Lu Baichuan had the same idea, but since he didn't know the whole picture, he decided to go and take a look first.
Although they had been taking care of Jiang Jiuniang and traveling very slowly, after a few days they started traveling by land and then by water, and then back to land, and arrived in Changzhou in about half a month.
Jiang Jiuniang is in good physical condition, so she doesn't feel that it has a big impact on her health. But Lu Baichuan is still very distressed. His wife is in her late pregnancy and her feet are a little swollen. He has to massage her feet every night. He can't imagine what she did when she was pregnant with Gou'er.
"Alright, alright, it's not a big deal. Ms. Sun and my two sisters-in-law took good care of me back then, and I didn't suffer much. Don't worry about it."
Seeing how uncomfortable he looked, Jiang Jiuniang patted his shoulder and spoke as boldly as a grown man.
"It's still early. Let's grab something to eat in the city first, and then go to the village to tidy up the house."
Jiang Jiuniang licked her lips. She had lost weight recently because she had been eating simply while traveling.
"good."
Lu Baichuan helped her onto the carriage, and the family went directly into the city.
The dog kept sticking its head out of the car window and found that Changzhou was more prosperous than it had imagined, with many people coming and going on the streets.
He originally thought that it would take many years for Changzhou to recover after that natural disaster, but he didn't expect such a pleasant surprise.
A smile finally appeared on her serious little face.
Jiang Jiuniang had been paying attention to Gou'er's emotions, and seeing him like this, she couldn't help but smile.
The Lu family has been helping Changzhou over the years, so seeing this scene is quite fulfilling.
The three of them went to a restaurant for dinner. It was lunchtime and the place was very crowded. They found an empty seat in a small corner.
The waiter immediately came over to take our order, and Lu Baichuan casually asked, "Why are there so many out-of-towners all of a sudden?"
He spoke with a Changzhou accent, which surprised the waiter, who asked, "Sir, haven't you heard about the things that's been circulating lately?"
He shook his head: "I recently took my wife and children on a trip and just got back."
"No wonder! A while ago, there were rumors of an unparalleled treasure hidden somewhere in the world. A Taoist priest came and claimed he could deduce the location of the treasure. All these people are here for that Taoist priest!"
The waiter was very kind, pouring them tea as he spoke.
"With so many people here, where is the Taoist priest?"
"I don't know about this little guy. I heard that the Taoist priest was worried that someone with ill intentions wanted to harm him, so he found a place to hide."
Xiao Er shook his head, thinking these people were somewhat crazy.
However, considering that their restaurant's business had improved so much because of the spending by these migrant workers, he added, "Our business has improved a lot in an instant, and the boss has even raised our wages! Please wait a moment, sirs, I will go and arrange the food for you right away."
After saying that, she ran off to get busy again. Jiang Jiuniang smiled meaningfully. It turned out that these people were all here to boost the economic development of Changzhou. This was much better than they had imagined. If they didn't take this opportunity to make some money, they would be letting down this money-making expert.
Before the food arrived, I was bored and listened to the people next door bragging.
"That Taoist priest must be a fraud, leading us to these places. It's been so long, and we haven't heard a single word from him. I'm starting to doubt if he even exists!"
"It shouldn't be fake, right? It can't be baseless, can it? Besides, isn't there some kind of gathering at Xilai Restaurant tomorrow? Why don't we go check it out together? If it's not reliable, let's go back."
"Alright, we've been out for so long, forget about treasure, we're out of money too. If we don't go back soon, we'll starve to death on the streets."
...
Those who can come out and about must have some money, but only a few have a lot of money. These two guys next door are probably from an ordinary family. It's already quite an achievement that they've managed to survive this long. Since there's no hope, they naturally don't want to stay any longer and might as well go home and farm.
The family of three learned from the couple that there would be an event at Xilailou the next day, and they were all very interested. After exchanging glances, they understood each other's thoughts and decided that they had to go to Xilailou to join in the fun tomorrow.
After finishing their meal, Lu Baichuan took his wife and children back to the village. It had been many years since he had returned, and he felt a sense of trepidation as he approached his hometown.
Before, when I went back to the village, everyone was an acquaintance. Now, I know very few people in the village, except for those in Daling County, Jingzhou. I guess I don't know anyone there anymore.
The mood of everyone became somewhat heavy, and no one spoke as the carriage slowly moved along the road.
My hometown village in Changzhou was called Lujia Village because at that time only the Lu family lived there, with a few other families living there occasionally. Everyone regarded the Lu family as the most important family.
I thought that this time when I came, it probably wouldn't be called Lujia Village anymore, but I didn't expect that a brand new stone tablet at the entrance of the village still had the three big characters "Lujia Village" written on it.
The stone tablet looks very new; it was erected only in recent years.
"I guess it was done by Dad and my older brother when they came back last time."
Jiang Jiuniang spoke, a smile on her face.
The closer she got to Lujia Village, the stronger the original owner's feelings for the village became, to the point that she almost shed tears when she saw the stone tablet.
"Possibly."
Lu Baichuan nodded, without saying anything more.
When Dad and my older brother came back to relocate the graves before, he was busy with all sorts of things and didn't have time to ask about the family's situation. Now that he's back, he's discovered that Dad and my older brother have done a lot.
Once inside the village, you could occasionally see people, mostly children playing in the mud. They were all curious when a horse-drawn carriage arrived and followed it all the way.
Another adult entered, but they were all unfamiliar faces, so no one greeted them.
The carriage slowly came to a stop in front of the Lu family's house. One of the children mustered up his courage and asked, "Are you here to find someone?"
The dog poked its little head out of the carriage and said in a not-so-fluent Changzhou dialect, "No, we're going home. This is my home."
When he fled famine, he was still young and learning to speak. He traveled to many places and learned many local dialects. Later, when he started school, he always learned the official language of the capital. He only spoke Changzhou dialect when he was with his family at home, which resulted in his pronunciation being very awkward.
"Going home? Are you members of the Lu family?"
The child's eyes lit up, and the wariness on his face lessened.
The dog nodded: "Yes, we are from the Lu family."
At this moment, Lu Baichuan had already opened the door. He had expected to see a dusty, dilapidated courtyard, but to his surprise, it was clean and tidy, as if someone had always lived there.
If Lu Baichuan hadn't been certain that this was truly his home, he would have doubted that he had entered the wrong house.
What's going on here? Is anyone living inside? But I don't see anyone here!
Regardless, he didn't dwell on it too much, but instead went back to the carriage to help his wife down.
When the group of children saw that he could actually open the Lu family's door, they ran back excitedly, shouting, "Daddy, Mommy, the Lu family is back!"
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