The new county magistrate from Zhucheng was a Jinshi graduate, in his twenties, young, and looked honest and respectful when he saw Wei Min.
After Wei Min completed the handover of official duties in Zhucheng, he rented a carriage in the morning and set off for Beijing.
A'ruan was reluctant to leave. When leaving the courtyard, she looked back frequently. Her eyes gradually became wet and the corners of her eyes turned red.
Wei Min held A'ruan's shoulders, lowered his head and kissed the top of his head, and whispered: "A'ruan, if you like it here, I promise you, when we are old, we will come back to live here, how about that?"
As A Ruan listened to her words, he couldn't help but imagine that when he gets older, he will sit in the yard in the winter, basking in the warm sun, with his wife sitting beside him reading a book and drinking tea, and his children and grandchildren playing around him. What a peaceful and quiet life those would be.
When Aruan thought about it, the reluctance in his heart faded a lot.
Wei Min carried A'ruan sideways onto the carriage and lifted the curtain to let him get in first.
Eighteen was sitting in the front, holding a piece of dogtail grass in his mouth, and he kept tilting his head to look at the road behind him.
After a while, a petite figure with a bag on her shoulder and her clothes in her hand came running over in a hurry, panting and shouting, "Master, wait for me."
Erjiu had just returned from home. Seeing that his master was about to set off, he immediately ran to the carriage and stretched out his hand to Eighteen.
Eighteen spat out the grass in his mouth, pulled him up, raised his hand to tidy up his messy hair, and said with a rather disdainful tone: "Why are you so slow?"
Erjiu puffed up his cheeks and slapped away Shiba's hand. He took out a tightly wrapped oil paper bag from his arms, turned around, opened the curtain and handed it to A'ruan, and said with squinting eyes: "Master, you are reluctant to leave. You must not have eaten much in the morning. Here, I bought the buns from the shop you like to eat on the way."
Ah Ruan was deeply touched by Erjiu's thoughtfulness. He took the bun with a smile, turned around and handed it to Wei Min, then raised his hand and asked Erjiu:
——Is it cold outside? Don’t you want to come in and sit down?
Erjiu secretly glanced at Wei Min who was keeping silent and lowered his eyes, and shook his head quickly, saying in a clear and pleasant voice, "Master, don't worry, it's not cold outside at all."
The weather in April is just right.
When A'ruan saw Erjiu's head retracting from the carriage, she couldn't help but smile and glanced sideways at Wei Min.
Wei Min thought he was hungry, so he raised the oil-paper bag in his hand and asked, "Do you want to eat?"
A Ruan shook her head and moved closer to Wei Min, leaning her head on her shoulder, looking up at her with a gentle smile in her eyes, staring at her steadily, obviously wanting to say something.
——My dear wife, wherever you are, that is home.
A Ruan was not reluctant to leave Zhucheng. What he was reluctant to leave was the happy and relaxing time he had in Zhucheng. If it was the same place, without Wei Min, he probably wouldn't feel so reluctant to leave.
Now that his wife is by his side, and Erjiu Shiba is accompanying him to Beijing, the four of them are still together, so it is still a home in Beijing, because the "family" has not changed.
Wei Min lowered his head, took A'ruan into his arms, lowered his eyes gently and whispered in his ear: "A'ruan, no matter what changes happen in the capital, your wife is still your wife, this will never change."
Wei Min knew that A'ruan preferred stability and peace, but since she had chosen to come to the capital and cooperate with Jiang Wuque, there was no reason for her not to go back now.
The current imperial court is extremely corrupt, the aristocracy holds power, and it is difficult for people from poor families to enter the government. If nothing changes, Chiang Kai-shek will be finished sooner or later.
If the skin is gone, where will the hair attach to?
No matter if there are undercurrents in the capital or the political situation is turbulent in the future, she will always use her shoulders to create a safe little world for him and protect him from any harm.
Ah Ruan knew that his wife was a man who could do great things, so he gave a simple and clear answer. He raised his head and gave Wei Min a kiss on the corner of his lips.
The four of them returned to Beijing without any rush, but they never missed a roadside post station and never traveled overnight.
After walking for more than a month, it was already May or June.
The weather was very gloomy that day, and Eighteen was afraid that it would rain on the road, so he drove the carriage faster.
It was only a short while after noon when the sky began to grow darker. The howling wind swept through the grass and trees on the roadside, raising dust and making me squint.
Erjiu, who was sitting in the front, felt a little cold, so he turned around, took out his cloak and put it on, and asked the person next to him, "Eighteen, are you cold?"
Eighteen shook his head and said to him sideways: "The master asked you to get back in the car, go quickly, or you will get wet in the rain later."
Erjiu wrapped his cloak tightly around him and was about to turn around and climb into the car, but out of the corner of his eye he saw two figures suddenly jump out of the bushes in front of him and block the road. He screamed and reached out to grab Shiba's arm, "Ah!"
Eighteen's body tensed up instantly. He raised his hand to rein in the horse, narrowed his eyes slightly and looked ahead vigilantly.
The horse was running fast just now, but now it suddenly stopped, raising its front hooves high and neighing, shaking its head, shaking its tail and snorting.
When Wei Min in the car heard Erjiu's scream, he immediately hugged A'ruan, who was sleeping in her arms, tightly, and most of his body blocked him in the corner.
The two people who suddenly ran onto the road looked like ordinary people, but they looked in a disheveled state, as if they were fleeing.
They had not expected that a carriage would suddenly come running on the road. They were startled so much that both of them fell to the ground, frightened by the horses' raising hooves, and hugged each other in panic.
Wei Min heard only the whistling sound of the wind outside, and no other sounds. He frowned, raised his hands to cover A Ruan's ears, pressed his face into his arms, and asked in a deep voice, "What's going on outside?"
Eighteen saw that the two people, one old and one young, looked like a mother and daughter and seemed to be just passing by, so he said, "My Lord, it's okay."
A'ruan also woke up at this time. She raised her hand to rub her sleepy eyes and looked at Wei Min blankly. After seeing her face clearly, she lowered her head and rubbed her face in the crook of her neck to slowly wake herself up.
Wei Min patted his back gently, silently comforting him, lowered his head and asked him softly, "Want to sleep a little longer?"
Wei Min suddenly got into a good mood last night, and the two of them stayed up too late, so A'ruan felt a little tired.
Ah Ruan shook his head when he heard that, sat up straight and yawned, raised his hand to lift the curtain and looked out, and saw that the carriage had stopped, and looked at Wei Min in confusion:
--What's wrong?
Wei Min said, "It's okay, I'll let Eighteen go take a look."
Wei Min leaned forward and raised her hand to open the car door a crack. The wind and sand were blowing everywhere outside. She couldn't help but squint her eyes, then closed the door and said, "Eighteen, go and see what's going on with those two people and why they suddenly blocked the road."
Eighteen responded, jumped off the carriage and walked towards the two people.
The mother and daughter were so frightened when they saw her coming that they trembled like sieves. The mother even closed her eyes and begged for mercy in a low voice, "Don't kill us, don't kill us."
When Eighteen got closer, he found that the two men were wearing tattered clothes, their hair was disheveled, and their faces were covered in dirt. The older woman had a piece of cloth wrapped around her legs, as if she had fallen.
Eighteen saw that the two looked like they were being chased by someone, so he lifted his skirt and half-knelt down, asking, "Who are you? Why did you suddenly stop my master's carriage?"
When the older woman heard that there was an adult in the car, her eyes lit up, but then her expression slowly dimmed as she thought of something.
She lowered her head humbly, just enough to cover her eyes, and asked tentatively, "My mother and I were passing by to escape danger, and accidentally startled the master's horse. We are in great danger, but I don't know which master is sitting in the carriage? I kowtow to apologize on behalf of my mother."
Seeing that the woman was young and spoke clearly, Eighteen could not help but raise an eyebrow. Without even turning his head, he pointed his thumb at the car behind him, his eyes locked tightly on the faces of the mother and daughter, not missing any expression, and said, "My master's surname is Wei. He was promoted in Zhucheng and returned to Beijing to work in the Dali Temple."
"From the Dali Temple?" The old woman was startled when she heard this, raised her hand and grabbed her daughter's arm, giving her a questioning look.
My daughter looked hesitant, as if she was worried about something and was reluctant to speak.
Eighteen could tell at a glance that the mother and daughter were in trouble, but he stood up deliberately, raised his hand with drooping eyelids to brush off the non-existent dust on his clothes, and said, "If there is nothing wrong, I will leave. My master is kind and will not mind that you scared the horse. Hurry and leave."
The woman clenched her palms with her fingertips, her face struggling and painful, she lowered her head weakly, and whispered to the old woman beside her: "Mother, the officials protect each other..."
Seeing that Eighteen left without hesitation, the old woman frowned and pushed the woman. "The one in the car is from the Dali Temple. We can talk to her about our affairs. If it is really officials protecting each other, what can we do if we file a complaint with the emperor?"
The woman's attitude softened a little, and the old woman said, "Why not give it a try?"
Eighteen walked to the front of the carriage. Erjiu looked up at the gloomy sky and urged her, "Our horses didn't hit them. Do they still want to rely on us? You should drive the carriage faster. It's going to rain soon."
Eighteen shook his head slightly, signaling him with his eyes not to worry, and walked to the carriage, approached the curtain and said to Wei Min inside the carriage: "Sir, I think there is something wrong with this mother and daughter."
Eighteen lowered her voice and said, "From the way these two talk, they don't look like ordinary people. They even have a bit of Chenzhou accent when they speak. Their clothes are tattered and they look embarrassed, as if they are being hunted. They passed by here from Chenzhou. It's obvious that they are going to Beijing."
He came from Chenzhou, was being hunted, and wanted to go to Beijing.
Wei Min frowned in thought, twisting his fingers and whispering, "Chenzhou is the residence of the Duke of Huai. Now two people who were hunted down have escaped from her place... From this point of view, something must have happened in Chenzhou."
The Duke of Huai is the Crown Princess's man, and the only chess piece in her hands with military power.
The princess has always been jealous of Jiang Wuque for having Feng Yu and the support of Feng's army behind him. If something happens to the Duke of Huai in her hands, the princess will be hard-pressed to feel at ease with the military power.
Wei Min guessed a series of causes and developments behind this incident based only on Shi Ba's few words and the two people who came from Chenzhou.
When Eighteen saw Wei Min nod, he sat back in the front, raised the whip in his hand, and pretended to hurry on.
When the mother and daughter in front saw the adults in the car were about to leave, the woman immediately ran to the front of the horse, put her hands together, raised them high above her head, knelt down with a plop, and said loudly: "I beg you, sir, to seek justice for the souls of the more than a hundred people in my An family!"
As he said this, he bowed his head to the ground and performed a great salute.
Wei Min sat up straight, his face stern and full of dignity, and said in a deep voice: "What grievances have you suffered? Tell me everything."
A Ruan sat aside, blinking his eyes at his wife in this state, his heart beating rapidly for some unknown reason.
The longer they were married, the more he liked her. The feeling his wife gave him was like fermenting fine wine. The longer it fermented, the stronger the aroma and the mellower the taste.
Wei Min felt itchy under A'ruan's direct and fiery gaze, but he was busy with work, so he couldn't help but glance at him sideways and said in a low voice: "Stop it."
A Ruan was very resentful, but he did nothing.
Wei Min raised his hand to cover his eyes and whispered in his ear: "When you look at me with your eyes focused, I always think you want it."
Ah Ruan's face turned red, she raised her hand, clenched it into a fist, and punched Wei Min, who was instantly distracted by him, and turned to look away, no longer disturbing her from doing her work.
Wei Min lowered his eyes and smiled, his smile was gentle and doting.
The author has something to say: Small theater
A Ruan: (staring) My wife looks so charismatic!
Wei Min: (He looks at me like this, he must want it) Come, I'll satisfy you (take off clothes)
A Ruan: (Black question mark face) Huh?
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