Only then did Xie Nanjia remember the family in the backyard.
The crying sound is so loud, it must be a healthy child. I wonder if it is a boy or a girl, and whether the mother is safe
Xie Nanjia was worried, so he took advantage of the time when Fourth Aunt was being questioned by the officials to quietly go to the backyard, but unexpectedly he met the head of that family in the alley.
"Miss, I'm looking for you." He walked up to Xie Nanjia with a happy face and bowed deeply: "Thank you, Miss. My wife gave birth to a daughter smoothly. Both mother and daughter are safe."
She couldn't see him clearly under the light last night, but now in the dim light of morning light, Xie Nanjia finally saw his appearance. He was about forty years old, with handsome features, a dignified appearance, and a calm demeanor. His eyes were gentle but wise, and a mole between his eyebrows gave him some dignity.
Xie Nanjia couldn't help but secretly admire: This person is truly born to be rich and noble.
"Your Excellency, there is no need to be so polite. It is because my lady is blessed with a good fortune that she was able to turn disaster into blessing." Xie Nanjia bowed and returned the greeting. "I heard the child crying and was about to go over to see. Now that the mother and daughter are safe, I am relieved. Your Excellency has not slept all night, go and rest!"
The man bowed again and said, "Please tell me your name, young lady. When I settle down in the capital, I will go to the mansion to thank you in person."
Xie Nanjia smiled and said, "Your Excellency is too kind. I am just a little girl in the Marquis' Mansion. Even if Your Excellency really comes to visit me, I am afraid I am not qualified to meet you. If Your Excellency really wants to thank me, please give me one of your name cards. If I need anything from Your Excellency in the future, please help me out for the sake of our fate today."
"Don't worry, young lady. You are the lifesaver of my wife and child. I will spare no effort to help you in any way I can." The man took out a golden hairpin from his sleeve and presented it with both hands. "To be honest, I am the new Minister of Personnel, An Yizhi. I am going to Beijing to take up my post, so I don't have a new name card yet. My wife asked me to bring this hairpin to thank you. If you need help in the future, you can take this hairpin to me or my wife."
It turned out to be him.
Xie Nanjia was slightly surprised. She had heard of An Yizi's name a long time ago. This man became famous at a young age. He was the youngest number one scholar in the Zhou Dynasty, the youngest prefect, and the youngest governor. Now, he has become the youngest minister and is also the head of the six ministries in charge of the appointment, dismissal and promotion of officials.
No wonder he has such an extraordinary demeanor.
No wonder the police questioned everyone but let his family go.
But as a new minister, he neither publicized it nor disturbed the people, and he treated a little girl with such courtesy, which shows his noble character and integrity as an official.
Xie Nanjia smiled and took the hairpin. "In that case, I won't be polite to Master An. I wish you a smooth journey and a successful promotion."
An Yizi saw that she spoke in moderation, neither humble nor arrogant, and that a maid was more graceful than the young ladies of ordinary families. He could not help but marvel at her and thought that she was worthy of being a member of the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion. She was used to big scenes and could remain indifferent when seeing a Minister of Personnel.
The two of them gave each other extremely high praise in their hearts, but remained expressionless on their faces. They bowed to each other, said goodbye and left.
Xie Nanjia put the hairpin and the jade pendant that the man in white had given her yesterday together and kept them close to her body. She murmured, "Son, this is all the blessing that mother has accumulated for you. It will be of great use to you in the future."
*****
After a round of interrogation and evidence search, the officials found no clues. The Fourth Aunt was cleared of suspicion and did not want to delay any longer. She left Liu Po's body behind, took Xie Nanjia and six guards, and set off again.
On the way, the fourth aunt asked Xie Nanjia: "Why did you say that the guards were right to report to the authorities?"
Xie Nanjia explained: "I believe that Auntie knows in her heart who wants to kill you. If we don't report it to the police, the other party will know that you have discovered his identity. In order to prevent you from going back to complain to the Marquis, I am afraid he will spare no effort to kill you and silence you.
But if we report it to the police and make a big fuss about it being a burglar who broke into the house and murdered, it would give the other party the illusion that we don't know who he is, and maybe she won't be so eager to silence him."
Fourth Auntie widened her eyes in shock: "Xiu'er, you really have a very smart mind!"
Xie Nanjia smiled slightly: "Auntie is teasing me again. I can think of it, and so can I. It's just that you were surprised and haven't figured it out yet."
The fourth aunt said, "Yes, yes, I was just too nervous. It was really scary at the time. I couldn't think too much."
The head guard heard their conversation outside and admired Xie Nanjia from the bottom of his heart. This girl was calm, smart, and good at speaking. She was more than a hundred times better than those experienced girls in the mansion.
Therefore, when he looked at Xie Nanjia again, his eyes were particularly different.
Xie Nanjia was just about to get close to him, and while taking a break, she finally found a chance to ask his name.
His name was Feng Lun. Before this, he was just an unknown little guard beside the Marquis. No one had ever noticed him. The reason why he was asked to lead a team to pick up the Fourth Aunt this time was because the Marquis felt that this was not a big deal and there was no need to mobilize a big fuss, so he temporarily assigned him.
Xie Nanjia laughed secretly after hearing this. The Fourth Aunt was so moved that she cried yesterday and said that the Marquis sent his most capable guard to pick her up, which was enough to prove that he truly loved her.
I didn't expect the truth to be so random.
If Fourth Aunt heard this, I wonder how much her infatuation would be broken into pieces.
Around noon, the group finally arrived in the capital.
Fourth Aunt excitedly lifted the curtain to look out, and said to Xie Nanjia with emotion: "Finally I'm back. Although it's only been a month, I feel like a year has passed."
Xie Nanjia looked at the majestic city gate outside the car window, her heart surging like the tide. What seemed like a year to Fourth Auntie was a lifetime to her.
After entering the city, the carriage drove through the streets and alleys towards the Marquis' Mansion. The Fourth Aunt was in high spirits and kept describing the street scenes on both sides to Xie Nanjia, telling her which cosmetics store was the most famous, which jewelry store was the most exquisite, which snacks store was the most delicious, and which tailor store had the most skillful hands.
Xie Nanjia showed little interest.
She was much more familiar with the capital than the Fourth Aunt. The shops she often visited were probably too big for the Fourth Aunt to even enter. Now she was not interested in any of these and was only thinking about how to see her son as soon as possible.
With a "whoosh", the carriage stopped, and Feng Lun reported from outside: "Fourth Aunt, we're here, please get off."
The fourth concubine suddenly became nervous and said in a trembling voice, "Prepare the sedan chair!"
There was silence outside for a moment, and Feng Lun said, "We came back so suddenly that the people in the mansion probably haven't received the news yet. Auntie, please come down and walk for a while. You've been sitting for so long, it's a good opportunity to stretch your muscles."
The words were said tactfully, and everyone understood the meaning, which was that Fourth Aunt was not worthy of riding in the sedan chair and could just walk in on her own.
Fourth Aunt was both embarrassed and angry. She whispered to Xie Nanjia resentfully, "Don't think I don't know. It must have been that vicious woman who didn't allow anyone to prepare a sedan chair."
Xie Nanjia said, "Since Auntie knows it clearly, you should be patient for now. It won't be too late to talk about all the grievances after you meet the Marquis."
"You're right. Let's talk about everything after I meet the Marquis." The Fourth Aunt came down the stairs, let Xie Nanjia get out of the car first, and then helped her down.
It’s okay if there’s no sedan chair, but at least there’s someone to support me!
After getting off the car, the guards on both sides saluted half-respectfully: "Fourth Aunt, how are you!"
The fourth aunt gritted her teeth, unable to pretend to be magnanimous, and forced a smile.
Xie Nanjia supported her silently, his eyes swept over the guards one by one, finally stopping on one of them.
According to Song Ce's description, he should be the one who was slapped.
Xie Nanjia raised the corners of her lips slightly and helped Fourth Aunt into the mansion through the side door.
My aunt was not qualified to enter through the front door, and even on her wedding day she was carried in through the side door in a sedan chair.
This was the first time that Xie Nanjia went through the side door. Although she was not on good terms with the prince, she was still the prince's wife and no one dared to let her go through the side door.
The fourth concubine looked at the main door with resentment and sighed, "I will never be able to walk through this door once in my life."
Xie Nanjia didn't respond and asked, "Where are we going now?"
"Where else can we go? Of course we have to go and pay our respects to the mistress first!" The fourth concubine said gritting her teeth, as if she wanted to chew the word "mistress" into pieces and swallow it into her stomach.
Xie Nanjia understood her anger, but could not empathize with her. She just silently helped her through the courtyards, around the winding corridors, and walked towards the Marquis's courtyard, Yixinyuan.
Compared with Fourth Aunt's simple anger and unwillingness, her mood was even more complicated than a tangled mess.
Every blade of grass, every brick and tile here were all very familiar to her, but now they seem so strange to her. Every place here had left countless footprints of hers. Now if she were to start over again, every step would be full of dangers and the future was uncertain.
(End of this chapter)