Yan Liqiang was under a tree by the river, calmly watching the stubborn and strong little girl washing clothes in her hands by the river.
At this moment, Yu Qing was still a little girl of twelve or thirteen years old, with a pale face and slightly yellow hair. Due to long-term malnutrition, her bean sprout-like figure was wrapped in an obviously loose and somewhat old dress, which made her look a bit rustic. She was far from being as beautiful as the grown-up Yu Qing four years later. But even so, when Yan Liqiang looked at her, he still saw the familiar outline of four years later on her face, especially Yu Qing's eyes, which had a bright and determined look that was rare for a girl of this age, just like four years later.
When Yu Qing was just born, her mother died of excessive blood loss after childbirth. Two years later, her grandfather passed away. When she was five years old, her grandmother passed away. Last year, in the twelfth year of Yuanping, her father, who had been suffering from illness in bed for two years, finally passed away. Since then, in this small town outside the capital, a young girl who was not well-versed in the world has become a jinx and a synonym for bad luck that has brought misfortune to the whole family in the eyes of others.
During the two years when her father was bedridden, Yu Qing's family's fields and several large houses had all been pawned and sold to buy medicine for her father's treatment. In addition to these, her family owed a lot of money to the people in the town for her father's treatment. After her father passed away, Yu Qing did needlework and washed clothes for the guests of several inns in the town to make money to pay off her debts, amid the contempt and disgust of many people in the town.
Yu Qing worked as a needleworker and a clothes washer in the town for five years before she paid off the money her father owed her.
If Yan Liqiang did nothing, then, four years later, Yu Qing, who had just paid off her father's debt, would meet her aunt who had come home to visit her family, whom she had not seen for more than ten years. Then, she would leave the imperial capital with her aunt and return to Jinling City. After staying in Jinling City for a few days, her aunt and uncle would discuss marrying her to the stupid son of a cloth shop owner in Jinling City as a daughter-in-law. Then, on the third day after her aunt and uncle received the 600 taels of silver as a betrothal gift, a calamity would fall from the sky and turn everyone around her into corpses under the ruins. Then, in the ruins of Jinling City without the constraints of the king's law, this poor little girl, who was alone, would fall into the hands of a group of gangsters and scum who coveted her beauty and end up miserably...
…
As the sky gradually darkened, the women who were washing clothes by the river carried their clothes away. Only Yu Qing, with beads of sweat on her forehead, was still waving the wooden stick in her hand laboriously by the river, beating and rinsing the clothes in her backpack over and over again.
Several teenagers from the town passed by the river and saw Yu Qing beating clothes by the river. They looked at each other, and then one of them quietly went down the stone steps and pushed Yu Qing hard on the back...
With a "plop...", Yu Qing fell into the river. The teenagers had already run away laughing, shouting, "You jinx, you evildoer, you jinx, you evildoer..."
The water at the riverside was not deep, only up to the waist, but after Yu Qing fell into the river, she was suddenly soaked all over after she stood up.
"my clothes… "
Yu Qing found that the clothes she had just held in her hand had been carried by the water into the river and were drifting downstream. Without thinking, she walked towards the river. After just a few steps, the water suddenly flooded over her neck, causing her to choke. However, Yu Qing acted as if she didn't see it. She still stared at the clothes floating on the water. While walking towards the water, she stretched out her hands as hard as she could, trying to grab the clothes that were floating away. In the blink of an eye, the river water covered her head...
With a "plop...", Yan Liqiang jumped into the river without thinking, grabbed Yu Qing, grabbed the flying clothes, and then walked out of the river step by step onto the stone steps.
The wet hair stuck to Yu Qing's pale face. Yu Qing raised her head and looked at Yan Liqiang with a strange look as he jumped into the river to pick her up along with the clothes that had drifted away. It seemed that she had never expected that she would meet someone in the town who could jump into the water to save her.
Yan Liqiang's whole body and hair were also wet. His hair was still dripping with water and there were a few seaweeds hanging on his body. He handed the clothes he had picked up to Yu Qing, "Nothing is more important than your life. Don't do such stupid things again. This is just a piece of clothing!"
Yu Qing took the clothes handed to her by Yan Liqiang and held them tightly in her hand. She bit her lips tightly and said nothing. She seemed a little introverted, or she didn't know what to say to a stranger at this time. Because of the cold, her whole body was trembling slightly.
Yan Liqiang smiled, looked at Yu Qing with gentle eyes, then took out a gold ingot from his body and placed it in Yu Qing's hand. "My name is Yan Liqiang. I will leave Dijing City the day after tomorrow and return to Ganzhou. Here are ten taels of gold, which is enough for you to repay all your father's debts. If you want to leave Lihua Town, I can take you away!"
Yu Qing looked at the gold in her hand, then looked at Yan Liqiang, and was completely stunned. "Why... why are you helping me?" she asked timidly.
Yan Liqiang sighed, raised his eyes, and looked at the first star that began to appear faintly in the sky. "I once had a dream. In that dream, I also met a little girl named Yu Qing..." After saying this, Yan Liqiang found that Yu Qing's eyes were wide open and she looked at him without blinking. He felt that this reason was too awkward and literary for a little girl of twelve or thirteen years old. Yu Qing might not understand it. So he smiled awkwardly and took off the few water plants hanging on his body. "It doesn't matter if you don't want to go with me. I won't force you. The ten taels of gold in your hand are just a gift from me. You don't have to return it. If anyone wants to make trouble for you, tell them that the person who gave you this ingot of gold was a captain named Yan who was beside Eunuch Liu in Luyuan. Come on if you don't want to die!"
Yu Qing just looked at Yan Liqiang without saying a word or expressing her opinion.
"Why, you don't believe me? I know it's a little difficult since this is our first meeting, but I will never bully you like those people in the future!"
Yu Qing still didn't speak...
"Well, if you don't want to leave the Imperial Capital, maybe we will have a chance to meet again in a few years!" Yan Liqiang smiled, reached out to take off the duckweed on Yu Qing's head, then turned and left. If Yu Qing was unwilling to leave with him at this time, he certainly could not kidnap Yu Qing away.
"Wait a minute..."
Suddenly, a voice came from behind. Yan Liqiang turned around and saw Yu Qing looking at him with courage. There was a hint of excitement on her pale face. "I'll go with you..."
Yan Liqiang laughed...
"But I have to finish washing these clothes and send them to Evergreen Inn first. Can you... can you wait for me?" Yu Qing added seriously and nervously.
"Let me wash with you, let's do it quickly!" Yan Liqiang rolled up his sleeves and walked over again. He squatted on the stone steps by the river, took the wooden stick for washing clothes, and began to beat a piece of clothes that had not been washed yet. Yu Qing also squatted down and rinsed the clothes that Yan Liqiang had beaten. The two of them washed all the clothes that Yu Qing brought with them next to the Ten-Step Bridge and sent them back to the inn. Then, Yan Liqiang took Yu Qing to pay off all the debts owed by her family one by one...
…
When the moon was high in the sky and the stars were everywhere, when Yan Liqiang left Lihua Town, he was followed by a skinny little girl about twelve or thirteen years old, carrying a small bag on her back.
When walking out of Lihua Town, the little girl stopped for a moment. She turned her head to look at the lights of Lihua Town, wiped the tears from her eyes, and then left with Yan Liqiang without looking back...
(End of this chapter)