Chapter 551 - 206: Acknowledging Kinship
Chapter 551: Chapter 206: Acknowledging Kinship
"I’m absolutely certain. You are my one true aunt!"
Chen Wanqing had dismissed the servants who had gathered to watch the commotion in the Chen family’s small courtyard, leaving only the family in the yard.
Xu Yanlin knelt emotionally before Xu Su Ying. He was a grown man, yet his eyes were brimming with tears, their rims red, making the reunion seem more tragic than a final farewell.
Xu Su Ying hadn’t expected this. She had only come out to see someone off, so how had she ended up being accosted like this?
’She had known the Xu Family would show up eventually, but this was too fast. They must have flown here.’
Xu Su Ying tried to pull him to his feet. "Get up first. Let’s go inside to talk."
Zhao Jing added, "Mr. Xu, please get up. Autumn has set in, and the ground is cold. You should go inside and have a cup of tea."
Xu Yanlin finally rose to his feet and followed closely behind the others into the house.
Chen Wanqing brought in the tea, and Zhao Jing hurried to his feet to take it from her.
"Be careful, it’s hot."
"Let go, Sister. I’ve got it."
Xu Yanlin looked at Zhao Jing, then at the young woman. Her beauty was lush and striking, yet it inspired no hint of impropriety.
He had long suspected that if his aunt was alive, she would have married and had children. But for the top scorer in this year’s provincial examination to be his aunt’s son-in-law... that was something he had never imagined.
Seeing Xu Yanlin’s dazed expression, Xu Su Ying cleared her throat softly to bring his attention back to her.
"You came here calling me ’Aunt.’ What if I’m not?"
Xu Yanlin said emotionally, "You must be my aunt. There’s no doubt about it. We’re immediate blood relatives; there’s no way I could be mistaken."
"Proof? The important thing is proof! You can’t just grab a stranger on the street, claim they’re your closest kin, and have it be so, can you? That’s far too reckless."
Xu Yanlin shook his head. "Aunt, your portrait hangs in Grandmother’s bedchamber. I see it every time I go to pay my respects. You may look a little different from when you were young, but your features are largely the same. I recognized you at a single glance. You must be my true aunt. There is no doubt."
Xu Su Ying scratched her head.
’I’ve run into a stubborn one.’
’Now what am I supposed to do?’
Unable to pull the wool over Xu Yanlin’s eyes, Xu Su Ying couldn’t help but scratch her head again.
Just as she was wondering how to coax more information out of Xu Yanlin, he began to speak.
"I saw my cousin this morning. In my excitement, I grabbed him to ask some questions. I didn’t mean to offend him, but I ended up scaring him off."
Sitting to the side, De’an sheepishly rubbed his nose.
’The word "scare" is a truly exquisite choice.’
’This cousin became a Sixth-Rank Official at such a young age. His artful choice of words alone shows his capabilities.’
’Mother’s plan to send him away and delay this reunion probably isn’t going to work.’
Before De’an could finish his thoughts, Xu Yanlin continued, "I couldn’t stop my cousin in time, and when I turned around, he was already gone. Fortunately, I was watching from nearby when he was collecting his examination results, and I managed to catch his name."
Xu Yanlin then explained how he had rushed to the government office to look up the Prefecture Examination Record.
The Prefecture Examination Record was the official ledger for the prefecture exam, compiled and stored by the government office. It primarily documented a candidate’s name, native place, ancestry for the past three generations, examination ranking, and information about the chief and assistant examiners. It was an official document kept on file by the local government for their records and for reporting to their superiors.
Once Xu Yanlin had the Prefecture Examination Record, it was as if De’an’s entire life was laid bare before him.
The record detailed three generations of a student’s ancestry, which naturally included the parents. Although the father’s information was always more detailed, with the mother mentioned only in passing, Xu Su Ying was still De’an’s birth mother. Information about her was there.
Furthermore, for fear of being accused of falsifying information, every detail on De’an’s registration form had been recorded with complete accuracy; they hadn’t dared to cut a single corner.
It documented the exact year, month, and day Xu Su Ying was rescued by Chen Song, as well as the specific section of the river and the pier where it happened. It listed who could serve as a witness and who had acted as her guarantor so she could obtain household registration in the Zhao Village of Qingshui County. Even some of her activities over the years were briefly mentioned.
The information was as real as it gets. It would hold up to any scrutiny from the government; not a single detail was fabricated.
Xu Yanlin said, "Aunt, you have amnesia, so you don’t remember falling into the water. But the place where it happened was the Sui River, in the suburb of the capital..."
The Sui River, located in the suburb of the capital, was famous for its lotuses, whose leaves were so vast they seemed to touch the sky. Every midsummer, countless nobles would board their private, painted pleasure barges or hire small boats to drift along the waterway and admire the blossoms lining the banks.