Jiang Xu didn't expect Xue Zhiyi to come looking for him on his own initiative.
From the first time she met Xue Zhiyi at Chunji, she felt that she had seen this face somewhere. It was a long time before she remembered that her face was three-quarters similar to A Niang's.
But she is the daughter of a minister, a noble lady from a wealthy family, and she has her own parents. Even if she looks a little similar, what relationship does she have with their family?
It was not until later, when something happened to the Xue family, that he learned that Xue Zhiyi and Xue Zhentong were not biological father and daughter. He became more and more suspicious, but he was unable to verify it because of his weakness.
But as he got along with Xue Zhiyi, he felt more and more that her every frown and smile made her face, which was only 30% similar to A Niang, look 70% similar.
After hesitating for a moment, he called out, "Miss Xue."
Although Xue Zhiyi had guessed it in his mind, he was still shocked when he saw the secret letter. Now facing Jiang Xu, he didn't know how to start.
"Master Jiang, I'm here to ask you some trivial questions, which may be a bit presumptuous."
Jiang Xu was inexplicably nervous: "I will tell you everything I know."
After taking a deep breath, Xue Zhiyi asked him seriously, "Master Jiang, are you from Cishui, Jiangzhou?"
"Yes," he replied, "it has been like this since our ancestors."
"I wonder who's at home?"
Jiang Xu was stunned for a moment, then his expression eased a little: "Sit down and listen slowly."
The early autumn wind was cool, and the two sat facing each other at the stone table in the yard.
"My family is a farming and scholarly family in Cishui. My father's name is Jiang Fengjing. He passed the imperial examination when he was young. A few years later, my grandfather passed away, and the burden of supporting the family fell entirely on his shoulders. He no longer sought fame and fortune, but instead opened a school, collecting a few dozen taels of silver each year. We also had a few acres of fertile land and a few houses. Although we were not wealthy, we lived a leisurely and comfortable life."
"My mother's name is Xu Hanzhu. She's an excellent needlework artist, having learned her craft in the embroidery room since she was little. She's beautiful, and her smile is gentle, but she has a very bold and aggressive personality. She's always ready to fight for whatever she's upset about, whether it's for herself or for others. Everyone in Cishui knows that she's the hardest to bully, yet she's also the most loyal to others."
Recalling the past, Jiang Xu couldn't help but smile. "There were many people who wanted to marry my mother at that time, but she said that she loved listening to my father read books the most. Even though she didn't understand them, she just felt comfortable listening to them."
"In contrast to Mom, Dad is a well-known good man. He's been reading the Four Books and Five Classics since he was a child, and his every word and action is modeled after the sages. The students weren't afraid of him, so they always acted rashly in the school. But ever since Mom and Dad got married, they haven't dared to do that anymore. Although the teacher is a good man, the teacher's wife is known throughout the area as a fierce and aggressive person."
Xue Zhiyi laughed out loud. She grew up in the Xue family, and everything Jiang Xu said was something she had never heard of before. She became even more interested: "What happened next?"
"Later, my father, mother, sister, and I were born one after another."
"Sister?"
The smile on Jiang Xu's face faded a little, and he hummed softly, "My sister's name is Jiang Xian, she's three years older than me. When she was little, her temperament was like our mother, while I'm more like our father. She learned embroidery from our mother and is also studying with our father. She said she wants to open her own embroidery studio in the future. Having the skills alone isn't enough; you also need to be able to do accounting. As for me, I want to pass the imperial examinations and bring honor to our family."
A bad premonition came to his mind, and Xue Zhiyi asked him tentatively: "Did she open her embroidery studio later?"
Jiang Xu lowered his eyes, the light in his eyes dimmed, and he did not comment.
"When I was six, my grandfather went to Huajing to work for someone, but he suddenly fell ill and passed away. Upon hearing the news, my parents went to Huajing to bury him, but they didn't expect their absence to last a year... When they returned, only my mother was left, along with a coffin containing my father. From then on, my mother had completely changed. She no longer had the spirit she once had. Her once bright and cheerful personality had become dull and silent, and she looked emaciated."
Hearing this, Xue Zhiyi's heart ached: "What happened that year?"
Jiang Xufang's hands on the table unconsciously tightened, as if he wanted to crush something. "On their way to Huajing, my parents discovered that my mother was already two months pregnant. By the time they arrived, my mother was no longer well enough to travel, so they had to ask someone to bring my grandfather's coffin back to Cishui. They planned to settle down there and return after the baby was born. But... they didn't expect someone would set their sights on the baby in my mother's womb. As soon as my little sister was born, she was stolen away by someone unknown."
Jiang Xu was a little emotional at this point. "In order to find my little sister, my parents stayed in Huajing and searched hard. They also reported the case to the government, but strangely, no one accepted the case. They had no choice but to go to the Dali Temple to beat drums and complain. But they didn't expect that a group of thieves would kill them the day they left the Dali Temple. My father was stabbed to death while trying to protect my mother! My mother carried my father's body and went around complaining, vowing to seek justice, but she was once again turned away. She even thought about filing a complaint with the emperor, but he found a pretext to expel her from Huajing..."
Jiang Xu, who usually acted with measured judgment, now had red eyes and a choked voice. "Mom was brought back by a fellow villager whom we met by chance. According to that fellow villager, Mom was already acting strangely at that time. She was covered in dust and dirt, wandering around the gates of Huajing with Dad's body. She had spent all her money and was completely dazed, extremely wary of everyone she met."
She swallowed her sore throat, pressed her fist to her forehead, and quickly brushed her thumb across her eyes, wiping away a tear she couldn't hold back. "Mom went home to recuperate for a while, and she finally regained some consciousness. She told us the cause of Dad's death and told me to remember my little sister's name: Jiang Wan. She had a thumb-sized red birthmark on her left shoulder. She told me and my sister to find her... But Mom was so upset that she couldn't let it go. Just a few months after returning home, she died of exhaustion."
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