Ink Burns

Chapter 259: Give a Favor
It seemed that at that very moment, the hazy veil covering Xu Quyan's face was suddenly removed.

Under the clear blue sky, it revealed its true nature as a human being—honest, genuine, and perhaps pure but not particularly beautiful.

Xu Quyan suddenly realized that he could breathe again in his chest, which had been feeling tight for so long.

Xu Quyan sat half-sitting on the steps of the dilapidated palace, his head bowed. With a swift movement, the paper money bearing footprints handed to him by Madam He floated lightly into the burning fire. The flames instantly devoured the living's offering to the dead, rapidly turning to ashes. They made no distinction between the living's intentions, the quality of the paper money, or whether the money was burned at an altar or in a secluded palace chosen to avoid suspicion.
In the dim night, Xu Quyan half-raised his eyes, his gaze calm yet heavy as he looked at Madam He not far away.

Wu Min presented him with a name card from the He family, or rather, a name card from Wei Ruchun.

A very clean background.

The daughter of a rural doctor in Fushou Mountain, southern Anhui, was selected by a respectable family and sent to the capital.

The only setback was that after arriving in the capital, all the good men from Songjiang Prefecture fell ill and were moved by the Six Departments to the remote Qiushui Ferry before they even entered the palace.

As for He Shuiguang's calling card, Wu Min still hasn't found it. The only thing confirmed is that this woman is the younger sister of Xue Xiao's wife, and the alliance between Xue Xiao and his wife is unbreakable.

The candlelight cast extremely long shadows.

The little girl didn't care about her appearance; she squatted in front of the fire, earnestly helping to burn paper.

She was very young, more than seven years younger than him, and her appearance was somewhere between mature and youthful. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful, but she was still pleasing to the eye.

The figures and flames reflected each other, but they were too far apart to make out facial features. All that remained was a feeling of cunning yet cleanliness, like a little monkey raised in the mountains, capable of calmly watching the sky fall and the earth crack, and also able to happily eat half a chestnut.

It's hard to imagine that such a young girl could kill Xue Changfeng's second son, Xue Chen, all by herself.

Why did she kill Xue Chen?

Xue Xiao didn't mention it at all. He completely trusted Xue Xiao and naturally couldn't ask about his wife's family without permission.

He was also genuinely uninterested in Xue Xiao's family affairs.

But he was interested in He Shuiguang.

he wanted to know.

With that thought in mind, he asked aloud, "Why did you kill Xue Chen?"

Shuiguang's hand, which was burning paper money, paused. The corner of the paper trembled and caught flames, almost burning her. She casually tossed the paper money aside, then shrank back almost imperceptibly, a hint of wariness in her voice: "...Supervisor Fang, we agreed this long ago that if you don't ask me why I killed someone, I won't ask you why you went to sea!"

The defensive posture was very clear.

Like a frightened little monkey.

Xu Quyan gave a silent smile: "You can ask."

Shui Guang was stunned for a moment, then shook her head vigorously: "I won't ask you! It must be something bigger than me killing someone for you to trade with me!"

It was a reasonable and perfectly accurate guess, but it completely deviated from Xu Quyan's expectations of Shui Guang's answer.

Xu Quyan was taken aback for a moment, then his smile widened: "I'm going to find my brother."

"Ah—oh—ah—woo—eh—whoosh—!"

The little girl in front of him seemed to be possessed by some evil spirit. She covered her ears with her hands, twisted her mouth into a round, bulging, flat, and wide shape, and then made one strange sound after another. Her eyes were wide open, bigger than copper bells, trying her best to stop Xu Quyan from continuing.

Xu Quyan's words were cut off. He watched Shui Guang go crazy in silence, and after a long while, he finally smiled out loud.

Shui Guang didn't even dare to breathe, afraid of hearing something she shouldn't hear. She sang quickly and loudly, almost using up all the onomatopoeia in the world!

Xu Quyan leaned closer, his mouth tightly shut, and waved his sleeves at Shui Guang.

Shui Guang lowered her hand and gasped for breath: "I was suffocating! Don't scare me!"

Xu Quyan's brows relaxed, and a smile spread from the corners of his mouth to the corners of his eyes: "I'll just tell you, whether you tell me or not, I won't force you, okay?"

Her watery eyes darted around twice, but she still shook her head: "The people around you saints keep everything strictly confidential. If I know too much, I won't get away with it—"

But seeing that the father-in-law seemed quite talkative, as if no one could leave without saying something today, Shui Guang decided to change the subject to a safer one. She then looked at the almost burnt paper money and thought, "Let's talk about family matters."

It's safer to talk about family matters: How complicated could a eunuch's family affairs be?
Shui Guang then spoke up: "Today is neither the first nor the fifteenth of the month, nor is it Qingming or Zhongyuan Festival. Why are you burning paper money today? I heard that Taihe Temple has been in a bad mood lately. Why do you have to go and provoke him at this time?"

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was the residence of the emperor.

Xu Quyan naturally saw through Shui Guang's intention to change the subject. Sitting on the low steps for a long time would cause intermittent numbness in the feet. Xu Quyan stretched his arms behind him and his legs out, which was not in accordance with imperial etiquette, but it could make people feel comfortable quickly.

Today is my mother's birthday.

Xu Quyan readily agreed and changed the subject with Shui Guang.

Shui Guang burned the paper money in her hand, patted her dusty clothes, and casually sat down next to Xu Quyan: "Since this eunuch's reputation isn't as great as Eunuch Wu's, let's get along peacefully. Even though we're in the Six Departments, we can't always be in a superior-subordinate relationship, can we? Sometimes being more natural, easygoing, and friendly, and sitting side by side, can actually help build a closer relationship with the leaders." This was the advice she received from her father, Wei, who wasn't a big drinker but could make the village chief very happy.

"Please accept my condolences and accept the inevitable change—" Shui Guang said immediately after hearing what Xu Quyan had to say.

Xu Quyan's smile remained constant, unlike the standard smile hanging in the Qian Yuan Hall. This smile contained sincerity and bitterness: "It's nothing. She has been dead for eight years. I was worried that no one would burn paper money for her, and that she would be bullied in the underworld if she didn't get enough incense, so I secretly came to burn some." Empress Ji was not buried with Emperor Zhaode, but instead was laid to rest in a side mausoleum three miles away from the imperial mausoleum.

Empress Ji has passed away, and the entire palace is wary of his birth mother, Empress Dowager Fang, and only burns incense during festivals. Unlike the imperial tombs, where paper money and incense are burned regularly on the birthdays and death anniversaries, this practice is not observed at the imperial tombs.

My mother was a refined and particular person. Her ancestors followed Emperor Taizu in conquering the country and never suffered any hardship. They lived a comfortable and generous life. Even the ancient books on the bookshelf had to be arranged in a row of books of equal height, and the height had to be correct.

He didn't want such a person to go to the afterlife and find that other empresses had things she didn't, and to appear timid and pathetic when chatting with the empresses.

Shui Guang blinked, as if suddenly remembering something, her expression slightly tense: "Ah—I've never burned paper money for my mother!"

Xu Quyan's somewhat desolate mood was interrupted again: "Ah? Why? Shouldn't burning paper money and incense be allowed outside the palace?"

"I don't know. I couldn't remember my mother's birthday and death anniversary before. When I remembered, I... I'm here again." Shui Guang was a little at a loss: Sister should have burned the paper money, right? If other mothers have plenty of money to spend, but their mother still has no money in her pocket and is stingy and reluctant to eat eggs, then she, she is really too unfilial!
Xu Quyan didn't press Shui Guang for the meaning behind her words. Instead, he reached out and picked up a long, dead piece of wood from the yard, decisively spilling half of the paper money pile in front of him: "Give this half to your mother."

Sparks flew everywhere.

Shui Guang said with deep gratitude, "Thank you!"

The little girl's eyes sparkled like stars as she sincerely thanked them—all for that half of the paper money ashes.

“I thought doctors didn’t believe in ghosts and gods,” Xu Quyan said with a slight smile.

"I don't really believe in it." Shui Guang bowed down and carefully took the wooden stick from Xu Quyan's hand, letting the paper money burn properly. She turned her head and said sincerely, "But when it comes to my own mother, if it can make her life better in the next life, I'm willing to believe in ghosts, gods, Buddhas, and legends."

Xu Quyan's smile reached his eyes.

After a while, he said, "I wonder if the paper money burned by someone other than his own son will be accepted by the King of Hell."

"No? His own son?" Shui Guang frowned.

Xu Quyan nodded: "She is my adoptive mother."

what.

So this is how complicated the family affairs of fathers-in-law are!

Shui Guangxin sighed with emotion.

"Foster mother?" Shui Guang asked, puzzled.

"Yes, my foster mother." Xu Quyan nodded again: "My mother was injured when she gave birth to my brother, and after less than three years of recuperation, she gave birth to me, which made her even weaker. She almost had a major hemorrhage several times. She was constantly taking medicine and couldn't take care of me, so my foster mother took me in."

Perhaps it was also because she disliked him.

According to the old people in the palace, when his mother gave birth to his elder brother, Prince Yong, Emperor Zhaode was very happy and promoted him from Consort Yu to Noble Consort. However, because his mother suffered severe postpartum hemorrhage when she gave birth to him, rolls of blood-stained bedding and handkerchiefs were sent out of the palace, which startled Emperor Zhaode when he came to visit them. The blood from the woman's childbirth caused the emperor to have nightmares that night and was frightened.

This time, the mother was not promoted; instead, she suffered from the emperor's neglect.

In addition, his mother had a very difficult time giving birth to him and almost lost her life. Her anger, resentment and anger were intertwined, and she took it out on him.

While princes cannot be beaten or scolded, they can be treated with contempt and ignored.

He hadn't eaten plain rice since he was three years old, let alone chewed hard food. His teeth were crooked and he was thin and small. His speech was also unclear. Because he had offended the emperor at birth, his mother had an excuse not to take him out of the palace to meet strangers. Therefore, when Empress Ji first saw him, she thought he was some little eunuch with a tragic past.
Everyone said that Empress Ji wanted to raise him only as a bargaining chip to have another prince.

Actually, I don't have that many thoughts.
At that time, the eldest son was still alive, and the eldest legitimate son should have been the crown prince, it was a foregone conclusion. Why did Empress Ji have to risk a falling out with her mother and use her power to force her to raise him? Why did she have to raise a weak, illegitimate second son who was not favored by her father?

He knew that if it had been a weak kitten that day seeking help from Empress Ji, this kind and generous woman would have taken it back to the palace without hesitation and raised it well.
"How could there be such a birth mother?" Shui Guang murmured.

Xu Quyan smiled and said, "My mother is not a bad person by nature, but she is very easily influenced. It is her fault as a person, and I, as her child, will not judge her. Fortunately, my brother is almost three years older than me and has always taken care of me. Otherwise, I would not have lived to see my adoptive mother take me in to be raised."

His mother passed away too early, and she didn't see many things: such as his determination to uphold the edicts of the founding emperor, his perseverance in eradicating the deep-seated problems in the court, and his confidence in helping the people, eliminating traitors, and pacifying both internal and external troubles.
Mother.

If his mother were still alive, she would surely feel heartbroken watching him and "Qingfeng" struggle and strategize step by step.
Xu Quyan looked up at the sky, where there were already scattered lights. The stars were ever-changing, sometimes forming lines, sometimes scattering, just like the relationships between people, which sometimes come together and sometimes separate, and are unpredictable, but all have their own destiny.

"promise--"

A tattered orange was held out in front of him.

He Shuiguang's eyes shone like stars.

"This good stuff, Supervisor Wu certainly didn't save any for you, did he?"

Shui Guang smiled, her round eyes crinkling into a smile: "These are oranges from Sichuan, I heard they're incredibly sweet."

Still a little reluctant, she muttered to herself, "Even though I've been eating dried radish every day for the past few days, I'm practically turning into a radish spirit."

She wanted to eat it too.

She gave half to her master to appease her taciturn, half-hearted mentor; she kept half for herself to properly satisfy her stomach, which had suffered from eating dried radish.

He perked up again: "But I'll still give it to you—eating something sweet will make you feel a little sweeter inside."