Chapter 294 My Mother is a Money-Grubber
Moonlight filtered in through the window pane, outlining the boy's profile.
Xue Che whispered, "I said it, I said it quietly in my heart."
Su Zhizhi walked over a few steps and said to the tablet in front of Xue Che, "Hello, auntie. My name is Zhizhi."
She spoke very politely, as if there was really an elder in front of her who she needed to greet.
She remembered that every time Xue Che went to visit the graves with her, he looked very serious as if he was going to meet an elder.
"Aunt, we can only come to see you at night now. After a while, maybe Che will be able to come in the daytime openly."
After Xue Che finished burning incense, he saw that the half moon in the sky was not yet high.
He asked Zhizhi: "Zhizhi, do you want to take a look at the Pei Mansion?"
The Pei Mansion is adjacent to the Xue Family's and can be seen from the wall of the courtyard where Xue Yucheng used to live.
Su Zhizhi looked like she had already made a plan:
"Since I'm here, of course I have to take a look."
She was very curious about the Pei Mansion, but she never mentioned her desire to visit it, because she knew that her father would be very sad if she mentioned the Pei Mansion.
Dad is already having a hard time, and she doesn't want him to be even sadder.
This time she and Xue Che came and just had the chance to take a look.
Xue Che: "This way, I heard Uncle Zhang say that my uncle lived in the north courtyard when he was alive."
The Xue Mansion is not small, but several courtyards are closed and no one is there.
When Xue Che was a child, he once came to his uncle's yard with his father.
The specific details are very vague, I just remember that there were several trees beside the courtyard wall, they were tall and dense, and half of their crowns extended to the other side of the wall.
Uncle Zhang told him that there was an empty mansion next door and no one lived there.
At that time, Xue Che didn't know why there was an empty mansion in such a good location. Later, when he went to Black Bandit Mountain, he understood the reason.
Xue Che and Su Zhizhi walked to the gate of the yard and saw that it was indeed locked, so they climbed over the wall again.
Under the bright moonlight, several large trees that had never been trimmed cast huge shadows on the ground.
The shadows of the treetops swayed gently, like algae in the water.
There is a faint scent of flowers in the wind.
Su Zhizhi twitched her nose: "Ache, it's Sophora japonica!"
She walked to the largest tree and saw a thick layer of petals on the ground, and many flower clusters hanging on the tree.
Su Zhizhi grabbed a handful of locust flowers, and her hands were filled with a sweet smell:
"My aunt is very good at making wine with locust flowers. I helped her pick a lot of locust flowers when I went to the palace before. It's a pity that my aunt is not here, otherwise she would definitely like it if she saw it."
Xue Che also received a few petals in his palm: "That must be delicious."
"Probably. I've only seen my aunt brew wine, but I haven't drunk it yet."
Su Zhizhi looked up at the sturdy locust tree and said, "Let's sit on the tree."
They first jumped onto the top of the wall and then climbed up a locust tree that was taller than the wall.
There were two large branches on the treetop, and they sat on each branch very steadily.
The two figures are one with the tree, and clusters of locust flowers hang among the branches above their heads, as if they are sitting in a cluster of flowers.
Su Zhizhi could see several courtyards of the Pei family.
I saw the grayish-grey roof tiles, the continuous ridges, the moss on the stone steps, the closed doors and windows...
She imagined: "When my aunt was little, she might have been painting behind that window, and my mother was practicing whipping in the yard. There were many flowers in the yard, and my grandmother used the flowers to make wine..."
Xue Che turned his head and saw the moonlight with the fragrance of locust flowers falling on Su Zhizhi's smooth face. Her long eyelashes cast distinct shadows on her lower eyelids.
Zhizhi's voice was very soft at this time, not as noisy as during the day, but as gentle as the night breeze brushing across her face.
Xue Che shifted his gaze back. The locust flowers falling from the tree seemed to have fallen on his heart, tickling his chest.
The dazed feeling from last time appeared again.
"Ache, Ache?" Su Zhizhi called out twice.
"What?" Xue Che came back to his senses and felt a little guilty for being distracted just now.
"I, I didn't see anything just now. I was just looking at the flowers and the trees..."
Xue Che's skin color had been tanned in the northwest, but now in the night he looked as fair as when he was a child.
Su Zhizhi thinks Ache was very cute when he was a child, and Ache is still a little cute now.
Like a cute, fair-skinned old man.
Su Zhizhi: "I just asked you, where is your maternal grandparents' home? You never mentioned it."
Xue Che touched the rough bark of the tree trunk with his fingertips and said slowly:
"I don't have a maternal grandparents. I heard from my father that my mother was an orphan from the countryside, not from a noble family."
To him, the word "mother" is both very close and very far away. Like Zhizhi, he has no memory of his biological mother.
He wouldn't talk about his biological mother with others because it was a very sad topic, but when he talked to Zhizhi, everything he said seemed interesting and he didn't feel sad at all.
Su Zhizhi: "Then how did your mother know your father?"
Xue Che: "When my father was young, he was once surrounded by the Hu people during a battle. After fighting his way through the siege, he was seriously injured and separated from his subordinates. He was saved by my mother who happened to be a merchant passing by at the time."
Su Zhizhi's eyes showed a hint of admiration:
"I heard from Wu Zhan that there are very few women in Dayu who go out to do business. Your mother is a very unusual person."
Xue Che's lips curled up slightly: "Yeah, my father said so too."
"My father said that after my mother rescued him, the first thing he said when he woke up was to ask for money."
"Does your father owe your mother money?"
"That's how my mother thinks. She said that saving my father delayed her business, and she spent money on my father's medical treatment and medicine, and she also had to pay for taking care of my father.
My father had no money at the time, so my mother made him chop wood, make fires, and sweep the floors to pay off his debts. This smoothed out the bad temper my father had developed during his time in the military.
Su Zhizhi agreed: "I have to say, your mother is quite suitable to come to our Black Bandit Mountain."
Xue Che's smile deepened, and the corners of his eyes curved into crescents:
"My dad said my mom is a money-grubber. Not only is she a money-grubber, but she's also a generous money-grubber."
"One year, the army was short of food, and the imperial court's grain hadn't arrived yet. My mother used up most of her wealth to buy food for the Xue family army."
Su Zhizhi: "Money is very important to your mother. When the grain arrived, did the court return the money to your mother?"
"I don't know about that." Xue Che scratched the back of his head.
"Later, my father brought my mother back to Beijing to get married. Many people were not optimistic about my mother's background. But my grandmother and my father both said that my mother was better than many women in Beijing."
"The day before my father returned to the northwest, my mother was diagnosed with pregnancy. My father said he would come back when I was about to be born. Later, my father really came back, but he never saw my mother again."
Su Zhizhi's eyes reflected the moon and the locust flowers, as well as a young boy in the flowers and the moon:
"But your mother saw you when you were born, and your father saw you when he came back. Your mother saw your father in you, and your father saw your mother in you."
Su Zhizhi seemed a bit long-winded, saying things like he looked at you and you looked at him.
But Xue Che's eyes lit up when he heard her words.
Xue Che: "My mother wrote letters to my father before she passed away, and she also wrote letters to me. When I was little, my grandmother always told me that once I learned to read, I could read my mother's letters."
When he was a child, he couldn't wait to learn to read. He learned early and quickly because he wanted to read letters as soon as possible.
Su Zhizhi: "What did your mother write in the letter?"
"My mother told me to study hard and eat more, and told me to tell my father not to drink. She also told me to spend money recklessly, making me spend the money she didn't have time to spend..."
Xue Che didn't finish what he was saying, feeling a little embarrassed.
His mother also told him in the letter that he should find a girl he likes and marry her when he grows up.
Find whoever loves to laugh the most when you are with them.
You should also give people solid gold bracelets. Solid gold and silver make people feel at ease.
When Su Zhizhi heard Xue Che mention the letter, she said casually:
"My mother left me a whip, but I don't know if she ever wrote me a letter."
Xue Che comforted Zhizhi: "Maybe I did write it, but I left the capital in a hurry and didn't take it to Lingnan."
Su Zhizhi became interested, and a small spark burst out in her eyes:
"Yes! It's very likely that he has written it! I can look for it."
Xue Che: "Where do you want to find her? Before your mother left the capital, she lived in—"
Su Zhizhi's gaze drifted towards the night sky: "When I have the chance, I'm going to visit Prince Gong's Mansion."
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