Chapter 317 - 316: Someone from the Capital Has Arrived
Before his journey to the capital, Wan Yan had come to the Dairy Products Store to pick up a batch of fermented cheese. This batch had not long been taken out of storage, merely less than ten days had passed. Approaching the late Shen hour, a group of riders, dusty from travel, came to Clear Water Village. They inquired with the villagers about the location of the second branch of the Qi family.
At this time, Qi Sanshun was no longer the naive child who had never seen the world. Hearing that the men on tall horses were looking for the Second Uncle’s Family, he did not run back home to report the news crazily. Instead, he took Qi Jiaer’s hand, surrounded by a crowd of children, and went together with the visitors to the home of the Second Uncle’s Family.
The robust middle-aged man who led the group was named Zhao Gang. Hearing that Qi Jiaer was Lady Qi’s younger brother and seeing how adorable the little fellow was, he wanted to take him along on horseback. However, both Qi Jiaer and Qi Sanshun refused.
Qi Sanshun’s reasoning was, "My older cousin has said that we are not grown up yet and cannot go along with strangers at will. Xiao Jiajia is even more so. He’s too small and cannot ride on your horse."
Zhao Gang smiled but did not say much, choosing instead to dismount and walk with the group of children. Although he had heard from his Great Aunt that Miss Cousin was now sensible and had even acquired some skills, upon hearing the admiration and respect in the two youngsters’ voices when they mentioned his sister, he still could not imagine how Miss Cousin could be as they described. After all, Miss Cousin used to be recklessly rude; even if she had become sensible, how sensible could she have become?
However, surviving in such a remote and impoverished village ought to teach Miss Cousin a lesson, letting her know how difficult life can be in this world.
From the moment Zhao Gang entered Clear Water Village, he had been observing this remote village. It was now the dead of winter when nature withered and life seemed scarce, and even within the village, one rarely saw villagers walking around outside. The narrow, winding paths of the village were frozen hard by the cold winter days.
Their group of riders, along with a dozen or so children, was such that only those in the middle could set foot on the path, with the rest walking on the soil beside the trail. Although there were traces of melting snow by the roadside and in the fields, if one walked too briskly, dust would still swirl up.