Mr Xu Da entered the house and his eyes fell on Huo.
Wen had also long since risen, “Father, you’ve returned.”
Only then did Mr Xu see her and coughed uncomfortably, “Huo’er is here too.”
“I came to ask Mother what she wanted to eat for lunch, and I ordered the kitchen to make it.”
After saying that, he blessed himself, “Father, Mother, I’ll also take my leave.”
“Go on.”
Wen went out.
Xu Da waited for Huo to change his clothes, but Huo said, “Master hasn’t been to see his sister for several days, so today you’re back early, so it’s a good time to go over and see.”
At the mention of Meng, Mr Xu changed his attitude completely, cold and aloof, “She’s fine, there’s no need to go and see her.”
“Master ……”, Huo advised gently and with little intention, “Sister is still your proper wife no matter what, Master should go over to see her more often even if it is for the sake of her face.”
Xu Daqi simply sat down on the chair, “I’m tired, another day.”
Huo had no choice but to go and get him some clothes to change into, “In fact, it’s quite sad that sister lives alone in that remote courtyard and doesn’t even come over on New Year’s Day.
“Have you forgotten what she did to you back then? You still pity her!”
“What happened back then is in the past, I have long forgotten.”
“You’re the only one with a good heart, if you two had dropped by to see, she would have bullied you to death.”
“No, my sister is not bad-hearted, she just has a big temper.”
……
Over there, Song Si carried Xiao Yao to the carriage and was about to follow, when he was stopped by Xiao An.
He was forced to let him carry his own young lady, Cui’er was too scared to walk and he was a subordinate, now that the young lady had been put on the carriage, he would really ruin her reputation if he let anyone else follow her up.
Song Si watched as the carriage passed in front of him, his heart burning with anxiety, he immediately found his own carriage and eagerly instructed the driver to follow it.
He followed them all the way to the entrance of a mansion and saw several maids running out from inside, one of them a sturdy one carrying the woman on her back and flying towards the mansion, with the rest of the maids supporting behind.
When he looked up and saw the words “Ding Guo Gong Fu”, his hot heart felt as if a pot of ice water had been poured over it, and it became cold.
Only after a long moment did he smile bitterly and lowered the curtain, “Let’s go back to the inn.”
He should have guessed long ago that a woman of such high moral character would not come from an ordinary family, and that the Ding Guo Gongfu, not to mention his current status as a scholar, would not be able to afford it even if he won the scholarship.
The carriage returned to the entrance of the inn, Song Wan Yue and Gu Yi came out of the inn and were relieved to see him, they hurried back to the inn, they didn’t see him and were about to go looking for him.
“I’m fine.”
Without waiting for the two to ask, Song Si said first.
“We know you’re fine, where’s the girl?”
Song Wangyue asked.
Everyone on the Book Street said that Song Si had run outside the Western Market with someone in his arms, so it was only logical that he should have looked at the girl’s injuries and sent her home, but how had he come back so soon?
“She …… has her family to look after.”
After saying this sentence, lest the two people ask again, Song Si carried the hem of his clothes while hurrying upstairs and said, “I was scared just now, go back to the house to rest for a while, Gu Yi you go to Yue’er’s room, don’t disturb me.”
Song Wan Yue wanted to go after her, but Gu Yi pulled her back, and only when she was back in her room did he say, “Can you see that big brother is in a bit of a bad mood?”
Song Wan Yue naturally did see it, which was why she wanted to follow and ask Song Si what was wrong.
Gu Yi, however, guessed something, but couldn’t say, “Just let big brother rest for a while, and lunch can be eaten later.”
Song Si went back inside, went to the desk, spread out the paper, studied the ink, picked up the pen and dipped it in, but didn’t know what to write, all that came to mind was the scene of the woman being stabbed with a dagger.
The ink fell onto the paper, staining a large area, and he dropped his pen abruptly, quickly writing a large word for Xiao, then another on top, and another, until the paper became a blur.
……
After Xiao Yao was carried inside, Duke Ding took out his waistband and asked Xiao Zheng to go to the palace and invite the head of the Imperial Hospital and a doctor’s maid to come over. After the head of the hospital took his pulse, he had the doctor’s maid reapply medicine to Xiao Yao, bandaged her up and instructed that
“This stab was rather deep, Miss Xiao needs to recuperate well and not exert herself, otherwise she will suffer after-effects that will affect Miss Xiao for the rest of her life.”
Qin’s heart was in tears, “If I had known you would be hurt like this when you went to the Western Market, I wouldn’t have let you go.”
The Western Market?
The head of the hospital pricked up his ears, they had been at the Imperial Hospital and did not know what had happened at the Western Market.
The Lady of Ding Guo comforted her, “Yao’er is also considered lucky among the unfortunate, if she hadn’t dodged in time, she wouldn’t have known where she was hurt. You and I will take turns to watch her from today onwards, not allowing her to use the slightest bit of force.”
Xiao Zheng thumped on the table, “Those people are too bold, they dare to kill people in broad daylight. When did the law and order in the capital get this bad? Are all the people in the magistracy dry?”
“Zheng’er, don’t talk nonsense!”
Duke Ding reprimanded him.
The head of the courtyard was busy leading the doctor’s daughter to bid farewell.
As soon as they left, Duke Ding and Xiao Zheng went to the outer hall, called Xiao An in, and after asking them about the circumstances, the two concluded almost immediately that it must have been done by someone from the Duke of Qi’s house.
Xiao Zheng said, “That one called Zhang Huai, I have always sent people to keep an eye on him, but except for those days of the meeting exams when he went out of the Qi State Duke’s residence, he didn’t come out at all the rest of the time, and we couldn’t even deal with him if we wanted to.”
“If there is no way, then think of a way, they are in the dark, Song Si is in the light, if they didn’t succeed this time, they will naturally have another time, this time Yao’er blocked the knife for him, next time maybe he won’t be so lucky.”
……
Xu Lao went back inside the courtyard, thinking of a certain possibility, he could no longer hold back his thoughts, “Xu Liang, go and find out which inn Song Si is staying in, if he is alright, ask him to come to the residence, just say I want to know how his last essay is written.”
Xu Liang answered yes.
“By the way, ask him to bring his sister with him.”
After instructing, thinking of Song Wangyue’s eager look just now, he changed his tone again, “Go and find out what has happened to them before you say anything.”
Xu Liang once again answered, and went out of the house to inquire, and waited until after lunch to come back and tell them about the attack on Song Si in the West Market today.
Old Mr Xu immediately asked eagerly, “Is Song Si alright?”
“I heard that a woman took the knife for him, but the boy who was with him was taken away and has not yet been released.
Old Mr. Xu stroked his beard and pondered, the West Market had been open for more than ten years, twice a year, for half a month each time, not to mention the murder in the street, even the theft was rare, but Song Si had encountered all of them, this was no coincidence, if the person behind wanted Song Si’s life, or wanted to ruin Song Si’s reputation.