Chapter 184: Late Night Visit
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
When Xiao Jin found Su Ying, he saw her hunched over in front of a ventilation hole in the courtyard wall.
Xiao Jin was utterly perplexed.
“What are you doing?”
Su Ying didn’t even turn her head. “I saw her, I saw her. Ling isn’t crying anymore. Luckily, she spent some time studying with Chu Yun previously. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be so easy to placate Ling.”
Xiao Jin was totally speechless.
It was only when the bell rang for the start of school that Su Ying boarded the horse carriage.
Xiao Jin wanted to continue beefing up the defenses of the Tiger Base, while she wanted to go up the mountain. She wanted to make more charcoal before the end of the month. The charcoal was not just meant to be sold off to exchange for other supplies, but also to be used during this cold weather. If the temperature was too low, it would be difficult for the wood to burn fully into charcoal. If they did not make enough charcoal before then, the people in the Tiger Base would have to live through a freezing winter.
Su Ying rode her horse up the mountain. Tian Mu and his men were already busy with their tasks.
“Mistress, you are here.”
“Mm-hmm. Set aside a group of people to follow me to open new pits today.
We still have more than half a month’s time. We have to try to make as much as charcoal possible.”
“Yes, Mistress. I’ll arrange for some people to go with you now.”
Ever since the two people who were being punished died on the wooden stakes, the group of people who worked with them became much more submissive. No one dared to cause trouble anymore, and their efficiency was much higher than before.
Su Ying picked up a shovel and found a relatively flat piece of open space nearby. After testing the compactness of the soil, she began to dig.
Su Ying busied herself until the sun was about to set before she put down the shovel. The number of new pits dug today was almost sufficient, so she could start chopping trees tomorrow to start the burning.
“Alright, you guys carry on. 1 have to go and pick up the kids.” Although Su Ying’s hands didn’t stop working, her mind was filled with thoughts of the two crying children.
When Su Ying arrived outside the school, the bell had just rung for school dismissal.
Zhao Neng opened the gate when he saw the children rushing out.
Su Ying stood at the very front and immediately saw the younger toddler Ling, who was holding hands with the older toddler Ji, walking out with a smile. Beside them was a young girl who was about their age.
The two little girls laughed out loud as they chatted.
Lin Sheng followed them and was led out by Chu Yun.
Before Su Ying could say anything, Ling saw her. The moment she saw her mother, Ling was stunned for a moment. Immediately after that, her little mouth pursed and she began crying loudly. She released Ji’s hand and rushed over to Su Ying anxiously.
Su Ying was also taken aback. Why was the girl smiling happily with her friend just a second ago, and crying the next second when she saw her?
“Mother, Mother! 1 miss Mother so much.”
The older toddler Ji also pursed his lips when he saw Su Ying, but when he thought of Xiao Jin’s words, he forcefully suppressed his tears.
“Mother misses you too. Where’s Big Brother?”
The younger toddler Ling raised her head and looked behind her. “Big Brother is over there.”
Su Ying squatted down with Ling in one arm and picked up Ji, who had walked over to her, with the other.
“Did you miss Mother, Ji?”
The older toddler Ji looked at Su Ying with red-rimmed eyes. “I miss… I missed Mother.”
“Mother misses you too. Let’s go home. Grandpa Hea and the others must have made a lot of delicious food and they are waiting for you guys to go back and eat.”
Su Ying carried them to the horse carriage, then carried Lin Sheng into the carriage with her.
“There are still some things to deal with in the school. Please take them back first, Mistress,” Chu Yun said to Su Ying.
Su Ying nodded. “Alright. You can go back with Zhao Neng when you’re done.”
“Alright.”
Su Ying brought the children home first. Today was also the first day that Little Lin Sheng went to school with those two. Zhang Cuiniang was also worried, but she still had a lot of work to do and couldn’t pick up the child herself. Now that she saw he had returned safely, she was very relieved.
“Sheng’er, were you happy in school today?”
Lin Sheng nodded obediently. “I’m happy. I have a different Teacher now.” He was older, so he was assigned to another class.
“You must study hard, okay?”
“I know, Mother. 1 will definitely study hard.”
“Good lad. Mother will bring you something delicious to eat.”
Zhang Cuiniang’s eyes became red-rimmed the moment she stood up. She never dreamed that her son would be able to go to school one day.
Although they were all rootless people without any legal household status, she believed that as long as everyone worked hard, their lives would be different one day.
At night, Hea Shouyi and Murong De used the dried beef prepared earlier to make soup and made a few pots of beef dough bits soup. They also added some mountain pepper in the dough bits soup which could not only drive away the cold but also enhance the taste. After downing a bowl of soup, everyone’s body started to warm up.
Su Ying thought of the bisons that were still in her interspatial store. She had to think of a way to get them out before winter truly arrived so that everyone could process and store them. That way, they wouldn’t have to worry about not having any meat to eat in winter.
Just as everyone was eating happily, someone suddenly knocked on the courtyard gate.
Jiang Yang put down his chopsticks and stood up. “I’ll go and open the gate.”
Before long, Jiang Yang’s voice rang out from the courtyard. “Mistress, Master, Uncle Meng and the others from the North District are here.”
Su Ying picked up her bowl and walked out at once when she heard that.
Meng Zi and his wife slowly walked in with Meng Jiang.
“Uncle Meng, why are you guys here? Come in and sit down.”
Meng Zi was carrying two chickens in his hands, and Tian Niu was carrying a basket of eggs.
“I didn’t want to bother you so late at night, but seeing that the weather is getting colder and colder, and you guys are busy during the day, 1 thought of bringing this kid over as soon as possible to kowtow to you to thank you, Madam Su.”
Meng Jiang, who was being supported, wanted to kneel down in front of Su Ying as soon as his parents finished speaking.
Su Ying immediately stepped forward and held him up. Meng Jiang’s leg was already injured, so she didn’t know what would happen if he knelt down. “Alright. I appreciate your gratitude. It’s not good for him to kneel down before his leg has recovered. It’s cold outside, so come into the house quickly.”
This was the first time Meng Jiang met Su Ying. Previously, when Su Ying was treating him, he was unconscious and didn’t know anything. These days, his parents kept talking about Su Ying next to his ears so often that his ears were about to grow calluses. He was very curious about what kind of powerful character Su Ying was.
If one were to look at her appearance alone, other than being more exquisite and beautiful than ordinary women, there didn’t seem to be anything special about her at first glance. However, when he lowered his gaze and saw Su Ying’s hand gripping his arm, he was so shocked that he couldn’t speak.
Her hand was like a pair of iron pincers, locking his body in place. Even though he had exerted all his strength into that arm, his legs did not move at all.
“You guys are having dinner, so we won’t go in.” It was an unwritten rule in the North District not to visit at mealtimes. After all, food was scarce here, and visiting at mealtime would only make things difficult for others.
“How can we not allow guests to go into the house? How can we treat guests like this? Come in quickly. It’s cold outside. It’s not too late to go back after drinking a bowl of hot stuff.”
Aunt Zhao walked out of the house and pulled Tian Niu and the others into the house to sit down.
When the family of three entered the house, they realized that it was much warmer inside than outside. “It’s so warm inside.. Is there a charcoal brazier in here?”