After the evening meal, Wen Mingtang received a square pile of Chaoshou wrappers and a lot of pork leg meat.

“The leftover meat from Zhuangzi,” Ji Caimai pointed to the fresh pork leg meat and said, “Self-raised, you can’t buy this kind of stuff in the market.” Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but chuckle after hearing this.

Coincidentally, at this time, a few servants who had just finished their dinner in the public kitchen passed by. Ji Cai looked at them with a dejected look and stopped for a meal. Then he turned to Wen Mingtang and asked: “Master Wen is making a midnight snack today?”

It’s not that he wanted to eat late-night snacks, it was mainly because Master Wang’s evening snacks were too unpalatable.

Wen Mingtang looked at Ji Caimai, who was staring at Chaoshou wrappers, thought for a moment, and said, “Then let’s make some Hongyou Chaoshou first!”

…

Liu Yuan also saw this ancestor, who had accumulated virtue and reincarnated much better, for the first time in Huai’an County.

In his forties or fifties, the Duke had dark circles around his eyes, and deep eye bags, and was slightly overweight. When he walked, he swayed, his steps seemed unsteady, very much like what one would imagine of someone who had indulged in sexual activities excessively.

When he and Lin Fei came over, Duke Huai’an was still having fun. After the two of them entered the door, he sent out the maids with bruises on their bodies and masks of fake smiles on their faces. The smell of fragrant powder in the room made Liu Yuan sneeze as soon as he entered the door.

This was probably the first time he saw Lin Fei. After Duke Huai’an looked at him for a long time, he couldn’t help sighing: “If Lin Shaoqing has a sister or something, she must be a rare beauty!”

Liu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh. He rolled his eyes: This Duke was a pervert. Do you think the Jingguo Duke’s Mansion exists for your pleasure? Not to mention that Lin Shaoqing had no sisters as his siblings, even if he did, how could it be the turn of the Duke of Huai’an to take of her?

Lin Fei gave him a cold look and explained his purpose.

Compared to Zhang Zeduan’s secrecy, the Huai’an County Duke was quite open about it. He nodded and said, “I do have a bit of a reputation for being a womanizer. Most of the maids in this mansion were arranged by Yan San and his group. Haha, when you’re wealthy and idle, you have to find something to occupy your time, don’t you?”

Liu Yuan couldn’t help but roll his eyes again.

The Duke of Huai’an County would not pay attention to the little Dali Temple officer at all, and continued: “I was taking a nap on my boat at the time you mentioned!” As he said that, he yawned and looked nonchalant. The appearance of spirit, “If you sleep late at night, your day and night will be reversed. At that time, it is already the time for this Duke to rest.”

As for the murder…

Duke Huai’an laughed: “What a big deal? I am the Duke.” Why do I need to do it myself if I want to kill people? Not to mention, why kill them? Is there anyone else in this county government who can control this county Duke?”

These words made sense.

The old Duke Huai’an once married Duke Huai’an when he was still alive. Her wife was naturally a lady from a well-known family and had great influence in the family. Duke Huai’an, under the power of the old Duke and his wife’s natal family, really kept his tail between his legs and worked hard for several years. Later, the Duke’s wife died early due to illness. The Duke of Huai’an refused the old Duke Huai’an’s idea of ​​remarrying saying that he was mourning his wife. A few years later, the old Duke passed away, and no one could control Duke Huai’an anymore. He had been living in such a state of intoxication until now.

Of course, mourning for his wife was just a gimmick. After the death of the Duke’s wife, Duke Huai’an had already cut off contact with his in-law’s family.

In the final analysis, it was just a reason not to be disciplined.

For some unknown reason, Duke Huai’an had never had any heirs. Five years ago, he selected a nephew from his branch whose parents died early. He planned to treat this nephew as his son after two years to support him and inherit the title.

The nephew of this Huai’an County Duke is named Li Ruizhi, a young man of around twenty-five or twenty-six with a handsome and scholarly appearance. He exudes a scholarly aura. Both the people in the mansion and the locals speak highly of him. It’s said that Li Ruizhi had the potential to be a scholar, and he had originally intended to take the imperial examination. However, he only made it to the provincial level and didn’t pass the final round. Afterward, he chose not to continue pursuing the scholarly path and instead joined the Duke’s household, preparing to inherit the title of county duke from his uncle.

To be honest, when faced with the possibility of failing the imperial examination or even becoming the top scholar in it, anyone with a bit of sense would know how to choose between that and the ready-made position of a county duke.

However, even though he gave up the imperial examination, he probably liked it in his heart. Li Ruizhi still liked to read.

When Liu Yuan and Lin Fei saw Li Ruizhi, he was studying in the study.

Duke Huai’an was busy having fun and didn’t care about trivial matters. Furthermore, everyone in the county government regarded Li Ruizhi as the future Duke, so Li Ruizhi’s yard was pretty good, large, and spacious.

Different from the extravagance of Duke Huai’an, Li Ruizhi’s house looked like a typical scholar’s house, whether it was the bamboo and orchids in the yard or the four treasures of the study placed in the house.

The study occupied more than half of the huge courtyard. The bookshelves were stacked with books, including the Four Books and Five Classics that were required for students who wanted to take the imperial examinations and become officials, as well as some poems, songs, and folk tales.

When the two of them entered, what Li Ruizhi was holding in his hand was a folk tale book.

“This is probably the most popular “Resurrecting Pavilion” in recent times! I’ve read it too, and it’s quite well written.” Liu Yuan said casually when he saw the storybook Li Ruizhi put on the desk.

After Li Ruizhi saluted the two of them, he stood up and said with a wry smile: “I have nothing to do, so I will read some notebooks to pass the time.”

Lin Fei looked at the “Resurrection Pavilion” on the table, picked it up, and flipped through a few pages.

Seeing this, Liu Yuan hurriedly explained to Shang Feng: “It’s a story about the love between a talented man and a beautiful lady.”

“It’s like a story where a talented young man and a wealthy young lady admired each other, but the young lady’s family, due to their riches, disagreed with her marrying the destitute young man and married her off to someone else. Later, after the young man excelled in his studies and met the young lady again, she was not doing well. Her husband, who seemed refined on the surface but was a scoundrel inside, was unfaithful and abusive. When he returned home, he often beat her,” Liu Yuan paused here, sighed, and then continued, “The young man couldn’t forget the young lady, and she couldn’t forget him either. After returning home, her misery deepened. Her unfaithful husband sensed her feelings for the young man and became even more brutal. In a fit of rage, he accidentally killed the young lady. The young man, upon learning of this, was consumed by regret. He had initially thought of following the young lady, but fate had other plans. He encountered a mischievous Taoist priest at the young lady’s grave. The Taoist priest found him annoying, scolded him, and then made an agreement to meet at a nearby pavilion at midnight for a fight. When midnight came, the young man arrived at the pavilion, but the Taoist priest was already waiting. Without saying a word, the Taoist priest handed him a palm-sized paper doll and then ran off. The young man chased after him, but as soon as he left the pavilion, the Taoist priest disappeared. When he returned to the pavilion, he saw the palm-sized paper doll suddenly grow larger before his eyes, transforming into the living image of the young lady, smiling at him!”¹

Liu Yuan, who finished the content of “The Pavilion of Resurrection” in one breath, couldn’t help but click his tongue and said: “This story is interesting because it is a heart-touching love story about reunion. I can’t think about it deeply. I always find it a bit weird. It’s gloomy, just like a ghost story; let’s call it a ghost story, but it’s very touching, and it doesn’t clearly indicate that there are ghosts or anything like that.”

He also wondered whether “The Pavilion of Resurrection” was a ghost story or a love story. Bai Zhu and Wei Fu argued for a long time but could not come to a conclusion.

While he was sighing, he saw Lin Fei raise his head, looked at Li Ruizhi, and asked him: “What do you think of the story of “Resurrection Pavilion”?”

Liu Yuan, who was still sighing at the side, heard this, and his jaw almost dropped. He looked in disbelief at Shang Feng who asked this question: Is this… his Shang Feng who never talks nonsense?

He actually started discussing the stories in the storybook with others!

---

Footnote

1. Nice story. And it is a hint!! Can you guess?