Chapter 571 - 212: The Past (Part 3)
Chapter 571: Chapter 212: The Past (Part 3)
But seeing this niece, he took a genuine liking to her. He eagerly unfastened the Jade Pendant from his waist and handed it over.
"This is a token. Take it. From now on, if you’re in the Capital City and see a shop with this Jade Pendant’s design on its sign, just go right in. Those are all my businesses. If you see anything you like inside, feel free to take it."
Chen Wanqing tried to refuse, but Xu Shiling immediately said, "If you don’t take it, you’re looking down on your uncle."
Xu Suying chimed in, "Silly girl, why are you being so formal? Your uncle is giving it to you, so hurry up and take it. From now on, you can pop into your uncle’s shops whenever you have free time. You could fleece him until you become a rich woman yourself."
Then she asked Xu Shiling, "Is there only one of these Jade Pendants? You know, you have three nieces and nephews. Isn’t giving one only to Qing’er showing a bit of favoritism?"
Xu Shiling couldn’t be bothered with his sister. "Even a skinflint would get fleeced by you," he said to her. "This is the only one; there are no more. What would a boy do with this anyway? They have hands and feet. If they want something, they should go out and earn it themselves."
"I don’t like the sound of that. Yao’an, do you?"
Yao’an put on a miserable expression. "I’m the youngest one here. Do I even get a say? But, Uncle, I’m the poorest person in this family. I have to please my mother just to get a bite of meat. Uncle, take pity on me. You don’t have to give me a token. Just take me out for a few good meals."
Xu Shiling’s heart softened instantly. "Alright. Not just one meal, I’ll treat you to ten. Sweet-talk your grandmother a bit when we get back to the Capital. She’s the most generous one, and she even owns a restaurant. If you can coax that restaurant out of her, you can have the chefs there make you whatever you want to eat in the future."
"I can do that?"
"You absolutely can. If you don’t believe me, just try."
Xu Shiling was truly a smooth talker. With him around, there was never a lull in the conversation.
With Xu Suying excited as well, the table was filled with laughter and lively chatter, creating an uproar of a celebration.
The meal lasted for over two hours before everyone was finished.
At one point, because of the cold weather, the food grew cold quickly and had to be sent back to the kitchen to be reheated.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill, they moved to the flower hall to drink tea and aid their digestion.
They began to chat idly.
Xu Shiling spoke of all the places the family had searched for her over the years, but each search had unfortunately ended in failure.
Xu Suying recounted that when she was pulled from the river, it was already dark, and most of the laborers at the docks had already gone home.
The few who remained were on good terms with Chen Song, so they weren’t the type to spread idle gossip.
Back then, the old lady had gone to the docks to demand money from Chen Song.
Chen Lin had just gotten married around that time, and the family wanted to buy an ox-cart to make it more convenient to travel to town for business.
The old couple of the Chen family had money, but they were reluctant to spend it, preferring to pester their two older sons for cash.
Chen Song and Chen Bai didn’t dare go home. When the old lady couldn’t find them waiting at the crossroads, she went straight to the docks.
When the old lady saw that Chen Song had rescued a woman, she didn’t think of sending her away. Instead, she hoped to profit from Xu Suying. Even if she couldn’t extort anything, this was a young woman who could be sold for a good sum. But she never would have guessed that Chen Song and Xu Suying would end up marrying. The old lady’s efforts came to nothing, like drawing water with a bamboo basket; she didn’t get a single thing.
The old lady was resentful, so she spread all sorts of nasty rumors.
But it was all just gossip. The common folk would listen for a moment, but who would really take it to heart?
Besides, twenty years had passed. It was hard to say how many people even remembered the incident anymore.
Listening to his sister recount these past events, Xu Shiling’s eyes filled with sorrow. "We never, ever imagined where the water might have carried you."
The Qingshui River in Qingshui County is so very far from the Sui River near the Capital City. No ordinary person could have guessed that after being pulled away by an undercurrent, my sister would be swept into the Jitong River and then drift all the way to the Qingshui River.
After we found the maid’s body, we focused our investigation on that area. Our search radius extended fifty li upstream and downstream, but who could have known that the river’s undercurrents were so extensive? They carried two people who fell in around the same time to completely different locations.
"To be honest, after searching for so many years with no results, we had all lost hope..."
’How could an undercurrent be underestimated? A person swept into one could easily be torn to pieces. We even had the grim thought: was our sister torn to shreds and eaten by the fish in the river? But the idea would only flash through our minds. We never dared to dwell on it.’
"Little sister, do you really not remember anything about what happened before and after you fell in the water?"
"I really don’t. I must have been incredibly fortunate to have survived that undercurrent. But my head was injured, and there’s still a blood clot inside, which is why I can’t remember anything about my time at home."