The old residence was even more dilapidated than Fan Changyu’s home, clearly neglected. Objects were strewn haphazardly around the room. Due to the winter fire pit, tables and chairs were covered in a layer of soot that hadn’t been wiped clean.
If one sat down without wiping the seat first, their clothes would be stained with black smoke upon standing.
The furnishings in the room were all inexpensive earthenware pots. Both Fan Da and his son were fond of gambling, and any valuable items in the house had long been pawned for money.
The elderly Fan couple lived in the west room. Fan’s father said at the door, “Old woman, Changyu is here.”
The old Mrs. Fan, lying on the kang bed-stove, simply turned her back to the door, clearly unwilling to say a word to Fan Changyu.
Fan’s father looked a bit embarrassed and explained to Fan Changyu, “She’s been like this since Daniu’s death.”
Fan Changyu didn’t take it to heart at all, nor did she bother to pay her respects, as Mrs. Fan had never shown them a kind face since she could remember.
She used the handkerchief handed to her by Fan’s father to wipe the bench, then sat down directly by the fire pit in the main hall to warm herself.
As Fan’s father hung the cured meat she had brought over the fire pit to continue smoking, Fan Changyu noticed the unwashed bowls and chopsticks on a nearby table.
It seemed the elderly couple had cooked rice porridge for breakfast. Even on New Year’s Day, there wasn’t a trace of meat on their table.
Fan Changyu frowned and asked after Fan’s father sat down, “After Uncle’s incident, didn’t the government give you twenty-five taels of silver as compensation? Haven’t you used that money?”
Twenty-five taels was not a small sum. For an ordinary family, if used frugally and without anyone needing medical treatment, ten taels would be enough for a year’s expenses.
Fan’s father stammered, “That money needs to be saved for your cousin’s marriage…”
Fan Changyu raised an eyebrow, “Don’t tell me he gambled it away at the casino again?”
Fan’s father said, “The money is kept by your aunt. She’s worried that the mourning period will delay your cousin’s marriage, so she plans to have him wed during the mourning period. She’s already looking for potential brides.”
Hearing this, Fan Changyu said nothing more.
Everyone lives their own life. In the past, the elderly couple had always favored Fan Da with the best things. Now that their son was gone, naturally, they would favor their grandson with the best.
As long as the old residence didn’t have any ill intentions toward her family’s home, she was willing to maintain the status quo of the two families not interfering with each other.
She asked, “You mentioned earlier that there was something related to my father. What is it?”
Fan’s father’s wrinkled face was illuminated by the firelight, making him appear even more gaunt. He sighed slowly, “Daniu’s misfortune might also be my retribution.”
Fan Changyu found these words rather strange but remained silent, waiting for Fan’s father to continue.
“Although your father wasn’t my biological son, he was my brother’s child. That year, during the famine, your real grandfather went with the villagers to raid the government’s granary and was killed by the soldiers. Your grandmother left all the remaining food for your father to eat and starved herself to death. Before she died, she entrusted your father to me…”
As Fan’s father spoke of these things, tears glistened in his cloudy old eyes. “I wanted to raise that child as my flesh and blood, but it was a year of famine. People were even cooking and eating those who died by the roadside, and even the Guanyin soil was fought over. With one more mouth to feed in the family, everyone had to give up a portion of their food for their father. Your two aunts, whom you’ve never met, the older one was only thirteen when she was sent to be a concubine for a wealthy man, in exchange for half a bag of white flour…”
Fan’s father’s voice trembled, tears streaming down his face. “Later, that wealthy man went to another prefecture. Decades have passed, and neither the old woman nor I have seen that child again. We don’t know if she’s alive or dead. The younger one was only eight when she was sold to a slave trader for three hundred men, and we’ve heard nothing of her since. At that time, only Daniu, Erniu, and your father were left in the family, but we still couldn’t fill our stomachs. Your father was the same age as my Erniu, but Erniu was also weak. He fell gravely ill on the way to escape the famine. To get treatment for Erniu, we had no choice but to sell your father to the slave trader as well…”
“Your father was sensible from a young age. When the slave trader took him away, he kowtowed to me three times.” At this point, Fan’s father choked with emotion, unable to continue. “Those five hundred wen have haunted me with guilt for a lifetime… Erniu was ill-fated, and even after several doses of medicine, we couldn’t save him. I thought I’d never see your father again, but who would have thought that sixteen years ago, he would return to this town with your mother.”
“He had been helping to search for news of the two girls who were sold all those years. He couldn’t find the older one, but he did find the younger one. I heard she had married a military household but later died in the war. In times of famine and war, human life is as cheap as grass…”
Fan Changyu hadn’t expected there to be so many hidden stories behind her father’s “disappearance”. Her emotions were complex, and it took her a while before she asked, “After my father returned, why did he use your second son’s name?”
Fan’s father said, “When your father came back, he told me he had made enemies while working as a caravan guard outside. He asked if he could live in the town under Erniu’s identity. How could I not agree? So I told everyone he was Erniu, who had gotten lost during the famine years. The old woman has been resenting your father all these years, believing it was because of him that our two daughters were sold. After your parents came to town, she often went to cause trouble, repeatedly saying it was for your father that she sacrificed her two daughters, and took quite a few things from your parents. Later, when your mother fell ill after giving birth to your sister, seeing that your family had no male heir, she thought of adopting Daniu’s second son to your father, so he could inherit your father’s property in the future.”
Fan’s father sighed heavily, his face full of shame. “She was just obsessed. During that year of famine, even if we hadn’t adopted your father, the two girls… probably couldn’t have been kept anyway. The children were lost one by one, and in the end, only Daniu was left. She repeatedly indulged him, which spoiled Daniu. It’s also my fault. In the early years, I couldn’t support this big family. Later, even though I knew she was wrong, whenever she cried about the two girls, I couldn’t bring myself to discipline Daniu properly…”
Fan Changyu had originally disliked Mrs. Fan, finding her sharp-tongued and harsh towards her family. After hearing Fan’s father’s account of past events, she felt that pitiable people must have detestable aspects, but her opinion of Mrs. Fan remained unchanged.
As Fan’s father said, in the end, they couldn’t save Fan Erniu even after selling her father. How could Mrs. Fan be certain that if they hadn’t adopted her father, her two daughters and younger son wouldn’t have left her?
It was just that her father happened to become a target for Mrs. Fan to vent her resentment.
Fan Changyu said, “What’s past is past. As long as you don’t cause any more trouble for my family, I’ll treat you the same way my father did before.”
Fan’s father said, “I’m not telling you this for that reason. Before your parents’ incident, your father came to see me.”
Fan Changyu looked surprised.
Fan’s father, both guilty and embarrassed, said, “He had arranged how to divide the family property and shops. He even wrote a will, saying the pork shop could be given to your uncle, and everything else would be left to you and your sister. I asked him if the enemies he made years ago had come looking for him, but he wouldn’t say more. He only asked me to look after your sisters in the future. Who would have thought that the old woman was a gossip? After your parents passed away, she revealed this to Daniu. Daniu has developed a gambling addiction over the years and has become increasingly unruly. He directly stole that will and burned it, wanting to seize all of your family’s property. These old bones of mine are useless, I couldn’t control him at all…”
When Fan Changyu heard that her parents might have prepared everything before going to their deaths, her hands and feet became uncontrollably cold. Her hands, resting on her knees, unconsciously clenched into fists, her lips turning white as she pressed them together. “Are you saying that before that, my father might have known that he and my mother didn’t have long to live?”
Fan’s father hesitated, then nodded.
Fan Changyu felt a chill throughout her body, her mind in chaos.
According to the official story, it was bandits looking for a treasure map who found her father and came to demand it.
Then why would her father think that if he died with her mother, the bandits wouldn’t come to kill her and Chang’ning?
Unless… the bandits had already obtained the treasure map.
But later, her family still encountered bandits twice, clearly showing they hadn’t gotten what they wanted yet.
However, these later two groups of bandits didn’t know about her family and only targeted them after learning something from Fan Da.
Fan Changyu could only think of one possibility: the bandits who killed her parents and those who came to her house looking for the treasure map were not the same group.
The former got the treasure map but still had to kill her parents, perhaps because her parents knew some secret. Did they have to be silenced?
Fan Changyu had originally thought that after the government’s bandit suppression, her parents’ revenge was considered settled. But now she suddenly felt that the murderers of her parents might not have been brought to justice yet.
After all, news had just come that the treasure map had appeared in the hands of rebels in Chongzhou, and those rebels had recruited many nearby mountain bandits and outlaws. The bandits who killed her parents might well be under the rebels’ command.
On the way home, Fan Changyu was lost in thought.
As she entered the house, she heard Xie Zheng’s calm voice: “Wood, yao, wood, with a ‘big’ character below, combined to form the character ‘Fan’.”
Chang’ning said pitifully, “I don’t want to learn characters anymore. I want to learn how to butcher pigs like Sister.”
“Your sister can read while butchering pigs.”
Chang’ning sniffled, as if about to cry.
Hearing the door open, she immediately ran out on her short legs and hugged Fan Changyu’s leg, looking up with her face scrunched up. “Sister, why do I need to learn characters to butcher pigs?”
Fan Changyu, her mind still preoccupied, simply patted Chang’ning’s little hair bun. “Mother used to say that after learning to read and write, one understands the big picture and great principles. Only then can one navigate life without making mistakes.”
Chang’ning looked a bit dazed, clearly not understanding the meaning of these words.
Xie Zheng raised his eyebrows slightly and added, “I haven’t seen you fond of reading either.”
His words carried a hint of teasing. Usually, Fan Changyu would have bantered back, but today she only said tiredly, “I’ll read more in the future.”
Xie Zheng finally noticed the unusual expression on her face and asked, “You went out for a while and came back looking like frost-bitten crops. What happened?”
Fan Changyu sat by the fire pit and sighed lightly. After telling him what Fan’s father had said, she said dejectedly, “If my parents weren’t killed just because of the treasure map, I need to find out the real reason for their deaths.”
After listening, Xie Zheng’s eyes also darkened. If her father had anticipated this and even prepared for the aftermath, it suggested that those who took her father’s life might have met him beforehand.
Her guess wasn’t unreasonable. However, what those people were looking for wasn’t a treasure map, but a letter that Wei Yan considered extremely important.
The people who killed her parents got the letter. She and her sister knew nothing about her parents’ past, so they were spared.
Xie Zheng, having previously worked as an assassin for Wei Yan, knew that Wei Yan’s usual approach was to eliminate all potential threats.
The fact that they spared the sisters might be because they had some connection to her parents. Considering that they had met her father before killing him, this guess seemed even more plausible.
Later, when Wei Manor’s assassins came to her house to kill and search, and Governor He Jingyuan of Jizhou suddenly deployed troops to Lin’an Town, it was indeed worth pondering.
Most importantly, given his uncle Wei Yan’s iron-fisted style, it was uncharacteristic of him to remain passive after losing so many assassins in Lin’an Town.
If He Jingyuan wanted to protect these two sisters, and given the current situation in the Northwest, Wei Yan could only rely on He Jingyuan, perhaps an agreement between the two would explain everything.
Fan Changyu looked up to see Xie Zheng staring at her with deep, pensive eyes. She asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
Xie Zheng answered indirectly, “Do you want to avenge your parents?”
Fan Changyu nodded, “Of course.”
She then noticed that the hair tie Xie Zheng was wearing was the one she had bought for him earlier. It seemed to be the first time he had worn it.
The dark blue color accentuated his cold, sharp features, giving him an air of detachment.
Xie Zheng said, “What if everything the officials said in closing the case was false?”