Chapter 131
Chapter 131
After Jiang Yunsui waited for them to finish discussing matters, she returned with Ji Yan’an.
He was sitting in a wheelchair, and the little girl kept sneaking glances at it.
Ji Yan’an noticed and tilted his head slightly to look at her.
“What? You want to sit in it?”
Little Mushroom nodded, her eyes sparkling.
Ji Yan’an said, “Do you expect me to get up and give it to you too?”
Jiang Yunsui looked at him eagerly. “Can you?”
Ji Yan’an: “…Get lost.”
Jiang Yunsui immediately choked. If he did not want to give it to her, then fine. Why tell her to get lost?
“Ji Yan’an, I picked someone up and brought him back yesterday.”
“Mm. And?”
The young man sat in the wheelchair, wrapped tightly in a black cloak, with an exquisite hand warmer in his arms.
However, Ji Yan’an felt that thing was not as warm as that little fellow Jiang Yunsui.
“He has no food or place to stay outside. Can he live in the estate for a while?”
Ji Yan’an said, “How kindhearted of you.”
Jiang Yunsui lifted her chin and puffed out her chest. To her, that was a compliment.
That was right. She was a kind Little Mushroom.
Ji Yan’an glanced at her. “He can stay, but only in the servants’ quarters.”
“Got it. I’ll tell him when we get back.”
After they returned, Xiao Xing was no longer in the Front Courtyard.
Jiang Yunsui went to the kitchens to find Fat Chef, filled up her little snack pouch that had gone flat, then grabbed several steaming buns and two cups of milk tea before running off to the servants’ quarters.
Xiao Xing was a boy, so Nanshu had arranged for him to stay where the young male servants lived.
It was a shared sleeping room, with four people living together in one room.
Ji Yan’an was not harsh on his servants. Most of the people he had brought with him had been tempered in the military camp, so there was less of the scheming and convoluted rules found in great clans.
Because of that, the servants’ lives were fairly decent now.
Their monthly wages were paid on time, their clothes had been changed to winter garments, and there was charcoal for heating. Although it was not good charcoal, it was enough to make them a little warmer.
After finishing work each day, they could also go and receive a bowl of ginger soup.
The food could not be called especially good, but it absolutely filled their stomachs.
They had a place to live, clothes to wear, and enough to eat. If they did their work well, they even received monthly wages.
To Xiao Xing, who had been a beggar and had nearly starved and frozen to death, days like these were simply paradise.
People who had once owned nothing were very easy to satisfy.
“Xiao Xing, someone outside is looking for you.”
Xiao Xing was tidying his bed. He made it very clean and clearly cherished it.
Hearing this, he put on his clothes and ran out.
The clothes did not fit him well, but to him, they were warm enough.
Once he reached the door, he saw Jiang Yunsui, and surprise instantly flashed through his eyes.
“You’re back.”
Jiang Yunsui stuffed a steaming cup of milk tea into his hands.
“Drink some milk tea. I got it from the kitchens.”
“I asked for you. You can stay in the estate for now. After winter is over, if you still want to stay, I’ll ask again for you.”
Xiao Xing’s eyes immediately reddened. “Thank you. Thank you, benefactor.”
Being able to stay in the estate was too important to him.
Jiang Yunsui waved her hand while slurping her milk tea.
“Work hard from now on.”
She pretended to be an adult as she patted Xiao Xing on the shoulder, but she had to stand on tiptoe to reach him.
Although Xiao Xing was thin and weak, his frame was not small. He was still much taller than this chubby little four-year-old.
“This is for you too. It’s still warm.”
The two children squatted by the threshold, eating buns and drinking milk tea.
Xiao Xing looked at the bun in his hand, a little reluctant to finish it.
“Eat up. Have plenty, put some meat on your bones, grow taller, and then you’ll have more strength to work.”
Xiao Xing nodded hard. “Okay!”
As they were eating, the sound of an argument drifted in from the courtyard.
Jiang Yunsui perked up at once.
“Come on. Let’s go take a look.”
In her soft, childish voice, she issued a threat. “Stay behind me later, and don’t make a sound, okay?”
Xiao Xing only nodded, covering his mouth to show he definitely would not make a peep.
The two children crept along like little thieves and snuck over to where the argument was coming from, then found a spot with cover and hid themselves.
“Are you even a man? Your wife ran off with someone, and you’re really not going after her? What about the girl and boy at home? Without a mother to look after them, how hard will their lives be? How hard will your life be from now on?”
Two servants were arguing in low voices in the courtyard. Both looked to be around thirty.
It had to be said, Jiang Yunsui’s ears really were sharp. She could even hear this.
The servant being lectured wore a numb expression.
“It’s fine that she ran. I couldn’t give her the life she wanted.”
“You… How can you be this useless?”
“Then what about Yaya and Xiao Niu?”
“I can take good care of them.”
“How are you going to take care of them? Forget everything else: washing their clothes, cooking for them, mending and patching things. How is a grown man like you supposed to do all that?”
The man stammered, “I can. I was the one washing the children’s clothes before, and mending them too. As for meals, I saved some food and brought it home for them. Yaya can also start a fire and boil some sweet potatoes herself.”
His companion stared at him, dumbfounded. “You’ve been the one taking care of both children at home? Then what was your wife doing before?”
The man said, “She… she liked buying pretty cloth to make clothes.”
“That’s good too, isn’t it? At the very least, you and the children had new clothes to wear. Wait, that’s not right. How come I’ve never seen you wearing anything new?”
The man’s head was practically buried in the ground.
“She made new clothes for herself.”
His companion’s eyes widened. “You mean to say she took your money, bought fabric to make clothes, and never made you a single thing?”
“What about the children?”
“No.”
His companion: “…”
Jiang Yunsui blinked too. Then she turned to Xiao Xing and said earnestly, like she was imparting important life advice, “When you grow up, don’t be like him. He’s so stupid.”
Xiao Xing nodded, only half understanding.
“Then what did you marry her for?!”
Jiang Yunsui nodded along as well.
The man scratched his head. “Back then, she came begging me with a big belly. I thought she was pitiful, so…”
“Wait. You mean your wife came to beg you while she was pregnant, and then you married her?!”
“The children aren’t yours!!!”
The man nodded. “But both children are very well-behaved. They’re sensible and obedient.”
His companion: “…”
Honestly, in all his years, he had never seen anyone this ridiculous.
Compared with his wife running off with another man and him neither chasing after her nor complaining about it, the rest was even more shocking, one thing after another.
The man even sounded relieved. “This is fine too. Before, I had to wash her clothes, and the money I brought home was basically all spent by her. Now things will be a little easier for me, and I can save some money for the children.”
His companion: “…”
For a moment, he was so speechless he didn’t even want to talk.
“Brother, you really are something. I’ve never seen anyone more incredible than you.”
“But what exactly are you getting out of this?”
The man glanced down at his own foot. “I’m lame, and I’m a servant who sold himself into bondage. No one would arrange a marriage for me.”
“I wanted a child. Now that I’m raising them, when they’re grown, they can take care of me in my old age.”