Chapter 198

Gu Xixi bent down, leaned in to look at the poem‑code lock, her eyes like she was facing an enemy.

"Do you know how to solve this thing? I want to throw it away!"

He Jinglan said, "Naturally, you just need to match the preset four‑character poem, and it will open."

She bent down, bumping heads with Gu Xixi as they looked at the lock, stroking her chin in thought:

"Normally each wheel has six to nine characters; this one has nine, the highest difficulty."

Gu Xixi turned the wheels, saying, "Do you know what poem it is?"

"Let's think together, starting from the first line, eliminating possibilities."

The bronze lock only has these few characters; famous works, the three hundred poems are as numerous as smoke.

With He Jinglan, an ancient liberal arts student, we should be able to figure it out quickly.

However, there was no sound from nearby for a moment; Gu Xixi turned her head, and when their eyes met, she suddenly realized something.

As for the answer, she shouldn't have asked at all!

With Mu Nan Zhao's nasty taste, how could he stoop to using someone else's poem as a password?!

So this password is known only to Mu Nan Zhao himself!!

He Jinglan saw Gu Xixi figure it out herself, spread her hands, and gave a helpless smile.

"There's nothing we can do; even if he's annoying, his talent in poetry and literature is still widely praised."

Gu Xixi looked at the bronze lock again; besides the password on the horse's belly side, the horse's mouth also has a keyhole—truly a double safeguard.

Moreover, it's made of extremely heavy brass; even with brute force it would probably be hard to break open.

He Jinglan glanced at Gu Xixi's expression, trying to persuade her, "I think we should just forget it……"

"He's not even here; getting angry at a bronze lock only upsets yourself—it's not worth it."

Gu Xixi took a deep breath, struggled to calm herself, "You're right."

"No need to quarrel with a dead object."

The two were about to walk away when Zhang Shen came out of the main hall and immediately saw the gleaming big lock.

She approached, glanced at the two girls, and asked, "What's going on? Where's Xiao Chen? Did Xixi lock Xiao Chen inside the house?"

He Jinglan laughed, "Auntie, you're joking; in broad daylight, why would Xixi lock a living person inside the house?"

Gu Xixi sighed, "Auntie, look at this aggravating thing—does it look like something our family could have?"

Zhang Shen was also drawn to the bronze lock, "Wow, it's exquisitely made; how can these parts in the middle still move?"

"What characters are engraved on top……?"

She reached out again, hefted it, and said, "It's quite heavy."

"Plus the craftsmanship—exchanging it for a large silver ingot would probably be no problem."

He Jinglan said, "If we could take it off, selling it for fifty or sixty taels of silver would be no problem."

"What?" Zhang Shen exclaimed in shock, turned her head to see the gate wasn't closed, and quickly lowered her voice.

"Fifty, fifty‑sixty?"

She looked at the bronze lock again, "This isn't Xixi's; it must be Xiao Chen's own doing?"

Gu Xixi and He Jinglan nodded in unison.

Zhang Shen grew more puzzled, "Where is Xiao Chen? There's nothing worth stealing in his room."

Gu Xixi answered directly, "He ran away; he'll never come back."

Zhang Shen felt as if a thunderbolt rolled over her head, nearly losing her balance.

She leaned against the wall and asked, "What, you say Xiao Chen ran away? How do you know?"

"He used to come and go unseen before; maybe you're just misunderstanding him this time!"

At this moment Gu Xixi had a blunt, "break the pot, break the pan" frankness.

"No misunderstanding; he has a better place to go, and from now on we'll treat our family as if he never existed."

"You don't need to worry anymore about whether he'll return; from now on we'll live just as before."

He Jinglan hadn't expected Gu Xixi to say that; she first glanced at her in surprise, then lowered her head to avoid Zhang Shen's gaze as much as possible.

But Zhang Shen still called her name, "Jing Lan, you tell me—what exactly happened between the two of them?"

"Did they argue? Or did Xixi bully him and drive Xiao Chen out?"

He Jinglan couldn't avoid the question, so she laughed and said, "Look at this bronze lock—it doesn't look like Xixi drove him out at all."

Zhang Shen didn't understand, "If Xiao Chen ran away, why would he still lock the house?"

He Jinglan glanced at Gu Xixi, still choosing to stand on the side of good sisters.

She spoke with difficulty, "He… isn't this just him causing trouble before leaving, so you can't open the door?"

Zhang Shen was full of question marks.

Would someone really spend fifty or sixty taels of silver just to lock someone else's door… to cause trouble?

Gu Xixi took Zhang Shen's hand and coquettishly said, "This matter is already over; don't worry about it, okay?"

"But……" Zhang Shen still wanted to say something.

Gu Xixi quickly continued, "Anyway, we only spent one wen cash at first; he did plenty of work while living here, and the tuition he earned as a teacher was all given to the family—basically even, we didn't lose out."

Zhang Shen furrowed her brows, thought for a while, finally understood, and lifted her head to say, "But that's still not okay—Xiao Chen was a match sent down by the government office."

"He isn't completely innocent; if he fled under unclear circumstances, shouldn't we report it to the authorities?"

"Otherwise, if one day they investigate, how would we explain it?"

Gu Xixi and He Jinglan exchanged a glance.

They had forgotten about this issue.

Not to mention that the Qing Tian County Office wouldn't handle this matter anyway.

In just a few days, the external situation will shift, and Chen Fang's criminal slave registration file will likely soon become a worthless piece of paper stamped 'This person is dead.'

But these inner details are not easy to explain to Zhang Shen.

Thus Gu Xixi said, 'Fine, tomorrow I was going to go into the city to shop anyway, so I'll swing by the Government Office to file a report.'

Zhang Shen nodded, her brows furrowed and face grim as she sighed and walked away.

She muttered under her breath, 'It was hard enough to develop feelings, and I actually thought I could make him into my own son-in-law.'

'He just patted his butt and ran off—what am I supposed to do with my Xixi...'

Gu Xixi originally wanted to chase after her to comfort Zhang Shen, but after thinking she could only let it be.

Even raising a little cat or dog creates feelings, let alone a person—just let Zhang Shen get used to it on her own.

She let out a breath, 'Come on, let's go to Qin Dasao's house.'

'Zhang Shen likes cherries, so I'll pick some fruit for her while I'm at it.'

Zhang Shen walked into the main hall and raised her eyes to see the spirit tablets of Gu Bapi and Xixi Niang.

Her previously bent spine suddenly straightened, and her fighting spirit reignited in her eyes.

'This man who came from outside, with unknown origins, really just won't do,'

'So, the lifelong matter of my Xixi's marriage—matching men and women—still needs me to personally oversee it!'

Qin Dasao's orchard had no one in it.

Gu Xixi asked the neighbors working nearby in the fields, and only then learned that Qin Dasao and her husband had gone into the city early that morning.

The neighbor auntie laughed, 'They've been digging up medicinal herbs nonstop lately—just now they dried a batch, and this morning I saw them load two full baskets, then head to the city to sell them for money.'

The auntie held up three fingers with her hand and said wistfully, 'It looks like they've already sold it three times; I asked how much money they made, but they wouldn't say, just laughed.'

'Looking at their expression, they definitely didn't make a small amount!'