Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 692 - 0645 Guoguo Also Wants to Go (1)

Li Yuzhu glanced towards the direction of the school, where the sound of a gong being struck was coming from.

It’s time to finish school, Baili Rui will be back soon.

"I’m alright, if I don’t go early, Baili Rui might cry even more." She said.

As they were talking, the voices of several children came from the entrance of the house.

"Aunt, Uncle, you are back?" Li Jing ran the fastest, rushing towards Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu.

"My aunt and uncle are back, they will take you home, Brother Rui, don’t be afraid." Guoguo tugged on Baili Rui’s hand.

Baili Rui pursed his lips, glanced at her, and walked with Guoguo towards Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu.

Mu Yuanxiu held Baili Rui’s hand, "Little Rui, don’t worry, your mother is fine."

Baili Rui looked up at him, teary-eyed, and nodded.

Li Yuzhu called out to the children, "I brought gifts for you, they’re all in the South Courtyard, go take a look."

"Oh, let’s go see the gifts, let’s go see the gifts." Li Jing shouted happily and ran off.

Carefree and always cheerful, that’s Li Jing every day.

"Brother, wait for me and Brother Rui," Guoguo said, pulling Baili Rui along, and followed to the South Courtyard.

Li Yuzhu smiled and waved at Mu Yuanxiu, then followed the children to the South Courtyard.

Prince Luling and Li Xingmao walked into the house together.

Mu Yuanxiu went over, "Father, Brother."

Prince Luling smiled, "You’re back?"

Li Xingmao smiled, "Was the journey smooth?"

Mu Yuanxiu nodded, "The weather has been clear these days, the journey was smooth."

"Let’s talk inside." Prince Luling, with his hands behind his back, walked towards the North Courtyard.

Mu Yuanxiu and Li Xingmao followed behind, chatting about matters concerning the fields.

The Li family’s fields have expanded to forty mu, and with Chai Eying’s sixty-eight mu, this year’s harvest was good. Li Xingmao goes to the fields at dawn every day and doesn’t return home until dusk.

Today, Li Xingmao came back early because he saw Mu Yuanxiu’s mule cart had returned.

The two of them followed Prince Luling into the North Courtyard Main House.

Chai Eying took the children back to the South Courtyard, so in the house there were only the Princess Consort and the maid, Zhou Zhaizhao.

Zhou Zhaizhao was wiping the table, getting ready for dinner.

The Princess Consort, seeing everyone back, called over Zhou Zhaizhao, "Zhaizhao, the table is almost clean, go help in the kitchen."

"Okay, madam." The eight-year-old girl hung the cloth on a rack in the corner, saluted Prince Luling and his party, and ran out happily.

After the three sat down, Prince Luling talked to Mu Yuanxiu about the letter sent by County Magistrate Li.

"Based on my intuition, the matters of the Baili family are not that simple." Prince Luling squinted, stroking his beard, "The Baili family has been responsible for the frontier defense for generations. Baili Rui is the legitimate eldest son of the current Xuande Envoy. If nothing goes wrong, he is set to inherit the family’s affairs. However, the Baili family did not seriously investigate but announced Baili Rui’s death; this matter is too peculiar."

Li Xingmao patted Mu Yuanxiu’s shoulder, "Yuanxiu, the matters of the Baili family might be complex. You need to be careful in handling them."

Prince Luling looked towards Mu Yuanxiu, "Your brother and I cannot leave Zhen An Prefecture, so we rely on you to take Baili Rui back."

The Princess Consort also said, "Yuanxiu, you are the one I trust the most, but the Northern Land is harsh and cold, it’s hard on you."

Mu Yuanxiu smiled, "I am alright, but it will be hard on Yuzhu who will accompany me."

Li Xingmao was surprised, "She is going too?"

Prince Luling and his wife did not object, "Both of you going together, you can look out for each other on the road."

Since the parents didn’t oppose, Li Xingmao said nothing further.

The Luling family was exiled to Zhen An Prefecture with hard labor. Without the Emperor’s permission, no one is allowed to leave Zhen An Prefecture.

In fact, the so-called ’no one’ mainly targeted Prince Luling and his four sons.

Li Yuzhu, as a married daughter, can travel quietly without drawing attention from those sent by the court to secretly monitor them.

So when Baili Rui needed to return home, the Li Family first thought of Mu Yuanxiu.

.

In the South Courtyard, Li Yuzhu and Chai Eying looked over the gifts they brought back, while Guoguo, Li Jing, and Baili Rui gathered around Li Yu, chatting and laughing.

Little Li Yu is six months old now.

When he smiles, he shows two small lower front teeth.

He likes to bite things for fun, and his mouth gets all slobbery when he does. Chai Eying hung a drool bib around his neck and stuffed a small handkerchief in his pocket.

At this moment, Chai Eying is sorting through the gifts they brought back from the Prefecture with Li Yuzhu, and doesn’t have time to attend to Li Yu, so Guoguo grabs the handkerchief and wipes Li Yu’s mouth from time to time.

Chai Eying looked over at her youngest son and smiled slightly.

Although Guoguo is just over two years old, he’s very sensible and knows how to take care of his little brother.

"Lady Lou is really generous, sending us such fine fabric, five pieces at once," Chai Eying said as she unfolded the cloth and examined it.

There are five people in her family, each gets a fine piece of Shu Brocade.

Each piece is worth about ten to twenty silver taels, so five pieces are nearly a hundred taels.

Why has Lady Lou become so generous? Others might not know, but Li Yuzhu knows it well.

It’s because she helped Lady Lou collect quite a few gifts.

Besides the fabric from Lady Lou, Li Yu En also bought clothes, shoes, food, and supplies for the children, and Li Xingsheng bought quite a lot for the three kids too.

Additionally, there are three pieces of leather, which were given by Ling Yuezi.

So many gifts were stacked on the table just for Chai Eying’s family.

However, Li Yuzhu didn’t mention that they were from Ling Yuezi, she only said they were from Li Xingsheng.

"Jingjing’s second uncle doesn’t seem to keep anything for himself, how come he sends everything to the family?" Chai Eying laughed.

When she mentioned Li Xingsheng, Chai Eying remembered something.

"Third sister, does your second brother have a girlfriend? If not, my sister-in-law wants to set him up. It’s a distant relative from my sister-in-law’s family. The girl is sixteen years old, good-looking, educated, and her family runs five shops in the neighboring county. She is the youngest in her family, and her parents are looking for a kind-hearted, good-tempered son-in-law without much concern for family wealth. My sister-in-law thought of your second brother and begged me to ask around. I told my mother and father about this, and they said we should ask about your second brother’s opinion, but your second brother is in the Prefecture, right? Did you hear him mention any love interest when you came from the Prefecture?"

Li Yuzhu thought to herself that Li Xingsheng has not only an interest but has completed a wedding ceremony and shared a bed. However, they have some kind of unresolved issue and have gone their separate ways.

But she knows in their hearts, they still care deeply for each other, only some knots haven’t been untangled yet.

She promised to keep Ling Yuezi’s secret, so she said, "Sister-in-law, from what I’ve observed, Second Brother doesn’t have a girlfriend, but he mentioned that he doesn’t want to find a wife right now. He wants to accomplish something significant first. As for the distant relative of Sister-in-law Chai, it would be best to look elsewhere; Second Brother’s situation might not be suitable, lest it delays others."

Chai Eying smiled and said, "Indeed, if your second brother disagrees, there’s nothing we can do about it, right?"

Li Xingsheng appears charming and sophisticated, with literary and martial skills, and is articulate, so the girl he fancies must be extraordinary.

Originally, Chai Eying didn’t want to run errands for her sister-in-law as she has met the distant relative’s sister before.

She’s a shy, introverted girl who doesn’t speak much, her temperament is not at all compatible with her sweet-talking and dashing younger brother-in-law.

Her younger brother requires a formidable woman to keep him in check.

Chai Eying wondered which capable girl could match Li Xingsheng.

After discussing these matters about Li Xingmao, he returned to the South Courtyard.

Li Yuzhu smiled and said, "Brother, come see the gifts Second Brother sent me back with."

Li Xingmao patted the heads of a few children, picked up a few pieces of leather to look, then put them down casually.

He looked at Li Yuzhu, "I just discussed with Father and Yuanxiu, it seems most fitting for Yuanxiu to go to the Northern Land. But Yuanxiu said you also want to go. Yuzhu, Liangzhou is a cold and harsh land, from Zhen An Prefecture to Liangzhou, it’s a journey of four thousand miles, a quick trip takes over two months, a slow one could take half a year. Can you handle it? Besides, the further north you go, the colder the weather becomes; encountering rain, ice or snow would only slow down the journey further."

Li Yuzhu touched Baili Rui, who stood next to her, and said, "Yuanxiu is heading there alone, with Xiao Rui in tow. Surely he won’t manage everything alone, it’d be better for me to accompany him. Though the journey is long, with Yuanxiu’s care, I will be alright."

Chai Eying smiled and said, "Husband, these two just got married, and you’re letting them separate so soon? They wouldn’t want that."

Li Xingmao thought for a while and agreed, "Better stock up on cold-weather items and charcoal in case of emergency."

Li Yuzhu smiled and said, "Got it, Brother."

Listening to their talk of returning to Liangzhou, Baili Rui’s furrowed brow finally relaxed.

.

After resting at home for three days, Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu decided to leave with Baili Rui, heading towards Liangzhou City in the Northern Land.

Baili Rui formally bid farewell to Guoguo.

"Once I’m home, I’ll bring some sweet cakes my mom makes for you," Baili Rui said, holding Guoguo’s hand.

Guoguo looked at him, bit his lip, and pulled him to run toward the North Courtyard Main Hall.

"Grandpa, Grandma, I want to go to Liangzhou City with Brother Rui," Guoguo said as he ran, panting into the room, heading toward Prince Luling and the Princess Consort.