Chapter 82: Important Matters

"Yu'an, I brought you iron-pot stewed goose, roast goose, and roast goose eggs!"

"I'll add a few hearty dishes to tonight's dinner!"

Yi Jiang had a small bundle hanging from his chest as he burst in, brimming with energy.

Right behind him was Gu Shang, who had just finished tying up the horse and was clutching armfuls of packages big and small.

"Huh? What's this?!"

Yi Jiang had only just stepped through the door when his eyes landed on the bicycle.

"Yi Jiang, what are you doing here?"

Hearing Yu'an's voice, Yi Jiang dragged his gaze away from the little cart, then ground his teeth and stamped his foot heavily, fuming.

"Hmph!"

"I had a fight with my father!"

"I've run away from home!"

Yu'an tilted her little head, watching him in confusion.

"Why did you fight?"

At the mention of it, Yi Jiang clenched his fists, gnashed his teeth so hard his little white ones creaked.

"I heard them talking—my father is going to find me a stepmother!"

"I refuse to watch that woman wiggling around in front of me wearing my mother's face!"

"Despicable! So annoying!"

Hearing this, Cheng Old Madam glanced at the younger generation.

Meng Shi and Wang Shi exchanged a look as sisters-in-law, then both withdrew—one busied herself arranging a room for Yi Jiang, while the other quietly found Xu Shi and Cheng Feng and the others, telling them not to go to the corn patch in the backyard for the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, Cheng Qiuruo hoisted the little cart on her shoulder and ran outside, then dashed back to her own room, pulled out paper and brush, and threw herself into studying it with single-minded focus.

Cheng Qiuyun also pulled Cheng Qiuluo outside.

"Come on, I just thought of another way to break that move from yesterday—let's try it."

"Eh?"

Cheng Qiuluo kept craning her neck, trying to peek inside.

"Don't go yet, let's listen a little longer."

She loved hearing about things like this—how interesting.

Cheng Qiuyun looped one arm around her neck and hauled her out to the courtyard.

"Come on, let's go."

Inside the main hall, Yi Jiang clenched both fists, his little face taut, defiance and fury flashing in his eyes.

"This time, I'll fight it to the very end!"

Then his expression changed, and he gazed at Cheng Old Madam with a pitiful look.

"Old Madam, may Yi Jiang live here from now on?"

He fished a stack of silver notes out of the small bundle on his chest, pointed with his other hand at Gu Shang moving things in the courtyard, and looked at her with eager, hopeful eyes.

"I brought my own food, and I can pay rent for clothes and bedding too."

In that small bundle of his, aside from his mother's portrait, there was nothing but silver and silver notes—he'd brought every bit of New Year's money he'd saved over the years.

Seeing that look on his face—aggrieved and pitiful all at once—Cheng Old Madam's heart softened, but she was in a quandary.

She did like Yi Jiang as a child, but if he stayed here, not to mention it being inconvenient for Yu'an to go to Xian Jie, even those miraculous things—including the plots in the backyard—might be exposed.

At that moment, Gu Shang walked in and handed over a letter.

"Cheng Old Madam, Chen Old Master asked me to deliver this to you."

Cheng Old Madam took the letter and glanced at it.

The letter said that when Chen Ying went into the mountain, he had happened to rescue a woman being chased by a vicious wolf, and brought her back to the manor to tend her wounds.

The woman had tearfully begged to stay in the manor, to serve as a horse or a maid to repay his kindness—and she looked remarkably like Yi Jiang's late mother.

Chen Ying, unable to refuse, had agreed.

On top of that, there were scheming servants in the manor whispering in front of Yi Jiang, saying that Master Chen was sure to marry that woman.

They also said that once there was a stepmother, there would be a stepfather too, and if they had another little son later, they wouldn't want a mischievous, useless boy like him anymore.

Father and son had a terrible row, Yi Jiang even went on a hunger strike, and in the end Lao Chen had no choice but to send Yi Jiang here to stay for a couple of days.

After reading the letter, Cheng Old Madam let out a heavy sigh, bent down, and patted Yi Jiang's head, saying softly.

"Of course you may, but there's no need for food or silver. Yi Jiang, are you hungry?"

The moment the words left her mouth, a rumbling growl rose from a stomach.

Yi Jiang covered his belly and nodded shyly.

From yesterday until now, the only thing he'd eaten was a plate of milk cakes Grandfather had secretly brought him in the middle of the night.

When getting into the cart, his father had handed him a food box, but the moment he saw that woman beside his father, he got angry and sulkily refused to take it.

He hadn't taken the bundle that woman had helped pack either.

Hmph! So fake!

Packing such a huge bundle—was she hoping he'd never come back?!

The dishes he'd brought were ones Grandfather had chased after him for a good distance to press into his hands.

Though he was very hungry, he wanted to save them to eat with Sister Yu'an.

Cheng Old Madam handed him the freshly baked milk cakes from the table.

"Have a little something to tide you over."

Then she went into Chu Fang, made a bowl of chicken soup noodles, and heated up some of the dishes Yi Jiang had brought.

Yi Jiang wolfed down a big bowl of noodles, and his attention returned to the bicycle in the yard.

"Yu'an, what is that?"

"It's a little cart, Yi Jiang, do you want to try it?"

Yi Jiang nodded rapidly.

"Yes yes yes, how do we play?"

The two little ones went out the door one behind the other, Yu'an chattering away in a milky little voice, teaching his little companion to ride the bike hand in hand.

"Sit here, hold both sides with your two hands, step on the pedals, step hard."

"Wow!"

"It's really moving!"

"So fun!"

Yi Jiang's face flushed red with excitement, riding the little cart around the yard for two laps, and once he got the hang of it, he went faster and faster.

The two little ones took turns riding the bike, having the time of their lives.

From time to time, the yard rang out with waves of childish, joyful laughter, and everyone listening also wore smiles on their faces.

……

When night fell, the question of where Yi Jiang and the others would stay once again gave Meng Shi and Tian Qin a headache.

As a guard, Gu Shang would certainly stay behind to protect Yi Jiang; he was easy to arrange, he could squeeze in with Cheng Feng and the others.

As for Yi Jiang……

Although he and Yu'an were both still young, they could sleep in one room — didn't most ordinary common folk have a whole family of several people sleeping in one room?

But Yu'an did have a secret on him after all.

"How about this — Yi Jiang sleeps in Yu'an's room, and Yu'an sleeps with me these few days."

Cheng Old Madam made the decision with a decisive tap.

Yu'an, standing to the side, obediently nodded.

It just so happened that he also had a very important matter he wanted to tell Great-Grandmother.

Back in the room, the little one opened the door like a thief, peering around in every direction.

Seeing him tiptoeing about in such a sneaky, furtive little manner, Cheng Old Madam shook her head with an amused laugh.

"Whatever is Yu'an doing?"

"Shh!"

The little one turned his head and held up a chubby little index finger to his lips.

Then Yu'an trotted over to his own great-grandmother, pressed his little lips together, put on a solemn face, and lowered his voice.

"Great-Grandmother, Yu'an has a big secret to tell, very important."

The tiny little person solemnly announcing he had something major to say made Cheng Old Madam unable to hold back a chuckle, but she still played along, bending down and leaning her ear close to listen.

"Then tell Great-Grandmother, what kind of big matter is it?"

Yu'an whispered a sentence in her ear.

Cheng Old Madam sprang to her feet, her expression suddenly changing, so agitated that her breathing grew rapid.

"Really?!"

The little one also nodded heavily with an equally solemn face.

Of course, if one ignored that face of pink, carved-jade cuteness, full of baby fat, it would have been more convincing.

The milky little voice was firm and resolute, each word deliberate.

"Really!"

Great-Grandmother said that anything about Fairy Sister must be told to Great-Grandmother first, and only after Great-Grandmother agrees can it be told to others.

Yu'an remembered it all!

Thinking of this, a certain little dumpling guiltily lowered his head and poked at his fingers.

When he had just returned, the Ancestors were all there, so he couldn't say it; later Yi Jiang came, and he was having too much fun playing, so he forgot.

Luckily he remembered now!

The shock and excitement in Cheng Old Madam's heart could no longer be described in words — let alone lying down to rest, she couldn't even sit still now, pacing back and forth in the room.

Cowpox, cowpox……

Could it really be like this?

And Yu'an on the kang, after dropping a heavy bomb on his great-grandmother, was sound asleep snoring in no time.

Looking at a certain little one sleeping sweetly, Cheng Old Madam lovingly stroked his little cheek, then blew out the candle — but whether she could sleep or not, only she herself knew.

In a room near the courtyard gate, in the darkness, Gu Shang, who had his eyes tightly shut, suddenly opened his hawk-like eyes, and he abruptly sat up and looked out the window.

Who is it?!