Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

The old house was even more dilapidated than Fan Changyu's home, clearly not well maintained. The interior was cluttered with items haphazardly placed together. Due to the fire pit being used during winter, the tables, chairs, and benches were covered in a layer of soot that hadn't been wiped clean.

If one didn't wipe them before sitting down, their clothes would be stained with black soot when getting up.

The furnishings in the house were all cheap earthenware pots. Both Fan Da and his son were gambling addicts, so any valuable items in the household had long been pawned for money.

The elderly couple of the Fan family lived in the west room. Fan Laodie called out at the doorway, "Old woman, Changyu is here."

Fan Laopozi, lying on the **, simply turned her back to the door, clearly unwilling to even speak to Fan Changyu.

Fan Laodie looked somewhat embarrassed and explained to Fan Changyu, "She's been like this ever since Da Niu was killed."

Fan Changyu didn't take it to heart at all, nor did she bother trying to greet her. For as long as she could remember, Fan Laopozi had never given her family a kind look.

She used the handkerchief handed by Fan Laodie to wipe the bench before sitting down by the fire pit in the main room to warm herself.

As Fan Laodie hung the cured meat she had brought over the fire pit to continue smoking, Fan Changyu noticed the uncollected bowls and chopsticks on the nearby table.

It seemed the elderly couple had cooked rice porridge for breakfast that morning. Even during the New Year, there wasn't a trace of meat on their table.

Fan Changyu frowned and asked Fan Laodie after he sat down, "Didn't you use the twenty-five taels of compensation money the government gave after Uncle's accident?"

Twenty-five taels was no small sum. For an ordinary family living frugally without medical expenses, ten taels could cover a year's expenses.

Fan Laodie stammered, "That money needs to be saved for your cousin's marriage..."

Fan Changyu raised her eyebrows, "Don't tell me he lost it all at the gambling den again?"

Fan Laodie replied, "The money is kept by your aunt. She's worried the mourning period will delay his marriageable age, so she plans to have him married during the mourning period. They're already looking at potential brides."

Hearing this, Fan Changyu said no more.

Everyone lives their own life. The elderly couple had always prioritized Fan Da in the past, and now that their son was gone, naturally they would prioritize their grandson.

As long as the old house didn't set their sights on her family's property again, she was willing to maintain this state of mutual non-interference between the two families.

She asked, "What was it you mentioned earlier about my father?"

Fan Laodie's wrinkled face was illuminated by the firelight, making him appear even more gaunt. He sighed slowly, "Da Niu's misfortune might also be my retribution."

Fan Changyu found these words somewhat strange but remained silent, waiting for Fan Laodie to continue.

"Although your father wasn't my biological child, he was my own brother's son. That year during the famine, your real grandfather went with the villagers to raid the government granary and was beaten to death by soldiers. Your grandmother gave all the family's stored food to your father and starved to death herself. Before she died, she entrusted your father to me..."Fan Laodie spoke of these memories with tears glistening in his cloudy old eyes: "I wanted to raise that child as my own flesh and blood, but it was a famine year. People were starving to death by the roadside, and some even set up pots to cook the corpses. The edible clay had been snatched up too. An extra mouth in the family meant everyone had to share their meager portions with your father. Your two aunts you've never met—the elder was only thirteen, given to a wealthy landlord as a concubine in exchange for half a sack of white flour..."

His voice trembled as tears streamed down his face: "Later, that landlord moved to another province. Decades have passed, and neither my wife nor I have seen that child again, not knowing if she's alive or dead. The younger one was just eight, sold to a human trafficker for three hundred coins, and we never heard from her again. By then, only Da Niu, Er Niu, and your father were left in the family, yet we still couldn't fill our stomachs. Your father was the same age as my Er Niu, but my Er Niu was frail too. On the road fleeing the famine, he fell gravely ill. To pay for his medicine, we had no choice but to sell your father to the traffickers too..."

"Your father was sensible from a young age. When the traffickers took him, he kowtowed to me three times." At this point, Fan Laodie choked up, unable to continue: "The five hundred coins we got for selling him... I've carried that guilt my whole life. Er Niu was unlucky—despite several doses of medicine, he couldn't be saved. I thought I'd never see your father again, but sixteen years ago, he returned to this town with your mother."

"As for the two daughters we sold, he spent all those years trying to track them down. He never found the elder one, but he did locate the younger. Heard she married a military household, but later died in the war. Famine and war—human life was as cheap as grass in those times..."

Fan Changyu hadn't expected so many hidden circumstances behind her father's "disappearance." Her emotions were tangled, and it took her a moment to speak: "After my father returned, why did he take your second son's name?"

Fan Laodie explained: "When your father came back, he told me he'd made enemies while working as an armed escort. He asked if he could live in town under Er Niu's identity—how could I refuse? So we told everyone he was Er Niu, who'd gotten lost during the famine. My wife has resented your father all these years, blaming him for the sale of our two daughters. After your parents settled here, she often went to their door causing trouble, claiming she'd sacrificed her girls for your father's sake, and she squeezed plenty of favors from them. Later, when your mother fell ill after giving birth to your sister, seeing your family had no male heir, she schemed to have Da Niu's second son adopted by your father to inherit the family property."

Fan Laodie sighed heavily, his face full of shame: "She's obsessed. Even if we hadn't taken in your father during the famine, those two daughters... we likely couldn't have kept them either. One by one, the children were lost until only Da Niu remained. Her constant indulgence is what spoiled him. It's my fault too—in the early years, I couldn't provide for this big family. Later, even knowing she was wrong, whenever she wept for our daughters, I couldn't bring myself to discipline Da Niu properly..."

Fan Changyu had always disliked Fan Laopozi, finding her bitter and harsh toward her family. Hearing this history, she understood the saying "the pitiable have their hateful aspects," but her opinion of the old woman remained unchanged.Just as Fan Laodie had said, in the end, selling off her father still couldn't save Fan Erniu. So how could Fan Laopozi be so certain that if they hadn't taken in her father back then, her two daughters and youngest son wouldn't have left her?

Her father had simply become a convenient target for Fan Laopozi to vent her resentment.

Fan Changyu said, "What's past is past. As long as you don't come to my house looking for trouble, I'll treat you the same way my father did."

Fan Laodie replied, "I'm not telling you this for that reason. Before your parents passed away, your father came to see me."

Fan Changyu looked surprised.

Fan Laodie continued with both guilt and embarrassment, "He had already arranged how to divide your family's property and shops, even writing a will stating the butcher shop could go to your uncle, while everything else would be left to you and your sister. When I asked if enemies from the past had come for him, he wouldn't say more, just asked me to look after you sisters in the future. Who would've thought my wife couldn't keep her mouth shut? After your parents died, she told Da Niu about it. Da Niu had developed a gambling addiction over the years and became increasingly unreasonable—he stole the will and burned it, trying to seize all your family's assets. This old man is useless now, completely unable to control him..."

Hearing that her parents might have prepared everything before going to their deaths, Fan Changyu felt her limbs grow cold. Her hands resting on her knees clenched into fists unconsciously, her lips pressed together until they turned pale. "Are you saying... my father might have known he and my mother didn't have long to live?"

Fan Laodie hesitated, then nodded.

Fan Changyu felt chilled to the bone, her mind in turmoil.

If, as the authorities claimed, bandits searching for the Treasure Map had found her father and come to demand it...

Then why would her father think that by dying with her mother, the bandits wouldn't come back to kill her and Changning?

Unless... the bandits had already obtained the Treasure Map.

But later, their home was still attacked by bandits twice, clearly indicating they hadn't gotten what they wanted.

However, these later bandits obviously hadn't known about her family initially—they'd only targeted them after extracting information from Fan Da.

Fan Changyu could only think of one possibility: the bandits who killed her parents and those who later came searching for the Treasure Map weren't the same group.

The former had obtained the Treasure Map yet still killed her parents—perhaps because her parents knew some secret that required their silence?

Fan Changyu had originally thought that after the authorities suppressed the bandits, her parents' deaths would be avenged. But now she suddenly realized the true killers might still be at large.

After all, news had recently surfaced that the Treasure Map had appeared in the hands of rebels in Chongzhou, who had recruited many local bandits and outlaws. The bandits who killed her parents might very well be among them.

The entire way home, Fan Changyu was lost in thought.

As she entered the house, she heard Xie Zheng's calm voice from inside: "Wood, yao, wood, with a 'big' character underneath—combined, that makes the character 'Fan.'"

Changning whined pitifully, "I don't want to learn characters anymore! I want to learn pig-butchering like Big Sister!"

"Your sister butchers pigs and knows how to read."

Changning sniffled, on the verge of tears.

Hearing the door open, she immediately ran out on her short legs, wrapping her arms around Fan Changyu's leg. Looking up with her face all scrunched up, she asked, "Big Sister, why do you need to read to butcher pigs?"Fan Changyu was still preoccupied with her thoughts, only reaching out to touch the little bun on Changning's head. "Mother used to say that after learning to read and write, one would understand principles and reason, so as not to make mistakes in life."

Changning looked dazed, clearly not yet grasping the meaning of these words.

Xie Zheng lifted his eyes slightly and remarked, "I’ve never seen you fond of reading."

There was a hint of teasing in his tone. Normally, Fan Changyu would have bantered back, but today she only replied wearily, "I’ll take it slow later."

Xie Zheng finally noticed the unusual look on her face and asked, "Why do you seem so wilted after going out?"

Fan Changyu sat by the fire pit and sighed softly. After telling him everything Fan Laodie had said, she slumped despondently. "If my parents weren’t killed just because of the Treasure Map, then I have to find out the real reason they died."

Xie Zheng’s expression darkened as he listened. If her father had foreseen it and even prepared for his own death, then perhaps the ones who took his life had met him beforehand?

Her speculation wasn’t unfounded. However, what those people were after wasn’t a Treasure Map, but a letter that Wei Yan valued above all else.

The ones who killed her parents had taken the letter. Since neither she nor her sister knew anything about their parents’ past, the killers had spared them?

Having once served as Wei Yan’s blade, Xie Zheng knew all too well that Wei Yan’s usual approach was to eliminate every root and sprout.

The fact that they had spared the sisters might mean they had ties with her parents? Considering they had met her father before the killing, this theory seemed even more plausible.

Later, when the Martial Assassins from Wei Mansion came to her home to kill and retrieve something, and He Jingyuan, the governor of Jizhou, suddenly dispatched troops to Lin’an Town—these actions were truly worth pondering.

Most importantly, given Wei Yan’s ruthless methods, it was unlike him to remain idle after losing so many Martial Assassins in Lin’an Town.

If He Jingyuan intended to protect the sisters, and Wei Yan currently had only He Jingyuan to rely on in the northwestern warfront, then some agreement between the two might explain everything.

Fan Changyu looked up and saw Xie Zheng staring at her with deep, unreadable eyes. She asked, puzzled, "What’s wrong?"

Instead of answering, Xie Zheng asked, "Do you want to avenge your parents?"

Fan Changyu nodded. "Of course."

Only then did she notice that Xie Zheng was wearing the hair ribbon she had bought for him—the first time he had tied it on.

The dark blue hue accentuated the sharpness of his features, making him seem even more aloof.

Xie Zheng said, "If the official account of the case is all lies, what will you do?"