Yun Siman put down his rice bowl and got up to leave. Madam Gu felt a little flustered and quickly called out to him, "Siman, Siman, wait a moment..."
"What is it, Mother?" Yun Siman paused and turned his head to ask.
Madam Gu sighed, "Siman, if you see your second brother, don't argue with him. Bring him back calmly. Your second brother listens to advice, he's not that stubborn!"
Yun Siman: "..."
If his second brother were obedient, he wouldn't have run off to the western village.
"I understand, Mother!" Yun Siman replied, then mounted his horse and rode towards the western village.
The dinner was a somber affair. After the bowls and chopsticks were cleared, the elderly couple sat on their stools with worried faces, looking at each other in silence...
In the dead of night, the villagers of the western village were already asleep.
Yun Siman crept to Fan Laowu's house in the dark and peered through the window. It was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything...
"Asleep?"
Yun Siman frowned. Just as he was about to go in and find out what was going on, he suddenly heard a stream of curses.
"This damned dog man, he ran off and left us mother and daughter. Smuggling salt is a capital offense! How many lives does this dog man have? *Sob sob*, Little Die, don't cry. From now on, your mother will live with you, even if we have to sell everything, I will raise you to adulthood..."
Yun Siman: "???"
Had Fan Laowu already left?
If he was going south to smuggle salt, he should pass through Heyang County and then head southwest...
If he rode his horse hard, he should be able to catch up with Er Man.
With this thought, Yun Siman mounted his horse, whipped it, and galloped towards the county town.
Just as they say, you can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep, just as you can never find someone who wants to hide from you...
Not long after Yun Siman left, in Fan Laowu's bedroom, Yun Erman waited with a dark expression for Fan Laowu and his wife, his body exuding a cold aura. "Why did you lie to my fourth brother?"
That's right, the conversation just now was deliberately spoken by Fan Laowu's wife to get rid of Yun Siman...
Fan Laowu was thin and gaunt, with a sharp mouth and monkey-like cheeks, and a mole on his lower eyelid.
Seeing Er Man's furious expression, Fan Laowu smiled and patted his shoulder, "Er Man, we are helping you. If we hadn't tricked your fourth brother away, you wouldn't have been able to leave, would you?"
"Even if I have to leave, I don't want to do it this way..." Yun Erman roared.
He suddenly regretted partnering with Fan Laowu.
Although he hadn't lost anything, Er Man felt that this person was unreliable, a complete swindler...
Fan Laowu's wife leaned closer to Er Man and said, "Then what's your plan? You're the one who wants to get rich and make a lot of money. We didn't force you to come. If you regret it, you can go back now. We won't stop you!"
Yun Erman: "..."
Neither of this couple was good.
Er Man decided that after making money, he would never deal with these kinds of people again...
"Alright, alright, let's get some rest for now. We'll leave when it's dawn!" Fan Laowu said.
Hmph, having someone to take the blame with him was better than enduring it alone if something happened.
Moreover, Yun Lao Er was good at writing and calculating, tall, and good-looking. If he went out to handle things in another place, he would surely succeed...
The next morning, in the Yun family's storeroom.
Madam Gu and Old Man Yun were tidying up junk. With so many people in the family, there was a lot of accumulated miscellaneous items. If they didn't tidy it up, the storeroom would be full.
"Old woman, hand me that sack. How did so many leaves blow into this storeroom?" Old Man Yun said.
Madam Gu walked to the wall, picked up a piece of sackcloth, spread it open, and helped Old Man Yun fill it with dry leaves. "Old man, do you think Siman found Lao Er? My heart is pounding."
Old Man Yun also felt uncertain.
Seeing his wife sweating with anxiety, he chuckled, "Hah, what could happen? Er Man has been smart since he was a child. No matter which child he played with, Er Man never lost out!"
"You're too carefree."
Madam Gu chided him and sighed softly, "Actually, I think it's time for Er Man to find a livelihood. Look at the eldest couple, they are running a restaurant now and earning quite a lot every month. Now that Shanshan is pregnant, she doesn't have to manage the milk cake shop. Er Man takes care of her at home while helping you farm. He must feel unbalanced..."
"What's unbalanced about him?" Old Man Yun's eyes widened, and he shook the sack vigorously. "Before our daughter stirred up these matters, weren't both Da Man and Er Man supposed to stay home and farm? Hmph, ever since our daughter raised dairy cows and opened shops, and the family had some spare money, Er Man couldn't wait to fly to the sky!"
Old Man Yun became more and more angry as he spoke, so he threw the sack on the ground, lit his pipe, and took a puff. "How does that idiom go? Good... too ambitious, yes, our Er Man is too ambitious and never satisfied. If our daughter hadn't worked so hard to earn money, could our family live such a good life now?"
"Three days without meat, two days early, and we've pickled several jars of salted duck eggs and salted goose eggs. The Hua Diao wine and sorghum wine that we could only drink during the New Year are now available every meal. What more does he want?"
Madam Gu: "..."
What's the use of you saying this now? Er Man doesn't know what kind of bewitchment Fan Laowu has put into him, but he insisted on going south to smuggle salt.
This kind of thing is strictly forbidden by the government. If caught, they are executed. Who would dare to court such misfortune...
Madam Gu squatted on the ground and picked up the sack. "Why are you shouting? Can shouting alone bring Er Man back? Alas, if it really doesn't work, let's go to the county town to find Magistrate Chen and ask him to think of a way!"
"I won't look for him!" Yun Erman put out his pipe and sat down on the dry leaves. "How much favor does our family owe Magistrate Chen? If Jingde marries Xiao Ran in the future, they might look down on us..."
"How can you think like that?"
Madam Gu frowned and pinched Old Man Yun's arm. "What have we asked him for? I think Magistrate Chen has actually benefited from our daughter's influence. I heard that after the younger daughter researched the windmill, Magistrate Chen and Prefect Qin were both promoted by one rank. Young Master Xiao has already sent the promotion letter to the palace. Tell me, whose influence have they benefited from?"
Old Man Yun licked his lips and nodded slightly, "It seems to be true..."
"Also, why did Magistrate Chen and Prefect Qin try so hard to marry their daughters into our family?" Madam Gu asked him.
Old Man Yun heard this, and that sense of pride and honor surged in his heart. "Of course, they want to share in our daughter's good fortune!"
Hmph, let alone the magistrate and the prefect, even the Crown Prince of Liang Kingdom lived in their house, and the Emperor himself had stayed there. Who brought all this about?
Madam Gu sighed softly, about to say something else, when footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the storeroom.