The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 822 - 800 Too Polite

Chapter 822: Chapter 800 Too Polite

Manbao blinked and insisted, "Who said that? I’ve always been very hospitable."

As they were speaking, Nanny Liu, who guarded the temple gate, saw them. She had once seen County Magistrate Tang at the Bai Residence on Kangxue Street, and now seeing him meeting with her young master, her eyelids couldn’t help but twitch.

She hurriedly came out to greet them, first paying respects to Bai Shan and Manbao, then turned to County Magistrate Tang, smiling, "This must be County Magistrate Tang from Yizhou City. My Old Madam heard that you were also coming to offer incense and specially instructed me to wait here. Please, sir, come rest in the quiet room."

County Magistrate Tang raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. His visit here was certainly not a secret, but it was somewhat surprising that news had traveled to the small place of Qili Village, and someone had specifically waited for him.

County Magistrate Tang glanced at the equally surprised Bai Shan and Manbao, then smiled and nodded, walking with Nanny Liu.

Bai Shan and Manbao looked at each other and quickly followed.

Nanny Liu then turned and said to them, "Young Master, Miss Man, you’ve arrived but haven’t offered incense yet. Go offer incense to Taishang Laojun first and then return to the quiet room to rest."

The two then stopped, and County Magistrate Tang looked back and smiled at them, following Nanny Liu away.

Watching them walk away, the two couldn’t help but exchange looks.

Bai Shan said, "Grandmother must have booked the same room as last time."

Manbao said, "I know there’s a window next to the wooden couch in the inner chamber. It’s not possible to host guests there usually."

Having said that, the two were not in a hurry, first entering the main hall to offer three bows to the well-acquainted statue of Heaven Master, then sneaked off to the backyard.

The two, familiar with the route, passed through the temple’s vegetable garden and circled to the back of several houses.

Behind the houses, where vegetables were previously grown, had been replaced with flowers and plants for beauty.

Manbao stepped in, about to sneak past when a soft cough sounded. Manbao stiffened, and together with Bai Shan, turned to look, only to see Daoxu emerging from behind a tree, asking them, "What are you doing, sneaking around like that?"

Manbao hushed him, and asked softly, "Why are you here when there are so many people today? Don’t you need to attend to the guests?"

"Just because there are so many people, and I’m very tired, I came here to rest for a bit. Why did you come here?"

Bai Shan said, "Are you slacking off?"

Daoxu rolled his eyes and replied, "I’m slacking off, but what did you come here for?"

Bai Shan, unfazed, pointed at a room and said, "That’s the room my family booked. We want to give our elders a surprise; don’t mess it up for us."

Daoxu glanced at the room, which indeed was booked by the Bai Family, but a surprise...

He looked at them skeptically, "You aren’t up to something bad, are you? What kind of surprise needs you to sneak to the back window?"

Manbao replied, "That’s because you don’t understand."

Manbao thought for a moment, then straightforwardly asked, "We need to open the window, do you have anything to open it with?"

Daoxu dug into his sleeve, pulled out a key, and hesitated as he asked, "Are you really here for a surprise?"

Bai Shan had already snatched it over and said, "It’s not as if we’re here to cause trouble."

The two carefully approached the window, inserting the key in the slit to continuously jiggle the lock latch. Daoxu watched them for a while, growing impatient, shoved Bai Shan aside, and said, "Let me do it."

Bai Shan stepped aside.

Daoxu lay outside the window, looked for a while, gently moved the latch upward, and in the moment it slid up, he opened the window...

He looked back at the two with a smug smile.

Bai Shan and Manbao couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up.

Manbao peeked inside and heard voices from the hall separated only by a screen. She whispered to Daoxu, then leaped into the window and climbed in.

Bai Shan followed her up.

Daoxu stared in astonishment, then murmured under his breath, "And here I thought they were scholars, yet they’re climbing through windows."

After closing the window for them, he turned to leave, but a thought struck him. He picked up a couple of branches from the ground, tied them together, and blocked the window from the outside.

He chuckled to himself and dashed away.

The intruders, unaware that Daoxu had blocked their escape route, tiptoed to the screen and sneakily peeked outside.

Beyond the screen, in the outer hall, Old Madam Liu and Old Master Bai had just exchanged greetings with County Magistrate Tang, and everyone sat down. Old Zhou and Ms. Qian, also seated, felt somewhat uneasy facing a county magistrate under such circumstances.

Old Madam Liu smiled reassuringly at them and glanced at Nanny Liu, who then dismissed the servants from the room, and Daji came in.

Both Manbao and Bai Shan widened their eyes in surprise upon seeing Daji boldly enter from outside.

They quickly ducked back behind the screen, exchanging glances. Manbao emphatically winked at Bai Shan, "When did Daji disappear?"

Bai Shan looked back, "How should I know? Wasn’t he supposed to be waiting outside the window for us?"

They looked at each other, swallowed hard and again sneakily poked their heads out.

Old Madam Liu, seeing Daji come in, understood everything.

She touched her forehead in frustration and called out, "Shanbao, Manbao, come out now."

They pulled their heads back and ran toward the window...

Manbao climbed onto the wooden platform and pushed the window, but it didn’t budge. She stared wide-eyed at Bai Shan.

Bai Shan also tried pushing the window. It moved slightly but didn’t open.

They looked at each other and had no choice but to climb down from the platform and emerged from behind the screen.

Old Zhou was shocked to see Manbao emerge from the inner chamber, his eyes widened, "Manbao, when did you arrive?"

Ms. Qian had already stood up and pulled her over, chiding, "Are you being mischievous again?"

Manbao lowered her head.

Old Madam Liu also gave Bai Shan a stern look, "This is a temple, it is improper to act recklessly. Now bow to Lord Tang, and also to Old Master Zhou and Mrs. Zhou."

Old Zhou immediately bowed slightly and responded, "Oh no, Old Madam, you are too kind."

He still did not understand why Old Madam Liu had included them, although Manbao and Young Master Shan were close and shared a teacher-student relationship. The adults of the two families rarely met and mostly interacted through delivering gifts.

"You send my family a bundle of vegetables; I send your family a bowl of tofu." While there was affection, they rarely met in person.

Old Madam Liu smiled, "It is only proper."

To her insistence, Bai Shan formally bowed to Old Zhou and Ms. Qian.

County Magistrate Tang had been mostly quiet since he arrived, just observing and listening. Upon seeing this, he chuckled while fanning himself, "Old Madam is indeed too kind. I merely came to the mountain for leisure, and yet Old Madam went to the trouble of arranging a place for me to rest."

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