Chapter 601: An Old Secret

Chapter 601: An Old Secret from Years Past

However, the wound on his chest could split open again at any moment.

When it came time to pay the medical fees, Ji Nanchuan couldn't come up with that much silver, yet he was too embarrassed to ask for credit.

In the end, it was Xia Chuhe who took pity on him and paid the eight hundred taels of silver for his medical expenses.

Seeing how generously Xia Chuhe spent money without even batting an eye, Ji Nanchuan's fondness for her grew even deeper.

"Chuhe, I really owe you for today. Without you, I wouldn't have known what to do."

Xia Chuhe smiled at him and said gently, "We've known each other for a while now. It was no trouble at all. Don't take it too much to heart."

Ji Nanchuan nodded, without the slightest hint of guilt on his face.

He said, "Chuhe, when do you have time to visit the Marquis's residence? My mother hasn't seen you in so long—she's bound to be overjoyed when she does."

Xia Chuhe had previously held a fairly good impression of Lady Ji, remembering her as a kind and benevolent old lady.

Now that she heard the woman was ill, she thought it over and figured she should go see her.

With that in mind, she agreed, "I happen to be free tomorrow. I'll go visit Lady Ji then."

Ji Nanchuan was overjoyed and asked eagerly, "Wonderful. Where do you live? Would you like me to send someone to pick you up tomorrow?"

Xia Chuhe shook her head. "No need. We have our own carriage. We'll come over on our own tomorrow."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Ji Nanchuan, she excused herself, saying it was getting late, and left the government office.

Sitting in the carriage, Lu Zhu said to Xia Chuhe, "Madam, that Marquis Yongning doesn't seem like a good guy at all. Don't let his sweet talk fool you."

Xia Chuhe glanced at her and let out a soft sigh.

"I hadn't seen him in twenty-five years, and I never imagined he'd changed so much."

Even his face, which used to be so pleasant to look at, now looked completely different. His eyes were full of scheming and deceit.

The man Ji Nanchuan had become made her deeply uneasy.

Suddenly reminded of something, Xia Chuhe said to Lu Zhu, "Later, go out and look into the relationship between Princess Ye, Ji Yuntang, and the Marquis of Yongning's household—what she's really like, and whether her medical skills are truly as good as they say. I want to know all the details, big and small."

She hadn't come back this time just to visit her hometown, but to investigate something that had happened twenty-five years ago.

This matter involved a royal scandal, so she didn't dare draw any attention to it.

She had planned to investigate quietly on her own, but no sooner had she returned than she bumped into Ji Nanchuan.

Back then, she really had been fond of Ji Nanchuan and had even dreamed of one day marrying him and having kids together.

But who would have thought that just a month before they were supposed to talk about getting engaged, Xia Chuhe's parents suddenly decided that the whole family would move away from the capital.

They packed up and left the city that very night, in a hurry.

The decision came so abruptly that Xia Chuhe didn't even have time to say a real goodbye to Ji Nanchuan.

She just quickly wrote a letter, had someone deliver it to the Marquis Yongning's residence and put it in Ji Nanchuan's hands, and then left the capital with her parents that very night.

At the time, Xia Chuhe was still quite young and didn't understand why her parents would suddenly choose to leave the capital.

After all, their Xia family had lived in the Dongchen Kingdom for generations, making a living in the textile trade.

Though their household wasn't filthy rich, their business was thriving, bringing in a steady stream of income every day.

Leaving like that meant cutting off all their sources of income, and the shops they had worked so hard to build were shut down.

Xia Chuhe was deeply reluctant to leave—she was still in love with Ji Nanchuan—but she couldn't go against her parents.

Later, some bad things happened that made her realize her parents had made the right call by leaving the capital.

Xia Chuhe still couldn't forget the scene of her parents being murdered on the road.

They were stabbed more than thirty times by black-clad assassins while protecting her, and they died with their eyes wide open, full of resentment.

Xia Chuhe hid behind a large tree, not daring to even breathe, scared to death of being found.

That night, the rain was torrential, thunder and lightning following one after another, and she cried her heart out.

She dug graves with her own hands to bury her parents, but she could never forget the last words they said to her.

"Chuhe, never return to the capital."

Afterward, Xia Chuhe fell ill and collapsed on the roadside, and was rescued by a passing young scholar.

He was from the Nanning Kingdom, from a humble family, and a very honest, studious man.

As time went on and they spent more time together, Xia Chuhe gradually forgot about Ji Nanchuan and developed feelings for the scholar.

The two eventually got married, and a few years later had a son and a daughter, living a full and happy life.

After marrying into the Nanning Kingdom, Xia Chuhe, using what her parents had taught her, started a fabric business there.

The business flourished, and her husband's family became richer and richer.

But who would have thought that one day at noon, he'd bring home a young woman.

That woman was the daughter of a minister, from a high-ranking family and very beautiful, and she declared outright that she would be the scholar's lawful wife.

She said that as long as the scholar married her, her father would help him move up in the ranks, and his official rank would rise higher and higher.

That was something Xia Chuhe, a merchant's daughter like her, could never provide.

Xia Chuhe went to confront the scholar, but he simply handed her a letter of divorce on the spot, and she was crushed.

Later, while packing her belongings, she stumbled upon the jade pendant her parents had left her, which held a hidden secret.

Inside the pendant was a slip of paper with words that left Xia Chuhe completely shocked.

After reading it, she was stunned and quickly shoved it back inside the pendant.

That's when Xia Chuhe realized her parents' deaths were probably tied to the secret on that note.

They had seen something they shouldn't have in the Dongchen Kingdom, and that was why someone had them killed.

She had been lucky and escaped the disaster.

Now, more than twenty years had passed, yet Xia Chuhe still couldn't forget the sight of her parents dying so horribly.

The moment she learned the truth, the hatred suppressed deep in her heart came rushing back.

So, after much deliberation, she made off with all the scholar's money and decided to return to the Dongchen Kingdom to investigate the truth behind her parents' deaths.

But relying on her own strength to investigate this matter—how easy could that be?

The man was a member of the royal family, already highborn twenty-five years ago, and twenty-five years later, he would only be even more formidable.

Xia Chuhe had originally intended to test Ji Nanchuan to see if he could help her.

However, after their interaction today, she realized that Ji Nanchuan was now full of lies and blinded by greed, completely unreliable.

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