Chapter 288 Return to Beijing (Two chapters combined into one)

Dawang Village is located at the foot of the mountain. Just as the head of the village said, the villagers have lived by the mountain for many years and their lives have been acceptable. Therefore, since Tongzhou was hit by the disaster, Dawang Village has received the most victims. Including today's batch, it is the fifth batch.

When they arrived at the village entrance, a few children saw the ox cart coming from afar, and they happily went into the village to report the news. A moment later, a group of people came out, most of them were elderly.

Everyone gathered around the disaster victims, asking them questions enthusiastically. Some even offered them water and steamed buns. The village head came over and said to everyone, "You've been tired all the way here. Go take a rest first. Meet at the threshing ground in an hour."

Because this was the fifth batch of disaster victims, the village was well prepared and even arranged accommodation for them.

However, this was only a temporary place for them to stay, and they were all thatched huts. The village head said to everyone, "You can stay here first. You see, the open space over there is for you. If you want to build a house, build it yourself. There is plenty of wood on the mountain, and it is free. If you want to build a mud house, you will have to find a way yourself. Of course, if you have enough money, you can also build a brick house, but you have to go to the city to buy bricks and tiles, which is very expensive."

As soon as the village head finished speaking, Zhao Xingzhou asked, "Where does Master Guanyue live?"

The village head smiled and said, "Master Guanyue should be on the mountain right now. If you want to see him, you have to wait until the sun goes down. They are all on the mountain these days."

Zhao Xingzhou wanted to say something, but Zhao Shiqing pulled his sleeve and whispered, "Don't cause trouble for Xiao Yueyue."

The village head guessed correctly. After the sun went down, Zhao Xingzhou saw Chen Guanyue.

Bathed in the lingering sunlight, several young men walked past the thatched cottage, chatting and laughing. Someone who knew them greeted them from afar, "Master Guanyue, you've gone up the mountain again. Thank you for your hard work."

"Master Guanyue, come to my house for dinner. My mother has cooked salted beans."

Chen Guanyue responded with a smile. A child came over and he took out a bright red fruit and handed it to him: "It's very sweet. Have it."

When she looked up, Shen Guanyue saw Zhao Shiqing, and her smile instantly widened: "Sister, you're here!"

Niu Qiu and Shen Wangxing also looked over here: "Second Miss!"

Three people ran over, and when they got close, they saw Zhao Xingzhou coming over to look at the sound.

"Hey, aren't you that old Taoist priest?" Loach still remembered him. He was involved in causing Zhao Xingzhou to fall into the toilet.

Shen Wangxing didn't know Zhao Xingzhou, but Shen Guanyue recognized him at a glance.

During the Chinese New Year, his eldest brother arranged for him to meet the emperor. Although there was no words, he knew that the emperor recognized him.

"Grandfather, grandfather." The voice was very low, but Zhao Xingzhou heard it clearly.

Zhao Xingzhou's heart tightened as he stared at the young man in front of him.

After not seeing him for more than half a year, the child has grown better and better. He has grown taller and stronger. His delicate facial features have grown a little more mature, and he looks more relaxed and brighter.

This is my grandson. This is how my grandson should be.

"Be good." Zhao Xingzhou's lips trembled a few times before he squeezed out a word.

The place where Chen Guanyue and the other two lived was not much better than that of other disaster victims. It was said that a small landlord in the village vacated his main house and invited Chen Guanyue to live there, but Chen Guanyue politely declined.

Zhao Shiqing and Zhao Xingzhou followed them there. This was both the main room and the bedroom. There was a kang table on the big kang, which was used both for entertaining guests and sleeping.

Zhao Shiqing saw the straw mat on the kang and said with a smile, "This mat is so beautifully woven, and it has patterns on it."

Chen Guanyue perked up and said with a smile, "Every family in Dawang Village knows how to weave mats. It's a profitable business for the village."

Zhao Xingzhou said nothing. The roof was covered with thatch, the kang was covered with straw mats, the kang table was not painted, and there were large coarse porcelain bowls on the table. All of this reminded him of the magnificent mansion in Tongzhou.

My real grandson eats rough food and lives in a simple house to help the disaster victims reclaim wasteland, while the fake one, on the other hand, wears fine clothes and eats delicious food, hides in a big house and does evil things that cannot be seen in public.

Chen Guanyue looked at Zhao Xingzhou and pulled Zhao Shiqing outside to talk: "Sister, why are you here? And that old man, why is he here? Where is my brother? Is he okay?"

Zhao Shiqing told him what happened after they parted, emphasizing that the emperor already knew about the hooked nose. In fact, when Chen Guanyue saw Zhao Xingzhou and Zhao Shiqing appear at the same time, he had already guessed what was going on, otherwise he would not have called him grandfather without any pressure.

Upon learning that the Fourth Prince had committed a serious mistake and was imprisoned, Shen Guanyue narrowed her eyes slightly and asked, "Sister, is that person reliable?"

When he said "that person", he raised his chin slightly towards the room, and Zhao Shiqing understood who this "that person" was.

She smiled: "Of course he is unreliable. He is just adding fuel to the fire. We still have to rely on ourselves."

That night, Zhao Shiqing, Zhao Xingzhou, and Shen Guanyue had dinner together. They ate two-grain flour pancakes, cold wild vegetables, stir-fried black fungus with green onions, braised rabbit cubes, and mushroom soup. The rabbit was caught by Mudfish in the mountains and cooked by an aunt in the village. The seasonings were not complete, but everyone was very satisfied with the meal.

Zhao Xingzhou sighed, "It turns out that this wild vegetable can be so delicious."

Zhao Shiqing rolled her eyes at him and said, "If you eat it every day, you won't notice how delicious it is. Besides, you can't catch a rabbit every day."

Zhao Xingzhou looked at Niu Qiu and asked, "Did you catch this hare today? Can you catch a hare with your bare hands? Without a bow and arrow?"

Loach felt a little embarrassed. He was a thief, and he was not only agile but also fast at running.

"I caught it with my bare hands. That rabbit can't run as fast as me."

Zhao Xingzhou was very satisfied and looked at Chen Wangxing again: "What about you? What skills do you have?"

Chen Wangxing...what skills does he have? Does it count if he can eat?

Chen Guanyue said: "Wangxing can make up stories and write storybooks."

Zhao Xingzhou understood. He finally knew where the legend of the golden boy under the seat of Guanyin Bodhisattva came from.

"Your name is Guanyue, and his name is Wangxing?"

Shen Guanyue nodded: "Yes, we are watching the moon and the stars."

Zhao Xingzhou touched his beard again, but found nothing. He was a little frustrated and decided that he would never shave his beard casually again.

"Let your name be Guanyue."

Shen Guanyue was startled and quickly thanked him: "Grandson thanks grandfather for the gift of calligraphy."

The corner of Zhao Shiqing's mouth twitched. What kind of gifted name was this? It was clearly a name that someone had used for two years, but as soon as the old man opened his mouth, the name became a gift from him.

You are so shameless.

Zhao Xingzhou and Zhao Shiqing stayed in the village for three days. During these three days, they followed Chen Guanyue up the mountain and into the fields, helped the head of the village and the victims solve problems, and also went to the government office for some matters and had a quarrel with the clerk in the government office.

During this period, Zhao Xingzhou helped an aunt in the village find chickens, but he stepped on another aunt's eggs and broke them. Zhao Xingzhou was chased and scolded. He ran back to Zhao Shiqing and asked for a piece of silver, which he gave to the aunt as compensation. The aunt made a few egg pancakes and insisted that he take them back to eat.

Zhao Xingzhou came back with an egg pancake and ate it while sighing, "My people are so simple and kind."

Three days later, Zhao Shiqing and Zhao Xingzhou left Gaoping and returned to Tongzhou.

After they left, Shen Guanyue realized that someone was following him, but he couldn't see anyone. Shen Guanyue knew in his heart that this was someone sent by the emperor to protect him.

After returning to the mountain, the first thing Zhao Xingzhou did was to look for Aunt Sun, but he saw Aunt Sun sitting on a big rock in a daze, holding a small bag.

"You old woman, why are you still staying on the mountain? There's no flood outside. Do you want to stay here and eat for free?"

Aunt Sun looked at him and didn't scold him this time.

"Who said I didn't leave? I went back to my hometown. I couldn't even get into our village. The road leading into the village was all mud. I had to work very hard to get in. The houses had collapsed, the fields were ruined, and there was no one in the village, not a single person. My old man didn't go back. He must have died outside. I have no home anymore."

Aunt Sun had nowhere to go, so she had to go back to the mountain.

Zhao Xingzhou originally wanted to tease her, but seeing her like this, he lost interest.

"I met an old man in Gaoping, and he asked me about a female demon named Sun."

Aunt Sun was startled for a moment, then she stood up and walked over to Zhao Xingzhou. "What does that old man you're talking about look like?"

"Old, ugly, and with big yellow teeth."

Aunt Sun burst into tears: "That's my old man! Oh my God, my old man is still alive!"

After crying, she glared at Zhao Xingzhou again: "Why do you say my old man is ugly? Let me tell you, when he was young, he was a famous handsome guy in the whole area!"

Zhao Xingzhou also wanted to roll his eyes like Zhao Shiqing. What kind of vision is this, matching the lid to the pot?

However, the next day, Zhao Xingzhou borrowed two people from Zhao Shiqing and escorted Aunt Sun to Gaoping to find her handsome old man.

At this time, apart from the Dong family, there were only Mrs. Hao and her grandchildren on the mountain. The people sent by the court had arrived. Xiao Zhen completed his mission and was finally ready to return to Beijing.

Zhao Shiqing asked Zhao Xingzhou, "What do you think, old man? Will you come with us to Beijing? Xiao Yueyue is almost done, so she will come with us."

Zhao Xingzhou snorted coldly, "If it weren't for me, would you and Li Qing be able to prove Xiao Si's guilt?"

Zhao Shiqing smiled and said, "So you're going to Beijing with us?"

She lowered her voice and touched her nose: "It's not that easy to bring down a hooked nose, right?"

Zhao Xingzhou thought to himself, you little bitch, can't you stop mentioning hooked noses?

"Don't worry about that. You and Xiao Zhen should just wait for the reward. Some things can't be rushed."

Zhao Shiqing raised his eyebrows: "Yes, there is no need to rush. Who asked you to give up the palace?"

Zhao Xingzhou had a heart attack!

As the officials sent by the court for the second time brought back the news, the news that the emperor had personally visited Tongzhou was passed back to the capital.

This news came along with the news that the Fourth Prince was detained by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

Emperor Yongjia was first shocked, then furious.

How dare the fourth brother resell disaster relief grain from the Huiji Warehouse? A full five hundred thousand taels!

He is so brave!

The most important thing is that Emperor Yongjia didn’t even know that the retired emperor had left Changshou Palace.

Perhaps it was because things had been too smooth in recent years, and the retired emperor had been too comfortable in Changshou Palace, so he relaxed his surveillance of the palace. But no matter what, the people who were monitoring the Changshou Palace were incompetent and did not notice such a big thing.

Yes, the emperor must have left quietly, otherwise no news would have leaked out.

Why did the emperor leave Changshou Palace?

Did you hear about the flood in Tongzhou and worry about the people, so you went to take a look?

If that's the case, that's fine.

But what if he was targeting the Fourth Prince?

Emperor Yongjia thought about it over and over again, but before he met the retired emperor and the fourth prince, everything was just speculation.

The matter of the Fourth Prince was not deliberately concealed, and Concubine You and the You family soon found out.

Concubine You came to Emperor Yongjia crying and begged him for help, but she couldn't even see him. The empress was furious and ordered her to be under house arrest and not to leave the bedroom without the empress's permission.

As for the You family, the empress had no control over it. Emperor Yongjia had already sent the Yulin Army to surround the You family. They did not confiscate the property or arrest anyone, they just surrounded the family. No one in the You family was allowed to go out, not even to buy groceries.

This feeling of having a knife hanging over your head is enough to drive you crazy.

Everyone in the You family felt in danger, and there was constant crying in the mansion.

Zhen Wuduo was listening to a few old men gossiping in his own teahouse. There was a big birdcage on the table with his three thousand taels in it. There were also two dogs lying under the table, Ah Huang and Xiao Ye.

The old men were talking excitedly and talking excitedly as they talked about the Fourth Prince.

"Have you heard? The flood in Tongzhou was man-made. It was done by the Fourth Prince! Isn't that amazing? Four cities were flooded!"

Zhen Wuduo: The dog emperor has such bad genes that he is even worse than the Zhen family. It’s strange that he can give birth to such a powerful son.

Sure enough, another old man said, "You can brag all you want. I've heard that the Fourth Prince is the most useless of all the princes. Oh, and he's also a cripple, with one leg longer than the other. How could he, with just this guy, be capable of flooding four cities?"

Zhen Wuduo became addicted to listening to the songs. Relying on the fact that the entire teahouse belonged to him, he listened to the songs at one table and then at another.

"Well said, waiter, send a plate of fresh fruit to this table."

"Excellent analysis, waiter, bring the peanuts and put them on my account!"

At this moment, a street urchin ran in from outside: "Hurry, hurry, the Jinyiwei who went to Tongzhou are back!"

The teahouse fell silent for a moment, and then everyone rushed to the windows facing the street. The windows were crowded with heads, and those who couldn't squeeze in simply ran out. When they looked out onto the street, the waiter chased after them: "Sir, please pay the bill first! It hasn't been paid yet!"

Zhen Wuduo almost failed to grab the window, thanks to Ah Huang and Xiao Ye, the two dogs acted quickly and were the first to grab the window with the best viewing effect. When someone came over, Xiao Ye stared at them with his dog eyes and barked loudly, scaring the person so much that they quickly dodged away. So the man and two dogs occupied the entire window.

The Jinyiwei team has not yet arrived, but what did Ah Huang see?

Eagle, an eagle!

Ah Huang: Xiaoguai, that’s Xiaoguai!

Zhen Wuduo also saw the eagle, but he couldn't see clearly whether it was Xiaoguai. However, judging from Ah Huang's reaction, it should be.

Xiaoguai is back, and his beloved granddaughter must be back too!