Chapter 174: Riding a Boat in a Dream
It was still dawn when the carriage had already left the city gate, and this time it was still heading to the capital with a caravan.
Niu Niu was nestled in Zhang Yuniang's arms, sleeping soundly.
Gu Mingda reached out and held the curtain of the carriage to prevent the cold wind from blowing in and freezing the child.
Zhang Yunniang said softly: "With Niuniu by my side, I feel at peace."
As she spoke, she put her face close to Niu Niu, smelling the unique fragrance of the little girl, and all the depressed feelings in her heart disappeared.
During the time when mother and daughter were separated, Zhang Yunniang was always worried, always afraid that the child would get cold or hot outside, or that she would be wronged or get into trouble.
Zhang Yunniang also knew that this mentality was not good, but she couldn't change it.
"You and her have the deepest feelings, and this is only human nature." Gu Mingda comforted softly.
The carriage traveled from dawn to high in the sun and stopped outside an inn.
The group stopped to rest. Gu Mingda and Sun Jiaxing looked at each other, and both remembered what happened at the post station during their last trip.
This time the sun was shining brightly overhead and there was no disturbance at all. After lunch, the group continued on their journey.
"When we get to Dengzhou, we will abandon the car and board the boat. Has Niu Niu ever been on a boat?" Zhang Yunniang asked her daughter in a soft voice.
Niuniu tilted her head and thought carefully: "I should have sat there before."
Zhang Yunniang couldn't help laughing when she heard this. She watched Niu Niu grow up. Guang'an County is not near a lake or the sea. In her impression, Niu Niu has never been on a boat.
"When did Guaibao take the boat?" Zhang Yunniang asked.
"I've sat there in my dream." Niu Niu answered seriously.
Gu Zhao sneered and said, "Niuniu, sitting in a dream doesn't count."
Niuniu said, "I think so. In my dream, I turned into a baby, a baby younger than Changshou. I wore a bellyband and lay in a wooden tub, floating along the turbulent river for a long time. Then a wave came and I came ashore!"
Niu Niu’s description was very cute, but Zhang Yuniang’s heart was in a knot when she heard it.
The description in Niu Niu's dream is consistent with the rumor that Mr. Li abandoned his child.
Gu Zhao didn't know that this might be Niuniu's real experience. He was still laughing: "Niuniu, I told you that dreams don't count. If you were really a little baby, you would have been drowned in the water. How could you get ashore?"
Niuniu was not angry after hearing this, but smiled and said: "Anything is possible in dreams. Last time you even dreamed that you were a high official."
When Gu Zhao heard this, he shrank his neck in fear and secretly glanced at Gu Mingda, fearing that his father would force him to study hard.
Gu Mingda got angry when he saw his youngest son's useless look, but since they were still on the road, he didn't want to spoil the fun and pretended not to hear it.
"Mom, my third brother said that riding a boat in a dream doesn't count. Do you think it counts?" Niu Niu asked, tilting her little head back.
Zhang Yunniang reached out and straightened her daughter's slightly messy hair, saying, "I can't stop you from handling this confusing lawsuit. You can discuss it among yourselves."
Although Gu Zhao didn't think dreams could count, he loved his sister and said helplessly, "Okay, since you care so much about this, I agree that this can be counted."
Niuniu showed happiness on her face and said sweetly, "Third brother is the best."
When Gu Zhao heard this, he was immediately satisfied, as if he had been coaxed. He belatedly replied, "My sister is the best too."
Niuniu asked, "Has Third Brother ever been on a boat?"
Gu Zhao immediately felt less satisfied.
"No... not yet..."
The child's strange desire to win was at work, and since he had never been on a boat before, Gu Zhao suddenly felt as if he was a head shorter than his sister.
Seeing him like this, Niuniu immediately said righteously: "Then the time I sat in my dream doesn't count, I am the same as Third Brother!"
Gu Zhao's smile returned to his face and he said, "Okay, okay, we are the same."
Gu Zhao mysteriously took out a bag of broken cakes and handed it to Niuniu with a painful look on his face: "I'll give you half."
Niuniu understood better than anyone how greedy Gu Zhao was, and immediately said, "I'm not hungry, Third Brother, you can eat by yourself."
Gu Zhao was relieved to hear that his sister didn't want it. Then, as if he had thought of something, he said, "Niuniu, you didn't want it, but I'm not being stingy and not giving it to you. I'm still a good brother, right?"
Niuniu nodded and said, "I am the one who is picky about food, not my brother."
After hearing this, Gu Zhao couldn't help but feel awkward in his heart and said, "I'll bring you your favorite snacks next time!"
Niu Niu nodded vigorously.
Zhang Yunniang watched with a smile as Gu Zhao was coaxed into a daze by Niu Niu. The couple rarely interfered in the relationship between the brother and sister.
But without any warning, the people in the carriage suddenly heard a baby crying loudly.
"It's Changshou!" Niu Niu recognized it as her brother's crying at the first moment.
Zhang Yuniang couldn't help but show worry on her face.
Changshou's crying showed no sign of stopping, but instead became more and more urgent.
Niuniu's face wrinkled. When she saw Gu Mingda seemed to be getting off the carriage, she immediately said, "Daddy, I'll go see it too!"
Gu Mingda rarely refused Niu Niu's reasonable requests. When the carriage stopped, he carried his daughter to the outside of the Sun family's carriage.
The crying of the child could be heard through the carriage curtain, and people nearby felt very anxious.
The caravan sent people over to inquire.
Li in the carriage also blamed herself. Her child was less than three months old, and some people had advised her to wait until the child was one year old before going to Beijing, but she insisted on going to Beijing with her husband.
Now the carriage had only been on the road for less than a day, and already the child was no longer easy to coax.
At this moment, Li wanted to turn back along the same road, but she felt uneasy when she thought about facing her unreasonable mother-in-law and her two sisters-in-law who were waiting for adoption all the time.
Sun Jiaxing also had the idea of sending his wife back at this time, but he did not say it directly. Instead, he asked through the carriage curtain: "Do you know why he is crying? Does he want milk? Has the nurse tried to coax him?"
There were actually quite a few people in Li's carriage, but the wet nurse and the maids and old women had no way to deal with Changshou who kept crying.
What was even more horrifying was that Changshou cried so hard that He Niangzi's daughter, the little baby girl who hardly cried, also started crying uncontrollably.
While Mrs. Li was feeling uncomfortable, Mrs. He was also shrouded in despair. She couldn't even coax her two children. She felt as if she were standing by the river again holding her daughter. If she took a step forward, both mother and daughter would have no chance of survival again.
Madam He felt that everything around her was gray, with only a crisp sound that cut through the fog.
"Changshou, why are you crying?" Niu Niu asked outside the carriage.
The crying in the carriage stopped for a moment.
Second update
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