Then, the constables led a group of people grandly towards the Zeng Residence. After half an incense stick’s time, the group arrived at the Zeng Residence.
When Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan saw Yin Chen and Chu Mingxuan appear at the Zeng Residence with the old woman and child, they were both slightly taken aback.
However, when they saw the old woman tightly holding Qiao Jianhua’s hand, they instantly understood something.
Could this Qiao Jianhua be the son the old woman was looking for?
This was too much of a coincidence!
“Qiao Jianhua, your wife is ill. Go in and see her,” Leng Ruoli glanced at Qiao Jianhua and gestured towards the room where Li Kexin was.
Upon hearing this, Qiao Jianhua strode to the outside of the room, gently pushed open the door, and walked in. 138 Reading Network
The old woman, pulling her grandson, followed Qiao Jianhua into the room.
“Yin Chen, is this Qiao Jianhua the person this grandmother and grandson were looking for?” Leng Ruoli asked.
“Yes, subordinate only learned this just now,” Yin Chen replied respectfully.
“Alas, this family truly faces many trials and tribulations!” Leng Ruoli couldn’t help but sigh.
In the room, Li Kexin, whose fever had just broken, slowly opened her eyes and saw three familiar faces. She was instantly astonished.
“Mother, Xi’er, Jianhua ge, why are you all here? Am I dreaming?” Li Kexin said, full of shock.
“Silly child, you are not dreaming. Xi’er and I have come from our hometown to Linzhou City to see you,” the old woman said with a kind smile.
“Mother, Xi’er, woo woo…”
Li Kexin immediately sat up, hugged the old woman and the child, and burst into loud sobs.
The old woman gently stroked Li Kexin’s back, comforting her, “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Forget about the past. From now on, we will live our lives well as a family.”
“Yes, Kexin, I beg you, don’t hide from me anymore. It’s all my fault for not being able to protect you,” Qiao Jianhua said with self-reproach.
Outside the room, Leng Ruoli, seeing such a harmonious scene, couldn’t bear to disturb them. She wrote a prescription and handed it to Zeng Yihong, asking him to help look after Li Kexin and her family.
Afterwards, she and Jun Mohan took Chu Mingxuan and Yin Chen away from the Zeng Residence and returned to the inn where Yin Chen was staying.
As soon as they entered the inn, Jun Mohan immediately retreated to his room and, with the utmost speed, wrote a letter to the capital, informing his father of the recent events in Linzhou City.
Then, he and Leng Ruoli went to the street to purchase many provisions for their journey, returning to the inn and storing everything in Leng Ruoli’s system space.
In the afternoon, they immediately set off towards Mount Huoyan, which was on the border of Nanzhao Kingdom and the Western Regions.
The closer their carriage got to Nanzhao Kingdom, the higher the temperature became. The scenery outside was lush and green, with birds singing and flowers fragrant, a scene of prosperity everywhere.
However, as the carriage traveled, a sudden downpour began, and the road quickly became muddy and difficult to navigate.
“Yin Yi, this rain is too heavy. See if there are any inns or villages nearby. Let’s go in to take shelter from the rain,” Leng Ruoli said, her delicate brows furrowed as she looked at the heavy rain outside the carriage.
“Your Highness, this subordinate has traveled this area many times and has not found any villages nearby. We need to travel a bit further to the border between Tianwu Kingdom and Nanzhao to find villages,” Yin Yi replied loudly.
“Then drive carefully. This muddy road is truly too difficult to travel,” Leng Ruoli sighed and instructed.
“Li’er, you don’t need to worry. Yin Yi and the others have followed this king through life and death for years. They have experienced all sorts of storms. This little rain means nothing to them,” Jun Mohan said from within the carriage, holding a military book with an air of calm.
“But the horses can’t take it either! Alas…” Leng Ruoli couldn’t help but lament in her heart: modern transportation is so convenient, fast, stable, and can shelter from wind and rain (like cars, trains, high-speed rail, etc.).
Thus, they traveled by carriage for about another hour before finally seeing signs of habitation.
However, it was completely dark by then.
As soon as Yin Yi stopped the carriage, Leng Ruoli took out several large umbrellas from her system space, distributed them to everyone, and taught each person how to use them.
Afterwards, Yin Chen, holding an umbrella, walked to a villager’s doorstep and knocked.
“Bang bang bang!”
“Bang bang bang!”
Yin Chen knocked twice, but there was no response from inside the house. However, they had clearly seen lights inside the house from the carriage. Could it be that the owners did not welcome them?
Next, Yin Chen knocked on the doors of two more villagers’ homes, but there was still no response from inside.
Moreover, those two villagers had extinguished their lights after hearing his knocking, which confused him greatly.
Later, when he approached a fourth villager’s house, he did not knock first. Instead, he used his lightness skill to fly into the villager’s courtyard and went to the villager’s window.
Yin Chen saw that the light inside was still on and raised his hand to knock on the window.
“Bang bang bang!”
“Is anyone there? Is anyone there?”
The person inside, upon hearing Yin Chen’s voice, was so frightened that they immediately blew out the lamp.
“Everyone, don’t be afraid. I am here to borrow lodging and have no ill intentions,” Yin Chen explained.
After he spoke, there was still no response from inside the house. Therefore, Yin Chen continued, “We are merchants traveling to Nanzhao. We are passing through this place today, and it is late, with heavy rain. We have nowhere to go, so we wish to borrow your house for one night. We will leave early tomorrow morning.”
After Yin Chen finished speaking, he waited for a long time without hearing anyone from inside. He was about to give up.
But just then, someone inside spoke.
“Dear, why don’t we let them in for one night? The rain outside is so heavy, and there are no other villages within a ten-mile radius. If they are exposed to the rain all night, they will fall ill,” a woman inside said with concern.
“Alas, these past few nights, bandits have been entering the village to rob. What if the people from outside are bandits!” the man said, frowning deeply.
After that, the woman dared not speak. This was because their village had indeed been robbed by bandits every night recently. Last night, the ox and two chickens belonging to the neighbor Er Gou, which were kept in the courtyard, were dragged away by bandits. Er Gou’s mother almost smashed herself to death over it. Therefore, she also dared not let outsiders into the house late at night.
Yin Chen, after hearing the conversation between the couple inside, instantly understood their reason for not opening the door. He then said, “Brother and sister-in-law, please do not worry. We are truly not bad people. We are just passing by and wish to borrow lodging for one night. We will not eat or live with you for free. We will pay you for the accommodation.”
After he spoke, there was another moment of silence from inside the house, and then an old woman spoke, “Da Niu, open the door and let them in for one night. If they were truly bandits, they wouldn’t have wasted so much time talking to us and would have already kicked down our door and rushed in to rob us.”