Li Zhao saw the pity and concern in her eyes. He couldn't help but want to raise his hand and ruffle her hair, but managed to hold himself back.
"It's all ancient history. Now it's the era of the Xiao family. Let's not talk about these old matters," he said. "It's not easy to stay alive. I don't want to dig deeper into other things."
Ye Wanmian agreed whole - heartedly. Then she heard Li Zhao ask, "What about you? I remember you once said that your parents were gone and you were all alone in the world. But judging from the way you got along with that man yesterday, you two seem very familiar. There must be some hidden story behind your background, right?"
Maybe it was because they had similar experiences, or perhaps Li Zhao's gaze was so gentle at this moment that it made her feel aggrieved. She pursed her lips and had an urge to pour out everything.
"I used to be a girl from the Ye family in the capital..."
She told him about her background and all that had happened to her two years ago.
When Li Zhao heard that she had grown up in the Ye family, he frowned, feeling a bit confused. When he heard that she wasn't of the Ye family's bloodline and was accidentally taken away by the Ye family eighteen years ago, he secretly let out a sigh of relief. However, her following words made his face turn colder and colder.
"The Ye family, Ye Changqing. How dare he treat you like this?!"
Ye Wanmian was stunned. "Uncle Li, how do you know the name of the imperial censor Ye?"
Li Zhao's tone was extremely cold, completely different from his gentle look in front of Ye Wanmian just now. He seemed like he was about to pick up a sword and go to the Ye family to avenge her.
But Ye Wanmian was surprised that he could directly call out the name of the imperial censor Ye. She couldn't help but ask again, "Uncle Li, how do you know the name of the imperial censor Ye?"
Li Zhao said, "Although I've been living incognito and looking unkempt, I'm not completely ignorant of things. Otherwise, how could I tell at a glance that you have a noble background?"
Ye Wanmian thought to herself that he really was from the once - prosperous Li family of Luozhou. Even though he had fallen into such a state, he still knew the current situation well.
"Do you still have feelings for the Ye family?" Li Zhao asked.
Ye Wanmian shook her head. "When they forced me into the sedan chair and sent me to Xuanzhou, our family ties were completely severed."
"Good," Li Zhao nodded. "A family so obsessed with profit is not worth your affection."
Although she had been honest with Li Zhao about her background, she didn't mention the details of her discovery that there was something strange about the Ye family taking the wrong child back then. But Li Zhao was so sharp that he pointed out directly,
"Normally, even if they took the wrong child back then, they had raised you for many years. There should be some affection from raising you even without blood ties. They wouldn't have done such a thing just for the family's interests. Unless there was some hidden story behind the wrong - taking of the child."
Ye Wanmian's eyes widened in surprise. "Uncle Li is really amazing!"
"Do you know where they took the wrong child?" Li Zhao asked.
Ye Wanmian said, "It was at Ling'an Temple between Dongli Town and Tianyuan County."
"Cough, cough, cough!" Li Zhao couldn't help but cough violently. Ye Wanmian quickly got up and patted his back. "That's enough, Uncle Li. Let's stop chatting today. My matter is not a big deal. You don't need to worry so much."
Ye Wanmian half - forcefully pushed Li Zhao onto the bed. "I'll go and boil the medicine for you. You have a good rest."
After saying that, she rushed out in a hurry. So she didn't see Li Zhao coughing while slightly hunched over. But his fingers were trembling violently because of his intense emotions.
His face suddenly changed. He pressed his stinging chest and coughed hard. His throat was filled with a strong smell of blood, and there were also some dark red bloodstains on his cuffs.
He stood still on the spot, staring blankly at the bloodstains on his sleeve. His gaze changed several times. Finally, he quietly rolled up the blood - stained sleeve to completely cover it.
He took out an old and faded scent pouch from his bosom. His fingers gently stroked the embroidery thread on it, and his fingertips landed on the small character "Ying" in the corner.
The little girl said that she had no relatives in the world. His Yingniang might have left him long ago, but she seemed to have left him a very precious gift.
He brought the scent pouch to his lips and kissed it gently. Closing his eyes, two lines of tears slid down from the corners of his eyes and disappeared into his messy hair.
Yingniang, don't worry. I'll do my best to take care of her. I won't let her be wronged anymore, and I won't allow anyone to bully her.
...
Ye Wanmian was sitting outside the medical clinic, boiling the medicine and gently waving the palm - leaf fan in her hand. She recalled the conversation with Li Zhao just now and gently touched the bridge of her nose.
She didn't know what had come over her. She had just blurted out her background. All her usual caution and vigilance had been thrown out of the window.
But thinking carefully, his background was much more tragic than hers. Her experience was nothing compared to his. She thought that he probably wouldn't tell others, so she felt relieved.
Resting her chin on her hands, she stared blankly at the tongues of fire in the medicine stove.
Come to think of it, her luck had really improved a lot since she came to Dongli Town. She not only met Doctor Wang, who took good care of her everywhere, and became his apprentice to learn medicine; Taoist Yuanzheng was also upright - minded. He patiently helped her calculate her birth date and solved her doubts.
She took out the note left by Taoist Yuanzheng from her sleeve and gently unfolded it in her palm.
"Just like under the lamp, an old friend comes back from afar and stands facing the shadow."
Maybe this poem referred to her and her mother? After leaving Xuanzhou, she had traveled all the way to Dongli Town, almost covering a long distance of ten thousand miles. It did match the description in the poem.
Recently, because of the matter of the dog - prince, she had no time to care about other things. She hadn't seen her mother for nearly a month. She wondered how her mother was these days. Had she been tortured and mistreated by the two people from the Jiang family?
She had to find some time to go and have a look.
When the medicine was ready, Ye Wanmian brought it to Li Zhao's room. She found that Li Zhao was already asleep. She walked forward and pulled the thin quilt over him. Then she noticed the faded and old scent pouch that had fallen beside his hand.
Somehow, she gently picked up the scent pouch and looked at it carefully.
The person who embroidered this scent pouch must have been very good at embroidery. The stitches were fine. Although the colors had faded, the flowers and birds on it were still lifelike. In the corner, there was a small character "Ying", which was probably the "Yingniang" he had repeatedly mentioned when he was in a coma.
She couldn't help but look at the sleeping man again.
It seemed that he was really looking for someone. She wondered why he had separated from that woman back then.
She couldn't help but make up a passionate and lingering love story in her mind, in which the woman had to be separated from him because the Li family was exterminated.
As soon as this thought came up, she shook her head vigorously.
Bah, bah, bah. She must have been influenced too much by Qi Wen! She carefully put the scent pouch into Li Zhao's palm. Even though Li Zhao was in a deep sleep, he still instinctively grasped the scent pouch tightly in his palm and tucked it into his bosom.
She quietly left the room and returned to the front hall to continue looking after the store.
Today, Xiao Yixuan didn't come to the medical clinic again. There were no suspicious people outside the clinic either. There were only patients who came to seek medical advice and medicine from time to time. Everything was just as usual.
After night fell, Ye Wanmian closed the door and brought the dinner and another bowl of medicine to Li Zhao's room again. He was still sleeping. The medicine bowl was empty, and the scent pouch had disappeared. She guessed that he had hidden it.
Ye Wanmian put down the things and quietly left.
The sun rose and the moon set, and another day passed. The three life - lamps had burned for three days.
In order to watch the three lamps and prevent the lights from going out, Qi Wen had hardly rested. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he looked completely dazed.
Seeing that he yawned twelve times in just a moment, Ye Wanmian finally "had a conscience" and suggested, "How about I take over watching them today?"