At that moment, Guaizai was practicing martial arts in the tent for Gungun and Dandan to watch. Old Madam Qin peeled two oranges for Gungun and Dandan, and one more for Old General Qin.
His left hand was inconvenient, so he didn't break his into segments and just took a bite — but half the orange accidentally fell to the ground. Gungun saw it, picked it up, saw it wasn't dirty, blew on it, and as if making an exchange, handed his own orange to Old General Qin. The one that had fallen, he ate himself in a few bites. Then he clapped his chubby little hands to cheer Guaizai on.
"Brother is so awesome!"
Old General Qin and Old Madam Qin were stunned.
The child's instinctive action truly stirred them deeply, warming them through, as if their hearts might melt. The child was sensible—they should be happy, should smile—but at this moment their eyes stung with tears.
Old General Qin held Gungun all day, unwilling to let go no matter what. The child was soft and cuddly all over, and was the only ger among four generations of their Qin family. He loved him to death.
The Qin family had always had more men. For several generations, there hadn't been a single girl or ger.
If not for that, Old Madam Qin wouldn't have thought of picking a child from her own natal family and Meng Ruqing's family to adopt to Qin Hengxuan back then.
Old General Qin kissed Gungun again. Both of Gungun's cheeks were kissed red. Old General Qin held him close and said, "Our Gungun is truly filial."
"Huh?" Gungun didn't quite understand.
Old General Qin: "You know how to love Grandpa."
Gungun understood what he was referring to. He scratched his head and said: "Father and Daddy say things that fall on the ground are dirty and can't be eaten, but if they're not dirty, you can eat them. But people whose bodies aren't good will get tummy aches if they eat it. Gungun's body is super strong. Grandpa is an old man, no good. If Grandpa eats it, he'll turn into a lazy snake. Grandpa, do you know what a lazy snake is?"
Old General Qin shook his head. Gungun said: "A lazy snake doesn't take baths, eats everything carelessly, then its body gets itchy and its tummy hurts, so it goes to find a physician. On the way, it gets caught by Snow White's chef, the divine chef Little Fugui, who takes it to make soup. Once Snow White eats it, it's dead."
[Little Fugui (小福贵): the main character of the Chinese animated series Magic Boy Kitchener (神厨小福贵).]
Old General Qin and Old Madam Qin beside him couldn't help but laugh. It was probably another one of Fang Zichen's tall tales made up to fool the child.
---
Qin Shiyi's professional skills were first-rate. Fu'an Town wasn't far from the border. Qin Shiyi was gone for about ten days before returning. The information he brought back plunged the Qin family into a new mystery.
When Fang Zichen first went to the yamen to register his household, as an outsider wanting to settle in Da Xia, he had to undergo layer upon layer of investigation. It was extremely strict. If he had been a criminal who fled from elsewhere, he would absolutely not have been allowed to settle in Da Xia.
But he was on good terms with Lao Wang, and he had the village head's guarantee. His nature wasn't bad, either. Lao Wang knew his parents had met with disaster at sea — both gone — and that after coming to Da Xia by boat, he had been robbed and chased, stumbling his way into the mountains. He had said his parents were gone and he didn't want to go back, that familiar sights would only make him want to give up on life, and that since he had a fulang and a son in Da Xia now, he wanted to stay.
Lao Wang knew about all of this, so on the day the household registration was done, he didn't ask much. He just filled in the specific information. In the column for place of origin, Fang Zichen wrote: Da Tang of the Eastern Land.
[Da Tang of the Eastern Land (東土大唐): Tang Sanzang's homeland — Tang Dynasty China, the "Eastern Land" from which he journeys west to retrieve Buddhist scriptures.]
This was like a modern personal file. After it was filled out, the yamen sealed and stored it away. When it came time for the imperial examinations, the yamen runners only checked his household registration.
Overseas ships wanting to enter the dock had to register, and the controls were extremely strict. However, when Qin Shiyi retrieved the records from the yamen, he discovered that in the year Fang Zichen arrived, two overseas ships had docked at Fu'an Town — one in early the sixth lunar month and one in early the ninth lunar month.
The people on board came from all over — a very mixed lot. Overseas, there were countries like Da Xia, but there were also many small, little-known tribes.
Qin Shiyi had never heard of a place called Da Tang of the Eastern Land. He checked the relevant overseas records and found no mention of it in any of the documents.
The people who came in the sixth lunar month were mostly overseas visitors who had come to sightsee out of admiration, making it very difficult to investigate them one by one. The three soldiers responsible for boarding and inspecting the ships looked at the portrait of Meng Ruqing that Qin Shiyi provided. After looking for a long while, Qin Shiyi asked if they had ever seen this person. Without even thinking, all three shook their heads.
"Look carefully."
"My lord, we really haven't seen him."
If it were an ordinary face, after several years had passed and with only a brief glance at the time, who could remember?
But the person in the portrait — how could anyone forget such an outstanding appearance? One glance would be enough to never forget. If they had really seen him, they would definitely remember deeply. How could they possibly forget?
Moreover, Qin Shiyi described this person as having short hair, not the long hair in the portrait, and standing over eight chi tall. In Fu'an Town, such a height was rare — they had never even seen anyone over eight chi tall.
These three points were all different from ordinary people. Anyone who saw him would surely remember firmly.
Were there any ships that passed by Fu'an Town that year but didn't dock?
Of course there were. But those ships didn't stop along the way until they reached Qinzhou.
Qinzhou was a thousand li away from Fu'an Town! Entering the town didn't require checking documents, but entering the city — apart from young scholars, xiucai, officials, and prominent clans — ordinary commoners had to submit to inspection and show their travel permits.
At that time, Fang Zichen hadn't registered his household yet, so there was no way he could have come from Qinzhou.
But the investigation in Fu'an Town had turned up nothing either.
Qin Shiyi went to the He family and asked Old Man He.
Old Man He was already advanced in years, but the village head was filial to him. Also, he had previously fallen and injured his leg in the mountains, and afterward walked with some difficulty, so in recent years he hadn't done much farm work. He still looked hale and spirited.
When he saw Qin Shiyi's cool, stern face, he was terrified. Hearing the purpose of the visit, he thought something had happened to Fang Zichen and that they had come to investigate him.
He knew Fang Zichen wasn't a bad person at heart, just a little greedy. Surely he hadn't become a big official, lost control of himself, and embezzled his way into prison!
Before Qin Shiyi could even speak, Old Man He knelt down trembling, saying Fang Zichen was only twenty-three this year. "My lord, has he done something wrong? But he's young and doesn't know better. I beg you to give him a chance to reform."
Qin Shiyi had to explain helplessly for a long time. When Old Man He heard it was just curiosity, he immediately stopped finding it strange.
When news of the chemical fertilizer had spread, people had often come to their village to inquire about Fang Zichen!
But they were all small merchants and common folk. He hadn't expected officials to be curious too!
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