After packing their bags, Zhou Laoda and his family drove their horse-drawn carriage out of the village. All the villagers came to see them off, knowing that they were going to the capital. Their hearts were filled with complex emotions.
Some people were happy for Zhou Laoda's family, such as the village chief.
Some were jealous of the Zhou family's good fortune in finding a daughter from a wealthy family who could take them to Beijing, such as the third and fourth sons of the Zhou family.
Zhou Laosan is now filled with regret, deep regret. He should have taken care of Xingxing after he snatched her home instead of kicking her out in the middle of the night. Otherwise, he, Zhou Laosan, would be the one following that girl to the capital now.
Apart from Zhou Laoda's family, none of the people in Yegou Village have ever been to Beijing. How could they not be envious?
As the carriages drove further and further away, just as the Zhou family's circumstances were becoming increasingly distant from everyone else in the village, the villagers sighed once again.
When they arrived in town in the morning, Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua told Mo Tianzhu some things and also told him that his family was going to Beijing and would not be back for a while.
"Don't worry, sir and madam, I will definitely manage the tavern well. If there's anything you can't decide, just go to Manager Chen in the county town. There won't be any trouble," Mo Tianzhu assured him repeatedly.
Mo Tianzhu is a very reliable person, and Zhou Laoda and his wife have no worries about him.
As evening fell, the Zhou family arrived in the county town. Zhao Guizhi had not received any notice that they were coming to the county town, so she was quite startled to see them all rushing over together.
"Why is everyone here, and with so many horse-drawn carriages and so much stuff on them? Are you planning to move to the county town?" Zhao Guizhi was quite happy that her sister's family was willing to move to the county town. She had long advised them to move, but her sister and her husband couldn't bear to leave their land and orchard in the village, so they refused to leave Yegou Village.
Zhao Guihua held Zhao Guizhi's hand and looked into the restaurant. "This is when there will be the most customers. Let's get busy first, and I'll talk to you when we're done."
Zhao Guizhi glanced at her, suddenly feeling uneasy, and whispered, "What happened? You came over suddenly without a word, and now you're acting all mysterious. The restaurant has enough staff, we don't need you. Tell us what's wrong now."
"It's nothing much, it's just that my husband and I decided to go to Beijing. Xingxing is going back to Beijing, and we were worried about her, so we went to check on her together," Zhao Guihua explained briefly.
"Going to the capital?" Zhao Guizhi didn't seem surprised. She thought her sister and her husband might go with her last time, but they didn't go then. This time, they really are going.
Zhao Guizhi said with some melancholy, "I don't know when we'll meet again after this trip."
“We won’t be gone for too long. Her father and I are just worried about our daughter. We’ll go to the capital to make sure she’s alright and we don’t have to worry about her anymore. Then we’ll come back. Our home is here, and we have land and an orchard. How could we not come back?” Zhao Guihua said confidently.
Zhao Guizhi wanted to laugh when she heard this. It wasn't that she was trying to discourage her sister and her husband, but they were just honest, simple farmers who couldn't afford to offend anyone in the capital. How could they possibly help Xingxing?
To be honest, the couple knew this perfectly well. They just couldn't bear to leave their daughter, fearing they wouldn't see her for years. So they happily followed along, even making up an excuse to keep an eye on her, worried that she might be framed.
“Don’t rush back after you and your brother-in-law go to the capital. We’ll take care of things at home. I’ll have someone help manage the orchard. We can’t run out of fruit; we need it for brewing wine. But we don’t know about the fields. If you two haven’t returned by next year, you can help the villagers with their farming. We’re not short of grain; we’ve stored quite a bit at home,” Zhao Guizhi said.
"There's never too much grain, and you can never have too much." Zhao Guihua was very persistent about storing grain, and to be precise, the entire village of Yegou was very persistent about hoarding grain.
"Oh dear, don't give me that lecture. If you're reluctant to part with the grain, I'll hire people to go back and cultivate it, and I guarantee we can stockpile the grain."
Zhao Guizhi shook her head helplessly. According to her, her brother-in-law and his wife weren't home, so why were they farming? They weren't short of money. If they wanted to hoard grain, they could just buy more from the grain store when the price dropped. Why did they have to grow it themselves?
But I can't say that out loud, or the girl will start nagging again.
“Jingjing, Xiaoxiao, and Tangguo don’t want to leave. I’ll have them come to the county town to work for you, and they can also protect your family of three,” Zhao Guihua said in a low voice.
Perhaps because they were terrified of being chased by men in black on their way to Quanshui Mansion, these three girls preferred a peaceful and comfortable life. Seeing that Xingxing was accompanied by people from Xianwu Island and protected by a group of guards, they decided not to join in the fun.
“That’s great. To be honest, I’ve been feeling a bit uneasy since what happened last time, especially worried about Yu Ting. Now that the three of them are protecting me, I feel relieved. From now on, they can just take care of Yu Ting and don’t need to worry about anything else.” Zhao Guizhi’s smile deepened.
"You can handle it yourself," Zhao Guihua said, not interfering with her hand.
Xingxing really liked Xiaoyuting. As soon as she arrived, she started playing with him and then tried to kidnap him.
The little girl said softly, "Yu Ting, I'm going back to the capital. The capital is far away and it will take a long time to get there. The capital is also very big and prosperous. There are many delicious and fun things to do on the streets. The city walls of the capital are magnificent and grand. Do you want to go and see them?"
"Yes, Yu Ting wants to go see it. Sister, take me." Chen Yu Ting agreed innocently.
Zhao Guizhi was both amused and annoyed. She walked over and interrupted the two children's innocent chatter, "Yuting, if you go to the capital with your sister, you won't be able to see your father and mother anymore. Do you still want to go?"
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