Gao changed little Anrui's diaper and fed him. After little Anrui was full, he fell asleep again.
At this time, Cui came over and said, "Mother, Yingniang, the meal is ready, come and eat!"
Gao put little Anrui on the bed, covered him with quilts, and went to the main room with Wang.
There were already six dishes on the table in the main room, the staple food was fragrant rice, and the family finished their lunch while chatting and laughing.
After lunch, An Dashan and his companions rested for a while and then drove the mule cart home.
Wang looked at the mule cart going farther and farther away and said to Cui and Li, "In the past, I was most worried about Yingniang. Now that I see that her family is getting better and better, I am relieved."
Cui said: "Mother, my little sister is a blessed one, you just need to relax."
Wang looked at her two daughters-in-law and said, "You two are good people. When life was tough, we had to support Yingniang and the others, and you didn't complain."
Cui smiled and said, "Mom, we are all family, so of course we should help each other." Although Li didn't say anything, she nodded.
Wang looked at her two sensible daughters-in-law and said, "Come to my room and divide the cloth among them."
Cui and Li agreed and helped Wang back to the house.
On the way back, An Ning asked Gao, "Mom, I forgot to ask you yesterday, have you harvested the fish and lotus roots in our pond?"
Gao nodded and said, "They have been collected. Your uncle asked someone to collect them. The fish and lotus roots in the pond have been sold to the restaurant in town. There are still many smaller fish, but your uncle didn't catch them. He said he would keep them for our family to eat."
An Ning nodded and said, "Well, I feel relieved. By the way, has my uncle been paid?"
Gao tapped An Ning's nose and said, "You, the little housekeeper, have already settled everything."
They returned home chatting and laughing all the way.
The next day, An Dashan brought some special products and gifts from the capital to An Dabo's house. An Dabo had known that An Dashan had been conferred the title of Rongchang Bo. When he saw An Dashan coming, he excitedly grabbed An Dashan and began to talk, saying, "It's really the blessing of our ancestors that our An family has three such promising people all of a sudden."
An Dashan couldn't bear to interrupt the old man, so he could only let Uncle An hold him while nodding in agreement.
Finally, Uncle An forced An Dashan to drink two cups, and after drinking, he said that they would go to worship their ancestors in the next few days, and this good thing should also be known to the ancestors. An Dashan naturally had no objection, and the two agreed to go to worship their ancestors three days later, and then An Dashan returned home.
Three days later, An Dashan and An Dabo came to the ancestral tomb with wine, incense, candles, paper money and offerings. While burning paper money, An Dashan told all the recent events in a rambling manner. Finally, they kowtowed three times and then went home.
In a blink of an eye, it was the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month again. This was An Ning's second birthday here. Even though there were servants at home, Gao still got up early and made a bowl of longevity noodles for An Ning. An Ning ate the longevity noodles and felt very warm in her heart. An Dashan was not to be outdone and cooked a lot of red eggs for her.
After breakfast, An Dashan took out a wooden comb and said to An Ning, "Ning Ning, I made this for you with peach wood. Do you like it?"
An Ning took the wooden comb in her hand and looked at it carefully. Although there were no carved patterns, it was polished very smoothly. An Ning nodded and said, "Thank you, Dad. I like it very much."
An Dashan was also very happy when he saw that An Ning's expression didn't seem fake.
After An Dashan finished giving the gifts, Gao also took out a pair of exquisite embroidered shoes and said, "Ningning, this is your birthday gift from mother."
An Ning took the pair of embroidered shoes. She liked the delicate patterns on them as soon as she saw them. She smiled and said, "Mom, I like this very much. It's just that making embroidered shoes is too tiring for the eyes. Don't make them again in the future." Gao nodded with a smile.
After delivering the gifts, everyone went about their own business. Gao asked An Ning to coax the child while she went to the kitchen to make lunch with Xinghua.
Gao and Xinghua worked together to prepare a large table of food for lunch, including An Ning's favorite sweet and sour pork ribs.
The family sat together and had lunch happily. The atmosphere was very good.
At this time, the border was at war again. Every year at this time, the northern barbarians would come to the border to plunder. This year, the northern barbarians learned to be smart. Instead of attacking Juyongguan directly, they plundered villages around the border and ran away after robbing, giving people no chance to react.
Zhenyuan Hou was so angry that he slammed the table in front of him, causing a crack. He said to his personal guards, "Gather everyone to discuss countermeasures."
The soldier saluted and said, "Yes." Then he turned and walked out.
Soon, all the generals sat in the meeting room. Zhenyuan Hou spoke in a deep voice, saying: "Everyone has seen the current situation. The barbarians are not fighting us head-on. What do you think about this?"
General Li said, "Commander-in-chief, why don't we split up into smaller groups and disperse to different villages, waiting for the opportunity. If any barbarians dare to come, we will make sure they never return."
After General Li finished speaking, many people began to agree with him, but there were also those who opposed. For a moment, the conference hall was like a vegetable market.
Zhenyuan Hou slammed the table, and in an instant, the noisy meeting room became so noisy that you could hear a pin drop. Zhenyuan Hou looked at An Yong, who had never spoken, and said, "General An, do you have a way to defeat the enemy?"
An Yong was called, stood up calmly, and said: "Commander, I do have a method, but it is a bit risky."
Zhenyuan Hou nodded and said, "General An, please feel free to speak."
An Yong said: "Commander, the Northern Barbarians were badly injured by our attack last year, so they dare not fight us head-on this year. I think we should send a team to attack the enemy's royal court directly."
Zhenyuan Hou nodded and said, "General An and I have the same idea." Then he turned to the generals and asked, "Who is willing to lead the army?"
None of the generals were afraid. They all clasped their fists and saluted, saying, "I am willing to lead the troops there."
The Marquis of Zhenyuan nodded in satisfaction and said, "Okay, all the generals, listen to my orders. Let General Li lead 20,000 troops as the vanguard, General An lead 10,000 soldiers to take charge of the left wing, General Liu lead 100,000 soldiers to take charge of the right wing, and General Wang lead 10,000 troops to escort the people to evacuate first. The rest of the soldiers stay put and hold Juyong Pass to prevent the barbarian army from being defeated."
All the generals stood up, clasped their fists and saluted, saying, "Yes, I will obey your command."
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