Jiang Jie finished the rice in his bowl in a few bites and pestered his sister, "Sister, did you really kill the bandit with a millstone-sized stone?"
"No." Yingbao poured the leftovers into Dahei's rice bowl and watched him wolf them down.
"Haha! I knew it, Brother Huzi and Jiang Wu must be bragging." Jiang Jie joked.
Hu Zi was anxious: "I didn't! Ying Bao clearly..."
Before he could finish his words, Jiang Wu covered his mouth. Ignoring Hu Zi's struggle, he and Jiang Jie dragged him into the house.
After dinner, Jiang Yunniang lay back down in her room, crying silently.
Her daughter Hongxiao comforted her: "Mom, don't go tomorrow. I can go by myself."
Jiang Yunniang wiped her tears with the back of her hand and sobbed, "I'm so sorry for your father. I let that little bitch's family abuse him. He was obviously already well, but he was taken by that bitch's brother to eat Wu Shi San. They wanted to kill him on purpose."
Hong Xiao also cried: "Mother, what's the point of you saying this now?"
Dad also came to ask for peace at the beginning, but Mom just didn't want to.
Hong Xiao felt heartbroken when he saw his father leaving sadly.
The next morning, Hong Xiao got up early and wanted to go out secretly, but Jiang Yunniang also got up and insisted on following her.
Just like that, the mother and daughter went to Zhang's house again.
Jiang Cheng also arrived early and kowtowed and burned incense in front of the mourning hall.
Although the Zhang family disliked Jiang Yunniang, they were very polite to Jiang Cheng.
Even the concubine's father and brother were particularly respectful and polite when they saw Jiang Cheng.
Therefore, Zhang's eldest brother and the concubine's family did not dare to ridicule Jiang Yunniang.
On the way back at noon, Jiang Yunniang took off her mourning clothes and the white flowers on her head and threw them in the wild.
She now lives in her niece Yingbao's house and cannot wear mourning clothes when entering the house. Moreover, her parents are still alive, so she cannot wear white flowers on her head.
Hongxiao and her brother Yuying did not come back with them. They had to stay at Zhang's house to mourn their father for three months.
The mourning clothes can only be removed after the mourning period is over.
On July 15th, the Ghost Festival, Yingbao went to the Taoist temple with her master and fellow brothers to perform rituals.
There are many taboos on this day.
It is forbidden to have a haircut, visit graves, hold weddings, go out late, dry clothes, avoid looking in the mirror, tease others, and pick up coins and items on the road.
It is also forbidden to sleep facing the door or window to prevent evil spirits from haunting you.
Three days later, Yingbao, her two younger brothers and Huzi took a carriage back home.
Zhou Wuchang went with his eldest and second disciples.
Yingbao saw many pedestrians along the way. Most of them were riding in mule, horse and ox carts and carrying a lot of luggage.
Could it be that something really happened in the capital
When they returned to the village, Chunniang ran over, hugged her daughter and son, and cried and scolded them.
Yingbao wiped her mother's tears and said, "Mom, I'll get the bamboo stick later so you can give Xiaowu a good beating."
Chunniang burst out laughing, pinched her daughter, and pinched Jiang Wu, "Sooner or later, you two debt collectors will get you pissed off to death. Hurry up and wash your hands and face. I'm going to cook noodles for you."
After saying that, he went to the kitchen to knead the dough.
Jiang Jie squinted at his sister and brother and snorted, "Mom is biased. If I do something wrong, she will chase me for two miles with a bamboo pole."
"I'm not chasing you alone!" Jiang Wu retorted: "I'm chasing both of us."
Yingbao didn't care about the two of them and went to fetch water to wash the dust off her master and fellow brothers.
Afterwards, he cleaned the two side rooms, took out the bedding and hung them out to dry in the sun to remove the musty smell, and then gave them to the master and fellow brothers to live in.
I don't need to clean my room because my mother cleans it every day.
The bedding had all just been dried in the sun and still had a light scent from the sun.
Chunniang cooked a big pot of noodles with vegetables and eggs.
I also used the dried soybean paste to boil a large bowl of shrimp paste and put a large spoonful of it in each bowl of noodles.
Zhou Wuchang and his disciples ate a large bowl of noodles each and still felt unsatisfied, so they ordered another half bowl.
Hu Zi, Jiang Jie, Jiang Wu, Ying Bao and others also finished a big bowl of food, touching their stomachs and shouting that they were full.
The shrimp paste is really delicious, and it is also added with dogwood and green beans. It is fresh and spicy when mixed with noodles.
After dinner, Yingbao ran out to digest the food and visited her grandparents and her aunts.
Yan Ru's belly is already big and she will give birth in two months.
Her face was ruddy and she seemed to be a lot fatter than before.
Yingbao listened to her fetal breathing and then reminded her: "Eat less rice and noodles every day, eat more fish, shrimp, vegetables and try not to eat before going to bed at night. You have gained weight, so don't gain any more weight."
If the fetus is too large and it is Yanru's first child, it would be easy for her to have a difficult delivery.
Yan Ru nodded and said embarrassedly: "I have a sudden appetite these days, and I have indeed eaten too much."
She used to be full with just one bowl of rice, but now she eats five meals a day, and each meal is one and a half bowls, not including vegetables and meat.
Erni stuck her head in and said, "Mom, I'll go to the pond and catch some shrimp for you later."
Yan Ru nodded: "Okay."
Yingbao came out of her second uncle's house and went straight to the school.
Five more rooms were built behind the school, where Li Xu's mother and Mrs. Wen's family lived.
Li Xu and Mr. Wu lived in the original house.
"Master! Sister Wen!" Ying Bao bowed to Madam Wen and Wen Shu, and then bowed to An who was sitting next to her: "Aunt An."
An smiled and said, "Yingbao, you are back. Your mother was worried sick."
"It was my fault for being reckless and making mother worry." Yingbao said.
Wen Shu came over and hugged her, "I haven't asked you why you went to Jingzhou yet."
Ying Bao and Wen Shu sat together and talked about the whole story. At the end, they said, "Fortunately, Chu Yan and Xiao Mo led troops to rescue, otherwise Jingzhou would have been lost."
Mrs. Wen frowned slightly: "I heard that Tokyo has been besieged, and I don't know if anyone will go to rescue."
Her father-in-law and her uncle's family are all in the capital. If the city is broken, the consequences will be disastrous.
Yingbao: "Xiao Mo has already led his troops there, but if they set out from Jingzhou, it will take about 20 days, right?"
Xiao Mo's team was not composed entirely of cavalry. They relied on running. Even if they could travel fifty or sixty miles a day, it would still take them twenty to thirty days.
Mrs. Wen shook her head: "It's too late."
Now we can only pray that Tokyo is safe.
After chatting for a while, Wen Shu pulled Yingbao back to the house to talk in private.
"I've called off the marriage with the Xiao family." Wen Shu whispered to Ying Bao, "You're right, there's something fishy about Xiao Chengjuan."
Because of this matter, the mother specially asked someone to secretly investigate Xiao Chengjun's situation. As a result, they found out that Xiao Chengjun had secretly returned to Beijing and took Chen Tiantian and her daughter out of the nunnery.
"You may not know that Chen Tiantian is now living in Xiao Chengjun's villa in Luzhou."
Wen Shu frowned and said: "Fortunately you reminded me, otherwise..."
She felt uncomfortable when she thought that her grandmother would let her marry such a man.
Although the Xiao family has a prominent background, what that person did is shameful.
"If he really liked Chen Tiantian, he would have just married her, and no one would have said anything. But he secretly hid that woman in the dark, which was neither legitimate nor justifiable. What does this count as? Is he keeping a mistress? Or is he planning to marry her formally in the future?"
"Marry her in a formal ceremony!" Ying Bao said, "Xiao Chengjun will definitely marry her in the future!"
If these two people don't stay together for the rest of their lives, then God is blind.
So they must be allowed to marry each other.