Everyone laughed and quickly made room for them, chatting together around the fire.
The Sixth Prince looked at the old man's frostbitten hands, his eyes filled with pain. "Grandpa, I'm sorry for making you suffer by following me!"
The old man quickly waved his hands. "What nonsense are you talking about? I'm doing this for the border troops, for the border, and to protect our fellow countrymen in the north from the harm of war, not for you! Even if you weren't here, we would still come to help!"
The Sixth Prince smiled and changed the subject. The old man didn't admit it because he didn't want him to think too much, but he knew it in his heart and appreciated it.
"Zhuzhu is not here, otherwise she would be crying out for rabbit legs again!"
"That's right, but don't worry about this girl. She will never neglect her little belly no matter where she is!" The old man also missed his granddaughter. It was okay when there were many people around, but he was worried when there were few people around, fearing that his precious granddaughter would be wronged.
In fact, what he didn't know was that his precious granddaughter was crying loudly because of being beaten.
In the small courtyard of the Tai family in Jiangnan, Yang Lihua took a ruler and slapped her daughter's palm mercilessly. She endured the pain and slapped her again and again, even though her daughter's tears were crackling, she did not stop.
Chunhong and Erya knelt on the ground anxiously and kept begging for mercy.
"Aunt, it's all our fault for not taking good care of Zhuzhu. Wuwu, aunt, hit us, don't hit Zhuzhu!"
"Yes, yes, Auntie, if you hit me, I will take it. Zhuzhu is too small. Woohoo, Auntie, please stop hitting me!"
The two sisters cried their eyes out and regretted it so much that their intestines turned green.
It turned out that after lunch, Zhuzhu rarely didn't want to sleep, but Yang Lihua was worried about Beidi last night and tossed and turned and didn't sleep well, so she wanted to take a nap at noon.
So Chunhong and Erya took Zhuzhu out to play, allowing Yang Lihua to rest without worry.
Two adults and one child were playing shuttlecock in the backyard. Chunhong used all her strength and the shuttlecock flew over the wall. Erya opened the back door to pick it up and happened to see a group of children playing with firecrackers!
Zhuzhu had never played it before, so out of curiosity she followed it and watched it for a long time.
Chunhong was reluctant to give them up, so she took a few coins and bought some for the children. However, the children were so happy playing with them that they had already run out of ammunition and food!
One naughty boy was clever and said that the firecracker workshop was not far away and he could take them there to buy some. Of course, he had to give him a few firecrackers as travel expenses!
Chunhong found it funny. Seeing that her guards were standing not far away and Zhuzhu was eager for firecrackers, the two sisters took Zhuzhu's hand and went to buy firecrackers.
Firecrackers were cheap, and ten coins were enough to buy a lot of them. Chunhong was afraid that the firecrackers would explode, so she said she would go back to her back door and ask the guards to help set them off, and Zhuzhu would just watch the fun.
But Zhuzhu got naughty for some reason and lit one while Chunhong wasn't paying attention. But seeing how others were doing it so easily, when it was her turn to hold the crackling firecracker fuse, the fat girl was so frightened that she threw it away without caring where to go.
Who would have thought that the firecracker would be thrown into the firecracker workshop!
After a loud bang, many neighbors were scared to death and ran over to put out the fire and save people!
At this moment, Chen Zhao and Chen Ruiyang are still there with their guards!
The more Yang Lihua thought about it, the more terrified she became. This was the first time she had disciplined her daughter. Zhuzhu's eyes were swollen from crying, and she regretted it deeply. But she just thought her brothers would like it, so she tried to play with it and bring some more for them when she returned. She didn't expect it to cause trouble...
Chunhong and Erya saw that Zhuzhu's palms were red and swollen like steamed buns, and they could no longer bear it and rushed over to hold Zhuzhu in their arms.
At this time, Chen Zhao, Chen Ruiyang and others also came back.
Chen Ruiyang burst into tears at the time, grabbed his sister and started yelling, "Mom, Zhuzhu is still young, why are you hitting her? She doesn't understand. If you want to hit me, hit me. It's all because I didn't accompany Zhuzhu!"
Yang Lihua threw away the ruler, feeling heartbroken and angry, as if she was about to explode.
"She's young and can be naughty, but she has to know when to be naughty! Luckily, no one was in the workshop, otherwise someone would have died! And there are neighbors nearby. If a fire broke out, so many families would be affected! I beat her to teach her a lesson!"
Zhuzhu was not ignorant. She became even more frightened after hearing what her mother said. She curled up into a ball and hid in her brother's arms, crying her tears like a river.
Chen Zhao quickly pleaded for mercy, "Sister, calm down. Although this incident was a big deal, thankfully there were no casualties. The owner of the workshop also said that they destroyed a batch of firecrackers last night. They put too much gunpowder in them, and before they could destroy them, they encountered today's incident, which is why the house exploded. It looks quite serious."
"I've already given them enough silver to build a new workshop. There were two horses tied up by the river behind us, and they got scared and jumped into the river and drowned. I've also paid them compensation. This matter is settled now. There's really no need for you to punish Zhuzhu anymore, Big Sister."
Yang Lihua was surprised and frowned as she asked, "Is it really that serious? Firecrackers can actually blow up houses and scare horses into jumping into the river..."
Suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind and she looked up at Chen Zhao. Chen Zhao happened to look over as well, and both siblings had surprise in their eyes...
Chen Zhao immediately stood up and said, "Sister, please take good care of the child and stop punishing Zhuzhu. This child is a lucky star. Maybe we can go back to Tai'an earlier!"
After saying that, he turned around and walked out.
Chen Ruiyang was puzzled and asked quickly, "Mom, what is my uncle talking about?"
"You will know later!" Yang Lihua did not explain much. Things must be done in secrecy, and she couldn't say it casually before success.
Zhuzhu was held in her mother's arms again, and she choked up and admitted her mistake, "Mother, Zhuzhu was wrong. Zhuzhu will never dare to do it again."
"Okay, I've already punished you, and I won't blame you again." Yang Lihua wiped her daughter's tears and sighed, "But you must remember, never hurt others just for fun."
Zhuzhu nodded her little head vigorously and started crying again.
Yang Lihua was helpless and hurried to buy ointment to apply on her daughter. Chen Ruiyang was worried that his sister would suffer, so he went to the pharmacy himself and bought the best ointment.
After a night's sleep, the swelling on the fat girl's chubby hands really went down. Two days later, it was no longer possible to tell that she had been beaten. At least it didn't prevent the fat girl from having snacks and fruits!
Chen Zhao was gone for three or four days and was so busy that he didn't even come back for a meal.
Finally, at noon that day, he rushed back to find the Sixth Prince's guards and handed them a letter and eight tightly wrapped baskets.
"Ride it as fast as you can to the Sixth Prince. Remember to make it waterproof and fireproof, and it must be given only to His Royal Highness the Sixth Prince! This may be the key to quickly ending the war at the border. If you can deliver it successfully, you will have accomplished a great feat!"
The guards wanted to go back to the border, as they were worried that Yang Lihua and her daughter would be left without anyone to protect them.
Chen Zhao said, "We will stay at Mr. Wu's place this afternoon and wait for you to come back with the good news, and then we will return to Tai'an together."
The guards were reluctantly relieved. The Wu family was a prominent local family, and they had the protection of County Magistrate Chang, so their safety would definitely be no problem.
After a simple lunch and some dry food, the guards quickly headed north.
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