Murong Chuyi didn't seem to be in the right state of mind. He had always been an aloof person without much emotion on his face. Even when he left angrily after arguing with Yue Chenqing on Bat Island, he was still suppressing his emotions.
But at this moment, he was like a cold lake in early spring. Some things could no longer be hidden under his frozen ice surface. Even though Mo Xi and the others were some distance away, they could clearly feel his anxiety and depression.
"What? You're asking about the people who lived by the docks more than 30 years ago? " The shopkeeper shook his fat belly and was calculating on the abacus. He was happily calculating the money, so he just muttered absent-mindedly, "Aiya, it's true that I ran the docks in my early years, but there are so many people living by the docks in Lin 'an. There are at least 80 if not 100 families. How can I remember every family?"
"That family's surname is Chu."
The shopkeeper muttered, "There are also many people with the surname Chu. This surname is not rare in Lin 'an."
Murong Chuyi was asking about a family with the surname Chu … and more than 30 years ago?
Mo Xi thought for a moment and immediately understood. During the Dragon Boat Festival, Yue Chenqing had said that Murong Chuyi seemed to be looking for his real family all these years. He didn't have many clues in his hands. He only knew that he was adopted by Murong Huang from the temple. There was only a piece of paper in his swaddling clothes with the word "Chu" written crookedly on it. Other than that, there was nothing else.
The Murong branch had a single name for men and two names for women. However, Murong Huang's body was weak when he was young. The fortune-teller said that it would be easier to raise him by giving him a male name. Thus, the Emperor made an exception for this branch of the family. However, Murong Huang always thought that two names sounded better. After adopting the abandoned baby, he named him Murong Chuyi based on the word "Chu" left behind by his family.
It seemed that Murong Chuyi had recently found some clues, so he came to the Wine Fragrance House to ask the shopkeeper about the past more than 30 years ago.
As expected, Murong Chuyi didn't leave. Instead, he took out a gold coin from his Qiankun bag and pushed it to the shopkeeper, "Please think about it carefully."
When the shopkeeper saw the gold coin, his fat fingers on the abacus immediately paused. He put the coin away and smiled, "Noble, you're too polite. Actually …"
His smile suddenly froze when he saw Murong Chuyi's face.
Murong Chuyi, "What's wrong?"
The shopkeeper, however, seemed to have remembered something deep in his memory. He stared at Murong Chuyi for a long time and then suddenly exclaimed with his eyes wide open, "It's you?" But then he shook his head, "No, no, no, it's her?"
Then, he rubbed his face fiercely.
"No, don't tell me you're her …"
The shopkeeper's words were incoherent. He seemed to be shocked and confused. However, Murong Chuyi seemed to understand what he meant. He grabbed the shopkeeper's arm and stepped forward. His phoenix-like eyes flashed with a flickering light.
Murong Chuyi whispered, "Thirty years ago, at the port of Lin 'an. You know something, don't you?"
The shopkeeper looked as if he was in a dream. After a while, he came back to his senses. He saw that the guests and his subordinates were looking at them curiously. He took out a handkerchief and wiped his fat face. After a moment of hesitation, he said to Murong Chuyi, "Immortal elder, please … please come upstairs with me. I'll brush my hair … I'll brush my hair. Let's go upstairs first."
The two of them walked to the stairs.
Gu Mang saw that Mo Xi was frowning. He followed his gaze and asked, "Do you know this pretty lady in white?"
He had just learned the word "pretty" from the boat girl. Seeing that Murong Chuyi was good-looking, he simply called him "pretty lady".
"…" Mo Xi said, "I know him. You knew him before. You just forgot. "
"Oh, then should I go and greet him?"
Mo Xi grabbed his wrist and pressed him down. He shook his head.
"He has his own private matters to deal with. Besides, you and I are not very close. It would be awkward to meet him now." Mo Xi said softly, "You should eat first."
While they were talking, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs. The shopkeeper led Murong Chuyi to a private room. Although Mo Xi and the others could not see the two of them, they could hear their voices more clearly.
The sound of porcelain cups clinking was followed by the sound of tea being brewed. Then, the shopkeeper's weak voice came from behind the bamboo curtain, "… If I may ask, when was the immortal born?"
Murong Chuyi told the shopkeeper the year of his birth. After the shopkeeper heard it, he murmured a few times, as if he was calculating something. Then, he sighed again and again.
"Could it be … could it really be like what she said back then?"
Murong Chuyi's voice was as smooth as jade soaked in water, but the emotions contained in it were like lava flowing under a rock. "Shopkeeper, if you know something, why don't you tell me?"
"I … sigh, I really can't believe it. But the immortal's appearance …" The shopkeeper said, then sighed again. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you everything I know."
"That was indeed something that happened more than thirty years ago …"
The shopkeeper spoke slowly, his voice sounding as if he was in a trance.
"More than thirty years ago, I came to Lin 'an Waterway to run the docks. At that time, I was a poor man. I ate one meal and didn't know the next. Sometimes, when I was hungry, I would pick up half of a biscuit or two steamed buns that were thrown on the ground."
"Once, when I was picking up steamed buns by the docks, I was seen by the owner of a small restaurant on the shore. The owner was a kind person. He invited me to his restaurant for a while and made me a bowl of fried rice and a bowl of dried shrimp soup with seaweed. "
"The old man had two daughters and one son in the restaurant. The three of them helped him tidy up the restaurant. I still remember that the rice was cooked by his eldest daughter. She put a spoonful of lard and a big spoonful of soy sauce in it. It filled a big bowl and was fragrant and hot. … When I was struggling to make ends meet, I often went to his restaurant to eat. However, I didn't eat for free. After I finished eating, I helped him do some heavy work. "
With the sound of slurping tea, the shopkeeper drank a few more mouthfuls of tea to calm his mind and continued.
"The surname of this family was Chu. The whole family was kind people. The youngest son was still young. The two sisters were quite famous beauties in Lin 'an City. As soon as they reached marriageable age, there were many rich merchants who came to propose marriage. However, their father doted on them very much. Because of their family background, it was impossible for those rich merchants to marry them officially. And the old man was also unwilling to take them as concubines. He would rather let the two of them choose themselves than marry them off hastily. "
"Famous flowers without an owner naturally attracted people's attention. At that time, the reputation of the two sisters spread further and further, and the people who proposed marriage became more and more difficult to deal with. In the end, some domineering noble lords were also attracted. When the soft approach didn't work, they used the hard approach and forced the father to hand them over. "
"Then what happened?"
"Then …" The shopkeeper let out a long sigh. "In fact, I didn't see what happened later. At that time, I started to do shipping and ran around for business. I was in Quanzhou for more than a month. By the time I returned, the Chu family's restaurant had already been burned to the ground. "
Murong Chuyi: "!"
"I asked the neighbors around, but they all hesitated and didn't dare to say much. At that time, I was young and angry that such a thing happened, so I rushed to the government without thinking and complained. The Grand Preceptor told me that the Chu family couldn't stand the entanglement of the in-laws, so the whole family moved out of Lin 'an City. "
Murong Chuyi's cold voice faintly revealed a barely suppressed anger.
"Why would the whole family burn down the old house if they moved out?"
The shopkeeper said, "I thought so too. At that time, I knew that the government didn't tell me the truth. Alas, after all, the Chu family had done me a favor. I didn't want this matter to pass without knowing the truth, so I kept looking for clues in Lin 'an City and asked others … Then … Then … "
"Then what?"
Even though it had been so long, the shopkeeper still felt very pained when the matter was brought up again. His voice trembled, and he drank a few more mouthfuls of tea. He lowered his voice and said, "Then … I went to look for it myself. Finally, in the suburbs of Lin 'an City, I found … I found the body of the Chu family's old man. His head was separated from his body …"
At this point, he couldn't help but shudder and his eyes turned red. He didn't dare and didn't want to describe the specific situation. After a while, he continued, "I was scared and sad. I was crying when suddenly, I heard a faint sound coming from the depths of the haystack. I crawled over to take a look and saw their youngest child hiding in the depths of the haystack. He looked like a kitten looking at me. He was also covered in blood."
Mo Xi was already very angry when he heard this. At this time, there was the sound of a porcelain cup shattering behind the bamboo curtain.
The shopkeeper said in shock, "Immortal, you —"
It seemed that Murong Chuyi was too angry and suppressed, so he accidentally crushed the teacup in his hand.
"Your, your hand was scratched … scratched …"
Murong Chuyi said calmly, "It's not a problem."
He seemed to have taken a handkerchief to wipe the blood off his hand. Then he said in a low voice, "Please continue."
The shopkeeper said, "Oh." He was stunned, and his eyes were red. He hadn't thought about this matter for many years. Now that he really did think about it, his emotions gradually came back.
He was silent for a while, and then he said, "That child was still very young. When I asked him, he couldn't speak clearly. When I asked him where his sister went, he just cried. So I buried Duke Chu and took the child back to my merchant ship to raise him. He wasn't old enough to remember things yet. I hoped that he would live a peaceful life in the future, so I didn't mention this matter to him anymore. I hoped that when he grew up, he wouldn't remember this grudge … "
"Slowly, day by day, the child, who couldn't even speak properly, didn't remember this matter anymore. The people in the city gradually forgot about the Chu family … until one day. "
He paused, and then said, "The eldest daughter of the Chu family suddenly came back."
"But she was a completely different person." The shopkeeper sighed, "Her hair was unkempt, her face was dirty, and she had lost her mind. She kept saying that she had a child, but she abandoned the child in a moment of confusion. When people asked her what kind of child she had and who she had with, she couldn't answer clearly. When they asked her where her sister went, she kept crying and said that they shouldn't blame her. She also had her difficulties. "
Murong Chuyi was speechless.
The shopkeeper took out his handkerchief, rubbed his nose, and said sadly, "When the people in the government heard the news, they took her to see a doctor. After confirming that her spirit had been greatly stimulated and could no longer return to normal, they didn't care about her anymore. The villagers pitied her and gave her a small, desolate cottage to live in. At first, there were many people who went to visit her, but gradually, they found that she only spoke a few incoherent sentences. They felt bored, and no one was willing to pay attention to her. "
"I did take her brother to see her, but her brother didn't know her at all, and didn't remember her. She started crying when she saw the child, saying that she shouldn't have been so cruel and abandoned her own child. She said that no matter how much she hated, she shouldn't have hated the child. She also said that she saw the child turn into a ghost, sitting in the blood and looking at her. Sigh … "
"Although there's no evidence for what happened back then, I'm more or less aware that their family didn't move at all. Instead, they were taken in by a certain high official and noble in the capital, who kidnapped their two daughters. I'm afraid that Lord Chu was too protective of his daughters, so he was cruelly killed by them. His youngest son was also thrown into the haystack and left to fend for himself. "
The shopkeeper was in a daze when he said this.
"At that time, the eldest daughter of the Chu family said that she had a child, and kept shouting and asking her sister not to blame her. She had her difficulties. Slowly, everyone guessed that she had done something that she shouldn't have in order to survive, and caused the death of her sister … So she was the only one who came back alive, and the second daughter of the Chu family was missing. "
Murong Chuyi's expression gradually darkened, as if he wasn't willing to accept the truth. "…"
"Because of this guess, people began to alienate her, ridicule her, and make fun of her insanity."
"At that time, I … I didn't stop them because I didn't know much about her. In the past, the second daughter of the Chu family was more gentle and warm, and she, as the elder sister, didn't like to talk much. I thought that she might have really done something to her sister, and that was why she was driven crazy by self-blame. This matter has always been a knot in my heart, and it wasn't until she died that I knew … "
Murong Chuyi was shocked, and suddenly interrupted him, saying hoarsely, "What? She … is no longer here? "
"She was gone a few years ago …" The shopkeeper sighed sadly and self-blame, "… When she left, I went to see her off. Perhaps it was the final radiance of the setting sun, and she finally had a moment of clarity. At that time, she told me … "
The shopkeeper paused for a moment, as if he was considering whether he should tell him this last secret.
In the end, he looked at Murong Chuyi's face, which was very similar to his old friend's face, and finally said, "She said that when she and her sister were kidnapped by the nobles, she knew that she couldn't escape, so she pretended to be obedient and voluntarily took off her clothes to serve them. She coaxed them into letting their guard down, and finally found a chance to let her sister escape. But her sister thought that she was willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of survival, and hated her very much. She said that she would rather die than accept her kindness. "
Murong Chuyi, "…"
"At that time, I realized that the villagers had misunderstood her. She didn't kill her sister for the sake of her own survival. The so-called difficulties were actually for this reason …"
"She urged the second daughter of the Chu family to escape, but she was rejected and misunderstood, and couldn't fulfill her wish. She was anxious, but then she thought that they were now in the capital, and there were powerful nobles everywhere. Even if her sister listened to her and escaped, how far could she go? "
"The first daughter of the Chu family thought about it day and night, and finally, she came up with an idea. When she was accompanying her nobleman, she had seen many noble families, so her final plan was to set up a scheme to let her sister be taken care of by one of them. "
"In order for the second daughter of the Chu family to live well and not be humiliated, she kept looking and choosing. She thought about who would be kind enough to accept an orphan. That nobleman had to be kind enough, honest enough, and have a prominent status. In the end, she set her sights on two people. "
Murong Chuyi, "Who?"
The shopkeeper said, "Fu Lingjun, Mo Qingchi, First Wangshu, Murong Xuan."
Mo Xi suddenly heard her father's name in this conversation, and couldn't help but open her eyes wide.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
