Gu Xiaoran became frightened as soon as she saw Li Zheng and ran away. Li Zheng had no choice but to leave her where she was and ignore her.
Ye glared at her husband, "Xiao Ran, how did you get yourself lost?"
Gu Xiaoran thought of her mistress's unkind attitude towards her father and felt hostile towards her. She pursed her lips and refused to speak to her no matter what.
Finally, Qiu Yan briefly summarized Gu Xiaoran's previous words, and Ye Shi finally understood the gist of it.
Thinking of Gu Qian, Madam Ye's expression darkened. "Really, like father, like son. Oh well, he's still just a child, let him stay at my house for now." Although she harbored resentment towards Gu Qian and didn't want to take care of his child, she couldn't very well let Qiu Yan manage him.
She planned to take Gu Xiaoran home to give her a good bath, but the child didn't want to enter the Li family's courtyard.
Although Gu Xiaoran was young, she remembered how her housewife had driven her father away.
With messy hair and a dirty body, Gu Xiaoran ran quickly to the Qiu family's old courtyard. The others looked at each other and followed him.
Soon, bursts of laughter from Gu Xiaoran and Qiu Ling'er echoed from Qiu Yan's courtyard.
"Sigh, Qiu Yan, I'll leave Xiao Ran in your care for a while. I'll be right back." Madam Ye sighed and went home to cook dinner.
Qiu Yan looked at the two children laughing and jumping in the yard, and she felt completely overwhelmed.
Gu Xiaoran, don't you know you just went through a terrible ordeal? How could you forget about being abducted so quickly?
Also, shouldn't you be looking for your parents at this time?
Qiu Yan rubbed her throbbing temples, boiled some water, dragged Gu Xiaoran to the basin, washed his little hands and face, and casually tied his hair into a half-ponytail.
Afterwards, Qiu Yan gave Qiu Ling'er some more instructions, telling her that she could only play in the yard and absolutely could not go to the stream in front of the yard, and then she began to prepare dinner.
Because she was in such a hurry to get home today, she didn't have time to buy more food.
The Qiu family's dinner consisted of millet porridge, egg pancakes, and stir-fried mushrooms with meat.
The eggs were brought by Auntie last time, and the mushrooms were picked by Qiu Yan and Qiu Ling'er in the mountains. As the aroma of meat filled the air, Qiu Xu also returned from school.
Upon seeing Gu Xiaoran in the courtyard, Qiu Xu was taken aback at first, and then asked where Gu Xiaoran had been found.
Qiu Yan didn't go into details, only saying that she met him in Baiyang and brought him back directly.
Qiu Xu said "Oh," put the book back, and started washing his hands and eating.
Just then, Madam Ye came over and invited Gu Xiaoran to the Li family for dinner.
But Gu Xiaoran was already gathered around Qiu Yan's stove, eating egg pancakes with her little mouth opening and closing, still not wanting to go back to Ye's house with her.
Ye couldn't get her to go back, so she had to give up.
During the meal, Qiu Yan noticed that her usually taciturn younger brother kept his head down and didn't say a word, so she couldn't help but observe him for a while.
She then noticed that her younger brother's right hand was trembling as he picked up food, and sometimes the food would fall onto the table halfway through.
"Ah Xu, what happened to your hand?"
Qiu Xu pulled his hand back slightly. "It's nothing, I just tripped and fell, and hurt my wrist." After he finished speaking, he gave his sister a reassuring look, stopped picking up food, and instead picked up the soup bowl with his left hand to drink the rice porridge.
Qiu Yan pressed him for details, but he always gave the same answer.
Unable to get any answers, Qiu Yan pushed the food towards Qiu Xu, saying, "Eat up."
That evening, Madam Ye came again. "Xiao Ran, come back to sleep with me."
Gu Xiaoran quickly hid behind Qiu Yan, "Master and Mistress don't like Father or me. Mistress, can I not sleep at your house?"
After saying that, he turned to Qiu Yan and said, "You said back then that I was your child."
Qiu Yan: "I...you're not my child, you're your father's child."
"Father is missing." Gu Xiaoran insisted, refusing to go back with Ye Shi no matter what.
Having exhausted all other options, Ye Shi directly summoned Li Zheng.
Faced with the cold and serious Li Zheng, Gu Xiaoran was like a puppy seeing a big bad wolf, curling up in fear and forgetting to resist. Li Zheng carried her to the Li family with one hand.
In the evening, Qiu Yan lit candles and helped Qiu Xu review his lessons. She also called Qiu Ling'er over to help her learn to read and recognize characters.
"Ah Xu, what did you learn at the academy today?"
"The teacher taught us poetry and had us recite it after him, and then copy it down when we got home."
Qiu Yan couldn't help but praise her younger brother when she discovered that he had learned quite a few characters in just a few days.
That night, Qiu Ling'er fell fast asleep as soon as she got into bed.
With his back to Qiu Yan, Qiu Xu stroked his right arm with his left hand and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Qiu Yan looked at Qiu Xu's sleeping face, lost in thought.
Because of Gu Xiaoran, the Li family is now bustling with activity.
Gu Xiaoran pointed in the direction of Qiu Yan's house and pleaded, "Auntie, can I sleep with them?"
Madam Ye: "You're just as difficult as your father. Do you think Qiu Yan can handle you? It's getting late, go to sleep."
Gu Xiaoran: "My father isn't difficult to deal with. I want to go to the mountains to find him."
Ye: "One minute you say you're going to sleep with Qiu Yan, the next you want to sleep with Dad. Gu Xiaoran, are you going to sleep or not?!"
"I can't sleep."
"..."
After talking for a while, Gu Xiaoran's eyes welled up with tears, and he began to sob, his lips trembling. Without his father, he felt insecure.
Mothers know all too well how painful it can be when a naughty child starts to cause trouble.
Li Zheng was disturbed by Gu Xiaoran's noise. He got up and sat opposite Gu Xiaoran, and said sternly, "Go to sleep!"
In order to ensure that Ye could get a good night's sleep, Li Zheng slept in the middle position.
Gu Xiaoran once again transformed into a docile puppy, no longer daring to utter a word.
But he just couldn't close his bright eyes.
Because Gu Xiaoran was too afraid of Li Zheng, after a long while, he curled up into a ball and huddled in the corner of the bed, but was discovered by Ye Shi, who was drowsy.
The two stared at each other, neither of them able to sleep all night...
The next day, at the turn of the hour, Qiu Yan woke up her younger siblings and prepared to take them out for morning exercise.
But as soon as the door opened, Gu Xiaoran ran into the Qiu family's house with her bare bottom exposed.
Despite having dark circles under her eyes, Ye hurried after him but still couldn't get his clothes on.
Gu Xiaoran: "Honey, please don't follow me. I promise I'll be very well-behaved!"
Ye: "Were you good, Gu Xiaoran? Tell me, were you good last night?! If you don't behave, I'll feed you to the wolves!"
Upon hearing the words "feed the wolves," Gu Xiaoran was startled and quickly hid behind Qiu Yan.
Ye was so angry that her eyes were red and she was about to cry. "This child didn't sleep a wink last night. I tried to persuade him to sleep no matter what I said, but he just wouldn't. If he wasn't afraid of your Uncle Li, he probably would have kept making a fuss all night. He's so annoying."
Given the master-disciple relationship between Gu Qian and Uncle Li, and the fact that Madam Ye was willing to take care of him, it was a stroke of good luck for Gu Xiaoran amidst misfortune. Unfortunately, this brat was ignorant.
Qiu Yan also felt helpless about this. "Does Auntie know where Gu Qian is now?" It would be safer to send him to his father. Qiu Yan had thought so yesterday.
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