A peasant girl travels through time with a hospital, rising to become an empress.

Gu Xiao was taken aback when he heard this; he hadn't expected Nie Qianqian to bring up the jade pendant.

Nie Qianqian looked at Gu Xiao with deep eyes, "I want to know the truth."

Gu Xiao pursed his thin lips and slowly began to speak, "That night..."

He couldn't remember anything that happened that night, only vaguely recalling a soft, fragrant body in his arms.

Thinking of this, his blood surged and his breathing became rapid.

He tried to calm himself down. "After that night, the jade pendant disappeared. It was taken by the Nie family."

"really."

Nie Qianqian's guess was correct; the jade pendant had been taken by the Nie family. That family really doesn't have a single good person among them.

She suddenly felt a tightness in her chest, as if her heart was being gripped tightly by a hand.

That feeling came back again—the emotions left over from the original owner, the deep guilt towards Gu Xiao.

"Is that jade pendant very important to you?"

Gu Xiao looked at her, but his eyes seemed to be looking into the distance. "Yes, it's the only thing my mother left me."

Relics.

Gu Xiao's mother is no longer alive.

Gu Xiao paused for a moment, then continued, "It is also a symbol of my identity."

Nie Qianqian is intelligent and quick-witted; she probably already realized that he was no ordinary scholar.

In fact, Nie Qianqian knew more information than Gu Xiao thought she did.

She knew that Gu Xiao had multiple injuries, indicating that he had been hunted down and had enemies. These enemies were very likely to have killed Gu Xiao's parents and used some very secretive poison that could not be detected.

Nie Qianqian didn't ask any more questions, but she had some doubts in her heart. In her memory, the jade pendant was of excellent quality, crystal clear and bright, but the design was extremely simple, a ring-shaped design that could be seen everywhere. There were countless such jade pendants in Qinghe County alone, so how could it be a symbol of status?

Gu Xiao's words were simple, but in reality, the jade pendant was as important as his life.

The jade pendant was brought from his mother's clan. It was made of a special kind of jade from his clan. Only when the blood of the clan leader dripped onto it and it was then heated in a fierce fire would a lifelike fire phoenix pattern appear in the ring-shaped jade pendant. The fire phoenix was the totem of his mother's clan and a symbol of his identity.

In addition, the jade pendant was also proof that he could mobilize power. His mother had left behind a force in the capital with absolute loyalty, and it could only be mobilized after verifying his identity with the jade pendant.

Nie Qianqian pressed on, "Then do you know where they sold the jade pendant?" Even with her eyes closed, she knew they must have stolen the jade pendant and sold it for money.

Gu Xiao: "The Nie family doesn't have any connections or resources. I guessed at the time that the jade pendant would just be sold to a pawnshop. When I was with the Nie family, I always kept an eye on things. If Old Madam Nie got anything valuable, she would have Nie Daqiang sell it to Qian's Pawnshop in the city."

Nie Qianqian nodded. Grandma Nie regarded Gu Xiao and the original owner as two useless good-for-nothings, and sometimes she did not avoid talking to them. In her memory, Nie Qianqian also remembered that Grandma Nie had mentioned Qian's Pawnshop.

"After I recovered enough to go to the county town to copy books, I went to Qian's pawnshop to inquire and investigate. Sure enough, Old Madam Nie sold the jade pendant there."

Nie Qianqian: "That makes things simple. I'll go to the pawnshop and redeem the jade pendant for you."

Gu Xiao shook his head. "I learned about this through a pawnshop employee. I used some methods to get him to keep an eye on the jade pendant's whereabouts. About half a year ago, the pawnshop owner, Qian Yikuang, was sorting out the jade stored in the pawnshop. He became interested in this jade pendant, took it, and erased the transaction record of the jade pendant."

Nie Qianqian frowned. "What does he want with the jade pendant?"

Gu Xiao: "Qian Yikuang is meticulous and discreet. It is difficult to investigate the affairs of the Qian family. I spent a long time imitating the calligraphy of the contemporary great Confucian scholar Shi Ranzhi before I learned from the steward's son that the ring-shaped jade pendant was not found in the mansion. I don't know if Qian Yikuang did not bring it back to the mansion or if he hid it somewhere in the mansion."

"My leads end here."

Therefore, we'll have to ask Qian Yikuang of the Qian family pawnshop where the jade pendant is.

When Gu Xiao discovered all this, he was still living in the Nie family, penniless, without money or power. It was already quite an achievement that he was able to find out all this.

Nie Qianqian's eyes were burning, and her voice was firm as she made her promise, "You've already found enough information. Right now, your most important thing is to recover from your hand injury and prepare for the upcoming provincial examination. Leave the rest to me, and I will definitely help you find it!"

People say that a gentleman's promise is as light as the Five Sacred Mountains, but Nie Qianqian, a woman, makes her promises feel extremely weighty.

Nie Qianqian is strong-willed, independent, and self-reliant. She is not afraid of the world's opinions or the hardships of life. She protects everyone in her family like a mountain and always keeps her word.

“This is what I owe you,” Nie Qianqian added slowly.

"Qianqian," Gu Xiao said hurriedly.

Gu Xiao's eyes were deep and gentle as he gazed at Nie Qianqian, saying with guilt, "What happened back then wasn't your fault. You were the victim, and I'm the one who wronged you."

Qianqian is a woman, and he is a man. In the end, he owes Nie Qianqian a debt because of what happened.

Nie Qianqian laughed, patted Gu Xiao's shoulder, and said with a carefree smile, "It is fate, and destiny is unpredictable. You are right, it is not our fault. Once I find the jade pendant, we will be even."

The two do not owe each other.

Nie Qianqian spoke lightly and naturally, but Gu Xiao felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. He did not want to be even.

After talking with Gu Xiao, Nie Qianqian's mind was full of thoughts about the jade pendant. Since Qian Yikuang was a shrewd old fox, she couldn't rashly ask for it back directly with money.

She needed to find an opportunity to get in touch with Qian Yikuang, preferably to investigate the Qian residence and see if the jade pendant was hidden there.

After some thought, Nie Qianqian realized that the identity of Doctor Qian was a good opportunity to make contact. After all, people eat grains and other foods, so how could they not get sick?

Hmm, even if he's not sick, Nie Qianqian can make him sick.

Qian Yikuang, who was reviewing the accounts at Qian's Pawnshop, suddenly sneezed loudly.

"Ah Qiu!"

"Ah Qiu!"

"Who has been thinking about me all along?"

Qian Yikuang quickly gripped his money bag tightly. He had been running a pawnshop for ten years and was a complete money-grubber. He didn't care what others coveted, but he was afraid of them coveting his money.

His lifelong wish, just like his name suggests, is to have basket after basket of countless amounts of money.

A servant came to report to Qian Yikuang: "Master, a servant from the Zhao family has arrived. He says that Master Zhao has prepared wine and dishes and invites you to come to his residence for a drink tonight."

Qian Yikuang immediately smiled and said, "Go and report back that I will definitely attend the banquet on time."

The servant obeyed and quickly ran to inform the master of the message.

The servant thought to himself, "Master is really lucky. He's managed to get into a truly wealthy family like the Zhao family."