Chapter 666 To flush out the real culprit
" Hanyi? Is that you?" Lin Jing felt like he was dreaming as he looked at the young woman who was dressed in rags and sitting in the corner of the alley with a bowl in her hands, if he hadn"t seen the necklace that was around her neck, he wouldn"t not even in his wildest dream realise that this was the same girl from his memories.
The beggar girl who was huddled in the corner of the alley raised her head and looked at Lin Jin, at first her eyes were a bit dazed but then they widened and she stood up from the ground. Her begging bowl dropped to the ground with a clang. "Jing ge? You are Jing Ge right?"
Su Wan felt a flicker of annoyance as she heard the girl call Lin Jing, Jing Ge with so much affection, somewhere in her mind something clicked but she ignored it. There was no way, this girl has never appeared in front of her till now, she was definitely not trying to imitate her but as she stared at the girl who rushed towards her husband like a bird that finally found her nest after a long journey, Su Wan felt a bit annoyed.
And this annoyance only increased when the girl despite her dirty clothes hugged Lin Jing. The latter was still sh.e.l.l-shocked but he smiled as he looked down at the girl called Hanyi and patted her back without even the slightest bit of disgust in his eyes despite the grime and muck sticking on her clothes of the girl. " Hanyi, where did you go? Didn"t you know that your family was so worried about you?"
Hanyi pulled back as she looked at Lin Jing with tears in her eyes as she sniffed and lowered her head. " I...I was wrong Jing Ge, I ran away from home with the jerk and broke my parents" hearts. I shouldn"t have done that, I wanted to come back home but that jerk wouldn"t let me, I was afraid that I will bring trouble to my family and that was why I stayed where I was."
Listening to Hanyi"s explanation, Lin Jing frowned. " What do you mean, what happened?"
" Jing Ge, I——"
" Jing Ge, I think we should bring Miss Hanyi back home first," Su Wan didn"t know if she was being ignored or not but she could feel that she was being aside. Not wanting to let the girl do as she wished, she resolutely stepped in and looked at the girl who was eyeing her curiously as if just realising that she was here.
" Jing Ge? Who is this?" asked Hanyi, her eye studying Su Wan carefully as she looked at her, Su Wan too stared right back at Hanyi with her eyes narrowed.
" This… This is my wife," answered Lin Jing with a smile as he pulled Su Wan closer to him. " Isn"t she the prettiest wife? You can call her sister-in-law, all right?"
Her heart that was coiled up like a shrivelled-up raisin finally started thumping again as she looked at the woman in front of her. At least Lin Jing seemed to have been treating this girl as his sister but this girl… Su Wan squinted at Hanyi who was now ignoring her despite Lin Jing introducing her as his wife.
Very well, did she think that she was someone who can"t play? A mocking smile etched on Su Wan"s lips as she tilted her head and looked at the woman in front of her.
She was the best to give a rocking rack slam to white lotuses, her sister was one and she was able to tackle her nicely.
Back then she didn"t fight her sister because she couldn"t care less about her ex-husband but Lin Jing was someone she cared about the most and no chicky, bicky, Betty was allowed to get close to her husbands as she wished.
Curling her arm around Lin Jing"s strong one, she smiled and looked at Hanyi before raising her head and looking at Lin Jing. " Jing Ge, I feel a bit tired."
Immediately Lin Jing"s face changed and he ignored what Hanyi was telling him instead he turned to look at Su Wan and worriedly asked, " Tired? Do you feel sick? Let"s go back home now." Then he turned to look at Hanyi before taking out a few taels and handing them to her. Though Su Wan asked him to bring Hanyi back, he couldn"t do that, he was a married man bringing another woman home when her pregnant wife was with him wouldn"t look good and they didn"t necessarily have an extra room at home. " Here take these and buy a few good clothes, and stay at the inn. You can look for a job while you stay in the inn, I will invite you for tea someday."
Then he wrapped his arm around Su Wan and turned around to leave once his back was turned Su Wan slowly turned her head over her shoulder and was not surprised to find the Hanyi girl looking as if she has sucked in a whole lemon and her lips curled up.
She didn"t know why this girl suddenly popped out of nowhere but she had a hunch. From what happened in the village Su Wan could more or less make out that there was someone who was targeting her from behind the scenes. When things ended in the village, she was a bit regretful for not being able to find out what she wanted to but now that this Hanyi girl was here, Su Wan was sure that she will be able to flush the culprit behind the scenes sooner or later.
Until then she will be willing to play along with this game.
With a content smile, she turned her head and looked ahead while resting her head on Lin Jing"s shoulder. This was going to be fun!
Hanyi who was left behind with nothing but a few taels narrowed her eyes before she turned around and left the alley seemingly disappearing in the darkness of the alley.
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" Who is that girl, Jing Ge?" asked Su Wan once they reached her courtyard and Lin Jing helped her onto a chair before pouring the hot water that Lin Yan had warmed up for soaking Su Wan"s feet in a vat.
Lin Jing raised his head and looked at Su Wan with a smile but Su Wan could notice that there was a touch of glumness to it. " She is the younger sister of one of my good friends. He used to come with me to hunting and there were many times the two of us almost lost our lives together but we made it through somehow."
" Used to…?" Su Wan trailed off not knowing what to say as she looked at Lin Jing who was nursing her tired feet.
" He died a few years ago, it was when we had to lay traps for stopping the bear and wolves from descending the mountains," answered Lin Jing as he stopped for a few seconds and then looked at Su Wan. " But then he went a bit far than he should have gone and was attacked by the wolves … we couldn"t save him, all we were able to find were bones of every sizes licked clean of blood and flesh."
" His parents couldn"t bear the loss of their son and pa.s.sed on one by one…" he paused and then heaved a deep sigh. " As for Hanyi, she was my friend"s younger sister but then she fell in love with a hooligan of the village and eloped from the village. My friend often used to miss her, saying that he wished he could see her one last time and talk to her but no one knew where Hanyi was and it has been so many years since I last saw her, I was surprised to see her as well but it"s a good thing that she is alive. At least my friend will be at peace."
Su Wan narrowed her eyes as soon as Lin Jing dropped his head to ma.s.sage her feet. Have been missing for so many years? But now suddenly popped out of nowhere eh?
Even if she didn"t want to think much about it, Su Wan could more or less smell the scent of the scheme from a mile away. Hanyi didn"t pop out all of a sudden miraculously, she was brought here by someone and that someone was the same person who was behind the "witch" rumours.
She tapped her fingers on the armrest of the chair before leaning her head back and blinking her eyes and closing them before giving herself a small break to think things carefully. If she was to gather information about Hanyi…hmm, that will probably won"t work since the one who was behind the last incident will surely be more careful so as not to be caught.
Keeping an eye on Hanyi won"t work, looks like she will have no choice but to banter a little with that little girl or else she wouldn"t be able to find the ident.i.ty of the person who was so hung up on her.
But before that, let"s take a nap!
Su Wan sleeping while scheming: "Zzzz…"
Lin Jing looking at her with all the adoration in the world: "My wife is so cute!"