After struggling to sew the three edges of the handkerchief, Jinxia finally escaped from Mrs. Shen, and the first thing she did was to immediately look for the beggar uncle. She knew that the beggar uncle had overheard their conversation from the roof, and guessed that he must be very furious right now.
“Uncle, you’ve heard everything right?” Jinxia smiled as she walked in, she looked at the person with an annoyed face in front of her, “What’s wrong? My aunt’s words are already that straightforward, why are you still sitting here?”
“She didn’t say whether she was willing or not, what if she doesn’t want to?”
“The meaning of his words is, of course, she’s willing, she’s been waiting for you to come and ask her…. What are you still not understanding!” Jinxia panicked a little, “Are you waiting for her to ask first?”
“No, I’m just…. afraid of making it difficult for her. “
“It will be more difficult if you don’t say it.” Jinxia pulled him up, then said loudly, “Uncle, I have helped you asked already, my aunt has also said that she will wait for you to ask. Uncle, as a man, if you hear these words, then you should get up, walk straight to her, and ask her to marry you. If you’re still acting like a shy turtle, I will look down on you!”
“She’s waiting for me to say it first…Is it possible she will tell me to forget my feelings? ” The beggar’s uncle said hesitantly.
“Stop thinking about it. Uncle, you’re so slow, the amount of time wasted, women have already given birth to three children already, hurry up a bit…” Jinxia was prepared to pull him out of the room but then thought again, “Wait, wait, you have to get dressed first. Take a shower, shave your beard, wash and comb his hair neatly, change clothes, that’s enough.”
“…. still have to shower? There’s no need for that.”
Jinxia looked at him seriously and said: “You have to! Think about it, when you’re asking my aunt for marriage, when she says yes, the image of two lovers exchanging their vows to each other, the winds slightly blowing, as the spring flowers bloom, how beautiful is that. Then, you slowly stepped forward and hugged her, but if you don’t wash yourself, when you hug her, it will stink. My aunt’s nose might be poisoned and she’ll immediately faint, do you think this is a good plan?”
“…. She….Will she let me hug her?” The beggar uncle did not dare to think about it.
***
Xie Xiao went to the kitchen to boil hot water for the beggar uncle to take a bath, YangYue helped the beggar uncle shave his beard, and Cen Shou was responsible for lending the beggar uncle his clothes because their body figures were similar…. Jinxia and Chun Yumin went to Shangguan Xi’s room to discuss the plan for the proposal. Since they don’t have any experience in this topic, it was a bit difficult for them.
According to the rules, a marriage procedure must have marriage discussions, formal proposals, their bazi, dowry to the wife, and a formal date. Even if you want to do it simply, it still has to include a formal proposal, dowry, and a formal date. Now that the beggar uncle and Mrs. Shen are getting married, although Mrs. Shen is a widow even if she wasn’t formally married, but this will be counted as a second marriage. Jinxia doesn’t understand much about marriage rules and procedures.
*[bazi = using two people’s birthday, name (characters), time was born to see if they’re compatible for each other, TN]
“I remember that when my older sister got married, apart from money, gold and valuables, there was also a dowry, bed curtains, bed sheets, pillowcases, then a group of musicians played musical instruments, accompanying these items to the men.” Chun Yumin tried to remember again.
“One of them is like sheets and pillowcases, which were made from the bride herself.” Shangguan Xi said, “Even if you’re not good at sewing, you only have to sew a small piece.”
Jinxia chuckled and said: “What about the groom’s gift?”
“Cows, pigs, chickens, red packets, silk cloth are obligatory, it seems that they’re indicating that men are responsible for shelter and women are responsible for clothing.” Shangguan Xi said, her heart was a little bitter, three years ago Xie Xiao’s family came to give gifts, her family delivered a dowry, but in the end….
Because they have limited resources, they could only use what they have and save what they can Jinxia immediately made a decision: “Since it means shelter and clothes, the important thing is that there are enough clothes. As for the dowry, Mrs. Shen has a lot of handkerchiefs, it can count…. While for others, red candles are mandatory. I’ll try to go around the streets, and see if I can buy some.”
***
It was dark when they arrived at Xinhe City last night, therefore, Jinxia is not familiar with this place at all, while walking she felt cold chills just like Uncle Xu mentioned. This city gave off a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity, everyone on the street was walking very quickly, inside the shop doesn’t look like a crowd of people haggling over prices, at least the process for both would be much faster and less argument.
During the last leap year, when An Da’s enemy troops arrived at the capital, the atmosphere in the capital was probably the same as it is now Xinhe. Jinxia secretly sighed, she looked for an incense and candle shop, then went in and bought two red candles. After thinking for a while, she also bought some red sheets of paper that can be cut into decorations, putting these up will definitely make it seem more like a wedding.
As she was walking home holding a roll of paper and a candle, a passerby walked towards her, she accidentally glanced at him, just getting ready to step aside to let him pass, then suddenly realized that the person walking towards her was the village leader. It was that little village in Hangzhou full of pirates. Jinxia observed him, he was walking calmly, and holding a bag of snacks in his hand.
Why is he here?
Jinxia froze for a moment, she quickly stepped aside to let him pass, not forgetting to lower her head to hide her face. It’s because she’s currently wearing a new purple dress, as well as nicely fixed her hair, therefore her current appearance is no different from a noble lady, very different from the appearance when she met the village leader. As they passed by each other, the village leader didn’t seem to recognize her at all.
After she passed him, Jinxia slowly turned around, pretended like she had forgotten to buy something, then walked leisurely, neither too close nor far following him from behind.
This isn’t the first time she tried to follow someone, therefore this was relatively easy. Jinxia occasionally glanced at other shops, pretending to look for something, as well as keeping her eyes on the village leader. Not long after, the village leader turned a corner, then went straight down a small street. Jinxia didn’t feel too good about turning the corner, so she decided to walk straight ahead, then stopped in front of a Dingshen cake shop and pretended to be picking a cake.
After picking for a while, not seeing the village leader come out again, Jinxia picked out some Dingshen cakes, then asked the shop owner: “I have to go to Chun’s Residence, is it possible to go down this small street and get there?”
The shop owner shook his head: “This road leads to Qingpo river, if you want to go to Chun’s Residence, it’s better to take the big road.”
“Qingpo River? That’s right, I still want to buy fish. What time is the fish market open here? Where is it located? ” Jinxia asked again.
“Turn into this small road, walk straight East, there will be a large tree, under the tree there’s a fish market. If you want to buy fish, you have to get up early in the morning, the fish market is open from 5 to 7 in the morning, it’s 9 right now, the fish market should be closed.”
Jinxia laughed and thanked the shop owner, after handing over the coin she went home carrying a Dingshen cake.
As soon as she entered the residence, she immediately saw the beggar uncle whose face was full of smiles, it seemed that he had already received the answer he wanted to hear.
“Where did you go? If you haven’t come back yet, your aunt would ask me to go look for you.”
Jinxia handed over the red candles: “Knowing that you will need to hold a wedding, so I bought stuff that was needed! You both can have your wedding nights anytime.”
“This kid, can you be more serious?”
The beggar uncle gritted his teeth, but his hands held the red candles tightly.
“What I said was serious!”
Jinxia was carrying Dingshen cake and a large roll of red cut paper, she entered the room and put it down, she called Yang Yue to help her, unexpectedly apart from Shangguan Xi whose leg was injured, other people all came to her.
Chun Yumin took one of the red papers and spread it out one by one. First, it was a fish jumping on the dragon, this symbolized longevity. Every year there is a fish…. Chun Yumin couldn’t help but moisten her lips and laugh: “Miss Yuan, this shop owner actually unloads all the warehouse inventory and sells everything to you. Take a look, this symbol is only used when it’s an old person’s birthday, and this is for the new Lunar New Year, not all of them are used for weddings.”
“It’s because there weren’t many related weddings, so I told him to give me anything.” Jinxia held up a paper in the shape of a child hugging a fish, laughingly saying, “It’s alright, we’ll just stick it all up. For my uncle, being able to marry my aunt was like celebrating a big birthday and new year.”
“Who said!” The beggar’s uncle protested, with a serious face saying, “My joy is one hundred times much more than that!”
Everyone laughs.
While everyone was busy, Jinxia dragged YangYue outside, then told YangYue the story of how she met the village leader. YangYue was shocked: “Why is he also in this Xinhe city? You should quickly report to the officers.”
“Don’t forget, we are officers too.”
“But if it’s just us there’s no way we can deal with it.” YangYue massaged his forehead, “That’s right, this is general Qi’s territory, we can go report to General Qi.”
“Wait, wait, wait, there’s no need to do that yet.” Jinxia said, “Come to think of it, he went to Hangzhou to hand Xia Zheng over to Hu Zongxian. If Mao Haifeng could leave this matter to him, it would be because his position was quite important. I just wanted to clearly investigate why he came to this Xinhe city first.”
Cen Shou suddenly appeared from behind YangYue, startling Jinxia half to death.
“Are you a cat, how come there’s no sound when you walk?”
In an instant, Xie Xiao also appeared.
“Hiding pirate information, you both want to keep it all to yourself?” Xie Xiao patted YangYue’s shoulder.
Wanting to hide it but it was no longer possible, Jinxia sighed quietly: “Brother, I don’t want to fight with you…. I know kung fu is good, but right now you can’t touch that person, I want to bait the bait for a big fish! ”
“I want to eat this big fish.” Xie Xiao tapped his forehead.
“Absolutely not….”
Cen Shou clasped his hands together, unhappily looking at the two of them: “You two have quite the guts, back then in Hangzhou we have been through many hardships together, now you dare to hide this matter? If anything happens, what would I say to the Young Master?”
“All right….I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything.”
There was nothing else she could do but tell them everything that happened.
“……..” After Xie Xiao listened to her story, he was silent for a while before saying, “You’ve already lost the person, what else are you going to say, where are we even going to find him?”
Jinxia didn’t care, she looked at Cen Shou.
Cen Shou mumbled: “If he’s carrying a bag of snacks, he shouldn’t be living too far away.”
“Should we search door to door?” Xie Xiao immediately frowned.
“No need to search door to door, tomorrow morning I will go to Qingbo river to visit the fish market,” Jinxia said.
Xie Xiao looked at her in surprise.
“Brother, you are not a police officer, therefore I will not argue with you.” Jinxia explained to him, “I just told you, that person was carrying a bag of snacks, on his body, there was a fish smell when he walked past me. Also, there was a Sophora Japonica flower on his head, and there were fish scales on his shoes. I also asked the shop owner, so I found out that there was a fish market under the Sophora Japonica tree, because of that…. Tomorrow morning we can go buy a fish to cook. Da Yang, is it better for the fish to be steamed in clear broth or steamed with soy sauce? The fish head can be made into a delicious sauce, the body can be fried flour, I haven’t eaten fried fish in a long time.”
Jinxia’s mind had steered into a different direction, Xie Xiao and Cen Shou immediately glared at her.
“Can you be more serious?” Cen Shou reminded her.
Jinxia concluded: “The point is now you can’t touch him, that’s the most important thing.”
“You don’t want to kill pirates, instead you want to leave them there to enjoy their life?” Xie Xiao said, “All the way from Jiaxing to here we have met so many pirates, never heard of not killing them.”
At least Cen Shou is still calmer: “If you don’t want him killed, then give me a good reason.”
“I saw in his pocket, there was a toy drum.” She looked at YangYue, “Do you remember, he still has a child.”
YangYue furrowed her brows: “Then that means he also brought his wife and child to Xinhe city?”
Xie Xiao said angrily: “He has killed so many people, so by having a child became the reason for him to get the pardon medal, funny!”
“Brother, listen to me first, that time when I met him outside Hangzhou he was a small pirate, beside him there were at least seven, eight people, there was also the Japanese among them. Today, seeing that he’s all by himself, beside him there are no subordinates, he also brought his family here, it means she planned to stay hidden and live peacefully with his family.” Jinxia explained.
“Is it possible that he went from bad to good, trying to escape from the pirates?” Xie Xiao guessed.
Jinxia shook her head: “Impossible, if he really wants to change for the better, of course, he will take his wife and child to fly away, the further the better.”
Cen Shou continued: “So you think he’s trying to blend in with the people here because he has other plans?”
“That’s right if Mao Haifeng could hand Xia Zheng over to him, he’s definitely not an ordinary person.” Jinxia looked at them, “Brothers, we have to throw in the big fish bait, so we can see what their real plan is.”
Cen Shou mumbled for a moment: “Good, but then, there must be watching over them, and also not getting caught. You and Yang Yue, he’s seen before, it’s better than the two of you don’t appear in front of him, don’t disturb the snake by hitting the grass.”
“That’s easy,” Xie Xiao straightened his chest, “He sells fish, doesn’t he? I just need to find a boat and sell fish too, let’s see if he’s in touch with anyone.”
“You? Can you even catch fish?” Cen Shou looked at him doubtfully.
“I’ve lived everywhere from small to big by the river, fishing is nothing.”
“Brother, I know fishing is your specialty but…. Don’t get caught.” Jinxia looked at him worriedly.
“I know, don’t worry, I will only go for the big fish.”
Jinxia quickly came up with a story about Xie Xiao’s background, it will be similar to the village leader’s actual condition. Xie Xiao’s story would be about having to leave his family because they had financial difficulties, then fled to Xinhe city, now his older sister is sick, he is unemployed and has free time, so now he’s fishing looking for money so that he can treat his sick sister. At first, YangYue was about to make his clothes torn and a bit dirty, but then Cen insisted that Xie Xiao and the beggar uncle exchange clothes.
“I can’t, this smell…. At least you can wash it before giving it to me?” Xie Xiao covered his nose.
Surprisingly, Jinxia stepped in and helped Xie Xiao: “No way, the village leader met my uncle in Hangzhou, Brother Xie can’t wear his clothes, if he recognizes him, it will be bad.”
Hearing this, Xie Xiao felt relieved.
The final part was for Jinxia to bring Xie Xiao a pair of shoes and socks, which she will be sewing.
“You LiuShanmen are really….” Cen Shou actually wanted to say a few words of praise, but no words were coming out of his mouth.
YangYue, who thought he was about to protest again, quickly replied: “To make things dirty, Jinxia is the best at it. She is good at taking care of details, although she is not perfect, but good enough so people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
Cen Shou patted him on the shoulder, indicating that he didn’t look down on them at all, laughingly said: “I only found out now why the Young Master transferred you here, indeed the decision was very right.”
When Xie Xiao brought the medicine to Shangguan Xi’s room, he began to tell her their plans, and laughingly said: “I was just thinking that these few days there was no work, it must be very boring, to think that I can finally do something. Jinxia said that if I do this carefully and properly we can catch a big fish.”
He went against the danger for her, in the heart of Shangguan Xi was actually not alright with this, but she couldn’t prevent him from joining. All she could do was let out a sigh.
“Sister, are you afraid that no one will take care of you?” Xie Xiao saw her gloomy face, trying to calm her down, “I have arranged it with Jinxia, she will take care of you, also Mrs. Shen is still here, no need to worry about your injury. Oh yes, soon we will have to change Mrs. Shen to Mrs. Lu!”
Shangguan Xi laughed: “I see, Uncle Lu has been waiting for her for so many years, the wait has finally paid off.”
“I think he deserves to wait, he has small guts and doesn’t dare to speak. If he was brave enough to say it from the start, the number of children would have increased.” Xie Xiao, who felt the medicine was getting cold, gave it to her to drink.
Shangguan Xi took the medicine and drank it slowly, seeing Xie Xiao sitting restlessly and looking outside, she asked: “Do you have to go somewhere?”
“Jinxia went to make my clothes dirty, not sure if she’ll be cutting holes in them, let me take a look.” Xie Xiao said.
Shangguan Xi was silent for a moment: “Which shirt?”
“The clothes I wore in Yangzhou when I was about to meet my father, which you chose and forced me to wear.” Xie Xiao had already stepped far out, his voice was heard from outside the room.
Still remembering that the clothes were made of lotus green cotton cloth, measured to fit his body, she secretly sighed, saying in a low voice: “You already know it was the one I chose, why did you…”
The colder the medicine, the more bitter it tastes.
***
Confined to this small room, A’Rui sat on his bed, the corner of his lips hanging a bitter smile. The wound on his face was itching, throbbing, he couldn’t stand it so he rubbed with the back of his hand, a piece of hard dry skin fell off as he rubbed, he was shocked, tried to find a mirror in the room but couldn’t find it.
It turned out that Jinxia and the others were scared that he would look in the mirror and became displeased, so all the mirrors in her room were taken out.
There was no other way, A Rui had to go to the water basket and look carefully, where the peeled skin appeared a clear and smooth skin, although the marks of the sword slash were still visible, but overall his face didn’t look as vicious and terrible anymore.
The water perfectly reflected his image. A’Rui’s chest moved up and down without stopping, after calming his mind a bit, then quickly went to find Mrs. Shen.
As Mrs. Shen had expected, she examined A’Rui’s peeling skin, then said: “Soon the skin on the scars, on the body will also peel off, it can be a little itchy, you need to endure it a little and continue to take your medicine, after continuously exfoliating the skin three times, the scars from the sword slashes will become less and less visible.”
Although the day was not yet dark, but in order to help A’Rui could see more clearly, Jinxia deliberately lit a candle, took the glass so that he could look at himself better.
A’Rui’s hands trembled, he didn’t dare touch the new skin at all, he just kept looking at it, and didn’t dare to believe it: “Then will I be able to see my old self again?”
“If your skin gets darker later, then the scars from the sword slash will no longer be visible, of course you will be back to your old self.” Mrs. Shen replied.
Jinxia saw A’Rui trying to contain his excitement, laughing and said: “Soon, you don’t have to wear a veil anymore, we also don’t have to lie to her about your identity.”
A’Rui was silent for a moment, then as fast as lightning said: “No, don’t tell her yet…I….”
“Why? She has been looking for you.”
“No, if she finds out that I’m in the gang as a spy, she definitely won’t forgive me.” As A’Rui thought up to this point, his heart immediately became restless, the excitement that had appeared earlier evaporated without a trace, he quietly walked out.
Seeing this, Jinxia took a deep breath, she said: “If you knew today could be like this, why did you do it in the first place.”
Mrs. Shen deftly used her finger to extinguish the candle wick, then said: “There is a cause, then there is an effect, there is nothing to be sorry for.”
“Aunt, my uncle has already opened his mouth, aunt has also agreed.” Jinxia asked, “When do you guys plan to get married? I have prepared the red candles.”
“Still need to get married, for what? The important thing is that when you return to your hometown, kneel and pay your respects in front of the graves of father and mother, the ceremonial ritual is completed. ” Mrs. Shen said slowly.
“…Hometown in Fujian Quanzhou, aunt and uncle are going back there?” Jinxia, who without thinking immediately asked, as soon as she finished opening her mouth, immediately noticed that she had spoken too quickly.
Mrs. Shen slightly knitted her brows, quietly asked: “I remember I never discussed this with you, how did you know that my hometown is Fujian Quanzhou?”
After struggling to sew the three edges of the handkerchief, Jinxia finally escaped from Mrs. Shen, and the first thing she did was to immediately look for the beggar uncle. She knew that the beggar uncle had overheard their conversation from the roof, and guessed that he must be very furious right now.
“Uncle, you’ve heard everything right?” Jinxia smiled as she walked in, she looked at the person with an annoyed face in front of her, “What’s wrong? My aunt’s words are already that straightforward, why are you still sitting here?”
“She didn’t say whether she was willing or not, what if she doesn’t want to?”
“The meaning of his words is, of course, she’s willing, she’s been waiting for you to come and ask her…. What are you still not understanding!” Jinxia panicked a little, “Are you waiting for her to ask first?”
“No, I’m just…. afraid of making it difficult for her. “
“It will be more difficult if you don’t say it.” Jinxia pulled him up, then said loudly, “Uncle, I have helped you asked already, my aunt has also said that she will wait for you to ask. Uncle, as a man, if you hear these words, then you should get up, walk straight to her, and ask her to marry you. If you’re still acting like a shy turtle, I will look down on you!”
“She’s waiting for me to say it first…Is it possible she will tell me to forget my feelings? ” The beggar’s uncle said hesitantly.
“Stop thinking about it. Uncle, you’re so slow, the amount of time wasted, women have already given birth to three children already, hurry up a bit…” Jinxia was prepared to pull him out of the room but then thought again, “Wait, wait, you have to get dressed first. Take a shower, shave your beard, wash and comb his hair neatly, change clothes, that’s enough.”
“…. still have to shower? There’s no need for that.”
Jinxia looked at him seriously and said: “You have to! Think about it, when you’re asking my aunt for marriage, when she says yes, the image of two lovers exchanging their vows to each other, the winds slightly blowing, as the spring flowers bloom, how beautiful is that. Then, you slowly stepped forward and hugged her, but if you don’t wash yourself, when you hug her, it will stink. My aunt’s nose might be poisoned and she’ll immediately faint, do you think this is a good plan?”
“…. She….Will she let me hug her?” The beggar uncle did not dare to think about it.
***
Xie Xiao went to the kitchen to boil hot water for the beggar uncle to take a bath, YangYue helped the beggar uncle shave his beard, and Cen Shou was responsible for lending the beggar uncle his clothes because their body figures were similar…. Jinxia and Chun Yumin went to Shangguan Xi’s room to discuss the plan for the proposal. Since they don’t have any experience in this topic, it was a bit difficult for them.
According to the rules, a marriage procedure must have marriage discussions, formal proposals, their bazi, dowry to the wife, and a formal date. Even if you want to do it simply, it still has to include a formal proposal, dowry, and a formal date. Now that the beggar uncle and Mrs. Shen are getting married, although Mrs. Shen is a widow even if she wasn’t formally married, but this will be counted as a second marriage. Jinxia doesn’t understand much about marriage rules and procedures.
*[bazi = using two people’s birthday, name (characters), time was born to see if they’re compatible for each other, TN]
“I remember that when my older sister got married, apart from money, gold and valuables, there was also a dowry, bed curtains, bed sheets, pillowcases, then a group of musicians played musical instruments, accompanying these items to the men.” Chun Yumin tried to remember again.
“One of them is like sheets and pillowcases, which were made from the bride herself.” Shangguan Xi said, “Even if you’re not good at sewing, you only have to sew a small piece.”
Jinxia chuckled and said: “What about the groom’s gift?”
“Cows, pigs, chickens, red packets, silk cloth are obligatory, it seems that they’re indicating that men are responsible for shelter and women are responsible for clothing.” Shangguan Xi said, her heart was a little bitter, three years ago Xie Xiao’s family came to give gifts, her family delivered a dowry, but in the end….
Because they have limited resources, they could only use what they have and save what they can Jinxia immediately made a decision: “Since it means shelter and clothes, the important thing is that there are enough clothes. As for the dowry, Mrs. Shen has a lot of handkerchiefs, it can count…. While for others, red candles are mandatory. I’ll try to go around the streets, and see if I can buy some.”
***
It was dark when they arrived at Xinhe City last night, therefore, Jinxia is not familiar with this place at all, while walking she felt cold chills just like Uncle Xu mentioned. This city gave off a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity, everyone on the street was walking very quickly, inside the shop doesn’t look like a crowd of people haggling over prices, at least the process for both would be much faster and less argument.
During the last leap year, when An Da’s enemy troops arrived at the capital, the atmosphere in the capital was probably the same as it is now Xinhe. Jinxia secretly sighed, she looked for an incense and candle shop, then went in and bought two red candles. After thinking for a while, she also bought some red sheets of paper that can be cut into decorations, putting these up will definitely make it seem more like a wedding.
As she was walking home holding a roll of paper and a candle, a passerby walked towards her, she accidentally glanced at him, just getting ready to step aside to let him pass, then suddenly realized that the person walking towards her was the village leader. It was that little village in Hangzhou full of pirates. Jinxia observed him, he was walking calmly, and holding a bag of snacks in his hand.
Why is he here?
Jinxia froze for a moment, she quickly stepped aside to let him pass, not forgetting to lower her head to hide her face. It’s because she’s currently wearing a new purple dress, as well as nicely fixed her hair, therefore her current appearance is no different from a noble lady, very different from the appearance when she met the village leader. As they passed by each other, the village leader didn’t seem to recognize her at all.
After she passed him, Jinxia slowly turned around, pretended like she had forgotten to buy something, then walked leisurely, neither too close nor far following him from behind.
This isn’t the first time she tried to follow someone, therefore this was relatively easy. Jinxia occasionally glanced at other shops, pretending to look for something, as well as keeping her eyes on the village leader. Not long after, the village leader turned a corner, then went straight down a small street. Jinxia didn’t feel too good about turning the corner, so she decided to walk straight ahead, then stopped in front of a Dingshen cake shop and pretended to be picking a cake.
After picking for a while, not seeing the village leader come out again, Jinxia picked out some Dingshen cakes, then asked the shop owner: “I have to go to Chun’s Residence, is it possible to go down this small street and get there?”
The shop owner shook his head: “This road leads to Qingpo river, if you want to go to Chun’s Residence, it’s better to take the big road.”
“Qingpo River? That’s right, I still want to buy fish. What time is the fish market open here? Where is it located? ” Jinxia asked again.
“Turn into this small road, walk straight East, there will be a large tree, under the tree there’s a fish market. If you want to buy fish, you have to get up early in the morning, the fish market is open from 5 to 7 in the morning, it’s 9 right now, the fish market should be closed.”
Jinxia laughed and thanked the shop owner, after handing over the coin she went home carrying a Dingshen cake.
As soon as she entered the residence, she immediately saw the beggar uncle whose face was full of smiles, it seemed that he had already received the answer he wanted to hear.
“Where did you go? If you haven’t come back yet, your aunt would ask me to go look for you.”
Jinxia handed over the red candles: “Knowing that you will need to hold a wedding, so I bought stuff that was needed! You both can have your wedding nights anytime.”
“This kid, can you be more serious?”
The beggar uncle gritted his teeth, but his hands held the red candles tightly.
“What I said was serious!”
Jinxia was carrying Dingshen cake and a large roll of red cut paper, she entered the room and put it down, she called Yang Yue to help her, unexpectedly apart from Shangguan Xi whose leg was injured, other people all came to her.
Chun Yumin took one of the red papers and spread it out one by one. First, it was a fish jumping on the dragon, this symbolized longevity. Every year there is a fish…. Chun Yumin couldn’t help but moisten her lips and laugh: “Miss Yuan, this shop owner actually unloads all the warehouse inventory and sells everything to you. Take a look, this symbol is only used when it’s an old person’s birthday, and this is for the new Lunar New Year, not all of them are used for weddings.”
“It’s because there weren’t many related weddings, so I told him to give me anything.” Jinxia held up a paper in the shape of a child hugging a fish, laughingly saying, “It’s alright, we’ll just stick it all up. For my uncle, being able to marry my aunt was like celebrating a big birthday and new year.”
“Who said!” The beggar’s uncle protested, with a serious face saying, “My joy is one hundred times much more than that!”
Everyone laughs.
While everyone was busy, Jinxia dragged YangYue outside, then told YangYue the story of how she met the village leader. YangYue was shocked: “Why is he also in this Xinhe city? You should quickly report to the officers.”
“Don’t forget, we are officers too.”
“But if it’s just us there’s no way we can deal with it.” YangYue massaged his forehead, “That’s right, this is general Qi’s territory, we can go report to General Qi.”
“Wait, wait, wait, there’s no need to do that yet.” Jinxia said, “Come to think of it, he went to Hangzhou to hand Xia Zheng over to Hu Zongxian. If Mao Haifeng could leave this matter to him, it would be because his position was quite important. I just wanted to clearly investigate why he came to this Xinhe city first.”
Cen Shou suddenly appeared from behind YangYue, startling Jinxia half to death.
“Are you a cat, how come there’s no sound when you walk?”
In an instant, Xie Xiao also appeared.
“Hiding pirate information, you both want to keep it all to yourself?” Xie Xiao patted YangYue’s shoulder.
Wanting to hide it but it was no longer possible, Jinxia sighed quietly: “Brother, I don’t want to fight with you…. I know kung fu is good, but right now you can’t touch that person, I want to bait the bait for a big fish! ”
“I want to eat this big fish.” Xie Xiao tapped his forehead.
“Absolutely not….”
Cen Shou clasped his hands together, unhappily looking at the two of them: “You two have quite the guts, back then in Hangzhou we have been through many hardships together, now you dare to hide this matter? If anything happens, what would I say to the Young Master?”
“All right….I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything.”
There was nothing else she could do but tell them everything that happened.
“……..” After Xie Xiao listened to her story, he was silent for a while before saying, “You’ve already lost the person, what else are you going to say, where are we even going to find him?”
Jinxia didn’t care, she looked at Cen Shou.
Cen Shou mumbled: “If he’s carrying a bag of snacks, he shouldn’t be living too far away.”
“Should we search door to door?” Xie Xiao immediately frowned.
“No need to search door to door, tomorrow morning I will go to Qingbo river to visit the fish market,” Jinxia said.
Xie Xiao looked at her in surprise.
“Brother, you are not a police officer, therefore I will not argue with you.” Jinxia explained to him, “I just told you, that person was carrying a bag of snacks, on his body, there was a fish smell when he walked past me. Also, there was a Sophora Japonica flower on his head, and there were fish scales on his shoes. I also asked the shop owner, so I found out that there was a fish market under the Sophora Japonica tree, because of that…. Tomorrow morning we can go buy a fish to cook. Da Yang, is it better for the fish to be steamed in clear broth or steamed with soy sauce? The fish head can be made into a delicious sauce, the body can be fried flour, I haven’t eaten fried fish in a long time.”
Jinxia’s mind had steered into a different direction, Xie Xiao and Cen Shou immediately glared at her.
“Can you be more serious?” Cen Shou reminded her.
Jinxia concluded: “The point is now you can’t touch him, that’s the most important thing.”
“You don’t want to kill pirates, instead you want to leave them there to enjoy their life?” Xie Xiao said, “All the way from Jiaxing to here we have met so many pirates, never heard of not killing them.”
At least Cen Shou is still calmer: “If you don’t want him killed, then give me a good reason.”
“I saw in his pocket, there was a toy drum.” She looked at YangYue, “Do you remember, he still has a child.”
YangYue furrowed her brows: “Then that means he also brought his wife and child to Xinhe city?”
Xie Xiao said angrily: “He has killed so many people, so by having a child became the reason for him to get the pardon medal, funny!”
“Brother, listen to me first, that time when I met him outside Hangzhou he was a small pirate, beside him there were at least seven, eight people, there was also the Japanese among them. Today, seeing that he’s all by himself, beside him there are no subordinates, he also brought his family here, it means she planned to stay hidden and live peacefully with his family.” Jinxia explained.
“Is it possible that he went from bad to good, trying to escape from the pirates?” Xie Xiao guessed.
Jinxia shook her head: “Impossible, if he really wants to change for the better, of course, he will take his wife and child to fly away, the further the better.”
Cen Shou continued: “So you think he’s trying to blend in with the people here because he has other plans?”
“That’s right if Mao Haifeng could hand Xia Zheng over to him, he’s definitely not an ordinary person.” Jinxia looked at them, “Brothers, we have to throw in the big fish bait, so we can see what their real plan is.”
Cen Shou mumbled for a moment: “Good, but then, there must be watching over them, and also not getting caught. You and Yang Yue, he’s seen before, it’s better than the two of you don’t appear in front of him, don’t disturb the snake by hitting the grass.”
“That’s easy,” Xie Xiao straightened his chest, “He sells fish, doesn’t he? I just need to find a boat and sell fish too, let’s see if he’s in touch with anyone.”
“You? Can you even catch fish?” Cen Shou looked at him doubtfully.
“I’ve lived everywhere from small to big by the river, fishing is nothing.”
“Brother, I know fishing is your specialty but…. Don’t get caught.” Jinxia looked at him worriedly.
“I know, don’t worry, I will only go for the big fish.”
Jinxia quickly came up with a story about Xie Xiao’s background, it will be similar to the village leader’s actual condition. Xie Xiao’s story would be about having to leave his family because they had financial difficulties, then fled to Xinhe city, now his older sister is sick, he is unemployed and has free time, so now he’s fishing looking for money so that he can treat his sick sister. At first, YangYue was about to make his clothes torn and a bit dirty, but then Cen insisted that Xie Xiao and the beggar uncle exchange clothes.
“I can’t, this smell…. At least you can wash it before giving it to me?” Xie Xiao covered his nose.
Surprisingly, Jinxia stepped in and helped Xie Xiao: “No way, the village leader met my uncle in Hangzhou, Brother Xie can’t wear his clothes, if he recognizes him, it will be bad.”
Hearing this, Xie Xiao felt relieved.
The final part was for Jinxia to bring Xie Xiao a pair of shoes and socks, which she will be sewing.
“You LiuShanmen are really….” Cen Shou actually wanted to say a few words of praise, but no words were coming out of his mouth.
YangYue, who thought he was about to protest again, quickly replied: “To make things dirty, Jinxia is the best at it. She is good at taking care of details, although she is not perfect, but good enough so people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
Cen Shou patted him on the shoulder, indicating that he didn’t look down on them at all, laughingly said: “I only found out now why the Young Master transferred you here, indeed the decision was very right.”
When Xie Xiao brought the medicine to Shangguan Xi’s room, he began to tell her their plans, and laughingly said: “I was just thinking that these few days there was no work, it must be very boring, to think that I can finally do something. Jinxia said that if I do this carefully and properly we can catch a big fish.”
He went against the danger for her, in the heart of Shangguan Xi was actually not alright with this, but she couldn’t prevent him from joining. All she could do was let out a sigh.
“Sister, are you afraid that no one will take care of you?” Xie Xiao saw her gloomy face, trying to calm her down, “I have arranged it with Jinxia, she will take care of you, also Mrs. Shen is still here, no need to worry about your injury. Oh yes, soon we will have to change Mrs. Shen to Mrs. Lu!”
Shangguan Xi laughed: “I see, Uncle Lu has been waiting for her for so many years, the wait has finally paid off.”
“I think he deserves to wait, he has small guts and doesn’t dare to speak. If he was brave enough to say it from the start, the number of children would have increased.” Xie Xiao, who felt the medicine was getting cold, gave it to her to drink.
Shangguan Xi took the medicine and drank it slowly, seeing Xie Xiao sitting restlessly and looking outside, she asked: “Do you have to go somewhere?”
“Jinxia went to make my clothes dirty, not sure if she’ll be cutting holes in them, let me take a look.” Xie Xiao said.
Shangguan Xi was silent for a moment: “Which shirt?”
“The clothes I wore in Yangzhou when I was about to meet my father, which you chose and forced me to wear.” Xie Xiao had already stepped far out, his voice was heard from outside the room.
Still remembering that the clothes were made of lotus green cotton cloth, measured to fit his body, she secretly sighed, saying in a low voice: “You already know it was the one I chose, why did you…”
The colder the medicine, the more bitter it tastes.
***
Confined to this small room, A’Rui sat on his bed, the corner of his lips hanging a bitter smile. The wound on his face was itching, throbbing, he couldn’t stand it so he rubbed with the back of his hand, a piece of hard dry skin fell off as he rubbed, he was shocked, tried to find a mirror in the room but couldn’t find it.
It turned out that Jinxia and the others were scared that he would look in the mirror and became displeased, so all the mirrors in her room were taken out.
There was no other way, A Rui had to go to the water basket and look carefully, where the peeled skin appeared a clear and smooth skin, although the marks of the sword slash were still visible, but overall his face didn’t look as vicious and terrible anymore.
The water perfectly reflected his image. A’Rui’s chest moved up and down without stopping, after calming his mind a bit, then quickly went to find Mrs. Shen.
As Mrs. Shen had expected, she examined A’Rui’s peeling skin, then said: “Soon the skin on the scars, on the body will also peel off, it can be a little itchy, you need to endure it a little and continue to take your medicine, after continuously exfoliating the skin three times, the scars from the sword slashes will become less and less visible.”
Although the day was not yet dark, but in order to help A’Rui could see more clearly, Jinxia deliberately lit a candle, took the glass so that he could look at himself better.
A’Rui’s hands trembled, he didn’t dare touch the new skin at all, he just kept looking at it, and didn’t dare to believe it: “Then will I be able to see my old self again?”
“If your skin gets darker later, then the scars from the sword slash will no longer be visible, of course you will be back to your old self.” Mrs. Shen replied.
Jinxia saw A’Rui trying to contain his excitement, laughing and said: “Soon, you don’t have to wear a veil anymore, we also don’t have to lie to her about your identity.”
A’Rui was silent for a moment, then as fast as lightning said: “No, don’t tell her yet…I….”
“Why? She has been looking for you.”
“No, if she finds out that I’m in the gang as a spy, she definitely won’t forgive me.” As A’Rui thought up to this point, his heart immediately became restless, the excitement that had appeared earlier evaporated without a trace, he quietly walked out.
Seeing this, Jinxia took a deep breath, she said: “If you knew today could be like this, why did you do it in the first place.”
Mrs. Shen deftly used her finger to extinguish the candle wick, then said: “There is a cause, then there is an effect, there is nothing to be sorry for.”
“Aunt, my uncle has already opened his mouth, aunt has also agreed.” Jinxia asked, “When do you guys plan to get married? I have prepared the red candles.”
“Still need to get married, for what? The important thing is that when you return to your hometown, kneel and pay your respects in front of the graves of father and mother, the ceremonial ritual is completed. ” Mrs. Shen said slowly.
“…Hometown in Fujian Quanzhou, aunt and uncle are going back there?” Jinxia, who without thinking immediately asked, as soon as she finished opening her mouth, immediately noticed that she had spoken too quickly.
Mrs. Shen slightly knitted her brows, quietly asked: “I remember I never discussed this with you, how did you know that my hometown is Fujian Quanzhou?”
