Ah Guai cocked her head and asked, "And? everything went well, didn’t it, Uncle Xiao Nan?"
Xiao Chaihuo hesitated, "Perhaps."
Xin He shook her head helplessly: "Forget about it, let’s not talk more about these matters, let’s go home. These three days must have been tough."
Ah Guai pouted: "Little Uncle mustn’t find it tough. When he thinks that he can marry his wife after this examination, he must be overjoyed."
Xiao Bei pinched her chubby cheek: "Ah Guai is becoming more and more naughty."
Ah Guai let him pinch her face, and blinked, "Did Ah Guai say something wrong? Little Uncle, why are you blushing now?"
Xiao Bei really wanted to jump out of the carriage then and there.
Xin He laughed and interjected: "Okay, stop teasing your little uncle now. He has just finished the examination and is very tired. He doesn’t have time to play with you."
Although Ah Guai didn’t understand what she had done wrong, she obediently nodded and patted Xiao Bei’s shoulder: "Little Uncle, you’ve worked hard. Rest well, it gets even more exhausting when it’s time to marry your wife." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
Xian Bei cornered his mouth, "Ah Guai is really considerate."
Xin He laughed and asked Shulan to get the coachman to leave: "Let’s go home now."
Shulan replied, "It might not be possible just yet. There are a lot of travel carriages on the street now, it’s jammed. We have to wait some time."
Xin He lifted the curtain to look at the outside, and as expected, it was crowded with people. With candidates coming out one by one, the surroundings got busier, with the streets already jammed. At this rate, it probably would take half an hour to clear.
"There is a tea house not far from here. Shall we sit there instead of suffocating in this horse carriage?" Xiaoyu suggested.
Xin He nodded: "That’s a good idea."
Xiao Chaihuo picked Ah Guai up: "There are a lot of people outside, be careful not to get lost."
Xiao Chaihuo jumped down the carriage, Ah Guai was so excited and cried out: "It’s so much fun, so much fun!"
Xin He smiled helplessly. Ah Guai was still young, and neither Xin He nor Marquis Mu had taught her martial arts yet. Also, she couldn’t bear to let Ah Guai endure the hardship. Isn’t practicing martial arts about suffering and toiling? But not having martial art skills doesn’t mean not liking it. Ah Guai’s favorite thing is being carried and running up the walls around her.
Whenever she gets angry, this trick would soothe her mood every single time.
Unfortunately, both Song Xi and Xiao Chaihuo could easily perform this trick, but Xiao Bei couldn’t. His martial arts training wasn’t great when he was young. Although he tried hard in his studies, he was completely hopeless when it came to martial arts training. Primarily, it was indeed very hard. Xin He saw that his academics were always pretty good. Among kids of the same age, there were barely any who had achieved the title of scholar so early.
After his teacher implied that he had hopes of becoming a scholar, Xin He simply stopped forcing him to learn martial arts. Hence, Xiao Bei’s martial arts skills were extremely basic.
His basic skills were completely unable to cope with running up walls, and when Ah Guai gets angry, he couldn’t do anything to soothe her. As a result, his prestige in Ah Guai was greatly reduced. Xiao Bei really regretted it. He should have practiced his lightness skills more.
"Can we do it one more time?" Ah Guai softly asked, clinging to Xiao Chaihuo’s neck.
Xiao Chaihuo with an expressionless face: "No."
Ah Guai frowned, Uncle Xiao Nan was really the most disagreeable person.
Xin He laughed, patted Ah Guai’s little head: "Ah Guai, behave a little. It’s not good to stay here for too long as there are too many people here. Wait until we get home and let Uncle Xiao Nan play with you."
Ah Guai instantly cheered up: "Okay!"
Through the bustling crowd, Xin He led them into a tea house.
"Do you still have private rooms available?" Shulan asked.
The waiter apologized: "I’m really sorry, there are too many people in the teahouse today, and all the private rooms are taken. You may have to settle for a seat in the public hall."
Xin He was very casual: "Sitting in the hall is not a problem, just get us some tea and snacks."
Saying so, she found herself an empty table and sat down.
The waiter saw that she was so easygoing, and immediately started to laugh: "Alright then!"
Xiao Bei and Xiao Chaihuo also sat down.
The tea house hall was noisy. Because the nearby streets were jammed, many people were probably waiting here for the congestion to clear.
Sitting in the hall, they could easily hear a lot of discussions, firstly about the provincial examination, who had the chance to become the champion, and then about the famous scholars of Yu State.
Xin He simply listened to pass time.
Who knew the crowd would suddenly switch the topic and start talking about the refugees of Yu State.
"I heard that several wealthy families in Yu State have started to provide relief to the refugees. It seems that a large number of refugees will flood to Yu State."
"Tsk, we don’t know whether it is a good thing or not. They can’t all run to our place, right? Wouldn’t the city get messed up inside and outside?"
"Do you think Prince Pingyang would let that happen? I just got the news this morning, saying that all the refugees have been gathered in one place and are not allowed to move around at will. Otherwise, there’s always someone who comes barefooted and fears nothing, carrying out theft, killing and robbery. But realistically, they’re all pitiful people, we can’t just not take them in, can we? Now, they’ve found a place to accommodate them, so as not to affect all of us, right?"
Listening attentively for a while, Xin He assessed that, up till now, nothing serious happened in the matter of the refugees. Rather, Marquis Mu had dealt with it properly, so there should be no problems.
What was strange, however, was that there hadn’t been any movement from Duan Lan or the Wang Family recently. This indicated that they hadn’t started to play their strategies yet. She still needed to be careful.
As Xin He was deep in thought, she saw Xiaoyu leading a boy in quickly.
With one glance, Xin He recognized him as the messenger she had arranged to report to Master Wang. Inside, she was suspicious that there must be something wrong.
"Greetings to the master," The boy greeted respectfully.
Xin He asked with a grave voice: "What happened?"
Xiaoyu glanced around, and then whispered in Xin He’s ear: "This boy passed a message saying that Minister Duan has begun to use Master Wang."
A flash crossed Xin He’s eyes. Starting to use Master Wang meant that he had begun to trust Master Wang, indicating that he was probably about to take action.
Xiaoyu paused for a moment, then continued: "Master Wang said, Minister Duan had someone come to see him this morning, asking him to help a group of refugees."
Xin He frowned: "Which refugees? Didn’t all the refugees from Lian City who arrived a few days ago get a wealthy family to help them?"
"It’s a new batch that just came. Minister Duan specifically asked Master Wang to help them. It clearly shows that he has plans."
Xin He narrowed her eyes: "This matter should be investigated carefully."
Then, she coldly instructed: "It’s inappropriate to startle the snake in the grass at Master Wang’s end. Let Master Wang follow Minister Duan’s instructions."
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