"I don't remember. She always muttered to herself. I overheard that sentence."
Xu Huaishu shook his head and sighed in a low voice, "It was unfortunate for our family. Fortunately, your father later went to ask for a Buddha statue, and your mother seemed to have changed for the better. She must have been around fourteen at the time. She stopped complaining to herself, went to school, and later was admitted to the Jixia Academy."
Fu Xiaoguan frowned and listened carefully, then asked, "Uncle, do you know a man named Ji Yungui?"
Xu Huaishu nodded. "I know him. It was when your mother was... around seventeen or eighteen. She and Huqin were tinkering with the Hongxiuzhao pleasure boat on the Qinhuai River. Back then, Hongxiuzhao was mainly used for brewing wine. Tianxiang wine was created by your mother and Huqin at that time. And Ji Yungui also appeared at Hongxiuzhao during that time... How do you know his name?"
Fu Xiaoguan didn't answer, he was thinking.
After half a cup of tea, he asked again: "Where did this Ji Yungui come from?"
Xu Huaishu shook his head. "I don't know. Father didn't like your mother's use of the Red Sleeves Banner. Our family is a scholarly family, and we have a lot of prejudice against things like painted boats. Besides, your mother, an unmarried woman, getting involved with that was considered a disgrace to the family in your grandfather's eyes."
"Then what?"
"What then?"
"What about my mother then?"
Xu Huaishu glanced at Fu Xiaoguan. "And so it happened. Hongxiu Zhao became famous because of the Tianxiang wine. And with the lyrics and music your mother wrote, they recruited two singing girls and trained them for two months. As soon as Hongxiu Zhao opened, it became famous all over the capital."
"So... Emperor Wen also met my mother at Hongxiuzhao?"
"That's not the case. They are classmates in the academy."
Fu Xiaoguan immediately pressed the issue, "So, Emperor Wen and my mother secretly got married while they were still in the academy?"
"No, your mother was very hesitant at that time. She seemed unable to make up her mind and even deliberately avoided Wu Changfeng later."
"Why would my mother avoid him?"
"How would I know? Maybe it's because he's the crown prince of the Wu Dynasty!"
Fu Xiaoguan was shocked. This was completely different from what Emperor Wen had said to him at Guanyuntai!
Emperor Wen originally said that he first met his mother at Lantingji in the 40th year of Taihe, and Xu Huaishu said that they were classmates in the Imperial Academy - this can be explained, because Xu Huaishu did not know that they had met at Lantingji, and later Emperor Wen entered the Imperial Academy and became classmates with his mother.
But the problem is, that night at Guanyuntai, Emperor Wen spoke passionately about the beautiful love between him and Xu Yunqing -
"Yunqing didn't know I was the Crown Prince of the Wu Dynasty. We fell in love, and our memories were left in the mountains of books and the sea of learning at the Jixia Academy, as well as in the Pear Garden on Qingyou Island. Your mother said that the Pear Garden was beautiful, and every March when the pear blossoms bloomed, it was like a layer of snow falling on Qingyou Island..."
This was clearly a love story under the moon and flowers, but after listening to Xu Huaishu's story, Fu Xiaoguan suddenly couldn't tell the difference.
If what Xu Huaishu said was true, then Emperor Wen had woven a beautiful lie for him.
If Xu Huaishu is wrong...what's the point of him lying to me?
"So, you knew whose son I was from the beginning?"
"In fact, I still can't figure out whether you are the son of Fu Daguan or the son of Emperor Wen."
Fu Xiaoguan was stunned. "No, wait a minute, did Emperor Wen come to propose marriage?"
"Yes, my father didn't agree."
"Then what?"
"Then...then your mother climbed over the wall and ran away with that fat guy in the winter of the 43rd year of Taihe."
Fu Xiaoguan opened his mouth wide. He remembered the words on the tombstone:
'It was the winter of the forty-third year of the Taihe era, and the ground was covered with snow. That night, the wind was as sharp as a knife. Yunqing climbed over the wall and left. Yunqing and I walked together. Yunqing looked back, and the Xu Mansion gradually faded away. Tears soaked her clothes.'
So, Xu Yunqing really eloped with Official Fu?
No, did she elope with Fu Daguan? Or, as Fatty later said, was he sent by Emperor Wen to Linjiang to take care of his mother and himself?
What the hell!
Fu Xiaoguan felt unwell.
The two most important people related to this matter, Xu Yunqing and Emperor Wen Wu Changfeng, are both dead. The only one who knows the inside story is Official Fu. But is what this fat man said true?
Fu Xiaoguan rubbed his head and suddenly thought of someone:
"During that period, after my mother went to Linjiang, was Ji Yungui always by her side?"
"I really don't know about that. After your mother passed away, your father was very angry and resigned from his official position. He devoted himself to Buddhism at home and no longer cared about worldly affairs."
Well, it seems we have to ask the ant colony to find Ji Yungui’s whereabouts.
"Didn't Mr. Fu bring Xu Yunqing back once in the winter of the 49th year of Taihe? Grandpa didn't open the door to let her in?"
Now it was Xu Huaishu's turn to stare wide-eyed. "Who told you that? My younger sister did come back that winter. Not only did your grandfather open the door, but they even spent the entire night chatting in the Buddhist temple!"
"…What did they talk about?"
Xu Huaishu shook his head. "We were locked outside the Buddhist temple, and no one knew about it. But your mother passed away early the next morning, and she was indeed with Official Fu."
"Did you see Officer Fu the next day?"
"Yes, he held your hand. You were five years old at that time. Don't you remember it?"
I should really remember!
The question is why did the original owner of this body forget such an important thing?
"Is my mother seriously ill?"
"I didn't see any signs of illness, but my father later said that my little sister was seriously ill and might not live long."
"...So Grandpa forgave Mother?"
"It's his own daughter, how could he be so resentful? You're already five years old. His anger has long since subsided. He just made it a habit to chant sutras in front of the Buddha, and he's been beating the wooden fish for more than twenty years."
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
Xu Huaishu felt aggrieved. "You never asked me this before! Besides... I thought you knew everything."
…
…
Xu Huaishu left behind a wooden fish and a few words and then left.
Fu Xiaoguan was confused.
One is why Xu Yunqing knew the poem "A Farewell to Cambridge" at the age of six?
If she had traveled through time, she had not left any trace of her travels in this world.
Secondly, this father has become confusing. The honest fat man, the confidant Emperor Wen... The imperial seal is still in his sleeve pocket. If he was not his biological son, why would he give it to himself before he died?
Well, all this will be resolved by going to Wu Dynasty and having a good talk with Fatty.
Fu Xiaoguan picked up the wooden fish, looked at it left and right, but couldn't figure out what it was. So, he raised the wooden fish high and dropped it to the ground with a "bang..."
The wooden fish split in two, and Fu Xiaoguan saw the secret hidden in the wooden fish -
It was a yellowed piece of paper with beautiful handwriting written on it!
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