Chapter 316: Our Yuan Jiu Has Performed a Meritorious Deed
Chapter 316: Chapter 316: Our Yuan Jiu Has Performed a Meritorious Deed
The tall, skinny man was dressed in tattered, padded cotton clothes.
With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he repeatedly bent over to dodge Grandma Qin’s blows as she chased him.
He was running toward the edge of the village, but his mouth was still running, shouting defiantly at Grandma Qin.
"Aunt, you’re being unreasonable! Ah Niu is my older brother, and we are both your nephews. How could you just let Princess Funing arrest my brother?"
It turned out this was Dong Aniu’s younger brother, Dong Ermu.
Hearing this, Grandma Qin’s face grew even more furious.
She raised her broom and swung it down fiercely, but Dong Ermu quickly dodged to the side.
"Ah Niu caused a public scene and tried to force Ningning to help him! It’s good he was arrested. Otherwise, I would have gone to settle the score with him myself!"
"From now on, your family is banned from Xiangyun Village. Now get out!"
Grandma Qin struck him several times with the broom.
One of the blows landed squarely on Dong Ermu’s shoulder.
He cried out, "Ouch!" and clutched his arm in pain.
"Aunt! You’ve really lost your mind. What’s the use of raising Princess Funing? She’s an outsider with a different family name, and a girl at that."
"My brother and I are the male heirs who can care for you in your old age and see to your burial!"
Shen Ningning’s little face was cold as she ordered, "Brother Chen, give him a beating and throw him out of the village!"
Upon receiving the order, Chen Ye immediately darted after him.
Seeing that things had taken a bad turn, Dong Ermu covered his head and scurried away like a rat.
Grandma Qin, still fuming, chased after them with her broom held high.
Suddenly!
Her foot slipped, and she fell right into the snow.
Shen Ningning’s little face filled with alarm, and she rushed over. "Grandma!"
At almost the same moment, a woman rushed out from a nearby courtyard.
She reached Grandma Qin before Shen Ningning, helping her up and asking repeatedly, "Are you all right? Are you all right?"
Grandma Qin clutched her knee, her old bones aching from the fall.
Fortunately, she had fallen into a snowdrift; otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Shen Ningning had already run to Grandma Qin’s side.
The woman who had helped Grandma Qin kept her head down, quickly returned to her courtyard, and shut the door tightly behind her.
Shen Ningning paid the woman no mind, her large eyes fixed on Grandma Qin with worry.
"Grandma, where does it hurt? Brother Chen, quickly go to the city and fetch a doctor."
The little girl helped Grandma Qin back home. Once she was seated, Shen Ningning quickly rolled up her grandmother’s pant leg to check for injuries.
She had previously learned some methods for treating sprains and bruises from the Divine Doctor, Sima Han.
She pressed on a few of Grandma Qin’s joints, confirming that the old woman could still move freely.
Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.
"Grandma, I’ll apply a plaster for you in a bit," Shen Ningning said, blinking her large eyes.
Grandma Qin gave an embarrassed smile. "I’m getting old and useless."
"Chasing that rascal Ermu, and I ended up falling myself. Ai."
Shen Ningning pouted. "That’s why you shouldn’t do dangerous things like that by yourself anymore."
"If you want to beat him up, Grandma, just call for Langlang. They’re up in the mountains and will come running down in an instant. He definitely won’t be able to escape."
Grandma Qin smiled and nodded. Then, as if remembering something, her gaze grew thoughtful.
"Hey, Ningning, that young woman who helped me up just now, did she come out of the village chief’s house?" Grandma Qin asked.
Shen Ningning was just placing a stalk of Spirit Grass into the teapot.
Hearing the question, she thought for a moment. "I think so."
"Do you recognize her?"
Shen Ningning shook her head. "I didn’t get a clear look."
Things were too frantic at the moment, and she hadn’t seen the person’s face clearly, as she was only focused on her grandmother.
Recalling it now, the little girl only remembered that the woman was a little taller than Grandma Qin.
She had a thick, dark braid and was wearing a small, blue-green floral-patterned jacket.
Beyond that, she had no other impression.
Grandma Qin rubbed her knee, pondering. "Could it have been Wang Qiao’er?"
Shen Ningning immediately replied, "It couldn’t have been her. If it were Wang Qiao’er, after helping you up, she would have made sure the whole village knew about her good deed. Why would she run off the moment she saw me?"
"That’s true. How strange," Grandma Qin said, surprised.
Could it be true, then, what Sister-in-law Liu had said? That the old village chief was housing a strange woman?
A short while later, Chen Ye returned.
He reported, "Miss, as you commanded, he has been beaten and thrown out of the village."
Shen Ningning nodded. "Good. Brother Chen, from now on, while you’re in the village, keep an eye out. If you see anyone from the Dong Family, throw them out immediately. No need to be polite!"
Her face was soft and rosy, yet she was powerfully composed.
Three or four days passed.
As time went on, the frigid weather plunged the lands into deep winter.
Although the land remained frozen solid, with ice everywhere and the canals frozen over, the situation in the Capital City was considerably better than in the surrounding counties.
Nevertheless, memorials from local governments all over the realm, pleading for grain, aid, and troops, piled up like snowflakes on the Emperor’s desk each day.
The few times Shen Ningning went to see Mo Lingwei, she found him buried under a mountain of memorials.
Only upon seeing the little girl did he seem to breathe a sigh of relief.
But they could barely exchange a few words before an endless stream of ministers would arrive at Zichen Palace to discuss state affairs.
There were reports from all regions of avalanches and collapsing buildings, with people being crushed to death under broken beams.
In some places, minor uprisings had even broken out.
Mo Lingwei had to worry about and consider all of these matters.
It wasn’t just Mo Lingwei who was busy; even Xie Suzhi hadn’t been home for several days, staying in the palace to discuss countermeasures for the various regions from morning till night.
Shen Ningning visited a few times and found everyone so busy they barely had time to breathe.
She felt too embarrassed to disturb Mo Lingwei any further.
Besides attending classes at the National Academy, she spent her time strolling through Ye Shangyi’s family gardens.
The rest of her time was spent looking after her own shops.
As night fell, the darkness grew thick and inky.
Beneath the corridors of the Xie Mansion, lanterns swayed in the cold wind, casting fragmented patterns of light and shadow.
Second Madam Xie knocked on the door of Second Master Xie’s study.
"Husband, are you busy? I have something I wish to discuss with you about Yuan Jiu. May I come in?"
Hearing her voice, Second Master Xie hastily put away a yellowed letter, stuffing it back onto a shelf.
He supported himself and sat back down in his wheelchair.
"Come in," he said in a low voice.
After Second Madam Xie entered, they exchanged a few pleasantries.
Then she said, "Husband, did you know? Our Yuan Jiu has done a great service."
"With the recent heavy snows turning everything into a world of ice, Yuan Jiu traveled from Changzhou to Nanzhou, providing relief to many disaster-stricken people along the way!"
Upon hearing this, Second Master Xie frowned.
"She left Changzhou? Why wasn’t I aware of this? The road is filled with dangers. How could she be so reckless?"
Second Madam Xie pursed her lips, feeling her daughter was being wronged.
"You can’t put it that way. Yuan Jiu only wanted to do something good. Besides, she was accompanied by family servants the entire way. She was perfectly safe."
"She took a portion of the silver her eldest brother sent her and used it to help the disaster victims."
"On her journey from Changzhou to Nanzhou, she gave away so much grain that everyone is praising her for her kind heart."
Thinking of this only daughter of his, Second Master Xie’s brow smoothed, and a sense of gratification washed over him.
Seeing his expression soften, Second Madam Xie spoke tentatively.
"Husband, look, it’s been nearly half a year since Eldest Brother sent Yuan Jiu back to our ancestral home. She knows her mistake now."
"It’s freezing cold everywhere. Can’t you plead with Eldest Brother to allow Yuan Jiu to return to the Capital? You know she’s our only daughter, yet she’s been left to fend for herself out there."
"I can’t even bear to imagine how much she’s suffered all alone." Second Madam Xie took out a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes.