Chapter 212: Amusement (1)

  Jiang Wanru waited quietly for several days, but didn't receive any news of the Shang family's regret. Instead, she received news that they would be traveling together two days after sending out a formal invitation. Jiang Wanru obtained the specific departure time and knew about the two horse-drawn carriages arranged for them. She also met the two carriage drivers who came to pay their respects. Of course, she had to go to the Shang family's courtyard to thank the host family for their thoughtful arrangements.

  Mrs. Shang smiled and said to Jiang Wanru, who came over to thank her, "Xiao Lan, my husband said that there's no urgent matter waiting for us back home, and since our two families get along well, why don't we take a leisurely trip together and head back to the capital city via Zhongnan? Of course, if you have other urgent matters, we can also arrange for someone else to escort you back to the capital first." Jiang Wanru's face turned pale with shock as she listened to Mrs. Shang's words, and she asked in surprise, "Mrs., is Mr. Shang willing to take a leisurely trip back to the capital?"

  Mr. Shang's appearance was that of a hardworking and diligent person, and he was always busy with his daily work, as if he was born to be laborious. When it came to Mrs. Shang and Wen Jiuniang wanting to travel to the capital for pleasure, Jiang Wenyu thought it was unbelievable, saying that Mr. Shang had a leisurely and carefree journey back home, Jiang Wenyu really thought she had misheard the words. However, Jiang Wenyu strongly agreed with traveling to the capital for pleasure, as there were many capable people around Mr. Shang, making it possible to have fun along the way without worrying about safety, what a wonderful thing.

  Jiang Wanru's face showed a clear and joyful expression, she looked at Mrs. Shang's affirmative nod, then burst into a big smile, saying: "Then I want to thank Dr. Shang and his wife for their kindness, I am willing to follow you on the road. The prime of life will not come again, Feiyang and Lanyu are also grown up now, let them see the beautiful scenery of Ningchao, and they can gain more experience. However, there are three others in my family, I need to go back and ask for their opinions first. Of course, setting off together is not going to change, at most they have something to do, halfway through, let their families come over to pick them up and head back to the capital city first."

  After Jiang Wanru returned, she told Fang Zhengniang and Bi Lü about this matter. Fang Zhengniang said somewhat reluctantly: "What's fun on this road..." She gradually shut up under Bi Lü's gaze. Jiang Wanru pretended not to see the confrontation between her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and smiled at them: "We three don't need to rush back to the capital, Feiyang and Lanlan are also used to following the Shang family together. If you have something to do, we'll set off together and send a message to Fang Zheng to pick you up on the way back to the capital."

  "Let's follow you back to the capital, Jiang Wenmu," said Bi Lu lightly shaking her head. "Dadong is still young and his body isn't as strong as Feiyang and Lanyu yet, so it's better for him to go with Dr. Fang's family to the capital. If anything goes wrong on the way, we can ask Dr. Fang to take a look right away." After finishing speaking, she glanced at Fang Zhengniang with some resentment in her eyes, but immediately suppressed it and smiled softly, saying: "Mother, if you have urgent business to attend to back home, I can ask Fang Zheng to come over and pick you up first."

  Jiang Wan saw the anger flashing in Bi Lu's green eyes. She thought of Fang Da Tong's recent relapse and sighed inwardly. Bi Lu was still resentful towards Fang Zheng's mother because of her own son. As a mother, she could ignore other things, but when it came to her own son, she was extremely particular. On that day, Bi Lu insisted on using medicinal herbs to treat Fang Da Tong, and Fang Zheng and his father went along with her wishes. Only Fang Zheng's mother strongly opposed it, but in the end, they followed her idea.

  Actually, Fang Zhengniang's approach is not bad either. If Fang Dasong had a good physique, the two women would not have secretly harbored resentment towards each other. However, after Fang Dasong was born, Fang Zhengniang spoiled him too much, wanting to hold her grandson in her hands all the time. As time went on, the child became weak and timid. Shang Wudafu finally told Bi Lü directly: "Fang Xiaonai, now the child can eat some soft food, but at other times, let him move around more." Bi Lü's face turned red as she agreed, but when she took care of her own child, she let him crawl all over the place. Unfortunately, once Fang Zhengniang took over, the child seemed to stick to her and wouldn't come down.

  Biqing had mentioned this to Jiang Wanyu several times, and Jiang Wanyu had also privately advised Fang Zhengniang many times. Each time, Fang Zhengniang would smile and nod in agreement, but afterwards she would continue to do things as usual. Jiang Wanyu thought about how her two children were robust and healthy, without the typical weakness of twins at birth, and she was truly grateful for the kindness of the Shang family. Biqing had asked Wen Jiuniang a few days ago, expressing her intention to use medicinal broth to bathe her son, but Wen Jiuniang said: "Biqing, now that your child is older, this medicinal broth is not useful unless used from birth, and afterwards it has no effect."

  "Ah, Auntie, you've worked hard for half your life, it's time to take a break. Let's take this opportunity to see many good sights, and when you return, you can tell Uncle all about it. You'll have so much to share with him, he'll be envious of your experiences." Madame Fang smiled and said, "You're right, Miss. Following the Shang family on this trip to Beijing will indeed broaden our horizons."

  Biqing looked at Jiang Wanyu's expression, after Fangzheng's wife hugged the child and left. She said softly: "Xiaolan, Shang Daifu brought us along this time, probably to check on the medicinal herbs in various places, he needs you to draw pictures of the herbs, that's why he wanted to bring us together." Jiang Wanyu naturally understood what was going on, if they really wanted to have fun, their family could easily play and enjoy themselves without bringing them along.

  As soon as Jiang Wanru left the Shang family's courtyard, she had already figured out the key to this matter. The Shang family had never planned to waste time on the road before, but recently they must have received new news that Shang Dafu and his son needed to find some medicinal herbs along the way. Her emerald eyes turned around, whispering: "Xiao Lan, I'm afraid it's related to the border affairs. Otherwise, a few days ago, Ninth Lady was still talking about finding horse-drawn carriages, how could they have found all the carriages so quickly? Moreover, with only two days of preparation time, they had to set off immediately, and this journey would take a slow walk. No matter how I think about it, I feel that it's related to the movement of official personnel, which is why everything was arranged so quickly."

  Jiang Wan looked at Bi Lu and said in a low voice, "Bi Lu, these are just our private guesses, we must not reveal them on the surface. In any case, what Shang Dafu and his son have done is a very good thing. I admire how they can remember so many kinds of medicinal herbs and understand the properties of each one. I've copied so many books, when I'm writing, I know all about the medicinal properties of the herbs. As soon as I put down my pen, I forget everything."

  Biqing couldn't help but laugh and said, "Xiao Lan, this is a family tradition for them. The people in their household have been surrounded by medicinal herbs since they were young, so it's natural that they would recognize and remember everything. This is the rice bowl passed down from their ancestors, so of course, they can't let it fall." It's said that the sons and daughters of the Shang family in the capital are especially well-liked, and one by one, they get engaged at a very young age. Lanlan has received the favor of Mr. and Mrs. Shang, so this engagement is a good thing. Jiang Wanru just smiled faintly, but she thought that after arriving in the capital, Jiang Lan's engagement might not be as smooth sailing.

  Two days later, Jiang Wanmu and her family of three sat in two carriages, with the old couple seeing them off reluctantly for many steps before finally turning back to the courtyard. Jiang Wanmu had already given them two years' worth of monthly allowance in advance, indicating that they could continue to farm the vegetable garden. Before leaving, she specially instructed them to help her clean the house every half year.

  Inside the carriage, Jiang Wanmu rummaged through the food that Old Master had bought for them to eat on the road. She glanced at the two women who had come over after listening to Wen Jiuniang's words and smiled as she said, "I must thank you both for taking care of my two children along the way." The two women laughed heartily and said, "Young Master Feiyang and Little Miss Lanlan are well-behaved, we enjoy watching them play, it makes our days pass quickly too." Jiang Feiyang and Jiang Lanyu clearly understood the praise they received, Jiang Feiyang looked at Jiang Wanmu with a pleased expression, while Jiang Lanyu's big eyes sparkled as she smiled.

  Jiang Wanmu looked at the two children and said to the two women, "Don't praise these two siblings, if they had tails behind their buttocks, they would definitely be standing upright." The two women burst out laughing, while Jiang Feiyang and Jiang Lanyu didn't understand what Jiang Wanmu meant. Seeing the adults laugh, they also followed suit. Jiang Wanmu heard the commotion outside and quietly asked, "I seem to see that Master Shang has invited many horse-drawn carriages this time, are all the people in your household going to the capital?"

  Two women looked at Jiang Wan and one of them looked at the other's expression, opening her mouth to say: "Miss Jiang, you're not an outsider either. After we get on the road and arrive at the resting place, the mistress and young mistress will also tell you the truth. Actually, our master didn't hire many carriages. These empty carriages following behind are sent by the Zhongnan government office. As for why? This is not something that us servants can inquire about."

  Jiang Wanru hesitated for a moment after hearing this, and smiled at the two women: "Thank you for telling me this, don't worry, I'm not a gossip either." The two women smiled at Jiang Wanru and said in unison: "Miss Jiang, we naturally know your character and behavior, that's why we dared to tell you that just now." After a while of silence, Jiang Feiyang and Jiang Lanyu started to get impatient, Jiang Feiyang shouted: "Mother, find Shier for us to play with!" Jiang Lanyu followed suit: "Shier, come here!"

  "Alright, alright, let's sit in the carriage for a bit and then you can go find your brother to play with, okay?" Jiang Wanru said as she pulled open the curtain on her side of the carriage and hugged the two children. "Look outside, isn't it too dusty to get out now?" As soon as she opened the curtain, the dust from the horse's hooves in front of them swirled up and hit their faces. Just as the two women were about to rush over to close the curtains, Jiang Feiyang and Jiang Lanyu quickly grabbed hold of the curtains with all four hands and said with a look of distaste: "We don't want to go outside and play, it's too dirty!"

  Thank you: Dou Yaya voted 1 pink ticket, 1233dde voted 2 pink tickets, Dengry voted 1 pink ticket, Shannee gave a gift of 99 starting coins and voted 1 pink ticket. Thank you to all book friends for your support! (If you like this work, welcome to register as a member, the latest chapter list, your support is my greatest motivation.)