The woman's expectant gaze carried a hint of cautious flattery, as if she feared Hong Xiaoduo might change her mind and not take her to see Kaiyang.
Seeing this made Hong Xiaoduo feel a little sad. When they went out together to the carriage, the maid helped the woman to get in first, but the woman refused and only looked at Hong Xiaoduo.
"Are you afraid I'll change my mind and run away? Fine." Hong Xiaoduo said, wanting to laugh but also feeling a little sad.
After she boarded the carriage first, the woman immediately followed and sat opposite Hong Xiaoduo, sitting upright.
After the maid boarded the carriage, she sat down next to the woman and smiled ingratiatingly at Hong Xiaoduo. Then, when she looked at her mistress, her eyes showed some worry.
Hong Xiaoduo roughly guessed the maid's worries. Now that she had agreed to see Kaiyang, her mistress was very happy, but what about afterwards? Given her mistress's previous state, would everything be alright after seeing Kaiyang?
All we could do for this poor woman was agree to let her see him; we couldn't possibly leave Kaiyang with her.
For a fleeting moment, Hong Xiaoduo even felt a pang of regret and self-reproach. Why had she chosen this path and decided to rest in this town?
Otherwise, I wouldn't have met this woman, and this wouldn't have happened!
While the woman was washing up and changing, the guard said that although his wife was not in good spirits when she had an attack, she had never had such an uncontrollable and frightening attack as this time.
In the past, when she had an attack, she would mostly talk to herself, wander around saying she was looking for her child, and would take the medicine if asked. She would also rest and sleep when she got tired of searching.
But this time, it was so serious that he threatened to kill himself and even bled.
The woman suddenly nudged the maid sitting next to her with her elbow, then gestured towards Hong Xiaoduo with her lips.
"Huh? Oh, oh, oh." The maid realized what was happening, took out something wrapped in a handkerchief from her sleeve, and handed it over with both hands.
Hong Xiaoduo looked at the object in front of her, somewhat puzzled: "For me?"
"My mistress said that she was immediately pleased with you upon seeing you, so she brought you a small gift. Please accept it without hesitation." The maidservant said, extending her hands forward again.
Seeing that Hong Xiaoduo didn't seem inclined to accept, the maid became somewhat anxious.
“We didn’t bring anything good with us this time. You can keep this for now, young lady. I’ll take you to the storeroom to pick something out later, or I can take you to the shop to choose one,” the woman said.
Hong Xiaoduo was about to refuse, but seeing the maid secretly pleading with her eyes for her to accept it, and noticing that the woman also looked a little nervous.
"Then I'll accept it, thank you for the gift, Madam." Having no other choice, Hong Xiaoduo reached out and took the gift.
Once I got my hands on it, I gently squeezed it and realized it was roughly a hairpin.
She didn't even open it to look at it; instead, she tucked it into her arms right in front of the woman.
Regardless, let's accept it first to put this woman's mind at ease.
But the more the woman acted this way, the more distressed Hong Xiaoduo felt. How was she going to end this situation after she had softened her heart and agreed to it?
The place where the woman and her companions lived was not far from the inn where Hong Xiaoduo was staying, so Hong Xiaoduo didn't have time to think too much before the carriage stopped.
This time, the woman didn't let Hong Xiaoduo go first as before. Instead, she rushed to get off the carriage first. Before the coachman could even set up the footstool, the woman got off the carriage ahead of the servants.
The coachman was so startled that he quickly reached out to help her up, then glared at the maid who got off the carriage behind the woman.
The maid felt wronged, but it was not appropriate to argue in this situation. After getting out of the carriage, she helped the woman and waited for Hong Xiaoduo.
The innkeeper was leaning against the doorframe waiting, and quickly stepped aside when he saw them.
Hong Xiaoduo stepped across the threshold and saw the two brothers, Tian Shu and Tian Xuan, waiting inside. They visibly breathed a sigh of relief when they saw her.
When the guard entered, he slipped a five-tael silver ingot to the waiter and said in a low voice, "Thank you for your help today, young brother." Then he followed Hong Xiaoduo and the others upstairs.
The waiter had received complaints from several customers tonight and was initially resentful, but the five taels of silver in his hand immediately made him feel that he was very lucky to be on night duty tonight. The complaints didn't seem like a big deal, and he wasn't bothered at all.
Meanwhile, Hong Xiaoduo led the people upstairs, and Quan Jinghuai and the others heard the commotion and opened the door to see what was happening.
Hong Xiaoduo noticed that the woman looked nervously and excitedly behind Quan Jinghuai, her gaze sweeping over the children before finally settling on Kaiyang's face.
It was a fixed child, Kaiyang, not just any other child!
“Madam, do you remember what you promised me?” Hong Xiaoduo quickly spoke up when she saw the woman about to pounce on Kaiyang.
The maidservant beside the woman was already preparing to stop her, but the woman, who had already raised her foot, gritted her teeth and held back upon hearing this, and nodded vigorously at Hong Xiaoduo.
Before she left, Hong Xiaoduo reminded her that if she wanted to see Kaiyang, she had to be obedient, control her emotions, not disturb the other guests, and especially not scare the children.
The woman readily agreed at the time, but in truth, Hong Xiaoduo was still unsure whether she would actually do it.
Unexpectedly, she actually endured it! You see, this woman has mental problems due to the loss of her beloved son, so it's a bit difficult to expect her to think like a normal person.
"Then wait in my room for a moment, I'll bring him right away." Since he was obedient, Hong Xiaoduo continued to discuss it.
The woman glanced at Kaiyang, hesitated for a moment, and then walked into the next room that Hong Xiaoduo had pointed out.
Feiyan had already washed and dressed, and invited the woman to sit down, then poured her some tea.
Yuheng and Yaoguang sat on the bed, looking at this side with great curiosity, while the woman's gaze remained fixed on the direction of the door.
Inside the next room, Hong Xiaoduo squatted down and looked at Kaiyang, saying, "Tonight's events were sudden and unusual. I agreed without even asking your opinion. Now that I've told you about her situation, would you like to see her?"
"I'm willing to just see her, but if she asks you for me, Mother, you can't," Kaiyang emphasized, still somewhat worried.
Hong Xiaoduo laughed when she heard this, and reached out to flick his nose: "Of course you can't say that. You're not some object that I'll agree to just because someone asks for you."
Upon hearing her words, Tian Shu and the others looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.
Hong Xiaoduo straightened up, took Kaiyang's hand, and walked towards her room. She didn't tell Tian Shu and the others to rest early, because she knew it would be pointless to say so.
"Master, let's set off to leave this place first thing tomorrow morning." Tian Shu said to Quan Jinghuai as soon as Hong Xiaoduo left.
“Exactly, there’s not much to do in this town,” Tianji chimed in.
The original plan was to stay in this town for two days, because we needed to wait for the barbecue grill that we ordered from the blacksmith.
This was the first time the disciples had intervened. Quan Jinghuai certainly knew the reason, but was it something he could decide?
Next door, watching Hong Xiaoduo holding Kaiyang's hand, the woman sitting there, who had been suppressing her excitement, could no longer contain herself...
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