Chapter 140 Chapter 140 Update.
According to this strong woman, she was the wet nurse of the Yan family, and the one she just called was Xiaoyao, the Yao that died young, not the Yao that means the youngest child.
At first, Ji Xu and the others just heard Mrs. Xiao call out the sound and thought it was the youngest in order of birth. Later, they found out that he was indeed the youngest among Tian's children, so they gave him this character in the household registration.
The Yan family was a family in Maoling. Their ancestors made their fortune as butchers. Later, they had gardens and forests, where they raised livestock and sold meat, and they lived a good life.
Unfortunately, they were not very successful in having children. Two of them died in infancy. They finally had a daughter, but she was as weak as a kitten when she was born. The fortune teller said that the daughter would not live past the age of three. The family held a grand ceremony and named her "Yao" in the hope that the humble name would have the meaning of incompatibility and make it easier to raise the child.
Fortunately, after having this nickname, Xiaoyao became better day by day. She no longer looked like a sickly and fragile child. She became more solid and lively. It was on this day three years ago that there was a big Nuo ceremony on the Wei River. The servants of the family carried her to watch the fun and got lost in the crowd.
The Yan family searched along the shore for several days and nights but couldn't find her. Some said she had fallen into the Wei River and drowned, while others said she had been abducted by kidnappers.
"The day before the Nuo ceremony was her third birthday. The family thought she had only passed the three-year mark and that she would be safe and sound in the future. Unexpectedly..."
Tears rolled down the wet nurse's eyes as she spoke. The child was raised by her breast, and since he passed away, no one knew whether he was alive or dead. Every year on the last day of October, she would come to the Wei River and search and call for him along the banks.
Even if she really drowned in the water and her body was nowhere to be found, I would call her soul back. It has been three years, and unexpectedly, I really made her call back.
She would not make a mistake. Xiaoyao had a pair of big black eyes and a round face. Even after three years, she could still vaguely recognize the same model. The most important thing was that she had just rolled up Xiaoyao's sleeve and saw that she really had a red bean-sized red mole on her elbow.
"Xiaoyao, I'm Aunt Feng. You grew up drinking my milk, which is made from blood. I'm half your mother. Don't you remember me?"
Aunt Feng wiped her tears and asked, Xiaoyao was only three years old when she was kidnapped. She had experienced a lot on the way and didn't remember anything. She was frightened by Aunt Feng just now. The tears on her face had not dried yet. Now she didn't recognize her, turned her head towards Feng and Zhu, and babbled.
Feng Gu also guessed that Xiao Yao could only babble and used gestures when she had something to say. She was probably mute.
After asking Ji Xu, he learned that he had been poisoned and silenced by the thieves. Tears began to flow again.
"By then, he could speak a lot and even recite a few lines from the Book of Songs..."
He then asked Xiaoyao what she was gesturing.
"She wants to go home." Ji Zhu said.
"Xiaoyao wants to go home." Xiaoyao gestured again.
"Aunt Feng will take you home. Your surname is Yan, and you are from the Yan family in Shuangying Lane, Maoling County. If Aunt Feng takes you back, Madam will surely be overjoyed when she returns."
Xiaoyao was not willing to go with her and clutched Tian's sleeve tightly. Tian picked her up and coaxed her a few words, but she hated Feng Gu even more and gestured to her:
"Bad guy!"
Feng Gu thought it was something nice and asked Ji Xu to tell her, but after hearing it, she was stunned and didn't dare to go over and scare her anymore. She said:
"Where do my benefactor's family live? I'll go with you to find a place, then report back home. Xiaoyao will go back with you for the time being, so as not to scare her again."
Because of such a big thing, they asked Aunt Meng to help look after the stall in the store. Tian said that she would buy wine to thank her next time, so the family went back first.
Feng Gu went to the door to recognize herself, but she had no intention of going in to sit down, so she hurried back to Maoling Town.
Ji Xu lit the stove in the east room, and Tian sat on the kang with Xiaoyao, who was sleeping in her arms. In the needlework box on the table, there was an unfinished red bellyband that was the size of Xiaoyao.
Feng and Zhu also followed nearby, listening to the adults talking and occasionally glancing at the sleeping face of the little one.
"It's a good thing that you've found your relatives. When you were lost for three years, your mother felt the same way as Aunt Feng.
The mole on Xiaoyao's body that Aunt Feng mentioned is related to the time when she was lost. She and Madam Xiao took Xiaoyao with them among the refugees and came to our hometown in the middle of winter. It also matches the situation.
"When her relatives come, we'll take a closer look and if it's really her child, we'll return her to her family," said Tian.
"Xiaoyao is leaving?"
Ji Fengdao felt very reluctant to leave.
They met Xiaoyao in Zhuo County, Youzhou last summer. They were together in the county magistrate's mansion. The sisters were washing urine buckets by the river. Only Xiaoyao didn't mind the smell and saved her food to share with them. Later, they escaped from the mansion together from the hands of Manager Zou. After going through so many things, they finally arrived in Chang'an and lived a peaceful life. They fell in love with each other over time and couldn't bear to let go of each other for a while.
When Xiaoyao heard that they were going to leave, she twisted her body and refused to leave. Tian patted her and shook her a few times, coaxing her to continue sleeping, and then continued talking to Ji Xu.
Later, she didn't have the mood to prepare lunch, so she asked Ji Feng to go to the store to buy some ready-made cooked food, and she would make some easy dishes.
When Ji Feng came back with a food basket, he saw people from the Yan family coming.
A carriage was parked on North Street. Feng Gu led the people and hurried to her home. She saw Ji Feng standing at the door and waving to her.
Aunt Liu, who had just returned from buying silk thread, asked Ji Feng:
"I heard from Da Yak that Xiaoyao is not your biological daughter. Has she found her relatives?"
Ever since Tian moved to Sangshu Lane, she has told everyone that Xiaoyao is her daughter. Because she is still young, she doesn't want her to know that she is not her biological daughter, so she hasn't told anyone about Xiaoyao's background.
Later, Jin gossiped about it quietly, and the neighbors learned about Xiaoyao's life experience. However, no one asked Tian in person, nor did they bring up these things in front of Xiaoyao.
Today, her dog ran into them and told Aunt Liu about it. Only then could she not help but ask and stood by to watch.
Behind Feng Gu who was pointing the way, there was an old lady with three hairpins in her bun, wearing a gorgeous dress and a sable fur coat.
Following them were two maids, who were also anxious and curious, looking around at the street.
"This is it." said Feng Gu.
There was a lot of disdain in Old Lady Yan's eyes, "Are you there? Xiaoyao lives in a family like this? Xiaoyao! Xiaoyao!"
While calling, he walked into the courtyard.
Ji Feng had been reluctant to open the door for them, and upon hearing this, she said indifferently:
"Little One has fallen asleep, so at least keep your voice down, or else he'll start crying again out of shock, and his face will become chapped."
The girl over there changed her expression and said:
"This woman is really mean. How could her own granddaughter be frightened and cry? You picked up someone else's child and didn't even bother handing her over to the authorities. Instead, you kept her with you. Otherwise, we would have found her long ago. Why did you let the young lady suffer in these poor streets of yours for so long?"
"The old man is here, so I woke up Xiaoyao to have lunch. Is the old man ready? Can we have some together?"
If Tian had not come out after hearing the noise of the courtyard gate, Ji Feng would have started quarreling with the girl. When she heard Tian asking her to bring in the cooked food and put it on the table, she glared at the girl in anger, stomped her foot, and turned away.
When the weather gets cold, the family eats on the bamboo couch in the main room, with a stove next to them for warmth.
The place was clearly clean and tidy, and there was no smell, but when Old Lady Yan came in, she had to cover her nose with a towel for some reason.
Tian's face lost its smile after seeing this. If this person wasn't Xiaoyao's relative, she would have kicked him out.
"This is Xiaoyao's eldest mother. Her grandfather is checking the accounts at the manor in Guandong. He has sent an urgent letter and it will take some time for him to return. The lady went to the White Horse Temple outside the city to fulfill a vow. She harnessed the fastest horse in the family to tell her that she will be here in the afternoon." Feng Gu said.
Old Lady Yan looked at the lunch at the table. She saw a pickled goose bought in the downtown area, chopped up and placed on a plate, a simple bowl of steamed egg custard, and a vegetarian dish of braised water chestnuts. She said:
"Why are you still eating here? Where's Xiaoyao? Tell her to come home with me. There's something delicious to eat."
The little girl's face was red, with pillow marks from waking up. She came out of the east room in her cotton sandals. Seeing four or five strangers in the main room, she immediately ran behind Tian and ignored the old lady when she spoke to her.
Old Lady Yan tried to chat with him a few times but was ignored. She said unhappily:
"A good child has become so timid. He used to be such a generous and smart child."
These words were irritating to the Tian family, and the youngest one didn't like it either. She gestured towards her, and Old Lady Yan asked Fenggu.
Feng Gu understood that it was the "bad guy" she had been compared to in the morning. She didn't want to tell the truth and hurt her feelings, so she said:
"She wants to eat."
Xiaoyao was indeed hungry. She loved the tender steamed egg custard drizzled with sesame oil.
Tian used her unbreakable wooden bowl to serve her rice, scooped some egg custard and mixed it for her to eat. She picked out the pickled goose with fewer bones and more meat, and she would put them into her mouth one bite of meat and one bite of rice at a time, eating them with great relish.
Feng Gu wanted to feed her, so she held the bowl and unscrewed it, gesturing:
"I'm six years old. I don't need to be fed."
After hearing what Ji Zhu said, Feng Gu smiled and said, "Okay, okay, you are old enough now and can eat by yourself. You don't need Feng Gu to chase you to feed you anymore."
The old lady Yan was very pleased to see this from the side, but she was different. She patiently sat on the futon beside her. After waiting for Xiaoyao to finish his bowl of rice, she said before she even put down the spoon:
"I've already eaten. I've wasted this time. It's time to go back with my grandmother. You are a child of my Yan family, so you must return to my Yan family. It's not proper for you to wander around outside."
When Xiaoyao heard this, his face turned pale and he hugged Tian's legs, refusing to leave.
Old Lady Yan winked at the two maids, and they forcibly took the child away, causing the little one to cry incessantly. Unfortunately, she couldn't speak, otherwise she would have called Guan Tian "Mom" at the top of her lungs.
Tian's eyes were red too. She took two bundles and stuffed them into a maid's hand. They were just hastily packed and said:
"Here are her clothes. Two of them are newly made and never worn. Take them with you. There are also two bellybands and three pairs of socks..."
"This bag contains her favorite treats. There are dried chestnuts, malt candy made by her sister, fried dough sticks I made, and a clay dog and wooden cart. These are all toys she plays with every day."
The girl didn't take it and said, "What is it? The Yan family has better things to buy her. Don't follow her. Do you really treat her as your own daughter?"
As he spoke, he walked out of the main hall and headed towards the carriage outside the yard without stopping.
"Hey."
The girl's arm was bitten by Xiaoyao, and she twisted it off because she couldn't hold on to it. She jumped off the carriage and returned to Tian.
The girl rubbed her shoulder and asked, "You, nun, did you deliberately teach her not to go with us?"
How could Tian not be angry? She also protected the little one and said:
"Xiaoyao doesn't recognize you at all. Who knows if you are her relatives? I won't let her go with you."
If Tian Shi refused to let go, how could they carry the two maids away? Moreover, Ji Feng was blocking the way in front, and the situation was at a stalemate.
Another carriage stopped at the door, and a lady came down. There were traces of tears on her face, and there were no hairpins or rings on her bun. She wore a plain jacket, a leather belt, and a white fur coat.
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