So after Fu and his friends returned home, the family lived in fear for a while, but they gradually forgot about it. They had a lot of chores to do at home and didn't have the mind to keep thinking about that incident.
After the start of spring, it's time for sowing and transplanting rice seedlings, planting sweet potatoes and corn, keeping everyone busy. By the time they're done, they've long forgotten about things in the capital.
Later, good news came from Zhao Guizhi: she was pregnant, more than three months along, and had found out shortly after the New Year. However, because the pregnancy was not yet stable, she hadn't told anyone.
This made everyone extremely happy. Zhao Guizhi and Chen Shunping had gone through so much. They were both thirty years old and had finally gotten married. However, because Chen Shunping was in poor health, the doctor said that she might not be able to conceive. Zhao Guizhi had almost given up hope.
Now that she's finally pregnant, everyone is happy for them. Zhao Guihua insisted on persuading Zhao Guizhi to stop working so hard at the restaurant and come back to the village with her to take good care of her pregnancy.
“I’ve already handed over the kitchen duties to Ji’er and Yu’er. They’re probably not very busy now. They were originally going to go to the prefectural city to help my cousin Daya and her husband after the New Year, but when they found out I was pregnant, they were worried and insisted on staying, saying they would wait until I gave birth before leaving.” Zhao Guizhi found it both funny and heartwarming.
“You always want to come to the restaurant to help out in the county town, but I’m worried about you. Why don’t you come back to the village with me to rest during your pregnancy? You can come back after you give birth. This pregnancy has been so hard for you.” Zhao Guihua doesn’t care about business or making money; in her heart, her child and family are the most important things.
“We’re not so poor we can’t afford to eat anymore. We have plenty of grain stored up at home, and we also have money. What’s the point of all this hard work? It’s all so that our children can have a better life. Let me tell you, there’s a young woman in our village who’s pregnant but still does heavy work every day and doesn’t even eat well.”
Although the child was born, he looked like a little monkey—wrinkled, thin, and terribly ugly. He was also weak and sickly from birth. That's why it's so important to take care of yourself during pregnancy. Don't think I'm being long-winded; you're different from others. Others get married and have children in their teens, but you're thirty now. You can't be careless.”
Zhao Guizhi was speechless after being scolded by her younger sister. Naturally, she also valued this hard-won child. She could ignore other things, but she was very concerned when she heard that the pregnancy was not well-prepared and the child would be weak and sickly after birth. She thought that Chen Shunping's health was so poor, and if the child was also born with poor health, she would be heartbroken.
“Okay, I’ll listen to you. Tomorrow I’ll go back to Yegou Village with you and my brother-in-law to rest. We’ll go back to the county town when I’m about to give birth.” It’s easier to find a doctor in the county town, so we’ll go back to the county town to prepare for childbirth when we’re close to giving birth.
Li Jier and Li Yuer have been working in the kitchen of the restaurant for the past two years, and they have gradually emerged from the shadows of the past. The two sisters have become much more cheerful, and their faces are filled with smiles.
Zhao Guizhi had previously considered arranging marriages for them, but the two sisters said they weren't in a hurry and didn't want to get married yet, saying they would wait two or three years.
Zhao Guizhi did not force them and respected their decision.
There was also good news in the prefectural city. Under Li Quan's management, the restaurant in the prefectural city was doing very well. Business had been good for the past few months, and the monthly income was quite considerable.
Zhong Daya's illness is almost cured. Except for occasional migraines, she can speak normally and is no longer crazy. The old doctor said that she no longer needs acupuncture and can fully recover after taking medicine for another year.
Back to Xingxing, she dreamt of her parents and brothers, as well as her aunt and uncle. They seemed very happy, as if something good was about to happen, but she couldn't hear them talking in the dream and didn't know what was going on, which made her a little sad.
So after waking up, Xingxing was listless and had no appetite.
"Is it not tasty?" Zhu Lin asked with some concern. The little girl usually has a great appetite and eats everything with gusto. What's wrong with her today?
Xingxing sighed in a mature tone, pouted, glanced at the boy, and said dejectedly, "Brother Lin, I dreamed about my parents and brother, as well as my aunt and Ruru. They are doing very well now. Even though I'm not here, they seem to be very happy."
"Do the stars want them to be sad, to look gloomy all day because they can't see you?" the boy said deliberately.
"No, I didn't, I'm not, don't talk nonsense, hmph." Xingxing was a little embarrassed and angry. She just missed them, that's all. She wasn't that bad, wanting her family to cry for her.
At this moment, a pretty girl dressed in men's clothing with a heroic air came over and whispered, "Princess, didn't you dream about, um, those two in the palace? If not, I'll come and ask again later."
After a while, this guy came over again and said, "Don't you really miss those two in the palace? If they knew, one would be sad and the other would faint from crying."
"What an annoying messenger! Are you a parrot? You keep mentioning them in my ear all day long. It's so hard for me not to think about them. It's been so long since I dreamed about my parents and brother. What's with all the jealousy? Don't you have anything better to do than worry about your children all day?" Xingxing got up angrily, refusing to eat anymore. She was too angry to eat anymore.
Before leaving, he instructed the girl, who had multiple identities as his personal maid, bodyguard, and messenger, to pack up all the uneaten food on the table and take it with her so she could eat it on the way.
Yes, the group of secret guards finally caught up three days ago. To prevent the princess from shaking off the guards again, the emperor specially assigned two personal maids to serve Xingxing.
One of them is incredibly talkative and rambling, while the other stands quietly to the side, never uttering a word all day long. If only these two personalities could be balanced out, Xingxing has been driven crazy by that talkative girl these past few days.
No matter when or where, as soon as Xingxing speaks, that girl named Qingyan immediately comes over. She can respond to anything Xingxing says. Being a bodyguard is a waste of her talent. She should be a storyteller in a teahouse.
When they were traveling, they had to squeeze into the same carriage with her. Brother Lin would throw them off, but after a while, the two of them would stubbornly climb back up, and they couldn't be driven away no matter what.
If Xingxing hadn't stopped the boy, he would have gone all out. No matter how skilled those two girls were, they wouldn't have been a match for Zhu Lin, and they would definitely have gotten hurt.
Xingxing knew that they were sent by her father, the emperor, to protect her. She couldn't disobey the emperor's orders, so she couldn't make things too difficult for them and had to tolerate it and let them ride in the same carriage.
The two women even tried to kick Zhu Lin off the carriage, but the Emperor had secretly instructed them that the princess was growing up and the young master Zhu was also getting on in years. It was against the rules and etiquette to let the princess and the other man be together any longer.
However, Zhu Lin disagreed with this, and Xingxing also disagreed.
"Brother Lin is supposed to protect me. If he's not by my side and something happens to me, you can't bear the responsibility." Xingxing glared at the two of them, or rather, at Qingyan. She was the one doing most of the talking, while Qinglu remained silent.
"Qingluo and I can protect you," Qingyan said matter-of-factly.
"Then you should beat Brother Lin first."
The sparring match resulted in a utter defeat for the two female guards, leaving them utterly humiliated. They dared not boast that they alone could protect the princess; five of them, no, ten of them, were no match for the young man in white.
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