but couldn't say a word.
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