xchanging a few idle words with one another. It was quite peaceful.Suddenly, the sound of hooves thundered, breaking the silence.Soon, a dozen fast horses stopped in front of the palace gates. The lea...The old woman hesitated for a moment before finally agreeing, “Alright, I’ll take it for Da Yong and his wife. Hui Niang was injured this time and will need to be constantly nourished. Raising two children also takes quite a bit of silver.”
"Although Da Yong is the small leader, his pay isn't much and raising a family is hard. This money is like compensation from the Yan family to their little couple!"
"Thank you, Madam!" Mrs. Zhou quickly got up and bowed respectfully.
After some idle chatter, Mrs. Zhou took her leave.
Mrs. Li and Tao Hongying remained still, only Li Yong saw his sister out.
Madam Zhou pulled her younger brother away from the carriage. Seeing that he was tanned black like charcoal, although his body had grown sturdier, it was clear he had gone through much hardship. She couldn't help but redden her eyes again.
"Brother, don't blame your elder sister. That is our family after all, and I can't just stand by and do nothing. In the future, you and Hui-niang live well together. I will take care of things at home and make sure they don't cause you any trouble."
"Sister!" Li Yong choked back tears, "My wife and I have been driven to the brink of desperation. That's why..."
"Needless to say, sister knows! Don't cry, you are already a father, live a good life in the future, sister will think of a way, it is best to persuade your father to resign and return to his hometown for retirement."
Mrs. Zhou sighed. She was only comforting her brother, after all. With their father's temper, there was no way he would meekly return home!
Suddenly, a long-serving servant of the Zhou family rode up on horseback, "Madam, Third Young Master!"
Chang Sui jumped down from the carriage, quickly bowed, and then reported, “Master has instructed me to come looking for Madam. Also, please tell Third Young Master that someone from the palace just arrived and relayed an imperial decree stating that Old Master Yan was neglecting his duties and has been dismissed from office.”
Both Mrs. Zhou and Li Yong were astonished, exchanging glances and speechless for a moment.
Mrs. Zhou smiled wryly, “I don’t need to persuade him anymore, he has to leave even if he doesn’t want to.”
Upon finishing her words, she boarded the carriage and hurried back to the city.
Li Yong stood there dumbly for a while, then let out a long sigh of relief.
This is the best possible outcome. The Yan family has moved back to their hometown and naturally won't come looking for trouble with the Li family again. He won't have to be caught in the middle anymore...
Upon entering the house and recounting the incident, Old Lady Li remained composed, but Huiniang burst into tears.
She will no longer have to fear the Yan family suddenly appearing and taking her child away!
Li Yong felt guilty, and stepped forward to hug his wife, but he didn't know what to say.
Li Laotai was also happy for the young couple, patted them and advised: "Alright, after hardship comes sweetness, this is a good thing."
Having said that, she divided the silver notes and gave most of them to Huiniang. “I’ll keep five hundred taels. That should be enough to buy replacements for anything broken in the house, or to provide you three with nourishing supplements. The rest of it, consider it as a dowry from the Yan family to your branch.”
Then, she led her granddaughter away.
Hui Niang still wanted to refuse, but Li Yong stopped her. "Aunt, take it. The Li family's kindness to us, even if we gave you 2,000 taels, it wouldn't be enough to repay."
"After I go on campaign, you just treat my aunt like your mother-in-law at home. Life is long, we'll get along slowly!"
"Alright," Huiniang really took the silver, smiling weakly but feeling incredibly reassured. "I'll listen to my husband."
"Go to sleep, I'll watch over you and the child," Li Yong helped his wife, settled her down to sleep, then stood by the bed thinking about many things...
It was a busy morning and everyone was tired. At noon, they took out some homemade noodles they had stored at home, cooked a few pots of noodles, and fried chili pork and garlic chives egg sauce for dipping.
Uncle Zhao and his people sent a pot over, along with the meals for the village head and Aunt Wu.
As a result, Liu, the head of the鏢局 (a security escort agency), also brought over a bowl to ask for noodles.
Originally, Mrs. Liu went into labor pains, and Madam Wu also wasn't feeling well. Zhang the doctor just finished taking their pulses and was about to give them soup medicine.
The old woman was startled and quickly asked, "What's the matter No wonder I didn't see them a moment ago."
Liu Biaotou then said, "I heard that it was dangerous here at Hui Niang's place, so they all wanted to come and have a look. As a result, my wife stumbled and had some pain in her stomach. Wu Dajia was scared, so she quickly found someone to help her. She ran too hastily and aggravated an old ailment."
"This is a mess!" Li Laotai really didn't know what to say, so she hurried to the kitchen to cook chicken noodle soup for the two patients.
Tao Hongying was so busy that she didn't even have time to eat, and rushed to the valley.
At this moment, there was only the old woman at home, and for a while, she was struggling to cope.
Fortunately, Jiaxi's family members are all grown up now and help with chores like chopping firewood, building fires, carrying water, and washing dishes quite efficiently.
Jia Yin sat on the doorstep, slurping noodles while thinking about when Ye Shan would be back.
With the nanny and maidservants summoned by the marquis, things at home became a little easier.
Talk about Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will be here.
Before any good news arrived, Dong Mei and Ye Shan led people in.
Dong Mei saw the old woman at once, with her apron tied and sweating profusely. She quickly took over the work, "Old Madam, it's my fault that I came to pick people up during this busy time and delayed dinner."
The old woman laughed and waved her hand, "Oh, don't say that. Hongying went down to make the salted noodles before going over to Shangu Valley. I didn't do anything."
"This sudden fire-making is because Liu Saozi and Wu Da's mother had some disagreement. Liu Biaotou can't cook, so I temporarily cooked some tasty dishes for them."
Jia Yin sat at the doorstep, ignoring what Grandma and Dong Mei said. She only carefully scrutinized the grandma and maid that Ye Shan brought back.
Grandma was not over forty, with an unremarkable appearance. She wore a cotton dress, her hair neatly combed and hanging half-way down her back. She kept her head bowed, her hands clasped together in front of her abdomen, which suggested someone who understood proper etiquette, or perhaps someone accustomed to adhering to rules for a long time.
Two maidservants, both around twelve or thirteen years old, wore water-green dresses. One had a round face and big eyes that blinked constantly, seeming very lively. The other had a long face and narrow eyes, with a serious expression.
Ye Shan stepped forward and bowed to Jia Yin, "Miss, the men arranged by the Marquis have returned."
Jia Yin put down her bowl and stood up. The long-faced maid hesitated for a moment before stepping forward to take the bowl and placing it on the nearby stone mill.
Jia Yin's eyes held a hint of smile as she said, "Thank you for your hard work, Shan Shu."
"You flatter me, it is all that I should do." Yè Shān stepped back, and the mama and maidservants came forward to pay their respects, introducing themselves.
Grandma's surname is He. She came from the palace and had served a noble consort for ten years before.
After Taifei passed away, she served another three years as the head cook in the Imperial Kitchen. Later, she was transferred to the Medical Bureau to assist a physician specializing in pediatrics for ten years.
This year, the old woman is going to leave the palace. The Marquis just happened to need people, so he received her as a gift.
This grandmother spoke in a measured tone, her expression respectful and calm. This composure was not only pleasing to Jia Yin, but even Li Lao Tai, who followed afterwards, nodded in approval.
Today the news that my granddaughter was made a county princess spread. In the future, there will certainly be many more people paying attention to her.
Although children are young, it's really not polite to bring them along in public, and no one will mind.
But the granddaughter is the jewel of the Li family, and the whole family doesn't want her to suffer even a little bit!
This Grandmother He is well-versed in etiquette, diet, and medicine. With her by her granddaughter's side, she would undoubtedly be the best helper. saying, while we are good friends with Old Li, we can't make decisions for him. If others heard Master Wang's words, they might think that we treat Old Li like our servant and control him every day."...