Chapter 145
Chapter 145
“Who are you looking for?”
A voice suddenly came from behind him.
Yu Lang turned around and saw a woman standing at the gate of a small fenced courtyard, sizing him up.
After a brief hesitation, he said, “I’m looking for Mr. Qin…”
The woman’s eyes rolled, and she said with a beaming smile, “Mr. Qin, is it?”
“You look so young. Don’t tell me you already have a child you want to send to school?”
Yu Lang quickly shook his head. “No. I only heard there was an academy here, and that the teacher’s surname was Qin, so I came specially to take a look.”
The woman leaned lazily against the doorway. From who knew where, she produced a handful of melon seeds and began cracking them as she said, “Mr. Qin went out today. He’s not at the academy. If you need him for something, come back tomorrow.”
“What unfortunate timing.”
Yu Lang glanced at the courtyard bearing the plaque “Kaiming Academy” and asked, “There are no classes today?”
“No.”
The woman said languidly, “Classes are suspended on the first and fifteenth of every month. Today just happens to be the fifteenth.”
“Is that so?”
Yu Lang roughly calculated the date. It was indeed the fifteenth day of the eleventh lunar month.
But he had no desire to have made this trip for nothing, so he turned to the woman and asked, “Are you well acquainted with Mr. Qin, sister?”
That word “sister” clearly pleased her.
The woman immediately gave a coquettish smile, and her tone softened considerably. “Of course I am. We’ve been neighbors for more than ten years. How could I not know him?”
Yu Lang asked again, “Then how should I address you, sister?”
“Just call me Hong Qiao.”
Yu Lang cupped his hands at once. “Greetings, Sister Hong Qiao.”
Hong Qiao glanced him over again. Seeing that he was handsome and clean-cut, she seemed to take quite a liking to him and even offered of her own accord, “Such a sweet mouth you have, young gentleman. Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?”
“Gladly. Thank you, sister.”
As Yu Lang spoke, he walked straight into the courtyard.
And at the moment he stepped through the gate, from the corner of his eye, he clearly saw someone not far away standing at the road junction and peering in this direction.
He hesitated for only a moment before still stepping into the courtyard.
Hong Qiao’s residence could be considered adjacent to Kaiming Academy.
After Yu Lang entered, his gaze swept around once, but he did not see any sign of a male master of the house. He guessed that Hong Qiao most likely lived alone.
In that case… the people watching from the road junction were probably here for the spectacle.
Sure enough, after Hong Qiao brought out the tea, she walked into the courtyard and deliberately shut the gate with a loud bang.
Then she sighed and said, “My husband died two years ago. Now I’m the only one living here.”
“Those people at the road junction spend all day staring at me, wagging their tongues until they’re practically worn out.”
Although she said that, there was not the slightest trace of sorrow on her face. Her eyes continued roaming over Yu Lang as she added, “From the look of you, young gentleman, you’re still quite young. You probably haven’t married yet, have you?”
Yu Lang was secretly terrified that she might have taken a fancy to him.
But for the sake of asking his questions, he did not dare show even a hint of impatience.
“Not yet. I’ve been far too busy these past few years, and I’m used to being free on my own. I haven’t really thought about such things.”
“But Sister Hong Qiao, you’re so young and so beautiful. Why haven’t you found someone else?”
As expected, Hong Qiao was delighted to hear this, and a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.
She handed the teacup to Yu Lang, deliberately tugging it back for a moment to tease him, then suddenly asked bluntly, “All right, tell me. What exactly have you come to see Mr. Qin for? I may be able to help you.”
Yu Lang accepted the teacup without a change in expression and replied, “I heard that this Mr. Qin is famous far and wide for his teaching ability. My uncle’s family has a younger son who’s terribly mischievous, so I wanted to come ask whether the academy might take him in…”
But Hong Qiao said, “You seem no ordinary young gentleman to me. Your background must be quite respectable as well, yes?”
“If you’re from a wealthy family, you should have plenty of choices.”
“This Mr. Qin may be learned, but he’s stubborn by nature and very strict with his students. That younger brother of yours may not be able to endure it.”
Yu Lang went on, “From the sound of it, Sister Hong Qiao, you know Mr. Qin’s character quite well?”
“Does this Mr. Qin have a son who’s going to become the son-in-law of Yuelai Villa?”
“If that’s the case, won’t he stop working as a teacher in the future?”
Hong Qiao said, “Not necessarily…”
“From what I can tell, Mr. Qin doesn’t seem to want his son to marry into the Shen Family at all.”
Yu Lang immediately seized on the important point. “Why? Isn’t Yuelai Villa the wealthiest and most prominent household in all of Kaiming County?”
“Exactly…”
Hong Qiao began analyzing it for him in full detail. “Think about it. A scholar like Mr. Qin has pride in his bones and has always cared about his reputation. How could he be willing to let his son become a live-in son-in-law?”
Yu Lang agreed with that. “Then does that mean the young master of the Qin Family is doing it of his own accord?”
Hong Qiao smiled again. “That son of Mr. Qin’s is nothing like him. In my view, how does he look even the slightest bit like his real son?”
Yu Lang’s heart gave a faint jolt.
Could it be that Qin Shu truly was not surnamed Qin?
After saying this, Hong Qiao seemed to realize she had misspoken and quickly changed the subject. “But then again, if your younger brother really wants to study under Mr. Qin, you might as well send him over to try.”
“Whatever else one might say about Mr. Qin, he does know how to teach and educate people.”
Yu Lang nodded perfunctorily, then asked, “Has Mr. Qin traveled somewhere far today? About when will he be back?”
Hong Qiao’s words carried a hint of deeper meaning. “Him? On the first and fifteenth of every month, come rain or shine, he goes out to the countryside to deliver things. There’s no telling when he’ll return.”
Yu Lang asked doubtfully, “Who of Mr. Qin’s lives in the countryside?”
At that, Hong Qiao paused and did not answer right away.
Instead, she asked him in return, “Young gentleman, you really are terribly curious about Mr. Qin. You even want to ask about that in such detail?”
Yu Lang smiled and knew when to stop.
“I was only asking in passing. If it’s inconvenient for Sister Hong Qiao to answer, then I won’t ask.”
Hearing him say that only made Hong Qiao want to reveal something even more.
She leaned closer to Yu Lang and said in a low voice, “Actually, there’s no harm in telling you. The one living in the countryside is Qin Shu’s mother…”
Yu Lang noticed her choice of words.
Qin Shu’s mother.
Not Mr. Qin’s wife.
He quickly said, “Qin Shu’s mother… is she not Mr. Qin’s wife?”
As soon as he said this, Hong Qiao’s expression turned somewhat subtle.
She lightly patted Yu Lang on the shoulder, leaned in even closer, and lowered her voice further. “Now, these words didn’t come from me, all right?”
“It’s just that Qin Shu’s mother’s background is unclear. She was a woman from another place whom Mr. Qin took into his home. No one knows where exactly she came from…”
“And less than half a year after she and Mr. Qin married, she gave birth to Qin Shu. So many people suspect…”
“That Qin Shu isn’t Mr. Qin’s biological son at all.”
Yu Lang’s heartbeat quickened, and he could not help asking, “Then why does Qin Shu’s mother live in the countryside?”
Hong Qiao gave a cold laugh. “Isn’t it because she couldn’t stand all those rumors and gossip, so she hid herself away in the countryside?”
“The way I see it, that’s clearly a guilty conscience.”
“Look at me. So many people out there talk about me, but what am I afraid of? The more they talk, the happier I am.”
As she spoke, she even threw Yu Lang a flirtatious wink.
Yu Lang immediately glanced toward the courtyard gate and discovered that, at some point, several figures had gathered outside to watch the commotion, chattering away about something.
He instantly had the feeling that he had done absolutely nothing, yet his reputation had already been utterly ruined…
So he hurriedly took his leave of Hong Qiao and rushed straight out the door.
However, he had only just reached the side of the arched bridge when he saw a figure coming toward him. He instinctively stopped and asked, “Are you… Mr. Qin?”