An Youwei's face turned ashen: "Da Ming, where am I supposed to get a hundred or eighty taels of silver?!" Even if I sold the land and the house, I wouldn't get more than a few taels of silver!
"Stop pretending to be poor! An Xin solved Shui Yue Rou's case, and the county magistrate gave her a lot of reward money! She also won a lot at the gambling den. She didn't give any of it to you, did she?!" An Daming said through gritted teeth.
Heaven knows what stroke of luck that bitch had, actually solving Shui Yue Rou's case. Her luck is truly extraordinary! Even that godlike Right Prime Minister gave her a reward. Just thinking about all that gleaming silver made An Daming's heart itch with greed.
He didn't come home last night, lost everything, and is now burdened with debt. If he doesn't find a way to pay it off, he's going to be in big trouble!
He didn't dare to pressure An Xin, but he could at least pressure An Youwei!
However, as soon as he said that, everyone started to discuss it.
News travels slowly in the village, and nobody knows who solved Kuang Shuiyue Rou's case. After hearing what An Daming said, could it be that An Xin?
No way!
I heard the county magistrate hired someone from the Feng family! Solving cases isn't something just anyone can do; how could that illiterate, abandoned woman possibly solve a case!
What?! A gambling den?!
A young woman actually went to a gambling den to gamble! Was she desperate for money or insane?!
It should be known that in Dayi, women already had a low social status, so it was inappropriate for them to appear in public. Besides, shouldn't a young woman be mindful of her reputation?
Immediately, everyone looked at An Youwei with utter mockery.
Xu Ruolan trembled. She absolutely believed her daughter would never do anything immoral, but what case? When did Xin'er learn to solve cases?!
An Daming chuckled and said, "Uncle, I'm not lying. Even the Feng family couldn't solve Shui Yue Rou's case, but Xin'er solved it. Everyone in Yi'an County knows that. You'd better hand over the money quickly!"
An Xiaoyue was also taken aback. An Xin... solved the case?
These words just don't make any sense together! How could she have solved the case? She must have gotten incredibly lucky and stumbled upon the killer's identity!
"I...I don't know anything about this..." An Xin didn't mention a word about it. Even An Youwei didn't believe An Xin could solve the case. After all, solving a case was something only the most intelligent people could do, and even more so, something only geniuses could do...
An Xiaoyue covered her mouth in surprise and said, "To the gambling den!? Brother, you must be mistaken. Why would Sister Xin'er go to a gambling den!?"
Because the case was so impactful, everyone forgot about the gambling den. But after An Xiaoyue brought it up, they started talking all at once.
Liu Yuemei shrieked, "An Youwei, are you trying to renege on your promise?! Da Ming has been beaten so badly, and you, as his uncle, just want to let this go?! You're bullying us! You think you can bully us just because your daughter knows kung fu?! I don't want to live anymore!"
An Youwei's expression changed: "Sister-in-law, if Xin'er really did this, I will definitely give Daming an explanation!"
Liu Yuemei snarled, "What do you mean it really was Xin'er who did it?! It was she who hit her!"
"So what if I hit him!" A cool voice pierced through the crowd, almost chillingly, causing everyone's expression to change and them to turn around and look.
The girl's expression was indifferent, and her cold eyes swept over everyone before finally landing on An Daming. For some reason, An Daming suddenly shivered.
However, everyone froze on the spot for the next moment.
The person standing beside An Xin...
---Aside---
Looking for girls~
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Way of Hospitality
The villagers are all unsophisticated and have never seen the world. Even those who have seen the world would probably be stunned to see such people all of a sudden.
Yan Zhen shook his folding fan, his gaze falling lightly on An Youwei. After not seeing him for several days, this man looked even more disheveled... Well, even he himself did not expect that one day he would notice this unknown pawn.
Everyone present had the same feeling—some people, even without saying a word or smiling, can make you feel ashamed as dirt.
He is elegant, stunning, captivating, and radiant.
And they are humble, they are soil, they are mundane, they are ugly.
Clouds and mud, heaven and earth.
An Youwei was the first to react. He stared at Yan Zhen in astonishment, feeling a terrifying pressure emanating from this person, even though the person's expression was calm and not cold.
Who is this person? How come he's with Xin'er...?
An Xin frowned. When Lu Zhu came running up breathlessly to say that An Daming had come to cause trouble, she already guessed what it was about. She had come over simply to teach An Daming a lesson, but she never expected that the influence of the people around her was so ridiculous.
An Xin walked straight past the frozen crowd and helped Xu Ruolan up, saying, "Father, Mother, don't pay them any mind. They're just being petty."
Xu Ruolan suddenly came to her senses and momentarily forgot what she was going to say.
An Xin glanced at Yan Zhen and said, "What are you standing there for? Come in!"
Dewdrop opened her mouth wide, and Jinqiao whispered from the side, "Dewdrop, let's go in too."
Dewdrop nodded hastily. This person... is so beautiful!
The door slammed shut, and the crowd outside remained frozen in shock...
Yan Zhen glanced around indifferently. The place was dilapidated, simple, and poor. This was a scene he had never seen before in his life. Could people really live in such a place?
An Youwei was extremely flustered. He kept rubbing his hands together. For some reason, he felt fear whenever he saw this person. An Xin seemed to be casually observing An Youwei's expression. Although he was nervous, he was obviously a stranger to the person in front of him. Could this person not be the Right Prime Minister... or did Father not recognize the Right Prime Minister at all?
But how could this be? Why would the Right Chancellor come here with her? Isn't that ridiculous?!
Lotus in the clouds, flowers on the roadside, the moon rises over the southern border, and the sunset glows over the western region.
The thought of someone who could be mentioned alongside the other three seemed unattainable, so An Xin decided not to waste her energy thinking about such irrelevant things.
Xu Ruolan asked awkwardly, "Xin'er, who is this...?"
An Xin said casually, "I picked it up on the street."
On the eaves, Chen Zhuo's lips twitched, and he thought bitterly: Girl, you're really good at picking things up!
Xu Ruolan glanced at Yan Zhen with some surprise, clearly unconvinced by his explanation. Just as she was about to speak, An Xin interrupted her: "Mother, I bought a lot of things. I'll cook today."
On one side, An Youwei subconsciously moved a stool and placed it in front of Yan Zhen, saying, "...Sit, sit." These two words were truly conflicted, containing a bit of respect, a bit of fear, a bit of politeness, and the rest was all restraint.
Yan Zhen raised her eyelashes and glanced at An Youwei. She was about to sit down as if it were a matter of course, but An Xin suddenly kicked out. If he hadn't reacted quickly, he would have been hit.
An Xin frowned: "My dad is an elder, why are you making him move a stool for you? Move it yourself!"
Yan Zhen: "..."
An Youwei was startled and hurriedly waved his hand, saying, "I'll carry it myself. Xin'er, we're guests, why don't you go and pour some tea!"
An Xin had a headache. This guy was just here to freeload a meal. What kind of guest was he?
The dewdrop, quick-witted as ever, hurriedly went to pour tea, and carefully said, "Young master, please have some tea."
Yan Zhen glanced at it and instinctively resisted. He only drank Longjing tea, and only used pure silver cups and saucers, which had to be carved with mandalas. In addition, the tea water could not be too hot or too cold. The tea had to be boiled and steeped with snow water from the melting snow on pine branches in winter, and the tea leaves had to be the tenderest buds...
"Drink it or don't, it's up to you!" An Xin seemed to know what he was thinking and rejected him with a single sentence.
On the rooftop, Shen Zhuo watched with a toothache, inwardly pleading for the Right Prime Minister's injustice.
Yan Zhen looked at the rough teacup in Lu Zhu's hand, then at the dirty and unsteady stool, and finally at the trembling An Youwei...
"Of course I'll drink it." Yan Zhen's eyebrows curved slightly, her smile as delicate as a flower petal, captivating the heart like a flower in bloom. Dewdrop was mesmerized.
****
The chicken and fish were still alive. An Xin casually twisted the chicken's neck and smashed the fish's head with a punch, leaving Lu Zhu dumbfounded.
An Youwei sat to one side feeling uneasy. After all, the other person was still standing, and he felt that sitting there was something wrong with him, but he didn't dare to ask any unnecessary questions.
"Young master... what would you like to drink?" An Youwei felt that ignoring a guest was not the proper way to treat a guest, so he had no choice but to make conversation.
Yan Zhen glanced at An Youwei, who was thin and wrinkled, looking at him cautiously with an uneasy expression. After a long pause, he asked, "What kind of wine do you have?"
The man's reply made An Youwei feel somewhat flattered for some reason. He hurriedly said, "The wine sold in the village isn't very good. A few years ago, I brewed two jars of wine and buried them in the yard, intending to drink them when Xin'er got married..." An Youwei's face darkened slightly as he said this, "but I didn't get to use them. This is brewed with glutinous rice, and it tastes very good. Would you like to try some, young master?"
Yan Zhen's eyes sparkled with spring sunshine, and the corners of her lips inexplicably lifted: "Drinking it on your wedding day? It must be good wine."
Does this mean they're going to drink? An Youwei hurriedly got up, grabbed a shovel, and started digging under an apricot tree.
Everyone was busy washing vegetables, leaving An Xin idle. She picked up a broom and started sweeping the floor. When she got to Yan Zhen, she saw that he wasn't moving and said, "Make way, can't you see I'm sweeping?"
On the rooftop, Shen Zhuo's lips twitched uncontrollably. It was always others who made way for the Right Prime Minister; no one dared to make him make way!
Yan Zhen wasn't angry. He took a step back and said, "The Feng Clan lost face in the Shui Yue Rou case. They should be more careful in the future."
An Xin paused with her broom, looked at him and said, "How did you know? How did you know I offended the Feng Clan? How did you know to be careful of the Feng Clan? You seem to know a lot about Shui Yue Rou!"
He sat down on the bench and said with a smile, "Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. Now the whole of Yi'an County knows about the evil you've done."
An Xin said expressionlessly, "I found the real culprit and cleared Shui Yue Rou's name. If this is an evil deed, where is justice?!"
His gaze fell on her face, and after a pause, he said, "In this world, where is there any justice?"
An Xin said nonchalantly, "As long as I have a clear conscience, I don't care how dark the world is!"
He raised the corners of his lips and smiled, "You're quite an unexpected surprise." An unexpected variable in his plan.
---Aside---
It's said that not talking about off-topic things makes you feel invisible, well... I had a sleepless night last night and am currently in a state of mental fog. Luckily, I have a little bit of draft saved up. So sad... It's said that staying up late is extremely harmful to women, making them age faster and shorter. I've successfully verified the first point. Aww, three minutes of silence for my ever-fading youth...
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Dust-Avoiding Pearl
Cooking is a delicate art, but Anxin always seems to miss the mark. Take starting a fire, for example: adding even a fraction more firewood makes it too crowded, subtracting even a fraction makes it too empty; too much fire makes the pot too hot, too little fire makes the pot too cold. Just the right amount, neither too much nor too little, burning without smoke, is perfect.
However, it is clear that starting a fire is directly related to one's emotional intelligence; if one's emotional intelligence is too low, the fire-starting will fail!
"Cough cough cough cough..." Dewdrop coughed standing up, coughed sitting down, coughed while covering her mouth, and even coughed after running outside. An Xin was extremely annoyed. Starting a fire was much more troublesome than solving a case. One wrong move and she could choke to death, another could start a fire, and most importantly, it polluted the environment!
Jinqiao rushed over, both amused and exasperated, and said, "Xin'er, there's too much firewood stuffed in here."
An Xin covered her mouth and said, "That's right, the air inside is blocked, so the fire naturally won't light. Combustible material, oxidizer, and ignition source are all indispensable. How could I forget that!" As she spoke, An Xin picked up a stick, hollowed out some of the firewood in the center of the stove, and then added some more to ignite it. Sure enough, the stove caught fire. Next, An Xin grabbed a cloth, soaked it in water, poured some vinegar into the water, shook it in the air, and then casually lit the oil lamp on the stove. Watching the smoke slowly dissipate, An Xin clapped her hands in satisfaction. When she came to her senses, she saw everyone behind her staring at her in disbelief, as if they had seen a ghost.
An Xin's heart skipped a beat. Oh no, she had accidentally let something slip.