The next morning, a ray of warm sunlight shone into the room, and Luo Lan opened his eyes lazily.
The air around me was getting a little cold. It seemed that Leng Yu had been gone for a long time. Today was the day for the morning court session. He would go out early during these days of the monthly court session.
As soon as Luo Lan got up, A Cai came knocking on the door.
"Princess, are you awake? The water for washing your face is ready. I am coming in."
A Cai could always tell when she woke up, or rather, she was listening to her movements at the door. She probably could hear it even if she turned over.
"Come in."
She shouted to the door, stretched, and got up from the bed.
Ah Cai started to talk after she came in.
"Princess, Xiao Lingzi and Zhang Yuan have been waiting for you outside with several guards. They said that the prince has ordered them to follow your instructions for the next few days."
"Well, did An An cry last night?"
"I just checked and the two young masters and young lady are sleeping well. The nurses have rubbed their bellies before bed as you instructed."
Luo Lan took the wet towel handed over by A Cai and wiped his face while nodding.
"That's good. It will be fine once An'an and Lele grow up to Huaiyu's size."
"By the way, Princess, General Liu arrived early this morning. He came specially to see Lele. He said that when Lele grows up, he will take her to the Duke's Mansion and teach her kung fu."
Hearing this, Luo Lan shook his head helplessly.
"Dad is too straightforward. He doesn't have to show it so obviously even if he likes Lele. I'll have to talk to him later."
Ah Cai combed her hair and chuckled:
"It's okay, they're still young, they won't be angry."
"But they will grow up sooner or later, and deep down, they won't understand why their grandfather treats them differently."
Ah Cai nodded, not quite understanding. "Your words make sense. By the way, breakfast is ready. I'll bring it to you. The prince specially asked me to cook you some braised eggs, saying that you like them."
Speaking of braised eggs, Luo Lan suddenly thought of what happened last night. Did this guy really need to hint at her so blatantly?
Thinking of this, she blushed and nodded, "Well, Your Majesty is right, go and get ready."
She didn't want to explain too much about her love for 'braised eggs', it was really 'embarrassing'.
After the meal, Luo Lan called Xiao Lingzi, Zhang Yuan and several guards over and said seriously:
"We'll split up and move in four directions: east, south, west, and north. Xiao Lingzi takes two people to the east, Zhang Yuan takes two people to the west, I'll take Ah Cai and Ah Hong to the south, and you take two people to the north. Together, we'll visit the villages near Minghua County and look for the women who were divorced by the wealthy Li family. We'll meet at Lijiazhuang at noon."
Hearing this, Xiao Lingzi, Zhang Yuan and the guards all clasped their fists and said:
"I understand. I'll go right away."
After that, these people split into four groups. Luo Lan and A Cai traveled in a carriage, while Xiao Lingzi, Zhang Yuan and others rode horses and headed straight for Minghua County.
They used Minghua County as the center and searched for people in four directions.
The carriage that Luo Lan and the other two were riding in arrived at a village three miles away from Minghua County. She asked the coachman to wait at the entrance of the village, and she took Acai and Ahong into the village.
They saw a few old women sitting and chatting under a big tree. Luo Lan went over and asked:
"Ladies, why are you chatting here?"
The ladies nodded enthusiastically and replied:
"Yes, where are you from, girl? Are you here to visit relatives or friends?"
"Auntie, I'm not visiting relatives or friends. I just want to know if there are any girls in our village who have married into the wealthy Li family in Lijiazhuang?"
As soon as she asked this question, the old ladies looked at each other and shook their heads. One of them said:
"It's almost noon, I have to go home and cook."
Several other old ladies also echoed, "Let's go, let's go home and cook."
"A few ladies..."
Luo Lan wanted to ask a few more questions, but they had already walked away.
Looking at the backs of these people, Ah Cai said angrily with her hands on her hips:
"What kind of person is this? He has no manners at all."
Ah Hong said calmly:
"Princess, why do I feel this is a bit strange? When I greeted them, they were quite enthusiastic, but when I mentioned Mr. Li to them, they made excuses and left."
Luo Lan nodded doubtfully. She looked up at the curl of smoke rising from the chimney of a house not far away and said softly:
"Let's go and ask there."
After she finished speaking, she walked in front, followed closely by Acai and Ahong.
They came to the gate of a farmhouse with a dilapidated door. In the yard, an old woman was chopping wood. Judging from her gray hair, she should be in her fifties or sixties.
"aunt……"
Luo Lan called out, and the old woman turned around, put her palm on her forehead and looked towards the door. When she saw Luo Lan, she put down the axe in her hand, walked to the door and asked:
"Girl, who are you looking for?"
Luo Lan looked at the old lady's deep-set eyes and said softly:
"We're just passing by, can we go in and ask for a drink?"
Seeing that it was three women, the old lady nodded directly and said, "Please come in. Although there is nothing else in the house, there is still water."
As the old lady spoke, she welcomed the three of them into the yard.
Sitting at the tattered low table, watching the old lady bending over the stove to light a fire and boil water, Acai wanted to stop her, but Luo Lan waved her hand and shook her head at her.
Ah Cai pursed her lips, swallowed secretly, and said in a low voice:
"Princess, look at the rim of her pot, how dirty it is, and that bucket, it looks like it hasn't been used for years."
Luo Lan chuckled without any concern, "Since we're here to ask for water, how can we despise someone else's water being dirty? They let us in, so we should be grateful."
Ah Hong also blamed:
"The princess didn't say anything, yet you think she's dirty. Do you have any shame?"
Ah Cai's face flushed and she lowered her head in shame.
After a while, the old lady came over with a steaming kettle. She picked up a few enamel pots on the table and said to herself while pouring water:
"There's no tea at home, so the girls can just make do with this."
Luo Lan hurriedly took the water cup and said repeatedly:
"Thank you, Auntie. Please take a seat!"
The old lady pushed two glasses of water in front of Ah Cai and Ah Hong respectively, then sat down, muttering in a sad tone,
"Ever since my Dani left, my house has become much quieter. I'm really happy that you can come here and ask for a drink."
Looking at the empty eyes of the old lady, Luo Lan pursed his lips and persuaded softly:
"Auntie, who is Dani to you? Where did she go? Are you alone at home?"
The old lady rubbed her hands and nodded.
"Um……"
After nodding, she quickly shook her head, "I'm not the only one in my family. There's also Dani, my granddaughter. I just don't know where she went. I can't find her even if I look for her!"
"Why can't I find her? Did she get married, or did she go out to work?"
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