Chapter 196 Return

Yan Jingwen was startled and quickly chased after him to apologize.

"Xiang Yu slapped him hard, "You still want to own my restaurant? Forget it!"

Xiangyu broke off relations with him after that, but Yan Laoqi couldn't stand coming here to pester her every day. Xiangyu chased him away several times, and he knelt on the ground and cried and apologized.

The restaurant still needs to do business, and we can’t let its reputation be ruined because of him. In the end, we have no choice but to let him go.

Song Yuzhu's face turned cold after hearing this: "How shameless! She has already rejected you, why do you keep pestering her?"

Yan Laoqi explained anxiously: "It's all a misunderstanding. My mother did say some unpleasant things that day, but it wasn't my true intention. I really like Xiangyu."

"If you liked her, why did you lie to her that your mother was seriously ill?"

Yan Jingwen sighed: "My mother... has a strong personality and speaks harshly. I'm afraid that Xiangyu will be unhappy if they meet, so I don't want them to meet."

Song Yuzhu said, "Your mother has a strong personality, and Xiangyu is also impatient. There will definitely be some conflicts after you get married. What will you do then?"

Yan Jingwen whispered, "My mother is old... I should at least give in to her."

Xiang Yu laughed out loud in anger: "I am not young anymore, why should I give in to you? Fortunately, I found out early, otherwise I would not know what kind of humiliation I would have to endure if I married into your family!"

"No, I won't let you get angry." Yan Jingwen wanted to go forward and grab Zhao Xiao, but Zhao Xiao pushed him away.

"What...what are you going to do?"

Zhao Xiao raised his eyebrows: "What do you want to do?"

"I...you...you guys, Xiangyu, do you have a new lover?!"

"Stop talking nonsense and get out of here!"

Yan Jingwen started to act like a rogue again, sitting on the ground with tears streaming down his face: "I'm not leaving. If I don't make things clear today, I'm not leaving!"

Xiangyu held her forehead with her hand. This man was really a piece of dog-skin plaster that could not be torn off once it was stuck on him. If she had known he was such a person, she should not have been with him in the first place.

Song Yuzhu couldn't bear it any longer, so he shouted, "Xu Mao, take this guy out and teach him a lesson. Don't let him cause trouble in Louwailou again!"

"Yes, sir!" Xu Mao pulled him out by the collar. A few screams were heard from outside, and then they died down.

Xiangyu was so frightened that her face turned pale.

"Don't worry, Xu Mao is very measured in his actions. This person shouldn't dare to come again."

Xiang Yu covered her face and said, "Hey, I made a fool of myself for you..."

Song Yuzhu comforted him: "It's not your fault. The most important thing is that you don't fall into the fire pit."

Xiangyu smiled bitterly, "Don't dare to provoke others casually in the future."

*

Xu Mao beat up the man named Yan severely and warned him that if he dared to bother Xiang Yu again, he would break his arms and legs.

Yan Laoqi was a sour scholar after all. He was so scared that he didn't dare to go out for several days. From then on, he walked around Louwailou when passing by and didn't dare to bother Xiangyu anymore.

Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao stayed in Xuzhou for five days and then set off for Jiangcheng County. Before leaving, Xiangyu couldn't help but hold Song Yuzhu and sob again. They didn't know when they would meet again.

Song Yuzhu comforted him, "I'm in Shangjing. You can come anytime you want to see me."

Xiangyu reluctantly let go of their hands and sent them out of the city.

It takes about four or five days to travel from Xuzhou to Jiangcheng County. In the past, this road was very difficult to travel, especially when it rained. There were potholes everywhere. The carriage would sink along the way, which was a great test of driving skills.

Now the court has paid to pave this road with cement, so even if it rains heavily, the journey will not be delayed.

July is the rainy season in Xuzhou. The sky was clear in the morning, but it turned gloomy in the afternoon. After a few thunderclaps, bean-sized raindrops hit the carport with a crackling sound.

The carriage was not tight and the rain flowed in through the gaps, soaking the clothes of both men in a short while.

Song Yuzhu twisted her sleeves and said, "It's raining too hard. Let's find a place to take shelter."

Zhao Xiao knocked on the car door and shouted outside: "Xu Mao, go take shelter from the rain first."

"Hey!" Xu Mao drove the carriage to a small village nearby.

As soon as we entered the village, there was a house. I got out of the car and knocked on the door. Soon, an old woman with white hair came out holding an umbrella.

"Who are you looking for?"

Xu Mao wiped the rain off his face and said, "Old man, we were passing by here and it suddenly rained heavily. We wanted to go to your house to take shelter from the rain."

The old woman stretched her head and looked at the carriage road outside: "Then come in quickly."

Zhao Xiao helped Song Yuzhu get off the carriage, and used clothes to shield her from the rain as he escorted her into the house. The three of them were soaked to the skin.

The old woman handed them a few dry towels and asked, "Where did you young men come from?"

Song Yuzhu wiped her face and said, "Auntie, we are from Xuzhou and are going to Jiangcheng County."

"Oh, sit down and have a rest. I'll make you some ginger soup so you don't catch a cold."

Xu Mao quickly stood up and said, "Let me do it." Then he chopped wood skillfully, lit a fire and cooked ginger soup.

The old woman looked at him with a smile and said, "This child is really strong. It's good to see his health."

Song Yuzhu looked around and asked, "Auntie, do you live alone?"

The old woman nodded and said, "There was a war in the early years. My husband and son were both conscripted, and my daughter was also killed. I was the only one left." So many years have passed in the blink of an eye. When the old woman talked about what happened back then, she no longer felt sad. She was only left with helplessness and loneliness.

Song Yuzhu glanced at Zhao Xiao. It must be that Yang Yuanqing passed by here and arrested people, and this old woman was the victim.

"Can you live alone?" Judging from her age, she is not able to work.

"The village distributes rice every month, saying it's some kind of old-age pension. I don't understand it, but at least I won't starve to death."

Song Yuzhu secretly sighed in her heart. Fortunately, the imperial court issued a pension law a few years ago. People over the age of 60 would be given a dou of rice and a dou of noodles by the state every month. These foods could basically satisfy an elderly person's food and drink needs.

Xu Mao cooked the ginger soup, and the old woman bent over and went into the house to take out a few pieces of sugar: "Young man, put this in and drink it, it's sweet."

"Oh." Song Yuzhu took the rock sugar and put it into the bowl, then drank a bowl of hot ginger soup, and the coldness in her body was half driven away.

The rain outside was almost stopping, and several people stood up and said goodbye. Before leaving, Zhao Xiao quietly put a few hundred-wen bills on the stool, which should be enough for the old man to spend for a while.

*

Three days later, they finally arrived in Jiangcheng County, Song Yuzhu's hometown and the place where the two met.

Coming back here again and looking at the familiar streets, Song Yuzhu suddenly felt like she was dreaming.

"I used to pass by that street every morning when I went to the clinic. My father would always buy me two white sugar sesame cakes with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. They were crispy and fragrant when you took a bite."

Zhao Xiao asked Xu Mao to drive over, and sure enough, they saw a pancake stall, run by a young man.

Song Yuzhu got off the car and bought a few sesame cakes, and started chatting with him: "I remember that the stall owner was an elderly man."

"You're talking about my dad. He fell down last year and his legs are not working properly so he has to rest at home."

"So that's how it is."

Four sesame cakes cost eight cents. The cakes were hot from the oven. He and Zhao Xiao each had one, and the rest were given to Xu Mao.

While eating sesame cakes, the carriage drove to the vicinity of the clinic. The former clinic had changed its sign and was now a restaurant.

Zhao Xiao asked, "Would you like to go in and take a look?"

Song Yuzhu shook her head: "It must have changed a lot inside. Going in would only make me sad. It's better not to look."

"Where are we going?"

"Let's go to the Song residence."

When my second uncle and his family went to Beijing, they did not sell the old house. Instead, they left some servants to take care of it so that they would have a place to stay when they came back to worship their ancestors.

The carriage drove to the gate of Song's residence. There was almost no change here, only the vermilion paint on the gate was mottled, marked by the traces of time.

Song Yuzhu recalled the days when she followed her father to the clinic to learn medicine and practice medicine every day when she was a child. She was carefree at that time and never thought that she would sit on the throne one day.

"Ah Xiao, go under that willow tree and help me dig something."

Zhao Xiao jumped off the carriage, pulled out his dagger and started digging under the willow tree. After a while, he dug out an iron box. He patted the dirt off the box and took it over and asked, "What's in here?"

Song Yuzhu smiled mysteriously, "Open it and take a look."

The iron box was rusty and took a long time to pry open. Inside was fifty taels of silver, two medical books and a small knife.

"This is what I kept to save my life. When I heard that Yang Yuanqing was going to attack us, I buried it overnight with Song Quan. I didn't expect that I would be drafted by Prince Qing and didn't even take these things."

"Hey! What are you doing?" someone shouted not far away.

Song Yuzhu hurriedly pulled Zhao Xiao onto the carriage and urged Xu Mao to leave quickly. He had lived here for more than ten years and was afraid of being recognized by acquaintances.

The servant of the Song Mansion came over, looked at the pit under the tree and scratched his head in confusion. Why did he seem to have seen the third young master just now?

*

Song Yuzhu stayed here for five days and then accompanied Zhao Xiao to Jinzhou, where she met several of his friends.

We arrived in Xizhou in mid-September, which is the border of Daqi and adjacent to Tubo and Huiqi Kingdom.

When Yang Yuanqing was here in the previous dynasty, he often used Huiqi people to train soldiers and almost destroyed the Huiqi country. During these years of recuperation, the number of people has gradually increased.

However, they are warlike by nature and have always coveted Daqi's territory. They are not good neighbors. I will find a way to get rid of this hidden danger after returning to Beijing.

In October, they finally boarded the return train, and Xu Mao also came back with them. It was the first time for this boy to take a train, and he leaned nervously in his chair, not daring to move. He only dared to look out the window after the train started to run steadily.

There were no accidents on the way back, and when they were about to go to Beijing, Song Yuzhu finally confessed to Zhao Xiao.

"Ah Xiao, there is something I haven't told you."

"What is it?"

"In fact, the countdown in my head has always been there."

The smile on Zhao Xiao's face faded: "What do you mean?"

“…There are still two months left.”

Zhao Xiao clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, saying, "How could this be? How could this be? Let's go back to Hangzhou and find Qingyi. He will definitely have a solution!"

"It's useless. Qingyi told me on the mountain that he couldn't stop this out-of-this-world thing."

"I know this is hard to accept, but I am very satisfied that Master Qingyi can let me live these days in good health."

"…The only regret is probably that I can't grow old with you."

Zhao Xiao cried out while trembling all over. The huge fear made him at a loss as to what to do. His lover was about to leave him.

He had all the abilities but couldn't stop it, which almost made him collapse.

Song Yuzhu's nose was sore, and she hugged his shoulders distressedly and said, "When I return to Shangjing, I will set off again under the pretext of sailing to the West, and you will stay in Shangjing then..."

"No!" Zhao Xiao refused. "No matter what the result is, I must stay by your side!"

Song Yuzhu reached out and touched his face and said, "Okay."

(End of this chapter)