Before Xu Qianqian could react, Madam Sun immediately launched into a tirade of abuse:
"You shameless wretch, I've already made a concession by letting you come to the capital with us. If you continue to pester my husband, I'll just beat you to death today."
Wang Ma was startled by Sun Shi's fierce actions, and then looked to Jiang Yuwei for help. Jiang Yuwei completely ignored Wang Ma's gaze, and instead pulled out a handful of melon seeds from somewhere, eating them while watching the show.
Xu Qianqian, after being scolded like that by Madam Sun, was unwilling to let it go. She grabbed Ning Chunlin's arm and said aggrievedly:
"Brother Chunlin, Qianqian's face hurts so much! Look at how unreasonable and fierce Madam Sun is. If you take her out in the capital, won't you be utterly humiliated? She can't even stand it when you're just being affectionate with me. Look at all those respectable men, they all have multiple wives and concubines. You've only found me, and she treats me like this. Will you have to put up with this in the future?"
As she spoke, Xu Qianqian directly pulled Ning Chunlin's hand and covered her stinging face, saying in a sweet voice:
“Brother Chunlin, look at my face, it’s all swollen from that slap. You think she slapped me? She actually slapped you to show you. She doesn’t take you seriously at all.”
Xu Qianqian's instigation immediately made Ning Chunlin worry about his future, so Ning Chunlin directly slapped Sun Shi.
Sun covered her face, looked at Ning Chunlin in disbelief, and said with tears in her eyes:
"Chunlin, we've been married for so many years, don't you know what kind of person I am? I've always been devoted to you and our family. Now that Xu Qianqian has stirred things up a bit, you're going to hit me? Don't you care about our past relationship as husband and wife?"
Upon hearing Sun's words, Ning Chunlin immediately regretted his impulsive actions. Seeing Ning Chunlin's expression, Xu Qianqian quickly spoke up first:
“Mrs. Sun, you’ve gone too far. You keep trying to use our past relationship to pressure our Brother Chunlin. I would never say such a thing to Brother Chunlin. If Brother Chunlin wants to hire more people to serve him in the future, I will never say another word.”
Upon hearing Xu Qianqian's words, Ning Chunlin's initial pity for Madam Sun vanished instantly, and he impatiently replied:
"Enough, stop making a fool of yourselves here. Everyone get in the carriage. Qianqian, sit with me in the front carriage."
After saying that, Ning Chunlin ignored Sun Shi, who was still standing there in a daze, and directly pulled Xu Qianqian's hand and got into the carriage. Chen Guixiang saw this and hurriedly hugged Ning Xin and called out to Old Man Ning to get into the carriage as well.
Wang Ma sighed helplessly. This young master was easily swayed; even a widow from the village could manipulate him completely. It seemed that even after they went to the capital, this young master wouldn't be able to behave himself.
Thinking this, she felt sorry for Madam Sun, and so she began to advise her:
"Young Master will have to deal with many people and things in the future, so you should take it easy and just do your job well. After all, you have a child with Young Master, so if you behave yourself, he won't treat you badly."
With that, he got into the carriage.
After hearing Wang Ma's words, Madam Sun stared blankly at the carriage carrying Ning Chunlin and Xu Qianqian for a moment, then gave a wry smile and looked at Jiang Yuwei helplessly, saying:
"You enjoy seeing me make a fool of myself, don't you?"
Jiang Yuwei didn't know why he was saying this to her again, but she was too lazy to pay attention and simply turned around and got into her own oxcart.
Liu, Ning Daya, Ning Wan, and Jiang Yuwei rode together in an oxcart. Gou Dan followed Ning Huaizhi in front, learning to drive the oxcart. Ning Zhao rode a horse with his master, Ning Zixuan, who wanted to take this opportunity to teach Ning Zhao how to ride.
The Zhou family had Tiezhu and Ningwu take turns driving the cart, while Uncle Cai was also learning to drive the oxcart. All sorts of things could happen along the way, which was something Jiang Yuwei had instructed them to do as much as possible to learn how to drive the oxcart, just in case.
The group set off from Ningjia Village in a grand procession. After traveling for a whole day, they arrived at a village called Jiajiagou around dusk. Jiang Yuwei thought it was time to find a safe place to stay. It would be better if they could stay at a villager's house. If they couldn't find a suitable place, they could take turns keeping watch and spend the night in the car.
Ning Zixuan led the way on horseback, guiding everyone into Jiajiagou. Unexpectedly, upon entering the village, they saw dilapidated courtyards everywhere, and no living people in sight. The further Jiang Yuwei went into the village, the more alarmed she became. So she called out to Ning Zixuan:
"Ning Zixuan, why don't we just stay here for the night? We'll just find an empty room to make do. We need to get up early tomorrow morning to continue our journey."
Ning Zixuan thought Jiang Yuwei's words made sense, so he found a courtyard by the roadside, pushed open the door and went in. The courtyard was still in a dilapidated state.
Jiang Yuwei directed everyone to drive the vehicles into the yard, then had them unload the vehicles. She instructed Tiezhu and Ningwu to take Uncle Youcai, Gou Dan, and Ning Zhao out to graze the cattle and horses so that it wouldn't affect their journey the next morning.
Jiang Yuwei then asked Liu Shi, Daya, and Aunt Zhou to prepare food for everyone, while Granny Chen and her family followed Wang Ma to prepare their own food.
Jiang Yuwei and Ning Wan were busy tidying up the house and making the beds. Jiang Yuwei thought that this village was a bit strange, and that people should take turns keeping watch at night. There was only one room in the courtyard where they could sleep. The women slept on a heated kang bed, and the men slept on the floor. This way, it would be safer.
Just as everyone finished eating, packed their things, and lay down, a sudden gust of cold wind blew open the courtyard gate, causing the temperature inside the house to drop several degrees. Jiang Yuwei felt a chill run through her body and asked:
"Da Ya, did you close the courtyard gate properly before you went inside?"
Ning Daya said with certainty:
“Sister Yuwei, you told me to check the courtyard gate before I got into bed. How come it was blown open by a gust of wind? This is too strange…”
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