"We should be there soon." Yang Ruoqing looked out from under the swinging curtain. There were already subordinates running over to meet her.
"How is the situation? Where are Mr. Yang and his family?" Yang Ruoqing was the first to jump out of the carriage and asked the subordinates who came to meet him.
"In response to what the master said, Mrs. Yang and her children stopped at the brightly lit farmer's house in front. Mrs. Yang learned that the master was on his way and has been waiting. I will lead you there now."
In a farmer's home.
The aunts and sisters (sisters) finally reunited after nearly a year of separation.
Yang Ruoqing held Xiaohua's hand tightly and looked up and down: "I've lost weight, I've lost a lot of weight!"
Xiaohua was also full of excitement. She let go of Yang Ruoqing's hand and greeted Blacksmith Luo and Yang Huazhong again.
"Where are the children?" Yang Huazhong asked quickly. On a winter night when dripping water turned into ice, most of the reason that drove this man to brave the hardships and travel dozens of miles to this quiet place was for a pair of grandchildren.
"I'm sleeping in the next room. I asked the maid to watch."
"I'll go see the kids."
Yang Huazhong ducked into the room next door, and Yang Ruoqing also came in.
In the dim room, there were two children lying on the simple wooden bed. The older boy was naturally Feng'er.
The smaller ones inside are Fuwa.
"Look at the place covered by the quilt, Feng'er has grown taller again."
"Fuwa's eyebrows have also grown a bit, and they are much bigger than when she left. Haha, the two children are being raised well."
Afraid of waking up the children, Yang Huazhong just wanted to touch the children's faces before going out, but found that his palms were covered with calluses. He touched the two children's heads with the back of his hands, and smiled gratefully at the maid, lowering his voice. He said in a voice: "You are tired, keep an eye on them more."
When the maid saw the master and aunt coming in, she quickly stood up and stood aside, lowering her head and not daring to say a word.
Now she heard the master talking to her so politely, which frightened the maid.
Yang Ruoqing smiled and said to Yang Huazhong: "Dad, you scared this little maid, let's go out first."
Yang Huazhong was a little embarrassed, nodded and went out first.
Yang Ruoqing pulled up the quilt for the children again. Although they were sleeping on a bed from a farmer's house, it looked like the quilt belonged to Xiaohua and the others. The quilt was a little damp from the fatigue of traveling all the way, which made the two children suffer.
Back in the main room, Xiaohua was introducing an old woman with gray hair to Yang Huazhong and the others.
"This is Aunt Zhu. Fortunately, Aunt Zhu and Uncle Zhu took us in when we got here this time and gave us a place to stay. Otherwise, the carriage would have broken down in this freezing cold weather. I really don't know what to do."
Yang Huazhong and Yang Ruoqing first expressed their sincere gratitude to Aunt Zhu. They looked around and didn't see Daan from the time they entered the door until now.
"Hua'er, where is Da'an? Why are you three here?" Yang Huazhong asked urgently.
"And why is your carriage broken down? You came from the capital, didn't you bring a lot of guards with you? Where are they?"
Xiaohua's expression was very difficult. Yang Huazhong asked several questions at once, and she didn't know which question to answer first.
Aunt Zhu who was standing next to her saw this and said, "Let's all sit down and have a sip of hot tea. The hot water was boiled during dinner. The tea is wild tea that the old man picked on Guniu Ridge behind..."
"Thank you, ma'am."
Yang Ruoqing winked at Yang Huazhong and the others, and Yang Huazhong could only restrain his impatience and sit down first.
Xiaohua said to Aunt Zhu, "Auntie, I'll just wait with my family. You can go back to the house and rest."
Aunt Zhu nodded and went back to another room.
Here, Yang Ruoqing asked Xiao Hua: "Hua'er, where did Da'an go? How did you get here? Don't worry, tell us one by one slowly."
Xiaohua smiled bitterly: "Sister, Daan went to Guniuling."
"Why did he go to Guniuling? Did he get into trouble and go to Guniuling instead of going home?" Yang Huazhong suddenly became furious.
"Dad, please keep your voice down, don't wake up the children." Yang Ruoqing gave Yang Huazhong a look.
Yang Huazhong frowned, sat sideways, took out a dry tobacco stick and stuffed it into his mouth, but did not light it.
Xiaohua glanced at Yang Huazhong in shame, lowered her head, put her hands on her legs, grabbed the already wrinkled handkerchief, and whispered the whole story.
"We originally brought our attendants and guards, but when we entered Wanghai County, Da'an left them in the county town. He said that we didn't need such a big pomp when we returned to the village, and just brought a maid, because Fuwa has been in the capital all year. It's me and the maid who take care of her. Fuwa is not used to being away from that maid."
"I can understand this, but why did you come to Guniuling instead of taking the official route? Are you lost?" Yang Ruoqing asked again.
Xiaohua shook her head, "We didn't get lost. When our carriage passed by here, the horses didn't know what was going on and didn't obey us. They took us all the way through the woods. Fortunately, we met Uncle Zhu and the villagers. It was They helped to control the frightened horse, but the wheel was stuck. There was nothing we could do. We had to rest here and wait for Da'an to find someone to repair the wheel before leaving. "
"Uncle Zhu said that there are only three or four families under Guniuling. Most of them are elderly. The younger ones have all moved to Baiyan Town, which is ten miles away. The elderly don't know how to repair a car wheel. Da'an can only go to Baiyan. The town was looking for someone. Uncle Zhu drove the oxcart and took Daan to Baiyan Town at noon. In the middle of the afternoon, Uncle Zhu came with the master who repaired the wheel, but Daan did not come back. "
"Uncle Zhu said that when he found the master, he was working on a task and would not be back for half an hour, so the two of them waited there. Da'an suddenly went out during the trip and said he met a classmate who went out to sit for a while. He came back in a moment, but half an hour passed. Uncle Zhu didn't even wait for Da'an, and he didn't know where to look, so he had to wait there. Uncle Zhu waited until it was dark and Da'an didn't come back, so he had to come back first, maybe Da'an. Have you come back early? But Daan has never come back. "
"We were all worried. I thought that Da'an had told me before that he seemed to have a classmate here in Baiyan Town. His surname was Deng, and he was a Juren. So I begged Uncle Zhu to help me go to the town to find Deng Juren. Uncle Zhu I took a few uncles from the village to the town together, but they haven’t come back yet! It really makes me anxious..."
"Baiyan Town?" Yang Ruoqing was a little surprised. She turned around and called two subordinates outside: "Is there any news from Baiyan Town?"
The subordinate who was stationed here before replied: "The news we are waiting for is exactly the same as what Mrs. Yang said. It is precisely because I saw Mr. Yang and an old man in a carriage shop in the town before. Later, Mr. Yang left midway and lost his trace. We found this place through the old man and found Mrs. Yang and the Young Master."
Yang Ruoqing nodded, waved her hand to signal them to leave, turned around and asked Xiaohua: "Are you sure that Da'an's classmate in Baiyan Town is named Deng? Or is he a civil servant?"
