Chapter 141: Seeing Little Yu’er Again
In the morning, the whole family took Great-Aunt into the mountains.
Today, Father said he wanted to take everyone for a picnic.
Jiang Mianmian was very happy; children love new experiences.
The weather was hot, and the group walked for quite a long time.
The last time the whole family went into the mountains together was during their escape.
This time, Father led the way, bringing everyone to a small waterfall.
It was cool and refreshing, and the summer heat vanished instantly.
Jiang Changtian felt this place was wonderful, inspiring a desire to compose poetry, though his poetic talent was mediocre.
In the summer, the waterfall looked like white mist falling into the deep pool; the pool was dark and gloomy, repeatedly being pounded by the waterfall.
The scenery was excellent and secluded.
Jiang Mianmian liked it here too; she opened her mouth as if the waterfall could fall right into it.
However, Mianmian felt Mother’s expression seemed a bit unnatural.
Great-Aunt laid out the cloth for everyone and set out a spread of delicious pastries.
Father and Elder Brother were nearby building a clay stove.
Mother said, “I’m going to look around.”
Elder Sister also said, “I’m going to look around.”
Suddenly, the cry of a beast was heard in the mountains.
Jiang Mianmian was startled.
Aunt Yin hurriedly gathered the little girl into her arms and comforted her: “It’s nothing, it’s nothing, Great-Aunt is here.”
While comforting her, she looked left and right; the dense forest all around was indeed a bit frightening.
The deep pool in front of them was also bottomless; if one were to dispose of a body, no one would ever find it.
Suddenly, the dense forest rustled.
Someone was coming.
In a moment, she saw Mother return with a wild boar bearing black fangs.
The wild boar had already been knocked unconscious.
But when touched, the skin was still warm, and the blood was still warm.
Jiang Mianmian thought to herself, the cry just now was so shrill, could it have been made by this wild boar?
Aunt Yin clearly thought of this too.
When Aunt Yin saw Lady Qin swiftly and skillfully cut open, butchered, and sorted the wild boar by the deep pool, she looked at the little girl in her arms who was smiling innocently at her, then looked at Lady Qin, and suddenly realized why the little girl often butchered little rabbits there—perhaps she took after Lady Qin.
She silently recalled whether she had done anything inappropriate in front of Lady Qin.
In her impression, Lady Qin had always been a rather intelligent woman; although her knowledge was limited, she was impeccable in her conduct and learned everything very quickly.
She had not expected that her true specialty was actually this.
Aunt Yin admitted she had misjudged.
Perhaps she had been out of the palace for too long, and her vigilance had dulled.
Resulting in her judgment of people not being as accurate as before.
With these skills, what etiquette did Lady Qin need to be taught?
She should be teaching others etiquette so they wouldn’t be disrespectful to Lady Qin.
Aunt Yin reflected silently and suddenly understood why Mr. Jiang always acted like a palace concubine vying for favor and pretending to be weak in front of Lady Qin; it turned out that was the way to survive.
Qin Luoxia finished butchering the meat, and Aunt Yin hurried over to help.
Looking at the uniform pieces of meat, Aunt Yin’s heart twitched, her heart curling up to the size of a piece of meat, and she said with an even kinder smile: “You’ve worked hard, Madam.”
Lady Qin wiped a non-existent bead of sweat from her forehead, “It’s not hard, this is a piece of cake.”
However, she inexplicably felt that Aunt Yin seemed even more respectful toward her, that sort of feeling.
Although Aunt Yin’s attitude toward her had always been very good, there seemed to be a tiny difference now.
Jiang Feng and Father built the stove, and having finished, he was prepared to show off his skills in the mountains; on the way over, he had heard the sounds of birds and beasts scurrying.
As a result, Mother had beaten him to it.
Watching Mother’s relaxed and effortless manner, Jiang Feng silently put away his sword.
He went to wash the vegetables.
Jiang Changtian saw Sister Xia’s skilled movements and obediently brought her tea.
Jiang Yu had run off, and by the time the meat was in the pot, she returned carrying a large handful of fresh mushrooms, and there were even six bird eggs inside.
Jiang Mianmian couldn’t do anything, so she sat obediently on the coarse cloth mat, watching the ants in the mountains; she could play with them too, and she had thought only the ones at home could be played with.
She hadn’t expected that the ants in the mountains could also listen to Little Tree.
The smoke from the roasted wild boar meat rose, smelling incredibly fragrant.
Jiang Mianmian was drooling with greed, but she couldn’t eat it.
She drank a bowl of mushroom and meat soup.
Jiang Yu proudly taught Great-Aunt to identify mushrooms.
“This one is sweet, and this type is highly poisonous; if you boil it and eat one bite, a pheasant will drop dead immediately.”
Aunt Yin:… How did you taste that it’s sweet?
“Why keep the highly poisonous ones? Throw them away! If you accidentally put them in the pot, you’ll send the whole family away!” Qin Luoxia roared.
Jiang Yu muttered: “I’m showing Great-Aunt, Great-Aunt doesn’t know, what if Great-Aunt accidentally eats one?”
Aunt Yin:…
Then Aunt Yin seemed to discover one of The Eldest Miss’s advantages; she didn’t seem to fear poison much. She watched as she broke off a small piece of the little mushroom she had just said was highly poisonous and tasted it.
It was too late for Aunt Yin to stop her.
She quickly confiscated it.
Highly poisonous things were also useful, very useful.
At the same time, she felt inexplicably relieved. With The Eldest Miss’s habit of putting everything into her mouth and wanting to taste everything, she was really afraid that in the future, if she married into a complicated family and people casually sent her some inconspicuous things to eat, she might look fine, but it could lead to issues with offspring or premature death; there were too many such cases.
The whole family ate their fill in the wild, listening to the babbling mountain spring, the chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects and frogs, and feeling the gentle mountain breeze that carried away the summer heat; it was very comfortable.
Jiang Mianmian gave all the food scraps to the little ants.
The family chatted and laughed.
Aunt Yin had actually been a bit nervous at first.
Because she heard Heir Han had come, she worried for no reason that there might be some upheaval in this household.
Although these masters all seemed to have plenty of quirks, they were all very good to her. Lady Qin called her Aunt, and the children really called her Great-Aunt and truly treated her like an elder.
Lady Qin and Mr. Jiang also treated her with great respect.
At first, she thought there was some conspiracy or something, but later she realized Lady Qin just regretted not having elders at home and wanted an elder to hold down the fort, and she trusted her very much.
Aunt Yin had lived most of her life relying on her wits.
She cherished this feeling of trust especially.
Her husband’s children didn’t trust her, always feeling she was a stepmother, hiding things from her.
This family before her, although they had no blood relation to her, trusted her completely and hid nothing from her.
Aunt Yin felt she almost knew every little secret of the whole family; it was only because she was broad-minded that she could handle it; anyone else wouldn’t be able to stand it.
In the afternoon, as the sun slanted to the west, the family began to pack up and head back.
The amnesty envoy had arrived, and a group of people were crowding forward.
Jiang Changtian, however, took his wife and children to hide, enjoying a day of leisure in the mountains.
They walked home stepping on the golden sunset, feeling slightly tired but happy.
Jiang Mianmian fell asleep on Father’s shoulder.
When she woke up, she found she had been switched to Mother’s back.
They had arrived home.
She smelled a faint medicinal scent, which was very comfortable.
Aunt Yin also liked this scent in the house.
Having come out of the imperial palace, she was actually not used to places that smelled foul everywhere.
Although the Jiang Family was in a village, from the moment she arrived, she felt it was kept very clean and had no foul odors.
However, they didn’t expect that when the group returned, there was already someone waiting at home.
Under the two trees stood a square-faced youth.
The youth looked much more weathered.
He had matured a lot.
Jiang Yu had sharp eyes; she saw him first and excitedly shouted: “It’s Brother Meng, he’s still alive!”
Jiang Feng also trotted forward, wanting to cup his hands in greeting to Meng Shaoxia, but changed his movement and reached out to embrace him.
The two cherished each other, hugging tightly.
“Brother Meng, why are you here? Where is Brother He?” Jiang Feng asked with some excitement.
Since they parted last time, many, many things had happened, but he still remembered the different feeling he had when he met Brother Meng and Brother He; it was also from that time that his life had subtly changed.
“Brother Meng, the Sword Manual you gave me is excellent; I have been practicing it, never stopping, through winter and summer. The sword you gave me is also excellent; I have cherished it greatly and have not killed anyone who should not be killed.”
Jiang Feng stood in front of Meng Shaoxia and cupped his hands again to thank him.
Meng Shaoxia had experienced much more during this period.
First, he was thrown into the army by his family to be tempered and suffer, then he ran away to suffer with the soldiers, eating a lot of bitterness along the way, seeing a lot of life and death, and seeing a lot of hardship; the young man who once pointed out the mountains and rivers had matured and become steady.
He greeted everyone, and when he heard them introduce Great-Aunt, he also followed suit and called her Great-Aunt.
Even Mianmian had her cheeks pinched, and finally, Meng Shaoxia greeted Jiang Yu.
“Little Yu’er has become pretty; she looks even better,” he said with a smile.
He had actually stood under the tree waiting for a very, very long time.
When he arrived, he almost didn’t recognize this place.
If it weren’t for the two trees still being there.
The original thatched cottage and buildings were now scattered in an orderly fashion, and the exterior walls looked different, like the residence of some hermit scholar living in the deep mountains.
It was larger and more spacious, yet it could still blend into the mountain behind it, looking extremely harmonious.
Without walking close, one would only see the outer buildings, which didn’t seem to have much difference.
Only upon walking closer did he discover a hidden world; the interior seemed to have been expanded a lot.
But this time when he came, no one was at home.
He was very anxious.
Worried that things had changed.
Reunion was no longer the same as before.
Even after waiting for two hours, he suddenly took a step, deciding to leave.
He was afraid; he was afraid that Little Yu’er was no longer Little Yu’er, and that it was just his dream.
At this moment, he actually heard the sound of a horse in the courtyard.
He didn’t expect his horse to still recognize him.
It actually jumped out of the courtyard and trotted over to him.
It bit his sleeve, keeping him there.
Meng Shaoxia saw Jiang Yu again.
The girl who had kicked the Kidnapper while wearing broken shoes back then was now poised and graceful, with a round face, fair skin, large eyes, and cherry lips; her smile was full of radiance.
It was so good.
Time was merciless, but she was still there.
It was so good.
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