On the fifth day of the opening of Chu Yao's sweet water shop, although the business was not as hot as the previous three days, the customers came and went steadily.

However, the shop next door to her has also been taken down, and it has been dusty in the past two days, Qiu He took a look at it, and when he came back, he looked worried: "Cousin, how can I look at the shop next door as if I want to do a sweet water business?" ”

Chu Yao was also a little worried, but since it was someone's shop, she could do whatever business she wanted, and she couldn't stop it.

"Let's see." She said helplessly.

Within a few days, the shop next door hung up a signboard, and set up a posture to beat the gong and shout: "Our sweet water shop is open, and all the sweet water is free to taste today!" ”

Since they don't want money, the crowd naturally flocks.

The next door was crowded in a crowd, and there was not a single guest in Chu Yao's shop.

When the sun was thin, the twilight gradually settled, and Qiu He stared at the ingredients and sweet water in the back kitchen with a heartache: today, their shop only sold three bowls, and the people in the queue next door came to buy them when they were really thirsty.

There was still a lot of sweet water left, Chu Yao opened two jars and kept them, one jar for Hong Shan, one jar for Su Nian, and the rest were all poured out with Qiu He.

"Let's prepare less tomorrow, the shop next door is deliberately squeezing us, I'm afraid business won't be too good in the next few days......"

As Chu Yao said, there are many tricks in the shop next door, refill the cup for free today, give a small gift tomorrow, and half the price the day after tomorrow, there is always a fresh way to attract guests, and Chu Yao's business here is getting worse and worse, and she can't wait for a guest almost all day.

The other party obviously came prepared, but Chu Yao didn't have enough capital to fight against him, so he could only let the other party suppress him.

Qiu He was depressed, and sat in the shop with Chu Yao relatively speechless.

Chu Yao couldn't think of a solution here, she began to suspect that she was not suitable for business at all, her peers were just using a little means, and she was completely defeated, she really still thought about doing business too simply.

Next door is obviously a veteran of business, Chu Yao simply broke the jar and gave up competing with it, restored all the sweet water pastries in the shop to their original prices, and in order to save the capital, they only sold a few sweet water and a few desserts every day, and if they couldn't sell them, they ate them themselves, and closed early when they were sold out.

Because there are few customers, the shop is spacious and clean, and the little ladies who come out to shop hand in hand do not want to go to the next door to be crowded, so they come to her shop, and a few little sisters order different sweet water desserts, chatting and laughing happily, and sitting for an hour or two.

Chu Yao and Qiu He did not drive people away, the two of them were busy researching new sweet water pastries in the back kitchen, and they thought they were delicious and brought them out to the guests to taste, so they slowly had a reputation, and the guests spread the word of mouth, with friends and friends, the small sweet water shop always has two or three tables of guests at any time, although the surplus is not much, but at least you can see some copper every day.

The shop next door still has a lot of tricks, and there is an endless stream of guests, Chu Yao is unmoved, and An Sheng lives by guarding the pitiful income of his shop.

On this day, a little girl in a thistle pink dress came to the shop, with cloud-like buns and crescent-shaped grates on both sides, and jumped in like a little rabbit, went straight to Chu Yao, hugged her arm and eagerly called her "Sister".

Chu Yao didn't recognize it at first sight, but after looking at it again, she recognized that the girl in front of her with a small face as round as a silver plate was Zhiye.

She and Zhiye haven't seen each other for more than two months, and this little girl has gained a lot of weight.

"Zhiye, you're finally back!" During this time, Chu Yao not only missed her, but also her son.

At the beginning, someone from the capital took Brother Ming away, Chu Yao was not at ease, so she asked Zhiye to take care of him for a few days. I didn't want to know that Ye didn't return for a long time as soon as he left, and Chu Yao's heart was uneasy for a long time. Now that Zhiye is back, looking at his ruddy face and lively demeanor, Chu Yao can finally settle down.

"Look at this little face, it's fat, I think it's okay to live over there, right?" Chu Yao pinched the soft flesh on Zhiye's face, not only fat, but also much whiter and tenderer.

Zhiye held his face and smiled embarrassedly: "It's all my fault for being greedy, I haven't seen so many delicious foods, and I eat a lot at every meal......"

"It's a blessing to be able to eat, you look better when you're fatter," Chu Yao pulled her to sit down, "It's hard for you this trip, but why have you stayed over there for so long?" Is there something delayed? ”

Zhiye nodded: "Brother Ming'er got sick after going there, and he hasn't gotten better yet, Dian...... He asked me to come back and tell Sister that he wanted Sister Ah to take care of Brother Ming for a while......"

"Brother Ming is sick?" When Chu Yao heard this, she became anxious, "What kind of illness is you?" Is it serious? ”

"Sister don't worry, it's not serious, it's just that the water and soil are not adapted," Zhiye said, "I also had this disease when I first entered the capital with my nurse, but we adults can drink medicine, Brother Ming is too young to drink medicine, so I have been sick intermittently......"

His son had been sick for so long before he told her that he probably didn't like to see her again, and now he had no other way to think of her.

But at the moment, she didn't have the heart to take into account his attitude, and when she heard that Brother Ming had been sick for so long, it made her feel distressed: "I'll go pack up my things, let's leave as soon as possible." ”

She temporarily handed over the sweetwater shop to Qiu He and Zhiye to take care of, left some silver for them, and told them not to be impatient in everything, just keep the shop with peace of mind, these days they have worked hard for a while to help take care of their mother, and she will be back soon.

Then I went back to the new house and talked to my mother, and after packing up a few changes of clothes, I found a few jars from the house, drove to the yard of the old house to dig two jars of soil, and called the water seller to fill three jars of water.

Since Brother Ming was not accustomed to the water and soil, she brought the "water and soil" of her hometown to the past, which may be helpful.

After the five cans were loaded into the carriage, it was already the time of Shen in the afternoon, Chu Yao casually bought a few cakes to eat on the road, and then rushed to the capital.

Suizhou City and the capital next to each other, the distance is not far, when it gets dark they rushed to the outskirts of Beijing, just calculate the hour, the imperial city is afraid that it will not be able to enter, after nightfall there is a curfew in the imperial city, they have to stay in the inn for one night, tomorrow wait for the city gate to open and then enter the city.

Hong Shan also came with him, and told her to lock the doors and windows at night, and he was guarding outside, calling him if he had something.

Nothing happened overnight, Chu Yao was thinking about the child in her heart, and although she slept late at night, she woke up very early. It was still dawn outside, she got dressed and went to the window to wake up, and in the hazy morning light, the backyard of the inn was already busy in an orderly manner, some people were sprinkling, some were chopping wood, and some were throwing hay into the stables......

Last night, I had a lot of thoughts, thinking that I would inevitably meet Pei Zhan when I went to the palace to visit the child this time, and now the identities of the two are very different, when they meet, how should they deal with themselves in front of him?

Thinking about it today, what I thought about last night was just a mediocre person disturbing myself, and I was no different from those busy people in the backyard, just an ordinary person in the crowd, just do what I should do, why do I want to do so much?

After breakfast at the inn, the carriage hurried in the direction of the imperial city.

It took about half an hour to pass through the outer city, and after entering the inner city, it would take two or three more journeys to reach the imperial city.

That's when the carriage happened.

The two horses in the carriage suddenly went berserk and ran wild through the street, and the guards of the carriage shook the whip louder and louder, but still could not stop the horses.

In the carriage, the huge force of the carriage swaying threw Chu Yao to the floor, Chu Yao immediately hugged his head, but his body hit the opposite seat board......

The five jars on the seat board were all spared, either smashed on Chu Yao's body, or fell directly to the floor, the broken jars were thrown around with Chu Yao in the carriage, the water and soil were mixed together and turned into muddy water, and the fragments of the crockpot pierced her arms, back, and legs......

Someone inserted a horizontal log into the wheel, the carriage stopped suddenly, the door opened, and the embarrassed Chu Yao was thrown out of the carriage and rolled to the ground.

This fall was heavier than Fang Cai, Chu Yao's eyes were black, and she almost fainted.

"Chu Niangzi be careful!" Hong Shan dropped the beam in his hand, ran towards her, hugged her and rolled on the spot, helping her dodge a cold arrow.

The phoenix feather arrow "Zheng" sank into the ground on Chu Yao's side, and the tail feathers of the arrow trembled, proving that this arrow was extremely powerful, and if it was shot, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Without waiting for Chu Yao to be afraid, Hong Shan took her and immediately hid in the nearest shop to them.

The carriage damaged many things on the street, but fortunately it was still early and there were not many pedestrians, so no innocent people were injured. One of the two accompanying guards was entangled and demanded compensation for the damaged items, and the other rushed away, presumably to move the rescuers.

"At the foot of the imperial city, there are still bad people who dare to harm people so blatantly?" Chu Yao is now covered in muddy water, her hair bun is loose and messy, she wants to tidy up her bun, but her arms are slightly raised, and she is involved in the wound on her back, and her chest hurts terribly, I don't know if there is a rib fracture.

Hong Shan's face was solemn: "It is no accident that those two horses went crazy, and someone wanted to hurt people with secret arrows, Chu Niangzi, it seems that someone doesn't want you to come here......"

"Coming at me......" She just wanted to see her son, but she never expected to suffer such a catastrophe. Chu Yao didn't dare to move again, she shrunk into a ball in pain, and endured silently against the corner of the table, thinking about who would want to harm herself.

Hong Shan saw that she was in severe pain, so he entrusted the shopkeeper to help invite Lang Zhong. But the shopkeeper was timid and didn't dare to go out, allowing them to hide here was already kind, Hong Shan was not embarrassed, and he couldn't leave Chu Yao's side, so he was so anxious that he was sweating profusely.

Chu Yao endured the pain and comforted him: "It's okay, it's all skin trauma......"

The pain made time very slow, Chu Yao felt that a long time had passed, and he didn't wait for the rescue, and asked Hong Shan, it turned out that only two quarters of an hour had passed.

Finally, there was the sound of horses' hooves stomping outside, and the wheels ran over the green bricks, and the wheels were far away, like thunder, calm and powerful, and when you listened to it, you knew that it was not an ordinary carriage.

Chu Yao turned his head to look at the door, and after a while, two black-maned and black-tailed jujube horses walked in the wind, and a prosperous and magnificent carriage stopped in front of the door, the door opened immediately, and someone jumped out of the car.

He was dressed in a plain and elegant wide-sleeved shirt and robe, with a silk waist seal decorated with auspicious pattern hollow jade pendants, and only a crested white hosta on his hair, which made his face more and more like a moist jade, which was indescribably expensive.

It's Pei Zhan, he actually ...... Personally came.

Chu Yao had thought that she would definitely see Pei Zhan, but she didn't expect to meet him under such circumstances.

He was dressed in plain and elegant clothes, and he was covered in mud and mess.

She instinctively turned her face back, buried it in the crook of her arm, and heard Hong Shan report to him respectfully: "Chu Niangzi fell from the carriage and had external injuries on her body, I don't know if she hurt her bones and intestines......

In the next moment, Chu Yao's body suddenly took off and was picked up from behind.

"Ahh She groaned in pain, "It hurts ......"

"Bear with me for a while." He frowned, as if he was extremely disgusted, and even hugged her at a distance, after all, she was indeed too dirty, not so much a hug, more like a ......

Chu Yao was put into the carriage by him.