After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 575: Jin Family
Seeing that Jin Jiashu insisted on knowing the answer, Ma Shangyi stopped keeping him in suspense.

The Hu siblings did follow Jin Xin's family out of Chang'an City, but when Guard Lin led his men to catch up, the two half-grown children were no longer with Jin Xin and his party. Since they were not important figures in the second branch of the Jin family and probably didn't know much about the inside story, Guard Lin didn't investigate in detail and only went after Jin Xin and his wife.

After Jin Xin and Jin Liu were killed by "mountain bandits", Jin Wu went to Yunyang Prefecture to report to the authorities, saying only that they were a family of three passing through the area, without mentioning that there were other people in the family. He was alone in Yunyang Prefecture, helpless, with nothing but the clothes on his body, and his donkey cart, luggage and belongings were all lost. If the government didn't care about his food, he would starve to death on the street, so he was so embarrassed that he chose to recommend himself to the butcher as a live-in son-in-law.

The butcher had been in jail before and there were rumors that he had become a bandit when he was young, so he had a bad reputation in the local area. It was only because he was tall and strong that he was favored by the butcher's wife and was recruited as a son-in-law. His daughter was not good-looking and had a bad temper. No one came to propose marriage when she was fifteen years old. That's why her parents wanted to find a son-in-law, and they had to find a handsome boy who was good-looking and educated. Although Jin Wu was a little young, he was tall and could be raised for a few years. What's rare is that he did have a few years of education. Even if he didn't have a reputation, his demeanor was not comparable to that of a boy from a grassroots family. The butcher's daughter took a liking to him at first sight and asked her parents to agree, so the butcher took him in as a son-in-law without checking Jin Wu's background.

From beginning to end, Jin Wu never mentioned the Hu brothers and sisters. No one knew where they went.

However, Ma Shangyi had some guesses: "Jin Xin's family left early. When Guard Lin led his men to catch up with them, it had been a few days, but they still caught up with them before they arrived in Shangzhou. The reason why they were driving so slowly with their donkey carts was because they stayed in Lantian for three days. When Guard Lin passed through Lantian, he found out that they had stayed in a farm outside the city for two days. When they entered the city, they were already a family of three, driving a donkey cart."

When they left Chang'an, the Hu brothers and sisters were still there. When they arrived at the county town before Lantian, someone saw that there were five of them. When they arrived in Lantian, two of them were missing. The missing Hu brothers and sisters must have left Jin Xin's family before entering Lantian County. As for whether they were dead or injured, whether they ran away on their own, or were sold by their aunt and uncle... only the parties involved know.

Guard Lin and his party had no direct contact with Jin Wu in Yunyang Prefecture. If the latter did not mention it, naturally no one would know what happened to the Hu brothers and sisters. Ma Shangyi believed that they should have been sold in the farm outside Lantian County. When Jin Xin's family left Chang'an City, they had some silver in their hands, but the amount was limited. If they wanted to settle in an unfamiliar place without a pass or connections, no matter how much money they had, it would not be too much. Selling the Hu brothers and sisters would not only increase the funds on hand, but also reduce two burdens when traveling, which was a more advantageous approach for them.

In fact, with the attitude of Jin Xin and Jin Liu towards their relatives, they could even abandon their own mother and sisters in Chang'an, so how much affection could they have for the Hu brothers and sisters? They were willing to take the two half-grown children away, which must be profitable. It couldn't be that the Hu brothers and sisters were more important to them than Jin Dagu, their own sister, right?
After Jin Jiashu heard what Ma Shangyi said, he remained silent. He had an idea in his mind, but before he could really make up his mind, Ma Shangyi asked him: "Brother, are you planning to send someone to Lantian to find them? If you want to save them, I have extra manpower here, just give me the order."

Jin Jiashu looked up at Ma Shangyi in surprise and paused: "Madam, don't you object to me doing this?"

Ma Shangyi smiled, "If you want to save the people from the second branch of the Jin family, I naturally don't agree. But if you insist on saving them, I can't stop you. After all, you are from the Jin family. No matter how bad those people are, they are still your relatives. But the Hu siblings are not surnamed Jin, and they don't have the blood of the Jin family. They are just two poor people who have been harmed. You don't mind the bullying you suffered in the past, and you want to help them. You have a noble character and are magnanimous. Why can't I help you achieve your good reputation?"

If these two children are no longer deceived by the second branch of the Jin family and know how to be grateful for Jin Jiashu's kindness, and return to their hometown in Zunhua Prefecture in the future, they may be able to help the Empress Dowager and the Emperor in their local layout.

Jin Jiashu lowered his head and thought for a while, then he made up his mind: "If Madam is willing to help me, please send someone to Lantian County to inquire. If the Hu brothers and sisters can be found, when I go to Beijing to worship my 'mother' in the future, I can also give an explanation to Aunt Liu who is buried in the grave. I can only thank her for being a shield for my real mother for more than ten years, and she cannot be worshipped by her own children until now."

Ma Shangyi smiled and nodded. It was a good sign that Jin Jiashu was willing to discuss business with her and to ask her for help. In fact, he really didn't need to be on guard against her all the time. She returned to Chang'an just to take care of him. He could talk to her directly about anything he wanted to do, instead of always discussing it privately with a few children of the same age, and then ordering his servants to run around outside. After Jin Jiashu saluted Ma Shangyi and politely and respectfully asked her to help him rescue the Hu brothers and sisters, the atmosphere between the two seemed to be more harmonious than before.

Ma Shangyi took the opportunity to take out a letter and handed it to Jin Jiashu: "This is a letter just sent from Zunhua Prefecture. The writer is an old sister of mine. We used to work in the Cining Palace together. Now that she is old, she was sent out of the palace with courtesy by the Empress Dowager. Now she has bought a house and land in Zunhua Prefecture and settled down. She also took the opportunity to take care of the tombs of Jin's ancestors for Empress Xu."

Therefore, even if there was no Aunt Jin, the ancestral tomb of the eldest branch of the Jin family would not be left unattended.

Jin Jiashu immediately understood what Ma Shangyi meant. His face turned slightly red, but he remained calm. He reached out to take the letter and opened it to read it carefully.

Ma Shangyi probably withheld the greetings from the writer of the letter. What Jin Jiashu saw directly was the mention in the letter of how the writer came into contact with the main members of the Jin family in Zunhua Prefecture.

The Jin family of Zunhua Prefecture is actually quite famous in the local area. Their ancestors once had a fellow Jinshi, but that was decades ago. Now the head of the Jin family's main branch is the son of a juren. He is an old scholar, old and hopeless, and gave up the imperial examination more than ten years ago to concentrate on training his children and grandchildren.

He had contacts with Jin Juren's branch, but the relationship was not close.

Jin Juren's grandfather was the youngest son of the second wife. He lost the battle for the family property with his eldest brother, who was born to his first wife, and his half brother, who was born to his favorite concubine. He only got a small amount of floating wealth, separated from the family, and moved to another village to settle down. From then on, he cut off contact with his family. After Jin Juren's father passed the imperial examination, the two sides resumed contact, but they only got together every year during the ancestor worship and greeted each other during the four seasons and eight festivals.

However, the Jin family claimed to be a family with strict rules, and they believed that "there should be no man who breaks the law in the family, and no woman who remarries in the house". As the eldest son of the eldest house, Jin Juren could not stand up on his own, and was trampled on by the second house's concubines. He also married a second wife. The Jin family was very upset and sent their descendants to persuade them, but they were driven away by the two sons of Jin's second wife. From then on, the two families completely cut off contact.

And now, the old people from the Empress Dowager's Cining Palace helped Jin Jiashu contact the Jin family, thus reconnecting the broken connection.

(End of this chapter)