Chapter Five: Farewell, My Dear

  Xihe seventeen years, Xun family old house.

  "Old madam, has the young master not returned yet?" The jade pendants on her headdress jingled crisply as a woman in her thirties or forties walked slowly over. When she arrived before the phoenix-patterned chair, she made a deep curtsy, her movements perfectly elegant and refined. The woman was extremely well-preserved; if one didn't know her age, she would appear to be only a young woman of twenty years old.

  The old lady looked down at her daughter-in-law with a mixture of disdain and disapproval in her eyes, which flashed by quickly before she covered it up again. In a low voice, she said: "Cuiniang, you've overstepped your bounds."

  "Cui Niang dare not. Qing Er, even if he is not capable, is still my Cui Niang's youngest son, the destined young master of the Xun family. Mother cares about her own child, isn't that also a kind of favoritism?" The woman remained kneeling, but with an unyielding tone, her words sharply pointing at the old man who sat high above, resembling a walnut shell.

  The old lady looked at her daughter-in-law, who was lowering her head and casting down her eyes, and became more and more irritated. Her voice gradually rose: "Don't dare? I think you're very daring!!! Giving birth to such a scoundrel, do you still have the face to show up!!!"

  The old lady was so angry that she was almost out of breath, picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, then started coughing with her chest down. "What kind of evil did the Xun family create to provoke you, this ancestor!! Qing'er's body is weak, but it can still be remedied with good care. But what kind of unscrupulous and evil things are you attracting in broad daylight? Is there still justice and law? Ah, what kind of evil creature gives birth to what kind of offspring, look at your son, he doesn't study hard, keeps running outside, and even colludes with evil creatures, bringing bad luck to himself. Say something, say something... cough, cough..."

  The old lady was so angry that her face turned bright red, and the wrinkles on her face were even more twisted together. She almost forgot her dignity and jumped out to scold her daughter-in-law, pointing at her nose.

  The woman furrowed her brow, but still knelt upright there, wordlessly enduring the old lady's scolding. Her wooden expression revealed only indifference, clearly having experienced this many times before, to the point of numbness.

  The Xun family, although a prominent clan, began to decline with the generation of Xun Muyan. By the time of Xun San Ye, also known as Xun Qing's father, the so-called prominent clan was nothing more than an empty shell.

  Xun San Ye was just doing some paperwork in the imperial court, running errands for the emperor and managed to get a position as a government official. However, there were still many people who subconsciously had a sense of vigilance against him, thinking that "a dead centipede is still stiff". As a result, he faced obstacles from all sides in the imperial court, making it even harder for Xun San Ye to move forward, and this anxiety also inevitably infected his family's old mansion.

  "Has the old lady finished speaking? Where is my Qing'er after all?" The woman saw that the old lady had finally calmed down, and couldn't help but ask.

  "Where else could it be? Isn't it just in the backyard alley where he bumped into that little demon?" The old lady was still fuming, humming straight away.

  "Cui Niang has just met a Taoist priest on the street, and it seems that he has some use for her. I wonder what Old Lady Yu thinks about this?"

  "Get out, get out, get out! He's definitely another street scammer. Hurry up and chase him away, this place is dirty enough, can't let outsiders come in and stir up trouble."

  "I see that man has a good aura, and he didn't ask for money. He only said that the backyard is filled with yin energy, and there might be some ghostly presence. Why don't we take a look? Old lady, why not bet on it?"

  The old lady was annoyed, but after hearing that this person didn't want money, she thought it wasn't a big deal, so she sent Cui Niang to bring the person over for a try.

  The woman stood up and bowed again, then walked out with a gentle and elegant gait, but her tightly furrowed eyebrows still didn't relax.

  After death.

  The old lady waved her hand and said in a low voice: "Come on. Keep an eye on that woman, if there's any unusual movement, report to me immediately."

  "Yes."

  ————————

  "Ling'er, have you woken up?"

  Fang Xiaoling opened her eyes to see someone's face magnified infinitely, and she was so scared that she woke up. When she turned around again, she saw Xun Qing's half-wet sleeves, and suddenly became a big red face. She muttered: "I... I'm going to wash."

  "Alright, I'll let Yazi go wash up." Xun Qing relaxed his shoulders and leaned against the old locust tree at a more comfortable angle, "Stay with me for a bit longer, later Mother will probably come looking for us, and I'm afraid I won't be so leisurely then."

  "Oh." Fang Xiaoling responded cleverly, and immediately lowered her head again. She was nervous about being close to home, let alone close to people, and she racked her brains but didn't know what to say next, so she just looked down at the ants crawling on the ground in a daze.

  "Hey, you say, being an official in the imperial court is really that good? My old man is also like that, struggling to do things that are not appreciated. But which one of them looks down on him?" He tilted his head back, his black hair covering his eyes, making it impossible to discern his expression.

  "Ling'er, don't think I'm nagging. I hate studying, hate those twists and turns, most of all I hate those bastards who recite the classics with their mouths but have God knows how many people's blood on their hands. Thinking about having to work with these people in the future makes my skin crawl."

  “……”

  Xu Qing's tone was always light and calm, but that kind of disgust and intolerance really pierced the heart.

  Fang Xiaoling quietly listened, without interrupting. She was very clear that Xun Qing only needed a listener now, an existence that knew all his secrets but had no threatening power.

  And she was more than willing.

  How can one person open up to another and talk about everything? If that person is not himself, then he must be someone who cannot exist in the same circle as himself.

  No problem, then there is no so-called threat and leak.

  Fang Xiaoling was very clear, had always been very clear, but she unknowingly... crossed the line.

  She wants more, wants this person... forever remembers herself, forever... belongs to herself.

  "Ling'er, hey... are you listening?" Xun Qing spoke for a while but didn't see any reaction from Fang Xiao Ling. He turned his head and saw that her eyes were dull and she seemed to be thinking about something, which made him feel somewhat disheartened. "Ling'er really finds me annoying, huh?"

  "Not... " Fang Xiaoling withdrew her gaze, somewhat flustered, avoiding Xun Qing's piercing stare. Just then, a woman hastily approached them. "See, your mother has indeed come to find you. Aren't you going back?"

  Xing Qing's eyes widened, and he shifted his gaze over there. Suddenly, he discovered that it wasn't just his mother who had come, but also a stranger. He couldn't help but feel a bit flustered. "Ling'er, quickly hide. My mother doesn't seem to be looking for me, but rather seems to be looking for you."

  "You're saying your mother has invited another charlatan, right? What's the big deal about that? They all swindle money out of people, none of them have any real skills." Fang Xiaoling shrugged indifferently and pushed Xun Qing, "What are you still standing there for, hurry up and go over."

  "Huh?" Fang Xiaoling stared at the increasingly approaching "new face" and the delicate little doll behind him, and was stunned.

  How did they end up here!!