It was all because of her reputation. In order to avoid suspicion, the daughter of Xia Jiangying, the leader of the south, was studying in the capital. She only had two guards and a maid with her. When something happened, she couldn't even find someone to make decisions for her.
After the female coroner examined the corpse, Xia Jiangying was sent to the memorial hall. Xia Mingming rarely showed her independent side. She arranged for guards to accompany her and personally went to the nearby post house to write a letter home. After everything was done, she returned to the memorial hall with the maid to sort out Xia Jiangying's belongings. The trial was all handed over to the Supreme Court.
At this critical moment, Yu Shu certainly wouldn't leave Xia Mingming alone. She accompanied her from beginning to end and was duty-bound to help if there was anything she could do.
Xia Mingming was sad and didn't suspect anything about Xia Jiangying's death. Yu Shu was suspicious about the fact that Xia Jiangying died on a rainy day in her dream, but it didn't rain in reality. She was very suspicious that Xia Jiangying had avoided the death trap predicted in Xia Mingming's dream and just happened to enter another one.
Yu Shu didn't mention these suspicions in front of Xia Mingming. She only reminded Xue Rui and left it to the Supreme Court to worry about.
After Xia Jiangying died, Xia Mingming didn't need to live in Fengyuan Inn anymore. She arranged for the maid and guards to live in the North City Inn so that it was convenient to inquire about the progress of the case at any time. In the evening, she hired a carriage to carry some of Xia Jiangying's belongings and returned to her residence on Huixing Street with Yu Shu.
Yu Xiaoxiu saw Xia Mingming return after only two days and sensed that the atmosphere wasn't right. He cleverly didn't tease her, but helped Yu Shu carry her luggage into the room. Under Yu Shu's orders, he went to tidy up Xia Mingming's room.
After making the bed, Yu Shu pushed the dazed Xia Mingming back into the room to lie down. She closed the door and left her alone.
As soon as the door was closed, she heard crying in the room. Yu Shu pursed her lips into a straight line and her face darkened.
Jing Chen and Yu Xiaoxiu were waiting for her in the courtyard. As soon as he saw her come out, Yu Xiaoxiu went forward and pointed at the door, asking in a low voice, "What happened to her?"
Yu Shu waved at him and led the two of them to the kitchen door. They avoided Xia Mingming's window because they didn't want her to hear them.
"Fourth Sister is clearly dead."
"Ah?"
Jing Chen was stunned. Yu Xiaoxiu opened his mouth wide in shock. "How, how did he die? Didn't you say — "
Yu Shu made a shushing gesture at him and interrupted him. She lowered her voice and said, "Well, it's none of your business. Don't ask too much. Go to the kitchen and start a fire. I'll make dinner later."
Yu Xiaoxiu scratched his head and looked sympathetically at Xia Mingming's door before obediently entering the kitchen.
x
x
x
Yu Shu went back to the room and took a pen and paper as well as a booklet. She took it to the central room which was not yet covered by the night. She ground the ink and recorded Xia Jiangying's birth date and the date of her death in the booklet. After finishing this, she looked at the booklet which was specially used to record all kinds of disasters. Xia Jiangying's pale death suddenly appeared in her mind. She rubbed her forehead and felt a little restless.
Jing Chen walked in silently and lit the oil lamp on the table. It was already dark outside. Her sight suddenly became bright. Yu Shu blinked her eyes and turned her head to meet Jing Chen's eyes. She didn't know why, but when she saw the clear and clean eyes which could reflect her figure, her restless heart suddenly calmed down.
Jing Chen sat down on the left side of Yu Shu. Seeing that she had finished her work, he poured a cup of tea and dipped his finger in it. He wrote on the table,
"What are you thinking about?"
Yu Shu looked at the transparent water droplets that were slowly dispersing on the table. She was a little distracted and blurted out,
"I was thinking if I was a little heartless?"
When she heard about Xia Mingming's nightmare that day, she didn't think that Xia Jiangying's death had anything to do with her. If it wasn't related to Xia Mingming, she wouldn't even interfere. But this person really died. She saw Xia Jiangying's death with her own eyes and saw Xia Mingming's grief. She felt a little regretful because of sympathy.
She even thought that if she didn't treat this matter so carelessly and didn't have an attitude of looking on coldly, would Xia Jiangying have been able to escape this disaster?
…
Was this kind of thinking after the fact considered a tiger's concern for its pearl and fake compassion?
Yu Shu pursed her lips in a self-deprecating manner. She saw Jing Chen shake his head at her, using a gesture to deny her ridicule towards him. He then used a line of words to refute her doubts towards him.
"You're very kind."
Yu Shu stared at the flashing words on the table that were drawn by the dim yellow light. After a moment of silence, she remembered that this person had once said these words to her. She raised her head and stared at the seriousness on Jing Chen's otherworldly face. For a moment, she felt that these words, which used to be unreachable and mocking to her, had become kind and cute.
"Thank you," Yu Shu said softly. She threw away those messy thoughts and swept away the worry on her face. She rested her chin on her hand and said to Jing Chen, "After what you said, I realized that I'm really quite kind.
"Now that you mention it, I realize that I'm actually quite kind. Look, I saved both your and Mingming's lives. I took care of the two of you along the way, providing money and effort, going out early in the morning to earn money so that you could eat and wear warm clothes. Don't you think I've treated you well?"
Although it wasn't right to hear someone praise him like this, Jing Chen still nodded and agreed with her.
He didn't remember the people and things before he lost his memory. If only after he lost his memory, she was undoubtedly the person who treated him the best.
Yu Shu saw that he fell into the trap, but she didn't show it on her face. "Then tell me, I'm so good to you. Shouldn't you find a way to repay me in the future?"
Jing Chen nodded without hesitation.
Yu Shu secretly laughed at him for being fooled. She quickly got up and went back to the house to get a clean piece of rattan paper. She placed it in front of him and handed him the brush. She arrogantly ordered,
"Here, I say, write."
Jing Chen took the brush from her hand, dipped it in ink, and waited for her to speak.
Yu Shu scratched her chin and thought for a moment before saying, "You write — I, Taoist Jing Chen of Dragon Tiger Mountain, was saved by Yu Shu of Yiyang. My life was saved. Today, I swear that after I regain my memory, I can't leave without her permission."
Jing Chen wrote halfway, then he stopped and looked up at Yu Shu. Didn't she say that she wanted him to repay her? Why did she write like this?
Yu Shu felt a little uncomfortable under his stare, but she couldn't honestly tell him that she was afraid that he would remember what had happened and say something like "let's part ways" to her because of that Ketu Xing. Then he would walk away and never talk to her again.
She had been taking care of him for so long. Wasn't she working for nothing?
"What are you looking at? I asked you to write. Write quickly." Yu Shu knocked on the table with a fierce face and urged him to write.
Jing Chen nodded. Although he didn't understand what she meant, he still wrote according to her words.
"Well, one more sentence — if I break this promise, I will be a mangy dog in my next life." Yu Shu was somewhat pleased with herself. She had learned this "poison oath" from Daoist Qing Zheng. It was vicious yet humane. It was much more tasteful than the heart-cursing of those dead parents.
Jing Chen's hand paused and looked up at Yu Shu's proud face. He clenched his fist and put it under his lips, laughing silently.
Yu Shu saw that he suddenly laughed and was confused for a moment. Then she suddenly realized that she just called herself a mangy dog. Her face darkened and she angrily hit the table.
"What are you laughing at? Write quickly. Write that you are a mangy dog, not me."
Being scolded by her on purpose, Jing Chen didn't argue with her. He held back his laughter and picked up the pen to complete the sentence. Since he wouldn't break the promise, there was no harm in making an oath.
Seeing that he had finished writing, Yu Shu took the note away and looked at the top. She found that there were no other mistakes except for one place where the word "she" was written as "he". She nodded her head in satisfaction and blew the ink dry. She carefully folded the note twice and went back into the room. She put it at the bottom of the cabinet and put it in a cloth bag with her ancient sword covered in green rust.
Jing Chen sat in the central room with his hands clasped together. He calmly watched Yu Shu's actions with a smile on his face and a little indulgence in his eyes.
At this time, he still didn't know what he had just made.
x
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x
Xia Mingming hadn't recovered from the shock of her sister's death. She was in a low mood. Yu Xiaoxiu didn't know how to coax her and Jing Chen didn't have anything to say to her. If she was in a bad mood, she wouldn't even have someone to talk to.
Yu Shu was worried about her, so she didn't go to Qiu Gui Fang to set up a stall. She got up early to buy vegetables and cooked a good meal for them at noon. She tried to coax Xia Mingming to eat more.
There was no news from the Supreme Court. Maybe there was no progress in the case, so no one mentioned that Xia Mingming went to the court to interrogate her. Yu Shu took advantage of the free time at home to help Yu Xiaoxiu with his homework for two days. She directly jumped from simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to equations with unknown numbers.
Yu Xiaoxiu didn't know that this was knowledge from five hundred years later. He learned whatever Yu Shu taught him. He made full use of his hard work and didn't complain about Yu Shu's harsh requirements.
During this period, there was another thing that gave Yu Shu a headache —
"Brother Jing, how do you write the character 'vat' in the water tank? Write it for me."
Yu Shu put a few calculation problems in Yu Xiaoxiu's hand, put down the pen, walked to the window, and looked into the yard. She was sitting opposite Jing Chen, holding a pen and paper to ask him for advice.
Auntie Xu's niece, Zhou Fangfang, had stayed on Huixing Street yesterday. Yu Shu had gone out to buy groceries yesterday and met her. The little girl had followed behind her and entered the house. She was not shy at all and generously asked Jing Chen to teach her how to write. No matter how Yu Shu hinted that it was inconvenient, she insisted on staying at their house. She came yesterday and came again today.
Yu Shu had no choice but to let Jing Chen deal with her. She didn't want to hurt the relationship between neighbors, so she asked Jing Chen to deal with her. At night, she would calculate Zhou Fangfang's horoscope to prevent her from being unlucky at home.
As usual, Jing Chen was sitting in the courtyard, basking in the sun and drawing. Although he felt uncomfortable that there was another person in front of him and that his ink drawing time had been disturbed, because of Yu Shu's orders, he could only give up his habit of sitting quietly by himself and divert some of his attention to guide Miss Zhou in her calligraphy.
"So this is how to write the character 'vat'. I thought it would look like a water tank. It doesn't look like it at all. Haha."
As the daughter of a butcher, Zhou Fangfang's personality was very cheerful. This kind of cheerful laughter would usually be able to lighten the mood, but in this courtyard, it matched everyone's mood, and it was a little annoying.
When it was finally time to eat, Auntie Xu, who lived next door, came to call for her. Zhou Fangfang reluctantly packed up the papers, took away the words Jing Chen had written, and went home with Auntie Xu to eat.
As soon as she left, the three people in and out of the yard breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. One was tired, the other two were annoyed. Only Xia Mingming's room did not make any noise.
Yu Xiaoxiu said to Yu Shu impatiently, "She won't come back in the afternoon, will she?"
Yu Shu patted his head, "Bear with it. I heard from Aunt Xu that she'll leave the day after tomorrow."
Yu Xiaoxiu curled his lips and looked at Jing Chen in the yard. He whispered, "It's all Brother Jing's fault."
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