Tong Mo's voice came from outside the carriage curtain.
Ye Yunniang and Cai Damei were startled. They exchanged a glance, having forgotten about Tong Mo outside the carriage.
Tong Mo reached out and lifted the curtain. "Aunt, my uncle is a very stubborn man. Once he's set on something, not even ten oxen could pull him back."
"I am not your aunt," Cai Damei frowned, feeling a visceral disgust towards the title 'Aunt'.
"Whether you like it or not, you are my aunt," Tong Mo paid no mind to Cai Damei's cold expression and continued, "Aunt, my uncle has many methods at his disposal. I advise you to accept this obediently."
Silence fell inside the carriage.
"Mother, why did you forgive Li Nan again?" Ye Yunniang changed the subject. She was grateful to Xie Lanhua for helping her avoid a beating. But letting the main culprit off completely left a knot of resentment in Ye Yunniang's heart.
"Saying I won't pursue it further doesn't mean I've forgiven," Cai Damei sneered. Li Nan and Li Wu were now locked in the prison cell. Their judgment was the magistrate's affair.
Cai Damei was right.
The two had been sent in by Bao Min for attempted murder. Whether she pursued the case or not, the magistrate would pass judgment; the laws of the court were not a joke.
Sure enough, when Li Nan's family joyfully went to fetch him, they were told he had been sentenced to exile.
Xie Lanhua, valuing loyalty, packed her belongings to follow him.
This time, Aunt Guihua did not stop her. She packed a bundle and saw them both off.
At the town gate, they encountered people arranged by Bao Min to wait there.
Bao Min had received orders to escort the Huang family to the capital for trial and had already left ahead with his men.
After hearing this, Cai Damei made the decision: they would also set off and return to Jiangcheng.
Returning to the inn, they packed their belongings and left with the two children.
With two coffins, and considering Ye Yunniang's earlier morning sickness, they did not take the water route back but traveled entirely by land.
The land route was circuitous, taking over a month.
They spent the New Year on the road. Counting those in the coffins, the family was somewhat reunited.
They arrived in Jiangcheng before the 15th of the first lunar month.
Ye Yunniang's belly was now six months along. Although winter padded jackets provided some cover, it was still noticeable at a glance.
For the future of Ye Yunniang and the children, they did not return to Sunset Lane but settled in a farmstead outside the city.
This farmstead was introduced by Tong Mo. Cai Damei took a liking to it and bought it.
The deed to the farmland and the property title, at Cai Damei's insistence, were registered under Ye Yunniang's name.
The silver used was the "child-rearing money" given by Jiang Mingzhe.
The graves of Li Jun and Li Min were located on the small hill behind the farmstead, their tombstones facing the direction of Lincheng.
Afterwards, Ye Yunniang entered a period of resting for her pregnancy and caring for the children.
...
Time flashed by, and three years passed.
Many things happened in those three years.
Firstly, Li Pan, now six, entered school to study.
Li An, five, also clamored to go to school with Li Pan. After an assessment by Teacher Du, he entered the Du Family School to study.
Li Ping, whom Ye Yunniang gave birth to after a day and night of labor pains, was also three years old now.
Li Ping was a child with a very distinct personality.
Every day, if he could lie down, he would absolutely not sit; if he could sit, he would absolutely not stand; if he could stand, he would absolutely not walk; if he could walk, he would absolutely not run.
He did whatever was most comfortable.
At first, Ye Yunniang and Cai Damei thought he might be ill, but the doctors they consulted all said there was no problem.
It was Li An who revealed Li Ping's true thoughts.
Li Ping was just a big lazybones.
Observing him, the two women found it was indeed true, and their worried hearts settled.
Li Ping was very easy to look after. Ye Yunniang spread a mat in the courtyard, placed a thin quilt on it.
Li Ping would lie on the thin quilt, not moving.
Ye Yunniang sat beside him, sewing shoes for Li Pan and Li An. The older these two children got, the harder they were on shoes.
A pair of shoes wouldn't last seven days. Whenever Ye Yunniang and Cai Damei had time, they made shoes for the two children.
"Xu Erlei!" The voice of Liang Maimiao from the neighboring courtyard, Number Five, rang out. "You skipped school?"
Then came the sound of a stick hitting flesh, thwack, thwack, thwack.
"I don't want to study," Xu Erlei cried out.
"Don't want to study? What do you want to do then?"
"I want to learn how to butcher pigs."
"Butcher pigs? I think you want to fly to the heavens. Your father, your grandparents, and I work hard every day to earn money for your schooling. You don't study properly, you skip school. See if I don't beat you to death! Stand still, don't run..."
Then came another round of beating sounds.
Hearing the cries next door, Li Ping let out a peal of laughter.
Ye Yunniang put down her needle and thread, reached out, and tapped Li Ping's forehead.
"Don't learn the good things, learn your second brother's bad taste for schadenfreude," Ye Yunniang stood up, pulling Li Ping to his feet to go outside.
"Don't wanna go," Li Ping refused.
"No choice," Ye Yunniang disagreed.
A few days ago, in Morning Glow Lane, a family's child was playing alone in the yard and was carried off. They still hadn't been found.
After hearing this, Ye Yunniang grew uneasy about leaving the lazybones Li Ping alone.
She took Li Ping wherever she went, absolutely never letting a child stay by himself.
Li Ping reluctantly let himself be pulled along by his mother, his little face all about how tiring walking was.
In courtyard Number Five, Liang Maimiao and Xu Erlei were running in circles around the yard, one chasing, one fleeing.
"Xu Erlei, stand still for me!"
"Only a fool would stand still," Xu Erlei, running ahead, found a moment to retort to his mother.
With that provocative tone, one could only say he deserved every bit of his beating.
Ye Yunniang and Li Ping's entry interrupted the Xu mother and son's chase.
"Maimiao, have you heard?" Ye Yunniang pushed open the courtyard gate.
"Heard what?" Liang Maimiao stopped, curious.
"Ma Xiaokou is going to have a son," Ye Yunniang relayed to Liang Maimiao what she had heard yesterday from Cai Damei.
"Have a son? Is Chunxing pregnant?" Liang Maimiao's father had been ill, and she had gone back to care for him for three days, only returning this morning.
She didn't know about Ma Xiaokou having a son. Upon hearing it, her first thought was that Chunxing was pregnant.
But recalling seeing Chunxing this morning, her belly was flat.
"Adopted," Ye Yunniang walked closer to Liang Maimiao, gesturing for Xu Erlei to go play with Li Ping.
Xu Erlei ran off laughing to play with Li Ping.
Watching her carefree son, Liang Maimiao sighed; this son of hers was probably hopeless.
Ye Yunniang listened and offered a couple of words of comfort. The two women continued talking about Ma Xiaokou's situation.
Ma Xiaokou and Chunxing had been married for many years but had never had children.
Over the years, the two had seen every doctor in the capital. They had tried plenty of folk remedies and alternative treatments.
They just couldn't conceive.
Someone suggested adopting a child; perhaps it might bring them their own.
Spending money to raise someone else's child—the very thought made Ma Xiaokou disagree. The matter was put on hold.
"You little brat, take it back wherever you got it from. The Ma family doesn't raise other people's spawn!" Ma Xiaokou's loud shout reached the two women's ears.
"I'm going to take a look," Liang Maimiao's words hadn't even finished before she ran out of the yard.
“Mother, together,” Li Ping didn’t want to play with Xu Erlei, finding him too rowdy, and pulled on his mother to go see the commotion.
Ye Yunniang took Li Ping and Xu Erlei by the hand and walked towards the lane entrance.
They had just reached courtyard Number Three when a stinking shoe came flying towards them.
Ye Yunniang pulled the two children down, quickly squatting to dodge the smelly shoe.
"My shoe!" Niu Dajiao shouted, running over. His foot slipped, and he knelt down right in front of Ye Yunniang and the three children.
