Chapter 562: Returning to Lin’an
Editor: Atlas Studios
When Mu Yangling raised her eyebrows and left, many villagers were sending her off at the entrance of the village. At first, they hated Mu Yangling and felt that if not for them, their families might not have died.
However, after the village chief announced those compensation measures, they were grateful to Mu Yangling again. They felt that no matter what, she had not abandoned them. Instead, she had given them enough to allow their family to survive in this chaotic world. In addition, their family had voluntarily protected the Zhu family in the first place, so the last bit of resentment dissipated.
Mu Yangling left Chen Ming and his wife behind to distribute the annual pension and supervise the matters in the fields. In order to prevent corruption and bribery from happening, not only did Mu Yangling give Chen Ming a warning before she left, but she also announced a supervision measure.
“The distribution of pensions has been recorded. In the future, if anyone doesn’t receive the money on time, the village chief can come and tell me. The villagers who have suffered grievances can also entrust the town’s shop to deliver a message to me.” Mu Yangling said, “As the shopkeeper of the shop and Chen Ming don’t have any conflicts of interest, everyone can rest assured.”
Mu Yangling had set up that shop at the last minute to make it convenient for the villagers here to deliver a message to her. Hence, the shopkeeper was chosen from the residence. She would not let any one person serve in that position for too long, so they would not offend her for a little benefit.
After doing this, Mu Yangling led Li Jinghua and the others away in a carriage.
Little Bear had probably suffered a fright. Ever since he woke up, he had been clutching his mother’s clothes tightly and insisted on leaning into her arms.
Spring knew that Fourth Madam was injured, so she kept coaxing him. “Third Young Master, can I carry you? I’ll carry you to look at the grass outside…”
Little Bear looked at Spring for a while and hesitated for a moment before decisively burying his head in his mother’s arms. With a smile, Mu Yangling patted his back and said to Spring, “Alright, there’s only so much strength he can exert and it won’t affect my wound.”
To Mu Yangling who was carrying her son, he weighed as much as an egg would feel in an ordinary person’s hand. Naturally, it did not affect the wound on her back.
Seeing that no one had taken him away from his mother, Little Bear raised his head and looked outside curiously. Spring lifted a corner slightly to let him see the scenery outside.
After a while, the lively Little Bear couldn’t sit still anymore and kept moving towards the window. Seeing that he looked so pitiful, Mu Yangling picked him up and placed him by the window, her hands still holding his shoulders. Still feeling uneasy for a moment, Little Bear looked up at his mother from time to time. Seeing that she was always smiling at him, his heart was put to ease. He then boldly pulled open the curtains and pointed at the flowers and plants outside. Other than himself, no one could understand him.
However, Spring still nodded in support. From time to time, she would respond with things like, “It’s really beautiful.” and “Green green grass.”
Little Bear wasn’t the only one who had suffered a fright. Little Treasure was also a little rattled. He clinged to Li Jinghua at all times, and he didn’t even bother to look for his beloved younger brother.
Even if he fell asleep, he would definitely wake up crying every once in a while. Only when he saw his mother did he continue sleeping in peace.
This made Li Jinghua feel both heartache and gratification.
Because her son always wanted to play and sleep with Little Bear, she’d thought that she, as his mother, was not as important to him as Little Bear.
Wen Cui said in a low voice, “Madam, don’t worry. Second Young Master still cares about you the most. Third Young Master is Second Young Master’s younger brother. Children tend to prefer playing with children.”
Li Jinghua nodded slightly. She hugged Little Treasure and patted him gently. “The doctor said that he needs to take medicine for a few days?”
“Second Young Master’s health isn’t too good, so he was quite affected this time. He’ll probably have to take medicine for five to six days.” Wen Cui hesitated for a moment and said, “But Spring came to look for me just now and said that Fourth Madam suggested not to let him take medicine for such a long time. She said he just needs to drink four doses of medicine to calm the fear. If his condition is serious, just drink two more doses. Just coax him more often and bring him around the convoy. She thinks it’s better for him to fix his health with diet since every medicine has its side effects…”
Li Jinghua kissed her sleeping son and sighed. “Let’s do as Fourth Madam says. Those doctors only blindly prescribe more medicine to be on the safe side. The child merely suffered a fright. As long as we make him feel at ease, he will recover.”
After saying that, looking at her son’s pale face, Li Jinghua felt sad. “You’re clearly about to recover, but you always encounter trouble at the last step. Why is my Little Treasure so plagued with disasters?”
Wen Cui hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, Eldest Madam. When we return to Lin’an City, we can focus on helping Second Young Master recuperate. The medicinal cuisine recipes Fourth Madam found are pretty good.”
Li Jinghua sighed and said, “I hope so.” She hoped that they could really settle down this time.
When Mu Yangling and the others returned to Lin’an City, it caused a commotion. The officials and officials’ family members who stayed behind all knew that if nothing unexpected happened, Qi Xiuyuan would be the next Emperor.
That meant Li Jinghua might be the next Empress, so everyone could not help but be restless.
Before entering Lin’an City, Bai Li came over and asked them where they wanted to stay after entering the city.
This time, Bai Li mainly asked Li Jinghua. When it came to the safety of the war, Bai Li would naturally ignore Li Jinghua and ask Mu Yangling. However, he naturally had to ask Li Jinghua this question since she would have an even higher status in the future.
Li Jinghua knew he was asking if she wanted to move to the palace.
Li Jinghua lowered her eyes and thought for a while before turning to ask Mu Yangling, “Ah Ling, where do you think is safer?”
After experiencing so many dangers, Li Jinghua was now temporarily prioritizing safety over glory and other such things.
“Most of the people left in the palace are from the previous dynasty. There’s still a lot of uncertainty.”
Li Jinghua understood and said to Bai Li, “Back to the Qi Residence.”
After Qi Xiuyuan attacked Lin’an City, Madam Wu and the others were sent back to the Qi Residence. However, they had no freedom to enter or leave and there were guards guarding outside. Those guards claimed that they were protecting them, but it was also a form of supervision and imprisonment because they were afraid that they would get carried away and do something that would harm the Qi family’s reputation.
Mu Yangling and the others were sent directly to the Qi Residence. This time, Madam Wu personally brought Madam Xu and Little Madam Wu to the second gate to wait. She had always been sensible and knew that she and her two sons were now in Qi Xiuyuan’s hands.
Madam Wu humbled herself, but Li Jinghua was not smug. She still respectfully allowed the other party to return to the main house first before bringing Mu Yangling back to her courtyard.
Mu Yangling did not speak the entire time. Madam Wu and the others were also used to ignoring Mu Yangling. From the moment Mu Yangling married into the family until now, the number of words she had said in front of Madam Wu and the others could be counted on two hands.
Hence, everyone’s gazes were on Li Jinghua, who was of high status.
Everyone felt that Mu Yangling was just an introverted and ignorant village girl. The only bold thing that she did was to reject the late Emperor’s marriage arrangement for Qi Haoran on the spot. After that incident, Mu Yangling’s performance was average. More accurately speaking, she did not have anything to show for.
Hence, everyone habitually ignored her. Li Jinghua could only smile bitterly at this.