"What?"
"Pigsty?"
"You actually want me to live in a pigsty?"
"You are such an unfilial granddaughter, Hua Qingcheng!"
Seeing that the old man was about to go up and chase his wife who had already entered the backyard to argue, Yu Xiaotian hurriedly stopped him and pulled him to the residence arranged for him by his wife.
"Grandpa, I think you should just hold your tongue! If my wife gets really angry, you might not even have a place to live in the pigsty. Actually, this place was originally used to keep cows, not a pigsty. It's just that Dad raised a pig temporarily and had nowhere else to put it, so he let the pig live in here for a while. As long as we clean it up properly, it won't be dirty and it's still habitable. Living here is better than sleeping in the wilderness outside, don't you think?"
Yu Xiaotian experienced a life of displacement in his childhood. He did not have high expectations for life, just wanting to have rice in the pot and a roof over his head. Today, Yu Xiaotian has enough food and clothes to eat every day, and he is loved by his brothers and his wife. For him, such a life is already a great happiness.
After comforting the old man, Yu Xiaotian quickly cleaned the chicken coop in the front yard and the small house next to the sheep pen. He then fetched some water and cleaned the small house inside and out. The hot summer weather meant the moisture on the ground dried up quickly. After cleaning, Yu Xiaotian brought in his dismantled old bed, which he had been reluctant to throw away, and with a little reluctance, he set it up in the small house again and added an old curtain.
"Grandpa, although the conditions here are a bit shabby, at least there's a roof over our heads. We're not exposed to the sun or the rain. You can stay here for a few days. Once you find your family, you can go home."
After listening to Yu Xiaotian's rambling for a while, Mulan Jin finally couldn't help but burst out: "This is my home, why do you keep trying to drive me away?"
Yu Xiaotian: ...
"Could it be that you want me to go back to my father's house? But I don't even remember where my father's house is..."
Yu Xiaotian: ...
“Wuwuwu…”
As Mulan Jin was talking, she suddenly sat down on the ground and started crying sadly.
Yu Xiaotian: ...
At dinner time, Mulan Jin, who wanted to sit at the head seat in the main hall, sat obediently at the seat farthest away from Hua Qingcheng under the cold gaze of Hua Qingcheng.
Whatever! After all, she was his granddaughter. Perhaps it was because he had spoiled her to this extent in the past, and now he had no choice but to accept it. Mulanjin forced herself to comfort herself in her heart regarding Hua Qingcheng's cold attitude.
From the moment they returned to the front yard, until now, as they sat down to eat at the same table, Situ Ye, who was beside Mu Lige, had kept glancing at the old man. He felt that the more he looked at him, the more he looked like General Feng's husband. But he immediately shook his head, dismissing this unrealistic thought. After all, old man Mu Lanjin had been a man of equal stature back then. How could he be this slovenly old man?
Growing up, he had seen from afar several times at palace banquets the awe-inspiring Vice General Mu, who had once accompanied his wife on military campaigns. Now, Old Man Mu was over sixty years old, with white hair and a silver beard, a wise face, and a highly respected character. He was living out his days in the General's Mansion thousands of miles away. How could he possibly have come to this remote, tiny Huaqiao Village? Furthermore, the man before him, though also white-haired, had no beard at all. Perhaps he was just overthinking things.
While Hua Qingcheng and her husbands were having a headache because of having an old man in the family, people in the General's Mansion in the capital, thousands of miles away, were also worried about their own willful old man.
"The general is back. How is it? Is there any news about father?"
In the flower hall of Qingrong Courtyard where General Feng Jingyun and his wife lived, Yu Jingyang, who was originally sitting below Feng Jingyun, saw Feng Cailan coming and hurriedly stood up to greet her.
"Lan'er, is there any news about your father?"
Even though General Feng Jingyun was always calm when fighting against the enemy on the battlefield, she could no longer sit still now that her husband had been missing for twenty days.
"Mother, Jingyang, according to the Jingzhao Prefecture government's investigation, my father was indeed seen at the dock at the beginning of the month, and he must have taken a boat south. I've already sent people from the capital to Fufeng County to inquire along the way. If there's any news, they'll report it to the capital immediately. Also, a few days ago, I wrote to Chengfeng, asking him to keep an eye out for my father within Qiandeng Prefecture."
"What's the matter with this old man, he's already so old?"
Feng Jingyun pounded the table beside her in frustration, causing the tea in the cup to slosh a little. But thinking of her husband, with whom she had shared joys and sorrows for decades, Feng Jingyun sighed softly.
"Forget it. My Feng family has been loyal and honest for generations, and we have never abused our power for personal gain. If all else fails, I'll risk my reputation and go to the Golden Throne Hall tomorrow to plead with the Emperor. I'll then mobilize the power of the court, hoping to find your father as soon as possible."
Seeing her mother so sad because of her father, Feng Cailan couldn't help but be moved. Although her mother usually complained about her father's nagging, especially because she felt that her father doted on Qi Yan too much, when he was not around, she couldn't help but miss her husband deeply.
Feng Cailan also understood that her father doted on Qi Yan because her features bore a striking resemblance to her brother, Feng Lingyan. The day after Feng Lingyan's death, her father's hair turned white overnight. The tragic fate and untimely death of her brother, Feng Lingyan, had always been her father's greatest pain. But now that he was gone, he could only channel his love for his son into his granddaughter, who bore a striking resemblance to Lingyan. Ultimately, her father was just a pitiful old man who had lost a son.
…
Not only were people in the capital searching for Mulan Jin day and night, but Si Chengfeng, who was far away in Baishui Town, Fufeng County, also gathered a number of painters in the shortest possible time after receiving the news yesterday. They drew many portraits of the old man and ordered them to be distributed to all branches of all industries in Qiandeng Mansion. He also stated that anyone who provided useful clues would be rewarded handsomely.
As for Mulan Jin, the culprit who caused everyone's anxiety, he had been sleeping outdoors in the open air and working hard for a long time. After taking a bath, he lay down comfortably in the pigsty of the Hua family's old house and fell into a deep sleep...
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