After having dinner with Uncle Tong and Lang Chuan, Quan Jinghuai hurriedly returned to the courtyard. He saw that the main hall was lit up and went in to find that only Tian Shu and a few others were practicing calligraphy.
"They must be exhausted from not resting on the road, so they took Yaoguang to sleep first. The other two, did they go to the inn to stay?" Feiyan and Yuheng came in and saw him standing there looking around, so they asked.
“Well, it’s already this late. It’s too late to clean their rooms. You take them to practice calligraphy. I’ll go practice for a while.” Quan Jinghuai didn’t feel disappointed; instead, he felt at ease.
After Quan Jinghuai left, Feiyan and Yuheng found a spot to practice calligraphy on their own.
This was the most peaceful time everyone had practiced calligraphy since Hong Xiaoduo left.
She's back, and everyone's hearts are at peace. Although they still feel a pang of sadness at Kaiyang's absence, he's returned home, which is a good thing, and everyone can only offer their blessings.
The next morning, when Uncle Tong and Lang Chuan came out of the inn and had breakfast, they saw the whole family having breakfast, but the person in question was nowhere to be seen.
"Please have a seat here, I'll make you some tea," Fei Yan said as she put down her chopsticks and stepped forward. She had just heard the two men tell Quan Jinghuai that they had already eaten breakfast on the street.
"No need, no need, we'll just stroll around in the yard, you two go and eat your own food," Uncle Tong quickly said.
Although she was puzzled as to why she hadn't seen him, she didn't dare to ask.
"Please make yourselves at home," Quan Jinghuai replied with a smile.
After the two left, he and Feiyan returned to their seats and continued having breakfast.
"Big brother, why are you glaring at me again? I already said I was wrong. I shouldn't have bothered Mom to sleep with her last night, but I really did lie there obediently and didn't bother her to tell me stories because I didn't move around and disturb her rest." Yao Guang scooped up a spoonful of vegetable porridge, looked up and saw Tian Shu looking at her again, and couldn't help but say this. After she finished speaking, her eyes turned red with grievance.
In the morning, she had carefully gotten out of bed so as not to disturb her mother. She happily walked out of the room, only to be scolded by her older brother.
At first, I thought, "Let them scold me, I slept with my mother last night anyway." But who would have thought it would never end!
“Brother, Yaoguang already knows she was wrong, so don’t say anything more to her. If this crybaby cries and her eyes get all red and swollen, Mother will be heartbroken. Even if she tells Mother that she got sand in her eyes, Mother won’t believe her,” Tianxuan advised from the side.
Tianji and Tianquan nodded in agreement.
Fei Yan and Quan Jinghuai, the two adults, remained silent in tacit agreement. As Hong Xiaoduo had said before, children should be encouraged to handle their own affairs, and adults should try not to get involved.
"I didn't say anything to her, I just glanced at her. She was the one who felt guilty," Tian Shu said, feeling very wronged.
Seeing Yao Guang pouting, Yu Heng quickly coaxed her in a low voice, "Big brother just felt sorry for Mother's hard journey and didn't mean anything by it. Don't cry, otherwise Mother will see us having a fight as soon as she gets back."
"Oh." Upon hearing this, Yao Guang quickly tried to hold back her tears and continued to eat her vegetable porridge seriously.
The so-called vegetable porridge was actually the dish that Tianxuan had fried to a salty level the night before. Last night, instead of adding water to make soup as Hong Xiaoduo suggested, it wasn't served. This morning, it was just poured into the porridge and cooked together.
After Quan Jinghuai finished eating, he went to the courtyard to chat with the two people. Although they had come by carriage, they were not the drivers. If they were drivers, he would have just arranged for their food and lodging. But these two were guests!
The two people from Beijing weren't familiar with Quan Jinghuai either; they just chatted, but actually, neither of them knew how to start the conversation.
Take this small courtyard for example. If it had always been inhabited, it wouldn't have become so desolate.
When the height of the courtyard wall was mentioned, a cheerful voice was heard: "What are you talking about?"
The three people who had been awkwardly chatting almost simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the newcomer.
Hong Xiaoduo walked forward refreshed, but before she could speak again, Yao Guang ran over and grabbed her, saying, "Mom, let's go have breakfast. Second Brother's fried eggs are really good now."
"Sorry, please continue, I'll be right back." Hong Xiaoduo said apologetically to the three of them, then took Yao Guang's hand and walked towards the front hall.
"Master Quan, what are your plans next? Will you continue your journey or spend the New Year here?" Uncle Tong asked after much deliberation.
When we arrived here yesterday, we found that they were not staying at a guesthouse, and there was only about a month and a half left until the Chinese New Year.
"Well, in our family, Xiaoduo makes the decisions. Let's see what she decides," Quan Jinghuai replied without hesitation.
Uncle Tong laughed when he heard this. How could he have forgotten about this? This lady mentioned it last night, saying that Miss Hong would make the decision.
"No wonder she refused when the Emperor offered her the position of a lady-in-waiting. Being an official is nothing compared to the carefree life she enjoys now." Uncle Tong exclaimed with great emotion as he watched the children, who were chatting and laughing, enter the front hall.
"The Emperor wants to keep her as a lady-in-waiting?" Quan Jinghuai asked incredulously. She had only escorted Kaiyang home; why would the Emperor want to keep her as an official? Had she met the Emperor?
Lang Chuan was also quite surprised. Ah, the emperor even tried to persuade Miss Hong to stay and become an official?
He had been waiting outside the capital and hadn't heard anything about it.
"Has she not said anything yet?" Wei Tong asked somewhat awkwardly.
"They only arrived last night, so they probably haven't had a chance to tell you yet. Why don't you tell Master Quan what happened? It's not a bad thing, you can talk about it," Lang Chuan urged from the side.
Wei Tong glanced at him, thinking to himself, "You really want to hear it too, don't you?"
However, after thinking about it, Wei Tong realized that it wasn't something he couldn't say, so he gave a brief summary of the key points.
After hearing his words, Lang Chuan was secretly amazed. My goodness, even the emperor wouldn't have agreed to keep her as a lady-in-waiting! Amazing!
Quan Jinghuai was even more shocked. He and the children were still wondering why she hadn't returned yet, but they never imagined that she had gone through so much in the capital in such a short time! And none of it was a small matter!
He had never met Dong Yuefan, but he had heard about him from the children many times. Hearing that something had happened to him, Hong Xiaoduo would definitely not ignore it.
The matter of the foreign mission was truly a stroke of luck for the imperial court, as she happened to be in the capital at that time.
“I told Tianxuan that we don’t need to go grocery shopping today. We’ll go to a restaurant on the street for lunch, and it’s on me.” After finishing her meal, Hong Xiaoduo came to find them and noticed that Lang Chuan and Quan Jinghuai were looking at her strangely.
"Xiao Duo, why not take the official position? Are you stupid?" Quan Jinghuai said, half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Hong Xiaoduo then realized that he had heard about this matter. Hearing this, she glanced at him and said, "What kind of question is that? Then let me ask you, Brother Quan, if there were an official position available, would you go?"
Quan Jinghuai immediately shook his head subconsciously, then saw her smile: "Isn't that the solution?"
"Oh right, you guys continue chatting, I'm going to check on Xiao Hei and Xiao Hui, see if they've forgotten about me." After saying that, Hong Xiaoduo walked in the direction Tian Quan pointed out.
Who are Xiao Hei and Xiao Hui?
Uncle Tong and Lang Chuan looked at Quan Jinghuai. The six children all had nice names, but who were those two...?
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