The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 795 - 783: Guess

Chapter 795: Chapter 783: Guess

Manbao and her group made their way to Qian’s Restaurant to meet up with Junior Ms. Qian and the villagers, as nearly everyone was convening there.

They planned to stay out until midnight. However, it was not yet that time, and since most of the crowd had dispersed, they naturally followed suit and left.

Once everyone was gathered, they set off together.

Manbao saw three children who had already fallen asleep in the crowd; technically, they should be calling her ’Great Auntie’.

So, she gestured for them to put the children onto the cart. Bai Shan and Bai Erlang had long been envious of everyone walking together. The moment Manbao motioned for someone, they instantly hopped off the carriage, justifying their move by saying, "Let them take the cart; we’ll walk."

Upon seeing the three children being stuffed into the cart, Daji glanced at them and said, "Young Master, they don’t weigh much; they can all fit."

"No, you may not care about the horses, but I do. You drive the cart up front; we’ll walk behind with the lanterns."

Bai Erlang, who had already taken his favorite lantern, distributed the other lanterns from the cart to the villagers with excitement, exclaiming, "Yes, yes, we’ll walk back on our own; the horses are tired too."

Daji: ...

Daji had no choice but to drive the cart ahead while the three of them walked with Datou, holding their lanterns and chatting excitedly about what they saw and bought at the evening’s festivities.

Daji didn’t rush the horses. Instead, he maintained a short distance in front of them, listening to the lively chatter coming from behind as his eyes fell thoughtfully.

Halfway through the journey, the three of them eventually became too tired to walk and hurriedly caught up to the cart, climbing up to sit properly.

The younger Silang and Sanya were also lifted onto the cart.

Sitting on the rocking cart, they could not help but yawn, feeling the weight of their eyelids.

Not daring to let them all fall asleep, Daji suggested, "Young Master, it’s really cold now, how about singing to drive away the chill?"

Bai Shan, with sleepy eyes, asked, "Can singing really dispel the cold?"

Looking towards Manbao, who was yawning, she nodded and said, "Theoretically, it should work."

Lazily, Bai Shan inquired, "Then what shall we sing? ’Unclothed’?"

Sanya asked, "What song is ’Unclothed’?"

"It’s a poem from the Classic of Poetry. Haven’t you learned it yet?" Manbao queried.

Sanya shook her head, "I’m still learning the Thousand Character Classic."

Bai Erlang, showing disdain, said, "That’s really slow."

Manbao looked at him and retorted, "You took two years to learn it yourself, and now you’re mocking others. Aren’t you ashamed?"

Bai Erlang felt exposed by her revelation and, disgruntled, took Silang by the hand, saying, "Come on, let’s sing ’Unclothed’."

Thus, their howls filled the air along the road, mainly from Bai Erlang, "Who says we are unclothed, with robes shared with our kin..."

Junior Ms. Qian, who was walking and talking behind them, was startled and took a good while before realizing they seemed to be singing, exclaiming, "What kind of singing is that? It’s really scary in the middle of the night."

Manbao and Bai Shan joined in the singing. After ’Unclothed,’ they sang ’Soft Rush,’ followed by ’Zhongnan’ and ’Morning Wind,’ covering all the songs on Qin Feng before they returned to the village.

The parents of the three children caught up from behind, lifted their sleeping sons from the cart, and after thanking Bai Shan and the others repeatedly, they departed.

Manbao also jumped down from the cart and waved goodbye to Bai Shan, Bai Erlang, and Daji before happily heading home.

Daji escorted the young masters from his home and the main branch back to their homes.

The villagers had gone to bed early, and so had the Bai Family. Bai Shan didn’t check on his grandmother or mother but directly returned to his room, bathed in hot water brought by his servants, and then went to sleep.

Daji waited until his young master’s light was extinguished before heading towards the main courtyard.

Old Madam, being advanced in years, would awaken at the slightest disturbance. With the lights on in her courtyard, Daji only stood outside for a moment before Nanny Liu led him inside.

Old Madam, wearing her clothes and sipping water while sitting on the couch, asked upon seeing him enter, "Has something happened?"

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come here.

Daji knelt down and shared with her the incident of County Magistrate Yang staring at Manbao’s ancestral locket in a trance.

Old Madam was slightly taken aback and inquired, "Is there something wrong with her locket?"

"I’m not sure; I heard it was left to her by her parents."

Old Madam frowned thoughtfully, "It’s a pity the Zhou Family never mentions Zhou Yin’s wife. We only know her surname; her background is a mystery. If we could find out more about her..."

"What about County Magistrate Yang..."

Old Madam offered a slight smile and reassured, "Do not worry; being young and new here, Magistrate Yang won’t be privy to any talk of Manbao’s origins. He won’t uncover anything."

"Moreover, even if he does find out, we needn’t fear," Old Madam added. "Ms. Yang, no matter what, would not side with the Prince of Yizhou."

Daji breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, bowed respectfully, and withdrew.

Meanwhile, after sending off the townsfolk who had gone to admire the festive lanterns and capturing child traffickers, as well as settling a brawl caused by drunken ramblings, County Magistrate Yang finally had a moment to rest, putting down files and documents.

County Magistrate Yang leaned back in his chair to rest his eyes, and the servant attending him tiptoed in, helping him to loosen his hair and massage his head.

His head feeling less stiff, Magistrate Yang remembered something, waved his servant away, and spread out a sheet of xuan paper.

Upon seeing this, the servant knew he was about to draw and promptly helped him grind the ink stick.

Half an hour later, an ancestral locket took shape on the paper, to which the servant exclaimed in admiration, "Young Master, you’ve drawn it so beautifully."

Magistrate Yang smiled, set down the brush, and asked, "Beautiful?"

"Where exactly is it beautiful?"

"The design of the auspicious clouds looks exquisite. They sort of resemble characters, yet not quite. Regardless, these clouds are attractive. Ordinary silversmiths probably couldn’t produce such work. Young Master, are you looking to have a locket made?"

"Indeed, these clouds are both auspicious and characters; they form the character for ’longevity.’ Furthermore, the patterns on each side represent different fonts of the longevity character," explained Magistrate Yang. "I recognize this kind of locket. I remember that when the Fifth Prince turned one, our family had one made. The pattern on that locket was quite similar to this one, reportedly crafted by a famous silversmith at a considerable price."

Magistrate Yang mused, "The Zhou household has always been poor farmers, just managing better in recent years. How did they afford such a locket twelve years ago?"

The servant, puzzled, exclaimed "Ah?" with a baffled expression.

Magistrate Yang glanced at him, waited until the drawing on the paper was dry, and packed it away, positing, "Could it be that Zhou Man isn’t actually the Zhou family’s child?"

"Miss Man?" The servant furrowed his brows, pondered for a moment, and hesitated, "I doubt it; Miss Man looks quite similar to Zhou Silang. Their eyes are as if carved from the same mold, and not just the eyes—their noses are also rather alike, both quite prominent. If she isn’t his biological sister, would that mean Zhou Silang was also picked up somewhere?"