my heart,
Si Xi didn't care about etiquette, she just wanted to take A Niang away from this hellish place as soon as possible. But when she dug up A Niang's coffin, she was stunned.
"What's wrong, Si Xi?"
"It's okay. I just feel a little unfilial. I actually dug up my mother's grave with my own hands and disturbed her peace."
After saying that, Si Xi dug out A Niang's coffin without hesitation, jumped into the pit and opened A Niang's coffin.
The stale smell of gray mold filled the entire cave. Si Xi was a little choked by the dust. She covered her mouth, coughed, and fanned herself. Only when she felt better did she look into the coffin.
However, there was no remains of A-niang inside! Only a memorial tablet was left standing inside.
"Where's my mother? Impossible! I saw the lid of her coffin closed with my own eyes. I buried her coffin with my own hands. The burial objects I gave her are gone too."
Si Xi turned back and grabbed Yuan Li's sleeve, saying, "Godmother, someone stole my mother's remains! And all the burial objects I gave her! They're gone, all gone! What should I do, Godmother?"
Yuanli calmed her shattered emotions and soothed her, "Don't panic. We'll look for clues and we'll definitely be able to recover your mother's remains!"
"I'll go ask Yue Niang! My mother's remains are worthless to others, not even as good as a full steamed bun. Yue Niang is the most suspicious!"
"Bingbing, calm down first! What good would it do for Yue Niang to steal your mother's bones? Don't be reckless, or you'll alert the enemy. Calm down!"
"How can I stay calm? My mother's remains have been stolen! I've often come to pay my respects over the years, but my mother's remains may have been stolen long ago without my knowledge. I don't even know if she's been buried properly."
Si Xi blamed herself intensely, putting all the blame on herself. Yuan Li had no choice but to immediately use the demon elixir she carried to ignite a flame and illuminate the coffin.
She jumped into the pit and, while carefully examining the coffin, said, "There's no point in crying or blaming yourself. Since you buried your mother with your own hands, she must have been taken away by thieves. But look, this coffin shows no signs of damage, and its structure is quite unique and complex, which shows that it was someone close to you who committed the crime."
"Someone close to you?" Si Xi wiped away her tears and leaned in to examine the edge of the coffin. After looking at it, she said, "This coffin was made by my father himself. If I hadn't seen him close the coffin with my own eyes, I wouldn't know how to open it intact."
"When your father's coffin was closed, were there other people watching?"
Si Xi tried hard to recall, but it had been so long. "I remember there were a lot of people at my mother's funeral: my father's women and some people I can't even remember. They weren't important, so I didn't even bother to look at their faces. There were so many people, it was impossible to find anyone suspicious right away. Besides, many of them were already dead."
"Could it be one of your father's women?"
Si Xi shook his head. "Probably not. My mother spends most of her time with my father, chasing him to the women's quarters. She never makes things difficult for them. Even if my father brings them back, she won't say anything. Those women are often jealous, but they are also quite respectful to me and would never use any means to harm me."
The two were in a dilemma, but after searching for a while, Yuanli actually found some clues.
"Si Xi, look here." Yuanli moved the jade pillow away, and a jade pendant suddenly appeared.
"This is my father's jade pendant, with his name on it."
Yuanli was instantly deflated, but Sixi held the jade pendant tightly in his hand and looked at it carefully.
"I was the one who placed the pillow on my mother's place. The jade pendant was not there at that time."
"Could it be that your father stole your mother's remains?"
"I really can't imagine what purpose Dad could have in stealing Mom's body, but this jade pendant does prove that Dad did open Mom's grave later."
Yuanli took the jade pendant from her hand and examined it. Due to the flying dust, it was a little hard to see. Yuanli held up the jade pendant and examined it in the light of the fire.
When the firelight passed through the jade pendant, the thinner parts of the jade pendant showed lines due to the alternating light and dark illumination of the firelight.
Yuanli said, "Generally, the patterns carved on jade pendants are either beautiful or have auspicious meanings and good omens, but look at this mess of a thing. These lines must have a special purpose, right? Could they be routes or something like that?"
"Possibly. The road is more troublesome. It's such a short section. Even with a map, it would be difficult to find the specific place, right?"
"If your father had intentionally left you directions, it would have been a place you were sure to find. However, others couldn't see the clues. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so short."
Si Xi took the jade pendant from Yuan Li and placed it close to her body. There were no other unusual or clues in the coffin. She and Yuan Li had almost searched the entire coffin thoroughly. This jade pendant was her only chance to reunite with her mother.
Yuanli put the jade pillow she had just moved back to its original place. "We still have to restore this place to its original state. Even if your father is a bastard, he was willing to spend time and effort on your mother. He loved her, so he definitely had good intentions in taking her body. He couldn't leave you a letter or note, or something obvious. He must be worried that someone else would come back and open your mother's grave one day."
"Okay, godmother, you go stand there first. I remember the details of my mother's burial, and I can restore it more accurately."
"Well, be careful not to hurt your hand."
Si Xi worked diligently, and soon restored the tomb to the state they had found it in. Si Xi fumbled around in the cave, took out all the remaining paper money, incense, and candles, burned them, and then stood up to leave.
"Godmother, you go ahead and I'll clean up your footprints from behind."
Following the hole that Si Xi had dug when she came back to the house, Yuanli fetched some water to wipe the dirt off Si Xi's body as she was distracted.
At this moment, Heqi came to their house and asked, "Did the cave collapse? Look at you two, you are covered in dirt."
He looked around the house and didn't see the big bag. Seeing Si Xi looking as wilted as an eggplant hit by frost, he knew that the task had not been accomplished.
“It didn’t collapse.”
"What's the problem? Do you want me to go down and take a look?"
Yuanli made up her mind and interrupted, "I have a beautiful silver hairpin. I'll go find it in my bag and give it to you. I'll also go back and clean up the dirt. It would be bad if someone saw it."
After saying that, Yuanli quickly walked out of the room. As she left, she also closed the door behind her.
inside the house.
Heqi looked at the depressed Sixi, without answering him, and patiently moved a stool and sat next to her.
"What's wrong? Maybe I can help you solve it."
Si Xi glanced at him but still said nothing.
"Still mad at me?"
"No, what should I be angry about?"
He leaned closer to her, trying his best to make his voice sound gentler. "You're right to be angry with me. I shouldn't have said that to you rashly when I knew about the grudge between you and Yue Niang."
Si Xi turned around and sat face to face with him. "So? You still want to persuade Yue Niang to surrender. What's the point of me getting angry? Uncle, you won't change your decision just because of a niece you picked up for free."
"I have my own difficulties and considerations."
"My uncle really knows how to add fuel to the fire when people are unhappy. He must have been an experienced fire starter in his past life to be so good at fanning the flames."
He Qi was not displeased by her scolding, but rather laughed a little.
"I won't surrender her. Now, can you consider not being angry with me?"
"Didn't my uncle say that even if it was your first wife, you would still make this choice?"
"I've said so much, and you only remember this? But I also said that I would judge her crimes according to the laws of the demon world. If her crimes are serious, no matter how capable she is, I will not surrender her. Just based on the evidence of Si Tiao's crimes, she must die."
Si Xi's mood was slightly better. She took a deep breath and asked, "Who are you?"
"Do you care about my identity? You've asked this question several times."
"Of course I care." Si Xi joked, "What if you're a wicked villain? If I learn the truth after I've fallen deeply in love with you, I won't be able to accept it."
"Then give up on those thoughts about me as soon as possible."
"I don't."
He Qi patiently advised, "Si Xi, your free and rich life has not yet truly begun. There are many men out there who are many times better than me. You can take a closer look. You are still young and don't understand love. Your love for me may not be a love between a man and a woman at all."
"You're preaching to me again. You're not my elder. How do you know this isn't a relationship between a man and a woman?"
"Si Xi, I'm serious. I'm not trying to lecture you. If you call me uncle, then I have to take care of you."
"I didn't call you uncle." After denying it, Si Xi said to He Qi seriously, "Don't be so quick to reject me, Master, okay?"
"Si Xi, in my life, my marriage has never been decided by my own will, and I definitely can't have only one woman."
Si Xi was stunned for a long time, and her guess about his identity became more certain, but his hidden identity seemed too unattainable, which made her want to retreat for the first time.
With her family background, it seems that she can't even be a concubine.
"Then...then you, your heart is absolutely impossible to be given to only one woman?"
He Qi was somewhat helpless, "Si Xi."
"I'm here." She moved closer and closer to him, as if trying to get the answer she wanted to hear from his eyes.
"My heart can be given to anyone. It doesn't matter who it is. What matters is that in the eyes of my future wives and concubines, they all belong to me."
"But I don't think you are that kind of person."
"That's because you don't understand me at all. Si Xi, you shouldn't try to provoke me. I will always be your uncle, even if I am your master, but I will never be your husband."
He Qi withdrew his forward body and continued, "You will know my identity when you come back with me. Before that, I want you to not be afraid of me for the time being."
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