A raincoat wind and snow to the small garden

Chapter 39: Liangzhou Ghost Soldiers ()

Chapter
Ah Qi: "What do you want to say?"

Xiang Xiaoyuan: "Cui Qiong and Wang Junyang were together through life and death, which shows how deeply they loved each other. How could such a loving couple poison their own flesh and blood in advance out of fear of punishment? If I were her, I could follow her husband to death, but I would do everything I could to send my daughter away, even if it meant sending her to the Cui family. I would never poison her..."

Ah Qi was stunned: "What you said makes sense... What did you find out?"

Xiang Xiaoyuan smiled. "I did find out some information. It's said that a month before Zheng Huai attacked the city, Cui Qiong kicked out her wet nurse for stealing her dowry. To be honest, I don't think this excuse is very tenable. After all, she was the old nurse who raised her. She has dirty hands. She either helped cover up the crime or punished her privately, but she definitely wouldn't kick her out."

"The Boling Cui family claims to be a family of centuries-old poetry and etiquette, yet their own servants actually have such sneaky habits. Isn't this a disgrace to the family tradition? If this matter were to be made public, would it save the reputation of her, the legitimate daughter of the family?"

Ah Qi nodded repeatedly as if he had been enlightened. "Indeed, if you want to beat or kill someone, why not just do it privately? Why make it public? It's more like, it's more like letting everyone know that the wet nurse was expelled from the mansion for a reason."

Xiang Xiaoyuan nodded in agreement: "Yes. So I would like to ask you for a favor."

Ah Qi was alert: "Don't tell me you want me to go find a servant who left the mansion eight years ago?"

Xiang Xiaoyuan looked at him with admiration: "How come you are so smart?"

"No way! The country is so vast, where can I find it?"

"It's not a big deal. I've made inquiries. The wet nurse's name is Xu Zhanghui. Go to the Cui family in Boling first and ask if any of the servants came back eight years ago. If not, then go and find out where Xu Zhanghui's hometown is. She might still have relatives alive. You can always find her."

Ah Qi had a headache after hearing this: "So you've already figured out how you want to order me around?"

Xiang Xiaoyuan patted his shoulder and said, "I trust you, Brother. I know you're the most reliable. Otherwise, why wouldn't I go looking for those Eastern Palace officials instead of looking for Brother Qi? Don't you agree? Besides Huaiyu, you're the person I trust the most."

Ah Qi was so coaxed by his junior sister's sweet words that he lost his mind. He looked at her with a puzzled look: "Really?"

"Of course!"

"When I find him, you have to treat me to some wine and a whole roasted lamb."

Xiang Xiaoyuan calculated the price of the mutton banquet and felt a pang of pain in his heart.

But since she was hiring someone to do the work, she naturally had to pay, so she could only agree with gritted teeth.

Seeing Xiang Xiaoyuan being humiliated, Ah Qi was in a very good mood.

But it was just a matter of investigating a servant, which was no big deal for him.

The young man quickly climbed over the wall and left the house to go to work.

Xiang Xiaoyuan hasn't learned the martial arts yet, so it's inconvenient for her to go out. It's windy and snowy in the border town, so why should she go out and suffer the cold?
Xiang Xiaoyuan has inquired about it these days. She knows that Cui Qiong loved her daughter very much when she was alive. Not only did she not only buy gold, silver, jewelry, silk and satin, but she would also spend a lot of money to get ice to protect lotus pods, white lotus roots, water chestnuts, which are only available in the south of the Yangtze River, and even lychees that cannot be grown in the cold north, and send the food to Liangzhou.

Almost everyone in Liangzhou City was envious of the extravagant life of the daughter of the royal family, and it was known to everyone.

Even if Cui Qiong had sent such a beloved daughter to the Cui family, why would she have poisoned her in the mansion and made it known to everyone? Xiang Xiaoyuan had a vague suspicion... perhaps all this was a deception, just to cover up the secret that Wang Junyang's daughter was not dead.

It is very likely that before Zheng Huai attacked the city, Miss Wang was secretly taken out of the house by her wet nurse.

Seven days later, Ah Qi not only returned, but also brought back a bound old woman to Xiang Xiaoyuan. Ah Qi crossed his legs, waving the peach blossom fan in his hand. He said proudly, "Junior sister, am I fast enough? I traveled day and night, under the stars, to get back in seven days. If it weren't for my brother's superb Qinggong skills, others would have been waiting forever! I checked on the woman, she's not dead, she's still breathing."

Xiang Xiaoyuan went forward to check on the wet nurse, but before she could touch the old woman, she opened her eyes, trembled and backed away, muttering as she retreated, "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me..."

Xiang Xiaoyuan glanced at Ah Qi and said, "Brother, did you hit her?"

Ah Qi snapped his fan shut and snorted, "Do I look like a beast who would hit an old man? I clearly hit her son! If I hadn't done that, she wouldn't have come back with me! Oh, I brought her son with me too, but my daughter-in-law is seven months pregnant and about to give birth, so I didn't dare bring her because I was afraid of killing her and creating bad karma."

Xiang Xiaoyuan: "Did you find her at Cui's house?"

Ah Qi: "No, she lives in the countryside with her son."

Xiang Xiaoyuan understood what was going on. She stared at the nurse and said, "You dared to escape from the Cui family. It means Cui Qiong released you into slavery when she drove you out of the house. Otherwise, if you live with your son privately, you will be a runaway slave. If the government catches a runaway slave, they can execute him on the spot."

When the wet nurse heard Xiang Xiaoyuan's words, she was speechless.

Xiang Xiaoyuan didn't care if she was feigning stupidity or not. She continued, "It's strange, really. You stole something, violating the master's taboo, but she didn't punish you. She even rewarded you by reuniting you with your son. It's truly astonishing. Furthermore, I heard Cui Qiong even poisoned her own beloved daughter. Even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cubs, so how could she have done that?"

When the nurse heard that Xiang Xiaoyuan wanted to ask about old times, she quickly explained, "I'm just an old slave who was kicked out of the mansion by my master because of my own bad behavior. I know nothing about those matters of the master's family! Please don't misunderstand me, young lady. I really don't know anything."

"Really?" Xiang Xiaoyuan smiled faintly. "You're not trying to trick me because I look kind, are you? Let me put it this way, I want to know the whereabouts of Cui Qiong's daughter. If you tell me, I'll spare your life and let your family reunite. If you don't tell me...that's fine too."

The wet nurse secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'll continue investigating...but if I ever find her, I'll come and kill your entire family. I heard from my senior brother that you're about to have a grandson...Do you think the child will never see his grandmother again?"

The wet nurse was stunned.

She never imagined that the delicate little girl in front of her was actually more ferocious and scary than the secret guard.

Her daughter-in-law had suffered several miscarriages and finally managed to keep this baby. She had a round belly and loved to eat pickled cabbage and pickled fish. Everyone who saw her said she was giving birth to a grandson... She was still thinking about having children and grandchildren around her, and she didn't want to die here.

If this young lady really finds out something, won’t their entire family be wiped out?

Anyway, the mistress is dead, and she has accomplished Cui Qiong's task back then.

The nurse gritted her teeth and said to Xiang Xiaoyuan, "I confess, I confess everything! It was indeed me who brought Miss Wang Rou out of the mansion. The eldest lady was afraid that she would die in Liangzhou, so she specifically asked me to find a family far away in the northwest and hide her away."

Xiang Xiaoyuan asked, "Where did you send Wang Rou?"

The nurse said: "It's another Wang family. The name of the head of the family seems to be Wang Zhiqi. He has a son named Wang Qinghao!"

Xiang Xiaoyuan was horrified and murmured, "Wait a minute!"

This is impossible, right?
Isn't Wang Qinghao's adopted sister Zheng Sirou, the eighth lady from Duke Zheng's mansion?!

If Wang Qinghao’s adopted sister is Wang Junyang’s daughter Wang Rou, then who is the granddaughter Zheng Sirou who was brought home by Duke Zheng?
(End of this chapter)