...

In the Jiang family home in Qingya Village, Jiang Fuyi, leaning on a cane, limped around the courtyard, his face full of anxiety.

Not long after, Liu and Chen returned.

"Old woman, how is it? Have you managed to hire a carriage?" Jiang Fuyi asked hurriedly.

“We’ve hired them!” Liu nodded. “One horse-drawn carriage and one oxcart. Squeeze as many people as possible into the horse-drawn carriage and put the things on the oxcart.”

"Father, we've already made an appointment with the car dealership. They'll come to Qingya Village to pick us up at daybreak tomorrow," Chen Shi said hurriedly from the side.

"That's good." Jiang Fuyi nodded upon hearing this.

He looked at the house he had lived in for many years, feeling no attachment whatsoever, and wishing he could leave as soon as possible.

In the past two months, many strange things have happened to the Jiang family. First, the second son, Jiang Minghe, broke his leg while picking tea on the mountain. Then... the eldest grandson went swimming in the big pond at the east end of the village and suddenly his calf cramped up, almost drowning.

If it weren't for the large number of people in Bai Ri Village and the children who were swimming with him pleading for help, his eldest grandson Chang Song would probably be in grave danger.

However, even though the child survived, he coughed for a long time because he swallowed too much water. Even now, Changsong still coughs occasionally. The chubby child has lost a lot of weight recently, which makes Jiang Fuyi very distressed.

Then there's himself. A little over a month ago, he suddenly developed a boil on his foot. It kept healing and then growing back, never completely getting better. It was so painful and uncomfortable, it was really torturous.

His granddaughter, Jiang Qiurong, went to the mountain to collect honey with her friends from the village half a month ago. Everyone else was fine, but she was the only one who got stung all over her head. The medicine didn't help, and she was likely to be disfigured.

Besides that, his wife tripped and fell a few days ago while walking in the yard. Her leg was fine, but her arm was broken.

Then there's the second daughter-in-law, Chen, who almost cut off her finger while cooking in the kitchen earlier this month.

Of the seven family members, all but the youngest grandson, Changbai, were injured or ill.

To be precise, even Changbai was not spared, because this kid has been falling frequently in the past two months, often ending up with bruises and nosebleeds, which was rare in the past.

The boy was mischievous, and even though the two brothers had gotten injured before, it was never this frequent.

What Jiang Fuyi found most unacceptable was that the five hundred taels of silver his eldest son, Jiang Mingtao, had sent to them, which he had clearly locked and hidden well, was still missing in large quantities.

Ten taels less today, ten taels less tomorrow...

Even though he hid the silver in many different places, it kept dwindling.

Recalling the many things that had happened before, Jiang Fuyi was terrified. A couple of days ago, he asked someone to invite a shaman to come and take a look. Although the shaman couldn't find the root of the problem, she told him that his house was a bit eerie, and that it was hard to breathe once you entered. There might be something unclean inside.

Jiang Fuyi was immediately frightened. He didn't send anyone to contact his eldest son, Jiang Mingtao, who was far away in the capital. He planned to take his whole family to seek refuge with him.

The son faked his death for so many years and became a high-ranking official in the capital, living a life of luxury and easily giving them five hundred taels of silver. It's clear how comfortable that kid was.

Furthermore, his son married a woman from a wealthy and noble family, and she gave him two grandsons and a granddaughter. He had never met those three children before, so of course he wanted to see them.

The son didn't dare to look for them before because Ye Miaoyun and her daughter were there. Now, the mother and daughter are no longer members of the Jiang family. He sent someone to inquire and found out that Ye Miaoyun had remarried, and her granddaughter Jiang Xianya was an ungrateful wretch. The Jiang family raised her for so many years and nurtured her to adulthood, and she actually changed her surname to "Ye".

From now on, the mother and daughter will have no further connection with the Jiang family, nor will they affect their son's future. They can go to the capital to seek refuge with their son.

As the saying goes, of all virtues, filial piety is the most important.

He refused to believe that his son and daughter-in-law would kick them out after they arrived!

Now that the son has become a high-ranking official, he should help his second son out. He'll definitely be able to find him a good job in the capital.

And then there are his grandsons Changsong and Changbai. With their uncle's help, they will definitely be able to attend the best academies, and in the future they will be able to pass the imperial examinations, become officials, and bring glory to their ancestors.

Needless to say, her granddaughter Jiang Qiurong is also very fortunate. With her uncle, who is an official, she will definitely be able to marry into a good family in the future.

If they stayed in Qingya Village, Qiu Rong would only be able to marry into a peasant family. But once they arrived in the capital, everything would be different.

Full of anticipation, Jiang Fuyi stood at the village entrance waiting for the horse-drawn carriage before dawn the next day.

It costs fifty taels of silver to hire a horse-drawn carriage and thirty taels of silver to travel from Qingya Village to the capital. Although Jiang Fuyi felt very distressed, he was very much looking forward to it when he thought about finally being able to leave this unlucky place and go to his son's place to live a life of luxury.

Shortly after dawn, the family boarded a horse-drawn carriage and an oxcart and set off.

...

Compared to Jiang Fuyi and his group, Ye Xianya and the others were much calmer. They still got up after dawn and had breakfast before getting into their carriages.

In addition to the two carriages that the Ye family rented from the carriage shop, Qi Chengshuo also paid out of his own pocket to prepare three more carriages, with the aim of making everyone more comfortable.

Anyway, the Emperor has already issued an edict to pardon Uncle Jiu, so he can help Uncle Jiu however he wants now.

Qi Jiu wanted to ride in the same carriage as Ye Miaoyun, but Ye Miaoyun refused. She pulled her daughter Ye Xianya and got into the last carriage.

Qi Jiu was a little depressed, and reached out to pat Qi Chengshuo on the shoulder: "It seems... the two of us, uncle and nephew, can only make do with each other."

Upon hearing this, Qi Chengshuo glanced at Qi Jiu and said calmly, "I'm not used to riding in a carriage. Let's ride horses instead. That way, I can protect you all, Uncle Jiu."

Just as Qi Jiu was about to say a few words of advice, Qi Chengshuo had already mounted his horse.

"That brat, he actually looks down on me!" Qi Qi Jiu reached out and smelled his sleeve, then pulled his collar and smelled it again. It smelled pretty good.

He used his wife's homemade lard soap, which he washed clean last night. His clothes are new and still have the fresh scent of soap. What is that brat complaining about?

The group slowly set off and, upon reaching the county town, entered the official road.

In her memory, Ye Miaoyun had never traveled far before. Moreover, she was different now than before, so she found the journey very novel and would occasionally lift the small curtain on the left side of the carriage to look outside.

"I heard that sitting in a carriage for a long time can make your butt hurt, so I sewed a few large cushions overnight. I gave two to your maternal grandparents, and put the rest in the carriage we were riding in. They're quite nice, and I didn't feel any pain in my butt," Ye Miaoyun said with a smile, patting the thick cushions she had made.