Before the Marchioness could approach, the carriage curtain was lifted, and two children, about four or five years old, jumped down first, followed by a young couple, presumably the children’s parents. After patting the children’s heads, the young couple took their hands and walked to the carriage next to them, helping the people inside out.

The first to emerge was a middle-aged woman, about the same age as the Marchioness, but her face looked much more haggard than that of the seemingly harmonious and happy Marchioness.

After getting off the carriage, the middle-aged woman quickly turned around and helped the last person in the carriage, an elderly woman with gray hair, out.

Lin Fei followed behind the Marchioness, looking at the guests of the Jingyun Marquis’s residence. When he saw the elderly woman with gray hair, he was somewhat surprised.

In fact, from the previous letters, he could guess the identities of these people without the Marchioness’s introduction. The elderly woman with gray hair must be Madam Lu, who had saved the Marchioness years ago, and the haggard woman of similar age must be Madam Lu’s daughter. The young couple was likely the son and daughter-in-law of Madam Lu’s daughter, making them Madam Lu’s grandson and granddaughter-in-law. The younger children were their children.

Among them, even though Madam Lu’s hair was already white and she was the oldest, “time never diminishes beauty”, and due to her outstanding appearance, she was the most striking among her daughters, grandsons, and even great-grandsons.

From Madam Lu’s current appearance, one could still vaguely see some of her youthful beauty; she must have been a truly remarkable beauty.

After helping Madam Lu down from the carriage, the family turned and walked towards the Marchioness and Lin Fei.

After exchanging pleasantries, the Marchioness took the initiative to help the gray-haired Madam Lu to her feet, and they chatted as they walked: “If it weren’t for you, Madam, I would have perished in Sichuan long ago.”

Madam Lu patted The Marchioness’s hand, her gaze gentle as she looked at her: “Back then, the Second Miss was about the same age as my daughter, with such a beautiful and delicate appearance. I don’t know how those people could be so cruel as to drive someone to their death!”

The Marchioness was the second daughter in her clan before she married, and they had known each other since childhood, so it wasn’t surprising that she was used to calling her the Second Miss.

Hearing this, the Marchioness’s eyes reddened slightly, and she said to Madam Lu: “Back then, only you saved me. Qian Niang accompanied me in my studies and brewed medicine for me!”

When she mentioned “Qian Niang”, a smile appeared on the somewhat haggard face of the middle-aged woman. Looking at Zheng Shi, she said, “Qian Niang also liked the Second Miss. The Second Miss is very kind-hearted and taught Qian Niang many things.”

The things that the eldest daughter of the Zheng family had been exposed to and learned from a young age were incomparable to those of ordinary women, and she had indeed learned a lot from the Second Miss Zheng.

Unfortunately, one cannot remain a child forever. Seeing the haggard look on Qian Niang’s face, the Marchioness said nothing, only reaching out to hug her daughter. She had resolutely divorced her husband’s family and returned to Madam Lu’s side with her son, and the mother and daughter had raised their son (grandson) together; now, their hardships had finally come to an end.

Without mentioning the past, the Marchioness glanced at Lin Fei, who had finished his pleasantries and then remained silent as if he didn’t exist, and said, “That’s enough! You won’t say anything if I leave you here. Go back to your Dali Temple!”

Hearing this, Lin Fei didn’t stand on ceremony, immediately raising his hand and saying, “Thank you, Mother!” before leaving.

His quick departure made the Marchioness shake her head helplessly, but fortunately, Madam Lu and the others didn’t mind, as the Marchioness had already mentioned her second son’s temperament in her letters.

However, they were somewhat surprised that Lin Fei had been appointed as the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple.

“I’ve heard that working in that government office is no easy task,” Madam Lu said, watching Lin Fei’s departing figure. “Why did he go to that office?”

The Marchioness replied helplessly, “He likes it, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Madam Lu nodded, withdrew her gaze, and returned to the carriage with the Marchioness, heading towards the Jingyun Marquis’s residence.

…   

In the kitchen, Wen Mingtang was still puzzled.   

“Since the guests arrived today, shouldn’t we have a welcome feast today? Why wait several days?”

“Those guests have been living in the nunnery for a long time, practicing with their hair still intact. They need to eat vegetarian food for a few days before they can eat meat.” Liu Yuan said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “Those of us who can’t live without meat are not suitable for cultivation. It’s really hard to go a meal without meat!”   

Wen Mingtang smiled upon hearing this, then looked down at the menu in her hand again: the menu was very detailed, even describing the ingredients and cooking methods in detail, showing that Chef Xing was a meticulous person.   

Having understood, she handed the menu back to Liu Yuan, who was already chatting with Ji Caimai and the others about the case.   

“Progress? Not really!” Liu Yuan shook his head, saying, “But these past few days visiting the market, I’ve been terrified by the rumors circulating there.”   

What were the rumors? Tangyuan, who was happily peeling and eating roasted chestnuts, turned to look at Liu Yuan.

Liu Yuan said, “Because the body of Feng Shìlìng was dismembered and linked to the butcher, people in the market spread rumors that Hu Siming killed Feng and sold his body to a steamed bun shop. It’s now being made into steamed buns and sold.”   

Tangyuan, who was enjoying her roasted chestnuts, suddenly shuddered upon hearing this, her face turning pale. “My dad bought steamed buns last night for a midnight snack, saying the shop was selling them cheaply, buy one get one free. I… I even ate one!”

At this point, Tangyuan subconsciously covered her mouth, thinking of the steamed bun she had eaten in the middle of the night, and suddenly felt acid reflux and an urge to vomit.   

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan glanced at Tangyuan, who was almost vomiting, and said, “Are you stupid? The body of Feng Shìlìng has been pieced back together, have you forgotten?”   

Tangyuan said, “Oh”, remembering the matter, and then breathed a sigh of relief.   

“But there are too many people and too much gossip at the market, and I don’t know where the news came from, causing several steamed bun shops to be unable to sell their meat buns, and they had to offer a buy-one-get-one-free deal,” Liu Yuan said. “Old Yuan probably bought them because they were cheap; it’s alright.”   

Liu Yuan knew that this rumor was definitely false, but…   

“The rumor of killing people and making them into meat buns is not the first time it has appeared,” Liu Yuan said. “I’ve heard rumors many years ago that butchers killed people and sold them to meat bun shops to make meat buns.”   

Compared to the astonishment of Tangyuan, Ah Bing, and the others, Wen Mingtang was somewhat speechless: the rumor of such meat buns truly exists throughout history!   

“I don’t know when the rumor started, but it says someone bribed a butcher to conspire and murder a wealthy merchant couple. To avoid being discovered, they…” Liu Yuan gestured with a throat-slitting gesture towards the crowd, saying, “The butcher, well, he was connected to these rumors!”

But to avoid frightening someone as timid as Tangyuan, Liu Yuan paused before quickly continuing, “However, I’ve asked the clerks in charge of the files in the warehouse, and they haven’t heard of any such case in the last thirty or forty years. It’s probably just a local rumor.”

(End of Chapter)

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