Chapter 1183: An old acquaintance from a foreign land, Cousin Yan

"This man is so rude!"

Xing Xiyan was holding the glutinous rice cake that her mother had just made, and was about to give it to her good friend Master Miaoyu. When she saw a strange man staring at her, she was immediately ashamed and angry, but she could only lower her head and rush over.

Watching the girl's slender and graceful figure disappear into the distance, Su Mingzhe couldn't recover for a long time:

"Mingyan, do you think this girl looks familiar? Have we seen her somewhere before?"

"I can't remember!"

Although the servant Mingyan had met many women in the courtyard because of serving Su Mingzhe, he never dared to look at anyone directly, so naturally he could not recognize who this girl looked like.

"Forget it. There are so many people in this world who look alike. Maybe it's just an illusion!"

After Su Mingzhe finished speaking, he sighed inwardly:
"As expected, if you become a big shot for too long, you will develop face blindness."

Feeling bad, Su Mingzhe left the calm servant Chu Yao to wait on the spot, and took Li Gui and three other servants to stroll around the nearby market.

Panxiang Temple is located in Wu County, Gusu. The famous market nearby is Huqiu Market.

The history of Huqiu can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the construction of the archway has a history of thousands of years.

The most famous thing about Tiger Hill is the Tiger Hill Pagoda.

There is a saying: See Tiger Hill Pagoda first, then see Suzhou city.

Su Mingzhe took the four of them on a tour of the Huqiu Market and bought a lot of gifts. Seeing that the market was about to be locked, they had to leave and return to Panxiang Temple.

When everyone was halfway there, Li Gui suddenly came up behind his master and reported in a low voice:
"Second Master, there's someone following us, looking around, I'm afraid he's not my good friend!"

"Not a good man?"

Su Mingzhe thought he had run into a robber, but when he turned around, he saw the other person staggering. He immediately realized that he was a drunkard, and laughed:
"This person should just be traveling the same way as us."

Su Mingzhe said this and asked everyone to stand on the side of the road to let the man pass first.

Unexpectedly, the man walked a few steps closer, stared at Su Mingzhe and Li Gui's faces, then suddenly knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times.

After he finished bowing, the drunkard bit his tongue and shouted:
"I, Xing Zhong, kowtow to you, Second Master!"

"Xing Zhong?"

When Su Mingzhe heard the name, he thought for a moment and immediately remembered who this person was. He quickly reached out and helped him up:
"Are you Uncle Xing?"

When Xing Zhong saw that Su Mingzhe actually knew his name, he immediately bowed excitedly and said:
"It's the villain, it's the villain!"

Xing Zhong is the eldest son of the Xing family in Jinling. His mother died early and he had little education. He has been greedy for wine and lustful since childhood.

Twenty years ago, after his father passed away, Xing Zhong separated from his stepmother. In less than ten years, he had squandered all the family property he had received and was left with a huge debt, so he had no choice but to hide in Suzhou.

The elder of the Xing family was once a subordinate of the two Lords Rong and Ning, but he was injured and returned to his hometown to recuperate early, and he never got an official position.

After two or three generations, the Xing family had fallen into decline and became a vassal of the Rong and Ning mansions.

More than ten years ago, when Jia She's wife passed away and was escorting the coffin back home, he saw that the daughter of the Xing family who came to help was beautiful, so he decided to make her his second wife.

Xing Zhong went to Beijing once to escort his bride.

The wedding day was particularly lively. At that time, Su Mingzhe was still young, just a one or two-year-old baby who liked to run around.

As the foster brother, Li Gui followed his mother, Nanny Li, and protected her at the side.

Xing Zhong had therefore met Li Zhong once and recognized Li Gui in the market place, so he naturally deduced Su Mingzhe's identity.

Now Xing Zhong relies on the Jia family for his living, and has to call himself a "villain" when he sees Su Mingzhe.

And according to Madam Xing's seniority, Su Mingzhe should call Xing Zhong "uncle".

Smelling the alcohol coming out of Xing Zhong's mouth, Su Mingzhe subconsciously took a step back, then asked doubtfully:
"Uncle Xing, why are you not in Jinling but in Gusu?"

"To be honest with you, I have moved here for ten years."

Xing Zhong was too embarrassed to say that he had gone out to avoid debt, so he just said that his family had fallen into poverty and he had no choice but to come to Suzhou to find a job and make a living.

Now, the family relies on their relationship with the Jia family and rents houses and vegetable fields in Panxiang Temple to make a living, and they can barely make ends meet.

Su Mingzhe had read Dream of the Red Chamber and knew that Mrs. Xing's elder brother Xing Zhong and his brother Xing Dequan were not good people.

Xing Zhong is a drunkard and a womanizer, while Xing Dequan is a drinker and a gambler.

The two brothers squandered the family fortune accumulated by their ancestors over decades in just a few years. Now Xing Dequan relied on his status as Mrs. Xing's brother to get a job in Rongguo Mansion.

Since Xing Zhong had an average relationship with Mrs. Xing, he could only rely on the reputation of the Jia family to find a job outside.

As the saying goes, you don't slap someone in the face when you hit them, and you don't expose their shortcomings when you scold them.

Su Mingzhe was not familiar with Xing Zhong, so there was no need to expose his lies, so he immediately invited him to go back to Panxiang Temple together.

Soon, they arrived at the gate of Panxiang Temple.

The servant Chuyao who stayed behind saw the men coming back and hurried over to report:

"Second Master, Miss Zijuan just came out and said that Zen Master Lingyin wants to perform a ritual for my grandma, and Miss Lin and Aunt Liu have to keep vigil in the nunnery. Let's go back to the boat and rest first."

Su Mingzhe heard this and agreed.

At this moment, Xing Zhong suddenly opened his mouth and invited:

"Second Master, my residence is just in front. I would like to invite you to come to my home and have a seat, rest your feet, and have a cup of tea."

"Okay, I'll trouble you, uncle!"

As Su Mingzhe spoke, he asked Li Gui to take three servants to deliver the purchased items back to the sailboat, while he took the servant Mingyan and some gifts to visit the Xing family.

Xing Zhong happily led the way and took Su Mingzhe to his residence, which was a three-room tiled house with a two-acre vegetable garden.

Pushing open the wooden door, before Xing Zhong entered the room, he shouted:

"Wife, a distinguished guest has arrived. Go and catch two of the fish from the pond and kill them..."

In the house, Xing Zhong's wife heard her drunkard husband's shouting and felt a little angry, but also helpless. She could only call her daughter Xing Yanyan to come out and help, preparing to kill fish and cook to entertain the guests.

As soon as Xing Yuyan followed her mother out of the house, she saw Su Mingzhe walking into her yard and couldn't help but scream:

"Mom, the man Dad brought back is the scoundrel from the daytime!"

"Me, a lecher?"

When Su Mingzhe heard the young girl address him, he could only smile bitterly and bow:
"It turns out she's my cousin. It was all a misunderstanding during the day!"

Seeing that Su Mingzhe had come to her house, Xing Yanyan thought that Su Mingzhe was a bully and a playboy who had deceived her alcoholic father and was plotting something bad against her. She immediately said angrily:

"Don't talk nonsense! Which one is your cousin?"

Xing Zhong's wife knew that although her husband was an alcoholic, he still had some sense of propriety in his actions, so she pulled her daughter, looked at her husband, and asked him to explain the relationship quickly.

Xing Zhong didn't expect that his daughter and Su Mingzhe had already met and had a misunderstanding. He quickly explained Su Mingzhe's identity and then scolded his daughter:

"Your cousin is the God of Literature who has passed the imperial examination and won the first place in the imperial examination. How could he fall for a young girl like you? Why don't you apologize to your cousin?"

Although Xing Yuyan was young, she looked alert and said:

"Dad, the number one scholar is far away in the capital. How can he come here to claim kinship with you? This must be fake. Don't be fooled!"

Seeing how alert Xing Yanyan was, Su Mingzhe secretly admired her:

"No wonder this girl was able to find a good man to marry and live happily together for the rest of her life in the plane of the Red Mansion where 'a thousand beauties weep together and ten thousand beauties grieve together'."

After he stopped thinking, he saw Xing Zhong scolding his daughter and telling her not to talk nonsense.

Su Mingzhe immediately stepped forward with a smile and bowed, saying:

"Uncle, don't blame my cousin. During the day, it was indeed me who was not right!"

Su Mingzhe explained without waiting for Xing Zhong's face to change color:

"When I was at the entrance of Panxiang Temple during the day, I saw that my cousin and my third aunt looked alike. I just felt familiar, but I didn't remember what it was for a moment, so I looked at them for a while longer, which led to the misunderstanding. It was all because of my impoliteness that my cousin misunderstood!"

When Xing Zhong heard Su Mingzhe mention "Third Aunt", he immediately thought of Third Sister Xing. He slapped his thigh and said with a smile:

"Xie Yan and Third Sister do look somewhat alike. No wonder Second Master felt that Xie Yan looked familiar. If it is a misunderstanding, just clear it up."

Su Mingzhe then explained to Xing Yuyan that he was accompanying Lin Daiyu to the south to protect her soul, so he appeared here.

After Xing Yanyan heard the explanation, she realized that she had wronged a good person. She blushed immediately and hurried over to apologize:

"So it's really my cousin..."

(End of this chapter)