Chapter 45: Flame But her concerns were ultimately in Fang Buyu's insistent eyes...
But her worries eventually disappeared in the look of determination in Fang Buyu's eyes. She took the envelope handed to her by Fang Buyu and thought, never mind, with the capabilities of the Sky Eagle Pavilion, why should I worry so much?
Walking down the stairs, she immediately caught a glimpse of the figure in red. Lin Xiangli quickened her pace, rushing down the stairs in a few steps, and affectionately took Ling An's arm.
"Why are you here?"
Ling An looked at her and said with a smile, "I'm here to take you back."
At this time, Fang Buyu also walked down the stairs. He glanced around Ling An casually, but didn't see the familiar figure. He couldn't tell whether he was disappointed or something else.
I haven't seen her since I last asked her to verify her identity. They live under the same roof, but the Fang Mansion isn't big, but it's not small either. If there's no opportunity, it's really hard for them to see each other.
Perhaps this was a good thing. Fang Buyu tried to calm the wild thoughts that had been surging for days. He walked forward and said to the two people, "Miss Lin, let's go."
Arriving at the teahouse entrance, Lin Xiangli hesitated. She looked around but didn't seem to spot anyone suspicious. She couldn't help but wonder, would Fang Buyu's trick really work?
"Miss Lin." Fang Buyu signaled her with his eyes.
Lin Xiangli clenched the envelope in her sleeve and finally handed it out.
Fang Buyu didn't take it immediately. Instead, he pretended to see the envelope for the first time, pausing briefly before feigning surprise. He then held the envelope, clasped his fists, and said, "Thank you, Miss Lin, for your assistance in the investigation."
At this point, the play came to an end.
On the way back, Lin Xiangli thought Ling An would ask about the envelope, but he didn't ask anything.
Instead, she couldn't help herself and turned her head to look at the person next to her, "Ling An, aren't you curious about what's in that letter?"
Ling An asked, "Is it related to your father's case?"
"Yeah." Lin Xiangli nodded.
Ling An was silent for a moment before continuing, "It wasn't easy for you to make this decision." He stared into Lin Xiangli's eyes and said seriously, "Xiangli, I'm proud of you."
Those eyes were full of sincere encouragement, praise and comfort, but Lin Xiangli saw the selfishness and emptiness deep in his soul.
Ling An misunderstood, she was not as he imagined.
Her original desire to share her conversation with Fang Buyu with Ling An had completely vanished. She was afraid that if she wasn't what Ling An expected, he would be disappointed.
She forced herself not to think about it anymore, forced a smile, and took Ling An's hand again, as if nothing had happened, and said, "Let's go."
She would pretend for as long as she could. She didn't care what others thought of her, but if even Ling An was disappointed in her, she wouldn't know how to live on...
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"Sir, we have arrived."
Shi Ying led Zhou Jin and stopped in front of the gate of a house and reminded him.
Zhou Jin looked up at the slightly old plaque at the door, but did not move.
He was unsure what kind of answer he would get on this trip today.
The death of his elder sister has always been a pain that he dared not touch.
But that day, a flame of hope actually grew in the long-lasting pain. Although the flame was slightly extinguished by Tang Suzi's words, he did not want to give up even if there was only a faint hope left.
"You are..."
A voice pulled Zhou Jin out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw a fat woman with a basket of vegetables walking over, looking at them with a puzzled look on her face.
Shi Ying stepped forward and introduced, "This is the prefect."
"Master Zhizhou..." the aunt muttered softly, then raised her head again and carefully examined the man in the dark blue official uniform in front of her. Then, her eyes widened, and she pointed at Zhou Jin in surprise and shouted, "Ajin! You are Ajin, right!"
Zhou Jin smiled and nodded, holding her hand: "It's me, Aunt Wang, I'm Zhou Jin."
"Oh, I've heard that the new magistrate here is from Weizhou and is also called Zhou Jin. I thought it was just a person with the same name, but I didn't expect it was really you!" Aunt Wang held Zhou Jin's hand tightly, smiling from ear to ear.
Zhou Jin said, "Aunt Wang, I came here today to ask you something."
Aunt Wang was still immersed in the surprise of her neighbor's child becoming the prefect. She grinned and said, "Great, great." She patted her forehead lightly and said, "Look at my hospitality!" Then she pushed open the door and greeted Zhou Jin and Shi Ying warmly, "Come in and have a seat. Have a cup of tea first."
Zhou Jin followed him in, looked around the house, and said politely, "Aunt Wang, your house is really well decorated!"
"Hey, it's only a little better than the previous one. My husband made some money as a blacksmith a few years ago, so we bought this house." Aunt Wang asked them to sit down and shouted to the inner room, "Dad, we have guests!"
Then, a long, slightly chaotic voice came from the inner room: "Chunlan, who is it?"
Zhou Jin stood up and looked in the direction of the sound. After a while, an old man with a cane came out of the house tremblingly.
Zhou Jin hurried forward, and at this time Aunt Wang's loud voice came from the kitchen: "Dad, it's Ajin! The child of our old neighbor, Old Zhou's family, Ajin!"
Zhou Jin walked over to the old man, held the hand that was not holding the crutch, and introduced himself: "Old man, I am Zhou Jin, Zhou Tiansheng's son, Zhou Jin."
The old man stopped, stared at him sideways, and muttered, "Zhou Tiansheng, Tiansheng..." Suddenly, his cloudy eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly, "Oh, Tiansheng! Tiansheng's youngest son, Ajin!"
"Yes, Grandfather." Zhou Jin helped the old man to sit down at the stone table in the courtyard and held the old man's hand. "Grandfather, have you been in good health these years?"
The old man patted Zhou Jin's hand and said with a smile, "Good, good. It's normal for people to have some minor ailments when they get old. Everything is fine!" After that, he looked Zhou Jin up and down and asked, "How about you? Your parents took you to the capital to seek medical treatment at that time. How is your health now?"
At this time, Aunt Wang also prepared tea and brought it over. While pouring tea for Zhou Jin and Shi Ying, she asked, "Yes, Jin, I remember you were very weak when you were a child. Are you okay now?"
"It's okay. I'm doing fine now."
"That's good, that's good." The old man nodded with satisfaction. "If your grandmother knew about this in the afterlife, she would be relieved. It's a pity for A Tiao, he died at such a young age..."
Aunt Wang winked at the old man and interrupted him hastily, "Dad! Why are you saying this for no reason?"
"That's fine." Zhou Jin took over and said, "Aunt Wang, Grandpa, I came to visit you today because I wanted to ask you about my sister."
The old man's reaction was a little slow, but Aunt Wang reacted quickly. She asked cautiously and puzzledly, "A Tiao? Didn't A Tiao already..."
She paused, and Zhou Jin understood what she wanted to say and further explained her purpose: "I know my sister passed away ten years ago, but I want to know how she left at that time."
Aunt Wang was still a little puzzled: "About this matter, I remember I sent a letter to your parents. Didn't you receive it?"
"Got it. My parents... were busy with other things at the time and couldn't make it back..." Zhou Jin had an unnatural look on his face when he said this.
Aunt Wang understood immediately. What was she talking about? What else was there? Could anything more important than her daughter's death? It was simply because her daughter's life or death was not that important.
However, she did not dare to show her thoughts and still pretended to listen to Zhou Jin carefully.
She heard Zhou Jin continue, "I came here this time to hear you describe the situation in detail."
"At that time..." Ten years had passed, and Aunt Wang's memory of the incident was a little fuzzy. She could only answer while trying to recall, "I remember that early that morning, Aunt Cai from next door hurried over and called me to the street corner, saying that something had happened to A Tiao!" She stared at the air with a somewhat empty look in her eyes, lost in her memories. "I ran over and pushed through the crowd to see, and there was the boy who often played with A Tiao, the one from Zuiyue Tower, whose name I forgot, kneeling on the ground, half-holding A Tiao. A Tiao..."
Thinking of the scene at that time, Aunt Wang looked at Zhou Jin with some pity.
Zhou Jin's face showed no emotion as he said, "Aunt Wang, please continue."
"A-Tiao was completely stiff... He was covered in a thick layer of frost, and there were many dead branches and leaves. I guess... he was frozen in the snow all night..."
Aunt Wang wiped her eyes and finally couldn't bear to say anything more.
The old man beside him took over the conversation and said, "A Tiao was buried with me and other neighbors and uncles. During the burial, that drunk kid kept clinging to the coffin and refused to let go. It took several people to pull him away!"
He was already in his eighties and had become less concerned about life and death. However, Zhou Tiao had passed away at such a young age that he could not help but feel regretful.
"So... my sister is really dead..."
"How could this be false!" the old man said excitedly, but when he saw Zhou Jin's expression, he turned to comforting him, "It's been ten years. A Tiao must have been reincarnated. Child, you should also look forward to the future."
How can I look forward to seeing my sister's tragic death? How helpless she must have been when she fell in the snow...
Zhou Jin didn't dare to think about it anymore. He quickly wiped away all the sadness on his face, slowly stood up, and bowed to the old man and Aunt Wang. "Okay, I understand. Thank you, Grandpa and Aunt Wang, for telling me so much today."
Then he took out two gold ingots from his sleeve, handed one to Aunt Wang, and put the other into the old man's hand. "I'm sorry to have come to visit you today without any gifts. This is a small token of my appreciation. I hope you will accept it."
"No, no, no, Ajin, we absolutely cannot accept this." Aunt Wang and the old man quickly declined.
Zhou Jin had anticipated their actions, so he stepped back a few steps, bowed deeply, and said, "I have official duties to attend to, so I'll take my leave now. I hope you two take care of yourselves."
Aunt Wang hurriedly chased after them, wanting to return the gold ingot, but she only saw Zhou Jin and Shi Ying walking a long way away. She looked at the dark blue backs and could only sigh inwardly: "This child."
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Zhou's mother noticed that her son was different from usual when he came back from court today. He looked listless and dejected.
She walked over quickly to Zhou Jin, who was sitting in a chair with his elbows on the table and one hand on his forehead. She asked with concern, "Son, what's wrong? Are you having trouble at work?"
"It's nothing, mother. I'm just a little tired today." Zhou Jin's voice was dull and weak.
"Have you eaten yet? There's some ginseng chicken soup in the kitchen. I'll bring it to you."
Zhou Jin didn't really want to talk, but he still answered patiently, "I used it in the government office."
"The food in the yamen can't compare to what we make at home. Be obedient, and I'll get you a bowl." Mother Zhou said as she walked towards the kitchen.
"No, Mom, I really don't want to drink..." Zhou Jin's tone was already slightly irritable. He just wanted to stay quiet for a while, but before he could finish his words, Zhou's mother had already stepped out of the door and disappeared around the corner.
After a while, Zhou's mother came in with a tray.
She put the dishes in place, then pulled Zhou Jin up and walked towards the dining table, saying as she walked, "Eat something to feel refreshed."
Zhou Jin had no choice but to accept his fate and let his mother pull him to the dining table to sit down.
As soon as he sat down, his eyes were attracted by something on a small plate next to the bowl of chicken soup on the tray - it was a plate of dim sum.
You know, he has never liked snacks since he was a child. The one who really likes to eat them is another person.
"What's this?"
"This is chicken soup made with deer antlers. It took us two hours to cook it..." Zhou's mother said as she poured the chicken soup into a small bowl with a spoon.
Zhou Jin picked up the small plate and said, "I'm talking about this."
Zhou's mother, still concentrating on serving the soup, casually replied, "Oh, you're talking about this? This is nine-layer cake. You ate it when you were a child. Have you forgotten? I made a little more today. You should try it too."
As soon as she finished speaking, the tabletop shook violently, and the porcelain plate hit the tabletop with a dull "bang" sound. The soup spoon in her hand also spilled a large amount of soup due to the vibration.
She looked at Zhou Jin in surprise.
Zhou Jin put the porcelain plate down heavily, and then asked directly: "Did you go to see Miss Tang again?!"
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