The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 875 - 853: Heard

Chapter 875: Chapter 853: Heard

Manbao had just brought out three boxes when Ji Hao lightly coughed, his cheeks slightly reddening as he raised his voice, "Well, please all come along then."

Bai Shan wasn’t very keen on going, but he didn’t feel it appropriate to say so in front of Ji Hao, so he could only look towards Manbao.

Manbao didn’t think much about it and nodded in agreement, after all, they had already attended Qi Jue’s birthday feast, so going to Ji Hao’s wouldn’t make much difference.

One gift was fine, two gifts were fine, if worst came to worst, she could just go out and buy a few more jade statues of the "Heavenly Sovereign" to bring back, anyway, she was definitely going to recollect those gifts in the end.

Manbao hummed inwardly and said to Bai Shan, "Let’s go."

Bai Shan glanced towards the quiet study and asked, "Where is the teacher?"

Manbao replied, "The teacher said seeing you all running around outside and not studying seriously made him angry, so he left to avoid getting upset."

The cook poked her head out of the kitchen and added, "The teacher went to drink with Mr. Lan, he’ll be dining at Mr. Lan’s house tonight, young master, will you be returning for dinner?"

Under Aunt Rong’s hopeful gaze, Bai Shan replied, "No, we won’t be coming back for dinner."

Aunt Rong broke into a wide smile, her voice full of excitement, "You must be hungry from just coming back from school, master. Would you like some snacks before you head out?"

Bai Shan pulled Manbao to leave, waving his hand, "No need, save the snacks for tomorrow morning."

The Qi Family had indeed invited quite a few people, most of them had arrived before noon like them; the ones arriving now were mostly officials who had just left their duties or young men like them fresh out from school.

The Qi Family’s steward immediately recognized Bai Shan and the others as the young master’s invited guests, and respectfully ushered them inside, assigning a servant to lead them to the garden.

Bai Shan handed over the gifts to the steward; the boxes were labeled with their visiting cards. Today Bai Erlang rushed to school and hadn’t brought his gift.

He had come directly to the Qi Family’s place with Qi Jue after school ended in the noon, and the gifts were actually brought by Manbao.

After handing over the items to the steward, the group followed the Qi Family’s servants to the back garden, where a group of young men and women were playing with a bunch of children.

The Qi Family’s garden wasn’t very large, so not far away sat seven or eight youth, only a few years older than them.

They were gathered together chatting, a stark contrast to the noisy youngsters nearby.

Led over, Manbao curiously glanced at them, realizing she hadn’t seen any of them before.

Bai Shan also looked over, and Ji Hao, seeing their curiosity, explained, "Those are Qi Jue’s brother’s friends."

Manbao and Bai Shan nodded and went to greet Qi Jue.

Qi Jue, seeing them, was very happy and pulled Bai Erlang over, draping an arm around Bai Shan’s shoulder and laughing, "I thought you’d be arriving soon, I even thought about going to the door to meet you."

As Mr. Zhuang occasionally taught classes at the Dazhi Academy and often taught their class as well, and during breaks, Mr. Zhuang would often take them out along with Mr. Huang and Qi Jue’s group, they had all mixed together quite well.

So, Bai Shan unreservedly threw him a sideways glance, "Then why didn’t you?"

Qi Jue just grinned and playfully bumped against him. Bai Erlang asked, "Did you bring my gift?"

Manbao nodded, "Brought it, it’s placed up front."

Qi Jue was still very curious and asked, "What exactly did you guys get me?"

Bai Shan said, "Why don’t you open it when it’s quiet at night, and then you’ll know?"

Qi Jue, "...Why does it have to be in the dead of night?"

Bai Shan thought about the gifts that Manbao and Bai Erlang had given and couldn’t help squinting with a laugh, "Because I’m afraid the gods might fight and disturb others, so you should open it when it’s quiet at night."

Qi Jue was startled and asked blankly, "What exactly did you send that could cause gods to fight?"

Not until the evening, after sending off the guests, did Qi Jue open the three boxes. He saw a Buddha statue with Bai Cheng’s name card on the left and a Laozi statue with Zhou Man’s name card on the right and was speechless for some time.

Seriously, who would give such things as birthday gifts?

With both Buddhist and Taoist statues together, no wonder the gods would fight.

But at that moment, Qi Jue still knew nothing; he pulled Bai Shan and Manbao to join the table and invited Ji Hao and Wei Ting to play with them.

Seeing that they were a rowdy group of boys making a racket that hurt her ears, and mainly because she was not interested in their topics of conversation, Manbao casually picked up a plate from the table and found a large rock nearby to sit and rest.

After talking with them for a while, Bai Shan excused himself and sat next to Manbao, snatching a piece of pastry from her plate and asked, "Bored?"

Manbao shook her head, "It’s too noisy over there; I just wanted some quiet."

Bai Shan nodded and pointing to a crowd not far off, "There are a lot of girls over there; do you want Qi Jue to take you to play there? I think I just saw our neighbor."

Manbao shook her head, "It’s okay, I’m not too familiar with them."

Bai Shan felt she had been quite quiet lately, so he leaned his face on his hand and tilted his head to look at her.

Seeing them, the youths separated only by a cluster of flowers couldn’t help but laugh, and one directly said to the person seated in the main seat, "Qi Dalang, I heard your family wanted to arrange a marriage for your brother, but it seems a guest has taken a fancy to him first."

"Hey, these two look quite young, aren’t they? Are they both fourteen yet?"

"People from families like ours better marry after coming of age, should we teach that kid a lesson?"

"You really worry too much, early marriages are common in Yizhou, many are married by seventeen or eighteen."

"It’s still too early; it’s not good for the health."

"Since when did you become so old-fashioned?"

"Ah, don’t mind my brother Guan, he just came back from abroad and doesn’t know anything yet."

The one previously arguing asked, "What’s the matter, is Uncle Guan sick again?"

Another sighed, "I’ve come back this time because my father is seriously ill, I don’t know what’s wrong. His health has been deteriorating day by day for the past ten years. We often consulted many doctors for his headaches to no avail. My family wrote to me, saying that before the year, Doctor Ji advised to let my father eat whatever he wants, so..."

Qi Dalang placed his hand on his shoulder, "Don’t worry too much, perhaps it’s just a false alarm?"

Old Master Guan’s illness wasn’t new; for years there had been talk that he wouldn’t make it, but he is still alive today.

"By the way, doesn’t your family have a courtyard in the western suburbs? I heard there’s also a hot spring there; maybe soaking in the hot spring could help?"

"That’s what I suggested too. I got my father to live in the western suburbs years ago, but I don’t know why, he really dislikes going to that particular property. Usually it’s fine, but whenever we mention staying at the western suburb house, he gets angry, always saying my brother and I want to abandon him," Guan Erlang said with a wry smile. "What do you think of that? Are my brother and I such people?"

Everyone comforted him, "Patients tend to have more concerns."

Sitting behind the flowers, Manbao couldn’t help but turn her head and exchange glances with Bai Shan, both their faces showing a hint of doubt.

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