Dabao seemed shocked by Jian Ning's words. He was now the same age as Ma Xiaomai was back then. How could he be willing to sleep on the same bed with his father again?
He glanced at Ding Youtian silently, "My son is used to sleeping alone."
Ding Youtian raised his eyebrows and looked at him. When Jian Ning suggested that Dabao sleep with him, he had planned to refuse, but he kept silent for fear of hurting his son's feelings. Unexpectedly, Dabao rejected him in return. Was he being rejected by his own son?
He snorted angrily and was about to leave.
"Wait a minute." Jian Ning called out to him, suppressing her laughter, "Go and bring Zhaocai back."
Ding Youtian squinted at Dabao and said, "What are you still doing there? Do you think you can be a magic needle to stabilize the sea? Go find Uncle Tong and tell him to bother him to come over."
Dabao responded respectfully and left.
Just as Jian Ning was about to scold Ding Youtian, he put his hands behind his back, raised his head and walked towards the small flower hall.
"Look at your father. He's getting older and older. Go and comfort him. Mom will go and pack up the things for your grandfather and the others. Go ahead."
There were quite a lot of things to bring to the capital, so Jian Ning prepared gifts for many people, including the Prince of Pingnan and his wife, Aunt Li and her son, the Grand Tutor and his wife, A'man and Huo Junyi, Duan Qingping and his wife and their parents-in-law, Yang Jinyu's parents, and Manager Chen's wife and children. She prepared some local specialties for them all. In short, that was the intention.
After counting everything and packing them into boxes, Dabao came over just in time. Jian Ning took out a piece of cloth and asked him to write the names on each person's name. The cloth was then cut into small strips and tied to the bamboo box to avoid confusion.
"Go call Uncle Yuechan to help move them to the carriage. Some of them need to be tied to the back of the carriage."
After Dabao called Yuechan over, Jian Ning only remembered that she had forgotten Yue'e when she saw him. Seeing Qinglian and Erlangzi had come to help move things, she went back to the house and found two pieces of cloth in the box. She took them out and gave them to Qinglian, "Take these two pieces of cloth and make clothes for you and Yue'e."
"Thank you, ma'am." Qinglian accepted it frankly. Jian Ning liked her personality very much. Although she was not talkative, she was not shy and was a very opinionated person.
It would be a blessing for Yuechan to marry her. Jian Ning couldn't help but look at Yuechan. When Yuechan saw her looking at her, her face froze slightly. She clasped her fists and said in a deep voice, "I thank the madam on behalf of my sister."
"You're welcome. It seems like it was just yesterday when I first met your sister at the farm outside Zhuling County. But when I think about it, several years have passed. Time flies." Jian Ning sighed in his heart. For a moment, he seemed to hear the pipa music played by Yue'e that night and the moths flying around the room again.
Both the brother and sister are capable people, but in order to rebuild and revitalize their tribe, they have been living in the capital, patiently waiting for Ah Man to grow up. Their persistence is unparalleled.
Jane Ning still admires his brother and sister very much.
"I'll leave Sister Qinglian to you." Jian Ning said with a double entendre.
Yuechan was stunned for a moment, then she added, "Please take good care of me along the way."
Qinglian blushed slightly when she heard the meaning behind her words. Yuechan felt relieved, thinking that Jian Ning meant that he was entrusting her with the safety of the journey to the capital and asked her to take good care of it. So she clasped her fists and said, "Leave it to me and don't worry."
After he finished speaking, Qinglian's face turned even redder. Fortunately, it was dim in the yard and no one saw it.
After washing up at night, the big girls pestered Jane Ning to tell them stories, and they all said they wanted to hear stories about gods and ghosts. Jane Ning asked them if they had heard of Painted Skin.
"Never heard of it." The three said in unison.
"Okay, Mom, I'll be clear. This might be a little scary, but are you sure you want to listen?"
Erniu was a little scared when she heard this, so she threw off the quilt and quickly climbed onto the bed of Jian Ning and Da Niu. Sanniu was stunned for a moment, then crawled over as well. Even though she was scared, she still wanted to listen.
Jian Ning is very good at telling stories and creating an atmosphere. She was telling the story of the old version of "Painted Skin", which she had seen in elementary school when her school rented a theater. When she talked about the scholar going to the dilapidated temple alone at night and hearing a woman crying outside, the three children hugged her tightly.
It had to be said that this feeling made her feel particularly warm, as if she had been transported back to the night she had first traveled through time and was driven to the old house. Back then, Ding Youtian and Dabao slept in the small bed, while she and Da Niu, the other three, slept in the big bed. She recalled the days when she and Ding Youtian had weaved straw mats under the lamp.
It’s not easy to get to where we are today.
"Mom, that woman must not be a human. She must be a mountain spirit or a tree monster, right?" Erniu hugged Jian Ning's neck and shook her. Her voice sounded trembling. She was both scared and a little excited.
The same goes for Big Girl and Little Girl.
"She's not a mountain elf or a tree monster. She's a fierce ghost that eats people's hearts."
"Ah!" The three girls all clung tightly to Jane Ning.
"Then do you still want to listen? Or should I tell you a different story?"
"don't want!"
The three of them spoke in unison again, and Jane Ning continued. She spoke so seriously that they believed it, and even many years later they were still frightened when they thought of the story.
Jane Ning regretted it. She originally told this story to tell the three of them not to focus solely on outer beauty. You can only know a person's face but not his heart. You should learn to recognize people's hearts and recognize those around you who are truly good to you.
But the result seemed to scare them. The second and third girls refused to go back to sleep in the small beds next to them. Jane Ning had no choice but to let them squeeze into one bed with her and the eldest girl first, and then quietly carry them back to the other bed after they fell asleep.
Early in the morning, Erniu and Sanniu woke up. They turned their heads and looked at each other. Thinking of the story last night, they giggled. When it was dawn, they thought about it again and didn't think it was scary at all.
Jian Ning took the three of them to practice martial arts. Dabao practiced martial arts with Tong Bajin and Xu Dali. Maybe because she was thinking that she would soon leave her parents and two younger sisters, the eldest girl was particularly clingy when she woke up in the morning. As soon as she finished practicing martial arts, she softly called "Mom" and threw herself into Jian Ning's arms, hugging her waist and refusing to let go.
"Shu'er, if you don't want to go to the capital, then stay. Mom won't force you, and you shouldn't force yourself either, okay?" Jian Ning felt a little sad and didn't want her to leave him again.
"No, mother, I want to accompany my grandmother, grandfather, and great aunt in your place. They treat Shu'er very well. My brother and sister A'man are also in the capital. I just can't bear to leave mother and my sisters."
Erniu and Sanniu smiled at each other again. Sanniu asked, "Sister, you didn't mention Daddy. Don't you like Daddy?"
Ding Youtian stretched himself and came out of the room. When Sanniu mentioned him, he yawned and asked, "Daddy, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I was just praising you." Jian Ning hugged the girl and smiled at him.
"Praise me?" Ding Youtian yawned again, and his eyes moved suspiciously between the four faces of the mother and daughter. Why was he so unconvinced?
After breakfast, Yuechan harnessed the carriage and waited in the yard. Qinglian took Da Niu's hand and prepared to get on the carriage, but Da Niu suddenly shook her off and turned around to throw herself into Jian Ning's arms, "Mom, I will miss you!"
Ding Youtian scratched his nose, "You only miss your mother and not your father?"
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