Taozhi's words made Jiang Mu and Yan Niang's faces change together, and Yan Niang asked eagerly: "What you said is true?" ”

"The slave and maid vouch for their lives, and what she just said is absolutely not false." Momoeda didn't dodge in her eyes, and she used her attitude to prove that she wasn't lying.

Jiang Yucheng, who had not spoken out, asked Taozhi to step down, and then explained the reason to his mother and wife.

"Although the Han people and the Yi people live together, they generally do not easily fight. The big casualty the year before last was also because the former magistrate went against the grain and forcibly allocated the land belonging to the Yi people to the Han people, so the Yi people were dissatisfied and resisted, and Taozhi's parents should have been injured and killed by mistake. ”

Mother Jiang was even more worried when she heard this, "That's even worse, who knows if the Yi people will hold a grudge against the officials, our family is old and small, if we go there, they won't be eaten by them." ”

Jiang Yucheng smiled and comforted his mother, "I didn't plan to take my family to Sui, you and Yan Niang will take care of the three children at home." ”

"Husband, I..." Yan Niang was about to speak, when she heard Mother Jiang say: "How can I let you go alone, no, didn't your teacher go back to be a big official, you send him a letter and ask him to help you choose another place to be released." If you really don't have a place to go, let's stay in our Yucheng County. ”

Jiang Yucheng shook his head, "Mother, this place is what I want to go to by myself." He remembered the expression of his senior brother Guo Shilang at that time, and couldn't help but smile, "Three years, I will only stay there for three years, and our family can be reunited after three years." ”

Jiang's mother felt that her son was stubborn, so she was so angry that she twisted her head to the side and stopped talking. Yan Niang looked at Jiang Yucheng and plucked up her courage to say, "Husband, I want to go with you." ”

Jiang Yucheng was surprised and refused.

"Husband, you said that we are husband and wife, I can't let you go to such a dangerous place alone, I want to stay there with you for three years."

"What about the kids? You went with me, did my mother take care of it alone? ”

"I..."

Jiang Yucheng mentioned the children, Yan Niang suddenly ran out of ideas, in fact, what she wanted to say more was to bring the children with her. But she knew that neither her mother-in-law nor her husband would agree.

Who knows, Jiang's mother has been listening to the conversation between the husband and wife, and when she heard that Yan Niang wanted to follow her, she had an idea in her heart.

"I think Yan Niang is right, I can't let you go there alone. Let's do it, let's go over as a family, no matter what, the family shouldn't be separated. ”

Jiang Yucheng said helplessly when he heard this: "Mother, don't you make a mess?" ”

Jiang Mu glared at him, "Why did I make a mess for you?" My daughter-in-law and I are not for your good, Jiang Yucheng, let me tell you, if you dare to leave us and go to Sui, don't go back to this home in the future, and don't recognize me as a mother. ”

"Mother, you..."

"What's wrong with me? The things I decided will not change again, aren't you going to the county government office to hand over, you have to go quickly, Yan Niang and I are busy packing our luggage. ”

Jiang Yucheng was sent out of the door by his mother, stood at the door for a while, and suddenly smiled.

It was decided that the whole family would go to Sui, and there were more things that needed to be cleaned up. Food and drink on the road, clothes for the four seasons, all kinds of medicinal herbs, and some things for children.

The subordinates in the house also need to be resettled, Yan Bo and Taozhi have signed a death contract, and they can only follow where the master's family is. As for Yang Niangzi and Yaya, their mother and daughter were reluctant to leave their hometowns, so Yan Niang gave them some money and let them go home.

Leng Ruru learned that Jiang Yucheng was released, and Jiang's mother, Yan Niang and the children had to follow, and she felt uncomfortable and reluctant. She read Yan Niang and said: "Why don't you leave Manman, she and Changsheng have always been good, and the two children can be companions together." ”

After hearing this, Man Man hurriedly hugged Yan Niang's arm and said vigilantly: "I want to follow my mother." ”

Leng Ruru asked again: "If you follow your father and mother to Quansui, you won't see your immortal brother for a long time, are you willing to do it?" ”

Full of hesitation, she looked at Yan Niang and asked for her opinion: "Mother, can we take Brother Changsheng with us?" ”

Yan Niang shook her head.

Manman was very disappointed, she didn't want to leave her father and mother, and she didn't want to be separated from her elder brother.

Seeing her dejected appearance, Leng Ruru burst out laughing, "Let's not embarrass the little girl." She said to Yan Niang: "The two children have always been good, and I don't know if they will be like this when they grow up." ”

Yan Niang knew what she meant, smiled and didn't answer.

Three days later, the Jiang family and his party were ready to set off for Sui.

Leng Ruru brought her husband and son to see her off, and before leaving, she and Jiang's mother hugged and cried, refusing to let go for a long time, as if this was a parting of life and death.

Manman was also saying goodbye to Changsheng, she gave him the jade buckle she had worn on her body since she was a child, asking him not to forget herself, Changsheng choked and nodded, promising to write her a letter every five days.

Jiang Yucheng and Yan Niang stood aside with their twins in their arms, and they were also infected by the parting emotion, and the husband and wife had red eyes.

In life, separation is always inevitable, no matter how reluctant you are, you can't force it to stay.

In the carriage, Jiang's mother had not yet come out of the parting mood, full of sorrow, and the grandparents and grandchildren snuggled together, looking desolate.

After Yan Niang and Jiang Yucheng glanced at each other, they said to Jiang's mother: "Mother, Da Lang and Erlang are almost four months old, and they don't even have a milk name, let's give them one now." ”

Mother Jiang waved her hand and said listlessly: "You can take it as a father." ”

Jiang Yucheng smiled, "Mother, if you refuse, when these two boys grow up, what if you think you don't love them." ”

"Nonsense, what my mother hurts the most is our three children."

"In that case, their names will be handed over to you."

Maybe she was really afraid that her grandchildren would grow up and misunderstand herself, Jiang's mother was all focused on choosing milk names for her two grandchildren, racking her brains and thinking about it together. Seeing that the old and the young recovered their spirits, the couple was relieved.

A few days later, Jiang's mother announced to her son and daughter-in-law, "What I hope most now is that we can arrive at Suisui safely and survive three years smoothly." Therefore, Pingping and An An are the names of the two grandchildren. ”

After speaking, he said to Jiang Yucheng and Yan Niang: "I, as a grandmother, gave the child a milk name, and the name will make you bother to be a father." ”

Yan Niang nodded, "Mother, my husband has already taken it." ”

Mother Jiang suddenly became interested, "Come, tell me about it." ”

Jiang Yucheng took out two pieces of paper, only to see the words "Jiang Wenyan" and "Jiang Wenbo" written on them, and he said with a straight face: "Dalang Wenyan, Erlang Wenbo, I hope that the two brothers can be a man who stands up to the sky, achieve a career, glorify their ancestors, and even stabilize the country." ”

"These two names are good." Mother Jiang smiled and teased the two grandsons and said: "Wen Yan Wenbo, you two have to fight for anger, your father has great expectations for you." ”

Yan Niang listened to the conversation between their mother and son, and felt a little disapproving in her heart. As a mother, she hopes that her children can grow up safely and smoothly, even if it is mediocre, and live happily and happily for the rest of their lives.

From Yucheng County to the Sui, it is much closer than going to the capital, the carriage shook on the road for more than half a month, and finally arrived at the boundary of the Suizhou land safely and smoothly.

Entering the boundary of the land of exhaustion, looking from afar, the green mountains washed by the heavy rain come into view, like a series of emerald belts layer upon layer, staggered. Lifting the curtain, the moist breath after the rain lingered on the tip of the nose, relieving the fatigue caused by the trekking and wading.

The speed of the carriage gradually slowed down, and when passing by a lake, a flock of herons stopped on the shore, and the sound of horses' hooves alarmed them, like a pear blossom tree blown down by the breeze, and a group of herons were startled and flapped their wings and flew high.

"Lots of birds." Man Man pointed to the heron bird flying into the sky and shouted in surprise.

Yan Niang was also surprised, and sighed: "Looking at the beautiful mountains and rivers, it should be a good place." ”

Jiang Yucheng nodded, "Quansui is not a bitter cold place like the northwest, and it is only notorious because of the Yi tribe. ”

After finishing speaking, he remembered the few Yi people he had just met in the fields by the roadside, and they greeted him with a smile, and although he couldn't understand their language, he could still feel the kindness in them.

The county seat of Kusui is much smaller than that of Yucheng, but the area under its jurisdiction is more than twice as large. The land is vast and sparsely populated, there are many hills and high mountains in the area, the number of fertile fields that can be planted is small, the grain output is very low, and after paying the tax and grain, the remaining grain can hardly survive the next autumn harvest.

The people, whether they were Yi or Han Chinese, regarded grain and land as very important, and often engaged in large-scale fights over trivial matters related to the fields.

Jiang Yucheng took office as a new official, politely refused the reception banquet held for him by the wealthy businessmen and gentry who had exhausted Sui, and early the next morning, he took his subordinate officials Deng Xiancheng and Wu Zhushu to understand the people's feelings. The two subordinate officials are both natives who have lived in Wansui since childhood, Deng County Cheng is Han Min, Wu is the Yi people, the two have been in the county and the main book of the county government for more than ten years, and they have tried their best to reconcile the contradictions between the two clans.

Watching the new prefect talk with the people all the way, Deng Xiancheng and Wu Zhushu glanced at each other, and they were a little unsure of what he wanted to do, and only hoped that he would not be as incompetent and stupid as the previous two magistrates. If there is another big fight, the people will really be miserable.

Jiang Yucheng didn't know what they were thinking, walked all the way, asked all the way, and he couldn't help but fall into deep thought. The area is vast, and most of them are sloping land and mountain forests, and there are very few fields that can grow grain. The people here live in poverty, and they often do not have enough to eat after working day and night, so there are many families who are destroyed and killed due to land disputes.

These realities made Jiang Yucheng's heart become heavy, and after returning to the county government's house, he had no appetite at all, and after hastily eating two mouthfuls of rice, he locked himself in the study for two hours.

Yan Niang was not worried about her husband, so she handed over the child to her mother-in-law to take with her, and went to see him with the unique cold soup of Quansui. When she knocked on the door for the first time, there was not the slightest movement inside, and she knocked twice in succession before Jiang Yucheng got up and opened the door.

The weather is hot, it is not yet May, it is already hot as if it is roasted by fire, people here like to drink cold soup, because it has the effect of reducing fire and dryness, cooling and detoxifying.

Yan Niang poured the cold soup in the pot into the bowl and said, "It's hot, husband drink a bowl of cold soup to relieve the heat." ”

After Jiang Yucheng heard the word cold soup, he raised his eyes and stared at the tea bowl a few times, only to see that the porcelain white tea bowl contained dark red and clear soup, which looked somewhat similar to the tea he ate on weekdays. He took a small sip from the bowl, his mouth was slightly sweet, and there was the fragrance of herbs, and his stomach seemed to really feel the coolness in one bite.

After drinking the cold soup, Jiang Yucheng couldn't help asking, "It tastes good, how is this soup made?" ”

Yan Niang said: "I learned this from the peach branch, with the common honeysuckle, purple grass, Ji Kong grass, Pi Tuo ginger and other four herbs, dried and washed, then add mint leaves and sour fruit together to boil for half an hour, after cooking, put it out to cool." ”

Hearing her words, Jiang Yucheng, who was originally clueless, suddenly opened his mouth, he pressed his wife's shoulders with both hands, and said ecstatically: "Lady, you are really my lucky star, I know what to do." ”