"In my younger years, I was extremely mischievous and was led astray by the young men of the Shen family. In a fight, I stabbed several people to death. When the authorities came to arrest me, the elder of the Shen family handed me over to take the blame. My adoptive father tried to save me by going to the authorities and saying that he was the one who had committed the crime, not me. He was beheaded in public..."

  Kuo Sheng's words suddenly stopped, and he fell silent for a moment with an expressionless face before continuing: "The Qiu family came to our door in the middle of the night seeking revenge. My foster mother saved me... That same night, I escaped from Taiping Village and begged my way back to Shaoxing.

  I returned to Shaoxing at the age of twelve, seven years later I passed the imperial examination as a xiucai, and after another year, on my way to take the exam, I went to Wenzhou Prefecture and killed an enemy. Two years later, I returned to Shaoxing again, knowing that my crimes were deep, I did not dare to think about the imperial examination, left Shaoxing, and joined my uncle Zhu Jinyan, became a teacher, five years later, I went out for travel, until three months ago from Hangzhou City to Hengshan County, entered the mansion of Lord Lǐ.

  Li Xia finished eating the pomegranate in her hand, stood up, and without even looking at Guo Sheng, walked straight into the inner courtyard.

  "Miss..." Guo Sheng didn't dare to speak loudly, staring blankly at Li Xia as she swung her arm and skipped into the second gate, disappearing around a corner. He sat stunned for a moment before falling backwards onto the ground.

  He never thought she would leave just like that, what does she mean by this?

  He can't be wrong!

  ………………

  Li Xiaoping was out of breath, jumping all the way into the upper room, rushing towards her sister on the bed, but before she could rush into her sister's arms, her feet went soft and she bumped into Li Wenlan, her sixth brother.

  "Sister!" Li Wenlan was hit by Li Xia and was in great pain, she just cried out once, looking at Li Xia who struggled to get up but couldn't, feeling both painful and scared, she burst into loud wailing.

  Li Dong hastily picked up Li Xia and stretched out his hand to pull Li Wenlan, "Xia is alright? Brother Lan is alright?"

  Mrs. Xu rushed out of the room where she was packing with Hong, stretched out her hands and hugged Li Wenlan, "What's wrong? What happened to Xia?"

  Li Xiaowu was in Li Donghuai's arms, and suddenly let out a loud belch. This one belch opened the floodgates, and he began to belch nonstop. Li Wenlan stopped crying, staring blankly at Li Xiaowu, who was belching so hard he could hardly catch his breath.

  Li Xia was sobbing painfully, thinking about what had just happened.

  What does this Guo Sheng want to do? What does he mean by this? What did he see? What does he know? How did he know?

  ………………

  Guo Sheng didn't dare to linger, and hastily left the county government office. His feet barely touched the ground as he rushed out, just like that night when he escaped from Taiping Village. He only dared to walk quickly, not daring to look or listen, nor even think.

  It wasn't until the second half of the night that Guo Sheng finally came to, shaking off the inexplicable and inexpressible fear that had been gripping him. He threw on some clothes, got up, stood by the window for a while, pushed open the door, stepped out onto the corridor, tilted his head back to gaze at the vast and distant sky, and the cold, indifferent half-moon hanging at the horizon.

  He wandered alone for nearly ten years, drifting aimlessly without a clear goal, from not knowing what he was looking for to searching for something extremely rare and extraordinary.

  He has no family, no house, no ties, he lives, he wants to live an extraordinary life...

  He believed his eyes, that five-year-old little girl was absolutely not a five-year-old little girl. He didn't know what she was or why she was living in that house, perhaps she was trapped in that house...

  He also didn't know how she convinced Li Wenshan and directed him, but whatever it was, she wasn't ordinary, that's for sure.

  What does she mean today?

  He doesn't even know what she is, how can he possibly know what she means?

  Guo Sheng stood stupidly, standing until half of his body was chilled, before lowering his head and slowly turning back into the house.

  ………………

  The next evening, Li Xia sat on the threshold of the bell tower again, holding a piece of Ningbo rice cake and nibbling slowly.

  Guo Sheng stood at the door of the signing room, stared blankly for a moment, lightly stomped his feet, and went straight over, just like yesterday, half-kneeling and half-squatting two or three steps away from Li Xia, glanced at Li Xia who was intently eating cake, and quickly lowered his eyelids.

  "I humbly wish to seek your daughter's hand in marriage and be allowed to devote myself to her family, exerting the loyalty of a dog or horse, even unto death."

  Li Xia glanced at Guo Sheng, biting his tongue, and said nothing. There were still many things he wanted to say, many things he needed to explain.

  Guo Sheng waited for a moment, looked up and swept his eyes over Li Xia, seeing Li Xia slowly nibbling on a pastry, with an expression as if he didn't exist. His heart slightly relaxed, she hadn't stood up to leave, this was giving him an opportunity.

  "In my guess, it originated from you, brother." Guo Sheng guessed Li Xia's intention and tentatively opened his mouth. Seeing that Li Xia didn't look at him or move, he continued: "You're fifteen this year, people don't grow up all at once, if you really are... so excellent, you should have eliminated the Zhong family's troublemaker in Taiyuan Prefecture long ago. Those two masters probably wouldn't even enter County Magistrate's eyes, your excellence is too sudden."

  Li Xia's delicate teeth bit into the Ding Sheng cake, paused for a moment, and then continued to bite down.

  Behind your brother's back, there must be a noble person guiding him. From Li He to Qin Qing, the king of Hangzhou city, and all the people including your father, have highly praised your brother's talent.

  Let's just forget about your father, but Qin Qing is a very astute person. He has always held your brother in high esteem and never suspected anything. It can be seen that the person behind your brother must be extremely secretive, someone who makes everyone unsuspecting.

  The young lady's family had just arrived, and except for her own relatives, there was not even one frequent visitor. This tall man, with a height of over 1.8 meters, was in the county government's rear residence, where the population was simple.

  When elder brother first came to Hangzhou to study, no matter what happened, big or small, he would definitely return home, anxious on the way back and relieved on the way out.

  Li Xia gave Guo Sheng a slanted glance, such thoughts were like squeezing oil out of stone.

  Guo Sheng didn't see Li Xia's glance, carefully raised his head and took a peek at Li Xia, then continued to speak.

  "In the years I've spent traveling around, I've seen many strange and wondrous things. In Yunnan, in the south, I once even saw a cat that could talk."

  Li Xia took a bite of the glutinous rice cake, fortunately her family didn't raise a cat.

  Being able to be with Leng brother at any time, and making everyone unexpected, the girl and Liu Ye are also counted. I have seen Liu Ye before, and Liu Ye is a clever child.

  The young lady and your brother went out, I saw them twice from below, the young lady was not moved by external things. A five-year-old child, who has been traveling downstream for nearly ten years now, this is the first time he has seen a girl like her.

  "After entering the inner courtyard, I often saw the young lady playing in the front hall. I didn't dare to look too much, but I also caught a glimpse of her. The things she looked at and listened to were all related to Master's official business, including that property dispute lawsuit. She even brought her maid to watch, and her expression..."

  Guo Sheng swept a glance at Li Xia quickly.

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