Tao Wan's mother looked puzzled and subconsciously glanced at her two sons. Who went to inform them?
“General Ling, you must have misunderstood. Is it not permissible for me to take my whole family to Shanhai Prefecture to visit old friends?” Tao Wanniang retorted.
"What old friends do you have in Shanhai Prefecture? Tao Wanniang, aren't you the most proud person? Are you going to give up the stability and wealth in the capital just because of such a small matter?" Ling Yunzhou said in a stern tone.
“Who said I don’t have any old friends?” Tao Wanniang said with displeasure. “Yu Mei is from Shan Hai Prefecture. She suffered some misfortune, but now that things have stabilized, is it not allowed for her to go back and visit?”
“I also own a house in Shanhai Prefecture. Now that I have nothing to do, I might as well go back and take a look. I also have quite a few chickens and ducks to raise. Why can’t I go back?”
Tao Wanniang's confident and assertive manner left Ling Yunzhou momentarily stunned.
"Is it really just about going back to take a look?"
"What do you think?" Tao Wanniang rolled her eyes at Ling Yunzhou. "A good dog doesn't block the way. If you delay us for even a moment, we'll have to sleep in the open."
Ling Yunzhou looked grim, yet he couldn't utter a word in rebuttal. As a general, he couldn't simply leave, and he watched with great reluctance as Tao Wanniang urged her son to drive away. In the end, he turned his horse around and returned to the city.
Tao Wanniang didn't ask who had sent the message to Ling Yunzhou; there were some things she didn't want to meddle in.
Inside the carriage, Zhou Xiaoyun cautiously glanced at Tao Wanniang. Seeing that Tao Wanniang looked unharmed, she breathed a sigh of relief. She felt that her elder brother's family had already reunited with their father, while hers was lagging behind. It took several attempts to persuade Ling Dapeng before he finally agreed to deliver a message to the General's Mansion. Fortunately, her mother-in-law didn't seem to care at all.
"Mother, what do you mean by saying that there are also houses in Shanhai Prefecture?" Wang Hongyu asked cautiously after waiting for a while.
“Didn’t I mention it? It was Prince Tuorui who bought that house before,” Tao Wanniang said lightly. “I have the land deeds. I’ll take care of Xiao Lu’s business while I’m back this time. We won’t be staying here; we can rent the house out.”
Another large mansion? Wang Hongyu was shocked. How much wealth had her mother-in-law quietly made?
"Grandma, are the chicks and ducklings still there?" asked his eldest grandson, Ling Rui, in his childish voice. After being raised in Beijing for a month or so, the little boy had gained weight again.
"They should still be there. We'll find out when we go." Did Tao Wan Niang care? Actually, she didn't really care. The chicks and ducklings were gone, but that was fine too. She just wanted to go somewhere different!
“Duck, chicken…” Ling Xiaofeng clapped her hands happily, and the children were excited as they went out.
After a smooth journey of several days, they arrived at Jinzhou City, which they had visited before. Seeing that it was getting late, Tao Wanniang decided to find an inn in the city to stay overnight and wait for supplies to be replenished before setting off again the next day.
The large carriage carried the Tao family, who, though not dressed in luxurious attire, were clean and presentable. They arrived at the inn where they had previously stayed.
"Sir, you look familiar. Have you been here before?" The innkeeper looked up and immediately greeted him with a smile.
"I've been here before, five superior rooms," Tao Wanniang replied, looking around, and it was just as before.
Five superior rooms, what a distinguished guest! The innkeeper immediately called over a waiter and had him take Tao Wanniang and her entourage up to rest.
"Sirs, I remember you. What brings you to Jinzhou again? Didn't you go to the capital before?" The waiter recognized Tao Wanniang and her group. "You all look even more energetic these past few months."
"Oh, you still remember us? You have a good memory," Tao Wanniang asked curiously.
"Indeed, five superior rooms at once, such generosity is rare." The waiter said cheerfully, "If you have visited our inn again, it must be because our inn has something worth returning to. Here are your rooms, please feel free to tell me what you need."
Tao Wanniang nodded, told the others to rest, and then closed the door. They were tired from the journey and needed to rest for a while.
"Bang bang bang!" Tao Wanniang had only been lying down for a short while when there was a frantic knocking on the door.
"Mother, Mother, open the door!" Ling Dahu called out to Tao Wanniang in a low voice, but urgently.
Tao Wanniang reluctantly got up and opened the door, but before she could say anything, Ling Dahu pushed her into the house and closed the door behind her.
"Mother, something terrible has happened! Do you know who I saw?" Ling Dahu's face turned pale with fright.
"Who is it? It's like seeing a ghost!" Tao Wanniang's face was not good after being woken up.
"That... bandit, the one who wanted to marry my mother as his wife," Ling Dahu said nervously. This was a very deep impression on him!
The bandit leader, what was his name again? Tao Wanniang could recall the person, but not his name. However, that face… she frowned. “Where did you see him?”
"It was downstairs. The child was thirsty and said he wanted water, so I went downstairs to ask the waiter for some, and that's when I saw him." Ling Dahu said in a panic, "Mother, you must not leave this door, lest that person see you."
Tao Wan's mother didn't like hearing this.
"Bandits dare to break into my house, what do I, a law-abiding citizen, have to fear?" Tao Wanniang said sarcastically. "If he dares to flirt with me in front of others, I'll chop off his head!"
Ling Dahu was taken aback. Had his mother been exaggerating?
"What time is it? Shouldn't it be time for dinner? Ask the others if they want to go downstairs and order a table full of dishes, or eat separately?"
"Mother, won't you reconsider?" Ling Dahu asked, still forcing himself to persuade her despite Tao Wan's displeasure.
"No need, your mother isn't one to cower in the dark." After sending Ling Dahu away, Tao Wan's mother immediately put on the hidden arrow stored in the system. Hmm, she also wanted to check the trading system to see if there were any convenient traps or anything.
This is nice, a simple silver hairpin, hollow inside so you can put medicine powder in it, I'll buy one.
This one's pretty good too, it has a retractable dagger, haha, when you stab someone, you can give them a quick, chilling blow.
Having spent fifty taels of silver, Tao Wanniang gained two more pieces of self-defense equipment, which was just enough to arm her.
Soon, Ling Dahu knocked on the door again.
"Mom, let's all go downstairs to eat."
During the meal, Tao Wanniang finally saw the person who had terrified Ling Dahu, and remembered the person's name: Zhang Tiehao, the chieftain of Black Wind Stronghold!
However, judging from his appearance, the other person seemed to have fallen on hard times. Not only was he unkempt, but his clothes also looked worn out.
Just then, Zhang Tiehao also saw Tao Wanniang. When their eyes met, Zhang Tiehao was stunned for a moment. This beautiful woman looked somewhat familiar!
But then Zhang Tiehao remembered that this was the older woman he had taken a liking to, but who had ultimately betrayed him. After not seeing her for many days, she was even more beautiful than before. He was about to go forward when he thought of his current situation and his expression became tense.
Is he... avoiding them? Tao Wanniang was very curious when she saw Zhang Tiehao change his position and sit down with his back to them. However, since he didn't bother her, she just turned a blind eye and pretended not to see anything!
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