Chapter 174: Little Prince【07】
In Qingyang County, a team of elite guards escorted a luxury carriage from the gate of the county town, causing people nearby to cast curious glances.
The team drove directly to the county office, and the county magistrate of Qingyang County hurriedly came out to greet him: "Xiaguan pays respects to the little prince!"
In the carriage, a handsome young man in a white brocade with a cloud pattern and a moon walked out.
The magistrate of Qingyang County bowed again to the young man: "The little prince is here, and the lower official has made a mistake in welcoming him, and I hope to forgive him!"
Yuan Jia smiled warmly and said, "I'm just passing through this place on a business trip, Mr. Wang is not welcome."
Seeing that Yuan Jia's attitude was gentle and not arrogant, the magistrate Wang was quietly relieved, and respectfully arranged a place for Yuan Jia.
After settling down, Yuan Jia took the two guards out for a stroll and came to the gate of a small restaurant in Qingyang County. He stopped and looked up at the plaque with 'Yuelai Restaurant'. Smelling the spicy hot pot smell from the store, he smiled slightly: "Let's eat here."
He walked into the Yuelai Restaurant with two guards. As soon as he came in, he saw a uniformed receptionist at the door and bowed with a smile: "Welcome, how many distinguished guests are there?"
Yuan Jia felt a little intimacy and said, "Three."
"VIP, please go to the second floor, there are vacancies on the second floor."
Yuan Jia didn't go to the second floor, but looked at the cashier counter on the first floor. There was a pure-looking girl standing there. What really caught his attention was not this pure girl, but the tall and handsome beside the girl. Handsome teenager.
The young man was wearing a dark blue brocade, and he was very handsome and handsome. His appearance was completely different from the soft and cute appearance when he was a child. It can be said that he has completely changed his appearance.
If he hadn't noticed that the youth had the same soul breath as when he was young, Yuan Jia would not have been sure that this youth was Zhou Hongyuan, who had been missing for ten years.
After Zhou Hongyuan was abducted and disappeared, Yuan Jia has been looking for him, but unfortunately he was only a few years old at the time, and he was still a child. He asked Princess Xihua and King Jianping to help them find him, and they would not pay much attention.
When he grew up and had his own human hand strength, and then went to look for it, it was difficult to check because of the age. Yuan Jia simply asked people to go directly to Qingyang County, the hometown of the heroine Lu Wan in the original plot.
However, the people he sent out did find the Lu family in a mountain village near Qingyang County, but they did not find the Qi family who was supposed to be in the same village as the Lu family, and there was no butcher named Qi in Qingyang County.
It is basically certain that Qi Yuan's adoptive parents in the original plot were arranged, so it is no wonder that in the original plot, Qi Yuan wanted to take his adoptive parents to the capital for the elderly, but they refused to live or die.
Yuan Jia thought that Zhou Hongyuan was not the male protagonist Qi Yuan, or even if he was, he might not appear in Qingyang County to fall in love with the female protagonist Lu Wan again because of the change of the plot.
But he still sent people to watch the Lu Wan family in Qingyang County.
A year ago, Yuan Jia arranged for his subordinates in Qingyang County to send back news that a merchant surnamed Qi had moved to Qingyang County due to business changes. The Qi family had a son named Qi Yuan, who was exactly ten years ago. adopted child.
Yuan Jia investigated the Qi family of the merchant to the bottom of the sky, and determined that it was a normal merchant, not someone who deliberately arranged to adopt Qi Yuan, so he was a little relieved.
Zhou Hongyuan was still adopted as an adopted son by a family surnamed Qi, and his name was changed to Qi Yuan, which seems to be the promotion of the plot, not the deliberate calculation of the mastermind behind the scenes.
So this time the emperor sent imperial officials to supervise the management of the river, and Yuan Jia took the initiative to ask Ying.
He had just finished his errands, and he deliberately took a detour on the way back to the capital, 'passing' Qingyang County, to meet the hero and heroine.
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Yuan Jiachao walked over to the cashier counter, glanced at the various wine jars and jugs on the counter, and asked, "The shopkeeper, is there any good wine?"
Lu Wan looked at Yuan Jia's clothes and knew that a big customer had come, and introduced with a smile: "Do you like spirits or do you like soft wine with little stamina? There are all kinds here, all of which are made by themselves. Wine, the guest officer will know after tasting it..."
Lu Wan scooped a small spoon from the wine jar for Yuan Jia and poured it into a wine glass for him to taste.
Yuan Jia picked up the wine glass, looked at the clear wine inside, smiled but didn't drink it, but looked at Qi Yuan who was on the side, and said, "This brother looks familiar, I wonder if you still remember Zhou Hong ten years ago. Far?"
When Qi Yuan heard the name 'Zhou Hongyuan', his face changed slightly. He instinctively felt that the name seemed familiar. He seemed to have heard it somewhere, but he couldn't remember it.
Yuan Jia said with a smile: "My name is Yuan Jia. When I was a child, I had a friend named Zhou Hongyuan. We often played together. Unfortunately, ten years ago, my friend was kidnapped by a kidnapper. I also looked for him for ten years... I heard, He is now adopted by a family with the surname Qi."
Qi Yuan took a deep breath and said solemnly, "I am Qi Yuan." He looked at Yuan Jia with determination, "Are you so sure that I am the Zhou Hongyuan you are looking for?"
Yuan Jia raised his glass to him, then drank the wine in it, and laughed: "I wasn't sure, but the moment I saw you, I was sure. Knowing that you are still alive and well, I Very happy, let's have a drink together!"
Seeing this, Lu Wan took the initiative to say, "There is a free box on the third floor."
A few people went to the third floor. Yuan Jia and Qi Yuan were talking in the box alone. Lu Wan gave them food and drinks and went out. The two guards that Yuan Jia brought dutifully guarded the door of the box.
Yuan Jia poured wine for the two and told Qi Yuan the story of "Zhou Hongyuan".
"The first time I met my brother Hongyuan, we were both caught by traffickers and locked in a woodshed. I took him and a few other children and escaped and was rescued. Later, he was brought to my house by his stepmother. Thank you, we're here to meet..."
"...Unfortunately, Hongyuan has a ruthless stepmother. She colluded with human traffickers to abduct and sell her. There is no news. I have been looking for it for ten years." Yuan Jia looked at Qi Yuan with a complicated face, "You are the one who meets the most conditions. "
After listening to the story he told, Qi Yuan was also moved by his ten-year search, but thinking of the days when he was doted on by his parents in Qi's family, he lowered his eyes and said, "Maybe you have the wrong person."
Yuan Jia took a sip of wine and laughed: "What are you worried about? Are you worried that I will lie to you? Do you know my identity? My mother is Princess Xihua of the Dynasty, my father is King Jianping, and the emperor is my uncle, what do you think? Do I have to lie to you?"
He looked at Qi Yuan, who had a shocked expression on his face, and reassured him: "It's okay if you don't want to recognize Zhou Hongyuan, and I don't recommend you to go back to Zhou's house. Back then, your stepmother's collusion with the traffickers offended the emperor. In anger, he deprived the title of Marquis of Changning. Now the Zhou family is also an ordinary family, and the days in the capital will become more and more difficult. If you go back, you will only add a lot of burdens. I only saw my childhood playmates today. I'm just happy, you're willing to recognize my brother, I'm happy, but I can understand if you don't want to."
Before Yuan Jia came to find Qi Yuan, he had naturally investigated him. If the male protagonist had a wrong view, he would at most have a secret look to make sure that Qi Yuan was Zhou Hongyuan, and would not recognize him at all.
The male protagonist in this world is a person who is upright and not pedantic, so he will tell Qi Yuan directly, without even concealing his identity.
Qi Yuan's mood was very complicated and unspeakable. He looked at Yuan Jia's handsome face and didn't speak for a long time.
In a trance, a vague fragment flashed in his mind.
He said to a child: [Brother Yuanjia, I didn't miss the appointment on purpose...]
He couldn't see the child's face clearly, but the voice of "Brother Yuanjia" was very clear.
"Yuanjia...brother..."
After a long time, he raised his glass to toast Yuan Jia, and said in a low voice, "Anyway, I should thank you."
Thank you for telling me your true identity, and thank you for your ten-year search.
What his biological father couldn't do, was done by a childhood playmate. One can imagine the emotion in Qi Yuan's heart.
Although Qi Yuan could not fully recall his childhood memories, some of the fragments he vaguely remembered matched Yuan Jia's words. As Yuan Jia said, there is no need to deceive him in his identity.
It's just that when I grow up, I can't be as pure as when I was a child. Qi Yuan looked at Yuan Jia, and was moved only by the strangeness in his heart.
Yuan Jia smiled slightly and raised his glass in return: "I respect your choice and wish you a safe and happy life."
After drinking, Yuan Jia and Qi Yuan had a hot pot meal together and went back with a hot pot smell.
When passing by the cash register, Yuan Jia glanced at Lu Wan, and Qi Yuan lowered his voice and said, "I wish you an early return of the beauty!"
The tip of Qi Yuan's ears turned red quietly, and he coughed softly in embarrassment.
Yuan Jia took the guards back, and left the next day. After he left, he sent a letter to Qi's house, and he appointed Qi Yuan to receive it.
Qi Yuan got the letter, and the envelope read "Dear Brother Yuan Kai", and he basically knew who the letter was written.
When I took it apart, I found that the letter paper was actually expensive jade rice paper, and the handwriting on the letter paper was also quite strong and pleasing to the eye.
Qi Yuan read the letter carefully and couldn't help but smile.
Now he is a little jealous of the young Zhou Hongyuan. He actually has a good friend and a good brother who takes him so seriously. It's a pity... After all, the teenagers are rusty when they grow up, and the gap in their identities makes it difficult for them to re-establish friendship. .
Qi Yuan carefully kept the letter. It was the mailing address left to him by Yuan Jia, saying that if he needed help in the future, he could send someone to deliver the letter.
If he hadn't encountered a difficult difficulty to overcome, Qi Yuan thought that he would never have the time to send a letter to that address in his life.
On this day, he still went to Yuelai Restaurant to find Lu Wan as usual.
When Lu Wan saw him, she keenly noticed that he seemed to have something on her mind, and asked with concern, "Are you still troubled by what that person said yesterday?"
Qi Yuan shook his head slightly and said, "He has left Qingyang County, maybe we will never see each other again in this life."
After all, one is a noble prince, and the other is a commoner. The gap between their identities is too big. If the other party hadn't taken the initiative to find them, they would have nothing to do with each other in their lives.
Lu Wan didn't know the specific inside story or Yuan Jia's identity, so she asked hesitantly, "You, don't you want to find your biological parents?"
Qi Yuan smiled sarcastically: "It is said that I was sold by my stepmother. As for my biological father, who has not looked for me all these years, why should I hurt my parents' hearts for such a family?"
He was the beloved child of his parents in the Qi family, why did he go to the capital to recognize his biological father who didn't care about him? Even if his biological father was the Marquis of Changning, he didn't want to recognize it.