Chapter 365 Rambling
After Lin Changning finished helping Zhiqi with her work in the evening, the two returned home together. Once everything was done, Lin Changning took Zhiqi to the place where Prince Sheng's troops were stationed.
A group of people had already packed up and were lining up in an orderly fashion to receive their meals. After confirming that the group had been settled, Lin Changning and Zhiqi headed home together.
After he rode his horse to escort the person to the door, he bid farewell to Lin Changning and headed towards the Prince's Mansion.
After Lin Changning knocked on the door, the doorman called out to him in surprise. It was getting late, and Lin Changning didn't want to disturb his family, so he went inside and instructed, "Keep your voice down, don't disturb my mother and the others."
The gatekeeper sighed and closed the gate.
Lin Changning then walked towards the backyard on his own.
Lin Changning returned home rather late today, and assumed that her mother and the others must have already gone to bed. With that thought in mind, she went straight back to her own courtyard. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she heard her mother and a group of young maids laughing and joking.
Lin Changning raised an eyebrow. Outsiders were not allowed to enter her courtyard. Judging from the voices, it sounded like her mother was in her courtyard with a group of young maids.
Thinking of this, Lin Changning closed the courtyard gate and walked towards his house.
The people inside seemed to have heard Lin Changning close the door outside, and a woman's voice could be heard coming from inside.
Who is it?
Lin Changning didn't say anything and walked directly to the door of his room. His room was not lit, but some playful sounds came from the east wing.
The door to the east wing creaked open, and a little girl of about twelve or thirteen years old walked out, a smile on her face, her tone puzzled as she looked at the doorway and asked, "Who is it?"
Before he could finish speaking, he saw Lin Changning standing in the courtyard, about to push open the door to enter the room. His smile vanished, and he called out loudly, "My lord?"
The little girl looked again in disbelief, rubbed her eyes, and then turned her head and called into the door, "Madam, Master, Master is back!"
The noise inside the east wing abruptly stopped. Lin Changning was about to tell someone to keep quiet when he saw this, so he sighed silently and walked towards the east wing.
Using the light coming from inside the house, Lin Changning got closer and saw the girl clearly. He squinted and felt that she looked somewhat familiar. Lin's mother hurriedly pushed open the door and came out of the house.
Upon seeing Lin Changning, he went straight up to him, grabbed his sleeve, and turned him around a few times. After confirming there were no obvious injuries, he asked carefully, "Why are you back so late at night? Have your injuries fully healed? You haven't been hurt again this time, have you?"
As she spoke, she looked around at Lin Changning with a worried expression, noticing Lin Changning's somewhat helpless expression.
"Mother, I'm fine, I'm not hurt."
Seeing her mother still extremely worried and constantly touching herself, Lin Changning grabbed her mother's hand, patted it, and gently comforted her, "I'm really fine, Mom."
Lin's mother scolded, "You child, you didn't even let anyone know you were coming back. Have you eaten?"
Lin Changning silently looked up at the already dark sky and smiled at his mother, saying, "Of course I ate. I knew that someone made braised pork for lunch, and I ate two big bowls of rice with it."
As he spoke, he turned to look at the group of little girls behind Lin's mother. When he saw the remaining few, Lin Changning remembered that these little girls were the ones he had rescued from the orphanage.
At first, he didn't recognize the unfamiliar face at the door, but when he saw the people behind the door, he remembered them. However, he remembered that he had arranged for them to stay in the embroidery workshop.
Why did she suddenly appear in his yard and stay with her mother in the middle of the night?
Thinking of this, Lin Changning hesitated for a moment and glanced at the few little maids behind his mother.
Perhaps it was the fear of being angered after a long time in office, or perhaps it was because they had just come from the battlefield, but Lin Changning's casual glance startled a group of young girls who involuntarily shrank back to the center.
Behind Lin's mother, a little girl felt immense pressure under Lin Changning's gaze, but she still remembered the rules. She gritted her teeth and led the others out from behind Lin's mother, bowing to Lin Changning.
"Lin Yi greets Your Excellency."
"Lin Er greets Your Excellency."
"Lin San greets Your Excellency..."
Seven or eight little girls bowed to Lin Changning while saying their names. Lin Changning looked at her mother with a somewhat confused expression.
"Mother? Them?"
Lin's mother gently patted Lin Changning's hand reproachfully: "Don't scare them. Recently, the embroidery workshop has hired a lot of experienced craftsmen, and they've all moved in. But some rooms still don't have furniture. I thought we had some spare rooms at home, so I brought them back. They're all good children, extremely quick and efficient. They helped me make a lot of insoles for you. You wear out shoes quickly, so I had them make you more than ten pairs, enough for you to wear for a while."
Lin Changning waved to the group of young girls and casually said, "Get up."
She gave a soft "hmm" to Lin's mother, indicating that she understood. The maids beside her exchanged glances, and some stood up timidly.
Judging from the situation, Lin Changning assumed that they had been arranged to stay in a side room in his own courtyard. Looking at his mother, he scratched his head and said, "Mother, then I'll sleep in your courtyard tonight, and let them stay here with me?"
Lin's mother wanted the girls to come and live in the same courtyard as her, but after hearing what Lin Changning said, she hesitated. The Lin family had the best lighting, and the largest room was in Lin Changning's courtyard.
Although her room was nice, the side rooms were much smaller than those in Lin Changning's courtyard, and it might be a bit crowded for a group of young maids to live in.
Lin Yi glanced at Lin Changning discreetly, then quickly looked away and lowered her head, her voice barely a whisper: "Sir, you don't need to accommodate us. We can stay anywhere."
Lin Changning didn't quite hear clearly, but he roughly guessed what the little girl meant. After glancing at his mother, he said, "My courtyard is spacious, so let them stay here for now. I'll stay in my mother's courtyard for the next few days. Mother, you stay here with me."
Lin's mother thought for a moment and nodded: "That's fine. We can make a few more clothes for you while we're here. You've grown quite a bit this year, and these clothes are a bit too small for me."
Lin Changning has indeed grown quite a bit taller this year; he's now two heads taller than Li.
Listening to his mother's incessant nagging, Lin Changning couldn't help but yawn.
Seeing that Lin Changning was sleepy, Lin's mother didn't say anything more. She patted Lin Changning's arm and said, "You must be exhausted. Go back and rest. I'll go back with you and make your bed."
Lin Changning pushed his mother into the east wing room: "No need, Mother, it's such a short walk. I see it's getting late, you should both get some rest. Don't worry about clothes and shoes, what I'm wearing is fine..."
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