On their way back to Yao Town, Hong Xiaoduo and Tian Shu bought some more things, mostly food and some trinkets.

By noon on the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, the city walls of Yaozhen were already in sight. Xiao Hui's four hooves moved even faster, as if he was even more eager to return home than Hong Xiaoduo and Xiao Hui.

When they set off in the morning, Hong Xiaoduo had Tian Shu sit in the carriage and told Xiao Hui to return the way they came, just to test whether it was really smart enough to find its way to Yao Town or the rented house.

Anyway, it's only about half a day's journey.

Tian Shu was still a little uneasy, and would occasionally lift the curtain of the carriage to look outside and make sure that it was still traveling on the official road back.

Hong Xiaoduo didn't care. If it wandered off and went the wrong way, it could just come back. They were almost there anyway, and there were still nine days until the New Year, so there was plenty of time.

As for the matter at Jiang An's residence, Hong Xiaoduo already had a plan. He had raised a fake son for over twenty years, so what difference would a day or two make?

"Should we find a place outside the town and wait until it gets dark before going in?" Tian Shu suggested as they got closer to the town.

Hong Xiaoduo was puzzled: "We're already here, why wait until dark? Are you planning to sneak back and scare them tonight?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Shu explained somewhat helplessly, "When we left the town, weren't you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hong Xiaoduo realized that she had said she left in the middle of the night to avoid attracting attention.

“It doesn’t matter now, because I’ve already taken care of things. Even if they find out, or know what I’ve been doing, they won’t have time to come up with a plan to disrupt things,” Hong Xiaoduo said with a smug smile.

Tian Shu watched her confident demeanor and grew increasingly curious about what she was busy with on this trip.

Just like those outside the town, the pedestrians in the town looked around curiously when they saw Hong Xiaoduo and her group's donkey cart, wondering where the driver was.

"Look, it's Mother and Big Brother back." Yao Guang's happy voice could be heard when the carriage was still dozens of meters away from the rented house.

Lifting the car window curtain, I was surprised to see several little ones standing at the gate, their master Quan Jinghuai leaning against it with his arms crossed, smiling.

When Little Gray arrived at the gate, it stopped steadily and happily trotted its feet in front of its little owners.

"They actually came back." Fei Yan heard the noise and quickly walked out. Hong Xiaoduo and Tian Shu had already gotten out of the car.

Tianquan stepped forward to help Tianshu carry Xiaohui into the courtyard through the side gate. Hong Xiaoduo was led by the hands of Yaoguang and Yuheng on either side, and followed everyone into the courtyard.

Upon entering the main courtyard, Tianxuan rushed out to greet them and urged Tianji to quickly start a fire for her.

"Look how well we timed our return; we came back just in time to have lunch together," Hong Xiaoduo said with a smile to Quan Jinghuai and Feiyan.

"Even if you two come back half an hour later, you can still have lunch together," Fei Yan said with a smile.

"Mother, ever since you took my older brother out, we've been moving our lunch and dinner times back by half an hour," Yao Guang told her with a grin.

"Is that so?" Hong Xiaoduo looked at Fei Yan and saw her nod.

"Even if we two do come back too late for dinner, it's just one meal, is it really that big of a deal?" Hong Xiaoduo said this, but her heart was warm. The feeling of being cared for was truly blissful.

As soon as she finished speaking, Yao Guang brought her hot water to wash her hands.

"Brother Quan, why do you look so relieved? But while I was away, did anyone misbehave?" Hong Xiaoduo asked the person sitting next to her jokingly as she washed her hands and took a cotton towel to wipe them.

Quan Jinghuai glanced at her speechlessly and said, "My disciple, of course she's good, how could she be disobedient?" But in his heart, he thought to himself, "Next time this one has to go on something, I absolutely can't let her go alone. We should always do things together!"

Just like this time, the children really weren't disobedient. However, even though they were all right in front of her, they all seemed to be lost in thought. But as soon as they saw her, they instantly came back to their senses and were full of energy again.

"Mom, before you came back, my second brother went out to buy ingredients and came back with dozens of kilograms of hawthorns he found. You bought so many too. Why don't we teach my second brother to make candied hawthorns and make more to sell at a stall in the market during the New Year?" Tianquan said excitedly as he came over.

"Fourth Brother, you carry the hawking, and Little Sister and I will collect the money," Yuheng said with a smile.

“If you really make him go out and sell things on the street, he won’t go. He’ll be embarrassed,” A-Ping blurted out as he helped set out the bowls and chopsticks.

Upon hearing this, Tianquan stared at Aping and said, "Are you joking? We used to beg for food on the streets. Now we're selling our wares on the street. Isn't that embarrassing?"

The other children nodded in agreement. Yao Guang looked up and said, "Some diners teased me like a dog with gnawed bones, but I still picked them up and gnawed on them. If I had cared about saving face or being embarrassed back then, I would have starved to death long ago."

My mother always said that whether you're a street vendor or a performer, you're all just trying to survive. There's nothing shameful about earning money through your own hard work, without stealing, robbing, cheating, or deceiving.

"I, I didn't mean that, I..." Hearing these words and seeing everyone looking at him, A-Ping realized that he had said the wrong thing. His face turned red and he stammered, trying to explain, but he didn't know what to say.

"Brother Ping, it's alright. We didn't mean to blame you. Come on, let's see if Second Brother has finished cooking. Let's go get the dishes." Tianquan quickly spoke up to help him out when he saw him like this.

"I'll go get some wine for Master. Mother, would you like some to help you relax?" Yuheng asked, remembering the question.

Hong Xiaoduo shook her head and smiled, "I won't drink anymore. I have some things to take care of after lunch."

"I still have some errands to run?" As soon as she finished speaking, everyone around her looked at her with doubt. They all thought the same thing: hadn't she just returned from a long trip?

Why do you still have things to do? Are you that busy? The main problem is that nobody knows what she has to do.

"Mother, what's the important matter? You just got back." Yao Guang, being the youngest, asked as soon as she wanted to.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Hong Xiaoduo smiled and gently pinched Yao Guang's nose, raising an eyebrow as she said, "What's the important matter? The New Year is just around the corner, and I'm thinking about whether I should find you guys a father."

"Great! Mother, now that you're married, hurry up and have a little brother or sister, then I won't be the youngest anymore!" Yao Guang clapped her hands excitedly.

No one else believed Hong Xiaoduo's nonsense; they all looked at her with unspeakable expressions.

"Just kidding, isn't it more fun if we don't laugh?" Hong Xiaoduo said with a smile, then picked up the innocent and still-unresponsive Xiao Yaoguang and went to see what Tianxuan was cooking.

Watching her retreating figure, Quan Jinghuai, Fei Yan, and the others fell into deep thought. Knowing Hong Xiaoduo's personality as they did, what she was unwilling to say now was definitely not a trivial matter...