Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 273: Flowers

Perhaps Li Wan had a very good physical condition and was not very old, and the pills happened to contain some of the right ingredients. After an incense stick of time, Li Wan's groans gradually stopped.

Wang Heng and Xiaocai cooperated and fed her clean water several times. It was visibly that Li Wan's complexion looked better and her consciousness gradually recovered. She smiled with satisfaction at the two brothers.

As long as the condition does not continue to worsen, it can be considered a success. The Li family has such a skilled doctor like Mr. Zhao on their payroll, so there is always hope as long as they hold on.

While Wang Heng and Xiaocai were busy, the other two people in the east hall, Mr. Meng and Mr. Meng Dalang, were watching them coldly from afar.

Seeing that Li Wan's condition seemed to be slightly improved, Mr. Meng, who was sitting upright, suddenly stood up, walked quickly to Li Wan, squatted down and stared at Li Wan, and said grimly: "Don't bother, the poison of the Red Night Demon Queen originated from Japan, and there is no medicine in China that can cure it."

Everyone in the room shuddered. Xiaocai took three steps back and looked into Wang Heng's eyes. They all suspected that they had heard it wrong.

A flash of lightning flashed through the hall from afar, and in an instant the hall was as bright as day. Wind and thunder surged, as if a greater crisis was brewing.

"Cousin Meng, why?" Li Wan's voice was hoarse and she had difficulty speaking, but her mind became clearer and she actually sat up by herself.

Mr. Meng raised his head to the sky and howled. He laughed in anger and said, "You boy, you ask me why?"

"Cousin Meng, you have always been very kind to me. When I was young, my family was poor and I was able to study with the help of the Meng family. Now that I have achieved success in my middle age, I have never forgotten our old friendship." Li Wan chose his words carefully. He had a strong desire to survive.

Shanren Meng trembled as he took out an old calendar from his bosom. He gently stroked the patterns inside. One of them happened to fall to the ground. Li Wan seemed to understand something and said, "Is this cousin Yizhen's pattern book?"

"My sister had put the pattern for embroidery in an old calendar book. I found it when we moved a few years ago." Mr. Meng had tears in his eyes and stroked his gray beard. "Life at home was not as good as it is now. Ah Zhen was in charge of sewing and mending. One day, you came to Mi Cang Lane after school and played chess with me in the side room. Ah Zhen saw that the cuffs of your summer shirt were worn out. Before the game of chess was over, she had already embroidered a small golden lantern flower on the hole."

Li Wan said sadly, "My cousin has a good memory. That's exactly how the golden lantern came about. I was very young at that time, and I loved being pretty. My family was short of money, and I wore a robe that was washed white and had holes in it every day. So I couldn't get along with anyone in school. I relied on my cousin Yizhen to mend my clothes from time to time, and save fabric to cut one or two new clothes for me during the New Year and make a few new shoes. Only then could I barely get by in school."

"Ah Zhen is the most skillful girl in our county. Many young men from wealthy families have asked matchmakers to come to my house and have knocked down my door. I insisted on keeping her at home for a few more years and refused to marry her easily. In the end, she fell in love with you, a scholar with a beastly heart, and lost her life in vain."

As Mr. Meng spoke, he rushed over and beat Li Wan, "You bastard, give me back my sister."

Meng Dalang hugged Meng Shanren and said, "Daddy, please stop being angry. Daddy, please stop being angry."

Wang Heng and Xiaocai were both stunned. They exchanged glances and quietly left Li Wan's side, leaning towards the dark corner. They were both thinking that Yizhen, who was mentioned in Mr. Hu's letter earlier this morning, was actually Mr. Meng's sister. Could it be that the one who called her "Mrs. Yizhen's virtuous sister" was Li Wan? What kind of lawsuit was this?

Li Wan was confused and said, "Brother Meng, I did have feelings for my cousin Yizhen back then, but didn't Yizhen die of tuberculosis?"

Shanren Meng wept, "That spring I went to Guangdong and Guangxi to sell goods. When I returned home, grass had grown on Ah Zhen's grave. Ah Zhen was four or five months pregnant and had nowhere else to go, so she hanged herself. There were many girls in the clan waiting to get married, so they all said she had tuberculosis." Li Wan was stunned and said, "That year was the year of the imperial examination. I passed the provincial and palace examinations and was awarded the title of second-class Jinshi by the emperor. I took a year off to go back to my hometown to take care of some mundane affairs. I heard that a girl from the Li family next door to the Meng family in Mi Cang Lane hanged herself. How could it be Yi Zhen?"

Mr. Meng sneered and said, "The girls of the Li family are usually bad-behaved. The eldest son of the Li family is missing, and the second son is greedy and immoral. There is no decent man in the family. It seems that Miss Li eloped with her counter clerk at that time. It was said that she hanged herself. Who could have thought that it was actually a well-behaved girl like Ah Zhen who died."

Li Wan was speechless and dared not speak.

Wang Heng's memory was triggered when he heard this. On the day when he escorted Qiu Erlang to Jiangning County Court, he passed by Li Garden in Mi Cang Lane diagonally opposite Li Garden. He heard an old man carrying a camel shoulder pole say that there was a hanged female ghost in Li Garden. This roughly matched what Mr. Meng said.

"Mrs. Yizhen, the virtuous sister." Mr. Meng took out a few yellowed pieces of letter paper from an old calendar.

Li Wan was obviously surprised by what she saw.

Shanren Meng said, "Ah Zhen is really stupid. She has several letters with such titles in her hands. How can this not be a marriage certificate? When I return home, we will go to your Li family's ancestral hall to ask for an explanation. But she chose to commit suicide and hid these letters in a corner of the bookcase so that I couldn't find them. At that time, although I suspected that you had some affair, where was the evidence?"

The blue veins on Mr. Meng's head were throbbing violently, showing that he was extremely angry. Meng Dalang hurriedly gave him a back massage to calm him down.

Li Wan was silent for a while, then said, "Cousin Meng, although I have a private relationship with cousin Yizhen, the development of the situation is not what I want, and I have no idea about it."

The two men, one above and one below, stared at each other.

Meng Dalang helped Mr. Meng to sit on the ground, supported his father, and suddenly said sarcastically: "Mr. Li, don't be too innocent. You should think about your own sinister nature. My aunt has been dead for more than 20 years. Maybe she has been watching you from heaven all this time."

Meng Dalang spoke slowly, his tone not as excited as Meng Shanren: "How could Lord Li know nothing? That year, wasn't it the time when Lord Li passed the imperial examination and was chosen as a son-in-law by a noble family in the imperial capital? Lord Li has been very successful since then. Congratulations."

Meng Dalang stops at the point, leaving people with endless imagination.

It was not difficult for Wang Heng and Xiaocai to guess the rest of the meaning. Cousin Yizhen was getting pregnant, so she would urge Li Wan to return home. Li Wan didn't have to refuse, she just had to ignore her. Cousin Yizhen also heard that Li Wan was discussing marriage with a noble family in the capital, so she committed suicide in despair.

Li Wan seemed to be struck hard, and felt dazed. Yizhen was his lover in his youth, so why did he ignore her later on, as if he had completely forgotten about their love affair when they were young?

In an instant, his thoughts flooded his mind. He recalled Yizhen moving a small stool and sitting beside him, imitating the pattern of embroidering golden lanterns while reciting childish nursery rhymes like "Golden lanterns, flowers every night".

The past twenty years have passed like a dream, and it is shocking that I am still alive.