Chapter 284 Northwest Specialties

From Tingzhou to Chang'an, the journey eastward is long.

But no matter how long the road is, it will be shortened because of a heart that wants to go home.

Yun Jin and Xue Che rode at full speed and arrived in Chang'an from the northwest.

When they were about to reach Chang'an, Xue Che was still planning to stay at the Yun family first, and then go to Village Chief Hao's house after packing up.

As a result, before reaching the gate of Chang'an City, Xue Che saw a little girl waving at him from afar outside the bamboo forest.

Xue Che looked carefully, and then looked again, and then looked again -

It’s Zhizhi and Aunt Ying!

Aunt Ying looked no different from a few years ago, but Zhizhi had grown taller and her face was thinner, but her eyes and eyebrows were still as clear as a mountain stream.

Xue Che got off the horse and greeted the mother and daughter.

Wu Yingniang and her daughter didn't recognize the young boy in front of them for a moment, until Xue Che pulled down the headscarf wrapped around his face, revealing his bright eyes, and then Su Zhizhi and Wu Yingniang said in unison:

"Ache?!"

Su Zhizhi turned to look at Wu Yingniang.

Mom is right, after separation there is reunion, and the reunion is coming soon!

Yun Jin also dismounted.

Xue Che, Wu Yingniang and Su Zhizhi introduced:

"This is Brother Yun Jin, nominally my distant cousin. This time, it's just the two of us returning to Beijing."

Yun Jin bowed to Wu Yingniang and her daughter:

"Ah Che has been thinking about when he can see you all the way here. What a coincidence! He saw you before he even entered the capital."

Su Zhizhi: "I remember you. I saw you when I was in Tingzhou."

"Miss Su has a good memory." Yun Jin remembered that Su Zhizhi accompanied the army to deliver cotton clothes to the northwest a few years ago. Now when he saw her, he felt that the little girl had become more pretty and smart.

Su Zhizhi was feeling down just now because of her separation from Gu Qingning, but now she was beaming:

"Ache, let's go home!"

Wu Yingniang was also happy to see Xue Che, and wanted to pull the child over to take a closer look, but thinking that they were outside, she decided not to act too intimately:

"Ache, you should go to the Yun family and stay there. Keep your face nice and wait for us to pick you up."

When Xue Che heard the word "accept", a gleam of light flashed across his eyes.

The two sides parted ways outside the forest and returned to the capital.

Xue Che moved into a small courtyard in Yun Jin's home.

At night, he washed carefully to wash away the dust and fatigue from the journey, wrung out his hair, and changed into clean clothes.

Then he sat in the moonlit courtyard and waited quietly.

Just like when they were on vacation at Mingde Academy, they waited with Su Zhizhi for Brother Kong Wu to pick them up and take them home.

There was a bulging bag at his feet, filled with specialties brought from Tingzhou.

He and Zhizhi mentioned in the letter that when they met, he would bring her some specialties from Tingzhou.

As the moon rose higher and higher, he thought of everything that happened in Black Bandit Mountain and became more and more energetic.

In the deep blue night, two shadows flashed in front of the full moon, as fast as shooting stars.

Two nimble shadows landed on the Yun family's courtyard wall, leaned over, waved at Xue Che, and whispered quickly:

"Ache! Come on! Let's go."

Qiu Jinyu and Ni Tianji were dressed in black, with half of their faces covered, making them difficult to see clearly under the moonlight.

But Xue Che recognized them and called out softly, "Aunt Qiu, Uncle Ni."

He picked up his bag and walked over quickly.

"Be good, auntie will take you back to eat mutton noodles." Qiu Jinyu and Ni Tianji each grabbed one of Xue Che's arms and jumped away.

Xue Che was pulled and flew in the night sky, taking in the numerous buildings of Chang'an.

The moon is bright and the lights are on in every house.

My memories of Chang'an before I was six years old were all lonely and cold. It was only after seven years that I came back and realized that Chang'an in late spring was so warm.

The moment Xue Che's feet landed on Heishan Mansion, a large black shadow swooped over with its wings spread.

Gu——gu——

Abao flapped his wings excitedly at Xue Che.

Although he was a little caught off guard, Xue Che managed to steady himself and patted Abao's head with a smile:

"Abao, you seem a little shorter."

I used to think Po was very tall and big, but now he is taller than Po.

"Ache is here!"

"Oh, what a handsome guy! I haven't seen him for a few years. He has grown more handsome."

"Come on, let's take a good look..."

After A Bao let go of Xue Che, the villagers gathered around and pulled Xue Che to look around.

Hao Ren patted Xue Che's shoulder, his eyes full of love: "A Che, you've worked hard in the northwest these past few years."

Wu Yingniang: "Don't look outside, go inside first, otherwise the food will get cold."

Everyone walked into the central hall together.

Su Zhizhi squeezed next to Xue Che, and compared her head with Xue Che's with her hands, and found that Xue Che was actually taller than her!

Fortunately, it’s only a little bit higher, just a little bit.

There was a table of food in the house, which was specially prepared for a welcoming banquet.

Xue Che didn't eat much for dinner, but he didn't feel hungry before. Now, seeing the table full of delicious dishes, he felt his stomach was empty.

"Eat quickly, eat quickly, I made mutton soup today."

"Zhizhi said that the food you ate in the barracks was just average, so eat more while you're here."

"You've lost so much weight. When you were little, you still had some flesh on your face, but now it's all been blown away by the northwest wind..."

Xue Che took a sip of the mutton soup and a bite of noodles. He felt that the noodles were so delicious that his internal organs woke up and turned into gluttons:

"Aunt Qiu's cooking skills are better than before."

He thought that after not seeing the villagers for a few years, he would feel a little unfamiliar with them, but when they met, they were very friendly and natural, still calling him "A Che".

Su Zhizhi was beside him, her face full of energy, her mouth moving non-stop:

"Ah Che, I have so many things to tell you, but I can't even put them in a letter. And sometimes I forget when I'm writing to you, and only remember them after I send the letter. Since you've been living in Heishan Mansion for a while now, I can tell you directly if I think of anything. I don't have to write a letter anymore."

Su Zhizhi saw the big bag behind Xue Che:

"What luggage did you bring? Such a big bag?"

"It's something I brought to you." Xue Che quickly finished a big bowl of noodle soup.

He had been in the military camp for several years and gradually got used to doing things quickly.

Xue Che untied the bundle under everyone's gaze. Inside the bundle were many small paper packages, which he took out one by one:

"These are raisins. Tingzhou grapes are big and sweet, and they're still sweet even when dried."

"This is a pistachio. To eat it, break open the shell and only eat the green part."

"This is called an almond. You want to eat the core..."

Xue Che actually wanted to bring some fresh and sweet fruits, but firstly, the season had not yet arrived, and secondly, the long journey made it difficult to preserve them, so he had to bring some dried goods that were easy to preserve.

Su Zhizhi ate a few and found them fragrant and crispy, praising them repeatedly.

Xue Che: "There are many crops being grown in the northwest right now. The Hu people haven't invaded much in the past two years, so the harvest is very good. This year, the military and civilians are planting especially large quantities, and perhaps some of them will be sold here from the northwest."

Xue Che mentioned the Song family caravan again.

After three years, the Song family caravan finally opened up the trade route to the Western Regions, and also established stable connections with the caravans from the Western Regions.

Because it is inconvenient for the Song family caravan to move too much in the mainland, it has begun to cooperate with the Wu Zhan family caravan.

The Song family was responsible for shipping goods from the Western Regions to the northwest, and then the Wu family's caravans would sell them to various parts of the interior...

Everyone chatted until very late, and Wu Yingniang reminded:

"Ache just got back today, so he should rest. We'll have plenty of opportunities to talk during this time, so there's no need to rush."