Chapter 216 Siblings
"Ah...Zhao?" Jiang Li said.

Ji Heng's eyes moved slightly, and before she could speak, she saw Jiang Li walking quickly towards the man. She walked very fast, almost jogging, and arrived in front of the man before Zhao Ke. Zhao Ke did not expect Jiang Li to catch up suddenly, and looked at Jiang Li in surprise without saying a word.

The boy on the chair turned his head and was also startled when he saw Jiang Li. Under the moonlight, his shadow gradually became clearer from blurry. He still had the familiar eyebrows and eyes, but he was less immature and more resolute. There were still some faint scars on his face, but his eyes were still as clear as before. He just looked at Jiang Li with doubts, and he even wanted to smile at Jiang Li.

Jiang Li's head buzzed, and her hands uncontrollably touched the boy's face, as if trying to figure out whether this was a dream or reality. She murmured, "A Zhao..."

The young man asked doubtfully: "Does this girl...know me?"

His voice was still as clear and cool as before, exploding in Jiang Li's ears, causing Jiang Li's body to tremble. She came back to her senses with a start and stared at him blankly.

It's not fake, A Zhao is talking, it's A Zhao's voice, it's not a dream, Zhao Ke and Ji Heng are also here, and this is not A Zhao's ghost.

In an instant, her heart was filled with great joy and sorrow at the same time. She hugged A Zhao and burst into tears.

The girl sobbed and her cry echoed clearly in the yard. Zhao Ke opened his mouth and subconsciously looked towards Ji Heng. The second young lady of the Jiang family was actually holding this boy named A Zhao. Could it be that they already knew each other? The second young lady of the Jiang family was so close to A Zhao. Could it be that they had a secret relationship in the past? If so, how would the master feel? A good person was actually no match for a boy of unknown origin. The second young lady of the Jiang family had just held hands with the master, and now she was holding someone else in front of the master. This was really...

Ah Zhao was at a loss for a moment when being hugged by Jiang Li. The boy's face flushed red. Being suddenly hugged by a strange girl like this, Ah Zhao instinctively wanted to push her away. However, the girl cried so heartbreakingly, so sadly that he inexplicably felt his nose sore. For a moment, he couldn't bear to push her away, and let her lean on his shoulder, crying.

Because it was night, Jiang Li's crying quickly alarmed the others. Xiao Hong in the cage fluttered and looked at Jiang Li and called "Fang Fei", but was drowned out by Jiang Li's crying. General Ji seemed to be woken up as well, and he shouted in the next yard with full energy, asking Ji Heng to be quiet.

Ji Heng came over, grabbed Jiang Li's arm, and pulled her up from Ah Zhao. Zhao Ke noticed his master's expression and found that Ji Heng was not angry at all. He was even more surprised for a moment. Miss Jiang Er did such a thing, but the master was still so tolerant. No wonder people always say "beauty is a disaster."

Ji Heng said: "Let's talk inside."

Jiang Li wiped her tears and pushed A Zhao's wheelchair into the house. Ji Heng followed her in, leaving Zhao Ke guarding outside the house.

Ah Zhao usually lives in a small house next to Situ's pharmacy. The house is simple. Ji Heng sits beside the bed and pulls Jiang Li to sit down. Ah Zhao lights the oil lamp and looks at Jiang Li. He still feels a little uncomfortable. Just when he wants to speak, he hears Jiang Li speak. Jiang Li asks, "What's wrong with your leg?"

Ah Zhao opened his mouth. This inexplicable girl asked him such a familiar question, as if he should tell her everything about himself. But Ah Zhao was possessed by some strange spirit and answered honestly: "Doctor Situ said that my legs were broken and I would never be able to stand up again. I always thought about whether I could try again, so I stood on the windowsill at night, but I couldn't hold on for long. I was afraid that Doctor Situ would be angry if he saw me, so I did it at night. I didn't expect that the adults and the girl saw it."

"Broken?" Jiang Li asked softly, and her tears immediately flowed down after she said this. She really couldn't imagine what would happen if a young man like Ah Zhao could never stand up again. You know, when he was young, his ambition was not to be an official or to make a fortune, but to travel around and punish evil and promote good. He was very similar to Ye Mingyu, but the difference was that Ye Mingyu did it, but Ah Zhao could never do it again in the future.

Her tears fell down in big drops, as if she was extremely sad. Ji Heng watched from the side, sighed softly, took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears. In the past, I thought that no matter what situation this girl encountered, she was always calm, even if she met the worst people, she could still smile. Now it seems that the few times she cried were all related to her relatives. Whenever she met her relatives, she couldn't stop crying, and her heart softened when she cried.

Ah Zhao looked at Jiang Li at a loss. The girl cried like this when she heard that his leg was broken. He could see that the girl was really sad for him. But because of this, Ah Zhao was even more confused. He had indeed never seen this strange girl before, but why was she so sad for him? He had to comfort her in a hurry: "Girl, don't feel sorry for me. Although I can't stand up, I'm still alive. I can do whatever I want in the future. There are countless people in the world who are more pitiful than me, and some of them are not even alive yet. Compared to them, I'm already doing well."

Hearing this, Jiang Li was stunned. She said, "Alive? Oh, why are you here? Aren't you dead?"

Ah Zhao was stunned and looked at Ji Heng.

Ji Heng said gently, "Do you still remember that day when you asked me to go to Princess Yongning's private prison to find Jiang Youyao?"

Jiang Li nodded.

"I saw him when I was in the private prison. He asked me for help, so I brought him back." Ji Heng replied.

Hearing this, a look of realization suddenly flashed across the young man's face, and he said, "You are... Miss Jiang Er?"

Ah Zhao still remembered what Zhao Ke said, that day it was Miss Jiang Er who asked Ji Heng to go to the private prison to look for someone, but she bumped into him by accident. In a word, Ji Heng was his savior, and Jiang Li also saved his life. If Miss Jiang Er hadn't asked Ji Heng to go to the private prison of the princess's mansion, he wouldn't have been found.

He said, "So the girl is the second daughter of the Jiang family."

Jiang Li looked at him, his eyes full of gratitude towards him. To Xue Zhao, Jiang Li was just an accidental lifesaver.

"I'm not Miss Jiang Er," she said, "I'm the elder sister, A Zhao."

Xue Zhao was stunned.

He didn't quite understand what Jiang Li said. Jiang Li looked younger than him, so why did she say she was his elder sister? Moreover, she asked him to call her sister when they just met. It seemed too familiar.

Seeing that he was still confused, Jiang Li knew that Xue Zhao didn't understand what she said at all, so she said it again: "A Zhao, I am Xue Fangfei, your sister."

Her voice couldn't help but tremble. Ji Heng reached out and held his hand. Jiang Li felt a little relieved. Ah Zhao was struck by lightning, staring at Jiang Li, and said after a while: "You...what are you talking about..."

The girl in front of him was a stranger. Xue Zhao had never seen this lady before. Whenever Xue Zhao thought of his sister, he felt extremely heartbroken. When he was in the private prison, Xue Zhao already knew about Xue Fangfei's death. It was a pity for his sister, who was killed by the adulterous couple and had to bear the false charges.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Jiang Li asked softly.

"I don't know you... My sister is dead." Xue Zhao looked at her and answered blankly.

"You have a round birthmark on your body." Jiang Li said.

Xue Zhao was stunned. He did have a birthmark on the inside of his thigh. He had it since he was a child. No one else should know about it except his family. But it didn't matter. After he was sent to the Duke's Mansion, someone might see it while he was being treated.

"When you were five years old, you went to the woods with me and fell into a swamp. I rescued you. At that time, we both thought we would not survive, but we luckily managed to survive. Father did not allow us to play in the woods, so after we returned, neither of us told him about this. This is a secret between you and me, and no one else will know."

Xue Zhao slowly opened his eyes. He knew that what Jiang Li said was true, and that incident was indeed unknown to anyone else. However, because it was a matter of life and death, he remembered it very clearly in his mind, and he still couldn't forget it.

"You like to eat sweet-scented osmanthus cakes, drink green bamboo wine, and you like to go to Uncle Zhang's tavern in Tongxiang the most. You always bring a string of copper coins and a silver ingot when you go out. The silver is the prize you won from the gambling house, and you never want to spend it, saying that you will buy a sword when you have saved up fifty taels of silver. You like the boots I made for you, but you don't like the pens and ink bought by your father. You have been close to me since you were a child..."

She spoke a long paragraph without even pausing, as if those things were deeply engraved in her heart and she had never forgotten them. As she spoke more, the people in the room seemed to be able to see Xue Zhao's growth from childhood to adulthood, from a toddler to a spirited young man.

Ah Zhao's eyes had turned red without him noticing, and his body began to tremble as he stared at Jiang Li, as if he was strongly suppressing his excitement.

It wasn't until Jiang Li saw him crying that she stopped talking and asked, "Do you believe it now, A Zhao?"

Ah Zhao looked at her with a smile on his face. After a long while, he suddenly said, "...Sister!"

Believe it! How could he not believe it? The things she said were what really happened to him. Including his habits, if others wanted to check him, they couldn't find out what he was thinking. Jiang Li could still tell every word of the conversations he and his sister had during those years. He knew that his sister had a photographic memory!
And the way she spoke was so similar to Xue Fangfei. If Jiang Li hadn't said it, Xue Zhao would have thought it was just a coincidence, but when Jiang Li explained her identity, all those clues became irrefutable evidence. Although her eyes and eyebrows were unfamiliar, Xue Zhao felt that his sister was alive again. She was gentle and tolerant of his mischief, and told him how to be a man.

"Sister!" Xue Zhao shouted.

"A Zhao..." Jiang Li cried.

"Sister! You are really my sister!" Xue Zhao said, "Everyone outside said you were dead. I thought you were dead too. How are you still alive? How did you become like this?" He suddenly realized, "Did you disguise yourself? How did you become the second daughter of the Jiang family? How have you been these days? Did Shen Yurong and Princess Yongning kill you? And dad, have you visited him? Does he know about us?"

He had so many questions, and it was obvious that he really had many questions that he wanted to clarify. Jiang Li smiled with tears in her eyes, and said, "It's okay, I'll tell you one by one."

"A Zhao, I am no longer Xue Fangfei. I am Jiang Li, the daughter of Jiang Yuanbo. At that time, Shen Yurong and Princess Yongning plotted against me and caused me to lose my reputation. I had no choice but to stay in the mansion. Princess Yongning wanted to drug me, but when I failed to find out, she strangled me to death."

This was the second time she had heard such a thing, and Ji Heng couldn't help but stare at him, tightening her grip on Jiang Li's hand. Xue Zhao was furious, gritting his teeth and saying, "Asshole!"

"I don't know what happened. I thought I was dead. When I woke up, I had become the second daughter of the Jiang family. The second daughter of the Jiang family lived in Qingcheng Mountain at that time. So I tried to find a way to return to Beijing in order to return to Yanjing City and find an opportunity to take revenge."

Xue Zhao asked, "So, Princess Yongning and Shen Yurong are now being sued and executed. Was it you who did it?"

"Yes. But I was in the dark. It was my father who wrote the petition."

"Dad?" Xue Zhao understood that Jiang Li was talking about Xue Huaiyuan. He asked in surprise, "Dad is also in Yanjing?"

Jiang Li sighed. Xue Zhao had been imprisoned by Princess Yongning for too long, and he had no idea what was happening outside. Princess Yongning had never told him, so Xue Zhao had no idea how much Xue Huaiyuan had suffered in Tongxiang.

"After my death, Princess Yongning sent people to Tongxiang to slander my father and put him in prison. He was tortured in prison and lost his mind. After I became Jiang Li, because Jiang Li's grandfather was in Xiangyang, I found a way to go to Xiangyang and learned about my father's situation. In order to redress my father, I took the people of Tongxiang and my father to Yanjing City to file a complaint. Later, my father stayed in Yanjing City, and Miss Jiuyue cured him."

Jiang Li told Xue Zhao how she had taken revenge on Princess Yongning and Shen Yurong step by step. Xue Zhao was surprised and angry after hearing it. He felt mixed emotions. Finally, he said, "They are really cruel, sister... You must have suffered a lot in the Jiang family, right?" Although Jiang Li said it lightly, Xue Zhao knew that it was not easy to gain a foothold in an unfamiliar place. Especially in a wealthy family, there were many rules. His sister had always been free and unrestrained. Now that she had entered a wealthy family, she naturally had to endure many rules. She was afraid that someone would plot to harm her along the way.

"I'm fine. The Jiang family treated me very well." Jiang Li didn't want Xue Zhao to know anything bad, so she just asked, "As for you, I only knew that you were killed by bandits and buried in the Misty Rain Tower. Before I died, Princess Yongning told me that it was Jingzhao Yin who told her your whereabouts, so she killed you."

Xue Zhao was obviously hearing about this for the first time, and was shocked. He then said, "I did go to look for Jingzhao Yin that day, and I never expected that he was actually in cahoots with Princess Yongning. However, I didn't die. I was knocked unconscious, and when I woke up, I was already in the private prison of the princess's mansion. I later learned that it was Princess Yongning who did it, and I wanted to kill her to avenge you, but unfortunately I couldn't do it. I think she said this on purpose to provoke you and let your sister die with hatred and unwillingness."

Jiang Li nodded. It seemed that the corpse, which looked like Xue Zhao's, was also the work of Princess Yongning.

She looked at Xue Zhao, and great sorrow surged in her heart again. "If I had known earlier that you were in the private prison in the princess's mansion, I would have found a way to rescue you. I wouldn't have let you suffer so much in vain, even..." She looked at Xue Zhao's legs, and he couldn't even stand up.

Xue Zhao smiled at her and said, "Sister, I told you that I still have a life left. In my opinion, God has been very kind to me. I thought I would die in the private prison of the princess's mansion without anyone knowing, just like the others in the private prison. I didn't expect to be rescued, and I didn't expect to meet you now. Dad is also in Yanjing City. There is always a way out. God still left a way for our Xue family to survive and didn't kill us all. Everyone says that after suffering comes happiness. We have suffered, and the days to come will definitely be good days!"

He was always open-minded and carefree, and could even talk about such things with a smile. The more he did this, the sadder Jiang Li became.

"Sister, does Dad know your identity?" Xue Zhao asked.

Jiang Li paused and shook her head gently: "I don't know how to tell him, but in the next few days, I also plan to be honest with my father."

"Sister, Dad will definitely believe what you say. Although you are now the daughter of the Jiang family, which is a bit difficult, at least our family is still in Yanjing. I also want to see Dad, can I go to see Dad?"

Xue Huaiyuan would certainly feel sad when he saw him like this, but compared to the news of Xue Zhao's death, Xue Huaiyuan was probably more happy to know that Xue Zhao was still alive. Jiang Li looked at Ji Heng and asked, "Can Ah Zhao go to Ye Mansion?"

Ji Heng said: "Okay, I'll let Wen Ji protect him."

Xue Zhao looked at Jiang Li, then at Ji Heng. When he saw Jiang Li, he knew that his sister was still alive. He was immersed in ecstasy and excitement, and actually ignored all the words that had just been said. Jiang Li said everything in front of Ji Heng without hiding anything.

Xue Zhao asked: "My Lord, have you known my sister's identity for a long time?"

Jiang Li nodded: "He knew, and he also helped a lot when it came to revenge."

Xue Zhao was about to say something when his eyes fell on the hands of Jiang Li and Ji Heng. A trace of confusion flashed across his eyes, but he said nothing. He actually wanted to ask what the relationship between Jiang Li and Ji Heng was. It seemed that they had a close relationship. Xue Zhao had only met Ji Heng once in such a long time since he came to the Duke's Mansion. The coldness of that time and the tenderness of this time were completely different.

Is it because of your sister?
What about my sister? What does she think?

But with Ji Heng in front of him, Xue Zhao couldn't ask. Jiang Li looked at Xue Zhao's legs and said, "A Zhao...your legs..."

"It's okay if I can't stand up," Xue Zhao said, "I've always wanted to be able to stand up one day, and even practiced at night with Doctor Situ. It was just because I thought that from now on, it would only be Dad and I. If I couldn't stand up, who would take care of Dad? I couldn't let Dad take care of me. But my sister is still alive, and I suddenly feel that none of this matters. As long as our family is still alive, it's good."

He showed his satisfaction sincerely.

Jiang Li actually wanted to talk to Xue Zhao for a while longer. She really had too much to say to her brother, but Ji Heng interrupted her and said, "It's getting late. You should go."

Jiang Li looked at the sky. She had stayed in the Duke's Mansion for a long time today. If she stayed any longer, it might be dawn by the time she returned to the mansion. It gets light early in the summer, and it would be terrible if she was discovered.

Xue Zhao also understood and said, "Sister, please leave quickly. You are now a daughter of the Jiang family. If the Jiang family knew that you were traveling at night, it would be no small matter."

In fact, he was also confused. Although his sister was not the kind of lady who followed the rules in the past and would occasionally play with him, she would not go to a strange man's house to talk in the middle of the night. However, even so, Xue Zhao still believed that Jiang Li and Ji Heng would not do anything out of line, not because he believed that Ji Heng was a gentleman, but because he believed that Xue Fangfei was not that kind of person.

"Okay." Jiang Li knew what they said made sense, so she stood up and said, "A Zhao, I'll come see you another day. Let someone tell me in advance on the day you go to see your father, and I'll go with you. If you're by my side, I can explain my identity to my father."

Xue Zhao smiled: "Don't worry, sister."

Jiang Li reminded Xue Zhao again what he should pay attention to. When she gave the instructions, she was exactly the same as the Xue Fangfei in Xue Zhao's memory. Xue Zhao smiled and agreed to everything. Only then did Jiang Li and Ji Heng walk out of the house.

Zhao Ke had been squatting at the door for a long time. When he saw Jiang Li and the others coming out, he quickly made way. Jiang Li's eyes were slightly swollen, as if she had cried hard, but Ji Heng couldn't tell what her expression was. Zhao Ke was thinking wildly, maybe his master saw that Miss Jiang Er and A Zhao were close, and threatened Miss Jiang Er, or killed A Zhao. The master was ruthless and could do such a thing. But it seemed that Miss Jiang Er would be soft-hearted, and if he was so hard-hearted, I was afraid that Miss Jiang Er would be angry.

He followed Ji Heng and Jiang Li from a distance.

"Thank you, Ji Heng." Jiang Li's voice was a little muffled because she had been crying, and it was no longer as clear as before. "You saved Ah Zhao."

"It's just a piece of cake." Ji Heng said, "Besides, I didn't know he was your brother at that time."

He really didn't expect that this person was Jiang Li's brother. Even though Xue Zhao stayed in the mansion for a long time, he didn't even notice what Xue Zhao's name was. If Zhao Ke hadn't called him "A Zhao" tonight, he didn't know when this misunderstanding would be resolved. But the two siblings of the Xue family seemed to have a very good relationship, and he was also very glad that he had helped them at that time.

Although he usually disliked watching dramas with happy endings, always feeling that they were too fake and ridiculous, if it happened to Jiang Li, he would think that it would be best if those tragedies stayed away from her and that everything would end happily.

"You and Doctor Situ are both benefactors of our Xue family." Jiang Li said softly, "You rescued them, and Miss Jiuyue cured them. Miss Jiuyue played an indispensable role in Ah Zhao's quick recovery."

"I didn't ask her to treat a stranger so seriously. She did it on her own." Ji Heng smiled. "Your brother is not a simple person."

"Of course he is not simple." Jiang Li smiled when she talked about Xue Zhao. "Just as you said, even in the private prison, he didn't give up, right? Ah Zhao is such a person. But when I think about it now, I still feel a little scared. If I didn't ask you to go to the private prison to find Jiang Youyao that day, if you didn't see Ah Zhao, if you saw Ah Zhao but didn't rescue him... My brother is still alive but I didn't know, and he was tortured. Whenever I think about it, I feel scared."

Even in the middle of the summer night, she felt cold, and she hugged her shoulders and shivered, looking particularly pitiful. She seemed to have thought of something extremely terrible, and even her lips turned pale.

Ji Heng frowned and tapped her forehead.

Jiang Li covered her head and looked at him: "What are you doing?"

"There is no if." He said it as a matter of course. "There is no if, that's why I met him, rescued him, and he is alive. If I hadn't met you making trouble in Qingcheng Mountain at the beginning, there wouldn't be so many things."

Jiang Li was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "That's right."

After walking for a while, when they were about to reach the door, Jiang Li asked again: "But Ji Heng, there is one thing I still don't understand. Why did you save A Zhao at that time? Even if A Zhao asked you for help, why did you agree so easily?"

Ji Heng has never been a kind-hearted guy. Most of the time when others asked for help, he would just stand by and watch. But this time, in the private prison, when Ah Zhao held his boots, he agreed.

Ji Heng smiled.

Why? How could there be so many whys in the world? People in the dark would always be attracted to the light unconsciously, just like he would strangely like a woman like Jiang Li. Her extra gentleness and kindness were originally what he hated the most, but strangely, it was because of those qualities that he originally hated that he fell in love with her.

Xue Zhao was the same, in the dark cage, he saw the dying boy, the boy was crawling on the ground with difficulty, his legs dragging a long trail of blood, grabbing him as if grabbing a ray of sunlight, the boy's eyes were clear and full of hope, suddenly made Ji Heng think of his former self.

He crawled in the darkness, he sold his soul to the evil spirit, he abandoned all his soft emotions, he had no soft spot. But when he saw the boy, he suddenly felt a trace of pity.

So he pulled him out of the darkness with one hand.

There was no reason, he just didn't want to see his past self and repeat the past experience again.

But by accident, he saved Jiang Li's younger brother.

Ji Heng stopped and looked down at Jiang Li.

Jiang Li looked up at him. Her eyes were exactly the same as her brother's, but compared to the boy's recklessness and open-mindedness, there was a hint of firmness and magnanimity.

"I don't know," he said.

Why did you save him?

I do not know.

"Maybe," he sighed with a smile, "this is the guidance of fate, I can't refuse it."

(End of this chapter)