An ugly girl starts off, then becomes a beauty

After Gao Heng sat down, Sang Ling asked the most important question, "Is aunt feeling better? Can she recover?"

The person opposite nodded, "Fortunately, the medicine was used in time, otherwise even if she was saved, it would be..." He didn't say the rest of the words. Sang Ling also understood what he meant and didn't ask any more questions. He just sighed, "So we should still do more good deeds. It must be that my cousin did a lot of good deeds, so the Imperial Medical Bureau happened to have the antidote and saved my aunt in time."

Upon hearing this, his cousin lowered his eyebrows and smiled. He thought for a while, then changed the subject and asked softly, "Madam Ma died. Did you know?" Sang Ling raised his eyes to look at him, took a sip from the ear cup, and replied, "I know. When I reported to Jingzhao Yin the day before yesterday, Wei Ai came back and told me about it."

"They said she fell down while holding Sang Xiao." My cousin took a deep breath. "Although they said she fell down accidentally, it was so late, and she was holding a baby in her arms—"

"Why is my cousin worried about her?" Sang Ling couldn't help but take over the conversation. After he finished speaking, he saw Gao Heng seemed to have doubts, and then he pulled up the corner of his mouth and smiled sarcastically, "Didn't she say that after she came back from Tianliang, she took her child with her?"

What is Tianliang? The rich families in Chang'an liked to go there to pray to the gods and kneel down to worship. These ghostly things had their own rituals. Who could know who was instructed by which gods and ghosts to take their sons there in the middle of the night?

It’s just that Sang Ling didn’t say it in full.

Gao Heng sighed, stared at the food tray on the table in silence for a while, then said, "Although I hate this person, I also think her death is not a pity, but there is something strange going on. If she really died from falling into the water, it would be fine, but I am afraid she was murdered. If -" He swallowed, "If that person did it for my mother, I am afraid that it was just an impulse, and both of us would suffer in the end."

"Cousin." Sang Ling had understood his implication, and the curve of her lips remained unchanged. "If your body is upright, your shadow will be upright. If your heart is pure, your thoughts will be pure. If you behave uprightly, you won't be afraid of rumors. If you are upright, you won't have to worry about dirty words. I'm not afraid of anything."

The smoke from the Boshan stove seemed to have stopped at this moment. Gao Heng was stunned for a long while, his lips moved, and he uttered a few unclear words. Even he himself didn't know what to say.

Sang Ling lowered his eyes and picked up the teacup again.

I don't know how long it took before I got his response, "A Ling, you should take care of yourself."

"I know, cousin." She smiled and said nothing more.

*

Sang Ling returned to the Mu Wuhou Mansion at the end of the New Year. As the New Year approaches, every family becomes busy. Now that her cousin is with her aunt, she doesn't have to run back and forth frequently.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were talking in Yunyue Pavilion. Madam Zhaoyu was teasing her granddaughter in her arms while chatting with Sang Ling. "The case of your stepmother was settled yesterday. She died of drowning. But the strange thing is that the child is missing. The mayor has searched all over the capital. There are many dead bodies in the outer river, but the son of the Sang family cannot be found."

"With one person missing, how can we close the case?" Sang Ling remained indifferent. Madam Zhaoyu glanced at her, not knowing what she was thinking. She turned her gaze back to her granddaughter and continued, "The ice was built up from the riverside. The river is fast-flowing and has many stones. It is possible that the body will be washed away along the way and eaten by the things in the river when it flows downstream."

"Is this also the conclusion reached by the government?" She lowered her brows and fiddled with the charcoal in the stove, her tone soft.

The girl had a peaceful smile on her face, not very happy, as if she was talking about something that had nothing to do with her. Madam Zhaoyu was watching from the corner of her eye, so she raised her eyebrows and said with a smile, "Otherwise, if we want to investigate again, we have to wait until the ice melts in the spring of next year. But by then, will we still be able to go through so much trouble? It will cost a lot of manpower and material resources, so we have to see how your father arranges it."

"I don't know him." Sang Ling shook his head.

I just thought in my mind that since the Jingzhao Yin had solved the case, then A Zeng could also come back.

……

Even though she was busy, Sang Ling still found a time at the end of the year to go to the Sang Mansion. The Sang family servant led her to the study in the backyard, and she knelt on the guest seat and waited for a while.

A few minutes later, Sang Wu finally arrived.

When the father and daughter met, they seemed very unfamiliar with each other. Sang Wu stammered and wanted to say something, but Sang Ling didn't wait for him to speak. He waved his hand and called the old woman behind him to come up.

"Come and take a look." She lowered the end of her voice, with a sense of distance between her eyes and eyebrows.

The baby in the cradle was originally sleeping soundly, but when he suddenly saw the light, he opened his mouth to cry, but was coaxed into silence by the old woman who was holding him. Then he put his finger in his mouth and looked at the person in front of him with his big, bright eyes blinking.

Sang Wu froze in place immediately.

Even if he didn't care much about family affairs, he still knew his son, but - he didn't say anything for a long time, and walked forward with trembling hands to lift the quilt. Only when he saw the jade pendant on the child's chest did he feel completely sure, and then he turned his gaze to Sang Ling.

Nothing needs to be said, everything is clear.

The daughter in front of me was looking out the window. Her figure and body were no longer the same as before. If it weren't for her eyebrows and eyes, she would have been a completely different person.

Sang Wu knew his eldest daughter well. She was self-deprecating, timid, and had a weird bad temper. Later, at the annual banquet one year, she suddenly became much more generous. He thought she had grown up and finally understood some things, so she took the initiative to go to school. However, after that, she lived with her aunt, and Sang Wu had less contact with her. Later, she got married and went to a family like the Nie family... He thought that Sang Ling's current appearance must have a lot to do with the Nie family.

After some consideration, he wanted to say something to ease the situation.

Sang Ling spoke first with a blank expression, "Without her, I have relieved the hatred in my heart—" Then he turned his head to look at the father, "It can be considered as saving you, isn't it?"

The study was eerily quiet; all I could hear was the intermittent sound of the wind outside.

"A Ling, it's my fault." Sang Wu's voice was a little hoarse. "I'm sorry to your mother for not taking good care of you. It's not that I didn't think about you." The father staggered forward, "It's just that I was too busy at that time and had no time for anything else. Later, the Sang family came to propose marriage, and I agreed because I knew it would be better for you to marry there than stay at home, and I also ordered Ma not to interfere in your marriage."

Sang Ling raised her head slightly as he spoke, looked up at the sky above the beams and sneered. At that time, she was still wondering why Ma was invisible throughout her wedding, as quiet as if she didn't exist.

But what's the use of this? On the day of the wedding, Nie Ce ran away from the marriage. What did Sang Wu, the biological father, do? Did he blame the Nie family and wanted to investigate the matter with them? Or did he just take her back?

"Nothing." She said unconsciously. Sang Wu didn't understand, "What?"

Sang Ling turned his head and watched the incense clock on the table burn out bit by bit, "Nothing is of any use."