Yang Donghu hid his hands under his sleeves and held Cao'er's hand tightly to comfort him. He still smiled and said to Grandma Liu, "Okay, I understand. I'll remember it. When I get back, I'll tell him and ask him to come back to see you soon."
"Okay, okay, thank you." Grandma Liu put on a smile again and took out a piece of bread from the steamed bun frame and handed it to Yang Donghu: "Eat, it's cold outside. Have you eaten yet? The chickens at home just laid an egg. I said to save it to exchange for money, but Cao'er insisted on frying it to make some food for us old people. You said it doesn't matter whether we eat or not at our age. Little Cao'er is very stubborn and won't eat a single bite. Come on, eat."
Yang Donghu took the pancake, politely declined the small bowl of eggs, and said thank you to Grandma Liu with a smile.
Cao'er sniffed, trying to suppress the bitterness in her heart. When she spoke again, there was no more abnormality in her voice: "Donghu sent us some meat tonight. I'll make dumplings for you tonight. Eat your meal first; it's getting cold."
The two elders of the Liu family enthusiastically invited them to sit together. Yang Donghu declined again and again, and only after he told Grandma Liu several times that he had already eaten did he give up.
Cao'er used the excuse that she had something to give to Yang Donghu and dragged him into the house, leaving Zhao Luochuan alone outside, where he enthusiastically ate a few cakes while being persuaded by Grandma Liu.
As soon as they were alone, Cao'er burst into tears. Yang Donghu wiped his face with a handkerchief and comforted him softly, "Don't cry. You can't stay here alone. The end of the year is approaching. If Liu Guiyuan doesn't come back, the elders will definitely become suspicious, and they will be unable to bear it. Before that, we have to find him and let his family see him. It doesn't matter if he has lost his memory, as long as they know that he is still alive and well."
These are all the truths. It is impossible to hide it for a long time. Cao'er just wanted to hide it for one more day. Now that he can't hide it anymore, he is very anxious.
Yang Donghu knew that he didn't know how to face Liu Guiyuan now. After thinking for a moment, he continued, "Let Dachuan go again. I heard from Dachuan that the peasant girl doesn't want Liu Guiyuan to come back. But let's explain the pros and cons to her. She's a good person, otherwise she wouldn't have saved Liu Guiyuan. Maybe she'll relent if we explain it clearly."
"I know Wen Ling is a good person, but I'm afraid Gui Yuan himself doesn't remember his parents, so he won't be willing to come back."
"It's okay. We won't know if it works until we try. If Liu Guiyuan really doesn't want to come back, let Dachuan knock him out and bring him back directly."
These words did not make Cao'er's face relax. Except when facing the old man, he would force himself not to think about those things. When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, he would always sob until midnight.
It was inappropriate to say anything at this time. It was so hard to find someone for Cao'er to hug and cry freely. Yang Donghu didn't say anything else. The two little brothers just hugged each other.
Suddenly there was a new noise outside the house. Someone in the yard was calling Cao'er. Yang Donghu sounded familiar. Before anyone could go out, he heard the voices of Zhao Luochuan greeting that person.
"Brother Zhao? Why are you here?" Liu Ji brought a big bowl of dumplings. He was worried about Cao'er and the old man living a lonely life, so he came to visit. Unexpectedly, he met someone he had met a few times here.
Zhao Luochuan stood up and said, "Brother Liu Ji, my husband is worried about Cao'er. He happened to be in town today and came to visit."
The meat he had brought was still on the table. Liu Ji laughed when he heard this: "That's quite a coincidence, uncle, aunt, my mother made some dumplings and asked me to bring you a bowl. Where's Cao'er? Why don't I see her?"
"Inside the house, talking with Young Master Yang."
When Cao'er heard Liu Ji's question, she didn't care to cry. She wiped the tears from her face and took a long breath: "Hey, I'll go out later."
One could tell at a glance that he had been crying. When he came out, except for two old people whose eyes were blurry and they couldn't see clearly, the others saw it but tacitly didn't mention it.
Yang Donghu and his wife sat for a while and then decided to go back. Grandma Liu couldn't keep them, so she thanked them again and again and asked Cao'er to send them out.
Liu Ji saw that several people were hiding something, so he followed them out of the door and stopped them at the door to find out what was going on.
"Cao'er, why are you crying? Is there any news about Guiyuan, or something else? Don't keep it in your heart. If you have anything to say, tell me. I will definitely help if I can."
Cao'er didn't tell anyone about Liu Guiyuan's news, and asked a few people who knew the truth to help keep it secret. If Liu Ji knew that Liu Guiyuan was still alive, he would definitely say anything to bring him back. Cao'er didn't want to disturb Liu Guiyuan's hard-earned peaceful life.
Now that his peaceful life was no longer sustainable, and there was no need to hide anything, Yang Donghu spoke up for him, answering, "There's news about Liu Guiyuan, but he's forgotten everything that happened before. He now has a new identity, Wen En."
It was very cold outside. Zhao Luochuan took over his words and repeated them in a few words. Liu Ji went from being confused at first to being angry at last. Just as Cao'er had thought, he almost wanted to bring the person back immediately.
It was snowing heavily and the road was long and difficult to walk on. Cao'er held him and persuaded him, saying that no matter how anxious he was, he had to wait until the snow stopped.
Zhao Luochuan and Yang Donghu were of the same mind, their thoughts largely aligned. He also spoke up, "Don't be impulsive. This isn't something that can be resolved impulsively. Liu Guiyuan won't run away anyway. When the snow stops, I'll go with you to check on him and bring him back. He can ignore others, but he must take care of his parents."
After several people took turns to persuade him earnestly, Liu Ji slowly calmed down and suppressed the impulse in his heart. He knew that Cao'er's red eyes just now were probably because of Liu Guiyuan. When he looked at Cao'er again, there was pity and a bit of strange emotion in his eyes.
Liu Ji had agreed to go after the snow stopped, and he kept it in mind. In the next two days, he was more attentive to Cao'er and the two old people.
It is said that customs vary every ten miles, but the tradition of eating dumplings during the winter solstice is also observed in Wenling, who is a hundred miles away.
No matter what you do in the herbal garden, there is a bitter smell of herbs, whether it is cooking porridge or dumplings.
She insisted that dumplings stuffed with cabbage were nutritious in winter and that astragalus should be added to them. Liu Guiyuan didn't like the bitter taste of the medicine, but he was not the one making the dumplings, so he waited to eat them and didn't say anything.
What was unusual was that ever since he last met that boy named Cao'er, some familiar images kept popping up in his mind, with that boy's face appearing the most. Every time this happened, he would be lost in thought, wondering if he had really known Cao'er before.
Wen Ling lived under the same roof with him, so she naturally noticed that something was wrong with him. When she called Wen En several times and no one responded, her worries grew.
I was afraid that one day Liu Guiyuan would seriously tell me that his name was not Wen En.
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