Chapter 11

I never would have imagined that Xu Zhao’an would actually become the top scholar.

By the time I received the letter, summer had already arrived in Changning Town.

I had also saved up some silver and was preparing to take Liu’er to the county to visit Granny Liu.

It had been a long time since I last saw her, and I heard her health had not been well lately.

Last Winter Solstice, I brought the hotpot to the table.

There were two new lines on the menu at the door.

Vegetarian hotpot, twenty wen per person.

Meat and vegetable soup pot, fifty wen per person.

On snowy days, having a bite of vegetables cooked in the boiling broth, paired with the special dipping sauce-

There was barely any space left in the shop.

Liu’er and I squeezed and squeezed, and finally managed to save our first one hundred taels.

In the afternoon, the cicadas chirped incessantly as I took Liu’er to the street to have some clothes made.

As we walked, we ran into someone familiar.

I hadn’t seen Lin Pianyue for a long time, not since she got married.

But in just half a year, the light in her eyes had already faded.

Her face was weary, her eyes full of disappointment.

Even the black hair she once took pride in now looked like a withered mess atop her head.

I heard that things between her and Lu Zhao were not as deep and passionate as I had imagined.

Once the love was gone, even the smallest faults in each other were magnified endlessly.

Not to mention, in Lu Zhao’s eyes, Lin Pianyue had once been a concubine for someone else and had given birth to a child that was not his.

These past events constantly agitated Lu Zhao, even causing the usually steady man to have conflicts with people at the County Office.

But these things had always existed.

No one could stop them from falling in love, just as no one could stop them from growing to resent each other now.

I lowered my gaze, intending to walk around her, but she stopped me in the street.

“Father is gravely ill. He wants you to come home and see him.”

I looked up abruptly.

After all, we are father and daughter. If this is his final journey, what harm is there in going to see him?

I handed what I was carrying to Liu’er and instructed, “Try on these clothes at home. If they don’t fit, we’ll come back and exchange them tomorrow.”

Liu’er nodded, glancing back every few steps as he walked toward the shop.

When I returned to the Lin Family, Father was nowhere to be seen. Mother stood in the courtyard, holding a sweat cloth.

I realized that Lin Pianyue hadn’t just run into me by chance on the street today-she had come looking for me on purpose.