Chapter 62: 62. Su Guoer

62. Su Guoer's Troubles

In the Liu family mansion, a brightly lit main hall.

Upon hearing his eldest brother's words, Liu Zi'an fell silent.

Liu Zilin, however, grew more and more confused as he listened:

"Isn't this guy here because he was demoted for offending the current Emperor and Princess Changle?"

Liu Zi'an frowned, glanced at him, and explained impatiently:

"When it comes to demotions, you have to look at where they are being demoted to. Not just anyone is qualified to be demoted to Magistrate of Longcheng County."

He paused, also feeling somewhat confused:

"At first, I thought he was just a little white rabbit who had read himself stupid. Otherwise, how could the nobles of the Wei clan have felt safe enough to allow him to come here? Isn't it obvious they were sending him to us to be our dog?"

"With a clean reputation and a brainless, bookish nature, this was an option both sides could reluctantly nod and agree to... but looking at it now, why does it increasingly seem like a decisive move from the other side?"

Liu Ziwen lowered his head in silent contemplation, while Liu Zilin looked as if he half-understood.

There was a moment of silence in the hall.

Just then, two people suddenly walked along the long corridor outside the hall.

It was a limping servant respectfully leading in a plain-looking woman. The latter was around forty, with a slightly long face, though she was well-maintained. She was dressed like a standard wealthy woman of the Great Zhou Dynasty, nothing special.

"Eldest Brother, it's time to eat. Oh? Second Brother and Third Brother are here too? Let's eat together." The woman moved slowly, and her speech was just as slow.

Liu Ziwen looked up, forced a smile, and nodded. "Thank you for your hard work."

Liu Zi'an and Liu Zilin also stood up immediately to acknowledge her, calling her "Sister-in-law."

The woman's surname was Xu. Liu Ziwen had married very early and poured all his heart into the Ancient Yue Sword Shop and other family businesses; he treated his wife with the utmost respect.

The three Liu brothers had lost their parents early; the eldest brother acted as a father, and naturally, the eldest sister-in-law acted as a mother, much like Ouyang Rong's aunt.

No matter how arrogant, domineering, or bullying Liu Zi'an and Liu Zilin were outside, they were relatively obedient in front of their eldest sister-in-law. This was the norm for the era, as the sense of filial piety and fraternal duty within clans was very strong.

Therefore, no matter how busy or troubled the three brothers were, they had to honestly go and eat the dinner prepared by Lady Xu; it was an unspoken understanding of the Liu family.

Today was no exception.

At the dinner table, Lady Xu was very attentive to her two younger brothers-in-law, enthusiastically serving them food and asking after their well-being, even getting up halfway through to pour them soup.

In this interval, Liu Ziwen, who usually followed the rule of "not speaking while eating," suddenly put down his chopsticks, his eyes fixed on a dish in front of him.

"Since the Magistrate says he wants to uphold justice, then Third Brother, go ask for justice tomorrow."

"Yes, Eldest Brother!"

Liu Zilin nodded, his face eager to try.

Only Liu Zi'an, sitting to the side, didn't seem to pay much attention to his brothers' words; he glanced at Lady Xu's back as she went to serve soup, then lowered his head to eat honestly and quietly.

Luming Street, Su family mansion.

After dinner.

In an elegant and secluded back garden.

Vegetation was lush in Jiang Nan, and fireflies were already emerging from the flowerbeds on this seasonal night.

A little maid with a bun-like face covered her mouth with a light silk fan, jumping and hopping in the flowerbeds, chasing after fireflies, shouting from time to time, "Miss, Miss, look, look!" and "Oh my, that one is so big!"

Occasionally, a sigh of disappointment would come, as she looked up and pouted at the fireflies flying away.

On a brightly lit gallery in the garden, a cold and aloof young lady, newly painted with plum blossom makeup, flipped through a book, turning a deaf ear to the personal maid whose temperament didn't match her own at all.

Only when the sound of stumbling came would the cold young lady nod slightly, not even lifting her eyelids as she said:

"If you jump until you're hungry later, you are not allowed to sneak snacks from the living room tonight. Otherwise, Mother will send over a huge pile of pastries every day, thinking I'm the one who's greedy."

"..." the bun-faced maid, whose stomach was already rumbling.

Su Guoer shook her head and turned another page of the poetry collection in her hand.

She was still reading Tao Yuanming's poems recently.

It wasn't because Su Guoer was a literary fan girl who admired famous scholars.

It was because of the planchette prophecy from that old physiognomist back then.

It predicted that she would meet a man who seemed like destiny, a noble person in her life. The old physiognomist didn't say exactly how "noble" he would be, only that the important thing was the "meeting," which would be the turning point of her fortune. Su Guoer wanted to meet him sooner.

This old physiognomist was no simple person; he came from the Shangqing Sect, one of the Three Pure Daoist Sects of the South, and held a very high seniority. He had physiognomized many people in Su Guoer's family, and in some aspects, he was no less capable than the top-tier court physiognomists around the Wei clan's Empress...

Under the night sky, the cold young lady leaned lazily against the railing, her brows painted with plum blossoms slightly furrowed, her fingers gently twisting the corner of the pale yellow page.

A hidden dragon in the abyss... emerging with the bright moon... serving as an official in this county and then resigning... would write a rhapsody on resigning and retiring...

Meeting all these conditions, Su Guoer had racked her brains before and could only think of one person.

That was Tao Qian, Tao Yuanming, the famous scholar of the Eastern Jin Dynasty recorded in the Longcheng County Annals.

Not only did his name sound very consistent with the first two lines of the prophecy, but he had indeed served as Magistrate of Longcheng County for eighty-one days. Later, he refused to bow for five pecks of rice, resigned from his post, and was a brilliant writer who left behind many poems and rhapsodies, which were still talked about by the locals...

Many place names and street names in Longcheng today were derived from allusions related to this famous scholar.

And in recent years, Su Guoer had found out that the relevant county annals recorded that before this person resigned, he had indeed written a rhapsody on resigning and retiring, and the name seemed to be... "The Return."

But this rhapsody was lost somewhere and had not been passed down in its entirety.

Finally, the only slight discrepancy that made her regretful was...

This was a figure from the Eastern Jin Dynasty four hundred years ago!

Could it be that he was still a long-lived top-tier Qi refiner?

But even the most top-tier Qi refiner would find it hard to live until today, unless he had reached the pinnacle of the mythical Daoist lineage, some unknown rank? But... is it possible?

She felt it was unrealistic.

The cold young lady put down the poetry collection, propped up her chin, and stared blankly at the silly maid in the flowerbeds, leaving only a faint sigh in the evening breeze:

"The Return... will gift me the bright moon... gift me the rhapsody..."

However, in recent days, Su Guoer's somewhat deadened mood had become a bit more lively, because she had heard some things from the Xie family sister she lived with.

Some deeds about the new young Magistrate.

This trend seemed a bit different...

The old physiognomist's prophecy clearly pointed out that this destined noble person would serve as the Magistrate of Longcheng County, so Su Guoer had carefully searched through archives and classics before, but found that none of the Magistrates of Longcheng County in the last fifty years had voluntarily resigned, except for those who died in office or were in mourning.

She had also cast her gaze on the several Magistrates who had arrived in recent years, but was disappointed to find that they were either good-for-nothings or muddled people, and had absolutely no intersection with her during their tenure, let alone the act of gifting a rhapsody or a moon.

As for this Ouyang Lianghan, when he first took office a few months ago, Su Guoer had also taken Caishou to visit him, but unfortunately, there was nothing special about him; he didn't look like the noble person described in the prophecy who was worthy of the evaluation "a hidden dragon in the abyss."

And quite comically, the day this Ouyang Lianghan took office, he announced he would control the floods, only to fall off a bridge himself and drown into a coma...

How could Su Guoer not be disappointed and dejected? She had already lost much heart and was not very willing to believe in fate anymore.

She might as well pin her hopes on Tao Yuanming from four hundred years ago. What if he really could live until now?

At the moment, although she felt that the young Magistrate was gradually becoming interesting, Su Guoer didn't hold much hope. As for Tao Yuanming, on whom she had already invested a lot of time and energy, she naturally wouldn't give up lightly.

"I wonder if Xie Jie can help me find that hidden rhapsody."

Su Guoer whispered softly.

She watched the night sky silently for a while. At one moment, her peripheral vision suddenly caught a familiar graceful figure not far away. Su Guoer immediately stood up, left the gallery, and went to meet her.

"Xie Jie is back?"

"Little Su Mei." Xie Lingjiang turned her head and greeted her.

After getting closer, Su Guoer slowed her steps. She noticed that this Xie sister had an extra woman behind her, following closely. This seemed to be the first time Xie Jie had brought someone into the Su mansion; she hadn't even brought her Magistrate senior brother back before.

Su Guoer glanced sideways slightly.

This was a tall Hu woman with deep eyes and a high nose, brown hair, and a pair of strange blue eyes. At this moment, she seemed to be brought into this strange environment, and the Hu woman lowered her head, timid and weak, not looking around, let alone making eye contact with her.

"By the way."

Xie Lingjiang seemed to be in a very good mood and introduced with a light smile:

"Her name is Zhiying, originally a Hu dancing girl from the Yuanming Tower. Little Su Mei can call her Yingniang."

"Then Xie Jie, this is..."

Xie Lingjiang's eyes were clear as she took Yingniang's hand:

"Yingniang has had a hard life, sold to this foreign land by black-hearted Hu merchants. I felt like old friends with her at first sight. I have already helped her complete her redemption recently. It's just that after leaving the Yuanming Tower, she had nowhere to live for a while, so I brought her back, thinking of letting her squeeze into a room with me... Little Sister shouldn't mind, right?"

Su Guoer shook her head and said indifferently: "No problem. No need to squeeze into one room, I'll let Caishou go and clear out another room."

Xie Lingjiang patted Yingniang's trembling hand and comforted her gently:

"Don't be afraid. Little Su Mei looks cold, but she is sincere in her treatment of others. She won't bully you like those people in the Yuanming Tower before. From now on, we are sisters."

Yingniang seemed to calm down a little and whispered: "Hello, Miss Su."

Su Guoer nodded, but at the moment she obviously had more important things to do and had no time to pay attention to a small Hu woman. When Caishou arrived late, Su Guoer ordered Caishou to take Yingniang down to settle in.

After the people were taken away, Su Guoer turned her head and asked Xie Lingjiang directly: "Xie Jie, in the archives of the county government, have you found any news about 'The Return'?"

Xie Lingjiang was not surprised and nodded slightly:

"In the past few days, besides being busy with the things Ru Shixiong entrusted, I also carefully checked. There are indeed some discoveries. In a version of the county annals collected in the archives, it is recorded that the famous Eastern Jin scholar did indeed leave behind a rhapsody at the end."

"As for its whereabouts, it only mentioned one thing: before Tao Yuanming left Longcheng, he had gifted it to the abbot and friend of the Donglin Temple at that time. It's just that I don't know if the Donglin Temple's library has preserved this rhapsody."

Su Guoer's pretty face was happy at first, but then she froze, but in the end, her face relaxed a little. She whispered:

"It's good to have news. Donglin Temple, huh..." ===== CHAPTER 63 =====