Xie Yuan turned his head and noticed Lu Zhong's guilty expression. He guessed something and didn't say anything. He just said warmly: "I did forget to pay the tax. They should deduct it."
The matter will be settled.
…
In mid-May, a heavy rain swept across Youzhou.
Fanyang County.
A young man in ragged clothes but with a face as bright as the breeze stood in front of the Lu family's mansion, holding an umbrella.
Heavy raindrops dripped down the holes in the umbrella, quickly soaking Qi Yan, that is, the boy's back.
He hesitated for a moment, then reached out and knocked on the closed red door.
"Who is outside the door?" Not long after, an impatient question came from behind the door.
"Xiaosheng Qi Yan, I sincerely ask the head of the Lu family to open the door and settle the monthly payment for Xiaosheng." Qi Yan said.
There was no movement inside the door.
After half a stick of incense, the closed vermilion door opened with a clear creaking sound.
A well-dressed servant came out holding an umbrella, looked Qi Yan up and down, and sneered——
"The young man of the Qi family who was famous in the past has actually become a knife-catcher under others. He has the same potential as your useless uncle."
Qi Yan held the umbrella handle tightly.
"Why, you are still angry? The Qi family is unfaithful and unjust. That is something everyone knows. If not, why was Liangzhou City massacred back then? It is a poor family that is despised by the world. The head of my family values your talent and accepts it.
You are already quite good as a knife catcher."
The servant rolled his eyes and said, "The master is not here today. Come back tomorrow to get the moon silver."
"But……"
Qi Yan suddenly became anxious and was about to speak when he was interrupted by the servant——
"But what is it, you still want to stay here and not leave? The Qi family has educated such a young man like you?"
As soon as he heard that the servant insulted Qi again, Qi Yan's expression turned extremely ugly.
But he was living under someone else's roof and couldn't say anything to argue.
After some hesitation, Qi Yan turned around and left.
Perhaps because he had stood for a long time, the young man walked with a slight limp, but this did not prevent him from straightening his back.
The servant stared at Qi Yan's leaving figure and muttered: "How can the son of a collaborator and traitor be better off?"
Then close the door.
After walking through the streets and alleys, Qi Yan turned into an unknown alley and pushed open the wooden door with a corner missing.
The courtyard is old, with holes in its doors and windows, and even the jujube trees in the courtyard are half dead.
The faint cough coming from the main room made Qi Yan's heart slowly twitch.
He put away the paper umbrella, took out a piece of torn linen cloth from the shelf next to him, wiped off the moisture all over his body, and then entered the main room.
Lying on the couch in the room was a woman with a sallow complexion and withered hair.
The woman heard the commotion, opened her eyes and saw Qi Yan, coughing and sitting up: "Wang Shu is back. There are two steamed cakes hot on the stove. Grandma will bring them to you."
"Mom, please sit down. I'll serve it myself." Qi Yan hurriedly waved his hand, brought two steaming cakes, placed them beside the bed, hesitated for a moment and lowered his head and said,
"Mom, I went to the Lu family's mansion today to ask the owner to settle the monthly payment. It seems that he is not at the mansion. I can't buy medicine today..."
As Yue spoke, the boy's voice became softer.
The woman stroked the young man's wet hair and smiled: "I am about to die, and lingering like this is just dragging Wangshu down."
"How can my mother drag down Wang Shu? It's because I'm not living up to expectations and can't lead my mother to live a life without worries about food and clothing." Qi Yan said softly while holding the steamed cake.
The woman did not speak, but sighed in her heart.
How could her son Wangshu fail to live up to expectations? The only thing that fails to live up to expectations is the way of the world.
If he had not been born in the Qi family and had not been the son of a traitor, he would have become a well-known young man in the Central Plains.
After all, it was the Qi family that dragged him down.
night.
A muffled thunder woke up Qi Yan.
He heard a cough coming from the main room and quickly went over with a lantern.
The woman coughed until her face turned pale, until she vomited a mouthful of blood.
Qi Yan took a deep breath and said hurriedly: "Mom, don't worry, I'll go and use it as a jade pendant to get you some medicine!"
He was about to turn around and leave when he heard the woman tremblingly say——
"That's the only thing your father left for you. You shouldn't take it seriously."
Qi Yan's steps paused slightly, and he said in a low voice: "If you can keep my mother, it doesn't matter if you become a mother."
The woman just watched the boy's figure disappear into the rain.
"Wangshu..."
After another cough, the light in the woman's eyes slowly disappeared.
By the time Qi Yan came back, the woman's body was already mostly cold.
Realizing something, the medicine bag in his hand suddenly fell to the ground.
Grandma...
Ten years ago, he lost his father and his family.
Now, he doesn't even have his only relative...
The light in Qi Yan's eyes also disappeared.
On the day of the woman's burial, it rained heavily again in Fan Yang.
Qi Yan burned a lot of paper money for the woman and came to a river with empty eyes. Looking at the surging river, he pursed his lips and jumped into the water resolutely.
…
May 20th.
The tenant farmers watched the heavy rain and stayed by the greenhouse all night, fearing that the sweet potato seedlings would be washed away.
Several more tenant farmers went to see the rice and were relieved to see that it was fine.
After the rain stopped, several visitors came over to record how the crops were growing.
When they were passing by a river at the foot of the mountain, they suddenly found a man floating on the river.
Several people were shocked and found someone who knew how to swim and went down to fish the person out.
Maybe it was because he was so lucky that he was carried by a piece of wood.
Not completely dead.
The retainers took the young man back and found Xie Yuan.
Xie Yuan performed chest compressions on him and gave him some medicine, finally waking him up.
"You are still wearing hemp and mourning, why can't you think about it?" Xie Yuan handed a bowl of medicine to the young man.
"How did you know..."
"Both sides of the river are very flat. There are no steep places. No one would fall into the river unless they were unreasonable." Xie Yuan said calmly.
Being looked at by him like this, the young man felt a little embarrassed for some reason.
"Drink it, your relatives don't want you to go down there at such a young age."
"But I have no relatives." The young man's eyes darkened.
"If you don't have any relatives, then live for yourself."
Live for yourself...
The young man's heart moved, he took the medicine bowl and drank it in one gulp, then bared his teeth.
So bitter, so bitter.
Doesn’t it feel so painful when grandma takes the medicine?
After drinking a bowl of medicine, he hesitated for a moment, stood up, knelt down and kowtowed to Xie Yuan: "I'm Qi Yan, thank you so much, Xiao Lang, for helping me."
"Don't kneel to me. Qi Yan? Which Qi?" Xie Yuan pulled him up.
"Can I borrow some paper, ink, pen and inkstone?" Qi Yan pointed to the desk next to him.
Xie Yuan nodded.
Qi Yan walked over with bare feet, studied the ink and wrote two words on the bamboo slip with a pen, and handed it to Xie Yuan to read.
This Qi?
"Are you... from the Qi family in Youzhou?"
"Yeah." Qi Yanyan nodded.
He would also dislike it.
"Who is your father?"
"My late father Qi Dingxian."
"That General Qi?"
"Um."
Xie Yuan was stunned.
General Qi's son...is he his cousin? This chapter has been completed!