late snow

"It looked like a young man who had just reached the crown. He had a bad complexion. He was wearing a well-fitting leather jacket with embroidered paintings on the sleeves. It looked like he came from a wealthy family." The gatekeeper frowned and recalled: "He looked anxious—"

The young man bowed his hands to him, "Brother, it's cold outside, can you let me come in to keep warm?"

这年轻人生得板正，又极有礼数，守门人自然乐意让他进来,赶忙让开门口，道：“哎哟,这齁冷的，快进来吧。”

There were only the two of them in the room, and the gatekeeper was always talkative. The young man looked distressed, so he asked, "Why do you look so depressed?"

The young man sighed and said, "Something happened in my family."

So the gatekeeper asked him what happened at home. At first, the young man was very vigilant and didn't want to talk about it, but after staying here for a few days, he still couldn't help talking to him.

"A few days ago, I accidentally discovered that my father is not my real father, but a liar who used my father's name to occupy the magpie's nest." The young man said.

The gatekeeper was shocked, "This, this...how could this be? Didn't your mother and your family members find out? Have you never met your real father?"

“我父亲常年在外，并不经常回家，我兄长姊妹几个同他并不亲昵，我刚出生母亲便去世了,那人便顶着我父亲的脸来了我们家，说不再外出漂泊，耐心经营家业……他的容貌一开始还同我父亲一样，是20多年来一点点变回原样的，家中的老仆们都被打发地差不多，竟是隐瞒了20多年都无人知晓……”

The gatekeeper was surprised, "Then how do you know?"

"My wife is happy and wants to go back to her mother's house, so I went to my father's study and told him, but I opened the door and no one was inside. I accidentally bumped into a vase by the table, and there was a secret passage in the study. There was a faint voice coming from inside... I went down quietly, but I heard them plotting..."

The gatekeeper didn't dare to catch his breath, seeing that he suddenly stopped talking, he asked curiously, "What's the plot?"

Unexpectedly, the young man gave him a complicated look, "I can't say, if you knew, you might die too."

The gatekeeper's scalp exploded, and it took him a while to realize, "What is 'also'? Could it be that you..."

The young man nodded, and said bitterly: "I don't know martial arts, I was discovered by that villain, but I was lucky enough to escape, but I was poisoned, and my life will not be long."

The gatekeeper suddenly sighed, but still couldn't help being afraid, "Is that villain chasing and killing you?"

The young man nodded, then shook his head again, "He knows that my life is not long, so he doesn't dare to make too much noise, and he won't be able to catch up with me for a while, but I still have my third son and my wife still staying in the mansion, and my wife is still pregnant. Pregnant..."

Although the gatekeeper was older than him, it was the first time he had heard of such an anecdote. Seeing his ugly face, he asked, "Is the poison on your body irreversible?"

"The toxin has penetrated into the bone marrow." The young man shook his head with a sad expression, "I only hate that I am weak and unable to avenge my father, and now I have to die in a foreign land... Fortunately, I smuggled out the thing that the thief valued very much. ..."

When Ji Huai heard this, he couldn't help asking: "Did he ever mention what he brought out?"

The gatekeeper shook his head, "He refused to tell, and always told me not to tell anyone about it, otherwise my life would be in danger."

Ji Huai and Zhan Hua looked at each other, and Ji Huai continued to ask: "What happened after that?"

"Later, within a few days, he disappeared." The gatekeeper sniffed.

"Missing?" Zhan Hua frowned.

"Yes, I searched the whole Yizhuang and couldn't find him." The gatekeeper said with a regretful expression: "Later, I was worried that he would fall into the water, so I searched the bottom of the lake, but I couldn't find him."

"You two heroes, it's been more than 20 years... I, I say it doesn't matter, right?" The gatekeeper said with an uneasy expression, "I really only know this!"

这守门人看去敦厚老实，可当季怀同他对目光，总有种说不来的违和感，不等他开口说话，便见湛华直接问道：“你将此人藏在了何处？”

Ji Huai was taken aback for a moment, but saw the mournful gatekeeper froze, and his tone rose unnaturally, "What are you talking about!? How could I hide his bones? I didn't find him—"

Before he finished speaking, the sword touched his neck, Nan Yu said: "We didn't say he was dead, why did you insist that it was a corpse?"

The gatekeeper was stunned, and stammered: "No, no, when he told me he was poisoned, I thought, thought he was dead."

"There are many lies." Nan Yu sneered, and looked at Zhan Hua, "Master, he didn't say a word of truth, just kill him!"

The gatekeeper was also a coward. Hearing what Nanyu said, he was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, "Heroine, spare your life! Spare me! I'll say it!"

"He, he said that he was poisoned and would not live long. He would leave after a few days of living. I saw him spend money and dress richly—"

Ji Huai grabbed his collar, eyes full of anger, "What did you do to him!?"

"Hero, spare your life! Hero, spare your life! I swear I was really just fascinated by ghosts for a while! He, he was really about to die at the time. Whether those things were brought with him or not, my family really couldn't get rid of it..." the gatekeeper Tears flowed down his face, he grabbed Ji Huai's arm and begged for mercy, "I really didn't want to kill him—"

The always cold hand grabbed Ji Huai's wrist.

季怀转过头，眼眶通红，不知道是愤怒还是悲伤，湛华稍一用力，便将那守门人从他手里拽了出来，扔给了南玉，“问他把季瑜的尸体藏在何处了。”

“是。”南玉拽住哭嚎不止的人，出了房间。

"Ji Yu is not your biological father, why come here?" Zhan Hua asked.

The anger in Ji Huai's eyes was still there, he looked up at him, and said after a long silence: "...I don't know."

A few months ago, he always thought that his biological father was Ji Yu.

To him, Ji Yu was a cold memorial tablet in the ancestral hall, but it was more than just a memorial tablet.

他总是被罚去祠堂跪着。

His mother is unkind, his elder brother ostracizes him, and his subordinates make arrangements... Rumors and gossip have entered his ears. Perhaps in the eyes of his real father Zhao Jian, these are insignificant things compared to the safety of his life, but to Ji Huai, who has been sensitive to urine since childhood , this is his whole life.

他总有喘不过气来的时候。

He always knelt in the ancestral hall, looked at the tablet with Ji Yu written on it, and kept telling himself that he was his biological father.

The more he said, the more he could believe it himself.

He didn't know the truth, but for Ji Huai, the person on the tablet gave him a small place to breathe, so that he could straighten his spine and be an upright person.

Even though Ji Yu had been dead for many years.

This name and Ji Yu himself, whom he had never met, were the only support for Ji Huai during those dark days.

But all of these became a joke with Zhao Jian's letter, and the current anger is even more puzzling to the onlookers.

All these are not enough for outsiders.

母亲非他生母，父亲非他生父，他不该也不必要同湛华说明愤怒的缘由。

But Zhanhua didn't seem to understand.

“我……”季怀顿了顿，低声道：“是将他当做亲生父亲的。”

Zhan Hua was silent for a moment, then patted him on the shoulder, "My condolences will change."

Ji Huai was stunned, and waited for a while before saying: "Sorrow?"

"Or you kill this person yourself to avenge your father." Zhan Hua said calmly.

Now it was Ji Huai who was puzzled, "But he...is not my biological father, and I am not qualified to do so."

Whether it's sadness or revenge, he has no qualifications, let alone a position.

“若是赵俭不曾告诉你真相，你依旧不是季瑜的亲子。”湛华神色平静道：“事实和真相摆在那里永远不会改变，单看你如何去做。”

"If you really regard him as your father, blood relationship is not that important."

Ji Huai was stunned for a long time, then looked at him, "You too...don't mind?"

Zhan Hua's eyebrows moved slightly, "It's none of my business."

Ji Huai: "..."

Not long after, Nan Yu knocked on the door and came in, saying to them, "That man has recruited."