Chapter 296
Chapter 296
“I wonder how Yan’an is doing. That child has always reported only the good news and hidden the bad.”
Inside the carriages traveling toward Mobei, the Ji Family’s women sat together and discussed Ji Yan’an, far away in the north.
The Ji Family’s honor and future now rested entirely on the shoulders of a boy in his teens. As elders who had watched Ji Yan’an grow up, they could not bear the thought.
Seated in the place of honor was the Ji Family’s Old Madam, a gray-haired woman whose aged face still carried authority and a trace of heroic spirit.
She was the oldest living elder of the Ji Family and Ji Yan’an’s grandmother.
“If Yan’an could arrange for us to be taken away so quietly, then his circumstances must be better than this old woman imagined.”
“He wrote that he has taken a little girl as his sworn younger sister. When you arrive, even if you don’t like her, you will keep your expressions under control. At the very least, you will maintain every outward courtesy. Don’t be so shortsighted that you stare only at the petty benefits before you and try to grab everything for yourselves.”
As she spoke, her gaze settled on her second daughter-in-law.
This daughter-in-law had originally planned to return to her birth family. Old Madam Ji had even prepared the divorce papers.
She had indeed gone back, taking a young granddaughter with her.
But life with her birth family had been difficult.
She had three formidable older brothers and sisters-in-law who mocked and excluded her every day. Her family had always favored sons over daughters, and her father believed a divorced daughter returning home brought him shame.
One could easily imagine how miserable her days became. In the end, she brought her little granddaughter back to the Ji Family with her tail between her legs.
The woman had a few minor faults. She loved comparing herself to others and always tried to funnel every advantage toward her own household.
The second daughter-in-law smiled awkwardly. “Mother, listen to you. She’s only a sworn younger sister. How could she compare to my Yangyang? Yangyang is Yan’an’s own niece.”
“But I heard there’s always fighting in Mobei and that the Barbarians are terribly vicious. Do we truly have to go?”
She was deeply reluctant and felt that Mobei was dangerous.
But everyone in the Ji Family had left. She was a married-out daughter unwelcome in her birth family, already too old to find another husband, so she could only bring her son’s sole surviving descendant and follow the Ji Family.
At least the Ji Family offered them somewhere to settle.
Surviving in this world with only her granddaughter would have been difficult.
Old Madam Ji closed her eyes. “If you don’t want to go, leave Yangyang with us and return by yourself.”
Her daughter-in-law pursed her lips. “I was only saying.”
If she had anywhere else to go, would she have returned to the Ji Family?
The carriages swayed along until they finally entered Mobei.
When the driver saw a flat cement road stretching straight into the distance, his startled cry drew the attention of the women inside.
“What happened?”
Someone lifted the carriage curtain and looked out. She immediately froze.
“Is that… a road? How can a road be so flat and wide?”
“It looks extremely hard too.”
It was broad enough for four carriages to travel abreast. Its color, hardness, and form were all unlike anything they had ever seen.
It was even better than the roads in the Capital City.
Old Madam Ji glanced outside and was equally astonished.
She had visited Mobei before.
The daughter of a military commander herself, she had once accompanied her husband here when he took up a post for a time.
Thus, she understood Mobei’s harsh conditions better than anyone.
But now, the place seemed entirely different from the Mobei in her memories.
Broad fields flanked the cement road, where dark-skinned farmers labored.
Old Madam Ji could clearly sense that although their work was arduous, they were filled with hope and happiness.
Farmers at the bottom of society did not fear hard work. They feared working themselves to the bone and still being unable to fill their stomachs or support their families.
As long as they had enough to eat and could exchange some of each year’s harvest for money to buy daily necessities, they were content.
“Old Madam, look. Mobei doesn’t seem as difficult as we imagined.”
Old Madam Ji was staring outside in fascination when the sound of hoofbeats arose and rapidly drew closer.
“Old Madam, that man… that looks like Yan’an!”
Ji Yan’an’s eldest sister-in-law peered in that direction for a long time before speaking in disbelief.
No one could blame her for losing her composure. They all knew exactly what Ji Yan’an had looked like when he left. They had also secretly asked highly skilled doctors to examine his poison, and every one of them declared it incurable.
They had already prepared themselves for Ji Yan’an to reach Mobei only to die young from that vicious poison.
Instead, Ji Yan’an had proven remarkably capable. Not only had he rescued them from their prison in the Capital City, but he was now bringing them to Mobei.
And what were they seeing now?!
Could that spirited young man on horseback, who looked perfectly healthy without the slightest sign of poisoning, truly be Ji Yan’an?
Everyone thought the youth resembled him, yet none dared be certain.
Old Madam Ji stepped directly out of the carriage and stood watching the fine horse racing toward them and the young man upon its back.
The instant she saw his face clearly, her hand tightened abruptly around her cane.
Her eyes grew moist.
In her memories, her husband had looked just like this in his youth-high-spirited and dazzling as the blazing sun.
Her grandson resembled neither his father nor his mother. He looked more like his grandfather.
“Grandmother!”
The young man finally reached them and reined his horse to a stop. He dismounted in one fluid motion and strode quickly to the old woman’s side.
Old Madam Ji’s eyes reddened. She raised a wrinkled hand to stroke Ji Yan’an’s face and repeatedly exclaimed in delight.
“Good, Yan’an. As long as you’re safe. As long as you’re safe…”
Only heaven knew how deeply she had feared this grandson would die in the prime of his youth.
She could not accept it.
Fortunately, heaven still had eyes. In the end, it had allowed the Ji Family’s youngest grandson to survive!
For the rest of the journey, Ji Yan’an sat inside the carriage while Old Madam Ji held his hand and carefully studied him for a long time.
The Ji Family’s other women watched him as well.
Ji Yan’an’s eldest aunt could not help remembering her own son. She lowered her head and silently wept.
Everyone understood what she was thinking.
Ji Yan’an’s eldest sister-in-law also succumbed to grief.
They looked through the window at the city walls gradually coming into view.
This was where their husbands and sons lay buried.
“Grandmother, Eldest Aunt, Second Aunt, Aunts-from now on, this is our home.”
Ji Yan’an offered them a few words of comfort as the carriage arrived at the entrance to the Ji Mansion.
Jiang Yunsui was waiting outside, standing on tiptoe to peer down the road.
A row of eagles in various colors perched atop the wall beside the gate.
Some were ordinary eagles, though larger than usual. There was also a gyrfalcon and a kestrel.
The five eggs had not all belonged to the same species of eagle.
Of course, the most conspicuous was still Milk Tea, the enormous golden eagle.
The moment the Ji Family’s women stepped out of the carriages, they saw the little girl waiting at the entrance and all the animals around her. They were immediately rather frightened.
Zuozuo and Youyou were mainly to blame. They had grown as large as lions, and any ordinary person would be terrified at the sight of them.