Chapter Nineteen: Painful Reflections

  Zhao stood still for a while, and a strong sense of sadness surged up in his heart.

  She should have thought of it earlier, Zhao Jiong and Mi Shi were both in the water soon after the ship sank and then lost their trail, unlike her and Zhang Shi, Zhao Wei, who floated on the broken wooden boards on the boat for a long time. If they were still alive, they should have had news with other servants by now, but there has been no news for so many days, either they drifted to a distant place or found the body, but the adults subconsciously kept it from her, obviously Zhang Shi was aware of it.

  No wonder, Yunxia just spoke to her and her expression was so strange, it's clear that she knew the truth, but unfortunately, she had no parents, yet she couldn't tell her the real situation.

  Zhao sighed secretly in his heart, he indeed had no fate with his parents, and just got a new set of parents for a few days, only to lose them again.

  Gao Zhen stared at her in a daze, unable to understand why his little sister had suddenly stopped walking. He walked up to her and asked softly, "Little sister, are you tired?"

  Zhao looked up at him with a smile and shook his head, taking his hand and walking forward, but her eyes were already red.

  Zhaowei was lying on the bed, her eyes tightly closed, seemingly still asleep, but sleeping very restlessly, occasionally coughing twice, with a tight frown between her eyebrows, and an extremely pale complexion.

  Zhao? let go of Gao Zhuang's hand and stumbled to the bedside, pulling on the bed frame to look at Zhao Wei, suddenly feeling a strange sense of sadness.

  In these short two or three days, the Zhao family has encountered such great misfortune. Zhao even thought that if she hadn't crossed over and was still the original naive and ignorant little girl, would she have also died in the icy river water? And as for those who survived, will they be able to continue living on?

  As the suspect of murder, Zhao Kuang is even more detestable. It's hard to understand how much hatred he had towards his stepmother and half-brother that made him commit such a heinous crime.

  Gao Zhen looked at the back of his little sister and felt that she seemed to be shaking all over, so he walked up to her in confusion: "Little sister, what's wrong?" It wasn't until he got closer that he saw her face was covered in tears, crying so hard she couldn't catch her breath. He quickly hugged her: "Zhao little sister, Zhao little sister, what's wrong? Don't cry, don't cry!"

  Zhaowei slowly opened his eyes, saw his sister standing in front of the bed, although he didn't understand what had happened, but still revealed a weak smile: "Sister don't worry... brother will get better... I'll protect you..."

  Zhao cried even harder, remembering her parents who had passed away in modern times. The perpetrator of the car accident that killed them had not been found until she crossed over. Those murderers who destroyed innocent families and caused them to lose their loved ones, why were they still living peacefully in this world? While the victims' families had to bear the immense pain of sending off their loved ones!

  Her crying grew louder, and the Zhang family was startled. The Princess of Guangping hurried over to see what was going on, and Autumn Leaf also supported Zhang as they rushed over. As soon as they entered the room, they saw Gao Zhen standing there with a helpless expression, awkwardly comforting Zhao who couldn't stop crying.

  The Queen of Guangping hurried forward and hugged Zhao Qing, softly cooing, then glared at her son: "What's going on here? You're bullying your sister?"

  Gao Zhen said dejectedly: "I don't know, I also don't know why she cried. She was fine when I came over just now, it seems like she started crying after seeing Zhao Wei..."

  The princess of Guangping looked at Zhao Wei's sickly face and thought she understood the reason for her big cry, so she comforted her by saying: "Don't worry, your brother is just ill, he will get better soon, when he recovers, he will be as white and chubby as before, good child don't worry."

  Zhao was still crying, and Zhang's family came forward with the help of autumn leaves, sat on the edge of her grandson's bed, stretched out her hand to gently touch her granddaughter's small face, and sighed: "Foolish child, did you hear what we were saying just now?"

  Zhao stopped crying loudly and sobbed as she nestled into Zhang's arms: "Grandma..."

  "Zhang closed her eyes, suppressing the immense pain in her heart: 'It's not that we were hiding it from you, but rather didn't know how to tell you. You've guessed it anyway... From now on, it'll just be us three - grandmother, grandson, and me - relying on each other for survival.'"

  Zhao tightly grasped her collar, and burst into tears again. Zhao Wei was dazed, couldn't help but follow with red eyes, the three of them cried together in a heap.

  The princess of Guangping watched from the side, unable to help but sigh. The Zhao family's second son had suffered such a great change, it was truly a tragic event in the mortal world. She looked at her bewildered son beside her and couldn't bear to blame him for anything either.

  Zhao cried a good cry, finally crying herself to sleep. When she woke up, she was already back in her own room. Yanxia sat on the edge of the bed doing needlework, and outside the window, one could vaguely see Gaozhen reading.

  She sat up, startled by the misty dawn, and smiled as she supported her: "Are you hungry? I'll get you some almond tea?"

  "Thank you, sister." Zhao also felt a bit hungry, so she went along with the situation. When Yanxia brought over the almond tea, she didn't even bother to warm it up and just gulped it down. Yanxia smiled as she looked at her and said softly, "It's clear that you're really hungry. You're such a small thing, yet you snuck into the side room without telling me. If you really wanted to see your brother, why didn't you tell me? I was worried that you'd catch a chill, but holding you outside the door and taking a peek at him would have been okay. Now that you've gone off with Young Master, what if you trip or bump into something? I'll be worried sick."

  Zhao thought for a moment and then solemnly apologized to her: "I'm sorry, I was too rash."

  She apologized, but Yanxia felt embarrassed instead: "I don't dare to accept this, I'm not blaming you for anything, I just worry that something unexpected might happen to you, so I said a few more words." She took the bowl away and poured another cup of tea: "Miss Zhao, have some tea, and later accompany our young master to play."

  Zhao drank tea, letting her help him redo his hair and tidy up his clothes. Then he jumped off the bed and ran to Gao Zhen's desk, saying: "Gao brother, thank you just now, did the princess scold you?"

  Gao Zhen put down the book and looked at her with some grievance: "The empress did not blame me, but why are you crying?"

  Zhao pursed his lips: "I heard the princess say that my parents are dead, so I cried."

  Gao Zhen was taken aback and hastily said, "So that's how it is. I didn't realize it, I was remiss, I really owe you an apology." He then pulled Zhao Mei's hand over and consoled her very seriously: "Good sister, please restrain your grief and accept the change."

  Zhao nodded in gratitude and looked out the door again before turning back to ask Yanxia: "I want to go see my grandmother, is that okay?"

  Yan Xia squatted down: "Isn't it good here? Old Lady Zhao is still ill."

  "It's because my grandmother is still ill, so I want to go to her side." Zhao said seriously, "I am a granddaughter, and I should take care of my grandmother. Even if I'm young and can't do anything, at least I can comfort her."

  Yanxia exclaimed, and Gaozhen softly told her: "The empress has ordered me to read books in my room, you take her away." Yanxia hastily agreed, picked up Zhao, and headed towards the east wing.

  Mrs. Zhang was sitting on the bed, being served a bowl of medicine by Autumn Leaves. Although she still looked pale and ill, she had stopped crying and seemed to have regained some spirit. Seeing her granddaughter come in, she was slightly surprised: "Big sister, why are you here again?"

  Yanxia smiled and said, "Miss Zhao said that her grandmother is ill, and as her granddaughter, she wants to come and take care of her. Even if she's still young and can't do much, at least she can comfort the old lady. She's really filial."

  Mrs. Zhang was moved, and she took her granddaughter in her arms: "Silly child, you're still so young, what are you doing here?" Although she said this with her mouth, her heart was actually happy, hugging the child and gently stroking her without stopping.

  "Grandma, Father and Mother have passed away, we are very sad in our hearts, but we still have to keep living. Grandma should take good care of her illness, brother should get better soon, we not only need to avenge Father and Mother, but also live a happy life, then Father and Mother's spirits will be at peace."

  Mrs. Zhang was shocked, and her eyes turned red again: "The Duke let you open your mind, I don't know if it's good luck or bad luck for you, which child knows these things at such a young age?" She lowered her head to wipe away tears, raised her head and took a deep breath: "Forget it, even children understand this truth, can't I understand it at my age? Even if I'm heartbroken, I can't be heartbroken all my life, I have to keep going, I should cheer up!"

  The King of Guangping and Zhang's group stayed in Liulin Town for only three days when news came from Wang Siping that the two people who went to Gaotang had returned. It was said that they had already buried the bodies of the household servants properly, but because one of them was not feeling well, they returned a day later than expected. When another member of the boat crew returned, he found that Wang Siping had finished preparing all the coffins for the deceased servants of the Hou Mansion and even hired a boat to transport them, but the boatmen were still keeping the bodies in a makeshift hut by the river, which made him very dissatisfied. Wang Siping could only claim that he did not recognize the appearance or names of the boatmen, so he had to wait for his return to identify them, which caused some delay. He gave him another sum of silver, and only then did he calm down, perform the cremation for his companions, and then put their ashes in urns, marked with their names, and packed them into a large box, which was finally settled.

  The sailors died in a foreign land and it was inconvenient to transport their corpses back home, so they could only be cremated and have their ashes sent back.

  Wang Siping handled the remains of all the people, which were all done in secret. On the sunken ship, except for Zhang Shiyi, Zhao Wei and his sister, and Qiuye who survived, almost everyone's body was found, only Zhao's wet nurse Pearl Aunt was nowhere to be seen.

  The guards of the Guangping King only found a embroidered shoe on the riverbank where the ship fleet of Jianan Marquis had once docked. According to Qiuye's identification, it was indeed Pearl's. Zhang speculated that she was hit by Jianan Marquis' men with oars and sank into the water, perhaps drifting downstream with the current, and no one could see clearly in the dark night. It would not be easy to search again now. The Guangping King then sent a guard to contact the local authorities, asking them to pay attention, if they found Pearl's remains, they should bury her properly and place her in a nearby temple, and then send someone to deliver a message to Zhang in Fengxian. She had saved Zhao's life, and Zhang and his grandson both hoped to give her a proper burial.

  Guangping King ordered people to hire two more big ships, half an hour after the departure of Wang Si Ping's hired ships, also set off from Liu Lin Town and went south along the Grand Canal to Shanghai.

  At the same time, a fast horse also left Liu Lin Town, sending Guangping King's handwritten letter to the Emperor to the capital.