Chapter 139: Chapter 76 Little Girl Tong_3
The entire family scrimped and saved, but all their savings—a total of 1,600 taels of silver—vanished without a trace. What was even more terrifying was that both Liu Zixian and Liu Zide were taken away by government officers.
The case spun out like unraveling tangled thread, and at the Tribute Court, the arrest of Liu Zide for cheating on the exam was the least of it. Even the old exam results of Liu Zixian were dug up. Rumor had it that the books in the Assistant Minister of Rites’ household had been tampered with, bringing misfortune upon an untold number of families.
Liu Kun didn’t care about the misfortunes of other families—he only wanted to rescue his sons.
Liu Kun had hoped to seek assistance from Fan Zhenglian at the Trial Court, after all, the matter of cheating on the exams involved Fan Zhenglian pulling the strings from behind the scenes. However, as of this afternoon, word came that Fan Zhenglian had also been taken away.
Upon seeing the dire situation, his wife, Wang Chunchi, panicked and worried about their two sons, rushed to the Government Office to plea for mercy, only to be detained on the spot for causing a disturbance.
Those who had once flattered them now hastily changed their faces, eager to immediately sever all ties. Liu Kun unexpectedly could not find a single soul to help. In this state of dire straits, he received a letter.
He did not know who had shoved the letter through the gaps of their front gate, stuck in the courtyard. When he opened it, the message was simple: It said there was a way to save his two sons, but he must come to the foot of Mount Wangchun at midnight tonight, where someone had something to give him.
Liu Kun had no idea who had written this letter. Nowadays, everyone avoided his household like the plague, and they had no other relatives in Shengjing. He never suspected the person behind the letter had ill intentions—as now his entire family was locked up, destitute and impoverished, with nothing left to be coveted.
He suspected that this letter might have been a contingency plan left behind by Fan Zhenglian. Fan Zhenglian, such a high-ranking official, wouldn’t have surrendered without a fight—certainly, he had arranged for other exits in advance. They both shared a discreet, never-revealed patron—the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion.
With this thought, Liu Kun’s complexion regained a trace of color.
It must be so, he muttered to himself several times, not knowing whether he was trying to convince someone else or himself.
Lost in such wild speculations, the mountain path under his feet grew increasingly muddy. He realized he had somehow come to a clearing amidst a thick thicket of bushes and brambles.
But no, to call it a clearing was not quite right. Amidst the chaos of weeds, numerous mounds of earth protruded, resembling countless silent figures in the dark, staring coldly and eerily at him.
Droplets of rain struck his face, and Liu Kun shuddered suddenly, snapping back to his senses.
This was the Chaos Burial Mound.
Like a metaphorical blow to the head, Liu Kun was completely awoken.
How had he come to Chaos Burial Mound?
Glancing at the grim mounds all around, an inexplicable fear rising within him, he was contemplating departure when a sound of footsteps suddenly came from behind.
Liu Kun jumped in fright and whipped around, only to see a pale figure slowly emerging from behind a raised mound not far away.
The figure appeared frail and light, blurring in the night rain like a faint and unreal painting. Liu Kun felt his legs weaken and his scalp start to tingle with numbness.
The pale figure stopped in front of him.
The mountain rain pattered down, the cold air whipped up from the weeds, occasionally mixed with the low growls of unknown wild animals. The smell of earth mingled with the stench of bones was nauseating.
He lacked the courage to look up at the creature or ghost in front of him, focusing instead on the tips of his own shoes. As he did so, the mismatched shadows, cast by the weak light of a fire starter, gradually seemed askew.
Shadows?
Do ghosts have shadows?
As he pondered this, he heard rustling sounds in front of him and mustered the courage to look up briefly.
Upon closer inspection, the white figure wasn’t an ethereal painting after all, but a person wearing a white cloak. By now, the person had lifted the hood back, revealing a beautiful face.
Eyebrows like Spring Mountain’s arc and eyes like autumn waters, a frost-white silk flower by her temple adding a touch of melancholy sorrow, that also bore an air of pitiable delicacy.
It was a young woman.
Liu Kun was taken aback and, before he could speak, the woman spoke first, "You’re here."
He was taken aback, but then understanding dawned upon him, and a hint of joy surfaced on his brow, "Are you the one who wrote the letter to me?"
He had thought it peculiar, for someone to come out of the blue in these wild mountains and ridges, but it must’ve been someone arranged by Fan Zhenglian. That made sense, since with government officers nabbing people all over the city, discussing plans on the mountain would indeed be safer.
The woman nodded and then looked at him, calling out softly, "Uncle."
Uncle?
Liu Kun was confused; what did she mean by that?
Mount Wangchun’s peaks were drenched in the autumn rain, casting an eerily silent and moist chill over Chaos Burial Mound.
The woman let out a soft sigh, "It seems Uncle doesn’t remember."
"When you left Changwu County that year, you borrowed fifty taels of silver from my father. It was I who personally delivered it to you."
It struck him like a bolt of lightning, illuminating the fog of confusion within Liu Kun’s mind.
He stared intently at the person before him, a look of bafflement and shock in his eyes.
"You’re Little Girl Tong?"