There lived a man in the villa. He used to be a waiter in the best inn in Xijing, and his family had also received favors from the Bai family.

At that time, he was still young and didn't understand what happened. It was only after the Bai family was ruined that he gradually realized it. So, I really learned a lot from him.

The person who came to handle the Bai family case had booked the inn where he was staying. No one in the inn was allowed to go out! No one was allowed to discuss the inn's affairs. The management was very strict. Anyone who violated the rules would be beaten! The person in charge was a man named Jiang, not a local official. It was said that his father was a second-rank official in the capital.

Lord Jiang was in his early thirties, very arrogant, and never changed his mind. The local prefect and county magistrate had been with the Bai family for many years, and their relationship was not close, but harmonious. The Bai family paid a lot of taxes and often produced products to support them, so they were unwilling to take this step.

But Lord Jiang slammed the table and glared at them, so they didn't dare to say a word.

There was a young man following Lord Jiang, and many things were suggested by that young man. A chef in the inn said that the young man had an accent from his hometown, and was from the area near Huaishan in Yuanzhou... Lord Jiang called that young man Li Qun.

"Li Qun?" Wen Yu and Qi Wu looked at each other. It turned out that this person showed up so early.

Mrs. Qi had been listening carefully, but she was a little confused. Looking at the expressions of her son and daughter-in-law, they must be hiding something from me...

Zhang Yuan said: "It seems that things are going well, and the two are very happy. But unexpectedly, the villa exploded suddenly, without any defense, and many officials died. The incident was too big, and it was said that Lord Jiang used the seized silver and treasures to make arrangements everywhere, and only then was the matter suppressed.

But the man named Li Qun disappeared inexplicably, and Lord Jiang even had people chasing him everywhere. As for what you asked me to find out, whether there is a woman named Tan in the Bai family, I actually found out!"

Tan? Madam Qi's eyes lit up.

Master Qing and Yibai were listening quietly.

Zhang Yuan said, "Mrs. Bai's surname is Tan. The Tan family doesn't have many relatives in the local area, but many years ago, a relative from Mrs. Bai's family who was in trouble came to seek shelter and was taken in by her. They were a mother and daughter, the mother's name was Tan Shuya and the daughter's name was Tan Yanling!"

Madam Qi exclaimed, "Is it really her?"

Wen Yu nodded to her mother-in-law.

Zhang Yuan continued, "On weekdays, people can see Tan Shuya. Tan Yanling lives in the villa, just like the girl from the Bai family. They only meet occasionally. After the incident at the Bai family, it was reported that Tan Yanling was diagnosed with pregnancy."

"What?!" Madam Qi couldn't control herself anymore and cried out! Wen Yu smiled and patted her mother-in-law's arm.

"She went to see a doctor. It was too unreasonable for a grown woman to say that... The doctor went back and told his wife. The news only came out after the incident at the Bai family. The mother and daughter were not affected by the incident at the Bai family. Someone saw them running away, but they never went back.

Some people said that the child was Mr. Bai's. But others said that it was impossible, because the woman was asking a matchmaker to find a husband for her daughter, and she also said that Mr. Bai and his wife would give a dowry of 1,000 taels! Some people also saw her meeting a man named Li Qun in teahouses privately several times, so maybe the child was Li Qun's.

Master Qing said to Madam Qi, "Madam, Tan Yanling is pregnant with the current concubine Xiuyun. She should be my eldest brother's. But... Madam, although my eldest brother is suave and romantic, he is really not a man of no manners!

I would never mess around with my wife's niece. We sisters have seen how my elder brother treated her, and we just treated her as a poor little girl. So, this must be her plan!"

Madam Qi nodded: "After seeing Master Qing and Yi Bai, how could I not know what kind of character your eldest brother has? Besides, I have dealt with Tan for many years, and I know that this is her style!"

Master Qing gritted her teeth and said, "Her original name was Li Daniu! Yanling, and it was my eldest brother who gave her the name..." She really hated it, her eldest sister-in-law's small act of kindness...

"Li Da Niu?" Mrs. Qi looked at Wen Yu again.

Wen Yu and Master Qing probably knew about these things, so they were not surprised.

Zhang Yuan continued, "After asking around for a long time, we only got this much information, so we headed to the area near Huaishan. No one knew about the woman surnamed Tan, but when we asked about Li Qun, we found that quite a few people knew him.

His father married into the Li family. Mrs. Li was infertile, so Li Qun was born to a pawned wife. This pawned wife was Tan Shuya! After he got into trouble, Mrs. Li went crazy and kicked him out of the house. "

"This is too bizarre..." Mrs. Qi murmured.

"After Tan Shuya gave birth to Li Qun, Mrs. Li gave her to a poor bachelor from her family, who then gave birth to Li Da Niu. The man was a good-for-nothing, drank and beat his wife, and even wanted to sell Li Da Niu to a brothel, so Tan escaped with Li Da Niu and ran to Xijing to look for her relatives."

"So that's how it is!"

"Yes, what's even more unimaginable is that the man was actually a long-lived man! He lived to be over 80 and he would talk about these things all day long. So, decades later, we were able to find out everything! After finding out the whole story, we still couldn't figure out how Tan Yanling could meet the Marquis and let him take her to Beijing? So, we went back to Niujiazhuang. It was almost the New Year this time, and many people were returning home. We met an old man named Niu Xi, who was returning home to visit his ancestors' graves. We finally found out everything..."

Everyone was waiting for Zhang Yuan to continue, but he suddenly burst into tears, "My grandfather was killed by that old witch Tan!"

"What?!" Wen Yu and Qi Wu were both shocked.

Zhang Yuan sobbed and cried. Thinking of his grandmother's early death, his father's disability, and his brother's busy life outside. He was following such a beast... Humph! After he knew everything, he made up his mind: Qi Yue, you just wait!

After a pause, he continued: It turned out that Tan Yanling and Tan escaped from Xijing and suffered a lot. They were almost starving to death and were rescued by an old hunter. The old hunter's wife and children were all gone, so he saved them and let Tan Shuya be his wife. The two of them had no other way to go, so they returned to the mountain village with him.

In the village, Tan Yanling gave birth to a girl.

Niu Xi has three older brothers. He is short, ugly, and skinny, and he has no skills. He can't even do anything, so he can't get a wife. He saw that Tan Yanling had a daughter before marriage, and thought he might be able to marry her. So he secretly watched her, even followed her to the toilet, and peeked through the window to watch her bathing... (Of course, he said this after drinking five glasses of fruit wine!)

The old hunter went into the mountains with others to hunt. Tan Yanling didn't have enough milk, so Tan Shuya took the baby down to the village to find milk. Tan Yanling left the village to go to the town to buy things.

Niu Xi was still following behind, but she found that she had met two injured people ahead of her and brought them home, cleaned their wounds, and cooked for them.

One of them was a young man in luxurious clothes. He was seriously injured and had lost a lot of blood. He was sometimes conscious and sometimes fainted.

Tan Shuya came back with the child, but Tan Yanling asked her to take the child to stay in the village for another night.

“My grandfather saw all this and thought she was worried that the criminals would come after her and the child would be unsafe, so he told her that he had left marks along the way and help would arrive tomorrow at the latest.

The next morning, Tan Yanling asked my grandfather to help fetch water, and then the two of them walked to a place a little further away from the house. She took advantage of my grandfather's unpreparedness and chopped his head with a hatchet!

When Grandfather reacted, he struck back, and she was also injured. However, she was very fierce, regardless of anything, and slashed at Grandfather's head. Grandfather was already injured... and he had been carrying the Marquis on his back, and his strength had not recovered yet, so he was defeated and died..."

"So, that's how she saved the Marquis' life!" Madam Qi said expressionlessly.

Zhang Yuan wiped his tears and said, "Niu Xi saw the injured man's elegant appearance and secretly cursed Tan Yanling for being snobbish, but he refused to leave, so he saw everything. He said that the woman was like an evil ghost, and frightened him so much that he ran away and never dared to go again.

A few days later, he heard that Tan Yanling had gone somewhere, but Tan Shuya and the little girl stayed. Later, Niu Xi was adopted by an uncle who had no son and left Niujiazhuang.

A few years later, a forest fire suddenly broke out in Niujiazhuang, and his brothers and all the villagers died.

But no one mentioned Mrs. Tan and that little girl..."