Chapter 528: Change
Editor: Atlas Studios
Winter had arrived. It had only been a year, but the outside world had undergone a tremendous change. The entire Great Zhou was in a battle. Other than Lin’an City, which was still relatively stable, wars were happening everywhere else. As the weather gradually turned cold, the war temporarily stalled. The West Xia army and the rebels did not take another step forward.
However, the situation did not improve. None of the ministers in the Imperial Court looked happy. Emperor Jingyan, who was used to slacking off and enjoying himself, did not look relaxed either. Because of the cold weather, many people who were rendered homeless because of the war were now suffering even more. The entire Great Zhou exuded a deathly aura and heavy oppression.
Even if the Emperor was not smart enough, he would not leave the palace. He could sense the oppression judging by the ministers’ faces.
In the end, if they weren’t able to dissolve that sense of oppression, they could only perish when that oppression finally erupted.
The outside world was changing, and so was the Qi Residence. Li Jinghua had successfully suppressed Madam Wu and her daughters-in-law singlehandedly and now controlled the entire Qi Residence. Now, Madam Xu and Little Madam Wu’s assistance in taking charge of the residence’s matters was nothing but a dead letter. All the servants in the mansion were solidly under Li Jinghua’s control.
On the other hand, the Zhaohua Courtyard seemed to be a separate existence from the Qi Residence. Ever since Little Treasure moved into the Zhaohua Courtyard, the security of the Zhaohua Courtyard had been very strict. The servants rarely interacted with the rest of the residence. Mu Yangling followed the two children around the clock, and even if she left their sides, she would not be gone for more than half an hour. On the other hand, when Li Jinghua came over to eat and drink, she would only bring Wen Cui and Wen Mian with her. So, Madam Wu and the others could not use underhand methods. After Li Jinghua completely took over, it became all the more impossible for them to lay a finger on the two children.
After having control over the dangers in the Qi Residence, Li Jinghua started to think about letting her son move back.
Little Treasure, who had been best buddies with Little Bear for three months, was unwilling to go back. He hugged a pillar in Zhao Hua Courtyard and refused to let go. He wailed in Bear’s direction and cried about not bearing to part with his brother.
Bear Bear did not know why his brother was crying at all, but seeing that he was crying so miserably, he followed suit. Being in robust health and with a strong physique, even though he was almost a year younger than Little Treasure, his cries still drowned out Little Treasure’s and soared into the sky.
Li Jinghua did not expect the two children to have such a big reaction and was in a dilemma.
Mu Yangling tried to reason with them. “Little Treasure, you’ll just be staying in the courtyard next door and can still come to play with your brother every day. You just won’t be together when you sleep at night. Why are you crying?”
Little Treasure sobbed and said, “I want to sleep with Little Brother.” As he spoke, he sobbed and looked at her with red and swollen eyes.
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Mu Yangling felt that this challenge was a little big. Unable to make up her mind, she looked at Li Jinghua.
Li Jinghua sighed and squatted in front of Little Treasure. She said pitifully, “Little Treasure, you wish to accompany Little Brother but not your mother? Little Brother has Aunt to accompany him, but Mother lives there alone without anyone to accompany her.”
Confusion flashed across Little Treasure’s eyes. Although he was smart, he was still young and could not understand sentences that were too long.
Mu Yangling hugged Little Bear and said, “While Little Bear accompanies your aunt, Little Treasure, you’ll accompany your mother.”
This time, Little Treasure looked at his mother, then at Little Bear. In the end, he grabbed his mother and one of his brother’s hands. “Mine.”
Mu Yangling looked at him pitifully. “What about Aunt?”
Little Treasure waved his hand generously. “Mine!”
Alright, now the four of them was going to stay in the same room? Alas, that was impossible. Hence, after half persuasion and half coercion, Little Treasure still agreed to move back to Zhaode Hall, but he requested to come over and sleep with his younger brother every other day.
Mu Yangling was totally okay with that. Li Jinghua only carried her son over because she wanted to be by his side and take care of him. She didn’t want him to cry, so she agreed.
Although they had promised to let him sleepover every other day, this kid would always cry at night. In the end, Li Jinghua had no choice but to send him over. In the end, he would sleep with Little Bear at Zhaohua Courtyard for two to three nights before returning to Zhaode Hall to sleep for a night.
Seeing that the two brothers were close, Li Jinghua let them be. Anyway, in her son’s heart, her identity as his biological mother would never change.
Moreover, it was very beneficial for her son to have a good relationship with Little Bear.
She might only have this one child in her life, and Qi Xiuyuan would definitely have other sons born from concubines in the future. However, since they were not born from the same mother after all, there was bound to be conflicts of interest. Little Treasure had few brothers to support him to begin with. If he was close to Little Bear in the future, this pair of cousins could help each other and protect each other. There was nothing bad about that.
It was also because of this that Li Jinghua allowed Little Treasure and Little Bear to be so close.
As the two children grew up day by day, there was a transformation in them almost every day. Mu Yangling bought a lot of fabric for them and got the two idle servant girls in the courtyard to make clothes for them. Not only did she have all their clothes made up till the age of ten, but she also had them make many other accessories, both practical and ornamental.
Qi Haoran didn’t come back for the new year either and only asked someone to send a letter back. There weren’t even any new year goods. Although Qi Xiuyuan was far away, he had at least sent over two carts of new year goods, including the things the Mu family and Li family had asked him to bring. According to the steward of the convoy, this month and a half had been a tough journey for them. Not only were there bandits and rioters everywhere, but there was also heavy snow on the road. Even though they ultimately arrived safe and sound, it was inevitable that their arrival was delayed.
Only then did Mu Yangling know that the situation outside had actually worsened to this extent.
She had not gone out for almost half a year. After coming out of the palace, Mu Yangling consciously did not go out because of the imperial guards guarding outside. Because the world outside was in chaos, the banquets held by the upper echelons had decreased by more than half. Li Jinghua did not want to cause trouble at this time, so she stayed in the residence like Mu Yangling.
As for the things that Mu Yangling wanted to buy, she would directly make a list and ask her servants to buy them. Fan Zijin would send a message every half a month, mostly asking if there was anything she needed his help with. After receiving a negative answer, he would go do his own thing.
On the other hand, Zhu Liang came every three days to report what had happened in the farmstead. Secondly, he sent them some vegetables, fruits, and eggs from the farmstead so that they could try them. However, that was just on the surface. In actual fact, he was secretly sending all kinds of news and preparing their escape routes.
However, the information was abstract. For example, the Tongchuan Prefecture was in chaos. There was an uprising rebel army of probably XX people. The Imperial Court’s army was not strong enough to counter them. However, this steward led the way from the north to the south and was practically walking in hell on earth. As a result, he felt a lot more emotional. Thus, it was even more impactful when Mu Yangling heard about the specific situation from him.
Mu Yangling was a little depressed. As expected, the people suffered even more in tough times like this.
“Didn’t the Imperial Court want to negotiate for peace? Why hasn’t there been any movement?” Li Jinghua felt awful. Women did not like to hear such tragic things.
Mu Yangling knew more about this than Li Jinghua. Hearing this, she said, “Minister Qin left the capital a long time ago, but there has been no news of him coming back. I heard that the envoy from the Jin Kingdom has already sent back news that the Jin Kingdom has agreed to negotiate peace, but there has been no news from West Xia.”