HBWnovel Chapter 130 Return to Pingliang!
Chapter 130 Return to Pingliang!
The boat docked at the shore, and Zhao Junning took a carriage from Yongcheng back to Pingliang. "Young Madam? We can take the boat directly back to Pingliang, why did we get off the boat in Yongcheng?" Gancao asked, and Zhao Junning said, "Where did we say we were going before we left?"
"Liangzhou."
"If this boat goes directly to Pingliang Dongliu Ferry, others may not think much of it. But if someone with ulterior motives knows about it and spreads it to the Qin Mansion, then..."
"The Dongliu Ferry is connected to the Jinfeng Ferry. If Master Qin knows, he will find out that the young lady went to Bingzhou." Gancao said, and then said: "But didn't Lu Wu say today that Pingliang sent a letter to ask about the son-in-law? He should know that the young lady is in Bingzhou, right?"
Zhao Junning nodded: "Of course he knows, but if I don't admit that we don't take the water route from Bingzhou, how can he make sense?" Gancao nodded and thought it made sense: "Yes."
Li Ziyan had been sent away by Zhao Junning. "Ziyan? Why have you been absent-minded these days?" Xu Wenhe asked, holding a steamed bun. Li Ziyan rested his chin on his hand and said, "Nothing."
Zhou Aoyang smiled and said, "What else can he do? He just missed Zhao Junning! Didn't you see that he was still watching Zhao Junning's boat even after it had gone far away that day?" That day when Zhao Junning entered the boat, Li Ziyan kept looking at the boat, muttering to himself, "Why did she leave so early?" He murmured in grievance.
"Zhou Aoyang, you... forget it." The three of them walked on the street as usual. "Now the typhoid fever has been cured, but the biggest problem in the city is food and clothing." Li Ziyan said.
"I don't know how much crops we can harvest this year in this weather!" Xu Wenhe looked at Li Ziyan: "Ziyan, what are you thinking about?"
Li Ziyan sighed and said, "I was thinking that everyone in Pingliang City has such a good life with good food and clothes, and the people in the imperial palace are even more prosperous, but Bingzhou City in the three border states is in such a mess. The world has changed. Your Majesty sent us here to appease the people and for the lifeline of the royal family."
Zhou Aoyang looked at Li Ziyan: "Are you trying to say that Your Majesty is here to protect the King of Qin? Then why is the King of Yue here too?" The three of them walked along: "The King of Yue is now on the same boat with the Crown Prince. Your Majesty has given the task of repairing and pacifying Sangping City to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince will naturally send someone who is smart and capable, and that is the King of Yue."
"Mom... Mom, wake up." A child's cry came from the alley. The three people were attracted to the scene they saw: a group of refugees. A child hugged his mother's head and cried. The old woman also cried: "Oh, God! Are you so unfair? Our Wang family has contributed to Sangping City for generations. We have been accumulating virtues and doing good deeds for generations. Why can't good people live long while evil people can get away with it?"
The old woman stroked the woman's face and said, "My dear daughter-in-law and my son! Are you just going to abandon your old mother and children like this?"
Li Ziyan's heart ached as he watched this scene, because a year ago, he and Zhao Junning had encountered the same refugees in Fengcheng, a border city of Liangzhou, on their way to Liangzhou. They were surrounded by refugees, and he drew his knife and pointed it at the refugees. But who would be afraid of a mere knife in the face of danger? Who would be afraid of death if they could have a full stomach in the face of disaster? They saw some people so hungry that they dug the soil and tree bark from the ground; some scraped the flesh of the dead to eat.
Li Ziyan walked forward and squatted. The old woman saw Li Ziyan. She knew Li Ziyan because he was a benefactor to them. It was the life-saving medicine that Li Ziyan bought from Handan Chi that saved her grandson from typhoid fever.
The old woman knelt down and saluted: "Master Li." Li Ziyan helped the old woman, "Hurry up." Li Ziyan looked at the body of the old woman's daughter-in-law, "Zhou Aoyang." Zhou Aoyang took out a bag of silver, "Bury her properly and use the remaining money to send your grandson to school. In a few days, the charity hall will be repaired and you can live there."
The little kid looked at Li Ziyan and asked, "Will we no longer be cold in the charity hall?" Li Ziyan touched the kid's head and said, "Yes."
"Will it not leak when it rains?" Li Ziyan said, "No." Then he asked, "Can I go to school to study?"
Li Ziyan nodded and said, "Okay."
The little kid was very happy but shed tears after hearing this: "If my mother heard this good news, she would be very happy," she said, covering her face and crying. The old woman held her grandson and looked at her daughter-in-law again and again with distressed eyes. Finally, she let go of her reluctance and said: "Sir, I am old and I beg you to help me bury my daughter-in-law."
Li Ziyan agreed, and Zhou Aoyang called a few people around him, and followed the old woman's instructions to carry the woman's body to the two graves. The old woman pointed at the graves and said, "The smaller one is my son's grave, and the bigger one is my old man's." The pits were all dug, and in troubled times, no one knew whether someone would be dead or alive tomorrow, so the woman was placed next to the smaller grave.
And these three grave mounds were not all of them. Looking around, the whole forest was filled with smoke, with white flags hanging and grave mounds everywhere. Some were even rolled up with tattered mats and thrown on the ground.