98 Chapter 98
â Ask for advice â
Xu Xiuying asked, "When are you leaving? I'll go visit you in the next two days."
If there is nothing else, Cheng Xi will schedule it for tomorrow.
"Then I'll go back with you guys later."
Badou was feeding the geese. After Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi left, several geese kept following them, scaring Xiaoqi to tears.
In desperation, Xiaoliu grabbed a goose's mouth and twisted its neck.
"Don't kill him!" Badou shouted anxiously.
"It bites us!" Xiaoliu's face turned red.
Badou rashly snatched the goose from her hands and carefully stroked its feathers. Xiaoliu, hands on her hips, rebuked, "Now we can't compare to these big geese, right?"
Badou pursed his lips and said nothing. Xiaoliu angrily pulled Xiaoqi along with him and said, "Let's go!"
Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi came to find Cheng Mu and said they wanted to go back to pack their luggage.
"Did you have a fight with Badou?" Xiaoliu was angry and Xiaoqi's face was covered with tears. Cheng Mu guessed that something was wrong.
Xiaoliu said with a sullen face, "I've seen it before."
Xu Xiuying stood up and said, "You all came to see him so eagerly, this idiot! If I don'tâ"
Cheng Mu held her back, "What are you going to do? Don't meddle in the children's affairs." She said to Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi, "We can't just leave now if there's a conflict. Then you can play on the farm by yourselves and leave after lunch."
Not long after, Mu Yun came over with two people.
A familiar face stepped forward and bowed, "Madam Cheng, I am Zhang Jia from the Shangguan Horse Farm. This is Master Qin."
Zhang Jia had met Master Qin before. Master Qin was a stranger. He was about forty years old, thin and had a beard. He introduced himself as a master lawyer from Wanyan County, which was located in Henan Province.
This spring, Cheng Mu gave the good seeds in her hand to Mr. Huang, who sent them to the places in need that had been hit by the disaster. Master Qin was from a foreign place that benefited from it. His superior was a classmate of Huang Nian'an. Also coming with him was Mr. Yuan, who was from Jiangsu and Zhejiang and was also an old acquaintance of Huang Nian'an. Due to his old age and the long journey, he stayed at Shangguan Horse Farm and did not come.
Xu Fang, the owner of Shangguan Horse Farm, was also an old acquaintance of Mr. Yuan, and he came forward to invite Cheng Mu to have a chat.
Upon inquiry, we learned that they came from Yunzhou and Huang Nian'an had just received them. Due to his busy official duties, he was unable to come with them.
Zhang Jia: "Eunuch He from Prince Jing's Mansion also came to the Shangguan Racecourse."
"Who?" Cheng Mu was shocked.
"Eunuch He beside Prince Jing."
Cheng Mu was a little nervous. "Is this eunuch's surname He? Is he from the capital?"
"This Eunuch He seems to have served His Royal Highness Prince Jing since he was a child. Everyone calls him Eunuch He, but I don't know his full name."
Cheng Xi calmly suppressed her speculation.
Master Qin was talking about a steward named Qin in the palace. They shared the same surname and had a good chat. "Steward Qin told me to come and see Madam Cheng's greenhouse vegetables. I guess they're in this farm, right?"
After Master Qin made the request, Cheng Mu took him on a tour.
Master Qin, who came from a farming family, knew a great deal about Jiaxuan's affairs and had many questions. Cheng Mi could answer every question, no matter what the issue was. After an hour of discussion, Master Qin was still not satisfied. "Madam Cheng is knowledgeable and ingenious. I have benefited greatly from her. Mr. Yuan must regret not coming along."
"Master Qin, your praise is unbelievable. I am a secluded person from the mountains. Now that I have been humiliated, I have made the whole room glow."
Master Qin laughed heartily and invited Cheng Mu to set off immediately, saying that he and Master Yuan had more questions to ask.
Because of that eunuch He, Cheng Mu just wanted to send them back first, "It's really unfortunate, I still have some things to arrange at home." She told him about the original plan to go to Puyang City. She couldn't just leave, she had to settle her family first.
No matter how regretful Master Qin was, he could only wait one more day.
Xu Xiuying had prepared the meal and invited the two to have dinner, but they declined, saying they would be waiting for her tomorrow, and then they mounted their horses and left.
A look of distress flashed across Cheng Mu's face, and Mu Yun noticed that something was wrong with her.
After dinner, he returned to Zhaojia Village with Xu Xiuying and the others. Xu Xiuying went to see Guier. Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi had reconciled with Badou and went out to play together. Muyun asked alone, "Auntie, is there anything wrong with the people who came today?"
"There's nothing wrong with it, it's just..." It's just that Eunuch He might know me.
She didn't say it out loud, and she never told Mu Yun about the love-hate relationship between her and Princess Yan.
"But the problem lies with Eunuch He?" Mu Yun looked at her expression and guessed it right.
"If Sister-in-law doesn't want to meet Eunuch He, she doesn't have to go. I'll take care of it."
Mu Yun didn't ask her, but took the responsibility. Cheng Mu smiled with relief. After so many years, her temperament had changed a lot, and Eunuch He might not recognize her.
"Tomorrow, I'll send some people to escort Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi to Puyang City. You can also take a few people with me to Shangguan Horse Farm and bring back some seeds for Master Qin and Master Yuan."
Cheng Mi made some arrangements and specially selected crops that were suitable for their respective places.
Today, Yu asked someone to exorcise the evil spirit for Gui'er, but the effect was not good. Gui'er insisted on following Cheng Mu, and Yu was so angry that her chest hurt.
Yu wanted Xu Xiuying to persuade Gui'er, but Xu Xiuying persuaded her instead, "Aunt, Gui'er is not being cruel when she wants to leave. She is just trying to find a way to survive. Just give in to her, okay? Jiuniu can eat and sleep well, so he's easy to support."
Yu took Jiuniu away to live in a small room. Guier was about to leave, so Xu Xiuying stayed overnight and talked to her and comforted her.
The next morning, Yu had no choice but to accept the matter. She begged Cheng Mu to take good care of Gui'er, gave her a large bag of silver, and filled the ox cart with a thick straw mat.
Xu Xiuying helped to stuff the tightly wrapped Gui'er into the ox cart. "You are not my child's mother now. You are the virgin Zhao Gui'er. Take good care of yourself and come back alive and well next spring!"
The ox cart was ready to go. Yu was holding Jiuniu at the door. Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi said goodbye to Jiuniu reluctantly. Yu cursed Guier in her heart for being so cruel. She didn't even look at them, let alone say a few words of farewell. She quietly exerted some force on her hands, and Jiuniu burst into tears.
"I can't bear to see you go," sighed Madam Zhu. She was there to take care of Gui'er during her confinement, so naturally she would follow Gui'er to Puyang City.
Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi both got in the car and sat down. Xiaoqi heard Jiuniu crying so hard and was about to say something when Xiaoliu covered his mouth.
Mu Yun ordered four people to accompany him, two to pull people, two to pull things, and two ox carts. Cheng Mu said, "It's getting late, let's go."
Xiaoliu shouted, "Mom, you have to come as soon as possible!"
"Yes! You go first."
Cheng Mu also said goodbye to Xu Xiuying, "I'll let Li Yu and the others stay here to take care of me. Come and visit me when you have time."
"Don't worry, Madam Cheng, I'll come every two days."
"Don't come too often. The weather is good and you have your hands full."
"Okay, I'll come once every three days."
Cheng Mu and Mu Yun also set off. Mu Yun brought eight people with him, which Cheng Mu felt was too many. "Mu Yun, let Shan Hai and the others escort Gui Er and the others to Puyang City?"
Mu Yun had his own ideas. "This is a rare opportunity. Let's take them to the stables to practice riding."
They only had four horses, not enough to share among a dozen people, so they took turns every day and had never trained together.
However, this was not the real reason why Mu Yun brought so many people. He was afraid of putting Eunuch He in trouble, and bringing these people would ensure Cheng Mu's safety.
Before we even got close to the racecourse, we saw someone coming to greet us from afar.
It turned out to be Master Qin and Master Yuan.
"Mr. Yuan, this is Madam Cheng, whose name I have heard of for a long time." Master Qin introduced her to Mr. Yuan based on the fact that they had met yesterday.
Mr. Yuan, with a slightly hunched back and graying hair and beard, looked energetic. He was very surprised to see someone in person, and he looked at the young man and woman leading the group again and again. He had always assumed that Madam Cheng was at least forty years old, and blamed himself for never asking the noble lady's age.
After greeting each other, they started chatting on the roadside. Master Qin and Master Yuan had been on this journey for more than a month, traveling through mountains and rivers to meet such a strange man, and they came with many questions.
Later, the owner of the horse farm, Xu Fang, and Eunuch He also arrived and invited everyone inside to continue the conversation.
Eunuch He looked at Cheng Mu with a discerning eye. Eunuch He had a tender complexion and was about the same age as Cheng Mu. He was thin and often hunched over, unable to stand straight.
"I heard that Madam Cheng is from the Ding'an Cheng family. What a coincidence! Our princess is also from the Ding'an lineage. I wonder what the name of Madam Cheng's ancestor was?"
"Where did Eunuch He hear this?"
The pass that Cheng Mu used when registering her household registration was from a person with the surname Li. She didn't even have her name on it, only three words "wife Cheng". If others wanted to look for her, there was no place to find her.
Cheng Mu asked Eunuch He with a forced smile, and Eunuch He's face immediately fell.
Mu Yun kept a close eye on them all the time.
Cheng Mu continued calmly, "Someone once bullied my orphan and widowed mother. I used the Ding'an Cheng clan as an excuse to do so. I was wrong. Whenever I see a member of the Cheng clan, I will definitely apologize. But I didn't know that Princess Jing was originally from the Ding'an Cheng clan. The Ding'an Cheng clan must be a blessed clan to have nurtured a princess, so they won't mind my offense."
Eunuch He was naturally investigating Madam Cheng. When Prince Jing returned to Yan and established his residence, he and the princess dealt with a matter in the residence and met with this Madam Cheng. At that time, he personally dealt with the offending steward and did not meet Madam Cheng.
When he saw her today, he was a little puzzled. This Madam Cheng looked familiar, and her face was somewhat similar to that of the princess. How could His Royal Highness Prince Jing not have noticed it at the time? He had never heard him mention it.
Seeing that he didn't mention her worries, Cheng Mu knew that when Xu Xiuying was mistaken for her, Eunuch He had never met Xu Xiuying, so she said, "I have the honor of meeting the prince and princess. Please give my regards to them, Eunuch He."
Eunuch He's visit to the horse farm was complete. He had escorted Master Qin and Master Yuan to the farm, and sent for Madam Cheng to come and see him. This was a favor Eunuch He had done to Huang Nian'an without authorization. Now that the people he wanted to escort had been delivered and the people he wanted to meet had arrived, half an hour after they met, he took his leave after hearing that they had to go to Zhaojia Village to inspect the land, the greenhouses, and the seeds.
Since Xu Fang had invited Cheng Mu here, he would not let her go so easily. He suppressed the restless hearts of the two guests from afar and let them stay overnight. He wanted to ask them what he wanted to ask first.
Only after Eunuch He's men left did Mu Yun finally feel relieved. They wanted to borrow horses and use the land from the stables, and Xu Fang arranged everything without a second thought.
Thanks to Madam Cheng, the alfalfa production at the horse farm has reached new highs every year. In the past, they collected corn from the surrounding villages. Later, Madam Cheng gave them corn grass seeds. Now they have a large field of young seedlings, which grow beautifully in the summer and are delicious for the horses.
His problem now is that the road to the horse farm becomes muddy and difficult to walk on when it rains because there are too many horses running on it. If alfalfa or corn grass is planted, the crops are of a certain height and it is inconvenient for horses to walk on them, and ordinary short grass cannot grow. He once thought about changing the land for planting, but it is too difficult to plow the land that has been trampled a lot and is hardened.
He urgently needed Madam Cheng to give him some advice.
Mr. Yuan twirled his beard and said, "South of the Yangtze River is rich in water and grass, so there is no such trouble."
Master Qin also pinched his beard and said, "There's no grass growing in Henan, so I don't need to worry about it."
Xu Fang was distressed, "Madam Cheng, do you have any ideas?"
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