"Master, you're back!"
As soon as Pei Che entered the door, people came around, helped him change his clothes, washed his hands and served him tea.
"Distribute the things I brought back to each courtyard. I'll take the things for Grandmother and Young Master myself." Pei Che took a sip of hot tea and felt warm all over. This was the downside of going out in winter. Even if there was a stove in the carriage, the cold wind could still come from all directions, penetrate the bones, and take away all the heat from the body.
"Yes!" Chan Yi walked out, re-steamed the longevity peaches as he instructed, and divided them out. She brought a few baskets back to the courtyard, and sent the maids to deliver the rest to each courtyard.
Pei Che asked Wen Jing to take the food box with him and go out. He went to his grandmother first and found that she had locked herself in the small Buddhist temple to worship Buddha again. He then asked Wen Jing to hand the food box to Grandma Gao who was standing beside him.
"Mammy, please keep this on the stove to keep it warm. When grandma comes out later, give her some. It's filled with red bean paste, so there's no need to worry about breaking any taboos." His grandmother would be a vegetarian during these days every month and would not eat any meat.
"Brother, you are so thoughtful. When the young lady comes out, I will serve it to her." Grandma Gao looked at Pei Che kindly. She had never married in her life, and she had already regarded the young lady's child as her own. Among these young people, she liked Pei Che the most.
"I take more, and Mammy also takes some. With someone accompanying her, grandma can eat more." Ever since the panic attack, grandma's body has become increasingly thin. Pei Che often comes to eat with her, hoping that she can eat more.
"With this filial piety from my brother, Miss will definitely use more of it."
"Then I'll trouble you, Mammy."
After Pei Che came out of his grandmother's yard, he walked into a small yard next to it. When the people in the yard saw him coming, they hurriedly greeted him.
"Xing'er, what did the young master eat today? How much did he eat? Did he talk to you?" He looked at the maid in front.
"Replying to the eldest master, the young master ate a lot today. He had a bowl of pigeon soup, a chicken leg, two pieces of steamed fish, and a bowl of fragrant rice. I talked to the young master for a long time, but he was still the same as usual, not saying a word." Xing'er answered softly.
Pei Che sighed in his heart. He took the food box from Wen Jing and said, "You guys go down. You don't need to serve me here for the time being."
He carried the lunch box into the bedroom. It was quiet everywhere. No one was on the bed or the couch. Pei Che put the lunch box on the table, walked to the cabinet by the window, stretched out his hand and pulled the cabinet door open. A child who looked about six or seven years old was sitting inside. He lowered his head and played with the jade fish in his hand. Even when he found the cabinet door open, he did not move at all, and did not even look up to see who was coming.
Pei Che bent down, reached out, picked up the child and put him on the stool.
"Mu'er, brother brought you some birthday peaches. You ate two last time. You liked them, right?" Pei Che opened the lid of the food box, letting the aroma of the birthday peaches float out. "Look, there are so many. After you finish eating, brother can ask them to leave them there and give them to you when you're hungry."
Pei Mu, who was sitting upright on the stool, still didn't say anything. He just kept his head down and fiddled with the little fish in his hand, with only his nose twitching slightly.
Pei Che, who had been staring at him, did not miss this reaction. He washed and dried his hands on the shelf, then picked up a longevity peach, broke it open and placed it in front of Pei Mu. The aroma of meat filled his nose, tempting Pei Mu to stop what he was doing, and stared straight at the longevity peach with a pair of clear black and white eyes.
"Mu'er, do you want to eat it? If you say yes, I will give you the birthday peach. You say, I want—" Pei Che drew out his voice, guiding Pei Mu like teaching a toddler to speak, hoping that he could also say the word "I want".
Pei Mu turned his head and finally fixed his sight on Pei Che. His thin eyebrows knitted together slightly, as if he was a little confused about what Pei Che meant.
Pei Che's nose was sore when he was looked at by him, and he hurriedly handed over the birthday peach. Halfway through, he remembered that his brother had not washed his hands, so he put the birthday peach back into the food box, turned around and wet the cloth to wipe Pei Mu's hands, and then handed the birthday peach over again. Pei Mu stared at him, as if to see if he would take it back. After he was sure to give it to him, he opened his little hand to take the birthday peach and slowly ate it bite by bite.
"Mu'er, are these birthday peaches delicious? My brother also made a few, but the vendor said that my brother didn't make them well, so he refused to put them in and ate them over there. By the way, he also has a younger brother who looks about the same age as you. He doesn't look as good as you, but he's also very cute. He helps his brother with work. Mu'er, when will you be able to happily call him brother like him..."
Pei Mu finished one and opened her hands. Pei Che handed her another one. The birthday peach was small, so eating two was not too much. However, after Pei Mu finished eating, she opened her hands again.
Pei Che frowned: "Mu'er, don't eat anymore. You ate a lot at noon, you will get sick if you eat more." It was only an hour away from noon, it was not good to eat too much.
Pei Che refused to feed him anymore and turned around to get a towel to wipe Pei Mu's hands, thus missing the flash of disappointment in Pei Mu's eyes.
"Xing'er, serve the young master well, and remember to talk to him more when you have nothing to do." After coaxing his brother to sleep, Pei Che gently closed the door and walked out.
"Master, don't worry. I will serve you well and live up to your trust." Xing'er said.
Pei Che nodded and walked out. Xing'er was born to a maidservant who came with his mother as a dowry. Her parents also died in the accident. The old lady took pity on her and let her stay in the mansion to grow up, and then sent her to take care of Pei Mu.
"Master, the old lady wants to see you." Pei Che was stopped as he left the yard.
"Grandson greets grandma. I wonder what you want me to do?"
"Come and sit down." Grandma Pei patted the seat beside her, and Pei Che obediently came over and sat next to her. "Grandma just ate the birthday peaches you brought back. They were delicious."
"As long as you like it, grandma. I'll buy it for you next time."
"No, it's a long way to go to the outer city, so let the servants go. Do you know that your grandfather will be back soon?"
Pei Che shook his head: "My grandson has never been to the Feng Mansion during this period of time."
"He has been appointed as the imperial envoy by the emperor, and he has been on tour for almost a year. The end of the year is approaching, and it is time for him to return to the capital. Starting from the day after tomorrow, you and your brother will go to Hongde Inn to wait and pick up your grandfather." Grandmother Pei said.
"Grandma..." Pei Che was reluctant. It wasn't that he didn't want to get close to his grandfather, but he didn't want to go there with an obvious purpose.
"I know you don't like to do this, but your mother died early, so it's inevitable that you will be more distant from your grandfather. The Feng family is prosperous. If you don't take the initiative, when will your grandfather remember you? If you want to be the prince in the future, you have to ask your grandfather to put in more effort!" Grandmother Pei's tone was a little stern. She looked at Pei Che with eyes full of unwillingness to refuse.
Pei Che opened his mouth, but in the end did not refute her and responded with a low "yes".
When the morning bell rang, everyone in the Duke Zhong's Mansion had already gotten up. Pei Che and Pei Mu were going to Hongde Posthouse, which was more than a hundred miles away from Liangjing. It was a long way, and they didn't know how many days they would stay there, so they had to prepare everything they needed. Soon, three carriages were loaded.
"Almost done, Chan Yi Wen Jing, you two come with me, the rest of you stay in the mansion. You must guard the yard during our absence, and you must not wander around or gossip about others."
Pei Che looked at Pei Mu who was standing beside him. He lowered his head and was indifferent to what Xing'er said.
"Forget it. I'm very busy on weekdays. It's rare that I have free time these days. I should spend some time with him." As he said that, he picked up Pei Mu, put him on the front carriage, and then got on himself.
Chan Yi and Wen Jing smiled at each other, then got on the carriage at the back that was used to load things, where there was room reserved for them.
The carriage went farther and farther away, leaving behind someone who was unwilling to look back.
Outside the East City Gate, Jiang Miao was carrying large and small bags, staring at the city gate, trying to find a donkey cart to take them back.
"Brother, let me take one too." Little Shitou reached out to grab the thing in Jiang Miao's hand, and he found that his brother's hands were almost red from being strangled.
Seeing that he really wanted to help, Jiang Miao handed him a lighter bag in his left hand. Inside the bag were some cakes that he had made to give to his second uncle's family.
Seeing that the fifteenth day of the lunar month was approaching, Jiang Miao decided to go back to the village. In addition to settling the bad debt with Jiang Lao San, he also had to go back to their parents' graves to sweep the graves and burn incense. After all, he occupied someone else's body, so he should help with this most basic thing.
Since they had to go back and had no place to stay, they naturally had to stay at their second uncle's house. It was impolite to come empty-handed as a guest? The last time was special, so he had to make up for it this time. In addition to the cakes, he also bought some other things to take back.
It was easy to get a ride from the West Gate to the East Gate, but few people were willing to go to Jiangjiawan. Jiang Miao asked several drivers, some said the journey was too far, some said it was not cost-effective to not be able to take passengers on the return trip, and some even said they did not know the way. When he finally found one who was willing to go, the price he quoted made Jiang Miao shake his head. In fact, he wanted to call Uncle Zhang's car, but he had already agreed to transport goods for a few days and could not leave.
After asking around in the city and finding no one, Jiang Miao simply went out to wait. He thought that if there was a car going that way, he could catch it. It would be fine if he could ride for half the journey. Besides, he might be able to catch a car for the second half of the journey. Maybe someone from a nearby village would come out to do some business.
With good wishes in mind, he and Xiao Shitou stood by the road waiting, but for some reason today, almost all the vehicles passing by were horse-drawn carriages. Look, four more carriages came out of the city gate, which were much more magnificent than the previous ones.
Jiang Miao was still self-aware. As someone who could raise horses, he naturally didn't care about his fare, so he didn't even try to stop a car to talk to them. But these cars that were least likely to pick up passengers stopped beside them.
"Brother Jiang?" The person in the carriage lifted the curtain and called out.
Jiang Miao took a few steps forward and greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Pei? What a coincidence, you are going out today too?" This guy's family is indeed rich. The carriage he took last time was completely different from this time, so he didn't recognize it.
Pei Che looked at what he and Xiao Shitou were holding and asked, "Where are you going?"
"You're going back to your hometown. Aren't you waiting for the bus here? We'll wait for a while and won't delay you. You can go now." Jiang Miao retreated to the side of the road.
Pei Che looked at his red face and hands from the cold, knowing that he must have been waiting here for a while.
"Get in the car."
"ah?"
"Get in the car, I'll give you a ride." There was only one official road out of the city in this direction. No matter where you were going, you had to take this road. Pei Che thought that even if his hometown was far away, it couldn't be farther than Hongde Posthouse.
"This... isn't a good idea, is it? I'd better wait a little longer." Jiang Miao was unusually shy. He had been standing at this intersection for so long, there must be a lot of dust on his body. He noticed that Mr. Pei seemed to be quite clean, and it would be bad if he made his car dirty.
"Just get in the car if I tell you to. If not for yourself, at least think about your brother. It's windy like this, wouldn't it be better to get home earlier?" Pei Che was puzzled. What was wrong with this guy? Why didn't he know how to take advantage of someone when he should
Jiang Miao looked back at Xiao Shitou. Although he was wrapped in a big cotton-padded jacket and his head was wrapped with cloth, his little face was still blown by the wind and became as red as a monkey's butt.
"Thank you! Shall we sit in the back?" There were three carriages parked in the back. Jiang Miao guessed that they were used to carry things.
"The back is full of stuff, just get in!" Pei Che lifted the car curtain and reached out his hand, ready to help him.
Jiang Miao was stunned and a little flattered. He hurriedly handed over a few packages in his hand and hung them on his hand, then picked up Xiao Shitou, and finally turned to the other side, pushed the handle and jumped onto the carriage.
Pei Che was a little dazed as he held the bundle made of rags. He had never carried a bundle for anyone else, and of course, never his own.
"Thank you, Mr. Pei!" Jiang Miao wanted to take the bag hanging on his hand, but Pei Che avoided his hand, entered the carriage, and put the bag under the seat.
Jiang Miao went in with the little stone, and after he sat down, he found that there was actually a little kid inside. The kid was wearing clothes similar to Master Pei's and looked like a little golden boy. He was playing with something in his hand.
"Mr. Pei, is this your son?" Jiang Miao was a little surprised. Mr. Pei looked quite young, but he didn't expect that the child has grown up so big already. It seems that people in ancient times got married early.
Pei Che's forehead twitched: "I haven't reached adulthood yet."
"Huh?" How old is Ji Guan
"I'm just 19 years old. Where did such a big kid come from? This is my younger brother!" He really wanted to look in the mirror now!
"Haha," Jiang Miao laughed awkwardly twice, "Brother, brother is good, I have a brother too."
The atmosphere became even more awkward. In order to break the awkwardness, Jiang Miao took the initiative to talk to the kid: "Hello, young master."
"He doesn't like talking to people." Pei Che said. He just wanted to believe that Mu'er just didn't want to talk to people. Before that incident, he had obviously already called him brother.
"It's okay. All children have their own personalities. Our little Shitou didn't dare to talk to others before, but he will be fine once he gets familiar with them." Jiang Miao didn't care. He just felt that the child had become quieter.
Pei Che pulled the corners of his lips, his mouth felt a little bitter. If what he said was true, that would be good.
(End of this chapter)