Ever since Mr. Tong returned to his hometown, carriages have been arriving non-stop, with visitors ranging from relatives of the same clan to old friends, even the families of his eldest son's colleagues. The old couple were so busy entertaining guests every day that they had little time to care for their granddaughter, so Tong Guangyu's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wang, volunteered to take care of her little cousin.
They were either playing with the babies in the backyard or drawing. Mr. Zhao hadn't come with them, but he had assigned them a ton of homework. If they didn't complete it, they'd be punished. Nanny Ruan's etiquette lessons were temporarily suspended; she planned to use the trip to Jiangnan to improve her apprentice's painting skills.
The two sisters would go on an outing every two or three days. After all, "there's heaven above, and Suzhou and Hangzhou below"—they couldn't miss out on the beautiful scenery. Xiao Yuan was only responsible for eating, drinking, and having fun, while Xiao Yao would draw at least one picture of her trip every time she came back. After half a month, her drawings had already been bound into a book.
On this day, the doorman received a note from the wife of Tang Tongpan.
"You have to meet this person. She is the wife of my son's colleague." Old Master Tong tapped his fingers on the table and spoke slowly.
"Of course I know the ins and outs of this. Just meet me." I've almost become a specialist in entertaining guests. It seems like the whole thing won't be over until Chinese New Year!
Mrs. Tang came to visit the next day. She spoke in Suzhou dialect, smiling gently, and said, "I should have come to visit you earlier, but I thought you just returned to Suzhou and must have a lot of things to do, so I came late. I hope Madam Tong will not be offended."
"Thank you for your understanding, Mrs. Tang. We were just thinking of finding a suitable opportunity to visit the old lady at your house! We are so sorry that you have to come first when we are so busy." The Tang family has an old ancestor who is said to be almost eighty years old, but is still in good health. Almost everyone in Suzhou city knows this.
"Our ancestor is about to celebrate his 80th birthday. We would like to invite Mrs. Tong and her family to come and have a drink." Mrs. Tang extended an invitation to Mrs. Tong.
"We must go and ask for a drink at the wedding. Our whole family will go to share in the blessings of our ancestors." An eightieth birthday is not common in Kyoto, and since they have already sent out an invitation, we must go.
"I heard that there are guests from Kyoto in your mansion. I wonder if we can invite them to come with us! Let us also meet the young masters and young ladies from Kyoto." Mrs. Tang made this request with some trepidation. This was a special instruction from her youngest son before she left. He said that they had met several relatives of the Tong family. If they knew that the Tang family had a birthday party but were not invited, it might affect the relationship between the master and Lord Tong.
Although Mrs. Tang did not quite understand what her son said, as a mother, she always believed in the child prodigy's words, so she took the liberty to bring it up today.
How did the Tang family know that their grandson and granddaughter came to Suzhou? Mrs. Tong was suspicious about this, but it was not convenient to ask in this situation. She decided to ask Xiao Yao what was going on.
"Mrs. Tang, you don't know that my grandson has left Suzhou and returned to Kyoto, but my granddaughter is still living here. Maybe because of the long journey, she is feeling a little unwell now. If she can recover in the future, I will definitely take her home." If the granddaughter wants to go, he will take her with him. If she doesn't want to, he will never force her.
"Young ladies from Kyoto are naturally more delicate. Doctor, please, if you need any help, please let me know."
"Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Tang. I've asked Dr. Qiao Hui to see him. I believe he will recover after a period of recuperation."
"That's good, that's good." At first, Mrs. Tang thought that the other party was trying to evade her, but when she heard Qiao Hui's name, she believed what Mrs. Tong said. After all, who would invite Doctor Qiao into the house for no reason?
The young ladies in Kyoto are so pampered that they have to ask Dr. Qiao for help whenever they feel unwell. They are even worse than the young ladies in Suzhou. At this moment, Mrs. Tang has labeled Xiao Yao as delicate and not suitable to live in Suzhou at all.
After chatting for a while, Mrs. Tang said goodbye and Mrs. Tong also went to the backyard. She wanted to ask her granddaughter where she had seen the Tang family.
"Grandma, whose family are you asking about? I don't remember ever seeing any member of the Tang family." Xiao Yao cast an inquiring look at Nanny Ruan, asking for an answer.
"I remember that when we were on the road, just after we got off the boat, we met a young master from the Tang family in a bookstore." Xiao Yuan remembered a boy he met in a bookstore whose surname seemed to be Tang.
"Is there?" Xiao Yao pulled her hair and tried hard to recall.
Madam Tong and Nanny Ruan were not as calm as the sisters. Could it be that Ping An was already being targeted? If General Xiao knew that someone was targeting his granddaughter, he would definitely come straight to Suzhou from the northwest! They both shuddered at the same time. They had to be more careful in the future and never bring General Xiao here.
"How old is that Young Master Tang?" Mrs. Tong decided to find out the whole story.
"There is no second brother." Xiao Yuan told the truth.
It's far from it, okay? Xiao Yao couldn't really appreciate her sister's judgment of people.
"About ten years old." Xiao Yao answered casually.
Madam Tong and Nanny Ruan couldn't help but feel alarmed. Could it be that what they feared would really come true?
"Have you never seen any other members of the Tang family again?" Mrs. Tong asked persistently.
"If their servant is counted as one, then we have met two members of the Tang family." Xiao Yao shook two fingers mischievously.
"Naughty." Madam Tong and Nanny Ruan said at the same time.
Having been with Xiao Yao for some time, Mrs. Wang has gradually come to realize that her little cousin may appear sweet and sensible on the outside, but she's actually quite cunning and eccentric! As very traditional women, they are both surprised and somewhat envious of such a person. Who wouldn't want to live a free and easy life?
After asking her granddaughter, Mrs. Tong became more and more worried. She was now afraid that others would covet her treasure. Of course, she was even more afraid that this would attract General Xiao.
"Jinsheng, did you meet the Tang family on your way back from Kyoto?"
"I've only met the third son of their family."
"What a child that is."
"Young Master Tang San is a well-known child prodigy in Suzhou. He's also handsome and has a good family background. I wonder how many families are interested in him and want to marry into the Tang family! Could it be that Grandmother has also taken a fancy to him, and that I, your grandson, think that my cousin is a good match for him?"
You are not worthy of me. Mrs. Tong is so worried at this moment. Although she is not completely sure whether her guess is correct, what other reason could there be for Mrs. Tang to specifically propose to invite the "lady from Kyoto" to attend the birthday party!
How old is this kid from the Tang family, but he already thinks about other people's girls? What's wrong with this child prodigy who doesn't study hard and put his mind on the right place, but only looks at other people's girls? It seems that Ping An cannot be allowed to go to the Tang family's banquet no matter what.
When Mr. Tong learned about this, he expressed a completely opposite view.
"Ping'an should be allowed to go, and nothing else should be mentioned. Maybe the blessing of the old man of longevity will help her recover soon! Besides, Ping'an's affairs are not up to us. If they have the courage, they can go and ask Old Xiaotou." Old Master Tong has prepared himself to watch the fun. If he wants to think about his granddaughter, he has to get past his old in-laws.
Then ask Ping An what he thinks. Mrs. Tong didn't want to continue looking at her husband's malicious expression, so she turned and walked out.
"I say, how about we move back to Kyoto in six or seven years?" Old Master Tong said behind his wife.
"Why?" Mrs. Tong didn't understand what her husband was up to and asked in confusion.
Of course I'm going back to watch the fun, Old Man Tong complained in his heart. He wanted to see who was coveting his granddaughter, and he wanted to see how Old Xiao would deal with those little bastards.
Old Master Tong didn't get a response, so Mrs. Tong continued to walk out. Although she didn't guess what her husband meant, it was definitely not a good thing.
The next thing is to prepare for the New Year. It is said that people miss their families more during the holidays. Xiao Yao now misses his parents and brother, and is also thinking about his grandfather who is far away in the northwestern border town. He doesn't know whether the old man has met King Jing.
General Xiao really wanted to see King Jing, but it wasn't that easy! He had just joined forces with the army secretly mobilized by the emperor. A large part of these people were his former subordinates. Because the northern border was relatively close to here, this was also the most important reason why the emperor insisted on sending him.
After careful investigation, this team finally found the location of King Jing, but there were many martial arts masters there. General Xiao did not want to alert the enemy when the situation was unclear, and he could not joke with the lives of his men.
After some discussion, General Xiao disguised himself as an ordinary old man and went through a lot of trouble to meet King Jing. The two of them formulated a new plan, which was that King Jing would stay where he was and continue to confuse the enemy, while General Xiao personally went to the Han family's base camp in the northwest to look for intelligence. From King Jing, General Xiao also got news about his youngest son. He actually went to the neighboring Northern Jin State and has not returned yet.
"This troublesome bastard, I will break his legs when he comes back." General Xiao gritted his teeth in hatred. His son didn't even think about how to help King Jing out of his predicament, and he even had the mood to travel around. He was a real playboy. Apart from his face, there was no other good thing about him.
King Jing opened his mouth, thought again and again, and swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. General Xiao was already furious when he heard that his son had run away from Northern Jin. If he knew that a princess of Northern Jin had her eyes on Xiao Jingyan, I wonder how intense his reaction would be! Forget it, in order to complete the mission as soon as possible and to return to Kyoto as soon as possible, he should not provoke him.
In the following days, General Xiao was busy following King Jing's instructions. Because this matter was confidential, he told no one except Xiao Jingtai. All actions were carried out by the father and son themselves, and they never delegated it to others.
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