Xu Yunxia spoke softly, "You’ve had some meat, right?"
The child nodded vigorously.
Xu Yunxia then said, "When you go to the table later, you won’t be able to eat meat, understand?"
Although the child still wanted to eat meat, he nodded and said, "Understood, grandpa." At that time, Xu Yunxia leaned on his cane and came out. The food on the table was simple, consisting of boiled large root vegetables, steamed rice, a broth made of wild vegetables and okra, meat, and vegetables that had been blanched and dipped in vinegar sauce, with cured meat in the center.
For the laboring people of this era, this was already quite a feast.
There were two kinds of staple food, besides rice, there was also a pasty mixture of brown rice, millet, and radish. The polished rice brought by Li Guanyi was passed to him and Shaking Light. Li Guanyi lowered his eyes, and Xu Huilan said:
"We are poor and have nothing extra to offer you both."
Li Guanyi replied softly, "This is already plenty."
He used his chopsticks to cover his rice with meat, layer by layer, then handed the rice to the small child across from him. After several refusals, the child accepted it.
Li Guanyi said, "Yuan Zhi and I are close friends; aunty, you needn’t do this."
Xu Huilan, with gratitude in her eyes, immediately asked about Yuan Zhi’s condition. Li Guanyi answered as he had when speaking to Xu Yunxia before. Xu Huilan just sat there, nodding her head and listening intently without even eating.
It seemed she wanted to make up for what she had missed over the years, her face carrying a serene smile. Finally, she wiped away her tears and said, "I knew Yuan Zhi was talented; he’s busy now, and it’s natural for him not to come back."
Xu Huilan said, "Please tell him that everything at home is fine, he should take care of himself outside and need not come back."
This woman in her forties, already graying, held her bowl and chopsticks and said:
"Just tell him I’m old now, can’t do much, and can’t help him with much."
"Say everything is fine here..."
Just then, a burst of noisy voices came from outside, the sound of horses neighing, and metal clashing against the walls, someone laughed loudly, "Oh? I heard that Yuan Zhi’s friend has come back?!"
"Ha, he dared to touch my sworn brother before, now that he’s back, isn’t he here to apologize?!"
Li Guanyi stood up, but Xu Yunxia firmly grasped Li Guanyi’s hand, "I’ll handle this..."
His smile strained, he said, "These are local troublemakers, it’s complicated. I hear it involves the magistrate’s secretary from the county this town belongs to; he’s also the deputy enforcing laws here, a man of the Court."
"You came to deliver a message for Yuan Zhi, don’t get involved in trouble."
The youth spoke softly:
"Yuan Zhi’s letters were detained by them; they probably didn’t even look at them."
Li Guanyi stood up, "Yuan Zhi, already a core disciple in the Academy, if they saw his letters and had any sense, wouldn’t dare trouble you, but unfortunately, without the Academy engaging in worldly affairs, they do not understand its influence."
"Today, I came to take all of you with me; Yuan Zhi also hopes for family reunion..."
Li Guanyi stood up, comforting Xu Huilan and the spouse Xu Yunxia.
The youth turned, opened the door, and outside were a dozen or so thugs, led by a man in official robes, riding a horse, who looked scornfully at Li Guanyi. Seeing a sixteen-or-seventeen-year-old tall youth who carried no weapon, he turned to his companions and laughed, "Hahaha, oh Yuan Zhi, Yuan Zhi, aging backwards, huh? Ten years have passed, and he’s still hanging out with teenagers?"
"Are you that friend of Yuan Zhi?"
"You don’t know, he offended my brother, Mr. Zhao, who is my half-brother by a different mother. I had to puncture and kill him. If I do nothing, wouldn’t I lose face in front of my brothers in the Martial World? Hahaha!"
"Today you’re here, not Yuan Zhi, Mr. Zhao I’ll give you face, kneel down, knock your head seventeen or eighteen times, and I’ll let you go, get out of here!"
"Otherwise, hmm, your Mr. Zhao will tie you up and throw you out of this town!"
Li Guanyi hadn’t spoken yet.
Sitting on the bench, Shaking Light stretched out her hand, pressing both hands on the chair.
The young lady dropped to the ground, ran to the doorway in a few quick steps, then reached out, grabbed the door, and pulled hard.
She directly slammed the door shut.
Xu Yunxia was startled and anxiously said, "Ah, young girl, what are you doing? Why did you lock Mr. Li outside?" The silver-haired young lady remembered when they first met; she had dragged Li Guanyi and the assassin he had captured back to her cave.
Resulting in blood spilled all over!
She wiped and wiped, unable to clean it up completely.
In the end, the young lady decisively chose to give up.
The Stargazing School would not make the same mistake twice in the same place!
The young lady slightly tilted her chin upward, her face expressionless.
She couldn’t let the blood spill inside.
Outside, the thugs were stunned, looking at each other: "Did you just see how the door closed?!"
"No, I’m watching, and there’s no wind."
"Goodness, could it be a ghost?!"
Li Guanyi couldn’t help but smile wryly; with Shaking Light’s mystical skills, it would be a real miracle if these men could see her. Mr. Zhao seemed unsatisfied, and said, "You dare to laugh, men, beat him!!"
So, a series of loud noises came from outside.
In the courtyard, Xu Yunxia picked up a carrying pole ready to leap out, extremely anxious; the silver-haired young lady counted to three before moving aside, Xu Yunxia burst through the door, but froze, as outside, the troublemaking thugs the villagers would normally avoid, were lying all over the ground.