Li Lao Er quickly waved his hand, lowered his voice, and kept instructing, "When you go back and see Fu Niu'er, don't mention this matter. The little girl has grown up and knows how to be shy. She stayed in her room for several days before and didn't come out. My mother was so worried that she almost put those naughty boys into the soy sauce jar too!"
Everyone nodded, and Li Laosi said, "When I get back, I'll look around the nearby villages to see if any of our cats or dogs have had puppies. I'll find two for Fu Niu'er to raise, so she'll have some playmates in the future."
After thinking for a moment, the Marquis said, "Since we have nothing to do these days, let's take the vanguard to Fengping Mountain for training and look for any small animal cubs on the mountain."
This isn't a training exercise with finding cubs on the side; it's practically a training exercise specifically to find cubs!
No one exposed the fact that this wasn't the first time the Marquis had spoiled his child like this.
Li Lao Er then got down to business, mentioning Mr. Wen's plea for help, which made everyone sigh.
Every family has its own troubles...
I already knew that the Wen family didn't value or care about Mr. Wen that much, and now this hidden danger has completely erupted.
Li Yong, who had also fallen out with his family, felt a deep empathy for Mr. Wen's current situation. He sighed and said, "Mr. Wen must be truly heartbroken, otherwise he wouldn't have resorted to such a method... If anything goes wrong, all his hard work over the years will be in vain."
Li Laosi nodded, "Life in wealthy and powerful families is really chaotic. It's much more comfortable and carefree for us ordinary folks."
The Marquis laughed upon hearing this.
In fact, the Li family is now a rising power in Tianwu, and can no longer be considered a small or insignificant family, but the Li family members seem to have not changed at all.
Except when he was looked down upon and used his title to intimidate others, he did what he was supposed to do on a daily basis, without the slightest arrogance or impetuosity.
This made him proud, and even the emperor was surprised and full of praise when he occasionally mentioned it.
"Alright, I agree to this. I'll head back to Xindu tomorrow. I'll leave the camp to you." The Marquis said to Li Laosi and Li Yong, who quickly nodded in agreement.
Soon, Jiang Cheng brought lunch over.
Braised pork with green beans, spinach and meatball soup, eggplant with minced meat sauce, cucumber salad, and a large bowl of rice.
Li Lao Er had been walking for almost a whole night and morning, and was starving.
Li Laosi, Li Yong, and Jiang Cheng trained hard every day and all became big eaters.
Even the Marquis, who was vying for food with them, had extra rice served twice.
No one even had time to talk; they just kept eating in silence until the bowls and plates were completely empty.
Li Lao Er was thinking about home, and after talking for a while, he heard that Zheng Feng and Zheng He had also eaten, so he made arrangements to go back.
There wasn't much good stuff in the military camp for him to take back, but luckily it was near the Jinsha River, and at this time of year, there was a good catch of fish.
Jiang Cheng led his men to retrieve the nets buried in the river ford, catching about a hundred fish of all sizes, which filled four large wooden buckets.
So, Li Lao Er, the old man from Zhongshan, sat in the middle of the wooden tub and, smiling broadly, embarked on his journey home…
Under the cover of night, the Broken Gold Beach is less noisy than during the day, like a quiet and gentle lady.
Uncle Zhao led several villagers to patrol inside and outside the village, focusing on the melon fields.
Although the village chief had long since moved into a shack in the middle of the melon field, he kept a close eye on this treasure trove.
But they were still worried. Even if they had to make a few more trips to scare away the annoying little animals, they would be better off preventing them from biting off the melon vines.
You should know that if you miss out on a single melon, you'll lose a silver ingot by the end of summer!
Just then, Li Lao Er returned in his carriage.
The group followed them back to the village and helped carry the wooden buckets down.
It is said that the big and small fish in the wooden bucket were caught by the Marquis and his men, and he brought them back for everyone to try. Everyone was happy.
But it was too late, so they chatted and laughed quietly for a few moments before parting ways.
The next morning, Jiayin got up, washed up, and ate breakfast. When she saw fish porridge on the table, she realized that her second uncle had returned.
Unfortunately, she slept in, and by now, her second uncle had already gone to town.
She was filled with curiosity and wanted to ask Mr. Wen how things were arranged.
But seeing her grandmother, her aunt, and her mother all sitting on the side eating and chatting, she figured everything was going well, so she stopped worrying about it.
While peeling an egg for her granddaughter, Grandma Li instructed, "After you finish eating, you need to catch up on your studies. In the morning, learn etiquette from Granny He, and in the afternoon, go see Hui Niang. That purse you're only half-sewing, you definitely need to finish it by tomorrow."
Jiayin buried her head in her porridge, still trying to play dumb, but her mother tapped her on the head. She could only look up and reply with a smile, "Okay, Fu Niu'er will listen to Grandma."
"Sycophant!" Tao Hongying scolded with a smile, but her subordinate picked out some fish slices for her daughter and put them in her bowl. "Eat more fish. People say that children who eat more fish are smarter."
Jiayin couldn't help but complain, "Mom, does eating more chicken feet make me more skillful? Stew two pots for me, these purses are too hard to sew!"
Old Mrs. Li and Mrs. Cui almost spat out their porridge, laughing uncontrollably.
Tao Hongying was so angry with her daughter that her head was practically steaming. "I think you're not clumsy, you've just eaten too much pork and become as lazy as a pig!"
Everyone couldn't help but laugh!
Whether she liked it or not, after the meal, Jiayin began her primary school life again.
As for Granny He, things are going well. Having gone through the young master's periods of burnout and rapid progress, she has found a teaching style that suits him well, which is—Buddhist-style teaching.
The specific pattern is that the old woman and the young child sit facing each other, drinking juice and eating snacks. When they get tired, they take a stroll around the yard, chat, and tell stories. When they come across something that interests the young master, she will say a few more words and teach him some manners.
After two days of this, one teacher was under little pressure, and the other learned easily, so it was quite effective.
But it didn't work for Hui Niang. The foundation of needlework is the accumulation of experience over time.
Jiayin, that lazybones, only works sporadically. Not only has he forgotten all the skills he learned before, but he's even become rusty at handling needles.
Before the purse was finished being sewn, her fingers were pricked so many times they looked like radish heads.
Coincidentally, the Marquis returned on horseback, and Jiayin ran out holding a radish.
The Marquis picked up his daughter with a tender heart. Seeing Old Lady Li come out to greet him, he said, "Auntie, Fu Niu'er is destined to live a life of wealth and glory, with countless servants attending to her. If she wants new clothes, someone will sew them for her. She doesn't need to learn these things, does she?"
Old Mrs. Li was both amused and exasperated. She led them into the house and then said, "My lord, the whole family knows you dote on this girl, but Fu Niu is a girl. She can't be completely ignorant of needlework. When she gets married, even if it's just for show, her wedding dress should have a few stitches embroidered on it."
"Besides, no one can see the end of their life forever. If this girl ever falls on hard times, she can do laundry, cook, and sew, so at least she can live a clean and decent life, right?"
These were indeed the old man's wise words, and even if the Marquis felt sorry for him, he couldn't object.
Jiayin was touched by what she heard and quickly ran to hug her grandmother. She vowed never to play tricks again and planned to learn some skills seriously from now on...
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