Huo Yuan was released, and to demonstrate his sincerity, Zhao Fuyin even freed up a horse carriage, letting his coachman take Huo Yuan home.
However, Huo Yuan did not return to the Huo Mansion, he went directly back to Bishui Villa.
The day before yesterday, due to being summoned by Ying Tianfu, he had not had the chance to hand over the ceremonial responsibilities to his younger sister, Cai Wei. He had felt uneasy these two days. Therefore, after his release today, he decided to go home first to take a bath, change into clean clothes, and then go to find Cai Wei to discuss the handover of ceremonial responsibilities.
When he returned to Bishui Villa, the housekeeper welcomed him. Seeing Huo Yuan, it was natural to express solicitous concerns.
Always congenial, Huo Yuan exchanged a few words with the housekeeper, then asked casually about how the Mu family had been faring over the past two days.
Upon seeing Huo Yuan mentioning the Mu family, the Housekeeper told him all about the Second Old Master’s arrival to evict people and the Mu family’s subsequent early departure the next day. After hearing this, Huo Yuan’s typically mild and elegant face darkened unrecognizably.
He entered his own regular courtyard with a frown, took a bath, changed his clothes, ordered the carriage, and went straight to Mu Zhongqing’s Bafu Restaurant.
At present, the Bafu Restaurant had just opened its doors, with only two shopkeepers cleaning up, with the rest staying in the kitchen either packing ground dumplings, Hu Dun, cutting meat or skewering meat. Mu Zhongqing and Zhao Yun sold dim sum at the counter. Even though they already ran a Bafu Dim Sum Shop at home, some local residents still had the habit of buying dim sum here, so the Bafu Restaurant continued to sell dim sum. However, with the Bafu Dim Sum Shop now, the dim sum here was no longer as hot a sell as before.
Upon seeing Huo Yuan, Mu Zhongqing quickly put aside his shopkeeper duties and greeted him with a warm smile.
"Young Master Huo, what brings you here? Please come inside."
Mu Zhongqing led Huo Yuan to a private room upstairs. However, Huo Yuan did not sit down. Instead, he made a fist salute, expressing remorsefully, "Uncle Mu, I had something to do two days ago and wasn’t at home. I apologize for any inconvenience to your family. I came here today to apologize. Please don’t be offended, and agree to move back to the Bishui Villa."
Mu Zhongqing was taken aback. "What inconvenience? Our family had a good time at Bishui Villa. We did not feel wronged at all?"
Huo Yuan was also momentarily stunned. Then, he understood that his younger sister, Cai Wei, had not told the family about his second uncle’s eviction. He relaxed, thinking to himself, "Fortunately, only Cai Wei knows about this. I will explain it to her."
"Uncle Mu, as far as I know, your family does not have a house in the city. You, Cai Wei, and Cai Fei regularly travel back and forth between here and the shop in the city. In a while, Wen’er and Wu’er will be attending school, so they will also need to come to the city. The distance from the manor to the city is too far. It will be inconvenient to rely on a horse carriage for transportation. So, it would be better to move back to the Villa."
Mu Zhongqing chuckled, "Young Master Huo, you are too polite. Even though what you said makes sense, we will always need to settle at our own home eventually, right? We can’t live at your Villa forever, can we?"
Huo Yuan smiled and thought to himself, "I wish your family would stay at Bishui Villa forever." However, he did not voice this thought.
"Why don’t you discuss this with your family, Uncle Mu? For the time being, you could move back to Bishui Villa. Even in the future, when you settle down in your own house in the city, it won’t be too late to reconsider."
Mu Zhongqing naturally understood why Huo Yuan was so insistent. In fact, he and Lady Du were rather in favor of Huo Yuan. This young man was gentle by nature and treated their daughter with deep affection. They believed he would treat their daughter well in the future. They wished to have Cai Wei marry him. Therefore, they did not dismiss him outright. Instead, they kindly said, "Let’s talk about this when Cai Wei returns in a few days. We can decide after discussing it with her."