The wealthy local gentry of Taian kept coming to the Tai family to pay their respects, bearing generous gifts. Perhaps because they knew the Tai family was unique, their gifts were not gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, calligraphy, or paintings, but instead included pork, mutton, rice, flour, and cloth.
But the old man didn't even show his face and directly asked the guards and villagers who blocked the road to refuse.
The villagers were fine, the rich families and gentry thought they could persuade them by giving them a few silver ingots, but those cold-faced guards with swords were obviously not ordinary people. They might be the one sent by Kyoto to protect the Tai family. They couldn't afford to offend them!
Some people regretted not spending more time with the Tai family and making better friends with them before, as now they don’t even have the chance to curry favor with them.
But there was also a clever idea, one that came up with a roundabout way to save the country. Even if they couldn't make friends with the Tai family, they could still get closer to the Min and Wu families, who already had friendly relations with them. In the future, if they needed help from these two families, as long as they agreed, they could still get the Tai family to intervene...
Some people also thought of the Qi family, the Song family and the Teng family. The boys from these three families were fellow brothers with the boy from the Tai family.
If they had known this earlier, they would have sent their child there. When the new emperor honors his own cousin, he would always be able to show his love for his cousin and honor his cousin's fellow disciples as well!
Under these and other thoughts, the whole of Tai'an became strange. On the surface, it was as calm as before, but in secret, many people were plotting to establish a relationship with the Tai family.
Finally, even Steward Min couldn't stand it anymore and ran to the Tai family to stay for a few days. Because the master of the Min family was away, he, who was on good terms with the Tai family, became a hot commodity, and people came to the house every day to pull him out for dinner and drinks.
Of course he pushed away what he could, but he couldn't push away anything he couldn't. He actually had to wait for three meals of wine a day, and his face turned pale from drinking, so he had no choice but to run here for refuge.
Banxianer sat under the eaves with his legs crossed, basking in the late winter sun. Listening to Manager Min complaining, he couldn't help laughing.
"You're the manager, kid! How could you be so dumb? Look at me! I didn't even go back to the city! I was afraid my stall would be trampled!"
Everyone laughed and tried to cheer the old man up.
"Yes, Uncle Banxian is still the best. He can calculate everything!"
Banxian'er was even more pleased and replied, "Don't worry, Mr. Wu and his men will be back in five days. But the good news will have to wait another month! By then, everything will be settled and our family will have peace and quiet."
Needless to say, he had calculated it.
Tai Yongning said quickly, "Sir, are you coming back? Then I'm going to go into the city to see how your house is being tidied up and help take care of it."
"That's as it should be!" Grandpa Tai, who respected his teachers and was very supportive of his grandson, said, "Bring a few more people with you when the time comes. Be careful that someone else tries to snatch you away as their son-in-law. Then our family will have to accept it with a pinched nose."
Tai Yongning blushed, but he knew that what his grandfather said was not impossible, so he agreed seriously.
Thinking that there were still a few days left and it would be boring to stay idle at home, the old man simply arranged to go up the mountain to stay in the wooden house for a few days.
The boys responded with roars, and it was obvious that they all liked this suggestion.
Zhuzhu even hugged her grandfather's neck and shouted, "Grandpa, Zhuzhu wants to eat roasted rabbit!"
Sesame Ball joined in the fun and barked twice, and Zhuzhu immediately added, "Sesame Ball wants to eat too!"
The old man laughed and replied, "Okay, go prepare your things, we'll set off immediately!"
Manager Min and Banxian'er had nothing better to do, so naturally they'd tag along. Chen Zhao and Tai Jiye, on the other hand, were planning to go into the city and take a look at what was going on outside...
Yang Lihua was worried that it would be inconvenient for more than a dozen people, young and old, to eat in the mountains, so she called Erya to go with them.
In less than half an hour, everyone was carrying seven or eight large backpacks, avoiding the village entrance and going around to the foot of the mountain, chatting and laughing as they entered the mountain.
The cabin had been lent to fellow villagers in Sanchahe for some time, so although it had some damage, it was cleaned very well and there was still a lot of dry firewood left.
Everyone just needed to tidy up and move in. Erya was busy soaking dried mushrooms, while the guards and veterans took the boy to hunt wild animals.
Yonglu, Yongyue and Ruiyang were shouting about how much prey they would bring back, and it sounded like they were quite ambitious.
Tai Yongan is confident that he has great fighting power, so he plans to form his own team to compete with his younger brother.
The old man smiled and said nothing. He carried his granddaughter up the mountain to visit the old lady's grave.
The old lady's grave stood on the top of the mountain. The snow had long been cleared away. There were a few hard steamed buns, some snacks and dried fruits placed in front of the grave. They had not been eaten by the wild beasts in the mountains.
As usual, the old man hugged his granddaughter and chatted a lot with the old lady, and then looked at the valley opposite with a lot of emotion.
The secret he had kept for so many years was finally revealed to the world, and he also lifted the heavy burden from his shoulders...
In front of the wooden house, a bonfire had already been lit. Tai Yonglu was dancing with joy to show off to his elder brother the rabbit he had caught.
Tai Yongan was a little upset because his luck was really bad. He had all these skills but he didn't even get a pheasant feather...
At this time, the old soldier guarding the mountain road shouted, "The old man is back! Look at this big guy, it's enough to feed us for half a month!"
Everyone rushed forward and saw the silly roe deer dragged by the old soldier and the bunch of hares and pheasants carried on the old man's shoulders. Everyone couldn't help cheering, and naturally Tai Yongan became even more depressed.
"Grandpa, you've dug out a rabbit's nest and caught so many!" Tai Yongan muttered, very frustrated.
The old man laughed heartily and gave his overconfident grandson a kick. "Every man has his strengths and his weaknesses! Don't think that just because you can kill Rakshasa devils, you're the best at everything. Go skin that rabbit! Your sister's waiting to be roasted."
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