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Chapter 374

Wen Zhiyun’s face was pale as he lightly shook his head.

Then the chance was very small.

Xu Mo thought back to the year when the county magistrate and his wife were falsely accused. After sending away their only son, they chose to commit suicide in anger.

As a result, Xu Mo did not escape the torture of having both legs broken. Fortunately, after meeting his younger siblings, he survived. By the time his injured legs had healed, the county magistrate and his wife had long been hastily buried.

So for all these years, he still did not know exactly how his parents had committed suicide.

Did they cut their throats? They did not have the strength to twist a chicken’s neck, and were even afraid to kill a chicken. His mother even had a habit of fainting at the sight of blood.

Did they drink poison? But there was no poison at home. With their reputation at that time, going to buy arsenic would have attracted rotten vegetable leaves and stinky eggs. No one would have been willing to sell it to them.

So the most likely cause was falling from a height, which means... calm and peaceful on the outside but shattered and covered in bruises on the inside.

Back then, they didn’t even have someone like Wen Zhiyun to help stop the pain.

Xu Mo lowered his eyes, the food in his mouth tasted like wax. The regret over his parents’ death still lingered in his heart.

The false accusation had been overturned and the murderer executed. What remained was to become a successful candidate in the imperial examination and the champion on the list, to comfort his late parents’ spirits in heaven.

After the meal, Jiang Sheng hazily chose to sleep.

Xu Mo also put down his bowl and chopsticks. “I’m going to read,” he said.

“Big brother is so diligent. He wants to read even in this short time. If it were me, I would have lain down to rest already,” Zheng Ruqian said, shaking his head.

“That’s why you’re a merchant and big brother takes the exams,” Fang Heng liked to speak the truth.

The brothers gave each other knowing looks, sparks flying between them.

One took advantage of his status as the eldest brother and pushed up his sleeves, wanting to teach the younger one a lesson.

The other relied on his agile skills, running around the yard to dodge, since he couldn’t be caught anyway.

Wen Zhiyun was tired and needed rest. But he hesitated for a moment before picking up his medicine box and having Wang Xiaosong drive the carriage out.

“Where is little four going?” Zheng Ruqian asked while chasing and playing.

“Maybe... to the Jiang house,” Chang Yan said lightly.

For a doctor, it was always hard to forget a patient he couldn’t save.

“I wonder why that Miss Jiang is so fragile, actually giving up her young life,” Fang Heng sighed and shook his head. “As long as you live, there are endless possibilities.”

“Do you think everyone is like Jiang Sheng, surviving after years of struggle, enduring suffering and bullying, yet still living happily?” Zheng Ruqian said with mocking amusement. “The key is she lives so heartlessly, able to eat and sleep well.”

Yes, it was difficult.

Unafraid of being born in the dust, unafraid of being trampled in the mud, unafraid of hardship and danger, unafraid of difficulties...

The fundamental reason Jiang Sheng survived was because she was content and happy, because of her low status, because things couldn’t get any worse for her.

So-called suffering and enduring hunger were accumulated over time and through the years.

Only an optimistic and content heart was the foundation of her survival.

Jiang Chenghua had too much and was too afraid to lose it. It was normal that she could not accept the mountain collapsing.

Yet each one of us is Jiang Chenghua, with only Jiang Sheng being the exception.

Even Fang Heng almost committed suicide in the dark room, struggling for half a year before waking up.

Zheng Ruqian was unwilling to face her birth mother. Xu Mo would be forever pained by his parents’ death. Wen Zhiyun did not mention the medical officer and his wife. Even he... did not want to touch that heartless place again.

But by avoiding it, could those things really not need to be faced?

Chang Yan raised his hand as a smooth wind burst through his five fingers, gently brushing his face, fluttering his hair, leaping past his ears, swirling around him.

“Fifth brother, what do you like the most?” he heard Jiang Sheng ask cheerfully.

“Freedom. I like freedom the most,” he replied with a smile.

Because he had been restrained before, he would forever love freedom, love going everywhere, love strange places, love everything warm.

But could he really be free?

That night was calm and solemn in the small courtyard.

A sharp long knife lay next to Fang Heng as the eight Jiangs were fully alert, ready to leap up at any time.

However, until daylight, as they escorted Xu Mo back to the academy gate, there was no movement at all.

“It seems the Fang family is determined to plot sinister schemes,” Fang Heng clenched his fist. “What exactly do they want to do? What evil tricks are they trying to use!”

No one knew or answered.

Xu Mo tidied up his bamboo basket, ready to enter the exam hall at any time.

Some acquaintances going past nodded at him, and Qi Huai’an also gently waved his hand, but no one called out his name.

The two yamen runners from last time appeared again, this time with two colleagues. General Jiang was probably worried and had added more men to protect him.

“Big brother, the academy gate is open,” Zheng Ruqian called out. “Go take the exam. We’ll wait out here for you.”

Xu Mo nodded slightly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Fang Yuan enter the academy too.

He did not hesitate further and left with the four yamen runners.

“I hope big brother does well on the exam,” Jiang Sheng put her palms together, somewhat regretting that she hadn’t kowtowed at the temple.

“Let’s go home and wait patiently,” Fang Heng patted her dumpling-like head.

The siblings turned around. Wen Zhiyun also fell into step and followed them onto the carriage back to the small courtyard.

“Fourth brother, you’re not going to the Jiang house today?” Jiang Sheng asked in surprise. “Is Third Miss Jiang’s sprain better?”

Wen Zhiyun gave a bitter smile. “It’s better. I don’t need to go to the Jiang house anymore.”

Jiang Sheng did not think much of it. She pulled Zheng Ruqian to discuss opening a branch store.

Their pastry business had been too popular recently. One store could no longer satisfy the appetites of these two money lovers. They wanted to open Jiuzhen Store all over the Great Yu Dynasty like Ease Manor.

“Although it’s a bit difficult, people have to have some hope, right?” Jiang Sheng bared her big teeth in a smile.

“That makes sense,” Zheng Ruqian nodded in agreement.

The two chatted excitedly. Although it was noisy, it was real and full of the scent of life’s everyday mundanities.

Fang Heng smiled as he watched from the side, enjoying this rare moment.

Only Wen Zhiyun noticed something wrong with Chang Yan. He moved closer and gently asked, “Little five, is something bothering you?”

The little boy came back to his senses and shook his head. “Don’t worry, fourth brother. I’m fine. I was just...just thinking about big brother and the Fang family.”

If the Fang family had really changed their target from the top scorer in the provincial exam to the champion in the palace exam, Fang Yuan would first need to gain the status of a tribute student. The provincial exam wasn’t over yet and it would still be some time before the results came out, so it was impossible to judge right now.

The siblings could only return to the second courtyard and wait.

And this wait lasted six days.