Chapter 620
The Carving Scandal, Regaining Memories
Chapter 620 The Carving Scandal, Regaining Memories (1)
Xu Zhi was surprisingly quite adept at acting.
Xiao Ruo's mother looked at her and gradually sensed that something was wrong. "The tone of your voice doesn't sound like Chu Yin... it sounds more like..."
Xu Zhi wanted to get that conjecture.
'The dialect of Xianyang, the capital of Qin'.
But the woman did not continue speaking... After all, in her entire life, she had only ever met one person from 'Xianyang'.
The inspector who had specially come to Pei County to take away Liu Bang's family spoke in a very similar tone to the woman in front of him.
The woman looked at her daughter, then at her son, and finally took Xu Zhi's hand, speaking earnestly, "You're a young woman, injured and stranded here. You must have some unspeakable troubles. Others may not be able to tell, but I find your voice quite peculiar. To avoid any misunderstandings, perhaps you should refrain from speaking for a while."
Xiao Yan noticed that his mother used the word 'wandering'.
Only then did he notice that after she finished carving the bamboo slips, she knelt upright beside her sister, unable to conceal what was revealed in her every move.
Even noblewomen should have a gentle and graceful demeanor like his younger sister.
She was different; decisive as a sword, cutting without hesitation, and her demands for exchange were not to be refused. — It was something called 'aura'.
The woman looked at her son, her brow furrowing. She solemnly instructed him, "This woman generously gave me medicine. There's a high chance your brother has been arrested. She risked her life to help us with the writing... You must do your best to help her."
“Even without Mother saying it, I will definitely… uh…” Xiao Yan paused for a moment, leaned slightly forward, and asked her, “…I still don’t know your name, Miss.”
The slanting light behind the thatched shed made his brown eyes appear exceptionally clear.
The soft, gentle light brought by the clear sky after the rain, combined with the gentle tone of voice, made Xu Zhi feel dazed, as if she had instantly returned to the snow-covered ancient Xiakou of ten years ago.
She handed him the wooden calf she had written on with both hands, saying, "Xiao Yan, thank you for your trouble. My name is on it."
His gaze first fell on the word "elegant," but he couldn't help but pay attention to the words that followed.
"Then I'll call you Ya."
She nodded with a smile and began to fulfill her mother's instructions to be a 'mute girl'.
It must be said that Xiao Yan was still afraid when the Qin people came to search. The presence of those men in dark clothes surrounding him created a sense of oppression.
However, Ya Ke's skill and mental fortitude are truly exceptional; his small seal script is so well-written that it is almost flawless.
While everyone else remained silent, she gestured to cooperate with him in questioning Xiao Lu.
A Qin soldier said, "Alas, young master, your family hasn't had it easy either. These days you're constantly being investigated. You'd better carry a wooden ox with you at all times. I'll go back and ask around for you; did you mistakenly arrest someone named Xiao Lü?"
She stood beside him.
The Qin soldier looked at her and said he would take Xiao Lu's bamboo slips back to make it easier to find him. He felt her body stiffen noticeably.
Xiao Yan sensed her tension, and she looked up at him with a smile to comfort him.
As she said, the Qin people left quickly.
Their relationship lasted only fifteen minutes before she quickly let go of his arm.
A strange emptiness welled up in the young man's heart.
He soon saw that the smile on Ya's face had completely disappeared.
"Xiao Yan, I think we cannot stay here any longer."
"Ya?" Xiao Yan asked, puzzled. "Where are we going?"
Xu Zhi's gaze was fixed on the rock face not far away. She kept repeating the words of Xiao Yan's mother, pondering their tone of voice.
Ultimately, she concluded that the missing part of her memory must be inextricably linked to the Qin people.
Xiao Lu was most likely being held hostage by the Qin people. The fact that no news of Yan Sheng's arrest had arrived indicates that Li Xian was unaware that she was still in Lingcheng.
"It's not us, it's me."
Xiao Yan instinctively stepped forward to stop her, "Qin soldiers are searching everywhere outside. Where can you go alone, young lady? Besides, you're injured! The situation at Hidden Sword Gorge is even more complicated..."
“It’s precisely because it’s dangerous that I can’t implicate you.” Xu Zhi interrupted him, her voice low but clear. In the end, she didn’t want to hide it from them anymore, “Today’s search must be aimed at me.”
The woman's lips moved slightly, but in the end she only sighed and tightened her grip on her daughter's hand.
"and many more!"
Just as Xu Zhi was about to turn and walk out of the thatched hut, Xiao Yan grabbed her wrist in a moment of panic.
The woman's wrists were slender, yet they possessed an undeniable strength.
Xu Zhi ultimately disliked being controlled by others, so she broke free, her eyes instinctively turning cold.
Xiao Yan flinched at the piercing gaze. "At least tell me where you're going? Didn't you say you were waiting for Father to arrive and wanted to know about Xu Kai and Father?... Or perhaps I could escort you to a safe place..."
"Xiao Yan, I appreciate your kindness. But the less you know, the safer you will be."
Without further hesitation, she lifted the straw curtain, her figure swiftly disappearing into the lingering rain and twilight outside. Her appearance and departure were like raindrops falling from the sky; some encounters seem preordained.
Fate is a thing that is hard to explain.
When Xu Zhi stumbled upon the shaman's ritual, and when she saw the photograph from Xu Kai that her father had kept, it was all over.
Perhaps she will be the first to understand this before everyone else.
Her arrival here should be called a "reunion"!
Meanwhile, at the Lingcheng government office, the deputy clerk...
"Lord Chen, these people wandering around here have no identities to prove their identity."
Uncle Chen glanced around and saw only three or four middle-aged men below the hall. These men looked blank, seemingly unaware of what was happening.
Li Xian's men acted extremely quickly; logically, the person they were looking for was unlikely to disappear in a surprise attack.
After a moment of contemplation, Uncle Chen asked, "What about Xiao Lu?"
"Still no. He said that his father and Liu Bang were in Pei County and only knew each other's names. They weren't even neighbors or friends. Besides, before Liu Bang got married, he was a local ruffian. His father was a Qin official, and Zhang Cang of our Great Qin was young and knowledgeable. No matter how you look at it, Xiao He would never do anything for Liu Bang."
"Are the Xiao family and the Cao family neighbors?"
"Yes. Cao Yun and Liu Fei set off for Xianyang to find Liu Bang half a year ago."
"...By the way, during the search, we found quite a few people from Pei County. The Xiao family, whom you asked us to keep an eye on before, are also in Lingcheng this time, including his son, mute wife, and others. It seems that Xiao He was worried about his family being implicated and asked them to find another place to live. Should we follow the instructions of the Inspector General regarding this matter?"
As he spoke, he presented the bamboo slip.
Uncle Chen glanced at it but didn't see anything unusual.
Meanwhile, Li Xian was busy looking for Ying Hehua, and he had been keeping an eye on Xiao He and Liu Bang's affairs for several years without making any major mistakes.
He thought for a moment, "Lord Li is busy, so there's no need to report this matter. However, Hidden Sword Gorge is inhabited by many Chu and Yue people. We need to be prepared to clean it up after Lord Li returns."
Uncle Chen casually placed the bamboo slip containing Xiao Lu's information on a corner of the table, mixing it with other identity slips he had previously confiscated.
The handwriting was neat and fluent, in standard small seal script, without any flaws.
-
The road was quiet, but heavily guarded.
Li Si has arrived at the mausoleum city and met with the emperor.
Li Si never expected that the first person to emerge from the palace would be his own son.
Nearly two years had passed since the incident at Mount Li, and Li Xian saw his father for the first time.
The wind billowed their sleeves.
He was no longer the young and promising Li Si, nor the father he remembered.
Han Fei's death dealt him a great blow, and coupled with his recent visit to Zhongnan Mountain, he showed an unprecedented state of exhaustion, with large patches of white hair and beard.
Han Fei was killed.
Mo Qi is long gone.
Now, Wang Jian has died of illness, and the land of Chu is in turmoil.
Ying Hehua killed Zhao Gao and then disappeared.
Ying Zheng's fifth tour is taking place right now.
The moonlight was as cold as frost; could he still stand firmly on the Qin bricks?!
Li Si couldn't take another step; he almost stumbled.
Li Xian stepped forward to help him up.
In that exchange of glances, the father and son understood everything. So many things had happened, and the mistakes they had made in their previous life...
"Father."
"Many things cannot be done wrong again and again."
But Li Si didn't understand; he really didn't.
Xu Fu's words were well-founded and eloquent.
In this chaotic era, in a time of constant uncertainty, if someone possessed the power of precognition, they should portray themselves as a 'god'.
Instead of being like Mo Qi, or like her. One hides in the world, the other exposes herself.
Is it really worth getting involved in this mess just to kill Zhao Gao?
But this should be the thing that the Li family hates the most!
Li Si was unable to break free from the constraints of two thousand years of history.
That free yet cruel era, in the pre-Qin period where ignorance and hope coexisted.
The true God was killed before he could even prophesy.