Chapter 232: Yao Village

Chapter 232: Yao Village

The day after Song Tingzhou left——

Meng Wan had rarely enjoyed a few free days recently, and with Song Tingzhou away, staying home was boring. He decided to take A Yan to play in the surrounding counties, where he could also collect goods and check on the operation of the commercial stations.

"Good son, are you happy going out with your daddy?" He lifted A Yan onto the carriage. Although it rained a lot at this time, the weather on the road was cooler than when they came to Xiwu Prefecture last year.

Unfortunately, Chang Jinhua got carsick and couldn't bear to leave her newly opened fried chicken shop. Recently, the shop had newly added juices from Zhen Guan Workshop. Chill it in well water for half a day, and it would go perfectly with Crispy Chicken in the afternoon. The hotter the weather, the more booming the business.

Now more and more merchants from outside were coming to Xiwu Prefecture, bringing many novel things not found locally. The dumplings Song Tingzhou had bought at the yamen gate earlier were from an elderly northern couple who had followed their son doing business to Xiwu Prefecture.

Chang Jinhua might have been inspired and had been developing new dishes recently. Meng Wan was pleasantly surprised and didn't remind her, letting her figure things out on her own.

"Daddy, eat this!" A Yan took off his shoes, crawled into the carriage, and started rummaging for snacks. When he found something, he didn't forget to offer it to Meng Wan.

This carriage was a large custom-made one that Meng Wan had ordered from a carpenter some days ago. In Shengjing, it would definitely be against regulations, but in Xiwu Prefecture, his husband was the highest authority, and no one was blind enough to think it improper.

Within reasonable limits, one should make oneself comfortable, right?

Meng Wan guiltlessly climbed into his large carriage. The interior was arranged with storage chests forming a big bed. Like A Yan, he kicked his shoes off outside the bed, sat on the soft cushion, and slowly lay down. He could stretch his arms and legs comfortably; three adults could lie side by side. But someone as tall as Song Tingzhou would have to curl up a bit.

Xue Sheng sat outside driving the carriage himself, while Huang Ye followed Meng Wan into the carriage. On the road, Meng Wan was only responsible for playing with A Yan; Huang Ye had to take care of A Yan's eating, drinking, and toileting.

Huang Ye was reliable and had basically raised A Yan. For a pleasant trip, they didn't bring the young maids from home.

Huang Ye pulled aside the curtains on both sides of the carriage, letting a cross-breeze blow through, bringing a damp, humid wind.

A Yan held onto the storage chest acting as a bedside table, curiously looking outside. He grabbed a handful of unpeeled longans and shoved them into Meng Wan's mouth, almost "filial-piety-ing" Meng Wan to death.

"Good A Yan, at least peel them for your daddy!" Meng Wan pushed his little hand away from his mouth, his tone affectionate yet helpless.

A Yan smiled sheepishly. He demonstrated his effort to peel one, revealing his neat, tiny baby teeth. "A Yan can't peel them."

Meng Wan sat up and took the longan from his hand. "Daddy will peel them for you."

Huang Ye, sitting on the outside, quietly handed over an exquisite and lightweight bamboo-woven basket. This was ordered from a Zhuang people's shop; more than half of the household utensils were now bamboo products.

As Meng Wan peeled longans for A Yan while looking at the scenery outside, Xue Sheng hadn't yet driven the carriage out of the alley when Meng Wan saw a young woman holding a child just over one year old walking toward his house gate.

"Xue Sheng, wait a moment." Meng Wan called out. "Go ask that woman at the gate who she is."

"Husband, I'll go down and look too." Huang Ye followed Xue Sheng off the carriage. While Xue Sheng was tying the horse, Huang Ye stepped forward to the woman.

The woman was looking around hesitantly, unsure whether to knock. Seeing Huang Ye approach, she warily hugged her child tightly and stepped back, glancing anxiously at the busy street.

Huang Ye was young and had a kind face. He asked with a smile, "The house you were about to knock on belongs to my master. Are you looking for someone?"

The woman hesitated, "Is the owner of this house called Song Tingzhou?" Her speech was slow, with a strange, unfamiliar accent, as if she were an ethnic minority.

Zhuang people often came to the prefectural city to sell exquisite handicrafts. Besides, Meng Wan's Zhen Guan Workshop had long cooperated with the Zhuang people, so Huang Ye didn't find it strange.

However, the woman's attire seemed slightly different from the Zhuang people's. The embroidery on the fabric was not as delicate as the Zhuang's, but the colors were brighter, with many colorful accessories, mainly bright red and white.

The headdress was also different. The Zhuang mostly folded exquisitely embroidered headscarves over their heads, while this woman coiled her long hair on top of her head and decorated it with silver ornaments.

Besides her head, she also wore large silver earrings.

Huang Ye stared blankly at her ears for a moment, then came to his senses under her uneasy gaze. "Who are you? What business do you have with Lord Song?"

The woman patted the child in her arms, who was fussy from the long journey, and said shyly, "My name is Lan Duo. Song Tingzhou said if my family had trouble, I could come to him."

Huang Ye didn't react at first, but then misinterpreted her words. His heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively looked toward the carriage by the roadside.

Xue Sheng came up from behind and tugged his arm. "Don't misunderstand. I've seen this woman before."

He said this to prevent Huang Ye from misunderstanding—the lord would never betray his husband. However, Huang Ye's eyes widened instantly. Even Brother Xuesheng had seen this woman?

Huang Ye's gaze secretly flicked to the child in Lan Duo's arms. As a mother's instinct, she sensed his suspicious look and nervously pulled the child closer.

After recognizing the visitor's identity, Xue Sheng immediately returned to the carriage and said through the window to Meng Wan, "Husband, it's the family that saved the lord when he first arrived in Lingnan and was injured on the road."

"Then I'll go over and see. Don't alert the old lady for now." Meng Wan had to abandon his comfortable bed, told Xue Sheng to stay and watch A Yan, and got off the carriage to talk to Lan Duo.

Meng Wan wore a low-key blue long gown, simply coiled his hair into a bun, and pinned it with a Xiangyun silver hairpin. He walked over with a smile and said to Lan Duo, "Lan Duo?"

Lan Duo was startled at first, then averted her eyes, lowered her head slightly, and said softly in a slow, unfamiliar tone, "I am."

"My name is Meng Wan, I am Song Tingzhou's husband. I haven't yet thanked you for saving his life." Meng Wan properly bowed and expressed his thanks.

Lan Duo said awkwardly, "You're welcome. Song Tingzhou left us silver."

"He told me about it. Lan Duo, has your family encountered any difficulties?"

Meng Wan was very grateful to her, because Song Tingzhou had been seriously injured and unconscious at the time, and Xue Sheng couldn't find him for a while. If not for someone rescuing him, the smell of blood might have attracted wild animals.

So dangerous—regardless of who it was or what intentions they had, Meng Wan felt grateful.

Lan Duo's eyes reddened. "My family is in trouble. I want to find Song Tingzhou to save my father and the others." They had later guessed that Song Tingzhou might be someone important, but at the time they seemed to have offended him. If not for being truly desperate, Lan Duo would have been too embarrassed to come to Song Tingzhou.

Seeing her exhausted face and the child she carried, as if she had traveled a long distance, Meng Wan said, "Why don't you come inside with me and rest first? We can talk about things slowly."

Lan Duo soothed her crying child, also feeling a pang of sympathy. "C...can we?"

Xue Sheng had already driven the carriage back to the gatehouse. Meng Wan led the way. "Of course you can. You must have come from far away. It's okay for the adults, but the child's diaper needs changing."

A child just over one year old cannot control their urination; sometimes they can be caught in time, sometimes not. The swaddle in Lan Duo's arms already had a slight odor.

Her cheeks flushed crimson. She muttered, "Then I'll trouble you." Her Mandarin was not very fluent, and many words didn't convey her meaning well; Meng Wan had to guess.

Chang Jinhua was not home. Meng Wan brought them to the front courtyard, asked Huang Ye to find a guest room, and settled Lan Duo and her child down to wash up. He also found some of A Yan's old clothes and a set of new clothes he had never worn for them to change into. The kitchen prepared simple, easy-to-digest noodles and egg custard.

Huang Ye, experienced in caring for children, held Lan Duo's son in his arms and fed him noodles and egg custard. A Yan watched the little baby curiously.

Lan Duo was also very hungry. She wolfed down a bowl, and as soon as it was empty, Zhu Yan took it to refill it for her.

She looked at Meng Wan apologetically. He did not act impatient or disgusted as she had feared; instead, he had been very kind in helping her.

While eating the noodles, she suddenly burst into tears. "Thank you. I was wrong."

Meng Wan obviously knew what was going on. He comforted her with a wry smile. "Don't cry. If you don't want to eat, then tell me what happened to your family?"

Lan Duo wiped her eyes and quickly finished the remaining noodles before slowly recounting what happened to her family.

The Yao people were the second-largest ethnic group in Xiwu after the Zhuang. They neither lived together in close communication like the Zhuang, nor had no contact with each other like the Miao people.

The distances between the various small Yao villages were not far. During festivals, they communicated, and they had relatives in other villages. However, they mostly married within their own clan and rarely married Yu citizens. It was relatively peaceful among them.

But since last year, a Yao village called Fengtong Village had gone mad for some reason and suddenly started attacking other surrounding Yao villages. Caught off guard, they were actually breached by Fengtong Village, destroying several villages.

However, soon the largest Yanlin Stockade reacted and quickly rallied the other stockades to resist.

This was supposed to be a good thing, but with two major stockades clashing, the smaller ones ended up suffering.

Lan Duo's Pingtian Stockade, which was adjacent to Yanlin Stockade, was visited by the Yao Chief of Yanlin Stockade. His message was simple: either join them willingly, or face annihilation first.

As for those big stockades, even if they join, they would be treated with courtesy before the Yao Chief of Yanlin Stockade. But Pingtian Stockade was a small stockade with only two hundred households. They all knew that the fate of other small stockades that joined Yanlin Stockade was to be used as vanguards and cannon fodder!

If they resisted, they couldn't win; if they joined, they were doomed. Pingtian Stockade was in a dilemma. Lan Duo's father suggested that their Yao Chief seek help from the county office, but the request was rejected.

"This is a matter among us Yao. Why should we seek help from the Yu people? What if the Yu government arrests all the people from those stockades?"

Those were the exact words of Pingtian Stockade's Yao Chief. This good-natured old chief couldn't even protect his own people, yet he was still worrying about those brutal fellow clansmen?

Meng Wan was speechless.

"My father felt it was too dangerous to just wait in the stockade, so he sent me and Lan Shan down the mountain to find Song Tingzhou for help." Lan Duo took her son Lan Shan from Huang Ye's arms, as the child, having eaten his fill, began to get sleepy, and gently patted him.

Meng Wan advised Lan Duo, "He's not home right now. Why don't you settle down at my place first? The guest room is right next door. You can take the child to rest there."

Lan Duo shook her head. "I've been out for a while now. I don't know how my father and the others are doing in the stockade. I need to go back and see."

She had initially gone to Heshan County after coming down the mountain, but halfway there she encountered a group of merchants who told her that Song Tingzhou was no longer in Heshan County but in the prefectural city. They kindly gave her a ride until they left at a workshop on the outskirts.

Lan Duo was worried about her father and couldn't bear to stay a moment longer.

Meng Wan thought for a moment and said, "How about this: I'll go with you to a county near the Yao stockade and then instruct the county office to send troops to rescue your family. But that means you won't be able to return to the Yao stockade for now. I'll find a place for you to settle in the prefectural city. Is that acceptable?"

Lan Duo nodded gratefully. "Yes, as long as my father and Shanhu can survive, I'm fine with going anywhere!"

Meng Wan said decisively, "We must not delay. Let's set off for Heiye County now." It coincided with his own destination, and it would serve as repayment for their family's life-saving grace. He hoped Lan Duo's family would be safe.

He instructed Zhu Yan to prepare some diapers, small clothes, and lotus root powder for Lan Duo, and added another carriage for mother and son to ride in. Then Meng Wan took A Yan back onto their own carriage.

"Father, who is that little boy?" A Yan looked at the carriage following them. Though it was not as spacious as theirs, it was padded with thick cushions. Lan Duo's son, Lan Shan, was sleeping soundly inside.

Meng Wan leaned sideways against a storage chest and casually took out a piece of shortbread for A Yan. "He's a child born in a stockade. His name is Lan Shan."

A Yan held a small basket under his chin to catch any crumbs as he ate the shortbread. He asked, confused, "Then why are he and his mother following us?"

Meng Wan watched him eat with relish, then took out another piece of shortbread to share with A Yan. "Because something very dangerous happened in their family, and they need our help."

A Yan's little mouth kept chattering. "Why do we have to help them?"

Meng Wan's patience was wearing thin. He gave a helpless yet indulgent smile. "Good question, son. Because they once helped your father with a very big favor. So we should help them a little, as long as we keep ourselves safe. But if a stranger asks you for help, would you help them, A Yan?"

A Yan said without hesitation, "No! A Yan is just a baby! A Yan only knows how to eat!"

Huang Ye, who had been dozing nearby, was startled awake by A Yan's shrill voice and mumbled, "Does the young master want to eat? I'll go prepare a bowl of lotus root powder."