When Li Yuexi arrived in Miaozhou with Granny Lu and the two children, Xu Di was still too busy to go to the dock to pick her up. When Li Yuexi finally saw Xu Di, she burst into tears.
Xu Di didn't bother to hold the two children. He pulled Li Yuexi into his arms and coaxed her, "I'm perfectly fine. Look, the children are still watching you. Don't cry."
Over there, Granny Lu was leading two children, one in each arm, into the house. Duoduo asked curiously, "Granny, why is Mother crying? Is it because Father has lost weight?"
Granny Lu replied with a smile, "Yes, your mother cried because your father didn't take good care of himself and made himself so tired. You two mustn't be like that. You must be good, eat well, and never make your mother sad."
Guoguo stood inside the door, frowned as she looked at her father, who had lost a lot of weight and had a scruffy beard, pouted, and said to Granny Lu, "Father didn't wash his face."
These two children are not even two years old, but they can already speak very fluently. Perhaps it's because girls love to talk, but the older sister's words are much longer than her younger brother's.
Li Yuexi burst out laughing, took Xu Di's hand, and walked into the house. As they walked, she said, "Your father is tired. He's such a clean person. He must be too busy to take good care of himself. Let's take good care of him together, okay?"
Duoduo cheerfully agreed, and Xu Di felt a surge of sweetness in his heart. He wanted to pick up his daughter and kiss her tenderly, but then he remembered that he had just come from the road construction site outside the city and was still very dirty. He could only suppress his desire and smiled at the two children, saying, "Daddy has been very busy lately, but things will be better soon. Once everything is done here and Daddy has time, how about we go fishing in the river outside the city?"
Children love being near water. When they heard that they were going to go fishing by the river, even Guoguo, who is usually quite reserved, lit up. Duoduo even asked, "Daddy, are we going to catch really, really big fish?"
Xu Di patiently explained, "Yes, there used to be a large lotus garden by the river, with a huge expanse of lotus flowers. In the summer, the river flooded and submerged the lotus garden. But now, there's a large body of water there. I heard that there are big fish in the water, and many people go there to fish."
Girls have a natural affinity for flowers and plants. Duoduo asked curiously, "A lotus garden? Is it bigger than the pond at home with lotus flowers?"
Xu Di laughed and said, "Of course, how many lotus flowers are there in the pond in our backyard? The lotus flowers in this lotus garden are so numerous that you can't see the end. Even if you take a boat, it would take quite a while to get from one end to the other."
Duo Duo's longing became even more evident. Xu Di was afraid that he had described it too well and that the child would be unhappy when she saw that there was only water and nothing else to see. So he quickly said, "But right now there is still just water. I heard that family say that next spring they will fill the lotus garden with lotus flowers again. Then we can go there to pick lotus pods and lotus flowers, okay?"
Duoduo nodded with a smile. Bai Shao came over from the backyard, greeted Xu Di with a smile, and said, "Our luggage is all packed. Aunt Zhao from the kitchen said she'll make us fish soup noodles for lunch."
It turned out that Zhao, the woman who cooked for Xu Zhi, was from Miaozhou City and didn't want to leave. Xu Zhi saw that she cooked well and was honest and reliable, so she recommended her to Xu Di. After Xu Di tasted Zhao's cooking, he secretly sent someone to inquire about the people around Zhao before finally keeping her.
A few days ago, Sister Zhao went to Zhoujia Village and cooked for more than ten days. Granny Lu had tasted it and said to Li Yuexi, "This sister-in-law's cooking is very delicious, especially the soup noodles, which are the best. Let's have a good taste."
When Xu Di was in Hexi, he had two maids, Bai Shao and Bai Shu. Later, Bai Shu went to study medicine with Chen Zhaoci. When Xu Zhi was going to go to Yuezhou from Ganzhou with Zheng Boyuan, she needed someone who knew medicine. So Xu Di sent Bai Shu. For many years, Bai Shu stayed by Xu Zhi's side. Bai Shao, on the other hand, stayed by Xu Di's side. Even when Xu Di and Li Yuexi were in Tai'an, Bai Shao lived with Xu Di's steward in the courtyard outside the academy.
Li Yuexi has been taking care of her children on her own since they were born. Unlike the other children in the household who had wet nurses from birth, Li Yuexi breastfed her own children under the care of Chen Zhaoci and Granny Lu. This was also Chen Zhaoci's suggestion, firstly because breastfeeding is beneficial to the development of the mother-child relationship, and most importantly, it is good for Li Yuexi's health.
After the meal, Xu Di took the two children for a walk around the courtyard. This courtyard was originally where Xu Zhi lived. Xu Zhi left behind many things that she hadn't taken with her. After looking around the kitchen, Granny Lu said to Li Yuexi, "Our aunt is really thoughtful. Not only did she leave Zhao Saozi behind, but she also left Gongxi from the kitchen."
Li Yuexi said with a smile, "This really saves us a lot of trouble. We can eat right away when we arrive, without having to go shopping in town. Granny, I heard from my husband that Ninth Sister's place in Luzhou isn't far from us. Can we go visit her?"
Granny Lu shook her head and said, "I don't know if we can go. After all, the road from here to Luzhou is not easy to travel. Not only do we have to travel by water, but there are also some difficult sections on land."
To the northeast of Lüzhou is Wuzhou. The post road from Wuzhou to Lüzhou is well-maintained, but the road from Lüzhou to Miaozhou is problematic. One section is the Miao River, and another section consists of several sparsely populated mountains and forests. In particular, the road between those two mountains is just a dirt and stone path. I heard that during heavy rains, this road becomes impassable and needs to be properly repaired before it can be used again.
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