Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 170 Brothers and Sisters (Part )

The three of them walked through the corridor, Zhao Er followed behind with an awkward look on his face, while Zhao Boheng told Wei Li with a sigh how he found Zhang Xiaofang.

"When you fled west from Rui Kingdom, it was the Kaiping Division and the Xiaoyi Army that chased you across the Yidi Mountains. I have always believed that they took your child away. So for more than ten years, I have always set my sights on Ruijing and planted spies in Kaiping Division, the Shen family, the Gu family, the Min family, etc. Unfortunately, I have never found anything."

"My spies told me that they had never taken in any girls. I gradually realized that maybe the child had not fallen into Ruiting's hands at that time, so I changed direction and checked all the soldiers who were chasing you back then. I spent three years and still had no clues. Until I found out that the Rui army had also recruited all the militiamen around the forest at that time, I guessed that the child was taken away by one of the militiamen."

"Over the years, I have checked eighty-nine villages in four states, seventeen counties and districts in that area, and carefully checked all people of similar age, but I still have no results. I missed this Zhang Xiaofang several times."

"Her father's name was Zhang Xiwang. He was the leader of the militia at the time. He was a heroic and chivalrous man, kind and generous, and also an excellent archer. When he was searching for you, his wife Shi was also pregnant, and her month of pregnancy was the same as yours. On the day he came back from the old forest, his wife gave birth to Zhang Xiaofang, so no one ever suspected that he picked up Zhang Xiaofang."

"At the end of last year, I heard an old story. Some people said that Shi gave birth to twins, one of whom was stillborn. Others said that the baby the midwife delivered was actually stillborn, but it came back alive the next day. With all these things, I became suspicious, so I disguised myself and went to Zhang's house to investigate."

At this point, Zhao Boheng looked back at Zhao Er and said, "I heard that Zhang Xiaofang was determined to find a marriage for her brother, so I asked this boy to pretend to be a beautiful bride and get close to the Zhang family."

Zhao Er didn't say anything, just lowered his head.

Zhao Boheng continued, "Zhang Xiwang has been dead for many years, and the midwife is also dead. Many people who knew about it were just making up stories. Only Zhang Dashi might know about it, but Zhao Er asked him several times, and Zhang Dashi kept his mouth shut."

"Master, it's possible that he really doesn't know." Zhao Er said, "Given his care for me, if he knew, he wouldn't have kept it from me."

Zhao Boheng sneered: "Don't be too confident. You can forge his memory, but you can't see his memory. How do you know that he has no reservations about you?"

"Such a country bumpkin." Zhao Er was still unconvinced and muttered in a low voice.

Zhao Boheng said, "I originally wanted to bring them all back to Yong State for a thorough investigation, but it happened that the Kaiping Division of Rui State was tracking Gu Jingnian to Lanshui Village, and Gu Beiming rebelled, so the Rui army recruited soldiers and took away the Zhang brothers. My whereabouts were also at risk of being exposed, so I pretended to sell the Zhang family's land and wanted to send Zhang Xiaofang away quietly in the name of owing money. Unexpectedly, while I was still arranging to send her away, Gu Jingnian intervened."

As they were talking, they had already walked out of the Imperial Hospital.

A fat man was waiting beside the carriage.

If Gu Jingnian and Zhang Xiaofang saw him, they would probably recognize that this was the man who wanted to buy Zhang Xiaofang from the man.

Zhao Boheng said, "When I was done with other things and found the Zhang brothers, when I came back, they had been taken back to Yong by Gu Jingnian. That's good, we ended up in the same place by different means."

Finally, he sighed and said to Wei Li, "I wanted to wait until I was more certain and ask you to ask Zhang Dashi in person to see what he really thought."

After telling about his journey eastward, they boarded the carriage and headed for Zhao Boheng's private residence.

The door of the guest room was pushed open, and Zhang Dashi, who was rushing around like an ant on a hot pan, turned around.

The naive look on his face faded a lot, and became more murderous. But the moment he saw Zhao Er, his eyes became gentle again, filled with ecstasy.

"E Niang!"

Zhang Dashi rushed to Zhao Er, spread his arms and tried to hug him.

"Are you here to see me? Why are you disguised as a man?"

Zhao Er immediately took a step back and said, "I am a man to begin with."

"you……"

Zhang Dashi was stunned for a moment, looked at Zhao Boheng, and murmured: "Father-in-law, is that you? You have become younger?!"

Zhao Er said: "That's enough. We have all lied to you. The things you remember are all false. I never had a wedding night with you."

"what?!"

Zhao Er then walked up to Zhang Dashi, looked him in the eye, and wanted to erase his memory.

But Zhao Boheng stopped him and said, "Don't touch his memory."

"Yes."

Zhang Dashi took a few steps back, a look of disbelief on his face, looking as silly as ever.

A village guy who had never seen the world was deceived and was stunned, confused, shocked and puzzled. He was like an ant that was flicked aside by someone's finger. Of course he was at a loss.

Zhao Er thought this was very boring. He actually spent so much time and effort on a stupid person.

However, he did not notice that Zhang Dashi made a small move to block Zhang Xiaodao behind him.

Wei Li remained silent all the time. She looked at Zhang Dashi, then suddenly narrowed her eyes, with a hint of "how could this be" in her expression.

"You...are you liars?" Zhang Dashi said, "My family is a small family, why would you lie to us?!"

Zhao Boheng asked, "Let me ask you, was your sister adopted by your father?"

Zhang Dashi was stunned, as if he had never heard of such a ridiculous thing. He said, "What are you talking about? Xiaofang is of course my parents' biological daughter."

Seeing this, Zhao Er thought to himself that Zhang Dashi might not know about this. He had asked these questions before, but did not get any clues.

"Don't lie to me." Zhao Boheng said, "I have already found out that your father brought back a baby girl from the woods."

"What?" Zhang Dashi's innocent face was full of confusion. "You are important people, are you here to tease me?"

Seeing that he still couldn't find any flaws, Zhao Boheng turned to Wei Li.

"Your Highness, what do you think?"

Wei Li just stood there blankly, staring at Zhang Dashi and ignoring everything else.

"Your Highness?" Zhao Boheng asked again.

Zhang Dashi was also a little panicked when he was stared at. He took two steps back to protect Zhang Xiaodao and said, "Hey, woman, why are you looking at me?"

For no apparent reason, two lines of tears flowed from Wei Li's eyes.

Clearly Zhang Dashi had not revealed any flaws, but she had seen through everything.

"Headache."

Zhang Dashi felt as if someone was pulling a string in his head. He frowned and covered his head.

Wei Li finally asked, "Your father said that you must not tell anyone about her origins, and that you must protect her as your own sister for the rest of your life, right?"

"What did you say?!"

Zhang Dashi was a little frightened, but he still looked like an innocent villager.

Zhao Boheng and Zhao Erze finally realized that he was acting.

They never thought that they would be fooled by a seemingly simple country boy.

An uneducated and inexperienced village guy showed no flaws in front of such high-ranking figures, and they thought they always had him under control.

Wei Li took another step closer and stared into Zhang Dashi's eyes.

She seemed to see Zhang Dashi when he was very young.

It was a rainy night. He was guarding his mother who was about to give birth, but his mother gave birth to a stillborn baby. He was at a loss until he heard a cry. It was Zhang Xiwang who had returned.

"Wife, you gave birth? Are you okay? That's great! I found a baby girl. We'll tell everyone that you gave birth to twins..."

"The origins of this girl must not be known to others. We must protect this secret."

Zhang Dashi could always remember that night when his mother cried heart-wrenchingly, and Zhang Xiwang resolutely held the dead fetus and buried it in a place where no one knew.

Until Zhang Xiwang's death, he held Zhang Dashi's hand for the last time.

"Dad knows that you can protect your sister and brother."

"..."

Zhang Dashi finally felt his headache go away.

When he stole a glance, he saw that the woman was already in tears, but fortunately, they did not ask him any more questions.

He also kept the secret his father gave him and protected his family.

Wei Li saw what Zhang Dashi was thinking, said nothing, and turned and left.

She walked so fast that Zhao Boheng and Zhao Er almost had to run to catch up with her.

"Your Highness?"

"It's my child." Wei Li murmured, "She is my child, my child!"

She hadn't even thought about where to go until she was out of the hospital, then she remembered to ask, "Where is she?"

Seeing how sure she was, Zhao Boheng finally laughed.

After more than ten years of searching, he finally found her child. He smiled and tears streamed down his face, wetting his beard.

What he had to do next was simple. He would definitely bring the child back for her.

Zhao Boheng wanted to raise his hand to wipe Wei Li's tears, but he didn't dare. He could only wipe his own face and said, "At Gu Jingnian's place."

(End of this chapter)