For a brief moment, the field was quiet. After a while, King Yan asked, "Did you change as a result of this?"
Tangtang answered, "Maybe! Dad said that I am now the hope of the whole family. I should do something for Guoguo."
King Yan asked, "Are you tired?"
Tangtang nodded and shook his head. Even he was unsure if he was weary or not. He knew Dad had said those things to cheer him up, but he remembered them. He was desperate to do something.
King Yan had once been a child himself. No one had ever told him what to do when he was Tangtang's age. King Yan had made all decisions on his own, whether he should do something or not. As a result, he was at a loss for words when it came to Tangtang. Tangtang sat peacefully with King Yan. Nobody said anything else until it was noon.
During lunch, King Yan avoided discussing what had happened in Yanzhou since doing so would ruin the meal. King Yan, on the other hand, shared some fascinating anecdotes about the capital. He also highlighted the new fief conferred upon him by the Emperor.
This was fantastic news, and everyone was overjoyed. The news also quickly distracted everyone's attention. The Xu family was unhappy and regretful as a result of Guoguo. They hadn't lingered in King Yan's Mansion for long after lunch and had returned to their own home.
They enjoyed a bumper crop of corn and potatoes this year. Next year, everyone in Yanzhou will be able to raise these two crops. They were also sold by Xu Ran in Red Mansion.
They were, of course, well received. When Xu Ran came home, he grabbed a writing brush and a piece of paper and began to sketch out an idea. The Xu family had to stay in Yanzhou for a long time since they had to wait for Guoguo to return, but he refused to do anything else.
Xu Ran decided to jot down everything that came to mind. Not only did he draw down Yanzhou's development plan, but he also included Xiangzhou. When Guoguo returned, and Yanzhou emerged from poverty, Xu Ran would return to Xu Village with his family.
The family's life would be calm. Of course, he would also assist Tangtang and Guoguo in achieving their goals. He wrote with seriousness, seeking to explain all he wished to clarify.
Xu Ran did not immediately show the plan to King Yan after composing it, but instead stored it himself. He didn't have to worry about Red Mansion's business now that it was on the correct road. He had no intention of thinking of other ways to get money. They didn't want to be filthy wealthy. They only wanted enough money to get by.
All Xu Ran could think about now was how to improve Yanzhou's existing resources so that the people of Yanzhou might live comfortably. He wasn't the only one who was preoccupied. The entire family was preoccupied, although in separate areas.
The river's fish and shrimp were at their heaviest in October. They had a good chance of selling for a good price, and there were a lot of them. Because Lu Qi was busy with the military camp, Xu Ran went to King Yan and discussed producing aquatic items in the river with him.
The river was teeming with fish and shrimp, as well as a slew of crabs. These three aquatic items might all do well in the market. Xu Ran also wanted to raise loaches, but he couldn't because they couldn't be raised in the river. He told King Yan what he was thinking.
King Yan was pleased with the plan, but he had one reservation. Were these things edible? Could they make a profit?
Xu Ran replied, "Please rest assured about it. Since I've mentioned it, it implies that I'm confident in what I'm doing. I won't start a project unless I've done adequate preparations, as evidenced by my previous work."
What Xu Ran said made sense. King Yan nodded in agreement. "In that case, let's carry out your plan. I'll find someone to do it, but when we see the result, you cannot give it up halfway."
Xu Ran smiled, "Of course not."
For the time being, this issue has been resolved. But, before long, Xu Ran reappeared. He was going to talk about milk and wool this time. King Yan could sense Xu Ran's anxiousness as he saw Xu Ran gushing over his plan in front of him.
After Xu Ran finished talking, King Yan didn't nod or shake his head. Instead, he asked Xu Ran, "Why do you want to leave so badly?"
Xu Ran was stunned for a moment, and then he realized what King Yan meant. He shook his head. "I'm in a hurry, but not in a hurry to leave. I'll be staying here for two more years! If you make Yanzhou rich in two years, then I will have no more worries when I leave then."
King Yan did not respond. He was deafeningly silent for a long time before sighing gently. Xu Ran ignored it and continued to plot his strategy. King Yan finally agreed after he spelled out all the specifics and presented them in an interesting manner. Xu Ran then proposed one suggestion after another. King Yan agreed hopelessly, and it was clear that Xu Ran was worried.
It was nearing the Spring Festival when Xu Ran finished stating what he needed to say. When Xu Ran visited King Yan during the Spring Festival, he offered King Yan the plan he had written down previously, but he didn't bring any gifts with him.
Xu Ran's plan gradually came to fruition the following year. This year, it appeared that God had been gracious to them, and everything had gone swimmingly. The only bad news was that Guoguo was still missing, but Xu Ran and his family had never given up hope.
Each plan was on track for the third year, which was the fifth year since Xu Ran had arrived in Yanzhou. Finally, Xu Ran felt relieved that he didn't have to worry about anything else, which meant they could go home.
King Yan didn't want them to leave, but he also knew he couldn't persuade them otherwise. They have lost two children in this place. One of them had never been seen before and would never be seen again, while the other had been raised for over ten years and no one knew when they would see him again. More than likely, he will never be seen again.
Yanzhou was a depressing environment for the Xu family.
As a result, King Yan was not astonished when Xu Ran said that they were leaving, because he knew that day would come. Tangtang had grown from an adolescent to an elegant childe in the last five years in Yanzhou. No one dared to look down on him since he always had a smile on his face.
Baozi had likewise grown from a little child to a lovely adolescent. His every action was so distinct and gorgeous.
Five years had passed in a blink. Some had grown up while others old.
Both Xu Ran and Liu Tong were approaching their forties. Wrinkles began to form on their faces. Even if they were inconspicuous, it was clear that they were aging slowly. Before they went, King Yan informed the people of Yanzhou of Liu Tong's identity and officially recognized him. No one questioned it because they had matching faces. But it wasn't until now that the people realized why Xu Ran had done so much for Yanzhou, and it was all thanks to Liu Tong.
Because they didn't know when they'd meet again, Xu Ran and Liu Tong had no concerns to King Yan's public statement. Yanzhou, after all, was too far away from Xu Village. To send them out, King Yan hosted a luncheon at his mansion. Many people arrived, but they were all connected to Xu Ran.
Because Gao Quan and Shao Yu refused to leave Yanzhou, Xu Ran offered them Red Mansion. He wouldn't have to think of a means to get money if he returned to Yanzhou in the future.
Shao Yu really wanted to go back with Xu Ran. He had lived in Xu Village for many years and was familiar with the people, so he must have missed it. Besides, he had never been regarded as a servant by the Xu family.
Gao Quan, on the other hand, was King Yan's last subordinate and belonged to him. It didn't matter that he hadn't returned to King Yan's Mansion. It made a difference now that he was here. Xu Ran recognized this, thus he did not force Gao Quan to return. He even advised Gao Quan adopt a child in secret. Shao Yu had not gotten pregnant again since the loss of their previous child. They would be lying if they stated they didn't care.
Gao Quan nodded without saying anything. He must have taken Xu Ran's advice.
In February of this year, the Xu family left for Xu Village from Yanzhou.
King Yan had intended to arrange for them to be escorted, but Xu Ran had declined. It would be a lengthy voyage, and they could have to travel for the remainder of the year. It just wasn't worth it. They wouldn't brag about themselves. They'd drive two carriages and skip all the superfluous formalities. Tangtang was also improving in martial arts, so they didn't have to worry about anything.
King Yan's efforts were to no avail, so he could only agree to Xu Ran. On that day, he personally sent the family out of the city gate.
Xu Ran waved at the crowd. After all, they had been living here for five years, and he was reluctant to leave.
The return voyage took them one month shorter than the previous one. The new Emperor had done an excellent job of running the country, and everything was calm. Because there were fewer bandits looting outside, they arrived at Xu Village without incident. When they came in from the opposite end of the village and saw the familiar scene, it seemed like another life for them. It had been a long time since they had left this place.
As soon as June arrived, everything turned green. Only the leaves remained after the strawberries in the field had been plucked. The corn in the field was also growing, as if it didn't mind the scorching sun at all.
The orchard's fruit plants were also flourishing. Ripe apricots and green peaches were available. The fruits covered the branches as the birds joyously hopped from one tree to the next.
In the distance, smoke came out of the black-brick house. It was noon now, and someone must be preparing lunch.
The bamboo house nearby appeared dilapidated because it had gone through so much wind and rain. Just like an old man, it would collapse at any time.
Watching the bamboo house, Xu Ran sighed, "That's our first home. In the blink of an eye, it has been over ten years."
Aside from Baozi, both Liu Tong and Tangtang remembered their time in the bamboo hut. Years had passed, yet the only thing that had remained constant were their memories.
"Giddyap!" Xu Ran didn't feel more anxious when getting closer to his house. He sped up and the horse ran towards the black-brick house.
When the carriage came to a halt, the door creaked open from within. From within, a lovely adolescent poked his head out. When he noticed the carriage parked outside the door, he covered his lips in amazement. The teenager appeared to be more astonished when he noticed the others in the carriage plainly.
"Qingshu, you have grown up!"
"Uncle Xu!" Qingshu exclaimed, and then shouted at the inside of the house, "Dad, Daddy, Uncle Xu and his family are back."
Soon, the sound of footsteps came out from inside. Qin Shuwen's eyes turned red the moment he saw the carriage outside the door.
Smiling, Xu Ran stared at them and said, "We're back."
Xu Ran's family returned. The news spread as soon as they arrived at Xu Village. Except for Wu Mei's and the other households, no one in the hamlet was intentionally informed. Nonetheless, all of the locals were aware of it right away. At 12 p.m., Xu Ran and his family came. There were a lot of people gathering in their house late at night, and they were all their acquaintances.
They were Wu Mei's, the village head's, Doctor Liu's, Xu Houcai's as well as Xu Hui's and Xu Qiang's families.
Da Hu from Wu Mei's family had already married, while children from both Liu Qing's and Wu Lan's families remained unmarried. They were, however, about to marry and start their own families. Xu Hui and Xu Qiang were married as well. Xu Ran was taken aback that both of them had come to meet him. After all, he hadn't always been so kind to them. Xu Ran, on the other hand, did not appear to be enthusiastic in front of them.
As a result, they all gathered and had a lunch before the guests left. They planned to continue conversing once they got a decent rest. Xu Ran and his family had been on the road for a few months and were extremely exhausted, so villagers did not press Xu Ran to inform them about their story in thepast years.
Only Baozi seemed to be having a good time. When he returned home, he immediately approached Qingshu and began chatting to him incessantly, as if he wanted to make up for what he hadn't said over those five years. Even Zhuo Yun and the others did not demand too much and allowed Xu Ran to rest first. Qingshu made no attempt to keep Baozi at bay. Instead, he smiled softly while intently conversing with Baozi.
As expected, Qingshu was growing more and more beautiful. Compared with Qingshu, Baozi's quite good-looking face was completely eclipsed.
However, Baozi's temperament had shown itself in the past few years, so his light didn't dim in front of Qingshu.
The grownups in both households were overjoyed with the situation. Zhuo Yun knew that when Qingshu grew up, he would marry and that his parents would be concerned about him. If Qingshu marries Baozi in the future, such advantages should always be reserved for their own people. In any case, their two families were tight, and their two children adored each other. As a result, they would have no objections to this outcome.
Considering that Baozi had run all the way and needed to rest, Zhuo Yun leaned over and said to him, "Baozi, go to sleep first. You can play with Qingshu later after waking up. Don't worry. He's always here."
Zhuo Yun was truly envious of their nice friendship. After all, he was the person Qingshu liked the most before Baozi emerged. When Baozi arrived, he quickly became Qingshu's second favorite person. How could he be pleased with this?
Baozi wanted to shake his head and say that he was not sleepy, but before he could speak that out, Qingshu helped his dad urge him, "Yeah! Baozi, go to have a rest first. I can wait after you wake up."
Baozi gave a hesitant gaze to Qingshu. However, he was scared that if he didn't follow his idea and go to sleep, Qingshu would be irritated. And Baozi made the decision to sleep first. However, he felt he had something vital to complete before going to bed.
Baozi abruptly rushed out and hugged Qingshu by the head, kissing him quickly in front of Zhuo Yun. He quickly slid away after the kiss. Zhuo Yun stood to the side and saw the entire scene. He was irritated and wanted to drag Baozi away and beat him up.
However, when he turned back, he saw his silly spouse covering his mouth and smiling sweetly.
Zhuo Yun stroked his forehead and felt helpless.
It was already the next morning when Xu Ran awoke. Qin Shuwen had already prepared breakfast for them. Zhuo Yun dared to inquire about Guoguo and Gao Quan only after they had finished eating.
At the present, three people have not returned, and Xu Ran and the others have said nothing about it. They were perplexed. Although Zhuo Yun was curious about the issue, he found it difficult to ask such a question. Finally, he took advantage of this relaxed dining time to look for a solution.
However, as soon as this question was heard, the faces of the family's fell suddenly. Even Baozi stopped smiling.
"Well, Guoguo!" Xu Ran moaned, dropping the chopsticks in his hand. We don't know when he'll return. He went out to play with Tangtang at the time and met several barbarians. Guoguo directed Tangtang to sprint for assistance, while he remained in the rear. When Tangtang and the rescue crew arrived, Guoguo had vanished with the barbarians. Later, they were only able to track down the barbarians' bodies, but not Guoguo's.
Despite the fact that it was only a few lines about the story, the atmosphere did not improve once they learned the result. Zhuo Yun felt like slapping himself. If he hadn't asked this inquisitive question, Xu Ran and his family would not have been reminded of the horrible truth.
Before Zhuo Yun started to slap himself, Xu Ran spoke again, "Gao Quan and the rest are staying in Yanzhou. I have opened a hot pot restaurant over there and left it for them to manage."
Zhuo Yun nodded and deliberately changed the topic, "That's good. Do you plan to sell hotpot here?"
Xu Ran thought for a moment and said, "Leave this to Baozi! He will most likely inherit my family business in the future. He'll have to work harder if he wants to get affluent."
Zhuo Yun looked at Baozi and disagreed, "Ran, Baozi is still so young. Can he do that?"
Xu Ran replied, "He can even kiss Qingshu now. Why not? He should manage everything himself!"
Baozi pouted, convinced that this was his father's retaliation, a definite retaliation because he had just witnessed his kissing behavior. Baozi examined the people at the table swiftly. He discovered his father had a dominating presence and was authoritative, so he couldn't oppose him at all. Nonetheless, none of this was the main point. The essential thing, according to Baozi, was that Qingshu was looking at him eagerly.
Therefore, Baozi could only lump it and tried hard to nodded in agreemen, "Dad, don't worry! You can leave this matter to me."
The happiest person to see Baozi nod was Qingshu himself. Of course, he himself knew why he was so happy.
After that, Xu Ran didn't want to bring it up again and decided to forget about it. However, when Baozi pledged to start his own hot pot restaurant, he didn't say it just for fun. Because he didn't grasp many aspects of the restaurant, he pestered Xu Ran every day, asking him questions about this and that.
Xu Ran was free anyway, so he told Baozi everything in detail, and he even talked about many other things.
Following Xiao Qingyun for the previous few years, Baozi had not only learnt about temperament and etiquette, but also about how to regulate the family, and so on. He was carefully considering the business experience Xu Ran had given him at the time, and he had come up with his own idea on the matter. His hotpot restaurant, on the other hand, would have to wait until winter. It was still hot, and the hour was inconvenient.
Furthermore, the fruits in the orchards were about to ripen, so they were busy gathering them. They needed to think about it first. The hot pot restaurant, on the other hand, would wait till the weather became cold. For the time being, only the residents of the village were aware of Xu Ran's homecoming. Even Wu Mei and the others only met them at his place for dinner. They didn't know anything about the rest of them. Xu Ran and Liu Tong discussed it and agreed to visit their friends one by one.
They considered Wu Mei and the rest had immediately come to visit them once they knew that they were back. They couldn't do nothing in return.
But before this, they should go to the town to buy something as gifts.
Xu Ran had not many acquaintances in town, except for Mr. Chen, Doctor He, and Qin Shuwu's family.
Xu Ran asked about Mr. Chen and Doctor He's situation and knew that they were not affected by the plague.
There was no need for Qin Shuwu to be concerned about their safety because Zhuo Yun and the others were fine at the time. Xu Ran and Tangtang both drove a carriage to town the day after they returned. Xu Ran first went shopping before paying a visit to Mr. Chen.
Mr. Chen's restaurant was still doing well. When they arrived at the door, they heard someone ask for a pot of potato stew. After hearing this, Xu Ran unconsciously smiled. He had no idea Mr. Chen was still selling potatoes that Zhuo Yun should have planted.
There was a person who was busy doing accounts at the counter. Xu Ran stood still watching there until Liu Tong standing behind noticed this and asked, "Ran, what's the matter? Why are you standing here?"
Just then, Mr. Chen heard this and raised his head. At the sight of Xu Ran and the rest, he opened his mouth in surprise.
Xu Ran walked up to him and put his things on the counter, "Mr. Chen, haven't seen you for a few years. You're still so young!"
Mr. Chen's expression changed after confirming that it was Xu Ran. Then he sneered coldly, "Xu Ran, I say you're great! It has been a few years since you left. I thought you weren't coming back."
Of course, Xu Ran understood what Mr. Chen meant. He was probably blaming him for leaving without informing him first.
Xu Ran lowered his head and smiled, "Mr. Chen, I'm here to apologize to you. I was in a hurry to leave, and it just so happened that it was the plague at the time. I was unable to inform you at the time. I know you're generous and kind. Please forgive me!"
Mr. Chen snorted again, obviously not planning to let Xu Ran go so easily.
Liu Tong came up from behind him, "Mr. Chen, Ran is telling the truth. Please forgive us!"
Mr. Chen turned to look at Xu Ran, then at Liu Tong. Finally, he said, albeit unwillingly, "I'll forgive you, you lucky sod, because your husband has begged for you. Let me tell you, there will be no more. If you depart for a few more years, you're unlikely to see me when you return."
Xu Ran hurriedly waved his hand, "Mr. Chen, don't worry. There's definitely no next time. Besides, Mr. Chen, you're so young. Why are you saying this kind of things?"
Mr. Chen pouted and refused to argue with him. He shifted his gaze behind him to Tangtang and Baozi. Tangtang and Baozi both greeted him pleasantly. When Mr. Chen saw Tangtang, he said that Tangtang was becoming more and more attractive, much more so than Xu Ran.
Seeing Mr. Chen complimenting his son while dispraising him, Xu Ran could say nothing.
Mr. Chen's expression changed again when he saw Baozi "Xu Ran! I'm not judging you, but how are you going to take your smallest child out at this time? He's a Ge'er, isn't he? He's already matured. Do you truly intend to raise the child like a Xiaozi?"
Xu Ran was unhappy to hear this, "Mr. Chen, why can't this child come out? He's not unsightly. Yes, Mr. Chen, you may be right. I really take Baozi as a Xiaozi. Do you know the Ge'er in Zhuo Yun's family? In a few years, I'll let them marry."
Mr. Chen's attitude altered again, but Xu Ran was clearly in a good mood. To avoid making himself look so bad, Mr. Chen abruptly terminated the conversation and invited Xu Ran and his family to lunch at the restaurant.
Xu Ran shook his head, "No, thank you. We'll still have to go to visit Brother Qin. I just came back and I haven't seen anyone else yet. Let's meet next time and I'll definitely come to see you again."
"Next time, I'll charge you twice as much. You still want me to treat you? Stop dreaming!" Mr. Chen was furious, his eyes blazing. There was, of course, a show element to it.
Xu Ran laughed, waved to Mr. Chen, and walked away with his family. Mr. Chen encouraged Xu Ran and the others to return after they had left. Perhaps his heart was softened at the moment.
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This is the end of the novel! :D
Side stories are coming up next people!
10.15.21