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After these words were spoken, the whole family fell silent.
The three men put down the farm tools in their hands and hurried towards home, but when they were almost there, they slowed down again. In the end, they stopped in the distance and looked at Ji Minghao and the prince and his entourage outside the house from afar.
It seems that as long as I don't get close and don't face it, I can pretend that Yining is still alive and still in the army with his comrades.
In the end, it was Old Man Qian who spoke first. He said, "Let's go."
Tears welled up in his old, cloudy eyes: "Don't let Yining wait too long."
Aunt Qian breathed heavily, turned her back and wiped away several tears with the back of her hand.
Qian Yixiu supported her mother and gently patted Aunt Qian's back.
After Aunt Qian suppressed her tears, the three of them walked towards the door of their home.
Throughout the year, from spring to autumn, the small thatched cottage where a son and a daughter were raised remains the same and has never changed.
But how could one of the children raised in this hut be lost?
Aunt Qian reached out and took the brown ceramic jar with trembling hands. She had thought her tears had dried over the past month, but when her hands touched the cold ceramic jar, the tears would not stop.
"Yixiu..." Aunt Qian hugged the urn tightly and looked up to ask her daughter, "Your brother was so tall, how come he ended up being so small?"
Ji Minghao looked away and quietly put aside the items that Qian Yining left in the army, along with the suicide note that had been written long ago and a bag of silver.
Over the years, Ji Minghao has sent away countless brothers in the army, and he remembers every one of them at the beginning.
But as the years passed, some faces became blurred in his mind.
But it doesn't matter.
Ji Minghao raised his head and looked at the rolling mountains in the distance.
They are soldiers. They write a suicide note every year. Every time they go to the battlefield or save lives, they are prepared to die.
They were born to protect. As long as the mountains and rivers in this world remain beautiful and the people live and work in peace and contentment, what does it matter whether they remember or forget?
Without disturbing the family of four who were crying in each other's arms, Ji Minghao and the prince left quietly.
-
Three days later, the date for the enthronement ceremony was chosen, which was the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th.
This day happened to be a rare auspicious day.
In the imperial study, ministers were discussing the issue of the reign title.
"Your Highness, I think this is a good idea. May my Great Yu be safe and sound."
"Your Highness, I think Rongchang is a better word, meaning prosperous and flourishing."
"No, no, Your Highness, I think that—"
The new emperor raised his head from the bright yellow dragon throne and said, "Baoning."
On August 15, the 22nd year of Youchang, the new emperor ascended the throne and changed the reign title to Baoning.
*
On August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival in Liangzhou is particularly lively.
The streets were full of people, and the cries of vendors from all around could be heard one after another.
Lord Wu brought his family and asked people from the mansion to join in the fun.
Xuezhu stood in front of a stall and stretched out her hand to arrange the powder boxes sold above one by one.
The lady selling perfume powder looked at Xuezhu displaying the perfume boxes with a strange look on her face: "Young Master, do you want to buy any?"
Xuezhu shook her head: "No."
The old lady was silent for a moment and pointed to the side.
Xuezhu showed a questioning look on her face, but her hands did not stop, and she quickly lined up the powder boxes in a row.
Boxes of perfume powder, like soldiers lined up in formation, sit neatly in their respective positions.
The old lady moved her lips and said, "Get out of here!"
Xuezhu put the powder boxes in order as quickly as possible before the old lady got angry and chased people away with a feather duster.
Then he continued to the next stall.
Ji Yunxi and Wu Weian were at the end of the group. As they walked along, they saw the goods on the stalls on both sides of the street were neatly arranged.
Many people were wondering, "What's going on this year? Why are everyone arranging their items so neatly? Is this a new government regulation?"
Wu Wei'an followed his wife and explained, "I didn't make these weird rules."
Ji Yunxi glanced at him and was too lazy to speak.
Wu Wei'an pondered for a moment and said, "I don't think I'll need Xuezhu anymore. What about you, Madam?"
Ji Yunxi was silent for a while, then hummed softly.
Just the night before yesterday, Wu Weian returned home and took Ji Yunxi for a walk in the yard.
The moon was full in the sky and the wind was gentle. The two of them did some little things between husband and wife in the bamboo forest.
As a result, Xuezhu suddenly came to sweep the floor in the middle of the night for some reason.
Maybe the streets and alleys in Liangzhou have been swept clean recently, and Xuezhu is too idle and has nothing to do.
Things became a little awkward.
The crowd surged nearby, and someone bumped into them. Wu Weian reached out and held Ji Yunxi in his arms, saying, "I'll find a way to get him out in a few days."
The two of them continued forward with the flow of people until they reached the lantern guessing area. This was the place with the most people. Ji Yunxi frowned slightly when she saw it and stopped.
Wu Weian came here just for the lantern guessing competition. The person who guessed the most lanterns would get a reward of one or two taels of silver and also receive a lantern. What a good deal.
"What's wrong?" Wu Weian turned around.
Ji Yunxi: "There are too many people. I don't want to go."
Wu Wei'an advised: "But you are here already."
Ji Yunxi knew what the man was thinking at a glance: "You go by yourself, I'll sit by the river for a while."
Wu Weian blinked, his face full of expectation: "Madam——"
"It's no use calling me ancestor." Ji Yunxi interrupted him without hesitation, turned around and walked towards the river.
Wu Weian stood there hesitating for a while, and finally squeezed into the crowd and joined the lantern guessing team with great interest.
There were people releasing river lanterns by the river. The lanterns were shaped like lotus flowers, one red and one white.
The lantern seller was standing in front of a stone by the river.
Many people bought lanterns, wrote a few words on them, walked to the river holding the lanterns, closed their eyes devoutly and prayed for something, and then slowly placed the lanterns into the river.
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