Li Cheng held back his frustration and, maintaining his dignity, struggled to get up from the ground on his own.

Those officials were all quietly laughing.

Even the kind-hearted Zhao’er couldn’t help but lower her head and laugh.

Though she also felt sympathetic!

After Li Cheng got up, his gaze swept around at everyone.

Both embarrassed and infuriated.

To save face, he ultimately vented all his anger on the broken-legged chair.

He kicked it with his foot.

The chair rolled twice.

He ordered sharply, “Someone, throw this useless thing out.”

The guards of the City Magistrate’s Office received the command and quickly came forward.

They carried the broken-legged chair out.

The entire process was extremely swift!

Afraid of being implicated innocidentally.

Li Cheng rubbed his buttocks, his face stiff.

Ji Yinshu casually showed concern. “Young Master Cheng, why don’t you go apply some medicine first?”

“This minor injury, this young master can still endure.”

“Are you truly alright?”

He gritted his teeth. “I’m fine.”

Then he had someone bring over a new chair.

He sat down despite the pain.

As he sat, he didn’t forget to glare fiercely at Jingrong.

That chair was incredibly sturdy—how could it break for no reason?

It must have been deliberately done by “a certain someone.”

How despicable!

He spoke with hidden meaning. “Young Master Jing has such great strength.”

Each word was heavily emphasized!

Who knew Jingrong would reply, “You flatter me. However, even with great strength, I still couldn’t help the young master up. I deeply apologize.”

“No matter, this young master won’t hold it against you!”

“The young master is magnanimous.”

“Naturally.” Li Cheng raised his eyebrows.

He had to maintain his composure!

But the atmosphere was somewhat inexplicable.

Zhao’er watched, completely baffled.

At this moment—

The maid from earlier had already returned.

She had brought the item.

“Miss, I’ve brought it.”

The maid placed what she was holding on the table.

It was… a bundle!

The officials all gathered around.

Staring at the yellowed, worn bundle.

Li Cheng also instantly cast aside all his earlier displeasure.

Perking up.

“What is this?”

Zhao’er said, “This belongs to Su Qiao! At the time, I thought she left in such a hurry that she forgot to take the bundle, so I temporarily kept it, thinking to wait for her to return and retrieve it. I never expected that after waiting three years, she never came.” She quickly added, “However, I never opened this bundle, so I don’t know what’s inside. I only know Su Qiao was very anxious about this bundle. Several times she held it and cried secretly. Perhaps… there’s something inside that was very important to her.”

Jingrong spoke up to ask, “If it was such an important item and she didn’t take it, didn’t you find that suspicious back then?”

“I… didn’t think that much about it.”

Ji Yinshu’s expression grew serious as she slowly unwrapped the bundle.

Because so much time had passed, when the bundle was opened, a pungent smell emerged from inside.

The smell of decay, wood, mildew…

All mixed together.

That scent was indescribable.

After opening it, inside was a set of coarse cloth women’s clothing and a pair of shoes with holes.

Besides these, there was also a fan!

The fan’s ribs were made of ordinary brown bamboo. Due to the passage of time, some parts of the ribs had worn down considerably, and several ribs had even broken. Hanging from the bottom of the fan was a simple tassel woven from red cord, also quite worn, with threads coming loose, looking as if it would fall off with a single tug.

And apart from these few items, there was nothing else!

Ji Yinshu took out the fan.

Carefully opening it.

The fan face was made of paper glued to the ribs, with some areas already split open, and there were even obvious water stains.

It seemed they were left from being caught in the rain back then.

Seeing her open the fan, everyone’s eyes focused on it.

Wanting to see if there was anything mysterious about it.

And in fact, there truly was something mysterious about it.

Because it had been soaked by rain, the paintings and writing on the fan face had all blurred, with only one line of poetry faintly visible.

“My beloved comes to share the pillow with me.” (All poems appearing in this text are made up by the author—don’t search for them online.)

This was a love poem expressing affection.

The handwriting was very neat!

Also somewhat elegant.

Li Cheng asked, “What’s written on this?”

Ji Yinshu replied, “A poem.”

“A poem? What poem?”

Li Cheng was puzzled and moved closer to look.

But just as he got a little closer to Ji Yinshu, he immediately met Jingrong’s murderous gaze, making him swallow hard and move back a bit, only stretching his neck to look at the fan face.

Then reading the writing on the fan aloud, “My beloved comes to share the pillow with me, beneath the flowers… what pleasure… what? It’s all blurred by water stains, can’t make it out clearly.”

The ink marks had almost all melted into a blob!

Completely illegible.

Only that one line was relatively clear.

Ji Yinshu looked and looked, her gaze finally falling on the signature location below the poem.

Three relatively clear characters were stamped there.

“Du Mubai?”

Eh!

When Ji Yinshu spoke these three characters, Li Cheng was extremely shocked.

“What did you say?”

“The person who wrote this poem is called Du Mubai.”

Upon hearing this, Li Cheng immediately snatched the already somewhat tattered fan.

Staring intently at those three characters.

His expression changed dramatically!

His demeanor grew grave.

“Du Mubai? How could it be… him?”

Hm?

Ji Yinshu’s brow furrowed.

She asked, “You know him?”

“…” Li Cheng fell silent.

As if he still hadn’t recovered from his shock.

Everyone stared at him.

After a long while—

Li Cheng put down the fan and said, “I do know him. This is his handwriting.”

Ji Yinshu asked, “Who exactly is he?”

Li Cheng fell silent again.

After quite a while.

He slowly said, “He… was my father’s disciple.”

A disciple?

Just as he finished speaking, an old official immediately jumped out to say, “Minister Li, are you referring to Du Mubai, known as the ‘Southern Shen Talent’?”

“That’s correct.”

“So it’s him!” The old official was also shocked.

Ji Yinshu and Jingrong were completely confused.

They asked, “How do you all know him? Who exactly is this person?”

The old official said, “How could we not know him? Back then, he caused a sensation throughout all of Gaoding.”

“What do you mean?”

“Six years ago, because of his outstanding talent, he gained the admiration of the Marquis of Pingyang, who took him as a disciple. At that time, almost everyone believed he would achieve the top scholar position.”

“And then?”

“Then…”

The old official’s words were just reaching his lips when Li Cheng cut him off, taking over with a grave expression. “Then, after he was exposed for stealing poetry, my father revoked his disciple status.”

“And then?”

Li Cheng said, “Because of this, he was deeply affected. Three days before the examination, he suddenly committed suicide.”

“Died?”

“That’s right. He committed suicide in the literary lodge specifically for hosting scholars.”

Eh!

For these six years, Li Cheng had hardly mentioned anything about Du Mubai again.

Because it was a hurdle in his older sister’s heart that she could never overcome!

Bringing it up now, his feelings were so complex they were beyond words. Exceptionally heavy.