Jian Zhaoxing

Chapter 253 Departure! Yongqing County
"Then why did he come only after Uncle Si's matter was settled?" Lin Yangyang asked, puzzled.

“Cousin, if his father is waiting for us, it must be something important that no one else can know.”

"He hasn't shown his face for so long because he's afraid of being discovered by someone he doesn't want to be."

"Therefore, before he was certain of the Lin family's safety, he preferred to keep everything to himself in order to save his own life."

Lin Yangyang nodded as if she understood: "If that's the case, he must be a smart person, not as unreliable as others say."

"If he weren't smart, he probably wouldn't have met with us today."

"What do you mean?" Lin Yangyang asked, intrigued.

"Do you remember what Little Money Girl said?" Lin Zhiqing reminded him, "The difference between her before and now."

"The difference?" Lin Yangyang pinched her chin and thought for a while:

"Little Cai's wife seems to say that he used to work sporadically, but he's only recently become more diligent."

“That’s right, that’s it.” Lin Zhiqing analyzed it carefully:
"He probably knew we would come to him, which is why he went door to door on time."

"Then why was he so sure we'd go to Xiao Cai's house?" Lin Yangyang felt like her brain was about to explode.

“He knows we won’t come looking for him openly, as that would easily expose our purpose and his situation. He values ​​his life,” Lin Zhiqing replied without looking up.

“If we go directly to him, it will expose that he has a problem, and at the same time, it will expose our whereabouts.”

“He was at the entrance of the market, and the news of his fourth uncle’s execution was making headlines. He couldn’t possibly be unaware of it.”

"Since he knows this, he may have been aware of it or have always known about it. Xiao Cai has helped us before."

At this point, Lin Yangyang became confused again: "It's possible that he noticed, but what does it mean that he knew about it?"

Lin Zhiqing slowly opened her mouth:
"When we were at Xiao Cai's house, he greeted Xiao Cai as soon as he entered. Most people, especially children, are curious about visitors."

Even extroverts will be drawn in and put down what they're doing to observe.

"But Xiao Cai didn't, which means the two of them are already very familiar with each other."

“We cannot determine when they became familiar with Xiao Cai, but he should know that Xiao Cai was our only connection at the market entrance.”

"If we want to meet with him without being discovered, the only way is through small sums of money."

Lin Yangyang roughly understood: "I get it. You mean that from the moment he stepped into the Lin family's house, he knew that we would go to the West Market to find him one day."

“That’s right.” Lin Zhiqing nodded.

Lin Yangyang tilted her head and thought for a moment: "When you first mentioned the thief, I could understand that you were talking about Zheng Kuo."

"But I couldn't understand anything about the rest of the conversation, all I knew was that Zheng Kuo was still alive."

"Dasheng is so big, where should we look for him?"

“No, cousin.” Lin Zhiqing put down the charcoal pencil and picked up the sheet of Xuan paper: “He has already given us the specific address.”

“The place where Zheng Kuo was originally located is likely deserted, which is why he was recorded as missing.”

“But he didn’t go anywhere else; he stayed in Yongqing County.”

"So many years have passed, and the charge of theft has long since vanished."

"What he's trying to hide from isn't the crime of theft, but the people who want to kill him." "Escape from the crossbow bolt; the most dangerous place is the safest place. He's still in Yongqing County."

Lin Yangyang took the sheet of Xuan paper and looked at it. The characters on the paper were crooked and twisted, but the words "white goose," "willow tree," and "Yongqing County" could be vaguely seen.

Upon reflection, she realized that these items had indeed come from Zheng Kuo's son's mouth.

However, they all appeared in a very ordinary way, like gossiping.

She couldn't keep up at all, but she didn't expect Lin Zhiqing to be able to pick up on these things:
“Qing-mei, you were exchanging secret signals. That explains why you suddenly asked him if he wanted to work for the Lin family.”

"I was thinking that the Lin family already had people who did this kind of work."

Lin Zhiqing got up and started packing her things:

"I was just talking to him, trying to get more information. He won't come to our house."

“Isn’t our household good enough? There’s little work, it’s very leisurely, and the pay is good. Why doesn’t he come?” Lin Yangyang put the Xuan paper back on the table.

“Although he passed on a message to us, it shouldn’t be for money.” Lin Zhiqing took out a set of men’s clothing:

"He wanted to live."

"Survive? But isn't he alive and well now?" Lin Yangyang asked, puzzled.

Lin Zhiqing shook his head: "With Zheng Kuo's special status, there must be quite a few people watching him."

"His son naturally attracted a lot of attention, and to survive, he simply pretended to be an uneducated, idle, and marginalized person."

"He has probably repeated his story about not being close to Zheng Kuo and about Zheng Kuo being in his hometown many times."

"Perhaps some people listened to him and went to Yongqing County, only to find it empty-handed."

Lin Zhiqing paused for a moment: "Do you remember what Xiao Cai Niang said after he left yesterday?"

Lin Yangyang frowned and thought for a moment, then her brows quickly relaxed: "Little Cai's mother told us not to hire him because he's too glib."

Lin Zhiqing listened and nodded:

"The fact that Xiao Cai Niang has such an impression shows that Zheng Kuo's son's words are not credible, at least that's what the neighbors think."

"This also proves what I just said: he has spoken about Zheng Kuo to many people, but his words are half true and half false."

"This explains why he's still alive all these years. In other people's eyes, he's nothing but a good-for-nothing who can't be helped and is good for nothing but eating and waiting to die."

"Qing-meimei, you only met him once and exchanged a few words, yet you were able to discern so much?" Lin Yangyang gave a thumbs up:
"In our Lin family, you are the smartest."

"Stop praising me." Lin Zhiqing smiled.
"These things are all inseparable from the study of mind assessment. If you want to learn, you can visit the Mind Assessment Hall another day."

"But the most important thing now is Zheng Kuo. Go back and change your clothes. Let's hurry up and head to Yongqing County after dark."

"Okay!" Lin Yangyang patted her bottom readily. "Should we tell my dad and the others about this?"

Lin Zhiqing shook his head: "They are busy tracking down the three imperial gifts that have been sold right now, so they shouldn't be paying attention to us."

"The fewer people who know about this, the better. Yongqing County isn't too far. We can go there tonight and come back tomorrow."

"There's no need to inform them; we can go ourselves."