False evidence

Chapter 427 Rekindling the Bond (12)

At that time, Jiang Si Shao had already married a local woman, and he passed by her in the market.

The man suddenly stopped, stared at him for a moment, then sighed and said:

"Poor thing, poor thing, poor thing."

Young Master Jiang asked curiously, "Who do you say is pitiful, sir?"

The man stared at him for a while, then sighed again, “It’s a pity that you spent so many years in the military, serving your country, yet your family was murdered by villains and left with a grievance that cannot be cleared.”

Upon hearing this, Young Master Jiang stiffened: "You recognize me? Do you know who I am?"

The man shook his head. "I'm just a fortune teller, I don't know you. When I saw you just now, I noticed you were dressed in mourning clothes. I calculated that your parents must have passed away not long ago."

Young Master Jiang didn't believe in these 'street tricks', but it's definitely a painful thing for a person not to know who they are.

So Young Master Jiang immediately invited the fortune teller to a secluded noodle stall and earnestly asked him for guidance.

The man didn't say much at the time, only focusing on eating three bowls of vegetarian noodles and a dish of peanuts mixed with shredded pig's ear before he spoke:

"I never accept favors from others for nothing. Since I've taken what you've given me, I'll do you a divination."

After saying this, he muttered some incantations and, in a moment, reached into his cloth bag and took out a scroll of divination slips.

Upon unfolding it, his expression changed drastically. Before Young Master Jiang could ask any questions, he swallowed the slip of paper.

He told Jiang Si Shao not to say anything more, only saying, "If you insist on taking revenge in the future, then come back here to find me."

After saying that, he picked up the cloth bag and disappeared in a flash.

After a moment of stunned silence, Jiang Si Shao grinned bitterly and said, "I'm supposed to be a scholar, yet I was fooled by this charlatan with three bowls of noodles."

He initially thought he had been tricked by a con artist into giving him a meal.

After regaining his memory and returning to his hometown to find out what had happened, he remembered the "three bowls of noodles" from back then.

The noodle stall was still there, and he really did see 'Three Bowls of Noodles' again at that stall.

He was asked to pay for the "three bowls of noodles" again, just like years ago when he ate three bowls of vegetarian noodles and a dish of shredded pig's ear, and was only given one sentence:

"I will take my wife and children back to my hometown, settle them down, and then come back here."

The Fourth Young Master Jiang was essentially wiped out by his entire family; the hatred was so great that it clouded his judgment.

He then returned to Heqian Town with his wife and children and settled down there.

After settling his wife and children in a comfortable life, he left home again.

This departure meant he never returned for decades, never saw his wife and children again.

……

Jiang Budai told me, "I was probably four years old when I first met my grandfather. His clothes back then, oh, were even more shabby and unkempt than they are now. But when I met him, I didn't know he was my grandfather."

To put it simply, according to my grandmother and parents, I was kidnapped by an old beggar carrying a tattered sack when I was four years old, while playing at the edge of the village! I was away from home for ten years.

Ten years later, "Grandpa Cloth Bag" took me home again. I remember that as soon as we entered the courtyard, my grandmother, who was washing clothes by the well, froze for a moment... then suddenly jumped up and threw herself into "Grandpa Cloth Bag's" arms. She cried her heart out.

When my parents returned from the fields, they talked for a while... and that's when I learned that "Grandpa Cloth Bag" was once the illustrious fourth young master of the Jiang family, and my own grandfather!

"And then?" I listened, somewhat engrossed. Pidan had said more than once that sometimes I'm like someone whose brain is on their butt, with a brain the size of a hemorrhoid and ears like pig ears, but located in their heart.

Century eggs are inherently a bit wicked, and I don't quite understand this kind of "dirty talk" mixed with Southern jokes.

It basically means someone who isn't very bright but has a strong sense of curiosity.

Jiang Budai was sitting on the bench, seemingly lost in his memories.

When I pressed him for an answer, he coughed twice before saying:
"The night I returned home with 'Grandpa Cloth Bag,' oh, that was my own grandfather, the whole family had a reunion dinner. At the dinner table, Grandpa said to my father: 'We won't avenge our family's grudge. But there's one thing you must remember: after my wife and I die, we must not be buried together. Just give me the pearl hairpin that your mother wore when she got married.'"

After that, Jiang Budai didn't go into details about what the family of four said that night.

The next morning, after Jiang Budai and his parents got up, they saw Jiang Sishao and his wife lying side by side on the bed, holding hands, and they both passed away peacefully.

……

At this point, Jiang Budai sighed, "Alas... In a person's life, how many things can go as smoothly as one imagines beforehand?"

I flicked my cigarette ash. "Didn't you do it the way the old man said?"

Jiang Budai nodded: "They were buried together as a family. You should have guessed it too, the last time Young Master Jiang left home, he went to learn magic from that strange man from the streets. The ten years I was 'abducted' were also spent learning magic from him."

Grandpa said he didn't want to be buried with Grandma after he died, because he wanted to sacrifice their blessings in the afterlife in exchange for my peaceful life as the heir to this family. But, not only did my parents not want them to be buried separately, but even I, at the time, strongly advocated for them to be buried together!

"The result is..."

"As a result, I have become the person I am today, and I have no ability to change my life situation on my own."

My eyelids twitched: "Autonomy?"

"Yes, Grandpa told us not to investigate Jiang Baohan's matter anymore, but he gave me a special task. I can't talk about it, but I've been working on it."

I realized that Jiang Budai was beating around the bush, so I pressed him indirectly: "Jiang Baohan is so wicked, how could he have lived so long? Heaven is truly blind!"

Jiang Budai smiled slightly, "Tenth Master, stop trying to trick me. I am a human being, and all I want is for An Xin to get married and have children someday... whether it's a son or a daughter, I just want to watch her, my grandchildren, live happily from afar."

Having said all that, I really can't be any more aggressive.

"That Er Gou Dan...that damned monkey..."

The problem has come back again.

After chatting with Jiang Budai for so long, I was completely absorbed in the conversation, but I still didn't get a clear answer to what he meant by telling me to keep that dead monkey, along with Jiang Baohan's memorial tablet, at home!

When I married Pidan, we really renovated the house. We knocked down the wall that used to separate our house from Pidan's, and even built a 'superior' doghouse for Shuanzhu in a corner of the central courtyard.

I can build another 'house' next to it, bury the dead monkey underground, and put Jiang Baohan's memorial tablet on top.

I can suppress my disgust, but I can't guarantee that Shuanzhu won't use the memorial tablet as a dog toy to chew on, let alone guarantee that it won't dig up Er Gou Dan's monkey carcass and carry it around everywhere!
Jiang Budai, who had looked exhausted, seemed to have recovered and his mind became clear.

Seeing me staring at him, he thought for a moment, then lowered his voice again and said to me:

"You have to make the offering! No matter how difficult it is, you have to make the offering! Tenth Master, he can help you!"

"What did you say?"

If I remember correctly, this was the second time he had used a form of address while he was talking to me.
—Tenth Master!
(End of this chapter)