Chapter 109: Qi Jianwei

Chapter 109: Qi Jianwei

"Xue Geer, is there something else?"

Wang Song's expression quickly smoothed over, and he smiled, returning to his usual manner.

Yin Hongxue nodded and said, "How is Granny Wang? I noticed she didn't come to the banquet yesterday, so I thought I'd come by and ask."

"Your granny's fine," Wang Song couldn't help but sigh as he spoke of this, "It's your Grandpa Wang—the autumn wind got chilly a couple days back, and he caught a cold."

So it was Grandpa who was sick. Yin Hongxue had just asked casually, but hearing that, he quickly asked more questions.

After his lessons with the teacher, he went over to Wang Song's place to visit.

Seeing Yin Hongxue come in, Granny and Grandpa Wang were both delighted, and Mrs. Wang quickly brought out some fruit and pastries for him.

Granny Wang even griped to him, "Your grandpa's getting more childish the older he gets. A grown man like him still needs to be coaxed into taking his medicine, whining that it's too bitter."

The old couple were close; even though she was complaining, there was no real resentment in her eyes.

Yin Hongxue hid a chuckle behind his hand, playing along with Granny Wang and adding a few words to coax Grandpa Wang.

Getting called out in front of a kid by his old lady, Grandpa Wang felt embarrassed and quickly promised he'd take his medicine like he should.

On the way over, Yin Hongxue saw someone selling salted duck eggs and bought some for Grandpa and Granny Wang. Seeing they were okay, he stayed a bit longer before saying goodbye.

The kid had brought gifts, so the Wangs felt they had to keep him for dinner.

Just then Wang Song came back and also pressed him to stay a little longer.

Yin Hongxue had come on a whim without telling his family, and he said so, which let him get away.

Granny Wang hadn't seen Yin Hongxue in a few days and hated to see him leave, so she walked him a good ways out.

Wang Song tagged along.

Yin Hongxue had to turn around and tell Granny Wang to head back. She asked when he'd come again, then told him to drop by and chat whenever he had time.

Her tone and words touched Yin Hongxue. He agreed, saying he'd definitely come when he had the chance.

He also thought about the persimmons at home and wanted to bring some for Granny Wang, but since he hadn't checked with his family, he didn't bring it up.

On his way back, he ran into Gu Daniu at the town entrance, who was headed back to the village. The bus also had other bricklayers on it, all of whom Yin Hongxue knew.

Gu Daniu waved at Yin Hongxue, who lit up and hurried over to him.

Gu Daniu stood up, grabbed him under the armpits, and hoisted him onto the front seat of the cart next to him.

As soon as Yin Hongxue sat down, someone nearby let out a good-natured laugh.

"We were working at Tang'aozi today. Your grandpa looked at the sun and said, 'Oh, our Xue Geer should be heading home about now.' So he snapped the whip and rushed over."

Yin Hongxue's eyes sparkled as he looked at Gu Daniu, full of joy and admiration.

But then he remembered he'd left a bit late and wanted to explain to Gu Daniu.

Before he could say anything, someone behind him laughed and said, "Yeah, thought we'd miss picking up Xue Geer, but turns out the timing was perfect."

"Oh, any faster and my ass would've been bounced into eight pieces!"

Everyone burst out laughing at that.

Yin Hongxue laughed along too, and someone asked how you'd take a dump with your butt in eight pieces, which made everyone laugh even harder.

Gu Daniu cursed at them for having no filter in front of his grandson.

The group joked and laughed all the way back to Xiaohe Village.

One family lived in Chenjia Village and got off right at the village entrance.

Wang Xiuxiu and Yin Hongxue were both surprised and curious to see Gu Daniu and Yin Hongxue returning together today.

After a bit, Yin Hongxue washed his hands and face and noticed something seemed off at home.

Turns out Gu Chaoning and Gu Muan weren't there.

"Oh, Chaoning and An Geer," Wang Xiuxiu said as she gathered the dried goods she was airing, "they went to the village head's place."

She paused and poked her head out from behind the drying rack.

"It's Cook Cui. He moved into the village head's place. An Geer wanted to go see him, so your brother Chaoning took him over."

Cook Cui moved into the village head's place?

Yin Hongxue was surprised and instinctively wanted to go see for himself. He walked to the door and saw three figures coming—two small and one big.

Gu Wen, who had taken the other bricklayers' bus, had also come back.

Gu Chaoning and Gu Muan were walking next to him.

Seeing Yin Hongxue, Gu Muan immediately let go of Gu Wen's hand and ran over to him with a clatter.

"Xue Age!"

Yin Hongxue caught him and asked how it went. Gu Muan had been dying to tell him, so the question was right up his alley.

The little boy's mouth went a mile a minute, rattling off everything he'd seen and heard outside in vivid detail.

Gu Wen couldn't help but laugh. Gu Chaoning, who'd already heard him recite it once and was now hearing it again, pinched the bridge of his nose.

Yin Hongxue greeted his dad and brother, and the four of them headed back to the yard, Gu Muan's chatter trailing along.

Gu Daniu, Wang Xiuxiu, and Chen Youyan were all in the yard too, and they heard Gu Muan's story loud and clear.

Turns out Cook Cui moved into the village head's place because of his ex-husband's family.

Cui Ling had made a name for himself in Xiaohe Village by hosting the juren banquet for Gu Chaoning and Gu Rong, which drew envy from people who had bad blood with his ex-husband's family, and they started spreading sour grapes.

Cui Ling's ex-husband's family took those remarks to heart and came to find him that very day.

Unable to take the harassment, and worried himself, Cui Ling sent someone to talk to the village head about staying there temporarily.

As a cook, plus his dowry from marriage, he'd saved up some silver over the years, enough to stay temporarily while he built a house in Xiaohe Village.

Coincidentally, the landlord of the small yard he rented in Kan'erhe Village wanted it back to build a new house for his son.

As for why he went to the village head, besides talking these things over, he also wanted the village head to make a trip to help move his household registration.

Having the village head go talk to the Kan'erhe Village head about it would make things a lot simpler.

The village head, upon hearing the message, went to Kan'er River Village that very day.

Having finished the business that day, he moved in directly that very night.

Gu Muan, as he spoke, stomped his feet with joy.

"Cook Cui gave me some delicious hawthorn candies. I originally wanted to give one to Brother Xue,

but Cook Cui said I could only eat them there, and if I wanted more, I should go find him next time. If I wanted to bring some for Brother Xue, I should bring Brother Xue along next time."

Gu Chaoning and Yin Hongxue exchanged a glance at these words, both looking at the still-delighted Gu Muan.

They both felt that the little boy had somehow won Cook Cui's favor at some point without their noticing.

As they were still chatting, Chen Youyan called everyone to dinner.

Gu Daniu and Gu Wen had both worked hard all day and were quite exhausted.

For dinner, thick flatbreads were made—something hearty.

But the three children couldn't quite manage them. Gu Muan, though, could eat anything and thought it was delicious. He shared a flatbread with Yin Hongxue—his portion being bigger, and Yin Hongxue's smaller.

Gu Chaoning took it the furthest, with only a bowl of plain congee set before him.

After dinner, some villagers dropped by to chat, and everyone gathered in the courtyard. Yin Hongxue, mindful of the young master's letter, returned to his room first.

Gu Chaoning remained seated in the courtyard, watching Yin Hongxue's retreating figure, thinking he would ask him about the Tongfu Inn later.

He had mentioned Wang Song's odd behavior today—he wondered if Yin Hongxue had paid attention to it.

He'd had mostly soup at dinner, and as he thought about it, his expression changed slightly. He had no choice but to go to the latrine.

In the room, Yin Hongxue wrote back to the young master's letter, then his mind drifted back to Wang Song's strange behavior today.

Intending to tell Gu Chaoning, he stepped out of the room but saw that Gu Chaoning was no longer in the courtyard.

Yin Hongxue didn't think much of it, so he returned to the room. Before long, Gu Muan came running back in.

The little boy had washed his hands and face, then put on some face cream himself, hugging Yin Hongxue and asking him to smell how good he smelled.

The face cream had been bought recently, with a rich osmanthus fragrance. Yin Hongxue had already smelled it but still bent down obligingly and took a deep breath.

"So fragrant! An Geer is like osmanthus candy."

Gu Muan loved it when Yin Hongxue praised him like that, and couldn't help laughing.

Gu Chaoning returned from the latrine and heard Gu Muan's loud laughter from the side room. Since there were still people in the courtyard and inside, it wasn't a good time to talk, so he decided to wait.

Finally, when the visiting villagers had left, he felt the urge to use the latrine again and had to go before anything else.

Chen Youyan, seeing him run to the latrine twice in such a short time, quietly joked to Gu Wen about him only eating plain congee at dinner.

Gu Chaoning heard this from up ahead.

"..."

He actually regretted only having plain congee as well.

Especially when, after returning from the latrine again, he saw that the west side room was already dark.

Alright, he'd just talk about it tomorrow.

With that thought, he returned to his own east side room.

He didn't know what was going on—he'd only eaten a bowl of plain congee at dinner, yet he kept having to go to the latrine again and again.

After getting up once during the night, he had a dream upon returning to bed.

In the dream, he sat in a banquet hall. At the head of the table sat the Grand Prince, and across from him sat Yin Hongxue.

The Grand Prince's voice was angry yet barely restrained.

"Qi Jianwei, Qi Jianwei, it's always Qi Jianwei!"

At the Grand Prince's furious voice, Gu Chaoning and the others all froze.

Only across from him, Yin Hongxue sat upright in his seat, holding a white jade cup, examining the beautifully colored fruit wine in it.

The Grand Prince snarled: "What exactly do I lack compared to Qi Jianwei? The renowned and healthy young Imperial Uncle—does Father truly not fear his throne being unstable!?"

"Grand Prince, watch your tongue!"

"Watch my tongue, watch my tongue! That Qi Jianwei is practically walking all over me. What's the point of watching my tongue here!?"

While the argument raged on, Gu Chaoning noticed Yin Hongxue take a small sip of the fruit wine, his brows relaxing slightly.

And the glistening wine lingering on his lips.

...

"Ha!"

Gu Chaoning bolted upright in bed, his gaze shifting from the ceiling to the sunlight spilling across the floor. He was completely dazed.

Qi Jianwei!

He thought he knew who that foolish young master from the prefectural city was—the one who looked like a rich man's son!!!

Gu Chaoning clenched his fists, his chest heaving as if something were about to leap out. He was fully awake now.

If he wasn't mistaken, that foolish young master was definitely the reigning Emperor's younger brother.

The former Sixth Prince, now Lord Sixth Prince.

Qi Jianwei!