15 Let's set off!
◎All good things must come to an end◎
"Did Father go to see Mother and Sister?"
Li Shi limped over and sat down opposite Qi Gu. "Ah...yes."
"Father, you're lying!" Aunt Qi was furious!
“Father, every time you visit Mother and Sister, you bring Mother’s favorite wheat porridge and Sister’s favorite candy. This time, you brought nothing! You were just threatened by Sima Hong. Father, why did you agree to go to the capital with Sima Hong!”
Sima Hong must have said something to my father that led him to be deceived or coerced into agreeing.
“Father, the capital is not as you think. The country has just been settled, the former dynasty’s officials are not convinced, there are still remnants of the Prince of Chen’s faction, and…” Qi Gu stopped halfway through her sentence.
The Emperor and Empress Dowager were nothing like normal emperors and empresses. The struggle for the crown prince was getting more and more intense. Once you got involved, you could be crushed to pieces and die a tragic death if you weren't careful!
These words were stuck in her throat like reeds; she couldn't explain to her father that surviving there wasn't as easy as she had imagined.
Qi Gu grew angrier the more she thought about it. She thought that after Li Qiao left, she would never have anything to do with the intrigues and schemes in the palace again!
But why won't Sima Hong let her go? Does he want her to die again?
Li Shi noticed his daughter's unusual mood and comforted her, "My dear daughter, I know you're angry, but don't be angry yet." It seemed he had really upset his daughter this time.
He sighed deeply, “Aunt Qi, your father knows you don’t want to go to the capital, but think about how many people were displaced along the way when we fled, because there was no food, and some even resorted to cannibalism.”
Li Shi still can't forget the family of four he met on his escape route. That night, they followed a group of refugees.
A couple with two children, aged four or five, had been walking for countless days. They had eaten everything they could find along the way, and even stripped the bark off the trees.
Later, one of the couple's children was crying from hunger. He had little Qi Gu with him and didn't know how to help. He was truly powerless to do so.
He came from a peaceful era where he had no worries about food and clothing. His family was relatively well-off when he was young, and he did well in his studies.
Having never truly experienced extreme hunger, the stories of people starving to death were things that only happened in books and on television—distant things to her. She had never felt the tragedy of hunger so deeply; it was far more terrifying than she had imagined.
That night, he saw four- or five-year-old children start crying and then gradually lose their strength. He wanted to give them the little bit of wheat cake he had left, but in his arms, in his arms, was Qi Gu, who was also starving and emaciated.
Qi Gu looked at him with eyes weak from hunger, and she held his hand tightly. He knew she was afraid of being abandoned again.
In the end, all he could do was hold Qi Gu tightly, then embrace her. He turned a blind eye to the family's tragedy; the wheat cakes in his arms couldn't solve the fundamental problem!
The child died in the middle of the night, and the couple didn't even have the strength to cry. Their faces were filled with grief, but for some reason, soon the father's eyes began to glow with a strange red light as he looked at his child.
With just a glance, the couple reached an agreement, and they carried the child into the depths of the woods.
After an unknown amount of time, when the family of three returned, the belly that had previously shrunk and formed a dent was now swollen.
And he saw the bloodstains on the child's father's trouser leg!
From then on, the remaining child never cried out for food again, and the family of three became unusually silent.
This event greatly shocked him. He was a doctoral student in the agricultural college, and he was supervising several students who had grown all sorts of unexpected plants in the experimental fields.
Those crops are not grown to fill stomachs, but to optimize seeds or train new varieties. Sometimes, the produce is not even grown for food, but for academic research and graduation theses.
He so wished he could move the deformed gourds and jujubes they grew here, so that these people could fill their stomachs.
That night, he continued to pretend to be asleep, acting as if nothing had happened. Sometimes he thought it was actually a good thing that Aunt Qi had forgotten that experience; such a young child would be terrified if she knew.
Later, when the world was at peace, he finally returned to Lijia Village with Qi Gu. However, the suffering did not end there; after the war came famine.
He was glad that he had at least graduated from an agricultural college, and in this backward era, his expertise could still play some role.
In recent years, the millet and wheat seeds he cultivated have enabled people in several nearby villages to have enough to eat.
Today, Sima Hong appeared and said that the seeds he cultivated could save more people from the suffering of famine. He hoped that Sima Hong could go to the capital with him, because only by going to the capital could more people eat millet.
He thought this might be the reason he came into this world.
Sima Hong certainly didn't just mention this one thing. If Sima Hong admired his talent and wanted him to work for him, then another thing he mentioned truly made him decide to go to the capital.
Facing the pale-faced Qi Gu, Li Shi was unusually serious. "Qi Gu, your father went to the capital so that more people would no longer go hungry. In the years when we fled, your father saw too many people starving to death. Your father felt sad. Sima Hong may have other intentions, but he was right about one thing: since I have such ability, I should make sure there are fewer children starving to death in this world."
Qi Gu held her breath and didn't speak. Li Shi then said, "I hope they are all like you, well-fed and warmly clothed, and able to swagger and throw tantrums at their father every day."
Qi Gu's expression softened slightly upon hearing this. "Father has never told me any of this."
"Oh, it's embarrassing for Father, a farmer who only knows how to cultivate the land, to say such things every day. It's all thanks to Sima Langjun's words that Father has come to understand."
"Father, do you really want to go to the capital? Or is it for some other reason?"
Li Shi hesitated, "Hehe, actually, Father has another reason for wanting to go to the capital."
"What?"
“My father wants to go to the capital to enjoy wealth and luxury, and Li Qiao is going to become a princess. I’m so envious of him. It’s a pity that I’m not a girl. I wonder if the Emperor and Empress have lost a son like me.”
Qi Gu listened intently to her father's long and serious speech, but he soon reverted to his true nature, as if the compassionate person who had just spoken of the common people was a completely different person.
Qi Gu couldn't help but laugh; this was truly her father.
Li Shi then asked, "Qi Gu, why don't you want to go to the capital? Li Qiao is eager to go, so why do you avoid the capital like the plague?"
"Maybe I'm a coward," Qi Gu thought. She was a coward; she was afraid to go to the capital and die again.
All she knew was that her father had been working day and night cultivating seeds for years because he really wanted everyone to have enough to eat.
Father is not the ordinary farmer who only knows how to cultivate the land that he described. Father's talents should not be buried. Sima Hong is right. Only when Father goes to the capital will more people plant Father's seeds, and many people will be spared from hunger.
She couldn't be so selfish as to stop her father from going to the capital.
Perhaps some things are unavoidable, whether in a past life or this one. But no matter what, she must protect her father in this life.
"Father, let's eat. Tonight might be the last meal we have in this courtyard."
Qi Gu turned and went to the kitchen, bringing out the food she had just prepared. The father and daughter were unusually silent as they finished their "last supper".
"Aunt Qi, you won't blame your father, will you?"
Qi Gu shook her head, "How could I blame my father? If anyone should be blamed, it's me for dragging him down. If it weren't for me, my father would have gone to the capital long ago."
Li Shi watched Qi Gu's busy figure and said, "Qi Gu, don't worry, your father will definitely protect you."
Qi Gu thought the same thing: Father, I will definitely protect you.
Three days later, Gouwa was tugging at Qi Gu's sleeve, crying his eyes out.
"Aunt Qi, don't go." Aunt Qi snatched back her sleeve; if she didn't, her sleeve would be soaked to shreds by Gouwa's tears.
"Don't cry." Aunt Qi really didn't expect Gouwa to have so many tears.
Gouwa never imagined that Aunt Qi would leave one day. His eyes were filled with tears as he said, "Aunt Qi, if you're going, please take me with you."
"You good-for-nothing brat!" Li Mu said to his son, feeling ashamed, but with a smile on his face.
Ah Shi's farming skills have earned him the appreciation of a nobleman, and Ah Shi's trip to the capital is a good thing; he is happy for Ah Shi.
Li Shi clasped his hands together and teased, "Dog Boy, you cry so ugly. Amu cries just like you, hehe."
Amu said, "Ashi is still the same, but these two kids have been playing together since they were little. Now that they have to part ways, I'm quite reluctant to see them go. My Gouwa even wants to marry Qi Gu in the future, sigh..."
Li Shi raised his eyebrows. "All good things must come to an end. I'm taking my Qi Gu to the capital to enjoy myself." He glanced disdainfully at the crying, dirty Gouwa. "I'll find my Qi Gu a handsome husband then."
“Ah Shi, you…” Li Mu wasn’t angry. He knew that Ah Shi was just not good at saying goodbye.
As for Aunt Qiu, since her father promised to give them all the things that couldn't be taken from the house, Aunt Qiu is now happily wandering around her own yard, planning to take everything away, take everything away!
Soon, the small courtyard of Aunt Qi's house was filled with people, all of whom came to see Aunt Qi and her daughter off.
The village head also came. Thanks to Li Shi's seeds, Li Family Village has been prosperous and well-fed for many years. The village head learned that he was going to the capital to promote such high-yield seeds throughout the country.
Holding Li Shi's hand, he said, "Good, good! This way, there will be far fewer people starving to death in the world. Shi, you must do a good job." The old man, weathered by life's hardships, had tears in his eyes.
He recalled the days when he led the villagers into the deep mountains during the war. There were more than a hundred people when they went, but when they came back, less than half of them were left. Some died of illness, some were beaten to death, and most starved to death.
Before the village head could finish speaking, Li Qiao's father squeezed into the crowd and said, "Li Ashi, when you go to the capital, remember to pay your respects to me, Aqiao. Perhaps, out of consideration for being from the same village, I, Aqiao, can help you out."
"You talk as if you can help me out."
"That's right, she's a princess, she lives in the palace, how could she easily leave the palace? Li Axiu, you don't know but you pretend to know." The villagers jeered.
A large carriage stopped at the entrance of the courtyard. The coachman had gray hair but a spirited look in his eyes, and four strong and sturdy guards followed behind the carriage.
In front of the carriage, Sima Hong dismounted from a glossy black horse with graceful movements, displaying the demeanor of a dignified gentleman, skilled in both literature and martial arts. He immediately attracted everyone's attention, and the villagers automatically made way for this god-like young man.
He walked up to Li Shi and said, "Mr. Li, Aunt Qi, it's time for us to set off."
Gouwa cried even harder. He used to really like the fairy prince, but now he saw him as a monster with fangs. He was no good person; he had stolen Qi Gu away!
He glared angrily at Sima Hong, but Sima Hong didn't care. He just waited for Aunt Qi and her daughter to get into the carriage. Li Family Village meant nothing to him.
Qi Gu looked at Gouwa helplessly and said, "Don't cry. I have a parting gift for you in my room. Go get it in a bit."
"I don't want to," Gouwa persisted. "Aunt Qi, can't you really take me with you?"
"You brat, you're going with Aunt Qi and you don't want me and your father anymore. I'd rather have given birth to Luo Bei!" Aunt Qiu punched Gouwa on the head.
The villagers laughed and said, "Gouwa is like a little wife that Qi Gu raised. Now that Qi Gu is gone, this kid will have to find a new wife."
"Who can argue with that?"
"However, I've always thought that Aunt Qi was blessed since I was little, and I never thought she really was blessed."
"I remember you said the same thing about Li Qiao last time, that she's all talk and no action."
"That's called hindsight, not hindsight!"
...
The carriage slowly started moving, and the voices of the villagers gradually faded away.
Just as Qi Gu was about to close the window, she heard Gouwa running after the carriage, holding the slingshot she had given him, which he was used to using, and shouting, "Qi Gu, wait for me, I will come to the capital to find you!"
Qi Gu hadn't cried earlier, but for some reason, her eyes welled up with tears when she heard Gouwa's heart-wrenching words.
Qi Gu looked back at Gouwa, whose face was covered in tears, and at her own little courtyard, as well as those familiar faces gradually receding into the distance. Her heart was filled with mixed emotions.
She closed the window and silently wiped away her tears. That brat, he didn't want to cry, but he made her cry too.
Li Shi sat to the side, eyes closed, and said, "Hehehe, young man, you have quite a loud voice." His tone was wistful.
The carriage swayed and rocked as Lijia Village gradually disappeared behind us.
[Author's Note]
I've checked for bugs, and I found quite a few. I'll fix them when I have time!
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