229 · Bonus | Twins in Yongzhou 2
It's a cat!
A beautiful long-haired calico cat crouched in the corner, curiously observing the two siblings, or more precisely, observing the gold collars around their necks, the gold locks hanging from the collars swaying from side to side.
Seeing the two of them excitedly yelling at her, the calico cat haughtily raised her head and ran away.
The people on the road all kindly made way for it.
"Sister, there are cats there too."
A chubby orange cat was calmly squatting in front of a shop. Soon after, a waiter enthusiastically brought it two crispy white strips to eat.
"Meow".
Wow.
The brother and sister's eyes lit up.
"Do all the people in the North love cats this much?"
Xie Yunxi looked at the calico cat with amusement as it nimbly leaped onto the roof and chose the most comfortable spot to bask in the sun.
"Look, little sister."
"There, ahead!"
Xie Yunxi looked in the direction he pointed and saw a stone statue in the shape of a cat at the entrance of a small alley not far away. Incense was lit, and people coming and going would occasionally put some food in front of the statue. There were two or three cats leisurely licking their paws in the alley, obviously having just eaten.
Xie Yunyao sighed again, "The people of the North really love cats."
Xie Yunxi wholeheartedly agreed.
There aren't as many raccoon dogs here as in the capital, but these raccoon dogs live exceptionally well and have excellent fur.
Qingmei covered her mouth and laughed, afraid that she would burst out laughing, and quickly asked a passing woman, "Auntie, your cats here seem to be living a very carefree life."
"You're from out of town, aren't you?"
"We are from the capital."
"Well, you wouldn't know. This cat..."
The woman looked at the stone cat statue at the entrance of the alley and said admiringly, "It is the lucky star of our Yongzhou."
She spoke the word "Yongzhou" softly, as if it were a sigh. The brother and sister were too far away to hear her clearly, their attention was entirely focused on "Lucky Star".
"Grandma, why is the lucky star a cat?" Xie Yunxi asked curiously.
The woman looked over and saw a very pretty little girl. Her eyes crinkled with laughter as she said kindly, "It was Lady Cat who saved us."
Seeing that they were listening attentively, the woman also spoke with great interest.
"It was five years ago... no, it was six years ago. Lord Cat had just taken office when he led the garrison to drive away the bandits who were attacking the city."
"Wow!"
The brother and sister exclaimed in unison.
etc?
Master Cat... is he a cat?
Before they could think it through, the woman continued enthusiastically, "Five years ago, Lord Cat foresaw a flood that would inundate the city, and the governor ordered the evacuation of all the residents of Blackwater Fortress, Skywater City, and all the nearby villages and towns. And then the Mon River really did breach its banks!"
"Wow!!"
The brother and sister's eyes widened in surprise.
"Four years ago, Lord Cat discovered that the grain seeds distributed by the government were diseased. If these seeds had been planted, there would have been no harvest that year."
"Wow!!!"
"And what else..."
The woman spoke with great enthusiasm.
When Xiangyang found out where to buy dumplings, he hurried back and saw Xie Yunyao and Xie Yunxi, the two siblings, crowding in front of the car window, listening intently with shining eyes, occasionally letting out a "wow" sound.
“Yaoyao, Xixi”.
Xiangyang waved the new cloth cat plushie in his hand. It was about the same size as a regular cloth tiger, made in the shape of a cat plushie, one a calico cat and the other a Jianzhou cat.
"Thank you, Uncle Xiang!"
The brother and sister went to get it together, their smiles sweeter than each other's.
The chubby little cat was stuffed with cotton, and Xie Yunxi rubbed her face against it.
"Xixi, the wontons are on that street ahead. Let's go there now."
"good!"
The brother and sister held up the cloth cat in their arms, thanked the woman obediently, and sat down again before the carriage departed.
The two of them leaned against the carriage window, playing with their cloth cat figurines, and happily looked outside. After a while, the carriage stopped in front of a small alley, where a small food stall had opened.
This is an old shop that Xiangyang just found out about.
On the way here, Xiangyang told Qingmei, "The best wontons in Blackwater Fortress are right here. I heard that they were set up by the first group of refugees who moved to the city when Lord Shen ordered the reconstruction of Blackwater Fortress."
After the carriage came to a stop, Qingmei lifted the curtain, and the brother and sister jumped down one after the other. Xie Yunyao didn't forget to pull his sister up, and the two of them stood steadily.
Chongjiu quietly gestured towards the shadows and escorted the two siblings inside.
On the surface, he and Qingmei were "persuaded" to accompany them on their runaway from home.
But in reality, Xiang Yang led twenty bodyguards.
Besides these secret guards, Chongjiu's Golden Guards also followed at a distance.
The wonton stall is run by an elderly couple. The shop is small, with only about ten square tables inside.
The shopkeeper's son was in charge of greeting the guests. Hearing that they didn't speak with a local accent, he led them to sit by the window.
"Four bowls of wontons."
Xiangyang ordered wontons and some local dishes. Seeing that there were two children, the elderly couple hospitably served them two bowls of hot milk.
The whole street was filled with the clamor of vendors hawking their wares, and itinerant merchants leading horses came and went. This shop was doing very well; even before the dumplings were served, more customers came in.
It turned out to be the horse merchant they had just met at the city gate. The bearded man recognized them as soon as he came in, greeted them cheerfully, and sat down at the table next to them.
"I heard that the governor will be passing through here soon."
He had an expression that said, "You guys must have inquired about this beforehand and waited here on purpose, right?"
The shopkeeper's son came up to wipe the table and said, "He hasn't arrived yet. The governor's entourage is quite grand. If he comes, we'll definitely see him."
He grinned, his eyes filled with reverence.
"Will Lord Cat be coming with the Governor?" The horse merchant bowed solemnly. "I must pay my respects properly. Last time, I took a group of horses to Nadu City, and they were almost robbed by bandits. Luckily, Lord Cat led troops to rescue us..."
State animal husbandry?
The brother and sister turned around together, each holding their cloth cat figurine.
Although they did not go to the North, their father personally taught them, so they still knew some common knowledge about the court—the North was guarded by the Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion, and the court had never sent down a governor.
Are they talking about my uncle?
Xie Yunyao leaned closer to his younger sister and whispered something.
Xie Yunxi nodded, feigning seriousness, his voice even lower than Xie Yunxi's: "It's normal for the common people to not be able to distinguish between a governor and a prince, right?... It's not normal at all!!"
When she finished speaking, she slammed her little hand on the table.
Even though the little girl used a lot of force, the sound of her slapping wasn't loud and didn't attract much attention. However, her own little hands were slapped until they were red.
She sniffed, her beautiful phoenix eyes looking pitifully at her brother.
They are twins and have had a wonderful connection since childhood, able to subtly sense each other's joys and sorrows.
Even though it wasn't him who slammed the table, Xie Yunyao's palms were faintly red and slightly numb. He looked at his sister with the same aggrieved expression, his eyes welling up with tears.
The brother and sister looked at each other.
You blow on it for me, and I'll blow on it for you.
Qingmei was overjoyed and turned her head to laugh softly.
"Yaoyao, we..."
With their heads close together, Xie Yunyao interjected, "Did we go to the wrong place...?"
"Meow!"
A dark figure leaped in through the window, accompanied by a cat's meow, interrupting their thoughts.
A black tabby cat leaped onto the square table in front of them, licked its paws, and stared intently at the two siblings with its golden eyes.
Everyone in Blackwater Fort loves cats, and cats can freely enter any household without being chased away.
People are already used to "stray cats" (cats that come out of nowhere).
The shopkeeper, not forgetting to be kind, instructed his wife to fetch some dried fish.
"I wonder whose pet cat it is that has escaped."
As he spoke, he glanced at the black leather collar around the tabby cat's neck. In the center of the collar was a golden cat's eye stone, surrounded by tiny diamonds, and a small jade pendant broken in two hung from the collar.
Although the small jade pendant is broken, the edges are polished quite smoothly, and there are some peculiar patterns engraved on the pendant, like the talismans of a Taoist temple.
The cat took two steps toward the siblings, and with its movement, the small jade pendant swayed gently, and the cat's eye stone on the necklace refracted a dazzling light under the sunlight.
"So you're still a servant from a wealthy family?"
The shopkeeper stared in disbelief, muttering to himself before turning to add, "Qiu Niang, remove the bones from the dried fish."
"Meow~"
The tabby cat meowed once and took two more steps forward.
It sat in front of the brother and sister, tilted its little head, and showed a hint of doubt in its pupils, which were very similar to cat's eye stones. Its unicorn tail swayed idly.
"You, you, you..."
The brother and sister both pointed at it.
The tabby cat twitched its dark little nose forward, its eyes suddenly lit up, and its whiskers stood up.
Meow~
Look what it discovered!
"Is it a Shen Cat?"
Xie Yunxi turned to her brother and said.
"No way!"
Even if they took the wrong road, they couldn't have ended up in Yongzhou, could they?
Xie Yunyao was certain that when they first left the capital, they were indeed heading north, so even if they hadn't reached the North yet, they weren't far from there!
Yongzhou is located to the west of the capital!
Xie Yunyao: "There are many tabby cats that look alike."
"It has a qilin tail."
Xie Yunyao: "..."
"It also has a small jade pendant."
Xie Yunyao: "..."
With each sentence he spoke, Xie Yunyao shrunk a little, almost sliding off his chair.
Snap!
The cat suddenly raised its paw and slapped him on the forehead, leaving a muddy paw-shaped mark.
Xie Yunyao covered his forehead.
In this world, there's only one cat that would hit him—
The brother and sister looked at each other: "Sinking Cat!"
"Meow!"
Xie Yunyao's smile was more like a grimace. When he turned around, his younger sister had already happily rushed over to him.
Shen Xu had just returned to the capital last year, and they had met Shen Mao!
The tabby cat nimbly leaped away from Xie Yunxi's enthusiastic embrace, jumping over her head and deliberately slapping the back of her head with its paw.
Xie Yunxi missed his target and laughed heartily.
Shenmao has never liked to talk to them since he was little, and he always hits them.
But it doesn't matter!
The cat sniffed the milk that the siblings hadn't finished drinking. Xie Yunxi asked the shopkeeper for a small plate and gave some to the cat.
"Meow!"
It was so happy that its tail stood up and it buried its head to lick it twice.
Xie Yunxi secretly reached out to touch it, but the cat didn't even raise its head, its soft paws ruthlessly pushing her away.
“Xi Xi”.
Xie Yunyao pressed down on his sister's shoulders, turning her towards him.
“The cat is here.”
so……
It seems, probably, possibly... that they really did accidentally end up in Yongzhou!
The brother and sister looked at each other.
so……
This is not the North.
Not even in the north?!
Qingmei turned her head away, trying to suppress her laughter until her stomach hurt.
Xie Yunyao tugged at his sister's sleeve, and the two instantly understood each other.
Xie Yunyao coughed twice and said seriously, "We originally came to Yongzhou."
If their mother knew they had taken the wrong path without realizing it, she would laugh at them for at least a year.
Xie Yunxi stroked his chin and nodded, saying, "Yaoyao is right."
Qingmei chuckled and exposed their lie: "Young lady, didn't you say you were going to find your uncle?"
Their eyes darted around for a moment.
"Mmm?"
The tabby cat, which had been engrossed in its food, suddenly raised its head and jumped back onto the windowsill, its little head peering out towards the other end of the street.
"Quickly, quick, the governor is here."
On the street, someone suddenly shouted, startling the cat.
Everyone turned to look outside.
The cat shook its fur, gave the two siblings a short "meow," and happily jumped out of the window.
Xie Yunxi looked in that direction and saw a man dressed in a bright red brocade robe slowly approaching, surrounded by a group of people. He was tall and slender, and his steps were unhurried, as if nothing in the world could move him.
He is the master.
Qingmei stood up abruptly.
Apart from that loud shout, the entire street instantly became quiet and still.
The people consciously moved to the sides, secretly looking up and observing, their eyes revealing fear, but even more so, respect.
"This is……"
Xie Yunxi immediately stepped forward.
It's Uncle Shen!?
She looked at her brother, their similar phoenix eyes met, and their dark, bright eyes darted around. The tacit understanding between the twins reached its peak at that moment.
It could also be...
The two held hands, their little heads peeking over the railing at the same time, and called out in unison, "Uncle!"
They hadn't gone the wrong way; they were looking for Uncle Shen!
That's right!
puff--
Xiangyang spat out a mouthful of water, choking and coughing uncontrollably.
Qingmei: ?
Wait, what was my uncle again?
The Crown Prince and the Eldest Princess have mistakenly recognized each other as uncles... Does the Prince of Zhenbei know about this?!
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