Chapter 66 Leaving?
On the way back, Xiao Bao hugged himself tightly, his little brows furrowed in displeasure, and his lips were pouting so high they could hold an oil bottle.
Ji Yushu followed behind the little guy with a fawning expression, coaxing him by calling him "Little Bao" over and over again: "Little Bao, Little Bao, I was wrong, but you saw it too, which old man was so fierce back then. If we hadn't run away, we would have definitely stayed there and gotten beaten."
"snort!"
Xiao Bao snorted and turned his face away, clearly quite angry.
Ji Yushu had no choice but to look to Steward Ji for help.
"snort!"
Manager Ji, who had almost been hit on the head, also snorted in the same tone as Xiao Bao. Helpless, he turned his gaze to Fan Xiaoxiao.
"Don't look at me like that, I almost stumbled when you pushed me out just now."
Ji Yushu opened his mouth, as if to say something. But just then, a servant of the Ji family came running over, panting.
"My lord! My lord! The merchant ship has docked ahead of schedule! Your wife wants you to return quickly!"
Upon hearing this news, the group was all taken aback. Ji Yushu was the quickest to regain his composure, and he nodded to the arriving servant.
"Okay, I'll be right there."
After saying this, he clasped his hands in a gesture of apology to Fan Xiaoxiao and the others, and then hurriedly left with Steward Ji.
"Sister, let's go back. Let's go and call Uncle Wang and the others back too."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
Madam Fan looked somewhat bewildered: "Why are you calling them? It's still early."
Fan Xiaoxiao kept walking, her face beaming with barely suppressed excitement: "We're about to leave this place!"
"leave!?"
"right!"
As evening fell, everyone gathered in Old Zhao's small courtyard. Apart from Old Zhao and Uncle Wang, everyone else looked somewhat bewildered.
Fan Xiaoxiao brought out several steaming bowls of sweet fermented rice with eggs. Two of the bowls had less sweet rice and more meatballs. She placed them in front of Xiaobao and herself. Her former college roommate had said that she wasn't very well-behaved when drunk, hugging and kissing people, so she stopped drinking much after that.
"Come on, everyone, try this sweet fermented rice with eggs!"
The bowl was placed on the table. The contents resembled porridge, but weren't quite. Floating on top were silky, golden egg drop soup and some white, glutinous rice balls, making it look incredibly appetizing.
The sweet aroma filled the air, and everyone swallowed hard as they looked at the food in front of them.
Finally, Old Zhao was the first to pick up his chopsticks. He picked up his bowl, brought it to his lips, and took a sip.
"kindness!!!!"
The moment the sweet fermented rice touched his throat, Old Zhao's eyes lit up. He didn't bother to speak, but simply pointed at the sweet fermented rice in his bowl, gesturing for everyone to eat quickly.
Uncle Wang and the others found it amusing, picked up their bowls, and jokingly scolded, "Is it really that delicious? You can't even speak anymore?"
After saying that, he took a sip of sweet fermented rice. Then, he couldn't speak anymore.
My mouth was already filled with a sweet aroma, and after a couple of chews, I could still taste some chewy, glutinous rice balls. The texture was very rich.
"Delicious!"
Xiao Bao swallowed hard. He couldn't wait any longer and scooped up a spoonful of sweet fermented rice and put it in his mouth. His eyes immediately squinted with sweetness.
"Delicious!"
Seeing their expressions, Fan Xiaoxiao urged Fan Shi and Wang Da Niang to try it as soon as possible.
Everyone was satisfied with the dinner.
After dinner, instead of leaving, everyone sat quietly in the courtyard, looking at each other.
Finally, Uncle Wang coughed and spoke up: "Girl, you said we'd be able to leave here soon. Is the Ji family... about to wrap things up?"
Fan Xiaoxiao nodded: "If nothing unexpected happens, there will probably be new developments tomorrow. We need to prepare to contact the merchant ships and have them take us away."
Aunt Wang had already heard from Madam Fan that they were about to leave, and considering the things they brought back the other day, Aunt Wang had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
She stared at the empty bowl in front of her, a thought surfacing uncontrollably in her mind. They were leaving Guqu Town, but where were they going? Was it...?
No… the maid and Fan Niang also have their own homes, so they shouldn’t be with them. Aunt Wang’s eyes reddened a little.
At first, they had no money and had to stay. Later, the girl helped them earn money so that they could leave the town without spending any.
Human hearts are made of flesh and blood. After spending time together, she genuinely regarded Fan Shi and Fan Xiaoxiao as her own daughters, and Xiaobao as her own grandson.
Now that they're saying we can leave Guqu Town, does that mean we'll all be parting ways? A wave of reluctance washed over her. She opened her mouth, then stammered, "Girl, then...then we..."
"Let's go to Jingchuan County together!"
Aunt Wang suddenly raised her head; she couldn't believe her ears.
"Girl? Shall we go together?"
Fan Xiaoxiao and Madam Fan exchanged a glance, both smiling at her. Xiao Bao, hands outstretched, ran excitedly to Granny Wang's side and hugged her, exclaiming, "Yes! Granny Wang! We're going together!"
Aunt Wang's heart softened, she wiped away her tears and nodded repeatedly.
"Okay! Hehe."
"Young lady! Your whole family should naturally travel together."
Aunt Wang was taken aback, then remembered that in Old Zhao's eyes, she and her group were still family. She sniffed, and a smile returned to her face: "Hehe, yes! Family should naturally stay together."
"Old Zhao, what are you going to do next? If there are really no more obstacles in and out of the town, do you have any plans?"
Old Zhao chuckled and stroked his beard: "Don't worry about me. I plan to go to Yizhou to find my daughter and son-in-law. They wrote to me before, but I couldn't bear to part with that one or two taels of silver, so I haven't set off yet."
Looking at Old Zhao's kind smile, Fan Xiaoxiao felt a pang of sadness. War was about to break out in Yizhou; this had been mentioned in the original text.
Old Zhao had been kind to them; he was a good man. She didn't want this kind old man and her daughter and son-in-law to lose their lives, but how should she tell Old Zhao about it?
Fan Xiaoxiao's conflicted expression was so obvious that Old Zhao immediately noticed her strange look: "What's wrong, Fan girl?"
Meeting Old Zhao's questioning gaze, Fan Xiaoxiao suddenly had a flash of inspiration and blurted out, "Uncle Zhao, my father appeared to me in a dream a while ago."
"Father, did Father appear in your dream?"
Ms. Fan stood up, unable to control herself. Thinking of her father, whom she hadn't seen one last time, she felt a pang of pain in her heart.
"What did he say to you?"
Seeing Fan's slightly reddened eyes, Fan Xiaoxiao felt a pang of pity and lowered her head, avoiding her gaze: "Father said that war will break out soon..."
These words struck everyone like a thunderclap from a clear sky. Madam Fan stammered, "Sister, what do you mean by that?"
Fan Xiaoxiao bit her lip, still not looking at Fan Shi. She lowered her head and repeated her words in a muffled voice.
Everyone's expressions turned grim, and Old Zhao's expression also became somewhat serious.
Somewhat uneasily, Madam Fan continued to ask Fan Xiaoxiao, "Did Father say anything else?"
Fan Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment, then glanced at Old Zhao and thought for a while: "Father said... the Ji family that we are cooperating with seems to be a lucky family. I think you should pay more attention to their movements, Uncle Zhao."
Old Zhao nodded, taking his words to heart. Fan Xiaoxiao paused slightly, as if recalling something.
"After that, Aye didn't say anything more, but at the end, Aye's hand kept pointing to the northeast, which I don't quite understand."
Northeast—that's the direction of the Tianshan Mountains.
(End of this chapter)
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