Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 36 Farewell
The two were talking and laughing when suddenly someone knocked hard on the door outside the courtyard.

He Laitang rarely had visitors, and the outer courtyard door was usually ajar during the day. The chief butler, Wang Gen, came in wearing an oil paper fan.

"Seventh Young Master, Mr. Yuming suddenly said goodbye to the eldest lady. He is leaving today. The eldest lady asked the Seventh Young Master to go to Shenliu Courtyard to see off Mr. Yuming." Wang Gendao.

"Strange, Mr. Yuming didn't show any intention of leaving yesterday." Wang Heng was puzzled.

After taking the oil-paper fan handed over by Xiaocai, Wang Heng put on his rain boots and hurried out.

When they arrived at Shenliuyuan, their luggage and backpacks had been packed and placed on the carriage. Mr. Yuming's face was livid and full of sadness.

Wang Heng saluted him and said, "Why is Mr. Yuming leaving so suddenly? My uncle hasn't come back yet."

Yu Ming squeezed out a smile and said: "Brother, I really have to go to Suzhou Mansion. It's all because of Zhao'er's delay. There is a very important letter that he forgot to read to me."

After that, he glared at the young man Zhaoer fiercely. Zhaoer shivered in fright, shrank his eyes, and lowered his head in silence.

"It's windy and rainy today, sir, you have to be careful on the road." Wang Heng said politely.

Yu Ming said: "Brother, I will take my leave first."

The carriage moved forward slowly, exited the gate, and disappeared into the windy and rainy streets.

Wang Heng felt disappointed that he had originally wanted to make friends with a famous person like Mr. Yuming, but after just a little contact, he missed him.

Wang Heng walked slowly back to the study. Xiaocai brought a letter over and said, "Mr. Wei has a letter."

In Mr. Wei's letter, he said that he had fulfilled his wish and took a merchant ship to the Fuso Kingdom. Now he is enjoying the hot springs and beauties every day and is very busy. He will also travel to the West in the future, and I am afraid it will be a long time before he returns to China. Tell them to study hard, make progress every day, work hard to take the imperial examination, and control their own destiny.

Mr. Wei had been actively preparing to go to Fusang Kingdom a few years ago. Wang Heng once thought that he was going to do the work of the old captain of Wufeng. Fortunately, he had always been lazy and had no such big ambitions. A drunk woman was enough to comfort him in his life.

There is also a letter written by Zhuge Xian to Wang Cai. Since he decided to go out and see the world, and decided to take the imperial examination, Zhuge Bojun, the great nephew of the clan leader, hired famous teachers for him and studied day and night.

This year's county and government examinations were all passed by luck, and now I have entered school as I wished and become a scholar.

Because of his excellent academic performance, he was selected as a tribute student by the county school. In the fall, he will go to Nanjing Imperial College to serve as a prisoner. As a result, everyone is in Nanzhili.

The grandnephew of the patriarch has bought a house near the Imperial College in Nanjing, and hopes that Xiaocai and Wang Heng will come to the Imperial College to sit in prison soon, so that everyone can be together again.

Zhuge Xian Yin Yin told the king to pay attention to protecting his eyes and take a break after reading and writing for more than half an hour.Because he worked too hard, he developed an eye disease that blurred the area a foot or two away. He often tripped over stools and his knees were often black and blue.

He also heard in Tanci that Zhu Zhishan, a talented scholar from the Hongzhi Dynasty, suffered from severe eye disease. He held a single photo in his hand all year round and could not distinguish things without the single photo.I was horrified, but I was glad that someone told me that there was a new trend in Suzhou Prefecture called double-piece kuiji. It cost a full 300 taels of silver, but it only slightly magnified the effect.

Wang Cai told Wang Heng the general meaning of the letter, and they all admired Zhuge Xian's amazing perseverance. They imagined his thin face wearing a big koji, and smiled unconsciously.
Wang Heng asked: "Who sent the letter? Or did you pick it up?"

Xiaocai said: "Eunuch Fulin from the concierge sent it in the rain."

Wang Heng suddenly had an idea, raised his feet and looked outside. The sky outside was a little white, and the rain had gradually weakened.Walking on the bluestone with rain boots, kicking and tapping, it feels particularly refreshing.On a rainy day, the door of Wang's house was ajar, and Fulin sat in the small room of the porter, drinking tea and cracking melon seeds.Seeing Wang Heng walking in, he greeted, "Seventh Young Master, are you going out?"

Wang Heng smiled and said: "You always come in the rain to deliver letters to me, so I come here to thank you."

Fulin was a little flattered and said: "Seventh Young Master said something serious. Old Fulin should deserve this."

Wang Heng asked: "How often does the post office deliver letters to our house?"

Fulin thought for a moment and said, "It comes about once every ten days, usually on the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth of the month."

Wang Heng asked again: "Do you remember when Mr. Yuming came to our house and received the letter on that day?"

Fulin said: "Is it Mr. Yuming who just left home? I have never received a letter from him."

Fulin flipped through his registration book and said: "My lord has stipulated that when I am at home, I am required to register all the letters coming in and out. There is no letter from Mr. Yuming recorded." This is a thread-bound book that he cut out of raw-edged paper. The neat writing in small regular script made him feel very proud.

"Is it possible that it is sent by passing merchants?"

"There will still be records, and passersby will not be able to enter the gate of the king's house." Fulin is quite confident. As a servant of the Wang family, he can read and write, so the adults have this requirement of him.

Old Fulin knew that the children of the aristocratic family had no way of making a living, so he took care of the common affairs for his brothers and uncles who had a good reputation. At present, the uncle had already been selected to understand the Yuan Dynasty, and he was an only son. It seemed that the eldest lady had taken a fancy to the seventh son, so He knows everything and knows everything.

Wang Heng was dumbfounded, so he picked up the register and looked at it. There were very few letters from Wang's house in May. On the 25th, he only registered a letter from his own Mr. Wei. There was only one letter from Zhuge Xian, No. 15, but it was to Mr. Chenyu’s.

In this way, Mr. Yuming's statement of leaving in a hurry is all nonsense.

Old Fulin thought for a while and said: "Mr. Yuming lived in Wang's house and went out to visit friends several times, but no foreigners came to visit. Someone came to visit the day before, but it was Miss Huiyun from the Dengyun class. He said he was a theater fan of Miss Huiyun and gave her a basket of fruit and other things. He didn’t let the man in and passed it on to Miss Huiyun’s girl to pick it up.”

Wang Heng felt worried. There seemed to be some invisible crisis growing in the peaceful Wang's house. Unknowingly, he strolled back to the gate of Shenliu Courtyard.

The courtyard door was open, and Mr. Yuming had packed away all the luggage and furnishings he had brought. The room seemed a little messy. Apparently, no maid had come to clean it because of the rain.

Shenliu Courtyard is very spacious, with a layout of three lights and two darks. In the middle hall of the main room hangs a painting of "Peace and Rumination", which was probably written by Master Yuan Yu.The wall next to the north window was bright and seemed to be a little whiter than the walls elsewhere. It seemed that a painting had been hung before and had been taken down not long ago.

There were a few scattered fruit shells in the paper basket on the ground. Wang Heng was a little surprised when he saw it.The khaki fruit shell has small burrs on the outside. Isn’t this longan only found in Lingnan? It was transported thousands of miles to South Zhili and is considered an extremely precious fruit.

The supply of fresh fruits in the Wang's residence is purchased by the outside steward, and each house has its own regulations, especially the rare and precious fruits. He Lai did not appear in Mrs. Zhu's house or in the study, so it must not be supplied by the outside steward.

It is not in line with etiquette to enjoy the precious fruit first instead of offering it to the elder.

Wang Heng retreated in his heart and secretly warned himself not to be too curious.

(End of this chapter)