Chapter 331: Shock
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Mother, Great-aunt, we’re back!” Before they reached the door, Mu Yangling shouted, signaling their return. Many other families opened the door, too. Someone asked with a smile, “Ah Ling, where did you go? Why haven’t you been home for more than a month?”
Someone asked directly, “Ah Ling, I heard that your family built a cattle farm in Hanzhong Prefecture? Why did you go to a foreign land to build it? If you want to build it, you should do it here.”
Mu Yangling replied with a smile, “I wanted to build it here, but there isn’t enough land. The land nearby are used for farming purposes, so we can only look elsewhere.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the door in front of them opened with a bang. Two round children rushed over with arms spread open.
When Xiuhong and Bowen saw the two little round fellows, they immediately jumped off the mule cart and rushed over to hug each of them. They asked with a smile, “Who opened the door for you?”
The two children were only waist-high. Even if they stood on tiptoes, they could not touch the door.
“Great-aunt! Great-aunt opened it!” The two children pointed behind them. Only then did they see their great-aunt standing at the door with a dark expression. Everyone smiled awkwardly and greeted her. “Grandma.”
Mu Yangling also smiled ingratiatingly. “Great-aunt, I’ll drive the mule cart back.”
Although Great-aunt was angry that the children had left for more than a month, she still didn’t lecture them in front of outsiders. She only opened the door and let the mule cart in. As for those who wanted to watch the show, Great-aunt didn’t have such a good temper towards them, simply closing the door with a bang.
The people outside rubbed their noses. Although they were unwilling, they didn’t dare to badmouth the Mu family in front of their house now that the Mu family was at its peak.
Great-aunt turned around and aggressively went to settle scores with the children. Ignoring the obedient and timid Xiulan, she pinched Xiuhong’s ear. “If you want to build a cattle farm and raise cows, I won’t stop you. If you want to run around doing business, I won’t stop you. But now, you’re too bold. You’ve been gone for more than a month without even showing up. You’re even better. You haven’t even come home for almost two months. That’s fine, but tell me, how many letters have you written to your family during this period of time?”
The more Great-aunt spoke, the angrier she became. “You clearly know that Hanzhong Prefecture is at the border, and there are no passes blocking it. Don’t you know that we’ll be worried?”
“Grandma, we know we were wrong. We’ve been too busy recently. Almost every time we’re done with work, we’ll fall asleep right after lying down on the brick bed…”
“How much time will it take you to write a few words? You simply didn’t take it to heart. Don’t make up excuses.”
After teaching Xiuhong a lesson, she lectured Mu Yangling and Bowen. “The two of you are the same. You usually look steady and sensible, but in the end, you’re also insensible. Look at how worried your mother is for you.”
As she spoke, she patted their shoulders angrily. “I really raised you guys for nothing. In my opinion, I shouldn’t have let you out. Otherwise, you won’t even know when you’ll disappear.”
Mu Yangling hurriedly admitted her mistake. “Great-aunt, we know our mistake. No matter where we are in the future, we will definitely write a letter home every ten days to report our safety.”
Bowen nodded repeatedly. “Great-aunt, we definitely won’t dare to do it again.”
Only then did Great-aunt wipe her tears and soften her tone. “It’s not that I want you to do anything, but how can you not come back even during the winter solstice? Why didn’t you send a message back? That day, your mother and I were so worried that we couldn’t eat, so we waited at the village entrance for a day. If I hadn’t met someone in Mingshui County the next morning who told me that you were doing fine in the cattle farm, your mother and I would have gone to look for you…”
Mu Yangling immediately felt a little ashamed. At that time, she was finishing up the work. Because she had to give out a salary to everyone, she needed a lot of copper coins. Her mind was focused on exchanging for the copper coins, so she didn’t remember to inform her family that she wouldn’t go back for the Winter Solstice.
The few of them placated Great-aunt a great deal before she let the matter rest. Seeing that her mother did not come out for a long time, Mu Yangling asked, “Great-aunt, where’s my mother?”
“She’s in the house. That day, your mother stood in the wind for an entire day and was worried for the entire night. The next day, she wanted to go to Hanzhong Prefecture to look for you. After finding out that you were safe, she fell ill and is still taking medicine. These two little ones haven’t seen your mother for a few days, for she was afraid that she would pass on her illness to them.”
The twins were sitting on the left and right of Bowen, asking for something to play with. From time to time, they would moan. When Great-aunt saw this, she sighed and said, “Look, they haven’t been able to see your mother and I’ve been taking care of them these few days. They’ve been whining non-stop.”
Upon hearing that her mother was sick, Mu Yangling became anxious. “I’ll go see Mother.”
Bowen quickly stood up. “I’ll go too.”
The two twins followed closely behind, but the few of them were locked outside the door. Shu Wanniang said calmly from inside, “Ah Ling, come in. Bowen, bring your younger siblings out to play. You’re not in good health, so I can’t risk passing the illness to you.”
Bowen was anxious. “Mother, Physician Pang said that I’ve already recovered…”
“Even if you’ve regained your health, your body constitution is still worse than others. Don’t be so long-winded.” Perhaps because she was sick, Shu Wanniang’s tone was a little snappy.
Mu Yangling patted his shoulder and said, “Take the twins to the central room to play first. I’ll go in and take a look.”
Shu Wanniang was half-leaning on the brick bed. Although her face was slightly pale, she was in good spirits. When she saw her daughter enter, she hurriedly pulled her and looked around. After a while, she heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Child, you didn’t make people worry at all in the past. The older you get, the more insensible you become. Come sit beside me and tell me what you’ve been busy with. Why didn’t you come back even for the Winter Solstice?”
Mu Yangling said in shame, “Mother, I didn’t expect you to value the Winter Solstice so much. If I had known, I’d definitely have come back. Even if I didn’t, I’d have gotten someone to send you a message.”
Shu Wanniang frowned. “The Winter Solstice has always been an important festival. How could you not know?”
This was the aftereffect of her memories of festivals in her previous life. In her previous life, she did not celebrate the Winter Solstice much. After coming here, she did have to worship her ancestors every year during the Winter Solstice, burn winter clothes offerings to them, as well as celebrate the occasion with a sumptuous feast. However, people in the village pretty much did the same for other festivals, so up till that point she was not under the impression that Winter Solstice was a grand festival.
After receiving the letter from home and sensing that something was wrong, she checked and realized that the ancients really valued the Winter Solstice.
There was a saying that the Winter Solstice was as important as the New Year. People celebrated the festival for three days, during which the Emperor did not govern, the officials expressed good wishes, and the citizens also went on break. Yes, Bowen and the others would also have a holiday. She did not know about the south, but in their area, the winter break began on the day of the Winter Solstice.
According to the books, doctors would also hold a “cold-relief gathering”. Everyone would hold a cocktail party to eat and drink, recite poems, and draw a “cold-reducing painting”.
This was only what was recorded in the books. The people certainly valued the Winter Solstice more highly than what was recorded in the books. It was like how her family would be worried if she didn’t go home during the Spring Festival.
Therefore, Mu Yangling recognized her mistake very quickly.
This made Shu Wanniang sigh slightly. She only thought that her daughter was young and didn’t care about some things, so she touched her head and said, “Alright, this matter is over. Just take it to heart in the future. I don’t blame you, but I have something to ask you.”
Shu Wanniang sat up straight and asked, “Why did you privately agree to Haoran’s marriage proposal? Why didn’t you tell us about it?”
Mu Yangling widened her eyes and cried out, “Mother, when did I agree to Qi Haoran’s marriage proposal?”