Horse-head Wall Reflects the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 71 The Years Passed Quickly, Letters Were Reading Outside the Courtyard

Under the patio, a pool of water half coated with silvery white had accumulated on the lotus leaves in the water tank. The wind blew the leaves and the water droplets naturally rolled down, creating ripples in the water tank that was so large that it was difficult for one person to embrace.

When the water waves touched the lotus bud that had just appeared, they turned back again. When they faded away and disappeared, they were stirred up again by the blown-down water droplets - this repeated for a long time, which made Cheng Heng a little stunned.

"Were you originally the same age as us?" Cheng Heng looked a little childish as he explored the lotus flowers. After they became familiar with each other, Liu Jiaoan started asking about their own stories.

Just like the two people were afraid of forgetting themselves, Liu Jiaoan also didn't want them to come here and become two people who were not himself.

Liu Jiaoan's gaze did not stay on Cheng Heng for too long, but Guan Yin, who was very observant, still saw the clues. He approached Cheng Heng and gently nudged the grinning man with his elbow: "Actually, he is older than you."

"Your life must be pretty... alright to be so carefree like this."

"It's not as easy as here, but it's definitely good." Cheng Heng took over the conversation, "You can be whatever you want to be."

"Tongtong also told me not to think about what others think. She said that it is already very difficult for a person to live the way he wants, and if he still cares about other people's opinions, it will be very hard, very hard."

The rain in the courtyard was no longer drizzling, and the water poured onto the lotus leaves soon flowed into the water tank. The three people who were chatting just now had to go into the house.

"Do you know where to find a shop that sells dried tea?"

When there is no need to think too much, Cheng Heng's thoughts are always like this, seemingly illogical.

"Dry tea?"

Some flavors can still be remembered even in a different environment. Cheng Heng couldn't wait to explain his request: "Dried tofu, dried bean curd."

"There was one not far from my home back then. When I was little, I even thought about becoming an apprentice so that I could eat the freshest dried tofu every day." Liu Jiaoan did not laugh at Cheng Heng's seemingly ignorant face, but her smile was a little unnatural when she mentioned those childhood thoughts that were not mixed with any sense of profit.

"It looks silly, and it's still silly when I think about it now... Maybe I have this idea because my father keeps me at home every day, teaching me music, chess, calligraphy and painting, thinking that I should be a so-called lady."

Everyone has a rebellious nature, and Liu Jiaoan is obviously no exception.

Perhaps the dried tofu in my memory was not actually that delicious, but it was the "difference" from the ones at home that gave the originally ordinary dried tofu a taste called "self", so much so that Liu Jiaoan can't forget it to this day.

As for Cheng Heng, he was simply used to eating "dried tofu" with a lot of additives, and was impressed by the "long-lasting" taste of this tofu. He also used his thoughts to add something special to the original dried tofu.

“So, if you don’t need to consider the Liu family or us in the future, what do you want to do?”

Cheng Heng's question was too sincere, making it impossible for a person who rarely dared to think about the future to answer. At this moment, all three people knew that Liu Jiaoan's living in the present was not good at all, but just a form of forced compromise with a future without hope.

"Unless the Liu family disappears someday, how can we not consider it?"

Before Guan's father's injustice was cleared, the two girls would definitely not be able to live together as a couple. In the future, Liu Jiaoan would have to follow her father's arrangement when she remarried. As for how she would marry at that time, it would depend on the position of Liu's father.

Who knows, if the emperor heard such a legendary story, Liu Jiaoan might enter the palace and become a concubine who might not be favored for the rest of her life.

This is certainly not what Liu Jiaoan expected.

Liu Jiaoan also hopes to find a man she truly admires, and also hopes to find a job that she wants to do and can support her family...

But this is the fate that Liu Jiaoan cannot escape no matter what - as long as the Liu family still exists.

So the question and answer ended in vain, and none of the three people continued to talk about this topic.

"Tongtong had a lot of thoughts at that time."

"She wanted to be a little teacher and follow her father... She also wanted to be like those people on the stage, knowing how to use swords and spears."

"At that time, I really envied Tongtong. Even though her father did not hold an official position, her family lived a happy life."

When she was a child, Liu's father did "spoil" Liu Jiaoan, otherwise no little girl would dare to dress up as a girl and have fun in the music school.

"The only time I rebelled and was tolerated by my father was because he wanted me to get married obediently. He knew that he had wronged me..."

Father Liu still knows what it means to feel guilty about his daughter. After all, she is the daughter he raised, and he will never ignore her for the sake of power.

Liu's father gave up his daughter's happiness and indulged her for a short period of time. It was a good idea. However, he did not expect that Liu Jiaoan would meet her childhood playmate by chance - all the coincidences seemed to have been arranged in advance.

"In fact, God also likes to be lazy when writing scripts."

"It's the same principle as when we write scripts. If a person is used only once and then discarded, even naming him would be a pain." Cheng Heng's explanation was very humorous, downplaying the ups and downs in life. "Not to mention that God has to write scripts for so many people, even if you are a computer, you don't have the ability to do this."

"It's just picking up one person after another and trying to make their story as compact as possible."

The atmosphere that had been suppressed by the rain was completely broken by Cheng Heng's laughter. The lotus flowers on the side seemed to take advantage of this opportunity to sneak up again.

There is no peace in the summer. When the rain stops, cicadas start chirping. Before the cicadas stop chirping, frogs croak...until the early birds fly to the branches again. The bird calls wake up the sleeping people day after day.

Such days lasted until the green persimmon tree was replaced by the fragrant flowers in the garden. It was almost time for Cheng Heng to leave the private school and embark on the road to the imperial examination. Liu Jiaoan was sitting in the main seat, calculating the surplus of these days for the other two people.

Guan Yin's family was relatively well-off, and he had never experienced the feeling of being short of money since he was a child. Cheng Heng's family was also well-off, and he secretly did some part-time jobs when he was in college. The money he earned with his own ability was the reason why Cheng Heng dared to refuse the boss at the bridgehead.

So the two of them had no idea about saving money and spending money, and they consciously handed over the financial power to Liu Jiaoan.

"In fact, the two of you now earn a lot more than I do. If you..."

"Miss Liu, please stop being so modest. If this money was in our hands, it would have disappeared long ago." Cheng Heng and Guan Yin had always agreed on one thing: they could trust people close to them, but they could not trust themselves to control their laziness and casualness. "Then I'll be disrespectful to refuse."

Liu Jiaoan was raised as a lady from a rich family, so she was good at accounting. Huizhou was the hometown of Huizhou merchants, so every transaction could be maximized.

"This amount of money is just right." Liu Jiaoan didn't dare to believe that the journey would be safe, so in order to save his life, he would rather give the money to the caravan and leave a voucher to exchange it in Beijing.

Even if Cheng Heng did not understand the reason, he was familiar with the Peking Opera "The Story of the Black Basin", which tells the story of a businessman who was murdered while renting a house, and his flesh and bones were mixed with other ingredients and burned into a black basin, and then he sought justice in front of Bao Zheng.

In addition to these vouchers, Liu Jiaoan also handed Cheng Heng an extra pocket, which was filled with jingling sounds, and it seemed that there was a lot of change: "These extra ones are for when you need to make connections on the road."

Everything has been arranged, and Cheng Heng will set off within three to five days.

"If you have money in your hands, you don't have to travel with others to avoid conflicts on the road, which is not worth it." From the case files of his father's judgments over the years, the little Liu Jiaoan was accustomed to the evil in people's hearts, but still tried his best to maintain his kindness towards everything.

"clear."

Normally, Cheng Heng doesn’t like to listen to these naggings, but when he is in a foreign land, if he wants to survive, the first thing he has to do is to “listen more, watch more”, just like when Cheng Heng himself writes about a type of drama that he has never been exposed to, the first thing he has to do is to “listen more, watch more”.

Life is like a play, this much is clear.

"There are many honest officials in Huizhou. I hope you can live up to the predecessors." Guan Yin's words were obviously not meant to remind Cheng Heng of how to be an official. He just wanted to tell him simply not to forget what his purpose is.

Zhao Gao called a deer a horse. Some people can say black is white, but the pink walls and black tiles of Huizhou cannot lie. Although they cannot "leave their loyalty to shine in history", they should be able to not be contaminated by the secular world.

"That's natural."

"Hermit, hermit, there is a letter from the music school."

"A letter?" Guan Yin couldn't think of anyone other than Ling Xiao who would send a letter to "Mr. Yin Yunshan". "Is it from Ling Xiao?"

"No, it's not." The person who came to deliver the letter was obviously stunned by Guan Yin's words, "It's not from Miss Ling Xiao."

"Isn't it from Miss Lingxiao?" Now it was Guan Yin's turn to be confused. He stood up hurriedly, walked to the door and handed over the letter.

From the beautiful and sloppy handwriting, it can be vaguely seen that there are not many words on it. Without even opening the letter, Yin could guess what was written inside.

"This journey is dangerous, so don't go to the Spring Examination."

These eight words shocked Guan Yin all over - what was the purpose of the person who sent the letter, and how did he know him?

"Where did this letter come from?"

"It was sent by the Music Bureau." The messenger felt very strange. He had just said that the letter was sent by the Music Bureau. Could it be that Mr. Yin Yunshan didn't hear a word of it?
"Does that person have anything extra to say?" There was too much information hidden in these short eight words, and Guan Yin didn't dare to bet on what conspiracy was hidden behind this.

"No."

Sensing that Guan Yin was in a bad mood, Liu Jiaoan turned back to the messenger first and took out a few copper coins as a thank you: "You can go back."

After calming down, the small piece of paper was placed on the desk. The three people gathered together and began to think about who the messenger was.

"Who would know that you are going to take the imperial examination?" Apart from Ling Xiao, only the Liu family and San Heng knew about this.

"If there really is some conspiracy behind this, why would this person remind us if he knew about it?"

Was there an internal conflict, or was it simply because there were so many people in the music school and they were most likely to hear all kinds of news?

"This must have been written by a woman." Liu Jiaoan had seen his father's handwriting, the handwriting on the files, and the handwriting with subtle details. This handwriting was clearly not specially practiced, and even the order of some strokes was messed up...

"Then do you still want to go?"

"Go ahead, what's the big deal?" Cheng Heng didn't care. "No one would dare to kill secretly... Oh, they dare too."

Before he finished speaking, Cheng Heng had already denied most of himself: "It is dangerous. Now that they know you are going to take the imperial examination, only the Liu family has no need to harm you. Ling Xiao, the love-minded sister of the original body, will not do anything to you for her unmarried husband."

What Cheng Heng said made sense. The Liu family had never been satisfied with the original "son-in-law". If possible, they would not mind using any means to get Liu Jiaoan to leave "Yin Yunshanren" - rather than betting on how much a person from the teaching workshop could achieve, and whether he was willing to support the Liu family in the future, it would be better to get rid of this uncertainty as soon as possible!

"Father would never take anyone's life lightly." Liu Jiaoan, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up, slowly stood up, and picked up the paper. "Why are you so suspicious of a note that came from nowhere?"

Listening to Liu Jiaoan's words, Cheng Heng and Guan Yin looked at each other and saw certainty in each other's eyes - for some things other than supernatural things, it is better to believe in them than not to believe in them.

They knew that no matter how much Liu Jiaoan hated her father for not loving him, she still respected her father who was an official in her heart.

"My father taught his students when I was a child that no matter what position you hold in the future, even if you can't do what you want, you should not treat human life as worthless... There will always be people with more power than you. If you kill someone today, someone else may kill you tomorrow with the same false accusation."

Liu Jiaoan repeated word by word what his father had said, and at this time there was an almost pious expression in his eyes.

"I can't say whether my father would be an honest official, but he would not stain his hands with blood. My father is a Buddhist."

The only sound in the room was the cicadas chirping outside the window. Even though it was autumn, before the persimmons on the branches were completely dyed orange, the heat and humidity in the south of the Yangtze River had not completely dissipated. The silence in the room made the three people's thoughts constantly agitated.

"It doesn't matter what you believe in, the key is what you do." Cheng Heng stiffened his neck and replied, "There are many people who say nice things, but how can you be sure that your father didn't have the blood of innocent people on his hands?"

Perhaps because they were confident that Liu Jiaoan would not reveal their identities, the three of them were in the same boat and had nothing to fear, so Cheng Heng did not leave any room for any negotiation.