"Brother Rong'er, why does the Queen Mother keep shouting 'I', I', I'? What does 'I' mean?"

On the way back, Xiao Qianer turned into a curious baby.

Zhao Rong turned around and said patiently:

"It is the self-proclaimed title of the widowed empress dowager or queen. When their emperor husbands passed away, they called themselves "Aijia" to express their great sorrow and mourning."

"I see...sad and mourning..."

Xiao Qian'er suddenly realized and thought: "Brother Rong'er, if you accidentally die and leave Miss and me behind, should we call ourselves Aijia?"

Zhao Rong: “……???”

Good man, you can send me away with just one sentence, and I still miss you.

The air was quiet for a moment.

"You can, but you don't have to."

A young Confucian scholar nodded, and the next second he pounced on him as fast as a rabbit.

The little girl twisted her waist and dodged like a loach.

She blinked her big innocent eyes, "Um, Rong'er, what are you doing?"

"What?" The young scholar suppressed his smile and nodded seriously, "Of course...you."

"Hate it! Don't... don't come over here, there's someone here... ah!"

Zhao Rong smiled and went to grab her.

Xiao Qian'er ran away~

…

Zhao Rong and Zhao Qian'er played around for a while.

A certain little girl no longer dares to call herself "Aijia".

The childhood sweethearts soon held hands in love again.

As they rode back.

Li Bai was holding a sword, leaning against the carriage door, trimming his nails with a file in his hand.

"Uncle Xiaobai."

The two of them greeted each other, walked past him, rolled up the curtain, and entered the carriage.

The curtains were drawn but not let down to let in some air.

Inside the car, Su Qingdai, wearing a black dress and long hair like a waterfall, was sitting in a seat, with her delicate little finger slightly raised, holding a yellow envelope.

She spread out a piece of letter paper with her slender hands and was looking through it carefully.

The corners of the lips are slightly curved.

Zhao Rong and Zhao Qianer entered.

“Tzuyu.”

Hearing the noise of the former coming in, Su Qingdai kept her eyes on the letter and called out with a faint smile.

"Whose letter is it that makes you look so happy? From your family?"

Zhao Rong smiled and sat on her left.

Xiao Qian'er glanced at Su Qingdai, hugged Zhao Rong's arm, and habitually clasped his five fingers with her snow-white hands.

The little girl sat on Zhao Rong's left.

"Yes, it's a letter from my father."

Su Qingdai happily took Zhao Rong's arm, held the letter in both hands, and presented it to her true love. She looked at him with bright eyes, her beautiful eyes curved into crescents.

Zhao Rong smiled, took it and looked at it carefully.

The two girls sat next to the young scholar.

While he was looking at them, the two girls glanced at each other quickly, as if they had accidentally glanced at each other, and after their eyes passed each other, they no longer looked at each other.

Zhao Rong did not see the secret fight between the two women in his house, and even if he did, he would just pretend not to see it.

He was focused on the letter.

This is a family letter from the Su family of Nanxing County to Su Qingdai. Judging from the handwriting, it should have been written by that old man Su.

Well, he should be considered Zhao Rong’s cheap father-in-law.

But at the moment, he has not given any status to Fairy Su, who has followed him wholeheartedly.

Although Zhao Rong didn't mention the matter of status for some time.

But he didn't forget.

Su Qingdai seemed very sensible and never urged Zhao Rong. She even didn't mention a word about these things in the past few days.

When Zhao Rong thought of this, he couldn't help but feel pity and love for her.

He likes women who are obedient and smart.

Well, it’s okay to be a little stupid, but you must be obedient and sensible...

Zhao Rong pursed his lips and glanced at the letter.

The Su family letter begins with the old man asking about the well-being of Su Qingdai, the most outstanding legitimate daughter of the Su family, and then mentions Zhao Rong at great length.

It seemed that the cheap father-in-law was very clear about his affairs. In the letter, he praised Zhao Rong very much and was very satisfied with his son-in-law. He asked Su Qingdai not to forget the Su family's family traditions and ethics, to abide by the women's precepts and virtues, and to serve her husband well.

Zhao Rong read most of the page's praise for him and smiled sheepishly.

It can be seen that this father-in-law should be a loyal and patriotic person. Between the lines, he highly praised Zhao Rong for being close to the young emperor and for helping the young emperor and the empress dowager in their Fengshan ceremony.

The old man seemed to be eager to rush over from Nanxing County immediately to have a drink with his satisfied son-in-law...

Yes, if the old man didn't have this kind of personality, he probably wouldn't have taken the huge Su family to take great risks and go to the three western counties to conduct reconnaissance behind enemy lines, and be arrested and detained by Zhou Dufu... Zhao Rong shook his head and said.

However, the letter also vaguely mentioned the issue of status, asking Zhao Rong and Su Qingdai to finalize it as soon as possible, get married early and then... ahem, give the Su family a few more fat grandchildren.

Zhao Rong blinked.

Yes, it's human nature.

The two women on both sides of him, who were always paying attention to Zhao Rong's gaze and expression, also noticed this.

Inside the car, a stunning woman in a black dress and black hair lowered her head slightly, her cheeks flushed like the sunset.

Xiao Qian'er narrowed her peach blossom eyes and pouty, muttering, "This old man Su is really not serious, and so is his daughter."

Zhao Rong continued to read.

The rest of the letter said that Mr. Su wanted to come to Jiyue Mountain to watch the Fengshan ceremony held by his son-in-law and witness the little emperor being recognized and blessed by the heroic spirits of the ancestors who left the earth...

However, the old man's old illness has been showing signs of recurring recently, and the Su family members have tried to persuade him to stop.

The old man's letter was filled with regret and sadness...

There was silence in the carriage for a moment.

The young scholar read the letter silently with a focused look on his face.

He raised his head and whispered:

"If I remember correctly, Qingdai seemed to have said that my father-in-law is already seventy years old. At his age, he has an old illness, so it is indeed not easy for him to travel too much."

The word "father-in-law" made Su Qingdai suddenly overjoyed and she nodded with a smile.

"Yeah! I think so too."

Xiao Qian'er snorted softly, narrowed her eyes and thought about the young lady's words. She glanced at a certain happy and beautiful fairy.

She held Rong'er's arm obediently, clasping their fingers tightly, without saying a word.

The young scholar folded the letter carefully, stuffed it back into the envelope, and said, "Qingdai, let's write a letter to my father-in-law and ask him to stay home and recuperate. When the return ceremony is over, I'll take you back to visit him when I have time."

"Okay, Tzuyu, I'll do as you say."

Su Qingdai nodded vigorously, her eyes bright and her smile brilliant.

Zhao Rong squinted at the sky outside, thought for a moment, turned around and wanted to say something to her, but closed his mouth again.

Su Qingdai looked at his expression and asked softly, "Zi Yu, what's the matter? Tell me."

Zhao Rong shook his head.

At this time, the man with a sword who was driving the carriage outside blew on his nails, glanced at them, and nodded with satisfaction.

He clapped his hands and looked in the direction where the huge team was moving.

Mountains in the distance rose and fell one after another, and the outline of an extremely majestic mountain could be seen from a distance...

The man holding the sword muttered silently: "It really is here... It is worthy of being their base camp. The trend is all in her hands..."

Li Bai withdrew his gaze and tightened the sword in his arms.

Suddenly he called out, "Zhao kid."

He didn't look at Zhao Rong and the other two chatting in the carriage behind him, "Are you free? Let me tell you something."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Rong stuffed the envelope back into Su Qingdai's hand and nodded.

"What's the matter, Uncle Xiaobai?"

The man holding the sword stretched out his hand and pointed outside.

Xiao Qian'er stepped forward tacitly and took over the position of the driver.

Li Bai jumped off the carriage, Zhao Rong stood up, bent down, left the carriage, jumped down and followed him.

The two girls were not sensible enough to follow.

They watched the two people who wanted to have a private chat walk away.

…

"Uncle Xiaobai, are you saying that after I hold the Fengshan ceremony, you will go ahead and take care of the business affairs of our Duke's Mansion?"

The young Confucian scholar and the man holding the sword walked on foot along the official road, without obstructing the carriage team behind them.

The two gradually fell behind and reached the back of the team.

"Well, I have some urgent matters to attend to. After you finish the Fengshan ceremony, I will leave first."

"Uh, so urgent? When I took Qian'er back to Duyou two days ago, you stayed here to finish your business, didn't you?"

The man holding the sword confessed directly: "Oh, I went out to drink a few days ago and wandered around Hanjing. You didn't know?"

He thought for a moment and said seriously, "Didn't I bring you two servings of lamb kidneys when I went back the day before yesterday evening? I bought them from the oldest restaurant in Hanjing after searching all over the restaurants. Damn, two servings of lamb kidneys are almost worth a pot of premium daughter's red wine."

Young Confucian scholar: "..."

The air became quiet.

"No, why did you bring me lamb kidneys?" Zhao Rong frowned and couldn't help but complain.

The man holding the sword said nothing, just rolled his eyes and looked at him.

Zhao Rong: “???”

Li Bai sighed when he saw this, "Ah, I finally got out, and without that annoying old man Zhao Kun, I shouldn't seize the time to enjoy myself."

Zhao Rong was helpless and coughed: "Uncle Xiaobai, you have to stop drinking, otherwise it will easily cause trouble in the future. Well, okay, if you have something to do, just go ahead, Qian'er, Brother Yiwu and I will return together."

The wine-loving man crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head slightly.

He stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "But I'm afraid something will happen to you. The young lady asked me to protect you. Well, you're the only son of Sister Liu. So I have to take good care of you."

The young scholar's mouth twitched, and he said expressionlessly: "Don't call me mother casually."

The man shook his head. "I have a good relationship with your parents. What's wrong with calling me sister? You are the only one who likes to meddle in other people's business. Why didn't you run out of your mother's womb to protest when they called you that before?"

Zhao Rong didn't respond, but nodded slightly, and said calmly: "Oh, then do you know where my father is? Is he still... alive? My mother didn't mention this to me before she died."

"How should I know this? Your mother and I are both servants of the Duke's Fourth House, and so is Zhao Kun. We have all been staying in the Duke's Mansion for these years, as you know. Your father didn't stay in the Duke's Mansion for long. He left when you were just born."

Li Bai muttered to himself, lowered his head, took out a pot of wine, and took a sip.

"I don't know what he did. Did he follow behind him? These are your mother and father's affairs."

Zhao Rong looked into the man's eyes.

The two looked at each other for a while.

The man holding the sword smacked his lips, tasting the strongest drink in Hanjing City, and after taking a long breath of alcohol, he spoke:

"Well, I was also very curious before and asked your mother, but didn't your mother say that your father returned to his hometown in Nan Xiaoyaozhou? And didn't she tell you all this?"

Zhao Rong pursed his lips and said, "I did say that, but for so many years... there has been no news from that person, not a single word has been sent to Da Chu, and I don't know if he is still in his hometown in Nan Xiaoyaozhou, or... maybe something happened on the way."

His tone was slightly lowered.

Xuanhuang Jiuzhou is very large. In this era, no matter whether you are a cultivator or a mortal, once you go on a long journey, it is very likely that you will be separated by the ends of the earth and it will be difficult for you to meet again.

Because the carriages and horses move very slowly, even the Yunhai ferry that the monks take is as slow as a sparrow in front of the vast Jiuzhou.

Only a mythical monster like Kunpeng in the legend can travel freely around the nine continents...

Besides, who knows what accidents might happen on the road.

What if you pass through some chaotic dynasties, or some immortal mountains and blessed places where immortals with grudges and blood feuds gather, and get caught up in them...

This is the case in Wangque Continent, the smallest of the Nine Continents, let alone across the distance of continents.

"Oh, I don't know then."

The man holding the sword shook his head calmly.

The young scholar was silent for a while.

Li Bai suddenly laughed and said, "If you can't let it go, you can go to your hometown in Nan Xiaoyaozhou someday and look for that guy."

The man threw the wine jug in his hand forward, and the young scholar took it, slightly stunned.

"Don't be fussy, young man. Don't be stingy with your ambition. Whatever you want to do, whatever you want to meet, just do it boldly."

Zhao Rong was quiet for three breaths, then suddenly raised his head and took a big gulp of liquor.

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, smiled, suppressed the choking feeling in his throat, and nodded vigorously.

Then, the two returned to the original topic.

"Uncle Xiaobai, you have urgent matters to attend to in our company, so go first. I'll be fine, the Fengshan ceremony will be over by then, and if nothing unexpected happens, I will go back with Meng Xuezheng from the academy."

Li Bai touched his chin, squinted his eyes and said nothing, as if he was thinking.

Zhao Rong chuckled, "Although there is a little contradiction, she is a teacher of Linlu Academy after all. There are certain tacit principles that everyone in the academy will abide by... Besides, Xiao Qian'er will be with me, so you can go without worry."

The man holding the sword thought about it and nodded.

"Well, that's fine. I'll come back to you as soon as I'm done with this."

Zhao Rong smiled and nodded.

At this moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a strange group of people behind the team.

"Hey, what is this?"

Zhao Rong turned around.

I saw a rather strange and large team behind me.

A group of heavily guarded imperial guards were pulling a...huge dragon coffin, which was surrounded by solemn sacrificial ritual vessels and snow-white mourning clothes.

There were a large number of people who were a strange group of people carrying the coffin.

The atmosphere was solemn and dignified.

Zhao Rong looked over carefully, and paused somewhere at the edge of the group of people carrying the coffin.

Saw a familiar figure.

"Brother Huizhi?"

The young scholar was slightly confused and walked forward with his sleeves rolled up.

Li Bai glanced at the dragon coffin.

He turned around and followed Zhao Rong quietly.

A thin man in a washed-out uniform was riding on a skinny horse.

He was not alone, there were two old carriages following him.

One of the carriages should be carrying family members.

The curtain of the carriage was being lifted.

Zhao Rong took a look and saw a middle-aged woman with simple clothes and an ordinary face.

She looked like a woman from a commoner family, not at all like the wife of an official of the fifth rank or above.

The woman was accompanied by a boy who was about seven or eight years old, with a childish and silly appearance.

The boy was reading with his head down.

Another carriage was loaded with luggage and belongings, and four old servants were sitting in it.

Some of these old servants had a lame leg, some were blind, and some had half of their faces disfigured. They looked horrible, as if they had been in a fire... It seemed that these servants had miserable life experiences.

In front of the two carriages, the thin censor who came from Siqi Academy looked as solemn as ever. He rode on the back of a skinny horse and led the way in silence.

Two horse-drawn carriages closely followed the grand procession carrying the dragon coffin.

Zhang Huizhi stood straight with his back looking forward.

Zhao Rong took Li Bai and walked in the opposite direction, looking at the strangely matched team behind them.

When he got closer, he said with a smile:

"Brother Huizhi, why are you here too? And you brought...luggage and family?"

…