Chapter 142: Cheng Lian is not honest, Jia Ren is not fake.
The blue sun shone obliquely, casting strands of golden light down from the top of the courtyard wall, climbing over the eaves, spreading over the door plaque, and illuminating the three words "Tongzhiyuan".
After a long time, Song Linsheng's arrival broke the silence.
"Xiaoyu--" The sound of rubbing fabrics followed, and Song Linsheng's steady steps stopped beside Wenyu.
Wen Yu turned around in response, her somewhat scattered gaze finally refocusing on Song Linsheng. "Hmm..."
Song Linsheng remained silent, accompanying Wen Yu.
He followed Wen Yu's gaze and saw the words "Tongzhiyuan" on the plaque on the door.
A gentle breeze carried a faint lingering fragrance. Song Linsheng looked sideways, following the scent.
Beneath the pink walls and black tiles, a lush patch of crabapple trees, half-open and half-withered, lingers, a lingering fragrance. Some branches have already turned a withered yellow, but only the subtle fragrance remains.
Song Linsheng's eyelashes twitched slightly. He remembered that when he came here some time ago, this patch of crabapple trees was in full bloom.
The floral fragrance is elegant and refreshing.
Now, in just over a month, the flowers have faded and the branches have withered.
It can be seen that most of the beautiful things in the world are fleeting and cannot last long.
Suddenly, Song Linsheng seemed to have thought of something.
He suddenly turned around, and his gaze, which had been taken away from the crabapple tree, was fixed firmly on Wen Yu.
If one day, Xiaoyu will also...
Song Linsheng suddenly stopped thinking and didn't dare to think about it any further.
For a moment, both of them were silent, and an inexplicable silence surrounded them.
Soon, Master Mu, who had arrived late, also stepped beside Wen Yu and the others. "Madam Wen, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting—"
Wen Yu's face was heavy, and she had no mood to play around. She glanced around at Song Linsheng and Mu Tong, then looked up at the plaque of Tongzhiyuan.
"You mentioned here that day that Lord Jia has a screen with lotus flowers emerging from water, right?"
Although she was asking Song Linsheng and Mu Tong, she remembered it clearly in her heart and thought it through clearly in her mind.
That day, Song Linsheng went to Lord Jia's bedroom to wash his inkstone and retrieved a folding screen. Lord Mu confirmed that the embroidery on the screen was indeed a picture of lotus emerging from water.
"Yes." Mu Tong responded, "I'm afraid everyone in the palace knows a thing or two about this matter."
Song Linsheng lowered his eyes and looked at Wen Yu. There were tiny flashes of color in her eyes, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, but she didn't seem to be happy at all.
Wen Yu was silent for a while. She knew that as long as she stepped into this yard, everything would be revealed.
What Song Bo said can be supported by evidence.
Her and Song Linsheng's guesses can be verified.
But when she really arrived at the threshold of Tongzhiyuan, she did not dare to take this step casually.
True and false, right and wrong, it turns out that it is not as simple as black and white.
Master is right. She still has a lot to learn about the world's theories.
"Let's go in." Wen Yu said, and took the first step forward.
Song Linsheng and Mu Tong did not stay for long, and followed Wen Yu into the Tongzhi Courtyard.
As soon as she stepped into the courtyard, Wen Yu was amazed by the layout in front of her.
The eaves of the main hall are connected at different heights, with a pair of ridge beasts sitting on them. The wide roof beams show that the main hall is spacious and bright, which is no less than Song Linsheng's prefectural villa.
The main door of the main hall was open, revealing the six carved nanmu doors of the inner courtyard. Wen Yu and others standing on the threshold of the courtyard could see the Sichuan embroidery screen in the main house with a pattern of lotus emerging from water.
It is not summer yet, nor is it the season for lotus to bloom, but the exquisite embroidery makes the lotus flowers seem to be about to bloom outside the screen.
Wen Yu held her breath and concentrated, as if as long as she relaxed, she would be able to smell the lotus fragrance in the yard.
She walked towards the inner courtyard step by step with firm steps and a calm expression.
Soon, the lotus emerged from the water and appeared in front of Wen Yu.
"It's probably this one." Mu Tong on the side put away his fan and carefully observed the embroidery on the screen.
Song Linsheng walked around the screen and pondered, "Just as Xiyan said, this screen has indeed been renovated, but I don't know..."
Wen Yu stood silently with her hands hanging down, her eyes sweeping across the embroidered surface of the screen inch by inch, leaving no corner untouched.
On the horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen, an old dust towel was casually placed on it. Judging from its color and degree of wear, it must have been held in the hand of the original owner from time to time to take care of the screen.
Is it... Yang Sheng?
Wen Yu guessed that it was probably Yang Sheng.
She raised her hand and brushed it across the embroidered surface of the screen, feeling the smoothness and fluidity of the silk thread running beneath her fingertips.
Suddenly, a small bump blocked Wen Yu's fingertips and stopped the movement of her hands.
Wen Yu withdrew her fingertips and looked at the lotus embroidery pattern before her. The craftsman who had embroidered this folding screen had done so with such skill that to the naked eye, one could hardly detect any irregularities. It was only the slight touch of her skin as it glided across it that made Wen Yu keenly aware of any unevenness.
"Song Linsheng, Lord Mu, come and see." Wen Yu stepped back two steps to let Song Linsheng and Mu Tong come out.
Upon hearing this, the two of them gathered together and examined the embroidery carefully.
A huge and flourishing nine-petal lotus blooms in the pond with red flowers and green leaves. It is truly charming and beautiful.
"The acupuncture method here is no different from that elsewhere, but..." Mu Tong started to speak, stood up first, and exchanged glances with Song Linsheng.
Song Linsheng understood immediately. He raised his sleeve and placed his fingertips over the lotus pattern. Frowning for a moment, he felt it and continued, "It's just half a meter thicker than the other embroidery."
Wen Yu nodded, "It seems your guess is correct."
Song Linsheng nodded and exchanged a glance with Mu Tong, who was standing beside him. On the day he had confronted Lord Jia in the Tongzhi Court, he had claimed to have come to the inner courtyard to retrieve this screen after washing his inkstone, and he and Lord Mu had been collaborating in this, all in an attempt to trick Lord Jia.
In fact, he has not had the opportunity or time to verify this matter.
"Do you want to... open it and verify it?" Mu Tong asked, holding the folding fan with his hands behind his back.
He didn't care, but he had to ask Lord Song and Madam Wen's opinions first.
Wen Yu was stunned. Should he open it and verify it?
She turned to look at Song Linsheng, only to find that Song Linsheng was also looking at her, as if asking her what she was thinking.
Wen Yu went back to look at the lotus flower that held a hidden secret.
She wasn't thinking about whether to open the screen or not. After all, for her, even if she didn't open the screen, getting the hidden objects inside was as easy as taking something out of a bag.
What she was hesitating about was whether she really wanted to... verify it.
Hidden beneath this lotus flower might be the missing page in the government office register that she and Song Linsheng had been searching for.
The page that belongs to Lord Jia.
Just as Chen Mian's household register would indicate whether he was married and had a family, Lord Jia's household register would also record his wife and children...
His wife and children...
Wen Yu suddenly became very scared and began to retreat. She was unwilling to explore the truth behind this lotus.
Just as Lord Jia said, does everyone have to uncover the scars of the past, let other unrelated people watch coldly as they bleed and fester, and then beg for pity from him, begging him not to tell anyone?
Wen Yu immediately withdrew her hand and took a few steps back. She was so distracted that she could hardly stand and even her body was shaking slightly.
"Xiaoyu." Song Linsheng called out anxiously, the concern in his voice was self-evident.
He raised his hand to block Wen Yu's side, helping her to steady her steps.
Wen Yu only felt a warmth behind her, and a steady force supported her. She came back to her senses in a daze, and then turned to face Song Linsheng.
"Song Linsheng, I..." She didn't know that the affairs and feelings of the human world were so complicated and profound that she couldn't see through them at a glance.
At first, when she was determined to go down to the mortal world to look for Song Linsheng, Chi Huang had tried to dissuade her in every way, telling her to wait until her master returned to the Spring Temple before making a decision.
What could a young tree demon, just beginning to awaken, possibly understand? Chi Huang feared that she was as heartless as a stone, unable to create anything, and easily distracted by worldly matters.
She relied on the protection of the Temple of Spring and did not want to owe Song Linsheng any consequences, so she went down to the mortal world alone.
She always thought that there was a clear distinction between black and white, good and evil, and simply divided people into two groups, looking at the world based on her established ideas.
For the first time, Wen Yu felt frustrated and panicked. Although she had spiritual power, she was not omnipotent.
For example, she is not good at understanding people's hearts.
Song Linsheng lowered his eyes to look at Wen Yu. Seeing her half-lidded eyelashes and silent expression, he turned to look at the nine-petal lotus on the screen. After a moment's thought, he softly replied to Wen Yu, "Since this is Master Jia's screen, it should be left to Master Jia to handle. We should refrain from any rash actions."
He pondered for a moment, "If there really is an opportunity, I will return it to its original owner."
Mu Tong glanced at the fan bones with his fingertips, and as his eyes moved, he expressed his agreement with Song Linsheng's proposal.
"Master Song is right. After all, everyone in the government office knows how much Master Jia treasured this screen."
It was because he was convicted later that he lost the right to dispose of all the belongings in the Tongzhi Court. However, this screen should have belonged to him, so why didn't he take it away?
Mu Tong shook his head. There was no need to dwell on the past. Blindly pondering it would not bring about any change.
Wen Yu was still standing there in a daze with his hands hanging down, neither speaking nor moving, ignoring the words of Song Linsheng and Mu Tong.
Song Linsheng saw that she was in a bad condition. Xiaoyu's mood had been up and down several times today. Perhaps the shock was too great, and her originally cherry-red cheeks turned pale.
He was worried. Xiaoyu had not been feeling well outside the city before, and now she was even more confused after being dragged to the government office.
Song Linsheng immediately made up his mind to return home. He leaned over to Wen Yu and called softly, "Xiaoyu, why don't you come back with me to rest? The doctor hired by Uncle Song is probably waiting for you at the mansion. It would be a good idea to go back and check your pulse."
Wen Yu was stunned for a moment. She had not yet completely recovered from the sadness of self-reflection. Seeing Song Linsheng's lips moving, she didn't care what he said.
"Song Linsheng..." Wen Yu murmured, and the events of the past few days kept flashing through her mind.
That day on the Yuan River, the words of Cheng Lian's argument with Lord Jia were still ringing in her ears, making it impossible for her to escape.
Everything started because she trusted Cheng Lian too much and was too complacent...
If she had questioned Cheng Lian for a longer time, would she have known the truth sooner?
Song Linsheng leaned over quietly in front of Wen Yu. His tone was neither hurried nor slow, giving Wen Yu ample patience. "Hmm? Xiaoyu?"
Wen Yu turned her eyes and focused her gaze on Song Linsheng's eyes. She finally came back to her senses for a moment.
She grabbed Song Linsheng's sleeves with both hands, as if a drowning person was grabbing her last life-saving straw.
"Song Linsheng, it turns out, it turns out..."
Wen Yu's words were intermittent and her voice was very soft. Song Linsheng had to hold his breath and stare closely to hear every word she said.
"It turns out that Cheng Lian is not honest, but Jia Ren is not fake."
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