Chapter 628 Returning Home
In the end Zhou Silang managed to squeeze all the things into the car and tried his best to make them sit comfortably.
The group set out early in the morning.
Aunt Rong did not go back, but stayed to look after the house.
When the two carriages arrived at the city gate, daylight had just appeared and the city gate slowly opened under the gaze of everyone.
The streets, which had been quiet until now, suddenly became noisy, and people were either carrying, pulling, or driving cars to be inspected and leave the city.
The city gate was split into two, one half for going out and the other half for coming in.
Yizhou City is a big city, and there are many people entering and leaving the city, forming a long queue. Manbao and his friends slipped off the carriage while the carriages were lined up, ran to the street next to it, and bought some breakfast to take with them.
For example, buns and pastries that look delicious.
Zhou Silang was unable to stop them and could only scold them while craning his neck to stare at them, fearing that they would be squeezed out if there were too many people.
Daji, who was driving the carriage in front, couldn't help but stick his head out to look for a long time, and Mr. Zhuang also lifted the curtain to take a look.
He shook his head and said, "Aunt Rong clearly prepared a lot of food, why do you still need to buy more?"
Daji saw that they had already bought something and turned back. He breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "They just want something new. They are young and always think that food outside tastes better than what we have at home."
Manbao and his friends climbed onto the cart after buying their things. Zhou Silang, disdaining their mischief, pointed at Manbao and Baishan and said, "You two, go to the cart in front. Don't you see our cart is also carrying a lot of stuff? When the horses get tired, you can get off and carry the things."
Manbao held the food and said, "Fourth Brother, you are no longer the Fourth Brother I knew."
Zhou Silang rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, do you really want me to abandon the carriage and run with you to buy food? If you could have someone in charge, I wouldn't have to worry about it."
He rambled on, "Aunt Rong is a servant. She doesn't care about anything except what happens in the kitchen. And Daji is even more single. He doesn't care about anything except safety. Even if you fight in front of him, he won't even bat an eyelid if there's no bleeding."
"Mr. Zhuang is tired enough teaching you to study. It's not good to let him worry about the mundane matters at home. You are so old, but you still don't care about anything. You don't even know where to buy horse feed. If I continue to be like you and neglect everything, what will happen to our family..."
Manbao was scolded so much that he finally had to pick out a few of his favorite foods and climb down the carriage to go to the front.
Bai Shan looked around, took out a bag from somewhere, and climbed down from the carriage.
The space in the car suddenly became larger, and Zhou Lijun and Bai Erlang were immediately happy. They took the seats by the window and sat down with their arms and legs stretched out.
Bai Erlang invited Zhou Lijun, "Let's play the sandbag throwing game later."
"The car is too shaky."
Bai Erlang: "This shows your ability. Do you dare to come?"
"What are you afraid of?" Zhou Lijun said, "I'm better at throwing sandbags than you are."
Manbao and Baishan walked to the carriage in front. Daji couldn't help but smile when he saw them. He felt relieved and reached out to pull the two of them.
Bai Shan climbed onto the carriage and looked at his face. "If you want to laugh, laugh. Don't be so tense."
Daji's eyebrows curved, and he pointed to the carriage and said, "Master, please get in. It's almost our turn. It might be a bit dusty when we leave the city gate."
Upon hearing this, Bai Shan immediately climbed back into the car and started eating the delicious food they had touched with Manbao.
Of course, before eating, they solemnly invited Mr. Zhuang.
But Mr. Zhuang shook his head and refused. It was not long since he had finished his breakfast. He was old and did not dare to eat so much.
He enviously watched the two of them eat the plump little buns in three bites, and couldn't help but sigh at their good appetites.
However, they were still growing, so being able to eat was a good thing. That was why Mr. Zhuang never stopped Aunt Rong from feeding them four or five meals a day.
Children of this age seem to never be full no matter what they eat.
It was their turn soon. Mr. Zhuang closed the window and said to the two of them, "Eat quickly. Put away the leftovers. It will get dirty and smelly soon. Be careful not to dirty your mouth and nose."
It was indeed dirty and smelly. There were many people and cars outside the city gate, causing dust to fly everywhere. There was also a smell in the air because there were many livestock and they stayed there for a long time.
Manbao and the others had stopped eating and were following the flow of traffic. Daji patted the horse gently, asking it to speed up slowly.
After walking two or three miles, the smell faded, but there was still a lot of dust on the road, so they did not open the window.
Bai Shanbao took out the package he had brought with him and opened it. He found that it was a piece of cloth with a chessboard painted on it and stones wrapped inside.
Many of the stones were marked with an ink line to distinguish them. Bai Shan called out to Man Bao, "Come, let's play chess."
Mr. Zhuang: "...Are you short of money?"
Can’t even afford a chess set?
"Of course we do," Bai Shanbao said, "but sir, we've just started learning chess and don't know how to play yet. It's better not to spend money on chess for now."
Manbao nodded repeatedly, "We may not always like each other."
The main reason is that the two of them have been very busy with their studies recently. Since no one is forcing them to learn chess, they just plan to just get by.
How could Mr. Zhuang not know what his two disciples were thinking?
He glanced at them and wanted to say something but didn't say it in the end. It was so hard to have a vacation, so he planned to let them have fun for a while and then talk about it after the vacation.
Chess is one of the important means of communication among literati. How could they not know how to play it?
Not only them, but even the most mischievous Bai Erlang has to learn it.
Of course, Mr. Zhuang was so considerate at this time that he didn't tell them.
Playing with stones is also fun. Manbao and Baishan can play with them in the carriage for most of the day.
It is the hottest time of the summer now. They will take a break for a while at noon, have lunch, and leave only after the hottest period is over.
So when they returned to Qili Village, it was already very late.
But the same thing happened, the sun sets late now, and it’s not dark even at 10:00 p.m.
But it was late, and the people in the village had already eaten dinner. Some of them had already washed up and were ready to go to bed. Only a few people could not sleep because it was too hot, so they were sitting under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village, chatting and enjoying the cool air.
When the carriage drove into the village from afar, the villagers under the banyan tree squinted their eyes for a long time before they saw Manbao sitting on the shaft.
An old man, who could see far away, was the first to recognize her. He slapped his thigh and said, "Isn't that Zhou Jin's daughter? Oh, Manbao is back!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the children, both older and younger, who were gathered under the banyan tree and unwilling to sleep, immediately jumped up, yelling and running over. One of them even shouted towards the village, "Zhou Lixue, Zhou Ligu, your aunt is back—"
Three-headed, who had just come out of the shower and was sitting in the yard swatting mosquitoes, pricked up his ears and said, "Dad, I seemed to hear someone calling me, saying that my aunt is back."
"Nonsense, why didn't I hear that? Stop running around and mend those torn pants when you have nothing to do. Your mother and sister are not at home, so do this little thing yourself."
The next chapter will be around 6 p.m.
(End of this chapter)
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