“Ning Yan?” Xu Pingzhi was stunned.
Li Ru’s tears were still on her face, her joyful expression frozen.
“Two days ago, Xu Qi An was shouting in his cell that he needed to see the Magistrate, saying he had important clues to report. Soon after, the Magistrate solved the case. According to Great Shang’s laws, atoning for crimes through meritorious service naturally clears you of wrongdoing,” the clerk explained.
“Is, is that so…” Xu Pingzhi stammered. He had taken in Xu Qi An when he was just a kitten-sized child. How could he not know what kind of person his nephew was?
Xu Pingzhi suspected the clerk was lying, but he had no proof.
It was that rascal of a nephew… Li Ru’s face paled.
Wasn’t it their son who had pulled strings to save the whole family? How could it be that unfortunate nephew? Wasn’t he in jail?
Filled with confusion, Xu Pingzhi led his wife and daughters out of the yamen’s back door, where they saw Xu Qi An anxiously waiting, trying to tidy his messy hair.
The moment he saw his nephew, the doubts buried in his heart suddenly seemed unimportant. The man with a martial arts background felt a warmth surge in his heart, his eyes reddening. He strode forward, initially wanting to hug his nephew, but feeling it was too sentimental and unable to let go of his pride, he instead gave him a hearty pat on the shoulder. “Ning Yan, well done!”
He nearly sent Xu Qi An to the afterlife with that pat.
“Second Uncle, you’re at the peak of Qi Refinement. We’re a whole rank apart,” Xu Qi An said naturally, not sounding unfamiliar at all.
He was surprised by this harmony, and at the same time, looking over his Second Uncle’s shoulder, he saw the three women behind him.
Hey, Aunt, you’re in such a miserable state today… This thought appeared uncontrollably.
The schadenfreude didn’t last long, as he was attracted by his sister’s beauty.
The young girl was wearing loose prison clothes, her disheveled hair falling around her classically beautiful oval face. Her high, straight nose gave her a somewhat mixed-race beauty’s three-dimensional look at first glance.
Moreover, at this age, she was at her most clear and pure, blending into a hard charm to look away from.
Damn, I have such a beautiful sister. Xu Qi An was shocked.
In the original owner’s memories, his sister’s appearance was quite vague, probably because he didn’t pay much attention. And because of his aunt, there was a bit of guilt by association.
He wasn’t very friendly to his cousins.
Noticing her brother’s burning gaze, Xu Lingyue timidly called out “Big Brother” and lowered her head a little shyly.
“Big Brother!” Suddenly, there was a yelp.
Five-year-old Xu Lingyin, just a tiny little thing, ran over and came to an abrupt stop in front of Xu Qi An, looking up at him expectantly.
Xu Qi An waved his hand. “I don’t have any candy for you. I just got out of jail myself.”
It’s worth mentioning that while the original owner didn’t like his cousins, he was fairly nice to this youngest sister because her appearance finally didn’t take after her mother.
“What’s a jail?”
“It’s the place you’ve been sleeping these past few days.”
“What about the other brother? Did he bring candy?”
“He didn’t come.”
“Oh.” The little one looked disappointed. The other brother she mentioned was Xu Xinnian, her full brother, though she didn’t yet know the difference between cousins and siblings.
This youngest sister isn’t very bright, just a silly little child. She must have inherited that from her mother… That’s what the original owner thought.
Finally, he looked at his aunt, Li Ru. This woman, who had always lorded it over Xu Qi An, probably never imagined there would be a day when she’d have to humbly thank her unfortunate nephew.
The beautiful woman stiffly turned her head away, reluctantly saying, “Th-thank you, Ning Yan…”
At that moment, a vague memory surfaced in Xu Qi An’s mind.
Back when his aunt had driven him to the small courtyard next to the Xu residence, Xu Qi An had been furious, swearing to the heavens: “I, Xu Qi An, will make something of myself in the future. Don’t you regret it!”
Thinking about it now, it felt so embarrassing. Wasn’t this just the aunt’s version of “don’t look down on a poor young man”?
Now, Xu Qi An looked at the relationship between the original owner and his aunt from an objective third-party perspective. It wasn’t entirely the beautiful woman’s fault.
Xu Qi An’s martial arts training consumed over a hundred taels of silver each year. This was equivalent to twenty or thirty years of savings for an ordinary family, and that’s for a well-off household.
It was natural for his aunt to feel resentful. So Xu Qi An said sincerely, “Aunt, don’t rush to thank me. Wait until we get home and have a meal, then say it again.”
Li Ru immediately widened her Maybelline big eyes, glaring at her unfortunate nephew.
Xu Pingzhi felt his scalp tingle and said in a deep voice, “Let’s go home first!”
…
Xu Xinnian stumbled back to the Xu residence carrying a wine jug. The home where he had lived for nineteen years now had seals on the main gate and was empty, looking quite desolate.
Xu Xinnian kicked open the main gate, stepped over the threshold, staggered in a few steps, and then turned back to close the door.
Hanging oneself wasn’t a glorious thing, nor was it befitting the dignity of a scholar like him. So, he couldn’t draw the attention of the officials.
He had to save face.
He walked from the outer courtyard to the inner courtyard, as if walking through a long life.
At three, he recognized characters; at five, he recited poems; at ten, he was well-versed in the classics of the sages. At fourteen, he entered the Cloud Deer Academy to study. At eighteen, he became a Recommended Scholar.
To say he was gifted would not be an exaggeration.
His intelligence and erudition shaped his proud personality.
He had always been proud in front of his family, promising, glorious, the future pillar of the Xu family.
As a man, he would rather die magnificently than live in humiliation.
Thinking of this, Xu Xinnian drained the wine jug in his hand and smashed it on the ground.
Bolstered by the alcohol, he rushed into his room, ground ink picked up a brush, and wrote down the most brilliant farewell poem of his life.
Xu Xinnian laughed loudly three times, grabbed the xuan paper, and rushed out, taking out the prepared hemp rope and hanging it on the ginkgo tree in the inner courtyard.
He was surprised that facing death, he wasn’t afraid at all. He only felt an unprecedented sense of freedom.
Suddenly, he understood those unrestrained, eccentric scholars. Only when one fears nothing can one look down on the world.
If one doesn’t fear death, what else is there to fear in this world?
…
Beijing was prosperous, and renowned as the most virtuous city in the world.
Xu Qi An slowly made his way through the bustling ancient city. Carriages flowed like water, horses like dragons. Shops lined both sides of the street, with flags and banners fluttering in the wind.
A line of poetry involuntarily came to his mind: “Misty willows, painted bridges, wind-blown curtains of emerald, ten thousand homes in varied array.”
Beijing was even more prosperous than the Qiantang described in the poem. The “Great Shang: Geographic Records” noted, “In the early years of the Yuanjing era, the capital’s population was over 1.96 million.”
Now it was the 36th year of Yuanjing.
The population of Beijing should have exceeded two million by now.
The Xu family mansion had three courtyards, front and back, and employed seven or eight maids and servants. Now the servants and maids had been dismissed, the main gate was locked, and the place was empty.
Aunt Li glanced at the plaque above the main gate, feeling a mix of emotions. “I wonder how Xinnian is doing. He must be very worried about us. Before we were imprisoned, he said he would get us out.”
She spoke as they walked in.
Property prices in Beijing were expensive. This three-courtyard mansion would cost at least 5,000 taels of silver. A 30% down payment would be 1,500 taels… Tch, why am I still thinking about property prices even in another world?
Xu Qi An grimaced.
Xu Pingzhi comforted her, “Xinnian is well-versed in the classics, steady and reliable. He must be running around for us right now. When he comes back, we’ll give him a surprise.”
This is bad… Xu Qi An’s expression changed. He knew that Xu Xinnian was planning to take his own life.
In his Second Uncle and Aunt’s eyes, Xu Xinnian was determined, serious, steady, and reliable, an unyielding scholar.
“Hahaha, I, Xu Xinnian, lived as a free man and will die as an unyielding ghost.
“Xu Xinnian, talented beyond measure, yet heaven is unfair.
“If heaven hadn’t birthed me, Xu Xinnian, Great Shang would be in eternal night…”
Under the ginkgo tree, the scholar standing on a chair suddenly took off his headgear and threw it away, shaking his head vigorously, his hair in disarray.
He was unrestrained and eccentric, wild and free. He put his head through the rope loop and then saw his family, their expressions frozen and eyes blank.
I, Xu Xinnian, have lived a life of unrestrained freedom… Xu Xinnian is talented beyond measure, yet heaven is unfair… If heaven hadn’t birthed me, Xu Xinnian, Great Shang would be in eternal night… Looking at his unexpectedly returned family, Xu Xinnian felt he should have died a step sooner.