Chapter 185: Finally Made It!

After seeing it clearly, Vice Minister Meng suddenly did a sit-up.

Immediately after, in the room so silent one could only hear breathing and heartbeats, a sudden *creak* rang out.

"Hiss!"

Vice Minister Meng sucked in a sharp breath, grimacing in pain, and hurriedly reached to support his waist.

"Ouch, that hurts me to death!"

"I'm really getting old—one slightly bigger movement and I throw out my back."

While rubbing his waist, he turned his attention back to the line of words before his eyes.

Farm?

Yu'an?

Friend?

He knew every single character, but put together, why couldn't he make sense of it?

"Is it really Yu'an?"

The matter was too bizarre. Vice Minister Meng hesitated for a moment, but still resolutely clicked agree.

Then his vision went black, and his body fell rigidly back.

A sudden *thud* rang out from the bed.

"Zengwaizufù!"

After a whole year apart, seeing each other again made Small Dumpling terribly excited.

She immediately stretched out her little hands, churned her short little legs, pat-pat-pat ran over and hugged her great-great-grandfather's thigh, tilted up her pale little face, her big eyes blinking and sparkling, brimming with smiles.

"Yu'an finally gets to see you again!"

Vice Minister Meng's head buzzed first, his mind went in a daze, and then his body swayed along with it.

He clutched his head and swayed, and after coming around, he was stunned by the scene before his eyes.

He hadn't reacted yet, and hearing the little one's voice now still left him unavoidably a bit dazed.

"Yu, Yu'an?"

"Mm-hmm!"

Yu'an nodded like a little chick pecking at rice, and flashed him a big smile.

"Zengwaizufù, it's Yu'an."

Saying so, she even took his hand and placed it on her own face, nuzzling it with her little baby cheeks.

"Feel for yourself, it's really Yu'an."

"Yu'an missed you so much!"

Feeling the soft, tender touch in his palm, Vice Minister Meng came back to his senses, stretched out his big hand, and picked up the little one.

He gazed blankly at everything before him.

"What on earth is going on?"

The little one's little mouth went blabber-blabber, pouring out a whole heap of things at once.

From meeting Fairy Sister on the road to exile, to the fake death escape at Beihuang City, then finding Little Uncle, and meeting Daddy…

For such a tiny person to remember these things and recount them with a clear train of thought was already no small feat.

But the little one's account was rather scattered—saying a bit here, then suddenly a flash of inspiration in her head at some point, connecting it to somewhere else, and immediately dragging the story off to another matter.

Vice Minister Meng just listened attentively like this, and from these scattered fragments, he was able to roughly piece together the whole story.

He looked at the scene before him, his heart full of emotion.

The heavens truly do watch over us.

Sure enough, heaven never truly seals off every path.

That said, the legendary Sumeru Mustard Seed in an Immortal's hand is probably no more than this, right?

It's just that he didn't know how much time had passed outside in this short while.

Outside?

Right!

Vice Minister Meng's expression suddenly changed, and he reached to feel his waist.

"It doesn't hurt anymore?!"

"It actually doesn't hurt!"

Yu'an wiggled her little body twice, wanting to get down.

Once her feet touched the ground again, the little one looked at him worriedly.

"Where does Zengwaizufù hurt?"

Vice Minister Meng waved his hand.

"It's nothing, I just got up too fast earlier and threw out my back."

Threw out his back?

Hearing this, Yu'an got anxious.

She hurriedly opened the Shop and spent all the money she'd earned selling Corn these past few days, but could only afford two plasters.

"Zengwaizufù, here, stick this on your waist, and it'll stop hurting very soon."

Vice Minister Meng had just taken it in hand and was examining it, when he suddenly heard:

"Grandfather?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Yu'an whipped her head around to look, her face alight with joy.

"Daddy!"

Cheng Sitao strode forward in big steps and reached out to scoop up his son, who was running toward him.

He had originally been burying gunpowder with his men when a line of text suddenly appeared before his eyes, but the situation had been urgent at the time, so he could only wait until he returned to the main camp before agreeing.

He hadn't expected that as soon as he came in, he would see his maternal grandfather.

Watching his grandson slowly approach, Minister Meng's eyes gradually grew moist, and he kept nodding.

"It's good that you could come back, good that you're back."

Grandfather and grandson chatted for a long time. Knowing the Ancestors had important matters to discuss, Yu'an didn't disturb them, obediently walking off to the side and squatting on the ridge between the fields.

The little fellow rested his chin in both hands, gazing at the land before him in a slight daze.

At level two, two plots of land had been unlocked, along with wheat seeds.

He planned to plant wheat on one plot and corn on the other.

Small Dumpling squatted right there in the field, planning things over in his mind while hugging a boiled corn cob and gnawing on it.

After a couple of bites, his big eyes rolled around, he glanced at Zengwaizufù and Daddy, then pressed his little mouth together and secretly smiled.

How wonderful!

An hour's time passed very quickly.

Minister Meng's figure flashed and vanished from the spot.

And Cheng Sitao took out the letter he had written earlier, only managing to give one instruction.

"Yu'an, remember to give this to your great-grandmother."

Before his words had even finished falling, he too was gone.

Looking at the empty surroundings, the little fellow felt a bit lost, but quickly pulled himself together and tucked the envelope away safely.

The well-fed Small Dumpling wiped his mouth, and with fighting spirit soaring, gripped his little hoe and charged toward the two empty plots.

……

When his consciousness gathered again, Minister Meng slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was the familiar canopy of his bed.

He reached up and rubbed his head.

"Could it have been a dream?"

He muttered a small complaint.

"But this dream was way too short, wasn't it?"

Supporting himself with one hand on the bed, he prepared to sit up, but the moment he exerted any force, his waist hurt terribly and he fell back heavily.

"Hiss!"

Why is his head buzzing too?

Minister Meng's face went pale. With one hand rubbing his waist and the other rubbing his head, the pain was so bad that fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

He felt the top of his head with his hand — good lord, there was a big bump swollen up!

No wonder it hurt so much!

Hearing the noise, the steward who had walked to the door no longer cared about propriety and hurriedly pushed the door open and rushed in.

"Old Master, what's the matter with you?"

Minister Meng beckoned to him with a wave.

"Come quick, give me a hand. I threw out my waist."

The steward answered hurriedly again and again.

"Yes."

Borrowing the steward's strength, Minister Meng managed to sit up leaning against something.

"Sir, where did you get these?"

The steward held up two brown patch-like objects and asked.

"They look like medicinal plasters — can they actually be used?"

Hearing this, Minister Meng snatched them over in one grab and examined them carefully.

That's right, these were the ones Yu'an had given him!

His face immediately lit up with wild joy, and he burst into loud laughter.

"Haha, wonderful! It seems it was real!"

"It was all real!"

His wild and crazy manner frightened the steward into retreating again and again.

"S-Sir? What are you talking about?"

Weird — could he have run into something evil?

Minister Meng handed one of the plasters to him.

"It's nothing. Hurry and help me stick it on."

The plaster was very effective — in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, his waist stopped hurting.

Minister Meng got out of bed and walked a couple of laps around the room, clicking his tongue in wonder.

Truly a Divine Medicine.

The steward also wore a face full of astonishment.

It was healed just like that?

He suspiciously stared at his own master.

Could it be that his master never actually threw out his waist in the first place?

Minister Meng, who had no idea what he was thinking, instead raised his left hand and gestured for the steward to look over.

"Take a look — is there anything on my wrist here?"

The steward glanced over, the suspicion in his eyes deepening.

"There's nothing here at all."

His lord must have thrown out his back — no, thrown out his brain!

Otherwise why would he be acting so strange today?

Seems other people can't see it.

Realizing this, Minister Meng felt relieved. He casually waved his hand and sent the steward away.

"Go prepare breakfast, and ready a Horse Carriage. After breakfast, this official is going to visit Minister Sun."

The steward nodded and withdrew.

"Yes."

Once he was alone in the room, Minister Meng tapped that mark, and a line of text appeared before his eyes:

You've already visited today. Come back tomorrow~

Minister Meng stroked his chin.

Looks like he could only go once a day.

He glanced at the sky outside, gauging the time.

Each visit probably lasts about a two-hour period?

……

Nan Jing.

In a low grove above a depression in the ground, between the shrubs and weeds, a pair of bright black eyes peeked out.

Around them, dozens of eyes that did not belong to humans — cold, bloodthirsty beast pupils — glinted among the brush.

Cheng Qiuluo raised her sleeve to wipe her face, looked down, and broke into a smile.

Finally made it!