Chapter 402: Fight for Favor

As they are all mothers, Fan Pingfang turned her head away, unable to bear to listen any more.

Xiao Ancheng thought that he had made a big mistake, and was worried and terrified.

She was afraid that her mother would abandon her.

"You kid..." An Ningxin choked up and couldn't speak.

Before Xingxing took Xu Ge'er away from Fan Pingfang's courtyard, she whispered something to An Ningxin.

It was when they had rescued them from the wrecked carriage.

At that time, An Ningxin was holding Haoger tightly in her arms, but little An Cheng just leaned tightly against An Ningxin, tightly grasping a corner of An Ningxin's clothes.

An Ningxin thanked him in a hoarse voice.

In the following days, the women of the Yu family were busy with the betrothal arrangements with the Jiang Taihou Mansion, but the men of the Yu family had some free time.

Yu Sanbao helps Bo Ge'er run the Yu family's business in the capital, while Yu Siyang does some carpentry work at home and keeps company with Awu. They have a lot of time, so the two brothers are not very idle. But Yu Daniu and Yu Erhu used to work in the fields, and now they are suddenly idle. It's okay if the time is short, and they happily treat it as a leisurely day. But after a long time, they can't sit still.

Fortunately, the Yu family bought a farm in the suburbs. In the past few days, the brothers Yu Daniu and Yu Erhu went straight to the farm on the mountain in the suburbs to exchange farming techniques with the farmers in the farm.

Originally, nothing happened. Then one day, Yu Daniu came back in a hurry and told Mrs. Wei to tell all the women in the family to quickly tell them that they had to bring servants with them whenever they went out.

It was said that a group of roving bandits had come to the outskirts of the city recently and were entrenched there. Yu Daniu heard in the suburbs that the bandits had previously captured the daughter-in-law of a wealthy family and demanded money from her.

As a result, the rich man gave the money, but when the bandits released the daughter-in-law, they stripped her clothes and threw her out of the carriage.

The daughter-in-law couldn't bear the humiliation and hanged herself on the night she was brought home.

Yu Daniu was a little terrified when he talked about this, and he told Mrs. Wei: "...Mother, when you and my wife go out, please don't mind taking the servants with you."

Mrs. Wei was also a little surprised: "How dare those bandits under the emperor be so rampant? I thought they were only found in our small place."

Many years ago, when Po Wei and her gang were fighting some bandits, Po Wei took two kitchen knives and actually chased the bandits away.

Yu Daniu also lamented: "Isn't that right?...I heard from the tenants on Zhuangzi that the bandits are very smart, and they specialize in picking people with money but no power. The government does take care of it, but it's not that efficient... When I came up from Zhuangzi today, I heard that the government didn't catch a single bandit."

The mother and son sighed for a while. Mrs. Wei was also very stern, so she quickly asked the maid to report the matter to all the courtyards.

Everyone agreed.

As luck would have it, within two days, a lady named Liu, whom Bai Xiaofeng had met in Wuyi Alley, came to invite her to burn incense at the White Horse Temple outside the city.

It is said that the Wenchang Bodhisattva in the White Horse Temple is particularly spiritual. Next year will be the Spring Examination, and there will be an endless stream of people going there to ask for talismans.

Bai Xiaofeng was really moved.

But she also felt that what Yu Daniu had said earlier was quite scary, and she was hesitant.

Mrs. Liu was very considerate. She said that she had also invited two other ladies, and that each of them could bring two servants with them. That would mean a lot of servants to guard the house, so wouldn't it be safe?

Besides, the road to White Horse Temple is an official one with a lot of people on it. No matter how rampant those bandits are, they can't rob people on the official road, right?

Bai Xiaofeng agreed with this and told Mrs. Wei about it.

Mrs. Wei also thought that nothing would go wrong, so she nodded and said, "Okay."

Bai Xiaofeng grabbed Xingxing again.

Xingxing was naturally willing to go out and play, so she readily agreed.

When the day came, Xingxing dressed warmly and followed Bai Xiaofeng into the carriage.

Mrs. Wei arranged two servants to accompany them. Looking at the four servants following the carriage, she nodded with a little satisfaction.

Madam Liu also lived in Wuyi Lane. Her husband was a sixth-rank editor in the imperial court. Bai Xiaofeng felt that although she was an official's wife, she never put on airs or lost her temper when interacting with her. She was someone worth getting along with.

Mrs. Liu also brought her daughter and was waiting for Bai Xiaofeng in the carriage at the entrance of the alley.

Since the other two ladies lived a little further away, they agreed to meet at the South City Gate.

The four carriages finally gathered outside the South City Gate. A dozen servants followed behind the carriages, and the group went to the White Horse Temple in a mighty manner.

At first Bai Xiaofeng was a little nervous, but as they got closer to the White Horse Temple and there were no accidents along the way, Bai Xiaofeng was completely relieved and looked at the scenery outside the car window with a smile on her face.

The carriage could not go any further when it was some distance away from the White Horse Temple gate. Most of the ladies, along with their daughters, got off the carriage and walked towards the temple gate together.

Bai Xiaofeng was lively and a bit hot-tempered, and was very popular among the ladies. They walked in front, and Xingxing and the other younger ones followed behind and climbed up.

Xingxing is cute and well-behaved with a good personality, and has always been very popular.

Mrs. Liu's daughter is about the same age as Xingxing, just two years older than Xingxing. She is thirteen this year.

She felt very much like an older sister and kept holding Xingxing's hand.

But the other one, Mrs. Wang's daughter, was not happy.

"Sister Peng liked me the most before, but when Xingxing came, Sister Tong's heart changed." Chu Siying complained half-truthfully and pouted.

Mrs. Liu's daughter Tong Yunpeng glanced at Chu Siying, pursed her lips and smiled, "Yes, I am partial to Xingxing, what's the matter?"

She answered very frankly, which made Chu Siying even more jealous. Her eyes turned red and she stopped talking.

Tong Yunpeng sighed, and could only smile apologetically at Xingxing, let go of Xingxing's hand, and took the initiative to hold Chu Siying: "Okay. Xingxing just came to Beijing, what's wrong with me taking care of her more?"

Only then did Chu Siying burst into laughter.

Xingxing didn't really care, it was just holding hands. But after Chu Siying held Tong Yunpeng's hand, she would occasionally give Xingxing a provocative and smug smile from the side, and Xingxing became more and more helpless.

She gave Chu Siying an inclusive smile in return.

Chu Siying was stunned. She didn't know what she was thinking, but she became more annoyed. She glared at Xing Xing fiercely, pouted her lips, and turned her head away.

Xing Xing: “…”

This Miss Chu seems to be about the same age as her. Why is it so hard to understand? Help!

When the group arrived at the White Horse Temple, several ladies had educated sons at home, and they all agreed to go and worship Manjushri Bodhisattva first.

When it comes to their children's studies, the other ladies become very envious of Bai Xiaofeng.

"I heard that your brother has already won the third place in the imperial examination! Maybe he can win the third place in the imperial examination next year!"

Mrs. Liu was extremely jealous.