Her playmate, who had been with her for almost a month, teaching her martial arts, playing the zither, and writing poetry and calligraphy, suddenly passed away, which made her somewhat sad.

Even though Jiang Mingzhu tried to comfort herself, saying that life is fleeting and many people will pass by, she was still very sad.

Bao'er is still young and doesn't understand why her older sister is in this mood.

She went inside to find her saved allowance and came out carrying her big piggy bank.

The sound of money clattering inside was from the coins she saved each day—she had accumulated quite a lot of them.

"Mother, I remember we bought our shop from Chen Bei's younger brother. The Xie family used to be in Anping County, right?"

Jiang Mingzhu suddenly felt that Chen Bei's departure was a bit strange. Could it be that someone imitated Madam Xie's handwriting and tricked Chen Bei away?

"The Xie family is indeed originally from Anping County. However, Madam Xie's father's generation went to the capital to serve as an official, but he was just a minor official and not very successful. I heard from Abei that his father and mother got together because Prefect Chen had several fiancées who died young. Everyone said that he was a jinx and no one wanted to marry their daughter to him. The Xie family wanted to climb up the social ladder to the Chen family, but who would have thought that it would lead to such a wonderful marriage. As for the Xie family's other two children, one married into the Zhao family, with whom he had been betrothed since childhood, and the other, Xie Sanlang, was young at the time. Because he later got into trouble in the capital, he was sent back to his hometown to live."

Speaking of which, the Xie family elders were remarkably easygoing, enjoying their carefree lives in the capital.

It wasn't until later, when Gu An'an bought the shop with bad feng shui from Xie Sanlang, that Xie Sanlang went to Anzhou Prefecture for a few days and was then sent to the capital, where he finally had children to enjoy his company.

With the passing of the Xie family matriarch, it was only natural for Madam Xie to bring her children back to Beijing to attend her funeral.

Jiang Mingzhu had no idea that there were so many twists and turns involved.

"I was overthinking it." She had thought someone was planning something bad for Chen Bei.

Gu An'an pinched her eldest daughter's cheek. "Although Chen Bei is not as outstanding as his brother who became famous at a young age, he is not without intelligence. You don't need to worry too much."

These words made Jiang Mingzhu's face flush. "How could I care about him? I just don't understand him very well. The teacher even assigned me homework, so I'm going to do it now."

Watching Jiang Mingzhu leave under an excuse, Gu An'an sighed. Even a cat or dog that has been with you for almost a month will develop feelings, let alone a person.

However, Chen Bei has his own life to live, and it's uncertain whether they will meet again in the future. Let time wash away the memories they shared.

Gu An'an watched the beautiful figure disappear before her eyes and thought that this was the only way.

...

The departures of Jiang Mingxu and Chen Bei brought some peace to the house. Xiao Wu and Xiao You became increasingly capable of handling things independently at the shop, and a new cook was hired, completely freeing up Gu An'an.

With some free time, Gu An'an decided to go find a courtyard.

Anyway, the house wasn't expensive. We bought it so that Sun Hanzhou could live there, and also so that the children could have a proper education.

Lushui Lane is a bit lively; the neighbors on both sides are making noise, making it hard to concentrate on reading.

Two days later, the news reached Jiang Yong'an. The sixth brother took a big gulp of water and said, "If you ask me, why don't we just give the courtyard that you bought to your sister-in-law? We're not going to live there anyway."

The person far away in Lingzhou slowly shook his head upon hearing this, "Do you know where Mingxu is now?"

The sixth brother thought for a moment, "They just left Anzhou Prefecture a few days ago. Their journey is not fast. They have to practice medicine for a day in each place they arrive at. I estimate that they should have arrived in Rongzhou today. Brother, do you want to go and see Xu'er?"

The younger sister-in-law is really something, actually agreeing to Mingxu's request to let him go out with those two doctors.

This family is certainly bold.

"Let's get down to business first. Has the investigation into the Orchid Sect been completed?"

Bai Mu, who had been silent all along, spoke up, "It's been investigated. There's also another piece of information that might interest you, brother."

Jiang Yong'an raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"When the Orchid Gate of Anzhou Prefecture was destroyed, it did send a distress letter to Rongzhou and Lingzhou. The letter said that Luo Jing had discovered an iron mine."

"Iron ore? Wasn't the Orchid Gate something the Emperor set up? How could Luo Jing discover this thing and not report it to the Emperor? That's impossible!"

Bai Mu sneered, "Why is it impossible? However, the whereabouts of this iron mine are currently unknown, and Lingzhou is unaware of it."

"No wonder the people from the Orchid Sect in Lingzhou have been going to Anzhou lately. Brother, what should we do now?"

Jiang Yong'an's expression was resolute. "Let's resolve the issues of the three prefectures of Anling first, and do it cleanly."

Upon hearing this, Lao Liu rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Yes!" He had been waiting for this day for a long time. The Orchid Sect, which had committed numerous evils, must be wiped out from this land!

The person who received the order went to give instructions, leaving only Jiang Yong'an and Bai Mu in the room.

"Brother, that boy from the Chen family has also left. I heard he went to the capital to attend his maternal grandmother's funeral."

Jiang Yong'an nodded, "Chen Bei's patriotic heart has no impact on us."

"But what about his resourceful elder brother, Chen Yuan? Recently, Chen Yuan seems to have sensed something and has been investigating us."

Jiang Yong'an chuckled upon hearing this, "That kid has improved quite a bit."

"Yes, back then they were just lowly soldiers under your command, and now they've become military commanders of the three prefectures of Anling. Our emperor in the Golden Palace is truly skilled in the art of checks and balances."

General Han was trapped here, and his entire family eventually perished.

Jiang Yong'an remained silent upon hearing this.

Bai Mu didn't seem to care and continued, "Mingyi is currently studying, but Manager Gu has hired Sun Hanzhou as his tutor. Should we interfere?"

Anyone else could have been asked, but it had to be Sun Hanzhou.

This is like having a powder keg sitting there.

"Sun Hanzhou, he's not dead?"

“Our emperor values ​​civil officials over military ones, how could he dare to easily beat this scholar to death? Besides, Sun Hanzhou almost became the top scholar back then. If he hadn’t offended the Longqing Emperor with his insolent words, how could he have only achieved the title of Jinshi?”

The key point is that this honor was quickly revoked.

Jiang Yong'an just smiled slightly when he heard this, "Since he was lucky enough to survive, he must have his own destiny. Let him teach him first."

These words made Bai Mu somewhat uneasy. "Do you really want Mingyi to take the imperial examination route?"

Given the child's background, how could they possibly go down this path?

Jiang Yong'an turned to look at him, "Otherwise what?"

Their chances of winning or losing are still unknown. Should we just drag this child into this?

Naturally, we need to have more options.

After all, Jiang Mingyi, who knows nothing, has the right to choose his own life.

These three short words left Bai Mu speechless for a moment before he finally said, "I understand."

Jiang Yong'an looked at the person who was about to leave and said, "Just let Xiao You protect them well. There's no need to send over anything that's not essential."

He was a man who couldn't tolerate any nonsense; how could he allow a spy to spies around him?

He knows Gu An'an very well.