"Though Xingning's body perished, he has always lived in my heart. As long as I live, I'll remember him..." The silent sorrow flowing from the woman's eyes as she spoke moved even Xu Xie, a man accustomed to the fickleness of the world.
All he could do was sigh at this wretched age. Even without Zheng Qiao's machinations, someone with Yan An's temperament would have walked the same path.
It seemed an unsolvable tragedy.
Sigh...
He thought of Liang Zhu, which he'd seen years ago. He hadn't expected that even Ma Wencai and Zhu Yingtai, so well matched in status and seemingly made for each other, would meet such an unhappy end. He still didn't know that this aching, miserable feeling was called "my ship has sunk."
"If Senior Sister Ning doesn't mind, please make yourself at home in Fugu. Let your junior brother take care of you and your daughter. I'm sure Lord Yan wouldn't want to see you so haggard and struggling, even from beneath the Nine Springs." Xu Xie had no shortage of money, grain, houses, or land. Now he was also in a position to repay Senior Sister Ning for recognizing his talent and recommending him all those years ago. In a way, there would be no Xu Wenzhu today without her.
"Then I'll impose on you, Junior Brother."
This had been the woman's purpose in taking a detour.
It wasn't that she distrusted the arrangements Xingning had made for their future. He had planned as thoroughly as he could. But those were favors owed to Yan An, and she was merely his widow; that put a layer of distance between her and the people he knew. People's hearts were hard to fathom, and warmth faded once someone was gone.
At first, they might take good