Xia Sheng looked darker than he had been a few months ago. He was already taller and stronger than the servant Dong Sheng. This large man, huddled timidly on the shaft of the carriage, made a very noticeable presence. He didn't look like a coachman at all, but more like a thug. Seeing his master emerge from the second gate, he quickly jumped down from the shaft and stood beside the carriage.
Rong said to the maids from the Lin family who had accompanied Ren Yaoqi to see her off, "I'll tell the child a few words. You can leave first."
Rong's tone and demeanor were very gentle, but she had been a prince's consort after all, and her words made the maids and servants bow and retreat without saying a word.
Rong then said to Ren Yaoqi, "Dongsheng came back yesterday at midnight."
Ren Yaoqi's heart skipped a beat. She'd returned home in the middle of the night yesterday, and Rong was already here with Dongsheng to see her today? She'd originally told Rong that she'd find a chance to visit her. If she had anything to say, why didn't she wait until then? After all, based on Rong's usual style, she wouldn't come to the Lin family.
Is there something important to tell her?
Ren Yaoqi couldn't help but glance at Xia Sheng, but Xia Sheng still had that expressionless face that hadn't changed for thousands of years, and it was really hard to tell what was going on.
Rong patted Ren Yaoqi's head, and her expression gradually became serious: "I'm afraid the Han family is not as simple as it seems."
Ren Yaoqi was shocked when he heard this and immediately asked, "What did Xia Sheng find out this time?"
Rong looked at Xia Sheng, who lowered his head and said, "Han Dongshan has indeed lived in Jiangnan, but he is not from Jiangnan. He left Yanzhou with the people of Yanbei who fled south to escape the Liao people. He was less than ten years old when he left. He grew up in Chuzhou in Jiangnan until he was 17, when he returned to Yanbei to escape famine. Han Dongshan told others that he was from Shangzhuang Village, Zhuqiao Town, Chuzhou. This time, when I went to Zhuqiao Town, I found that after the famine that year, a plague broke out near Chuzhou. Because many people in Shangzhuang Village were infected with the disease, the county magistrate ordered the village to be sealed off, and in the end, no one in the village survived."
To prevent the spread of the plague, local officials sealed off villages where most people were infected, preventing contact with outsiders and leaving them to fend for themselves. Because once infected, the disease was likely fatal, with no treatment possible, this often resulted in no one surviving in the affected villages. The entire village eventually died of the disease and was then burned to the ground.
"Then who confirmed Han Dongshan's identity?" Ren Yaoqi asked with raised eyebrows.
"Although Shangzhuang Town is gone, Han Dongshan wasn't the only one who escaped before the plague. I originally thought I couldn't verify it further, but when I passed by a newly built stone bridge at the original site of Shangzhuang Town, I saw an inscription on the bridge. It turns out that the bridge was built by a merchant to commemorate his ancestor. His father was from Shangzhuang Village. After the drought and locust plague, but before the plague, his father left home with his uncle, a peddler. I later found this merchant, and his father is still alive."
Xia Sheng paused, then continued, "The old man was about the same age as Han Dongshan. I gave him a rough description of Han Dongshan's appearance and asked if he knew the man who came from Yanbei back then. To his surprise, he insisted that the man I was talking about was his childhood friend, and his name wasn't Dongshan Xishan, but Zu Ge'er."
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