Hao Yonggan led the way, and Mo Yan drove for Manman, as they went to the Jianmen Mountain Nunnery in Jianzhou to find Madam Yu.

Xie Zhaozhao instructed Bei Chen to tell the brokerage thugs that the women of the Yu family should be kept at the brokerage for a month before being sold.

To compensate the brokerage firm for its losses, they were given a subsidy of two hundred taels of silver, half of which was paid upfront, and the other half would be paid upon the termination of the cooperation.

The brokers would definitely do it; how could these people possibly earn two hundred taels of silver?

Besides, this is an official agency; the government agrees to delay, so they don't care—there are plenty of cages available.

After arranging everything for Manman, Xie Zhaozhao said, "Manman won't be back for at least ten days. How about we go to Wenxian County to see Xu Li's hometown?"

Everyone else agreed.

They're all young people who've been cooped up in Beijing for so many years. Even in a remote mountain village, there's a unique kind of scenery.

Zhou Shaoyu was busy inspecting several pilot projects, so he was constantly on the go. Xie Zhaozhao left him a letter and then took a group of people to Wen County.

The distance from the prefectural city to Wen County was not short, so they did not take a fast route and traveled slowly for five days, finally arriving in Wen County on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Upon arriving in Wen County, they did not disturb the authorities and quietly settled down at an inn.

The innkeeper was overjoyed. With the New Year approaching, business at the inn had been dismal, with not a single customer in sight.

Xie Zhaozhao and her group came with more than a dozen people, and all twelve rooms were booked immediately.

The shopkeeper, all smiles, bustled around, and Xie Zhaozhao asked, "Shopkeeper, do you still have a large market here?"

The shopkeeper, noticing her accent wasn't from the area, tried his best to speak Mandarin and told Xie Zhaozhao that most shops in the city were open, and that ordinary people would set up stalls until New Year's Eve.

Xie Zhaozhao, carrying Xiao Heng'er, along with Yuanyuan, Beichen, and others, drove a carriage slowly through the streets, observing the local customs and culture of the county town.

There are three inns in Wenxian County. The one they chose, Shengyangtai, is one of the larger ones. It is located in a bustling street lined with shops.

Rouge and face powder shops, fireworks and firecracker shops, and old farmers carrying loads of vegetables on their shoulders braved the cold wind to sell cabbages and radishes on the street.

Xie Zhaozhao held Xiao Heng'er in her arms, looking at the scene on the street through the Shadowless Gauze. The Shadowless Gauze allowed her to see outside, but those outside could not see inside clearly.

Little Heng'er covered her face with a silk handkerchief, leaving only her eyes visible, and babbled, "Mother, the wind is howling and cold, they are cold."

"Yes, they are cold, so Mother and Father need to work harder to make sure they are well-fed and warmly dressed."

Yuanyuan immediately said, "Your Majesty, this is already very good. That's life. Everyone has their own job to do. You have to be diligent to live a good life."

As they left the capital, Princess Yurong mocked Xie Zhaozhao, saying, "Your ancient times had backward productivity; the rich feasted on meat and wine while the poor froze to death on the streets!"

Xie Zhaozhao told her at the time: "I don't want to make grand promises. I hope that within ten years, all the people of Yulong will be able to eat and be fed; and that one hundred academies will be built so that all children who are willing to learn can study for free for five years."

On their journey from the capital, although the people were still poor, the situation was significantly better than during the Great Expedition. They did not see a single case of people freezing to death on the road.

Everything is getting better.

The carriage slowly pulled up to a candy shop, and Xiao Heng'er said, "Mother, I want to eat candy."

Yuanyuan immediately said, "Young master, please wait here. I'll go and buy it."

She had just stepped off the carriage when she saw another carriage approaching from the opposite direction and stopping in front of the candy shop.

The driver saw Yuanyuan, and Yuanyuan's eyes lit up: "Hey..." Isn't this Bo Mu!

With a soft "shh" at dusk, Yuan Yuan pretended not to recognize him and covered it up.

Yuan Yuan watched as the thick curtain of the other carriage was lifted, and a servant jumped down. Oh wow, it was Changming!

Changming respectfully arranged the dismounting stool and helped a young man down from the carriage.

"Young Master, slow down, don't stumble." Changming respectfully helped the man down.

Before Yuanyuan could even see the person's face, she saw a pair of black hands land in Changming's slender, fair hands.

Those hands were dry, cracked, and black, with several frostbite sores wrapped in cotton.

Then I saw a youthful face, but it was still a bit chapped. It turned out to be a dark-skinned boy wearing a fox fur cloak.

Changming followed Xu Erlang humbly, saying, "Young Master, the General said that whatever you want will be granted."

Xu Erlang said happily, "Let's go to the candy ball shop and buy some candy balls."

Changming immediately ran over obsequiously and said to the shop assistant, "Master, give me four skewers of candied hawthorns."

The waiter said "Okay!", took the money, and handed the candy ball to Changming.

Holding the candied fruit, Xu Erlang's eyes were filled with excitement and exhilaration. He sighed, "I've never been to the city before. There are candied fruit vendors in town, and I've seen them many times, but I never had the money to buy any."

Changming smiled and said, "If you adopt him as a general, you can eat as many as you want. If that doesn't work, we can open our own candy shop."

Watching Xu Erlang eat a string of candied hawthorns, he suggested, "Young Master, I have a small suggestion, would you like to hear it?"

Seeing how humble he was, Xu Erlang, with his incredibly strong back, said, "Just say it, I'll listen to everything."

"Young master, could you please learn to speak Mandarin? When we get to the prefectural city and then the capital, we'll have to rely on our local dialect..."

Xu Erlang's face flushed red. He felt ashamed of himself after listening to Changming and Bomu speak Mandarin these past two days.

“Okay, okay,” Xu Erlang stammered, “The people in our area are just like that, so lowly, they speak so rudely, I’m really fed up with them.”

Changming said happily, "Young Master, you are truly open to advice."

Xu Erlang didn't know what "accepting advice readily" meant, but it was probably a compliment to his ability to listen to advice.

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