And so, it was nearly midnight before the crowd dispersed.
The Li family didn't sleep well that night. At dawn, Li Lao Er and Li Lao Si personally drove the carriage to take their eldest brother, Jia Yi, and Liu Yang into the city.
Jiayin yawned, quietly tugged at Jiayi's sleeve, and then stuffed a bag of silver into his hand.
Jiayi paused for a moment, then picked up his little sister, kissed her twice, and whispered a promise, "Fu Niu, be a good girl at home. When your brother comes back, he'll bring you something nice!"
Jiayin grinned, showing off her bright white teeth, and patted her brother's shoulder, "Second brother, I want a sparkly gem!"
"Okay, brother will buy you gems!" Jiayi didn't care whether the money was enough or not, and readily agreed.
Soon, the carriage set off, and the Li family stood at the village entrance watching them go for a long time before returning home.
Some villagers, who were out for a stroll early in the morning, saw the Li family like this and asked, "Auntie, is something wrong at home? Do you need any help?"
Grandma Li waved her hand and laughed, "It's nothing serious, it's just that Zhensheng can't stay idle, so he took the boy out for a stroll to see if he could find some business to do."
The villagers admired him, saying, "Master Da is a capable man; he never makes a mistake in anything he does."
After saying that, he suddenly realized something and asked, "Oh dear, the master is gone, what will happen to the school? Who will teach the children?"
Li Lao Er replied, "The eldest teacher is gone, but I, the second teacher, am still here. From now on, I will teach the children to read in the morning and go to the valley in the afternoon, so that I can do both without any problems."
The villagers' eyes lit up immediately, and they laughed heartily, "I was confused. I forgot that Second Master had also taught the children before. My son's name was even given to me by Second Master."
After exchanging a few casual words, the group dispersed.
Before long, everyone in the village knew that the school had a new teacher, but no one thought it was a bad thing.
The Li family members all know what's going on; they wouldn't fool the child.
In the Li family courtyard, everyone stayed home to keep the old lady company, fearing she would be upset.
The old lady, on the contrary, found it annoying and started shooing everyone away, saying, "You all hurry up and get busy, what are you doing crowding around me!"
Seeing that the old lady was wide-eyed and as energetic as ever, everyone was relieved and went about their business with smiles.
Cat Brother was a little listless, so Li Lao Er carried him to the valley.
There are many people there, and the naughty boys can play together. Cat Brother will definitely get better.
The old lady sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) doing needlework, and either the needle pricked her finger or the cotton thread got knotted.
She simply stopped working, ruffled her granddaughter's hair, and sighed deeply.
“There’s no such thing as good fortune without a reason. Our family has suffered a lot these past two years, but our lives have been like a fire, getting better and better. To give you an example, when we first came out to escape the famine, we didn’t even have twenty taels of silver, and now we have more than twenty thousand taels in our accounts!”
The old lady patted her chest. "Grandma is scared. Money has to be earned slowly to make life more secure. Grandma knows that the family is all thanks to you, and your father and uncles are hardworking and obedient, which is why we are where we are today. But Fu Niu, Grandma is worried even when she sleeps."
Jiayin was somewhat surprised. Having money at home, having no worries about food and clothing, and living a prosperous life should be something everyone hopes for, but unexpectedly it became a psychological burden for the old lady.
She quickly stepped forward and hugged the old lady, saying, "Grandma, don't be afraid, you have Fu Niu!"
“Silly girl, it’s because of you that Grandma is even more worried. Your magical abilities are too amazing. What if one day we need you to repay the gods and our family can’t afford it? That’s why, even though Grandma is reluctant, I agreed to let your uncle go this time.”
The old lady hugged her granddaughter tightly and kissed her soft little hair.
“Your uncle is right. If this matter is accomplished, it will be a great merit! It will ensure that all the people of Tianwu will no longer go hungry. I think we can repay some of the good fortune.”
Jiayin blinked her big eyes twice and confessed softly, "Grandma, that... was also for my godfather..."
She spoke vaguely, but the old lady understood, and was both annoyed and amused, scolding her playfully.
"Little girl, do you think your grandma doesn't know? It's obvious without even thinking that this good thing that suddenly appeared could only be from you!"
Jiayin immediately grinned and snuggled in her grandmother's arms, saying sweetly, "Grandma is the best."
The old lady helped her granddaughter sit up, picked up her needle and thread again, and changed the subject to something lighter.
"It'll just be the two of us at home for lunch, so let's take a break and make some noodles to tide us over. We still have a lot of pickled cucumbers left; how about we chop them up and make some meat sauce?"
"Okay." Jiayin couldn't help but drool over the sight of the white noodles with meat sauce, which made the old lady laugh heartily.
Just then, Dongmei suddenly came in from outside. Old Mrs. Li pulled her to sit down and asked, "Have you finished with all the things at home?"
Dongmei waved her hand, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Madam, um... our Marquis's head steward has come and said he has something to report to you."
"The head housekeeper is here?" The old lady was surprised, but still told Dongmei to quickly invite him.
Soon, the head butler entered, smiling warmly as always, "Greetings to the old lady and the eldest young lady."
"You're too kind, Steward. Please have a seat." The old lady poured a bowl of warm tea from the kang table and handed it to him.
The head steward finished his drink in one gulp. Seeing that there were only the old man and the child in the room, he asked, "Has the business in the valley opened yet? Is the Second Master very busy?"
The old lady was very clever. She immediately said, "They've all gone to the valley. It's just the two of us at home now. If you need anything, just say so, I can still make the decisions for this household."
The head steward chuckled, thought for a moment, and then said, "Madam, there is such a thing. Back when our Marquis's mansion was still an Earl's mansion, we were among the last to move here from the capital. The Marquis was busy protecting the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, so I was the only one managing things in the mansion. We had a caravan, so we were moving very slowly."
"Not far from the capital, there was a woman by the roadside, half-dead, looking very pitiful. I took pity on her and had her rescued and brought here. Although the woman survived, she lost a leg and her face was disfigured. She usually worked in the servants' quarters of our mansion, washing clothes to earn a little money. This morning, a servant came to report that the woman seemed to be dying, barely clinging to life, but she insisted on seeing me. I went to see her, and she said her name was... Wu Cuihua, and she was the daughter-in-law of our Li family."
"Who did you say?" The old lady's expression immediately changed, showing a mixture of surprise and confusion.
The head steward immediately sensed something was wrong. After all, the Li family always acted with utmost care and consideration for the villagers. How could they possibly let their daughter-in-law suffer outside? There must be something going on.
Sure enough, the old lady asked, "We do have a daughter-in-law named Wu Cuihua, who went missing in an accident years ago. She told us about our family, does that match up?"
The head butler nodded quickly, "She mentioned the Second Master's name, the Eldest Miss's childhood name, and Young Master Jiaren and Young Master Jiayi..."
The old lady sighed deeply; it must be Wu Cuihua.
No matter how many grudges there were in the past, now that he is about to die, we cannot refuse to see him off.
She quickly asked Dongmei to go to the valley to find the second and fourth brothers, and then found some jackets and skirts for herself and Jiayin to wear when going out.
After tidying up, Li Lao Er and Li Lao Si returned. "Mother, what happened?"
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