allonlinenovel Chapter 198 Hidden Dragon
Chapter 198 Hidden Dragon
"Everything will be decided when your uncle comes back.
As for the name, it was your father who felt that calling him Eighth Master Chi was not only unpleasant to the ear, but also made him sound old, so he insisted that people call him Second Master Chi. "When Mrs. Hu mentioned him, she couldn't help but frown again:
"It's been more than half a year, and there hasn't been any news from the two of them.
We asked people, but there was no news."
"Could it be that they have no money?" Shen Lingzhu had to take this situation into consideration.
Hu said firmly: "No, your father would never starve himself.
I suspect they didn't know that the letters they sent had been read by their families and thrown away at the post station.
Or send it to Beijing. Oh, we have forgotten to send someone to find the landlord in Beijing to ask if there is any letter sent to him.
Little Bamboo, please come and write a letter for me."
Shen Lingzhu thought about it and thought that this was a possibility. "It's been so long, shouldn't they be back by now?"
Mrs. Hu thought she missed her parents and comforted her, "This is home. They will come back sooner or later."
……
She was right. Shen Chi and his wife set out on their journey back home after the fifth day of the New Year.
Of course, the two of them also went to Sanqing Mountain to pay homage and even stayed at the foot of the mountain for a month or so, but it was of no use. Mrs. Huang, the second wife of Chi, still did not make any movement.
After Shen Chi discovered that she was a little worried about gains and losses, he decisively moved out. Until today, when he set off with the caravan, Huang asked him, "If you don't have a son by the time you are forty, will you take a concubine?"
"Then it's probably my destiny to be childless." Shen Chi said with a wry smile. He was unwilling to find a husband for his daughter after she gave birth.
Having grown up seeing their father, a son-in-law, accomplish nothing, and their mother spending twice as much energy to raise them, Mr. Chi did not want his two daughters to go through the same experience as their mother.
But after being disappointed again, Huang didn't trust him much and missed her two children even more: "We will try to go home as quickly as possible, and it doesn't matter if we spend more money.
For more than half a year, I still don’t know what the big and small bamboos look like now.
There is no specific address on our letters, so we can’t receive letters from them.”
"Okay, I'll go ask about the route." Shen Chi didn't want to tell her at this time. It was not easy for the caravan to adjust the route temporarily.
His wife's temper was sometimes good and sometimes bad, so he could only comfort her in kind words. At this moment, Mr. Chi missed his parents-in-law very much. If the two elders were around to watch over and comfort his wife, she would not be like this.
While he was distracted, Huang suddenly said, "Oh no! I forgot the amulets I prayed for the big and small bamboos at the foot of Mount Sanqing. We..."
"We'll ask for their help when we pass the next Taoist temple." They had already walked twenty or thirty miles, and the caravan definitely wouldn't wait for them to return before catching up. Shen Chi looked directly at her and said, "My lady, why don't we take some sleeping pills and go get some sleep?"
"Shen Chi, what do you mean? Do you think I'm disturbing you?"
"No, I noticed you haven't been sleeping well lately, so I thought..."
"What are you thinking about? Thinking about the pretty widow in the carriage ahead..." Before Huang could finish her words, Shen Chi covered her mouth. "How could I not see that she is pretending to be pitiful? I believe in your husband's eyesight."
"Hmph! What would you do if you dare to carry me on your back..." Huang struggled to break free from him, not caring that he bumped into the carriage, and a dagger like the one Shen Lingzhu had was thrown into the carriage.
Shen Chi shuddered and immediately put away his expression of pain. He poured his wife the soup she drank as if it were free of charge.
No matter sons or daughters, they are not as important as a wife.
……
As an unimportant daughter, Shen Lingzhu didn't know that her parents were really coming back as she thought.
So all her attention was still focused on her uncle's desire to be reinstated.
My aunt and I waited until dusk and finally someone came back.
Mrs. Hu took off Shen Huai's outer robe and handed him a cup of hot wolfberry tea.
Shen Lingzhu was busy getting water for her uncle to wash his face. "Uncle, how many days will my second sister stay at the Qixing Temple?"
“For three days, I’ll let Xianzhu stay there with you.
I'll pack two thick coats for them tomorrow." Shen Huai washed his face and looked at the two children sleeping soundly at the head of the kang for a while. He sat at the end of the kang, leaning against the quilt and putting a hot towel on his face.
Shen Lingzhu and her aunt looked at each other, and they both heard the fatigue and hint of loss in his words.
"Master, what's going on?" Mrs. Hu couldn't help but feel a little worried.
Shen Huai took the towel and said, "A hidden dragon is in the abyss, so it is better to stay still."
"Uncle, let's go and draw the lots a few more times in a couple of days until we get the best ones." Shen Lingzhu took the cloth towel.
"This kid!"
"Do you think shaking the sticks to interpret the hexagrams is a joke?"
The couple spoke at the same time, neither of them knowing that the child was so casual.
Shen Lingzhu said as a matter of course: "This is how we draw lots in our Taoist sect!
The so-called best fortune means that destiny is in my hands and my future is promising.
If it's the worst, then of course my fate is in my own hands, and I can just draw a better one to change my fate."
The couple couldn't help but laugh at her words. Mrs. Hu said, "Who taught you that? Don't say that outside."
"That does make sense." Shen Huai had a different opinion, "But you really can't say it in front of outsiders."
"Hehe." Shen Lingzhu showed her signature smile, "Uncle, I actually think it's better to be still than to move.
You see, Duke Zhong has temporarily fallen out of favor, and no one can predict what will happen next.
I suddenly remembered Mr. Han, the Minister of Household Affairs at the Dali Temple. Can we write him a letter?"
……
When the two siblings rented a mule cart and drove outside the city gate, they looked at the pedestrians and vehicles in the distance, but there was no sign of their family.
They rode at full speed and chased along the official road for more than ten miles, but still could not catch up. When Shen Xianzhu kept urging the driver, the carriage avoided people and fell into the ditch.
After finally pushing the car out, the driver refused to continue, saying that if the car went any faster it would fall apart. He resolutely returned half of the copper coins and turned around and left.
Shen Lingzhu grabbed his eldest brother who was running around anxiously and asked, "Could it be that we are catching up with them?
My mother is about to give birth, and we can’t get there quickly by car.”
She was not without reason. The carriages and horses of that era were all made of wood, and being able to run ten miles in half an hour was considered extremely fast.
What's more, it would take the officials fifteen minutes to escort him out of the city, and it was impossible for his family to take the car.
And they haven’t even paid for the medicine, so how can they have money to rent a car?
My eldest brother is not very calm now. After asking at the city gate and knowing that his family members have indeed left the city under the supervision of the officials, my eldest brother just kept urging the car to go faster and faster.
"Huh, yes, maybe we're going to Mama Gu's house." Shen Xianzhu calmed down a little, "Stand here and don't move. I'll go stop a car."
Shen Lingzhu didn't hold anyone back. Most of the cars entering the city under the scorching sun were caravans loaded with goods.
As expected, her brother failed to stop the car. "Why don't we just walk slowly and look for it. Maybe we'll run into it along the way?"
If there really isn't one, it's easier to rent a car at the city gate."
There was no choice but for the two siblings to walk, and Shen Xianzhu even said he would carry her on his back.
Shen Lingzhu refused firmly and said, "Brother, let's compete in physical strength now. I will beat you."
So under the scorching sun, behind the yellow dust raised by the carriages and horses, a big and a small person walked hand in hand.
As they were walking, Shen Xianzhu suddenly stopped, and the next moment he pulled her to run.