Jiu Zhang Ji: The Daily Life of the Reborn Daughter

Chapter 18: The Salesian Home

The gate was not locked. Qiao Lili walked up the steps by herself and pushed open the paint-chipped gate with a creaky sound.

In her previous life, when she saw this courtyard, it was so exquisite and luxurious. Even she, the daughter of the Duke of Dingguo who grew up in a prosperous environment, thought that this courtyard was beautifully built. But now, it is just a shabby little courtyard that no one takes care of.

On the left side of the courtyard, against the wall, was a row of wooden weapon racks, with several wooden swords and spears inserted crookedly. In the spacious area, there were plum blossom stakes buried, but they had almost rotted away. The iron tripods used for arm training were also rusty, with accumulated rain inside.

On the right is a pavilion for playing the piano and drinking tea. Pavilions are always built on high places, so you need to climb up the stairs. Now, those steps are covered with weeds. It gives people an extremely desolate feeling, as if the owner of this yard has passed away.

I think that after Bai Junzhe joined the army and went to the border, the courtyard where he lived was left unattended. I don’t know what the mother and daughter did with the pocket money they cheated from her. In four years, they had at least seven or eight thousand taels of silver. Didn’t they even send someone to take good care of the courtyard where their son lived?

Selfishness has always been in our bones, even towards our blood relatives.

Qiao Lili was searching for the forgotten vague memory in the yard and unknowingly walked to the backyard. There were several rooms on the east and west sides of the backyard. Qiao Lili looked towards one of the rooms and saw a pile of new soil in front of the door.

Qiao Li's heart was beating like a drum. She didn't wait for Caiqin and Caiwei. She ran over in two steps and pushed open the door of the wing room.

There was no furniture in the wing room, only a deep pit. It was obvious that they were going to build something underground, but because of a sudden debt crisis, they had to sell the house, so they were forced to stop the construction. Qiao Lili looked at the size of the pit, closed her eyes, and understood everything in her heart. This was the location of the secret cell.

Qiao Lili thought that the secret prison was built before she was imprisoned, and that it was there when the Bai Mansion was built. After all, it was a marquis' mansion, so it was not surprising to have a secret prison. What she didn't expect was that it was built when Bai Junzhe returned triumphantly to the capital and planned to marry her in a sedan chair carried by eight people and with the three letters and six ceremonies.

Did he intend to lock her up in a dark cell when he married her? Who could see his sinister intentions behind his heroic mask? It was horrible.

What were they asking her to confess? At first, she thought they wanted her dowry, so she gave it all to them. Then they thought they wanted her property, so when they threatened her with Zhen'er, she gave it all to them. In the end, they still wanted her to take out more things, but she had nothing left.

From the time she gave them everything until her death, they kept torturing her and asking her what they wanted.

In other words, what did they want to get from her since they built this secret prison?

“Caiqin, go call some guards and fill this place up.” Qiao Lili wanted to stand here and watch. She wanted to stare with her eyes wide open as this pit was filled. Perhaps only in this way would all the things from her past life no longer appear in her dreams.

Caiqin didn't understand what was wrong with the young lady. She looked around and said nothing, and just wanted to fill in the gap. It doesn't matter if you don't understand, just do it. It must be that she is not smart enough, so she doesn't know what the young lady is thinking.

Caiqin went out and met Yunwu coming with a few newly bought servants. His original intention was to clean up the place and see what the young lady wanted to do with it, but he brought ready-made tools with him.

I heard Caiqin say that the young lady wanted to find guards to fill the pit. How could the guards do this job? So it was a good idea to let these servants do it.

When Qiao Lili saw that it was Yunwu who came in breathlessly, she remembered that Yunwu had told her that he would buy a few servants this afternoon to tidy up the place and at least keep an eye on the door.

The servants began to fill the soil at the door of the wing room back into the pit. Yunwu wanted to take a moment to talk to Qiao Lili.

"Let's talk about it here." She wanted to watch the hole being filled and she wouldn't leave.

"I would like to ask the young master for advice on what you want to do with this house." He looked at the young master who was anxious to fill this hole, and felt that she must have thought of the use of this house.

What is it for? She had never thought about it before, she just wanted to buy it and break her inner demons and nightmares.

Now that Yunwu asked this, she suddenly had an idea. In her previous life, Zhen'er was a beggar on the street at a young age, and was spotted by someone with ulterior motives and sold to a place like that. If he had a place to stay at that time, would the things that happened later not have happened?

"Build an orphanage to house homeless children under the age of twelve." Qiao Lili's gaze drifted from the courtyard wall. "If the existing buildings can be used, use them. If they can't be used, tear them down and rebuild them."

After Qiao Lili said this, she immediately denied it: "Let's cancel it. I'll ask the people from the Ministry of Works to draw up a blueprint, and we'll plan the reconstruction. We don't need the money for these few bricks." It's just more than 20,000 taels of silver, just consider it as buying this piece of land.

During the time that Qiao Lili and Yunwu were talking, the pit was backfilled. Qiao Lili felt inexplicably relieved. When she walked out of the yard, the shadow of the Metasequoia tree didn't seem so heavy to her.

"Cut down this tree, and cut down all the big trees in the yard, and prepare beds, tables, chairs, benches and other things for the children." From now on, she wanted to make sure that there was no trace of her previous life here.

"All is subject to the young master's orders." Yunwu took note of Qiao Lili's words in his heart.

Yunwu accompanied Qiao Lili out of the gate of the house. Qiao Lili looked back at the plaque with "Bai Mansion" written on it, and Yunwu immediately understood what Qiao Lili meant.

He leaped up, took down the plaque that read "Bai Mansion", threw it on the ground, stomped it into several pieces, and said to the little man who was closing the door behind him, "Take it and burn it in the fire."

Yunwu sent Qiao Lili to the entrance of Wugong Hutong, watched the young master get on the carriage, and then went back to the orphanage to arrange things.

From then on, there was no longer the Bai Mansion in Centipede Hutong, only the Qiao's Orphanage.

At the entrance of Wugong Hutong, the vast expanse of sunset glow was like the silk clothes washed by the goddesses, hanging out to dry in the western sky, which was very beautiful. The warm evening breeze was also unrestrained, chasing the corners of clothes leaving the crowd all the way and blowing straight into the deepest part of the alley.

The whole alley is filled with vegetation and blooming flowers. Spring will not forget any corner, except for a few days at night occasionally.

February is the most beautiful month of the year. This alley will be the best memory and the warmest home for those homeless children for many years to come. This is especially true in the spring when the flowers everywhere else are gone but here is still fragrant and gorgeous.