“Stepmother, Father said he’ll be back on the fifteenth of next month.” Jiang Jingyi ran to the kitchen and told Jiang Hua, holding the letter in his hand.
"Hmm, do you want to reply to your father? I'll take it to Manager Bai tomorrow." Jiang Hua didn't react much, just answered and asked.
Seeing Jiang Hua's attitude, Jiang Jingyi felt a little disappointed. His father was coming back, shouldn't his stepmother be very happy?
"Stepmother, is there anything you want to say to Father? I'll write it down for you."
"No, you can just write your own."
She really didn't know what he was talking about. Before he left, he asked her to take good care of Jiang Jingyi, and she had done so. As for the outcome, she would be back on the fifteenth of next month to see.
"Alright." Jiang Jingyi walked back into the inner room with heavy steps.
Jiang Hua watched his dejected figure leave, thought for a moment, and then called out to him again: "Then why don't you pass on a message to your father?"
"What?" Jiang Jingyi turned around with a happy expression, waiting for his stepmother's words.
"Then let's write 'Be careful on the road'? We'll wait for him to come back at home?" Jiang Hua said.
“Yes, stepmother, I’ll write it down right away.”
Something is better than nothing, so Jiang Jingyi went back to prepare a reply.
"stepmother!"
Jiang Hua, who was looking at the pickled bamboo shoots in the water vat in the kitchen, suddenly heard Jiang Jingyi's shout. She immediately put down her chopsticks and went into the inner room.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Hua asked as she walked in, frowning.
"When did we put up talismans in our house?" Jiang Jingyi asked, pointing to the conspicuous talisman on the headboard.
They weren't there when they left today, so how come they suddenly appeared after they came back?
Jiang Hua stepped forward and tore off the talisman. There were only two people in the house, and they had both gone out today, which meant that someone else had come into the room.
"Check if you've lost anything?" Jiang Hua asked.
After speaking, her gaze fell on the wardrobe. Jiang Hua went straight forward and opened the wardrobe. The order in which the clothes were placed inside was different from how she had arranged them before leaving the house that day.
"Stepmother, is something wrong with the wardrobe?" Jiang Jingyi checked the writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstone, and books on his desk, and found nothing missing, before walking over to Jiang Hua and asking.
Jiang Hua took out her clothes one by one and placed them on the bed. Jiang Jingyi watched from the side, his eyes full of confusion.
“These clothes have been moved; the colors and the order are all different,” Jiang Hua explained.
After examining each piece of clothing, she finally found a triangular object in one of her usual light green outfits.
Looking at the stitches that don't belong to this garment, it seems they were deliberately sewn on.
"Bring me a pair of scissors."
Jiang Jingyi immediately went to the table and grabbed the scissors.
Jiang Hua took the scissors and cut the thread sewn on the clothes. A talisman folded into a triangle fell off her clothes.
“Stepmother, it’s still a talisman.” Jiang Jingyi picked it up and unfolded it.
"Burn it, it's bad luck." Jiang Hua put the clothes aside and then folded the rest of the clothes and put them back in the wardrobe.
"Stepmother, did you burn the talisman along with the paper offerings?" Jiang Jingyi asked.
"Keep them, they'll be useful later." Jiang Hua took the two talismans back from Jiang Jingyi and put them away. Then, when Jiang Jingyi wasn't paying attention, she tossed them into her spatial storage.
"Stepmother, let's buy a dog to guard the house," Jiang Jingyi brought up the matter again.
"I forgot, I'll go buy it tomorrow."
I had planned to do this before, but I forgot for a while and it got delayed.
"Stepmother, remember, I'll be staying at the academy then, and you'll be all alone at home," Jiang Jingyi reminded her worriedly.
"Tomorrow we'll buy a big, fierce dog."
Speaking of going to the academy, Jiang Hua took out a purse from her spatial storage, which contained five taels of silver.
"Take this, just in case," Jiang Hua said, handing the purse to Jiang Jingyi.
"Stepmother, this is too much." Jiang Jingyi wanted to take some out, keeping only one or two taels of silver for himself.
Now that the family is building a house, it's a time when money is needed, and it's not easy for the stepmother to earn money.
"No need, this is specially for you. I told you before, your father left some money before he passed away." Jiang Hua told him to keep it safe and to allocate it reasonably himself.
"Okay, stepmother." Jiang Jingyi had no choice but to put it away, and he already planned to save it to buy his stepmother some pretty hairpins and hair ornaments.
"Have you packed everything?" Jiang Hua asked again.
Tomorrow, after they finish eating at Mingyue Tower, they will take him to the academy.
“It’s all packed, stepmother. I’ve finished writing Father’s reply.” Jiang Jingyi put the letter he had written into an envelope.
“Okay.” Jiang Hua nodded. “Then you stay home first. I’ll go find Aunt Liu and ask them to come to Mingyue Tower with us for dinner tomorrow.”
"good."
When Jiang Hua went to Aunt Liu's house, Aunt Liu was not home. Remembering what Aunt Liu had said before, she headed towards Shili Village.
Sure enough, Aunt Liu's family built a house in Shili Village.
"Huahua, what brings you here?" Aunt Liu asked as she stepped forward.
Jiang Hua then explained her purpose to Aunt Liu.
"Shall we go to Mingyue Tower?"
“Yes, I’ve already booked a table with the manager of Mingyue Tower today. We’ll take an oxcart to town together tomorrow,” Jiang Hua suggested.
“Alright, I’ll go tell your Uncle Liu and the others,” Aunt Liu nodded and said.
On the way back, passing by Xu Dagui's house, Jiang Hua saw that they were already preparing for tomorrow's banquet, and the meat and vegetables must have just been bought from the market.
It seems that Mrs. Xu has really gone all out this time, buying a quarter of the pork. Normally, the family only sees meat dishes every two or three days.
"Jiang Hua, you absolutely must come tomorrow!" Madam Xu called out as she saw Jiang Hua passing by her door.
"I'm busy," Jiang Hua said before leaving.
However, Xu's sudden shout caused Xu to miss Jiang Hua's reply.
The next morning, Jiang Hua took Jiang Jingyi, Aunt Liu's family, and Honghua to town in an oxcart.
Aunt Liu and her family even wore brand-new clothes and brought a gift: a calligraphy brush of medium to high quality.
When they arrived in town, Aunt Liu said she wanted to visit Shifang Academy, so Jiang Hua had the oxcart take them there first.
If you didn't know it was an academy, the closer you got to it, the more secluded the location became. When you passed by an alley, you could still hear the sound of students reading aloud coming from Shifang Academy.
Upon arriving at the main gate, Jiang Hua led Jiang Jingyi off the carriage. Jiang Jingyi handed the enrollment card to the guard standing at the gate, who then led them into a courtyard.
Li Xu came out to greet them.
"Dr. Jiang," Li Xu stepped forward and bowed.
“Master Li, just call me Jiang Hua,” Jiang Hua said, nodding slightly.
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