A pure heart in a jade pot

Chapter 95

Nangong Ruoxu came out of the main hall to greet him and bowed deeply, saying, "I have been wanting to thank you in Kaifeng Prefecture, but I was afraid of arousing suspicion and causing you trouble."

Zhan Zhao quickly helped him up: "Brother Nangong, please don't be so polite. Taking care of your health is the most important thing."

"Lord Zhan, please have a seat." Ning Wangshu stepped forward and said with a smile, "It's a pity you're a step too late, Xiao Qi just left."

Upon hearing this, Zhan Zhao simply lowered his eyes and smiled faintly, then sat down with Nangong Ruoxu.

"Lord Zhan," Nangong Ruoxu said with a worried expression, "I heard from Xiao Qi that you will be marrying the princess to the Liao Kingdom. Is that true?"

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly: "That is indeed the case. I will probably have to leave sometime between May and June."

"Is this because of the seven-leaf locust flower, which is why the princess is angry with you and forcibly orders you to go to Liao with her?" Nangong Ruoxu had no choice but to ask. If it was because of the seven-leaf locust flower, then he owed Zhan Zhao an enormous favor.

Zhan Zhao smiled and shook his head, calmly saying, "Brother Nangong, you're overthinking it. It has nothing to do with the seven-leaf locust flower; it's just official business."

His calm and composed demeanor only fueled Nangong Ruoxu's suspicions, but he knew that if he pressed further, Zhan Zhao would not utter a single word that would burden him. He had previously only seen Zhan Zhao as meticulous and dedicated in his official duties, but now, filled with gratitude, he couldn't help but secretly admire him: He had always heard that Zhan Zhao acted with loyalty and righteousness at heart, setting aside matters of the court; the reputation of him as the Southern Hero in the martial world was truly well-deserved.

Such a great favor, it seems too inadequate to simply say thank you, so Nangong Ruoxu sincerely said, "If you ever encounter any difficulties in the future, Nangong will definitely do his best to help you."

"Brother Nangong, you flatter me."

Ning Wangshu personally brought in fragrant tea and served it to Zhan Zhao.

"Lord Zhan, my little Qi has caused you a lot of trouble. I apologize on her behalf. Please forgive her." She handed the teacup to Nangong Ruoxu and turned back with a smile.

Zhan Zhao smiled and said, "No, she's fine."

“I didn’t say she was bad.” Ning Wangshu smiled. “She is a very good person, but she always causes some minor trouble. If she causes any more trouble in the future, please don’t blame her.”

"I……"

Zhan Zhao wanted to say how could he blame her, but when he thought of his upcoming trip to the Liao Kingdom and how he could talk about the future with Mo Yan, he paused for a moment and then said calmly, "No, I won't."

Mo Yan had grown up with Ning Wangshu since childhood, and she was well aware of her junior sister's feelings. Seeing that her junior sister was about to leave with this person, she was worried, but she also understood that love was such a thing. Now, besides hoping that Zhan Zhao would cherish and take good care of Mo Yan, she had no other choice.

"That silly girl really likes you, you know that?" she asked bluntly.

Zhan Zhao was taken aback. Ning Wangshu was probably the only person he had met besides Mo Yan who spoke so freely about matters of children. He truly deserved to be a fellow disciple.

Both of them were staring at him, and with no way to avoid it, he could only nod.

Seeing that he merely nodded without saying anything about being wronged or ashamed, Ning Wangshu was delighted and smiled, "It's good that you understand. Although that silly girl is often carefree, she can't sleep when she's heartbroken over something she really cares about."

Zhan Zhao lowered his eyes and smiled. After a while, he suddenly remembered something that had been on his mind for a long time: "Your senior brother Xiao Chen once told me something. I wonder if I should ask him?"

"Second Senior Brother?" Ning Wangshu asked curiously, "What is it?"

"When Xiaoqi had a fever, she talked incoherently. Brother Xiao instructed me not to tell her. I wonder why?"

Ning Wangshu fell silent upon hearing this, remaining speechless for a long while, as if he had something difficult to say.

Chapter Twenty-Eight [VIP]

Seeing the troubled look on her face, Zhan Zhao assumed that it was inconvenient for her to tell him the truth. He never wanted to force people to do things against their will, so he quickly said, "If there is any inconvenience, it is alright. I was being presumptuous."

If it were anyone else, Ning Wangshu would never have revealed the reason, but when Zhan Zhao asked, she thought about it for a long time and finally felt that she should tell him.

“Speaking of which, it was more than ten years ago,” she said softly. “That year, around the Qingming Festival, my master took my second brother and me back to our hometown to pay respects to our ancestors and sweep their graves. On the way, we passed through a small village within Yangzhou’s territory. I remember many people were banging gongs and drums, and there were also many officials there. A very, very small little girl was being tied up and taken up the mountain by them. The little girl kept crying out: ‘Father, save me! Father, save me!…’”

“I didn’t understand, so I asked my master why those people were binding that little girl. My master went up to inquire and found out that they said the little girl was a demon who had used magic to kill many people in the village, so they wanted to burn her alive. We secretly followed those people up the mountain, and when we got to a wooden house halfway up the mountain, there were many gruesome corpses piled up outside. I was so scared that I closed my eyes and couldn’t bear to look anymore…”

Her voice trembled slightly, and Nangong Ruoxu reached out and gently held her hand. Taking a long, deep breath, Ning Wangshu mustered her courage to continue: "...I heard the little girl screaming incessantly until her voice became hoarse, and then there was no sound. When I opened my eyes again, the corpses and the little girl were gone. I asked my second brother where the little girl was, and he said that the little girl and the corpses had been locked up in a wooden hut by the officials."

Upon hearing this, Zhan Zhao's heart surged with emotion. He gripped the armrest of the armchair tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white, yet he still asked with meticulous care, "Brother Xiao, aren't you blind? How can you see?"

“My second brother’s eyes were still open then; he went blind after we returned to Sichuan,” Ning Wangshu explained, then continued, “The officials started piling firewood around the wooden house, and my second brother said they wanted to burn the little girl alive. My second brother was furious and told me to stay put so he could rush over and save her. Master wouldn’t let him go and used acupressure to hide us in the bushes.”

"Then, the fire started! Although I couldn't see it, I could vaguely hear the little girl's cries... I was extremely anxious, but I couldn't move. After a long time, it seemed that everyone had gone down the mountain before my master came back. He was covered in dirt from head to toe. He released our pressure points and took us to a deserted place on the mountaintop."

She then looked up and smiled, seemingly relieved: "That little girl was lying unconscious on the ground, her face blackened by smoke, but she's still alive. That's Xiao Qi."

"After Xiaoqi woke up, for some reason, although she was not injured, she couldn't remember anything that had happened before. Master saw that she had a pitiful background and didn't want her to remember, so he made up a lie to deceive her, and Xiaoqi believed it. But when she woke up in the middle of the night, she would often talk in her sleep and call out, 'Father save me! Father save me!' Master warned us that no one should mention this matter in front of her, so as not to make her remember it and cause her more trouble."

After she finished speaking, the room fell into a deathly silence. Even Nangong Ruoxu had never heard of this before. He always saw Mo Yan with a cheerful expression, but he never imagined that her background was so pitiful.

Zhan Zhao's face was ashen, his eyes blazing with anger. He forced himself to remain calm as he asked, "You just said it was in a small village in Yangzhou. Do you remember the name of the village?"

Ning Wangshu frowned for a long time, then hesitated and said, "I was too young at the time and I don't remember very clearly. I think it was called something like water."

"Is it Sanshuipu?"

“Sanshuipu…that seems to be the name of the village, Sanshuipu.” She asked in surprise, “Lord Zhan, how did you know?”

Zhan Zhao closed his eyes and shook his head involuntarily—such a coincidence! The story told by the old woman in Sanshuipu was still ringing in his ears. How could he have imagined that the little girl would be her?

Now he understood everything: why Mo Yan was so afraid of corpses; why Mr. Gongsun said she was depressed; why she had a splitting headache in Sanshuipu; and where the crescent-shaped scar on her temple came from… He finally understood everything.

This seemingly carefree and optimistic girl had actually experienced such sorrow.

At that moment, he was suddenly overcome with unbearable heartache.

"Lord Zhan?" Ning Wangshu called softly.

Realizing he had lost his composure, he steadied himself and opened his eyes again: "Um... I, I just happened to know the name of this village, and I said it to see what would happen, but I didn't expect it to be this coincidental." Since Mo Yan had chosen to forget such a difficult past, he would also forget it with her and never mention it again.

"Don't worry, I won't mention this to Xiaoqi," he said quietly. "It's better if she doesn't remember these things."

Ning Wangshu smiled faintly and nodded in agreement: "My master said that although it is a pity for a person to have no past, it is also a good thing. At least you can continue to live without burdens and with ease."