Walking out of the interrogation room, Hong Han saw Qiao Yan standing outside, her eyes were dark, and there was pain and anger burning inside.

Hong Han's eyes swelled with a little guilt, and he opened his mouth, but it was difficult to speak.

Qiao Yan walked up to him and said word by word: "You owe my sister a debt, and you will never be able to pay it off!" ”

Before Hong Han could react, Qiao Yan raised his hand, like lightning, and slapped Hong Han several times in a row. She didn't know where she got the strength, and she hit the Venus in front of Hong Han's eyes.

Duan Zhiming, Lu Bin and another criminal policeman who were present did not stop them. Wei Chihong delayed for several seconds before stepping forward to pull Qiao Yan away and hug her tightly.

Hong Han's face was red and swollen, he drooped his head, and said in a low voice for a long time: "Tell Qiao Ran for me, I'm sorry." ”

Qiao Yan was still trembling and gasping with anger, wanting to say something, but none of the sentences could be spoken, just choked in her throat. Her beautiful, jet-black eyes, shining with gloomy light like a wounded leopard, stared at Hong Han with a fixed gaze as he was taken away.

That night, Wei Chihong accompanied Qiao Yan back to Qiao's Mansion for dinner, and Lu Bin also followed. The matter is finally over, and everyone wants to give Qiao Ran an explanation in person, although this explanation is too heavy and too weak.

Ling Lingyao was not there at night, which made Qiao Yan breathe a sigh of relief, she was a little jealous of that sharp-toothed girl, she was full of hostility to the police, and every time they met, she smelled of gunpowder, which was really difficult to deal with.

It was already dinner time at Qiao's Mansion, and Aunt Ah Xiu heard that they were coming, so she prepared a large table of sumptuous dishes early. So everyone ate first, and at the dinner table, no one mentioned it. At first, everyone was immersed in hardship, the atmosphere was dull and solemn, and even Aunt Axiu, who didn't know much about the inside story, was shrouded in low air pressure and was dull and silent.

Later, Wei Chihong first provoked the conversation and asked Aunt A Xiu about Lan Xin, the adopted daughter of the sixth aunt. Qiao Yan couldn't help but ask if the sixth aunt had adopted a daughter because she couldn't have children.

"That's a long story." Aunt Xiu tried to recall the anecdote she had heard from her mother.

The sixth aunt's name is Lan Gu, and she is a legendary figure in Qiao's mansion. Qiao Yan's great-grandfather Qiao Zhi had a wife and six concubines, and the one he used to love the most was his sixth aunt Tailan Valley. She has a wide range of interests, knows everything about astronomy, geography, science and opera, has studied abroad, read poetry and books, and is proficient in English, French and German Chinese. Born beautiful, beautiful, temperamental, and arrogant.

Before marrying Qiao Zhi, Lan Gu had a short marriage at the behest of his parents. In this marriage, she was completely passive, feeling that there was a big difference between her husband and her husband in terms of temperament and hobbies. Due to their distemper, half a year after marriage, the discord between the two became an undeniable fact.

After the Qiao family settled on Zhulang Island, the capital of Haidu, they not only often interacted with Westerners in terms of social interaction, but also absorbed some Western cultural factors in their lives. At the beginning of the 20th century, Qiao Zhi held a masquerade dance party in the garden of Qiao's house by the sea, which was attended by most of the children and daughters of the family, as well as some dignitaries and wives. Masquerade has a long history in Western life, but at that time, Chinese did not know much about Western culture, and even fewer experienced it.

Because the masquerade has always been the most romantic social activity in the West, the event is full of individuality, which is a great contrast for the women living in the traditional Chinese society, the women on Zhulang Island can get such an experience, it can be said that they are the first to get the atmosphere, it can also be said that they represent the Haidu women who are located in the window of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, and dare to "try the new" Western culture.

Lan Gu followed her husband to a masquerade ball, where she met Qiao Zhi, who was like a visitor from outside the world and broke into Lan Gu's heart. One is a talented woman who is as beautiful as a flower, and the other is a talented man with a good demeanor, and soon burst out with a spark of love, and the two finally came together with great difficulty. Lan Gu was arrogant, but he was willing to condescend to the side room and become Qiao Zhi's sixth aunt. Qiao Zhi also treats her differently, obedient and favored, and her treatment and status are above those of other aunts.

However, a serious illness completely destroyed the original beauty. This story Wei Chihong also knew that the small door blocked by cement on the side of the garden of Qiao's Mansion was specially excavated when Lan Gu was critically ill, and according to the rules, the coffin of his aunt's wife could not be carried out from the main entrance, but could only go through the side door or the back door. But there was no back door in the garden, so Qiao Zhi ordered the housekeeper to arrange for people to dig the small door overnight.

But when the small door was opened, Lan Gu recovered from his illness. Lan Gu always thought that Qiao Zhi was an open-minded person who was not bound by tradition, but after learning that he refused to break the rules for her, Lan Gu was very disappointed, and from then on he was unwilling to be close to him anymore, and moved to live alone in another courtyard. The relationship between the two has been stagnant. Langu has never given birth, in addition to raising her eldest son for the eldest wife who lingers on the sickbed, that is, Qiao Yan's grandfather Qiao Xiang, she also raised a daughter, with her surname, a single name with the word "heart", which has the meaning of "Hui quality Lanxin".

Lan Xin is a natural beauty embryo, and with Lan Gu's careful training, she has the true inheritance of her mother. Her beauty has been called "a must-see landscape", and her talent is even better than that of her mother. can be good at poetry and painting, can write a handful of fly-headed small letters, can sing and act, and is enthusiastic, generous, polite, and more attractive is her gorgeous and moving smile, light posture and soft voice. Qiao Zhi also loves this adopted daughter very much. Lan Xin had just come of age, and the person who went to Qiao's Mansion to propose marriage broke through the threshold.

"Are there three really good men who are in love with her at the same time?" Qiao Yan couldn't help but interrupt Aunt Xiu's narration, she believed that Luo Yi's grandmother was the Lan Xin with outstanding beauty and temperament, and her grandmother's name was Yu Qing, was it later renamed and taken the meaning of "Yu Qing is not over"?

"I haven't heard my mother say this, but I know that she was pregnant with a baby before she got married, and was kicked out of the house by her husband in a fit of rage, and never came back since. The lord ordered the ugliness of the family not to be publicized, and said to the public that he had sent Lan Xin to study abroad. Aunt Ah Xiu sighed, "My mother has always felt sorry for her, she was originally a princess who was praised by everyone, but how did she degenerate into a slut." ”

Yu Chihong and Qiao Yan looked at each other, both very surprised.

Aunt Ah Xiu told them that not long after Lan Xin was driven away, the Anti-Japanese War broke out, and Qiao Zhi was unwilling to surrender to the Japanese invaders, so he took his family to live in Hong Kong. At that time, the eldest wife had passed away, and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Qiao Zhi returned to Taiwan with several other aunts, and the sixth aunt Tailan Gu stayed alone on Zhulang Island and lived in Qiao's mansion. She yearns for freedom and does not want to be restrained, and because of Lan Xin's matter, the estrangement with Qiao Zhi is deeper, so she refuses to go with him. But staying on Chase Wave Island made her experience a catastrophe. During the "Cultural Revolution", Langu was criticized for being a "landlord's wife", and no one dared to approach her at that time. Only Aunt Xiu's maternal grandfather's family often cared about her, and Aunt Xiu's maternal grandmother had to send a few small flowers to Aunt Sixth every day, such as smiling flowers, jasmine flowers, etc., and they were also slandered as "the landlord's lackeys" for this.

In 1971, Qiao Xiang, the eldest young master who settled in the United States and Qiao Yan's grandfather, came home to visit his sixth aunt, who raised him, and was surprised to see that there were only five planks left in her room. Lan Gu was very grateful to Aunt Xiu's maternal grandparents, and also told the eldest grandson that the young master would go to see Hui Tsai (Aunt Xiu's maternal grandfather Chen Guanghui), saying that he was the only loyal old man in the mansion. After Qiao Xiang went back, he sent 500 yuan to Langu every month to buy daily necessities. Two years later, Lan Gu died, she lived to be in her 70s, and her only adopted daughter Lan Xin was never heard from again as soon as she left, and she didn't even have a filial son after her death. People had to spend 20 yuan and hire one of her relatives to be her filial grandson to see her off.

Everyone sighed for the bleak situation of the sixth aunt in her later years, and the atmosphere at the table became more and more heavy.

After eating, Qiao Yan helped Aunt Ah Xiu clean up the dishes and chopsticks. Yu Chihong, Lu Bin and Qiao Ran sat in the living room, and none of them spoke. After a while, Wei Chihong stood up and said in a low voice, "Lu Bin, the task is handed over to you." So he went upstairs.

Lu Bin was all wrong, and Wei Chihong actually threw the hot potato to him, how could he talk to Qiao Ran? He turned his head and saw Qiao Ran looking at him. Her lips turned white, and she asked in fear, "What are you going to tell me?" She had already seen that even Lu Bin had come to the house, and it must be as simple as coming to visit her and have a meal. But they didn't say it, so she didn't ask, but the longer the time dragged on, the more uneasy she became, and her heart was up and down, and after hearing Yu Chihong's words, she couldn't bear it anymore.

"Yes...... That ......" Lu Bin stammered nervously, took several deep breaths, and his tone stabilized a little, "We want to tell you, that person...... Caught, it's someone you know. ”

A frightened, confused expression appeared on Qiao Ran's face. "Really...... Shi Nara? ”

Lu Bin shook his head. "Yes...... Hong Han. ”

The expression on Qiao Ran's face was almost terrifying, looking at Lu Bin, her body involuntarily retreated into the depths of the chair, as if he was the cause of her fear. She began to tremble, her eyes glaring in horror, her consciousness echoing and spinning in the deep well.

Gradually, something came back to life in her mind, slowly, stupidly...... Her face became whiter and whiter, her eyes became more and more sad, her big eyes were clouded, and a wave of tears gradually spread, quickly drowning her eyes, like raindrops on the leaves of banana trees on a rainy night, rolling down her cheeks one by one, and shattering on the placket of her clothes one by one.