Chapter 61: Investigating Her Background

Qin Ying couldn’t stop him in time and had no choice but to let it go. She lifted the cloth and saw underneath it a piece of frozen meat, about a dozen eggs, and two types of marinated food.

Just as she was thinking about what to cook, Xu Xia’s head popped in from the door again. With a cheeky grin, he reminded her, “I forgot to mention earlier—Master said the eggs are for An’an. Miss, please keep them safe!”

Before Qin Ying could respond, he was already gone.

Qin Ying sighed helplessly and brought the items in to show Aunt Zhao.

Aunt Zhao scratched her head and said, “Well… then let’s make something separately for them tonight. We shouldn’t take advantage of others.”

Qin Ying nodded in agreement.

So the dinner menu was revised to: braised pork belly with mixed vegetables, pig head meat stir-fried with garlic sprouts, assorted stir-fried mushrooms, cold-dressed baby bok choy, radish strips stir-fried with soaked bean sprouts, and steamed smoked fish.

As for themselves, they just boiled some dumplings. Honestly, since they hadn’t worked hard that day, dinner wasn’t necessary.

But since there were guests, it would be rude to serve nothing at all, so dumplings were boiled just as a token meal.

When Zhou Yu and the others arrived, it was already completely dark. Only then did Qin Ying finally light a pine torch.

But pine torches gave off a lot of smoke and didn’t provide great lighting.

Zhou Yu frowned and ordered Xu Xia, “Go get candles.”

The Zhao family exchanged glances, wanting to stop him but not knowing how to do so without seeming rude.

Soon, Xu Xia returned with a candle holder and an oil lamp. He handed the oil lamp to Zhao Hu and said, “This is for you! Though it’s not as bright as a candle, it’s better than a pine torch.

“The lamp is filled with oil—it should last quite a while.”

As soon as the candle was lit, the room instantly became bright.

Zhou Yu looked at the dishes on the table and frowned. “This smoked fish—why hasn’t it been eaten?”

Aunt Zhao chuckled awkwardly. “We couldn’t bear to eat it…”

Zhou Yu shook his head and called everyone to sit down for the meal.

Aunt Zhao waved her hand. “Let Huzi eat with you. Yingzi has to feed the child, and my legs aren’t very steady… I beg your pardon, sir.”

Zhou Yu smiled. “That’s fine.” He requested a clean large plate and scooped a portion of each dish from the table for Xu Xia to take to the east room.

Aunt Zhao and Qin Ying looked at each other. Originally, they didn’t plan to accept so much generosity, but in the end, they had taken quite a bit.

Since the food had already been brought in, returning it now would seem ungrateful.

The mother and daughter braced themselves and ate half of the dishes.

These were such good dishes—even in normal times, not to mention during a famine, they rarely got to eat food like this. They really couldn’t bear to finish it all in one go.

After dinner, Zhou Yu thanked Qin Ying for her efforts and returned to the western neighbor’s house.

The candles and oil lamp were left behind.

Since that courtyard was full of men, Qin Ying didn’t feel it was appropriate to go over, so she decided to wait until the next day.

An’an felt that the handsome uncle must have done this on purpose—he came specifically to improve their meals!

She turned on the surveillance feed to check on the little chickens she was raising.

Wasn’t that a coincidence?

Zhou Yu was feeding the chickens.

In just a few days, the two little chicks had grown quite a bit. Some of their soft down feathers had shed, and they no longer looked so fluffy.

But An’an still found them adorable. After all, they were future dishes!

After feeding the chickens, Zhou Yu asked someone to bring out the official documents so he could handle them.

Originally, he had planned to visit the county magistrate of the neighboring county to exchange experiences on disaster relief. If possible, he wanted to take An’an with him.

If only Qinxian managed to access water, while the other areas didn’t, it wouldn’t be a good thing overall.

Before leaving, he made a trip back to the county seat and was about to set off again when he suddenly felt a sharp pang of unease. His intuition told him to return to Tongshu Village.

It was fortunate that he did—otherwise…

Just thinking about what he saw at the time made his heart race.

He took a deep breath. Forget it—whatever he needed to say, he’d put it in a letter. If they sent an invitation, he’d bring people over. If they didn’t…

He turned to Xu Xia and asked, “How’s the investigation into Qin Ying’s background going?”

Xu Xia grinned. “It’s not that fast! But don’t you think Miss Qin speaks with a bit of a capital accent? She’s been here a while, so it’s not very noticeable.”

Zhou Yu thought about it seriously and realized it was true.

Xu Xia continued, “Today, when I was helping Aunt Zhao with her bones, I saw that they had two spirit tablets in the house. They read: ‘In memory of my late father Qin Ziyou’ and ‘In memory of my late mother Madam Lu of the Qin family.’

“Of course, there are many people with the same names, but I happen to know a man named Qin whose wife’s surname was Lu, and they also had a daughter.”

“You’re being too long-winded!” Zhou Yu complained. “Just say it!”

Xu Xia chuckled and said, “It’s the same Qin Ziyou who was once one of the Hanlin Academy scholars.

“I heard that during the palace coup, the Hanlin Academy was hit first. Though those officials weren’t of the highest rank, they were close aides to the emperor, responsible for drafting many edicts.

“None of the scholars on duty in the palace survived.

“As for whether Lord Qin was among them, I’m not sure. I was young back then.”

He was even a year younger than Qin Ying. He had only been six during the palace coup.

Zhou Yu nodded slightly. “Since there’s a lead, it’ll be easier to trace.”

Xu Xia asked curiously, “Why are you investigating Miss Qin?”

An’an was also curious and slightly upset. Was the handsome uncle checking if her mother was a bad person? He was overthinking!

Zhou Yu shot Xu Xia a glance. “Just do as I said. Why are you asking so many questions?”
Why investigate her? Naturally, it was to understand more.

He didn’t think Qin Ying was an ordinary peasant girl—many of her ideas were quite impressive.

Neither Uncle Chen nor the villagers knew much about her background.

Xu Xia rubbed his fingers. “But, young master, investigating a girl for no reason doesn’t seem proper, right?”

“As long as you know I have no ill intentions,” Zhou Yu said calmly. “If she truly ended up here due to misfortune, we might be able to help her return home someday.”

An’an’s eyes lit up. As expected of someone who could handle her full koi-luck blessing! The handsome uncle really had good character!

Seeing this, An’an turned off the surveillance.

The Zhao household was already in complete darkness. Although Xu Xia had given them an oil lamp, lamp oil was hard to come by, so they were reluctant to use it.

Aunt Zhao was cuddling An’an and telling her stories. She had heard countless strange and interesting stories growing up and now could use them to pass the time.

Qin Ying had never heard them before, so she listened with great interest.

Zhao Hu, however, had heard them all since he was little and wasn’t excited anymore. He pestered Qin Ying to teach him to read.

Qin Ying thought about it carefully. “I can’t remember any full books anymore. Let’s continue with poetry—five more characters today.”

Naturally, Zhao Hu had no objections.

So Qin Ying went to his room, lit a fire basin, and roasted a potato along the way.

After Zhou Yu finished reviewing a stack of official documents, he set down his brush and massaged his brow to rest his eyes. Then he heard the sound of clear recitation.

He tilted his head to listen. Zhao Hu’s loud voice was easy to identify, but the softer, lower female voice was clearly Qin Ying.

He couldn’t help but curl his lips into a smile.