Chapter 77
"What did you say? Erlang is still alive? When the Xie mansion was burned down that day, there was clearly Erlang's body. Or did my father and my brother and his wife try to replace the former with the latter?" Xie Ning's face was filled with joy, but there was a hint of disbelief in his tone.
Ruan Qingyun nodded at her.
Xie Ning's eyes were filled with tears, and she asked anxiously, "Where is he? Is he okay now?"
"northwest."
"Northwest?" Xie Ning asked doubtfully, "Erlang must have suffered a lot."
She walked back and forth for a few steps, calming her nerves. "Although the northwest is remote and threatened by foreign enemies, it is still safer than here. It's a good trip. God bless us, and my Xie family will have successors."
Xie Ning was so surprised that she was overwhelmed. "By the way, how old is he now? He should be almost sixteen. Ah Yun, have you seen him? Has he grown up? Doesn't he look a lot like my brother and sister-in-law?"
Ruan Qingyun smiled and said, "Young Master was born very handsome when he was young. He still has the same natural charm now, and has a touch of Mr. Xie's style."
"Of course, he was brought up by my father when he was young. Later, my father had to guard Longxi, so he left him to my brother and sister-in-law. I remember he was naughty and was punished a lot." Xie Ning's eyes were warm, as if he was lost in memories.
After a long while, he said, "Ah Yun, this matter must not be known to anyone other than you and me."
Ruan Qingyun chuckled helplessly.
Xie Ning finally realized what she had said. "It's my fault. I was so happy that I lost my mind."
"This is what the young master asked me to give you. He also said to pass a copy to Miss Xie San." Ruan Qingyun took something out of his sleeve and said.
"Erlang gave it to me and Aying?" Xie Ning asked in surprise.
She opened the bag, inside were a few pieces of paper, which were the deeds to several plots of land. Xie Ning thought about it and realized that these were not the Xie family's previous land, so how did Erlang get them?
"After hearing about you and Third Miss Xie's story, the Master wants to help you." After all, it is not easy for a married girl whose maternal family has been wiped out. It is not easy for Xie Yingyi, a divorced woman, even if she is taken care of by other daughters of the Xie family.
Hearing this, Xie Ning frowned coldly, and acted like his father. "The son of the Xie family is outstanding, and the daughter of the Xie family is no less outstanding. He has no relatives in the northwest and lives a hard life. Why should he care about us who are in a pile of splendor? Since I confronted that ungrateful guy before, who in Yandu dares to humiliate my daughter of the Xie family again?"
"Even if it's Ah Ying, if she leaves that filthy woman, she'll have money and property in her hands. Wouldn't she be happier than staying with that heartless man?"
"Second Mother." Ruan Qingyun was somewhat helpless.
"Alright, alright, I know what you're going to say. Fine, let's just consider it as Erlang's filial piety. It's hard for him to still be thinking about us even though he's so far away in the northwest."
"I also want to ask you, how did Erlang get to the northwest back then?" Xie Ning took the bag, his face full of concern and worry.
Ruan Qingyun knew her character and would not give up until he found out the truth. He could only tell her how he had secretly sent Xie Chen out of Yandu, but Xie Chen accidentally ran into a robbery by Qiang people and was taken to the Qiang tribe. After going through untold hardships, he finally escaped to the northwest. After hearing her story in detail, Xie Ning cried and cursed Ding.
"Ayun, if you have any news about Erlang in the future, you must send someone to inform me. No, you have someone pass me a message and I will come here in person." Xie Ning said seriously.
Ruan Qingyun glanced at her suspiciously, "Second Mother and Brother Liu..."
"Don't mention him."
A servant came in and reported, "Sir, Master Liu is outside, and he said he is here to pick up... Madam."
"Got it, go down." Ruan Qingyun ordered.
"Second mother, there may be some misunderstandings." Ruan Qingyun saw the cold look on Xie Ning's brows and said earnestly.
"I know you and he are classmates, but you don't have to speak for him."
Ruan Qingyun sighed and walked out with her.
A man was standing in the hall outside the door, staring at a painting in a daze. Hearing the footsteps of the two people, he turned around and said, "Brother Ruan, I'm sorry to bother you. I'm here to take my second mother home."
"Ayun, remember what I said." Xie Ning said to Ruan Qingyun, then turned around and strode out without even looking at her husband.
Liu Ran nodded to Ruan Qingyun and immediately chased after him.
Ruan Qingyun sighed as he watched the couple who had become enemies.
Ganzhou County.
Lin Shuge was sitting under a tree in the yard to enjoy the cool air. The summer was almost over, but the sun was still very strong, and it was cool under the pear tree.
He had sent the twins to the academy some time ago, and he was the only one left at home. If he was well fed, the whole family would not be hungry. Today happened to be a day off, so he planned to have some cold noodles tonight. He didn't feel like moving at all at the moment, and just wanted to have half a day of leisure.
In the past few months, I have been busy with farming and suffered from disasters, and I also have to find time to help Xu Yu think of the plot of the drama. Ever since Lu Yuechuan heard about the famine in Wei County, he and Ye Qi went straight to Wei County despite their attempts to stop them. They haven't returned yet and no one knows whether they have run into any trouble. Naturally, no one is writing the plays or legend books.
Xu Yu had no choice but to let other gentlemen's manuscripts take over first, but the response was indeed not as good as that of Mr. Lu, so he had no choice but to come to Lin Shuge every day to bother him, causing Lin Shuge to have no peace.
Having polished off a few plots a few days ago, Xu Yu gave them to his subordinates to polish, so he didn't bother him today. Lin Shuge was happy to be free, while his subordinates were stroking Xiaobai's head from time to time. Both the man and the cat were drowsy.
It was not until several knocks on the door woke him up from his drowsiness that Xiaobai was startled by his movements and opened his eyes.
Could it be Xu Yu again?
He held Xiaobai in his arms and went to open the door with an irritated look on his face as he was woken up.
"I think you don't have to come here every day, right?" Lin Shuge said as he opened the door.
He saw a bunch of lilacs appear in front of him. The person who came originally wanted to give him a surprise, but he didn't want to hear this, so he said aloud: "Is there anyone who bothers my brother every day?"
"Zhongxuan?" Lin Shuge exclaimed.
But no one answered.
Lin Shuge moved the flower away, and Xie Chen's handsome face appeared in front of him.
"Zhongxuan, when did you come back? Isn't the army busy? How many days can you stay this time?"
Lin Shuge looked behind him and pulled him towards the yard. Xiaobai in his arms felt uncomfortable being held in one hand by him and glanced at him.
Xie Chen swallowed the words he was about to say, "When did brother get a cat?"
Lin Shuge picked up Xiaobai, held its paw and greeted Xie Chen, "It was raised by a foreign merchant. I saw that it was small and weak and had to travel a long way, so I adopted it. Come here, Xiaobai, say hello, this is your other brother."
Xiaobai glanced at him a few times in a rhythmic manner, but Xie Chen kept a cold face and said nothing.
"Zhongxuan, Xiaobai is greeting you, reply quickly."
"Brother?" Xie Chen raised his voice.
"I'm just teasing you. How long can you stay this time?" Lin Shuge put Xiaobai on the ground and let it play by itself.
Xie Chen shook his head, "I came here with my superiors to buy winter clothes."
Lin Shuge nodded. The sweaters in Ganzhou were indeed cheaper. In autumn and winter, the soldiers also had to change into thicker clothes.
He took the flowers from Xie Chen's hand, looked around, went to the room to get a vase, filled it with water, and put a bunch of lilac in it.
"Well, not bad, where did you get it?" Ganzhou didn't see any cloves.
"On the way here, I saw a hilltop full of lilacs, so I picked some to please my brother." Xie Chen felt a little embarrassed after he finished speaking, but he still looked at Lin Shuge with his eyes.
"When did you learn such nice words?" Lin Shuge said with a smile.
Xie Chen stood up and stared at him without saying anything.
"Zhongxuan, have you grown taller again? The last time I saw you, you were only a little taller than me. How come you are so much taller now?" Is the food in the army so good?
Xie Chen said “hmm”.
Lin Shuge then put down the flowers and looked at him strangely, "What's wrong?"
There seemed to be thousands of stars in Xie Chen's eyes, and he said softly: "Brother, I'm sorry that I couldn't get here in time when you were in trouble."
"Are you talking about the disaster victims a while ago? Zhongxuan, if I can't even handle this, how can I handle the future? Besides, you are far away in the Eternal Tunnel and I can't reach you."
"No matter what happens in the future, I want to share the burden with my brother." Xie Chen approached him and said.
"Why are you talking like this when you come back this time..."
"So what?"
"So..." It's hard to resist. It's unlike his previous style. What he said sounded like love talk. Could it be that he already has a girl he likes and is using him as a training ground?
"Nothing." Lin Shuge replied.
It just so happened that Xiaobai hadn't seen him come out for a long time, so he came over by himself and jumped directly onto the table. Lin Shuge was afraid that it would break the vase, so he reached out to hug it.
But he underestimated the speed of the cat. When Xiaobai saw the thing on the table, he swept it to the ground with one claw.
"Xiaobai." Lin Shuge called him angrily.
Xiaobai didn't care about that and stood gracefully on the table licking his paws.
Lin Shuge hurriedly squatted down to pick it up, but was stopped by Xie Chen, "Brother, be careful with your hands."
Lin Shuge picked up the flowers one by one and said, "Luckily they weren't broken. I'll find a vase to put them in later."
Then he turned around and poked Xiao Bai on the forehead, "If you continue to cause trouble like this, I'll deduct your snacks."
Xie Chen took the broom and swept up the debris, saying nonchalantly, "Brother is too pampered with it."
"It's still young and usually very well behaved. It may not be used to it today." Lin Shuge said casually.
"Brother, what did you say?" Xie Chen's face changed slightly and he asked in disbelief.
Lin Shuge realized that he had said something wrong, and hurriedly said a few words to comfort him. This time, Xie Chen was in a good mood and didn't care. He just looked at him with some concern, "Brother, you don't look well."
"Really? Maybe it's because you've been too tired recently and haven't had enough rest, and it's a bit of a bitter summer." Lin Shuge said indifferently.
"Then brother, have a good rest these days. I will go and talk to the government office for you." After saying that, he was about to leave.
"Hey, don't go. Why do you need to take leave if you are not sick?" Lin Shuge grabbed his sleeve.
Xie Chen looked at him suspiciously, and seeing that he was determined, he could only say, "Okay."
"By the way, Zhongxuan, I used most of the stuff you gave me last time. Sorry, I'll give it to you later."
"Those gems? I gave them to you and let you do whatever you want with them. Why are you saying sorry? Are you treating me like an outsider by saying this?"
"No, how could that be..." Lin Shuge explained a few words, and then felt that he was particularly difficult to deal with today. He no longer blushed when teased like before. It seemed that he had really grown up.
Seeing that he looked a little pale, Xie Chen reached out and touched his forehead. He immediately felt a burst of warmth and hurriedly pulled him to lie down. "Brother, you caught a cold, don't you feel it?"
Lin Shuge touched his forehead and asked, "Really?"
"You take a rest first. I'll go get the doctor."
"I'm fine, no need to bother, just take a rest."
Xie Chen ignored him, got up, covered him with a blanket, closed the door and went straight to the clinic.
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