Taohuaxi

Chapter 12
I struggled to raise my head, feeling dizzy.There are still a few unbroken winter persimmons hanging on a persimmon tree in the ravine, looking like cinnabar against the blue sky.

"How are you, ma'am?"

I turned around and saw Cheng Huaishi looking at me with worried eyes.

How could he appear here after not returning home all night?
He helped me up: "I returned to my house around early noon today. Before I entered the door, I heard someone said that something happened to you at Guanyin Mountain. I rushed over. It was still a step too late."

He tore off a piece of the sleeve of his robe and bandaged it for me.

The beginning of the afternoon... is only half an hour away from now.

How could the people in my house know that something had happened to me?

I asked: "Who told you?"

"There is a boy at the counter named Heidou. He used to always follow shopkeeper Wu..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a noise.

It seemed like someone was coming down the hillside.

Cheng Huaishi grabbed me and took me deep into the jungle.

The masked men searched everywhere and gradually disappeared along the river at the bottom of the mountain.

I pondered for a moment and said: "The person who attacked today wanted both the second master and me to die."

When Cheng Huaishi heard this, his eyebrows moved.

"I know there is a path into the city. Let's go back through the path."

Cheng Huaishi took me westward with one hand and pushed away the thorns in the forest with the other.

When we reached a cliff, he carried me on his back and climbed over it step by step.

In the howling mountain wind and the danger of escaping, he carefully protected me.

I lay on his back and asked softly: "Is it safe there, Miss Xun?"

His back stiffened and he said, "I'm sorry."

After a while, he explained: "I thought something bad happened to her last night. Thinking of Master Xun's entrustment, I hurriedly went there. Miss Xun was taken away by officials from Huai'an Prefecture. When I got there, I asked for details. What happened, it turned out to be a misunderstanding. Miss Xun was let go immediately. I rushed back immediately, I..."

He didn't come back all night. It turned out that he had gone to Huai'an Mansion.

He hesitated for a moment, stopped walking quickly, and I heard his deep breathing.

"I'm running around outside, and when I think about my wife, I always feel uneasy. My wife... didn't sleep well last night."

Pain rose at the tip of my nose, and I said, "Next time if something like this happens again, I'll go with you."

He quickly said: "There will be no next time."

The sun sets westward little by little.

He took out a winter persimmon from his arms and handed it to me: "Madam, have you ever eaten winter persimmons from Yangzhou? I loved them when I was a child. Winter persimmons are sweeter than autumn persimmons. I think it's because of the cold."

I took it, took a bite, and said, "When I was a kid, my mother made persimmon wine, and I secretly took a sip and got drunk all day long."

"Then what?" He listened carefully.

"Then, my mother found me under the table and took me back to the couch. She didn't blame me, she just said that there are many things in the world that you always want to try before you try them. When you try them, you will find out, It’s not what I thought. Therefore, you have to think of the worst consequences before trying anything.”

He smiled: "My eldest brother and I did something wrong, and my mother said the same thing. My eldest brother climbed up a tree to pick persimmons for me and fell..."

He suddenly stopped talking and became silent.

It was as if there was a barbed truth lying in front of me.

If you get too close, you'll be stabbed.

He weighed the whole thing quietly.

At sunset, we returned to the city.

I found that the road he was carrying me was going in the wrong direction.

At the end of the road is the Yamen.

I understood what he was going to do and quickly shouted to him: "No!"

He said: "This matter may be related to my brother and sister-in-law. You are the one who is injured, and you are also the one who is frightened. If the government finds out that it is true and punishes them, it will be their own fault. You don't need to worry."

I got off him and grabbed him.

His handsome face was intertwined with hesitation and pain: "Because I don't want to believe it, I want to find out. Right and wrong will eventually come to an end."

"I have a way to solve it. Second Master, just follow me back home." I said firmly.

Today's matter cannot be seen by the official.

The old lady is sad for one thing, but the Cheng family brothers are fighting among themselves and the family is not harmonious, which affects their reputation.

More importantly, there is currently no evidence at hand.The thugs didn't catch him.As long as the eldest young master and his wife refuse to admit it, they will not be charged with anything.Maybe, they would frame Wu Bi, or they might accuse Wu Bi, saying that the second wife framed him in order to monopolize the family business.

Since they dare to do such a thing, they must be fully prepared.

You have to let them spit it out on their own.Cheng Huaishi followed me back to his house with doubts.

He Hua and Wu Bi had returned early.

Those masked men were heading towards me and Cheng Huaishi, but when they couldn't find us, they didn't bother much.

They suffered some superficial injuries.No big deal.

I ordered Wu Bi to call the little boy Heidou from the counter.As expected, he has disappeared.Not even monthly money.He thought someone had promised him a greater benefit.

I drew the appearance of the gangsters on the paper based on my memory. Their faces were covered but their eyes were exposed.

After the drawing was completed, I handed it to Wu Bi: "Find a few people with similar shapes. Just roughly agree."

Wu Bi nodded.

This time, we need to hold their handle so that they will never dare to do evil again.

The afterglow of the sunset dyed the wandering clouds red.After a while, those clouds turned into a magnificent sunset.The sunset seemed to be entrusted by the wind, either walking slowly or running quickly, taking on various shapes.

The eldest young master Cheng Cangshi came out of the brothel, humming a ditty.

When we reached a narrow alley, I blocked his way.

"Brother--" I called.

His eyebrows and eyebrows are five points similar to Cheng Huai's, but his face is not as sharp and angular as Cheng Huai's.His face is round.Just like his once very smooth way of being an official.No action, no sin.Greedy and cowardly.

He was surprised when he saw me, but he quickly calmed down and said lazily: "Why are you here?"

I said calmly: "Brother, where do you think I should be? In Guanyin Mountain? In the underworld?"

He coughed twice: "What nonsense!"

I said: "Brother, I went to Huiming Tea House to collect the bill today and met a gangster..."

His eyes flickered: "I think they are greedy for money and robberies. The second young lady is a female generation, it is better to go out less in the future."

"Brother, those gangsters have been caught——"

"How...how is it possible..."

I stare into his eyes.

"From what Big Brother said, it seems like I know them."

"Don't talk nonsense," he shouted.

I clapped my hands, and Wu Bi pulled a few people over and tied their hands.Masked, only eyes exposed.

In just a moment, they piled those people into the carriage and drove away.

Cheng Cangshi's face turned pale.

I calmly said to Cheng Cangshi: "If eldest brother doesn't know them, I have to send them to the government. It is said that the newly appointed Magistrate Geng was a cruel official in the past..."

I walked straight forward, and he held me back: "Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, don't, you can't do this, we are a family, a family..."

"A family?" I said coldly: "Brother, have you remembered that we are a family now?"

He shook his head: "It's all your sister-in-law's idea... Hey, she is such a bad woman, I said I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it... Sister-in-law, look, you are fine now, let's just take this matter as a matter of course. It didn’t happen, okay?”

I stopped.

"It's not impossible, unless you promise me something..." I calmed down.

He said anxiously: "I promise, I promise."

"Unless the elder brother writes this matter down on paper, so that I can understand it——"

He looked at me hesitantly.

I continued to walk forward: "Then let's go to the government office. Anyway, my eldest brother doesn't want to write here. When I get to the government office, I have to write when the board and stick are passed down. "The Law of the Ming Dynasty", if you buy a murderer, you will kill someone with a stick. One hundred, flow three thousand miles..."

"I promise you." He gritted his teeth: "Just keep your word."

"it is good."

As I expected, Cheng Cangshi is easier to deal with than the eldest young lady.

He was timid and had just suffered the loss of his official position.Now that he committed fratricide, he felt a little guilty. When he saw those similar-looking masked men, his seven souls went to six souls.

I collected the confession he wrote, returned to my house, and walked to the old lady in the North Courtyard.

Before entering the door, I heard the voice of the eldest mistress in the house.

"Thankfully, my mother trusted her, but I didn't know that she went behind her mother's back and secretly spent money to replenish her parents' family. I went to reconcile the accounts today, and I haven't come back yet. Could it be that she secretly sent money back to Dongchang Mansion again?"

She thought I was dead, so she hurriedly complained.

I smiled and walked in the door...

(End of this chapter)