After receiving the information from the detective's investigation, Lin Xi had already decided to make a trip to the West Village Market to probe the background of Aunt Xiuxiang, who had originally introduced Luo Qingsong and 'Xue Min'. Just as she was about to drive the car out of the main gate, Lin Xi saw a group system message.
[System Message: Original plot of the [Ancient Female Doctor] world detected. Would you like to view it?]
Lin Xi was in no hurry to leave. She clicked 'yes', got out of the car, and saw Chi Xiangping hurrying past her, wearing the floral apron she had embroidered herself.
She didn't even speak to Lin Xi. Recently, there had been many tourists coming to Lotus Village. After discussions among the village cadres, people from other villages had been invited to perform flower lantern dances and sing folk songs.
There were two shows a day, each lasting two hours. The first show was from 10 a.m. to noon, and Chi Xiangping never missed a single one.
Furthermore, she had now taken over the homestay's cafeteria, providing free lunch and dinner every day. After all, the room prices at the homestay had increased again; a standard double room had risen from the original 200 yuan to 488 yuan per night, and twin rooms had also increased to 388 yuan.
The rooms were fully booked every day. With so much money being charged per room, Chi Xiangping said she wouldn't feel right not providing two meals.
Lin Xi just let her be. She was now full of energy and drive every day.
Lin Xi returned to the corridor, lay down on the wooden lounge chair, and opened the information sent by the group system.
The first thing that unfolded before Lin Xi was the preface.
The preface described Lin Zhongxun's time travel. His crossing was due to a commission from the eighth emperor of the Jin Dynasty. Because of Lin Zhongxun's arrival, the national fortune of the Jin Dynasty was extended for over a hundred years.
However, after his death, this small world would eventually return to the state it was originally meant to be in.
Moreover, the corruption in the Jin Dynasty was severe, rotten from top to bottom. Even Lin Zhongxun's ability to reverse it was limited; the people he could influence were only those officials he had personally recruited.
Due to his relationship with the client, he couldn't thoroughly rectify the Lin imperial clan either. The root cause was that the fates of the Lin imperial family were interconnected.
If all members of the Lin imperial clan were purged, it would affect his mission. After all, he was an outsider; if the Lin imperial clan were gone, he would be rejected by this world's natural order.
He could only address the symptoms, not the root cause. So, even bringing the Lin imperial children to raise by his side was of no avail.
He was too busy; his companionship and guidance were limited. People like Lin Zongxi were never short of those whispering slanderous advice into their ears.
That he remained obedient for twenty years was already a miracle.
As for Grand Princess Zhaoyang, she had always been an idiot.
But these two were the rulers who would bring about the dynasty's fall.
Lin Xi carefully read the preface several times, pondered for a moment, and said, "The meaning of 'these two were the rulers who would bring about the dynasty's fall'—does it mean they were originally destined to be the ones? Were they also the ones in the timeline before my father's time travel?"
[System Message: Yes. Your father's arrival was like a butterfly's wing, pushing the original fall-of-the-dynasty rulers back several decades. Otherwise, he wouldn't have lived to be 108 years old.]
"So, you're saying my father lived in that world for so many years just to wait for those rulers who would bring about the fall?" Lin Xi raised her eyebrows in surprise.
[System Message: Yes. The commission from the Jin Dynasty's eighth emperor to your father was permitted by that small world's natural order, for the sake of the tens of millions of innocent people who died unjustly during those decades, not for the Lin imperial clan.]
[The Lin imperial clan's allotted fortune was exhausted. Letting them remain as emperors would inevitably lead to past disasters making a comeback.]
With this explanation, Lin Xi understood. She continued reading.
The Jin Dynasty fell, and Fu Yanchen established the Great Yuan.
Fu Yanchen's background was also clearly written in the document.
To make his rule smoother and more autocratic, Lin Zongxi meticulously selected ten officials' sons and exterminated their entire families.
Among those ten officials' sons, aside from Fu Yanchen, the other nine either died along the way or encountered various accidents during their training that led to failure.
Only Fu Yanchen became a suitable blade. Fu Yanchen was also interesting; on the surface, he carried out the tasks Lin Zongxi assigned flawlessly, but privately, he would replace those innocent people with death-row prisoners who truly deserved execution.
Thus, after he usurped the throne and ascended as emperor, those loyal ministers he had hidden away in the past returned. He ushered in another golden age.
This golden age was comparable to the early Tang Dynasty on Earth, which was truly remarkable.
His personal life was also interesting. He remained single until thirty-two, then married the love of his heart, and had only her as his wife for life. His wife, Empress Chu, was a physician. Her existence laid a solid foundation for the Great Yuan's golden age.
Together with her best friend, Xu Siyu, she established hospitals and taught medicine in the Great Yuan, allowing the ancient common people to have access to medical care and treatment.
They also cultivated many antibiotics ahead of time. In other words, they contributed significantly to the Great Yuan's golden age.
Regarding the legal system, Empress Chu also offered many suggestions, making the Great Yuan's legal system exceptionally well-developed and drastically reducing miscarriages of justice.
The Minister of Personnel was the former consort of Grand Princess Zhaoyang.
After finishing the document, Lin Xi's face was full of smiles.
Seeing her time-traveling sisters doing well was what pleased her most.
Seeing Chu Yi, who had just arrived at a new place and was already providing free medical consultations, mention it in the group, Lin Xi did not tell her about her destined fate.
That was her life; perhaps the unknown was best. If she spoke, it might change many, many things.
The butterfly effect is not always something to be taken lightly.
She closed the file and happened to see a video sent by Lu Shenzhi—it was the sunset from his side, incredibly beautiful.
Lin Xi took a photo of the morning sunlight and sent it to him. Yunnan Province at eight or nine in the morning was beautiful. The rose blossoms on her corridor were thriving, looking even more splendid against the backdrop of blue sky, white clouds, and sunshine.
They didn't exchange a single word. Lu Shenzhi went off to attend to his matters, and Lin Xi also drove her car towards the agricultural market.
The road to the city was crowded with many cars, most of which had out-of-town license plates, all belonging to tourists on self-driving tours.
The West Village Market is located at the westernmost edge of Pingyuan City, a half-hour drive from Lotus Village. After parking her car in a roadside spot, Lin Xi walked towards the market.
There weren't many surveillance cameras here, but for safety's sake, she still turned on a signal jammer in an unmanned corner and took a Disguise Pill.
She still recognized Aunt Xiuxiang; she was originally from Lotus Village but had married into Little Lake Dam Village.
She walked along, searching, and when she found her, Aunt Xiuxiang was standing behind her vegetable stall, chatting with a familiar customer.
Perhaps heaven was helping Lin Xi, because this familiar customer was also chatting with Aunt Xiuxiang about 'Xue Min' and Luo Qingsong.
"Aunt Xiuxiang, I heard Luo Qingsong's sentence has already been reduced. Originally sentenced to two years, now it's just a year and a half." The speaker was a plump woman, selecting the freshest choi sum while talking about the news that had spread throughout the village.
Aunt Xiuxiang had also received this news. She weighed the choi sum the woman had picked, bagged it up.
"Three fifty, just give me two." Aunt Xiuxiang handed her the vegetables: "I heard it from my mother-in-law and the others. They say he paid back all those taxes, and his behavior in prison has been good too. He might not even need the full year and a half to get out."
"My husband says the same. Do you think Xue Min is upset? Back when the trouble happened, she couldn't wait to divorce Luo Qingsong. Just wait till Luo Qingsong gets out, see what she'll do then. Such a good husband, and he treated her so well all these years."
Aunt Xiuxiang: "I don't think it was all that great. She still had to go to Guangyue every year to visit Luo Qingsong's ex-girlfriend's parents. Always went loaded with gifts. She used to tell me that the parents and brothers in that family really looked down on her."
The plump woman pursed her lips: "That part is hard to defend. If it were me, I'd have scratched Luo Qingsong's face to shreds."
"Exactly, she really could endure. Folks in the village always say, maybe if Luo Qingsong brought back a love child he fathered outside, she'd even happily raise it."
"How did you ever think of introducing Xue Min to him back then? I remember Xue Min was so in love with Lin Zhongxun at the time."
Aunt Xiuxiang sighed: "That's a whole mess. Back then, weren't we working together? Later, Xue Min got injured and came back home. I came back for my great-grandmother's funeral and happened to run into her. One thing led to another, and we started talking about whether she wanted to find someone again."
"She said she wanted to move forward and asked me to introduce someone. When I got home and mentioned it to my husband, he said Luo Qingsong was also looking for someone. His requirement was just pretty and virtuous, didn't matter if she was a virgin or not. It just clicked in my head, and I introduced them."
"For the first two years after Xue Min married Luo Qingsong, whenever I went back to my parents' place, they wouldn't give me a decent look. Later, seeing how Lin Xiaoxi ended up, I really regretted it."
The plump woman shook her head and sighed, bought a bunch of scallions, and left.
Lin Xi had also heard what she wanted to hear. She bought an eggplant and left.
Although she now knew everything about Xue Min, she really had no idea how to find Xue Min or how to deal with that man in the black robe.
She didn't even know the background of that man in the black robe.
Lin Xi walked towards the market entrance. Just as she was about to leave, she casually glanced at the shops on either side, then took a few steps back.
In the rice noodle shop next door, she saw Officer Li, whom she knew, wearing an apron and blanching rice noodles for customers.
Most of the customers in the shop were young girls.
Lin Xi clicked her tongue a couple of times and left. By the time Officer Li Sheng sensed her gaze and turned to look, Lin Xi was already far away.
She dispelled the effects of the Disguise Pill and drove home. As she parked and got out of the car, she received a message in the group chat where she was tagged.
It was a message from Liu Zhong, Long Aotian's rival who had joined the group with Zhong Shuyan. Lin Xi clicked to read it.
[Long Aotian's Rival Liu Zhong: @Lin Xi, Miss, could you help me report this to the police? Long Aotian hit me with a stick today, and it finally made me remember how I died.]
