The old residence was even more rundown than Fan Changyu’s home. It clearly hadn’t been cleaned much either. The things inside were piled together haphazardly, and because they burned a fire pit indoors during winter, the tables, chairs, and benches were coated with soot that no one had bothered to wipe away.

If you didn’t clean the seat before sitting down, your clothes would be stained black when you stood up again.

The furnishings inside were all cheap earthenware jars and pottery. Fan Da and his son were both gamblers, and anything even slightly valuable in the house had long since been pawned off for money.

The elderly Fan couple lived in the west room. Standing by the door, Old Man Fan called inside, “Old woman, Changyu’s here.”

Lying on the bed, Old Madam Fan immediately turned over and faced her back toward the doorway, clearly unwilling to even speak to Fan Changyu.

Old Man Fan looked awkward and explained to Fan Changyu, “Ever since Da Niu died, she’s been like this.”

Fan Changyu didn’t care in the slightest, nor did she bother trying to greet her. Ever since she could remember, Old Madam Fan had never shown their family a pleasant expression.

Using the cloth Old Man Fan handed her, she wiped down a bench and sat beside the fire pit in the main hall to warm herself.

As Old Man Fan hung the cured meat she brought above the fire pit to continue smoking it, Fan Changyu noticed the bowls and chopsticks still sitting on the nearby table.

It looked like the old couple had eaten rice gruel this morning. Even during the New Year, there wasn’t the slightest trace of meat on the table.

Fan Changyu frowned. After Old Man Fan sat down, she asked, “After Uncle died, the authorities gave twenty-five taels as compensation. Didn’t you use that money?”

Twenty-five taels was no small amount. For an ordinary family living frugally, if no one fell ill and needed medicine, ten taels would be enough to cover a whole year’s expenses.

Old Man Fan muttered, “That money has to be saved for your cousin’s marriage…”

Fan Changyu lifted a brow. “Don’t tell me he already gambled it away again?”

Old Man Fan replied, “Your aunt is keeping the money. She’s worried the mourning period will delay his marriage prospects, so she plans to have him marry during the mourning period itself. She’s already looking at girls for him.”

Hearing that, Fan Changyu said nothing more.

Everyone lived their own lives. In the past, the old couple had always given the best things to Fan Da. Now that their son was dead, naturally all the good things went to their grandson instead.

As long as the old house stopped coveting her family’s property, she was willing to continue maintaining this distant peace between the two households.

She asked, “Earlier, you said there was something related to my father. What was it?”

The firelight reflected across Old Man Fan’s deeply wrinkled face, making him look even thinner and frailer. He slowly sighed.

“Da Niu’s death may also be my punishment.”

Fan Changyu found the remark strange but stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

“Your father wasn’t my biological son, but he was still my own younger brother’s child. Back then, during the famine, your real grandfather followed the villagers to rob the government grain stores and was beaten to death by the soldiers. Your grandmother left all the food in the house for your father and starved to death herself. Before dying, she entrusted your father to me…”

As Old Man Fan spoke, tears flickered in his cloudy eyes.

“I truly wanted to raise that child as my own flesh and blood. But those were famine years… People dying by the roadside were being cooked and eaten. Even Guanyin clay had been fought over and exhausted. One more mouth to feed meant everyone had to give up a little food for your father. Your two aunts whom you never met—the older one was only thirteen. She was sold to a wealthy master as a concubine in exchange for half a sack of white flour…”

Old Man Fan’s voice trembled as tears streamed down his face.

“Later that wealthy master moved to another province. Decades have passed, and neither my wife nor I have ever seen that child again. I don’t know whether she’s dead or alive. The younger girl was only eight. She was sold to traffickers for three hundred coins and vanished without a trace. At that point, only Da Niu, Er Niu, and your father were left in the family, and we still couldn’t fill our stomachs. Your father was the same age as my Er Niu, but my Er Niu was weak and sickly. During our flight from the famine, he became gravely ill. To pay for his treatment, I had no choice… but to sell your father to traffickers too…”

“Your father had always been sensible since childhood. When the traffickers bought him, he even kowtowed to me three times.” At this point, Old Man Fan choked with sobs. “Those five hundred coins haunted me with guilt for the rest of my life… Er Niu was unfortunate. Even after several doses of medicine, he still couldn’t be saved. I thought I would never see your father again in this lifetime. Who would’ve thought that sixteen years ago, he would return to this town on his own with your mother?”

“As for those two daughters we sold, your father spent years trying to find news of them. He never found the elder one, but he did locate the younger one. I heard she married into a military household, but later died during the war. In times of famine and war… human lives are cheaper than grass.”

Fan Changyu had never expected there to be so many hidden truths behind her father being “lost” back then. Her emotions became complicated, and after a long while she finally asked, “After my father returned, why did he use your second son’s name?”

Old Man Fan replied, “When your father came back, he told me he’d made enemies while escorting caravans outside and asked whether he could live in town under Er Niu’s identity. How could I refuse? So I told everyone he was Er Niu, who’d gotten separated during the famine years. Your grandmother hated your father all these years. She believed her two daughters were sold because of him. After your parents came to town, she often went to cause trouble for them, constantly saying she sacrificed her own daughters for your father, and she took quite a few benefits from your parents because of it. Later, after your mother became ill from giving birth to your younger sister, she saw your family had no sons and started wanting to adopt Da Niu’s second son into your household so he could inherit your father’s property someday.”

Old Man Fan sighed heavily, his face full of shame.

“She became obsessed. But in those famine years, even if we hadn’t taken in your father, those two girls… probably still wouldn’t have survived. One child after another was lost until only Da Niu remained. She spoiled him endlessly, and that’s how he turned out crooked. It’s my fault too. Back then, I lacked the ability to support such a large family. Later, even knowing she was wrong, every time she cried over those two daughters, I couldn’t harden my heart enough to discipline Da Niu…”

Originally, Fan Changyu had greatly disliked Old Madam Fan, finding her harsh and mean toward their family. But after hearing this story, she only felt that pitiful people often had hateful sides as well. Still, her opinion of the old woman hadn’t improved at all.

Just as Old Man Fan had said, even after selling her father, they still couldn’t save Fan Er Niu. So how could Old Madam Fan insist that if they hadn’t taken in her father, her daughters and youngest son wouldn’t have left her?

Her father had simply become the outlet for all her resentment.

Fan Changyu said, “What’s past is past. As long as you don’t come causing trouble for my family anymore, however my father treated you before, I’ll continue treating you the same way in the future.”

Old Man Fan replied, “I didn’t tell you all this for that reason. Before your parents died, your father came to see me.”

Surprise appeared on Fan Changyu’s face.

Old Man Fan said with both shame and guilt, “He already arranged how your family’s house and shops would be divided. He even wrote a will, saying the pork shop could go to your uncle, while everything else would be left to you and your sister. I asked him whether enemies from his past had found him, but he refused to say much and only asked me to look after you sisters in the future. But your grandmother has a loose tongue. After your parents died, she let it slip to Da Niu. Da Niu had already become addicted to gambling by then and grew increasingly muddleheaded. He stole the will and burned it, trying to seize all your family’s property. These old bones of mine were useless. I couldn’t stop him at all…”

The moment Fan Changyu heard that her parents might have knowingly gone to their deaths after preparing everything in advance, her hands and feet turned cold. The hands resting on her knees unconsciously clenched into fists, and her lips paled from how tightly she pressed them together.

“You mean… before that happened, my father may already have known he and my mother didn’t have long to live?”

Old Man Fan hesitated before nodding.

Fan Changyu felt cold all over, her thoughts in complete chaos.

According to the authorities, the bandits searching for the treasure map had found her father and came demanding the map.

But if that were true, why would her father believe that once he and her mother died, the bandits wouldn’t come kill her and Changning afterward?

Unless… the bandits had already obtained the treasure map.

Yet afterward, their family still encountered bandits twice, which clearly meant the treasure hadn’t actually been found.

However, those later groups of bandits obviously didn’t know her family beforehand. They only managed to identify them after learning something from Fan Da.

Fan Changyu could only think of one possibility—the bandits who killed her parents and the bandits who later searched her house for the treasure map were not the same group.

The first group obtained the treasure map but still killed her parents. Perhaps her parents knew some secret and had to be silenced?

Originally, Fan Changyu had believed her parents’ deaths were avenged after the authorities suppressed the bandits. But now she suddenly felt the true murderers might still be alive.

After all, not long ago there had been news that the treasure map resurfaced in the hands of rebels in Chongzhou. Those rebels had recruited many nearby mountain bandits and outlaws. The bandits who killed her parents might very well now be serving under the rebels.

The entire walk home, Fan Changyu was lost in thought.

As soon as she entered the house, she heard Xie Zheng’s calm voice from inside.

“Wood, yao, wood, and then a big character underneath. Put together, that makes the character Fan.”

Changning said pitifully, “I don’t want to learn characters anymore. I want to learn how to slaughter pigs like Sister.”

“You sister knows how to slaughter pigs and read.”

Changning sniffled, looking as though she were about to cry.

The moment she heard the door open, she immediately ran over on her short little legs, spread her arms, and hugged Fan Changyu’s thigh. Tilting her head up, her face scrunched together miserably.

“Sister, why do you still have to learn characters even if you slaughter pigs?”

Fan Changyu was still distracted by her thoughts. She only reached down and rubbed the little tuft of hair atop Changning’s head.

“Mother used to say that after learning to read and write, you understand proper conduct and right from wrong. Only then can you avoid making mistakes in how you live your life.”

Changning looked blank, clearly not understanding the meaning of those words.

Xie Zheng lifted his brows slightly and added, “Doesn’t seem like you enjoy studying much either.”

There was a teasing note in his voice. Normally, Fan Changyu would definitely have argued back, but today she only replied tiredly, “I’ll study slowly in the future.”

Xie Zheng finally noticed something wrong with her expression and asked, “Why do you look like a frostbitten eggplant after going out for just one trip?”

Fan Changyu sat beside the fire pit and sighed softly. After telling him everything Old Man Fan had said, she said dejectedly, “If my parents weren’t killed just because of the treasure map, then I have to find out the real reason they died.”

After listening, Xie Zheng’s gaze darkened as well.

Since her father had anticipated everything beforehand and even prepared his affairs after death, then perhaps the people who took his life had met him before the incident?

Her suspicions weren’t unreasonable. However, the thing those people were searching for wasn’t a treasure map at all, but a letter that Wei Yan considered extremely important.

The people who killed her parents obtained the letter, while she and her sister knew absolutely nothing about their parents’ past. Was that why they had been spared?

Xie Zheng had once served as Wei Yan’s blade, so he knew Wei Yan’s methods well. Wei Yan always preferred to eliminate every root entirely.

The fact that those people spared the sisters might mean they had some prior connection with her parents. Combined with the fact that they had met her parents beforehand, the theory seemed even more plausible.

Then there was the later incident of Wei Manor’s death soldiers coming to her home to kill and retrieve the item, followed by Governor He Jingyuan suddenly deploying troops to Lin’an Town. All of it was deeply suspicious.

Most importantly, with Wei Yan’s ruthless temperament, the fact that he could remain patient even after losing so many death soldiers in Lin’an Town was completely unlike his usual style.

If He Jingyuan intended to protect the sisters, and Wei Yan currently had no one more useful than He Jingyuan in the northwestern war situation, then perhaps the two had reached some kind of agreement. If so, everything would make sense.

The moment Fan Changyu raised her head, she saw Xie Zheng staring at her with a dark, unreadable gaze.

Confused, she asked, “What is it?”

Instead of answering directly, Xie Zheng asked, “Do you want to avenge your parents?”

Fan Changyu nodded. “Of course I do.”

Only then did she notice that the headband tied around his hair was the one she had bought for him earlier. It seemed to be the first time he’d worn it.

The dark blue color made his features appear even colder and sharper, adding an even stronger sense of distance to him.

Xie Zheng said, “If everything the authorities said when they closed the case was false, what would you do then?”