The person Xue Rui sent to the south to gather information came back. Because it was related to his secret, he didn't trust anyone else to do it. The person who went was a loyal servant left by his adoptive father, Gui Da.
Xue Rui had kept a total of nine servants that started with the word 'Gui'. Besides the First Gui that was given to him by Xue Rui's father in the beginning, the others were either convict slaves that Xue Rui had carefully selected from the Provider's Courtyard, or they were poor people that he'd taken in when he was wandering outside for the past two years. They didn't need to go through Xue Lingnan's hands at all, and they obeyed his orders obediently.
Not all of these nine people were loyal, so until now, only Gui Da, Gui San 'er, Gui Liu, Gui Qi, and Gui Ba were left.
Gui Da was the oldest. When Xue Rui was still a baby, he had already recognized Xue Lingnan's father as his master. It seemed that he had been a wanderer for a while when he was young. He was proud of his martial arts and righteousness. Later, he offended a local tyrant and his family was killed. When Xue Lingnan's father returned to the capital to report on his work, he tried to clear the injustice of his family.
After Xue Lingnan's father died, Xue Lingnan felt an unbearable pain in his heart. At one point, he wanted to sell the surviving Gui Dafa, but this loyal servant knelt in front of Xue Lingnan's father's coffin and kowtowed a few dozen times until his head was bleeding. He said that Xue Lingnan's father had left a will for him to serve the Eldest Young Master, so he insisted on staying by the young Xue Rui's side.
.....
In order to avoid Yu Shu, Xue Rui didn't meet anyone in Wangji Tower. Instead, he went to Nanlin Lumber Company. This was a property left to him by Xue Lingnan after his father's death.
Gui Da arrived at the capital in the morning. Before he came to see Xue Rui, he had washed himself clean. However, he looked much thinner, which meant that he had suffered a lot during this trip.
There was a basement in Nanlin Lumber Company. Gui San was guarding the entrance above. Even a mouse couldn't hear anything.
"Uncle Gui, did you find anything?" Xue Rui went straight to the point. He didn't hide anything in front of Gui Da. He was not Xue Family's flesh and blood. Gui Da knew this three years ago.
Seeing that he was in a hurry, Gui Da did not waste any time and reported everything they had gained from the trip to Yiyang.
"I went to Yiyang and visited the county government's warehouse several times. I found out that in the eleventh year of Baotai, there were seven women surnamed Han who moved their households because of intermarriage …"
Xue Rui learned from Yu Shu that Yun Hua and his first wife, the Madam Han, were in a relationship. It was around the eleventh year of Baotai's reign that they got married. Yun Mufeng was a fake name, so he had no way of finding it. Thus, he asked Gui Da to investigate directly from the Han Family. After a woman got married, she would move her family to the man's name. This would be recorded in the local government office.
True enough. Gui Da found seven suspects and interviewed them one by one. Finally, they locked onto one of them. It was suspected that Yun Hua's first wife was Xue Rui's birth mother.
"There was a daughter, Madam Han. She married in the seventh month of the eleventh year of Baotai. Her husband's surname was Liu and his given name was Yan. He settled down in Xiping Alley. This old servant found the couple's former acquaintances. According to their recollections, Liu Yan was a guest who went to the capital to take the imperial examination and left his family behind. Later, his wife became pregnant and disappeared without a trace. I don't know where she went. "
Xue Rui's face was expressionless. He clenched his fists on his knees. His chest felt like it was being pressed by a big hand. It was stuffy and blocked. His reason told him that this Han Family was his birth mother.
"What's her name?"
Gui Da hesitated. He reached out and wrote on the small tea table between them, "Han, Ning."
Han Ning. Xue Rui remembered that this was his birth mother.
He closed his sore eyes. After a long time, he let out a long breath as if he had removed a burden from his heart. Finally, he was no longer an evil creature of unknown origin. He found his fated parents and knew where they came from, whether they were dead or alive.
"Young Master, do we continue to look for the whereabouts of this couple?" After all, Gui Da had taken care of Xue Rui for so many years. When he saw his reaction at this moment, he guessed that Liu Yan and his wife were Xue Rui's birth parents.
Xue Rui's face seemed to be in pain. He couldn't help but recall what happened three years ago. At that time, Xue Rui almost became the emperor's son-in-law. Then, the Tenth Princess died, and the Xue family narrowly avoided a great disaster. One day after that, Xue Rui drunkenly called him over and asked him if he knew who his birth parents were.
At that time, Gui Da was shocked because he had never thought that the son that Xue Zao was worried about before his death and made him swear to protect was not his biological son.
He thought that Xue Rui had heard the rumor, but it turned out that it was not a joke. Xue Rui left without saying a word.
The first person to notice that Xue Rui had left home was Gui Da, and he reported this matter to Xue Lingnan at the first possible moment. After that, he requested to leave the capital to pursue Xue Rui. Until now, Gui Da still remembered Old Master Xue's cold and indifferent expression at that time and the question he asked — —
"Do you know why he ran away from home?"
Gui Da wasn't young at that time, so he wasn't stupid enough to tell Old Master Xue that he probably went to find his birth parents because he couldn't bear the shock of the truth of his birth.
He could only bow his head in front of Old Master Xue and cry, "I don't know."
Then Old Master Xue let him go, even though he couldn't get Xue Rui back in the end and let him wander outside for two years.
Gui Da pulled back his thoughts and heard Xue Rui's tired voice, "No need. Uncle Gui, go and rest. We'll talk later. "
Gui Da wanted to ask why he stopped looking for them. It was so difficult to find a clue, why did he give up just like that? But as soon as he saw Xue Rui's empty eyes, he swallowed his words and left quietly.
He was indeed tired. His bones weren't the same as when he was young. He couldn't rush through the night on horseback and shorten a month's journey to half a month. Now, he just wanted to lie down and sleep, not caring about anything else.
Gui Da left, leaving Xue Rui alone. The silence around him made him easily fall into deep thought.
Now that he knew who his birth parents were, there was only one question left in front of Xue Rui — how did his adoptive father die?
That day, Xue Lingnan was so angry that he revealed his birth with one sentence. At the same time, he revealed another fact — Xue Rui's father died because of him.
Xue Zao died when Xue Rui was six years old. At that time, Xue Rui just started to remember things, so he didn't know the cause and effect. But according to Gui Da's story, Xue Zao's father went out alone one day. When he came back, he suddenly fell ill and died.
At a young age, Xue Rui learned to wear mourning clothes, so he didn't know what was going on. It wasn't until he gradually grew up that he found the whole thing was full of doubts. For example, why did his father go out alone? Why did Xue Zao suddenly fall ill?
His grandfather claimed that his father died because of him, but Xue Rui couldn't remember what he had done to kill his father when he was young. So the only explanation was that before Xue Zao's death, Xue Zao went out for him.
Three years ago, the night before Xue Rui left the capital, he broke into Xue Lingnan's study. He plucked up his courage and asked Xue Lingnan who his birth parents were and who killed his father.
Xue Lingnan told him cruelly, "Unless I'm buried, if you want to know who your parents are, go and find them yourself. As for your father, didn't I tell you before? He died because of you. "
His memory was fixed on the face that hated him. Xue Rui suddenly closed his eyes. His body trembled slightly, and he couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself.
He knew that his grandfather might have provoked him on purpose, but he was still afraid. He was afraid that one day, when the truth was revealed, he would be unable to face the ugliness.
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