Four days later, they arrived at Xujia Village.
When the head of the Xu family saw his daughter going out with a big belly, he was startled, but he didn't dare to blame Yun Chang. He could only instruct Xu Changhuan's servants and maids to take good care of the princess on the way.
Xu Changhuan invited the head of the Xu family to spend the New Year with her in the capital.
The head of the Xu family originally didn't want to go, but Yun Chang came over and said, "Let's go together. Didn't he say he was going to deliver sheep to the Emperor? It's a good opportunity to go to the capital with them."
After thinking for a moment, the head of the Xu family realized that he would be spending the New Year alone at home, so he might as well go with his daughter. Once he was sure that his son-in-law wasn't just being polite, the head of the Xu family quickly made some arrangements.
He left without his apprentices, only with five sheep. He gave two to the emperor, kept two for his daughter and son-in-law, and gave one to Li Mai and Zhou Quan so they could eat it when they returned to the capital.
After learning about this, Li Mai thanked the head of the Xu family.
Please accept it. Once we reach the capital, we'll give Patriarch Xu some gifts in return!
They rested in Xujia Village for a day, and on the second day, they passed through Yongzhou City. Li Mai stayed for half a day and held a small meeting with the managers there, asking them to cooperate with Zhou Henglu and others in the town to arrange the business for the end of the year and the beginning of next year.
Qian Fugui and Jin Yulai agreed, putting their employer at ease.
In the afternoon, they continued their journey.
They traveled at sunrise and rested at sunset, and finally entered the city on the night of the sixteenth of the twelfth lunar month before the city gates closed.
Because he had planned to return in advance, Yun Chang had already arranged for people to return to both of their residences to make arrangements. Therefore, he sent Li Mai's family to their Li residence and had dinner with them before returning to the Yun Prince's residence with the Xu family head and Xu Changhuan.
Nanling and Yuze were relieved to receive news of their return.
The next day, the two of them came to visit Li Mai, mainly to see the two children.
Seeing the two adorable toddlers already waddling along on the ground, Nanling said enviously, "I want to steal your kids back and raise them for a few days, they're so cute."
Li Mai smiled and glanced at the two of them. "You two aren't that old. After you get married, you can give Chengcheng a little sister. It'll be more lively with two children in the house!"
Nanling and Yuze exchanged a glance, genuinely tempted, but considering they were both nearing forty, they were worried about the risks of childbirth for Nanling and dared not try.
Li Mai didn't say anything more. She asked Zhou Quan to look after the child while she and Nan Ling went to chat.
The conversation mostly revolved around business, where her mansion was located, and so on. The two chatted until noon, and Nanling and Yuze ate stewed lamb chops there before heading back.
This morning, Zhou Quan arranged for the people in the manor to slaughter the sheep that the Xu family head had sent. He wanted to treat Li Mai to a hot pot meal, and Li Mai also said she wanted to eat roasted lamb skewers. Zhou Quan planned to start arranging it tonight.
Hearing that Li Mai had returned, Chu Yan and Zhong Hui also came to the Li residence to visit their master after finishing their shift that evening.
Hearing that their master's husband was going to grill lamb skewers that evening, the two of them immediately decided not to leave and to stay at the Li residence that night, sending a guard home to report the news.
As a result, before long, acquaintances like Yun Chang, Yang Rui, Xu Che, and Cheng Jianghai came to freeload.
Xu Changhuan didn't come. Yun Chang was talking to Yang Rui when she ran into Chu Yan's guards who were going back to the manor to report news. Knowing that they were having a barbecue that night, they came along with the barbecue skewers.
He also sent Xuanwen back to tell Xu Changhuan to get some rest early that night, as he would have dinner at the Li residence and then return home.
Xu Changhuan knew that he had a lot of things to do and was very busy after returning to the capital, so she didn't pay attention to her and only entertained her father. After dinner, the father and daughter took a walk in the Yun residence to familiarize themselves with the place.
Li Mai told her that at this time, she needed to walk around more, so that she would feel better and wouldn't suffer too much.
Inside the Li residence, a group of people were eating roasted lamb skewers. Zhou Quan somehow managed to get a grill, charcoal, and a large basin of barbecue seasoning and sauce.
When the lamb skewers were grilled, their enticing aroma filled the entire street.
People from the surrounding area couldn't help but come out to smell the aroma, trying to guess what it was and where it was coming from. It smelled like barbecue, but they couldn't tell what had been added to it; it was so fragrant.
Li Mai looked at her two children standing beside her and Zhou Quan, drooling over the lamb skewers in their hands, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Grain, eat!" Yanbao anxiously moved from left to right and then from right to left, desperately trying to get some food, but unfortunately her mother was too mean and wouldn't give her a single bite.
Li Mai suppressed a laugh and said earnestly, "Yanbao is too young to eat, it will hurt her stomach!"
"Grain, eat!" Yanbao reached out her little hand to snatch Limai's meat skewers.
Li Mai quickly finished the meat skewer on the signature in a few bites and handed the signature to Zhou Quan.
The situation was similar on Zhou Quan's side. Yu Bao watched longingly, but he didn't call out. However, when his father saw him watching so intently, he finished eating in a few bites.
Zhou Quan took the slip of paper from Li Mai and prepared to deliver it.
When Yanbao saw that her mother had finished eating so quickly, she looked at her father and saw that he had also finished eating.
When Yanbao saw that her older sister hadn't finished eating, she immediately took short steps, wanting to go and let Zhuzhu feed her.
But Zhuzhu didn't dare to feed her. Seeing that she and Yubao were coming towards her, Zhuzhu also followed her parents' example and quickly finished eating in a few bites, then handed the skewer to her father who came over.
"Wow......"
"Waaah..."
The others sat at their respective tables eating, but when they saw the interaction between the family members by the tatami mat on the south side, they laughed so hard they almost choked.
Yanbao and Yubao glanced at the people laughing over there, but unfortunately they didn't know them and didn't dare to go over and snatch the meat.
Suddenly, the siblings saw a familiar face.
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