435 Surprise in Progress
As soon as he finished speaking, the two carriages started moving in a discreet manner. More than a dozen secret guards followed closely in the shadows to protect them.
Jiang Danhe had come home alone this time, but accompanying him was an additional burden that he could not get rid of.
He didn’t plan to bring him along, but he couldn’t withstand his persistent persuasion, as well as the pressure from Shao Zhan.
If he doesn’t bring this person back with him, he can forget about returning home.
Therefore, he had no choice but to acquiesce.
If not for this person tagging along, he would have arrived yesterday.
The imperial guards, accompanied by the emperor’s decree, made it obvious who was inside the sedan chair.
At this moment, Xiaoyi was rummaging through his small school bag and muttering under his breath.
“Brush, little tiger, picture book, golden rice paper, pellet drum, rabbit fur, grasshopper…”
Xiaoyi stopped momentarily and shook the grasshopper cage in his hand. He realized that the insect, which was alive earlier on, was now motionless. As he swayed the cage, two of the grasshopper’s legs fell off.
After a few seconds of silence, he said, “Dead grasshopper.”
With that, he put the cage aside and continued to think about the gifts that he was planning to give Zhuang Zhuang. It had taken him a long time to gather all these items, all for the purpose of giving them to Zhuang Zhuang the next time they met.
Basically, he would check on those items every day, afraid that he would miss out on any of them. These were all his hard work. He would personally hand them over to Zhuang Zhuang when they met.
At the thought of Zhuang Zhuang, Xiaoyi couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
When the people outside the carriage heard this, they looked at the carriage with puzzled faces. They didn’t understand why the little prince was suddenly laughing to himself.
Only Jiang Danhe looked straight ahead, pretending that he hadn’t heard anything. At this moment, he was staring ahead with his eyes fixed in the direction of home. He really didn’t care about what was going on outside. All he could think about was to get home.
—-
“Mother, tomorrow I’ll celebrate …”
Xiaoguo was shocked and worried that Zhuang Zhuang would continue speaking. She didn’t know how to interrupt him and was getting anxious. Fortunately, the other party stopped speaking on his own.
“Zhuang Zhuang, what’s about tomorrow?”
Despite this, Xiaoguo still mustered up the courage to ask the same question again.
Zhuang Zhuang smiled and shook his head. He was not going to talk about it.
“It’s nothing, Mother. I’m going to bed…”
“Go ahead.”
Zhuang Zhuang closed his eyes and lay quietly at the side.
Xiaoguo turned around and blew out one candle, leaving only one lit candle which made the room more conducive for sleep. Then she patted the boy’s back and gently coaxed him to sleep.
Soon, the sound of Zhuang Zhuang’s steady breathing could be heard.
Xiaoguo looked at his cute face and couldn’t help but lean forward to give him a gentle kiss. Unable to help herself, she kissed him again.
Zhuang Zhuang, who was pretending to be asleep, was trying his best to keep himself from smiling. Afraid that Xiaoguo would see through him, he quickly rolled over and laughed quietly to himself.
A knowing look appeared on Xiaoguo’s face. She realized that Zhuang Zhuang was still awake. Just moments ago, she had almost gotten fooled by him.
“Go to sleep. Mother will go play with Yu Ling and the others.” After thinking for a moment, she added, “I’ll be back in a while.”
At first, Zhuangzhuang was taken aback, but then he silently nodded his head after a few seconds. His little face, which he had been hiding, turned red in that instant.
His mother had found out that he was pretending to be asleep. How embarrassing.
Xiaoguo laughed and patted his butt before getting up to leave.
After coming out, she went to the door of Yu Ling and Xiao Zhu’s house. She knocked on the door and waited for the door to open. Then, she said in a low voice, “I’m going out to look for them now and I’ll be back soon. I’ve told Zhuang Zhuang that I am coming to your place. If anything happens, can you cover for me?”
“Okay!”
Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling nodded seriously. After Xiaoguo left, the two of them closed the door and got back to work. They had to hurry up and continue making the decorations that they need for tomorrow.
It was a little dark outside. Coincidentally, there were some leftover lanterns at home that could be put to good use.
After picking out a lantern from the bunch, she started walking along the main road.
Jiang Danhe had already arrived at Peach Blossom Village, but he couldn’t show his face yet, so he asked the village chief to find an empty house for him to stay temporarily.
Before the sky turned dark, Jiang Danhe had asked Xiaoguo to pay him a visit. Apart from the surprise of his return, she didn’t expect Xiaoyi to come back with him either.
After putting Zhuang Zhuang to bed, she left the house to look for them.
The group of them were staying in a house within the village. Xiaoguo walked for less than a minute before arriving.
There were two carriages parked at the door, along with a few horses.
One of them seemed to recognize Xiaoguo. It took two steps towards her and wagged its tail.
Xiaoguo recognized it at a glance with the help of her lantern. The horse had a tuft of red hair on its head. Wasn’t that Jiang Danhe’s Wind Chaser?
She was the one who gave the horse its name. When Jiang Danhe came back the last time, she found out from him that the horse which always accompanied him on his travels did not have a name. Hence, she came up with the name ‘Wind Chaser’ for the horse.
The reason for that was because, when the horse ran, the tuft of red hair on its head would flutter in the wind, making it look very valiant.
Xiaoguo walked over and stroked its mane gently. “My dear Wind Chaser, I’ll feed you nice grass tomorrow.”
When the two guards at the door saw Xiaoguo, they let her in without stopping her.
Someone in the dark nudged the big boss beside him. “Someone just went in. Should we check things out?”
The man who was addressed as ‘Big Boss’ punched the other guard impatiently. “What are you going to check? That’s the General’s Wife. If you dare to touch her, you’re just courting death!”
The man rubbed his head in pain and said aggrievedly, “I didn’t know that…”
“Why is Number six so gluttonous? He was supposed to be on duty now, but instead, he has gone out for his meal.”
...
“Hey, Number two!”
The man known as ‘Number six’ was just about to get angry when the fire rising in him suddenly got extinguished. He didn’t say more, but his eyes were still looking at Number two indignantly.
Number two snorted at him deliberately, trying to provoke him. He enjoyed seeing him hold back his anger.
Big Boss slowly retracted his gaze and whispered, “Continue standing guard.”
With that, he turned to leave.
“Hey, Boss, where are you going?”
Number two and Number six asked at the same time.
Without turning his head, Big Boss said, “I’m going to eat.”
“…”
Number two and Number six watched him leave speechlessly.
“Heh, this man…”
...
—-
Xiaoguo had arrived at the door of Jiang Danhe’s house. She was about to knock when the door opened by itself.
Jiang Danhe looked at her with a smile. Before Xiaoguo could speak, he picked her up and brought her to the back room.
Xiaoguo was so shocked that she almost dropped the lantern in her hand. Fortunately, Jiang Danhe caught it quickly and placed it aside.
The two of them exchanged glances, and the atmosphere gradually became ambiguous. Jiang Danhe’s gaze was too intense, and Xiaoguo could only look away bashfully.
At this moment, Jiang Danhe was leaning closer and closer towards her. Seeing that he was about to lose control, Xiaoguo quickly said, “Where’s Xiaoyi?”
“…”
Jiang Danhe stopped moving and looked at her closely for a long time. He sighed and pulled her to sit down with him.
“He’s just next door.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiaoyi arrived.
When this kid saw Xiaoguo from the window, he stopped washing his feet and quickly ran over with his shoes held in his hands. But before this actually happened, when his feet landed on the ground, he was immediately stopped by someone and was forced to finish washing his feet before he was allowed to leave.
But it didn’t matter. It didn’t affect his running speed at all.
He pushed open the door loudly and stared at Xiaoguo with sparkling eyes while calling out sweetly, “Auntie…”
Ever since the two of them started exchanging letters, Xiaoyi had started addressing her as “Auntie”. He was hoping to be closer to her.
The couple in the room were stunned for a moment. Turning to look each other in the eye, they realized how lucky they were. Fortunately, they had let go of each other. Otherwise, they would have been caught in an awkward situation.
“Xiaoyi… come in quickly. It’s cold outside.”
Xiaoguo came back to her senses and got up to lead Xiaoyi into the house, before closing the door that had been violently pushed open by the little guy.
Xiaoyi sat down at Xiaoguo’s original seat with a flushed face. Only then did he have time to look at Jiang Danhe, who didn’t look too good. However, he didn’t pay much attention to him and turned to look at Xiaoguo again.
Auntie Xiaoguo was still the prettier and gentle one.
“Are we going to appear in front of Zhuang Zhuang in a ‘flash’ tomorrow, or are we going to ‘pop’ and appear in front of him?”
From the moment Xiaoyi arrived, he had already started to plan his appearance in front of Zhuang Zhuang.
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