The maid's road to success

Leaving Qingzhou, the next stop is Yuzhou, the hometown of Anping and Anning.

An Ning was cautious along the way. When he encountered a town, he would go in to investigate before settling everyone down. After walking for seven or eight days, everyone finally saw the city gate of Yuzhou.

Wen Niang looked at the soldiers guarding the city gates, the orderly streets inside the city gates, and the relaxed and slow feeling everywhere, and she immediately fell in love with this place.

Bihe liked this place very much. As soon as she paid the entrance fee, she took Wen Niang to look at the bustling stalls.

The people here are very peaceful, unlike Kyoto which is always busy.

"An Ning, did you live in a place like this before? I really like this place."

An Ning seemed to miss this place as well, and looked at everything here with fascination.

"My sister and I live in a rural area far from Yuzhou City. The mountain roads are difficult to walk on and it takes a whole day to get there. It's not as beautiful as here."

Seeing that Bihe was finally happy, Wen Niang felt much better immediately. They bought a lot of things and chose a clean inn to stay in.

There were not many people in the inn in the afternoon. The waiter was dozing off in the lobby. When he heard someone coming in, he immediately spoke.

"How many of you are staying in a hotel or having a meal?"

An Ning threw out a string of copper coins.

"Open two rooms for three days. They must be clean and tidy."

The waiter took the money, brought it directly to the front counter, and then led a few people upstairs.

"It's great to see you all. We have just renovated our store. The furniture in the room is all new. It's very comfortable to live in."

The waiter said as he walked.

"Our restaurant doesn't serve food. If you want to eat, you can order from the menu. We deliver hot water once a day. If it's not enough, you have to pay extra. And if you want the hay for your carriage, I'm afraid you have to pay extra. But our location is good. There is a popular theater and teahouse nearby. It's convenient for watching a play or listening to a book. In the evening, you can see Yuzhou Lake in half an incense stick of time. There are many flower boat performances there at night. It's beautiful."

An Ning and An Ping refused the waiter's help and cleaned the room by themselves.

Two days before coming to Yuzhou, several people couldn't find a suitable place to rest, so they rested in the carriage. At last, they could take a comfortable hot bath.

After changing into clean clothes, Wen Niang and Bi He took An Ning and An Ping out for a walk. The theater here was quite famous and they could hear a lot of people talking about it as they walked along the street.

Several people were sitting in the theater listening to a play, and An Ning and An Ping seemed a little absent-minded.

Bihe noticed it and reminded Wen Niang.

"Don't worry, give us a day to rest, and we'll visit you at your house tomorrow."

An Ning lowered her head and said with trepidation.

"We are not welcome at home, and I'm afraid our family members don't want to see us either."

Bihe didn't expect them to think this way.

"We are here not to fulfill their wishes, but because you have been away from home for too long and we want to come back and take a look. It's just right that they don't want to see you. I'm afraid they will fight us for you, and what will happen if you leave us and go home?"

An Ning looked at Bihe with a smile, knowing that she was comforting her and afraid that she would be sad, so she handed her a plate of freshly peeled walnuts and didn't say much.

An Ning was conflicted. She was already old enough to remember when she was sold, and knew how miserable her and her sister's lives were at home, and how their father and grandmother despised them.

People told everyone that they had a tough life and had brought death to their mother. They were forced to work day and night, and many times they wanted to sell them for money so that their father could find another wife.

But the villagers disagreed, saying that no one in the village was willing to sell their children. As a result, there was a lot of rain that year, the fields were flooded, and there was no harvest, so they sold them.

"My grandmother was careful and thrifty. She was in charge of the family's food and money. Even if the harvest was not good, the family still had enough food. But my father wanted to marry a widow from a neighboring village. She wanted a large dowry, so they wanted to sell us to raise the money for the dowry."

Wen Niang clapped her hands and said.

"We were all unwelcome and sold out at home, but so what? We are together now, relying on our own efforts, enjoying the beautiful scenery, eating delicious food, and listening to good operas. What a wonderful life this is. It doesn't matter what happened in the past. What matters is what will happen in the future."

An Ning and An Ping nodded. They understood what Wen Niang meant. The closer they got to Yuzhou, the more uneasy she and An Ping felt. They didn't want their father and grandmother to sell them and live too well, but they were also afraid that they would live too miserably.

An Ning and An Ping are different from Bi He and the others.

The two had been bullied at home since they were young, and things weren't much better after being bought into their master's house. Years of oppression had left them with no thoughts of revenge or resistance.

But after being sold, Bihe and Wen Niang went to the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion and were treated well by the old women and sisters in the courtyard. Naturally, they had many opinions and ideas of their own.

So they dared to take revenge for the hatred hidden in their hearts, but apart from wanting to take a look at the condition of their father and grandmother, they had no intention of doing anything else.

They were just worried that they had been sold by their family for so many years, but their father and grandmother were still living well, which made them feel uncomfortable. But they were also afraid that they were living too miserably, and they couldn't bear it.

In the end, Wen Niang and Bi He accompanied An Ning to their village, Xiaohe Village.

It is a place with beautiful scenery and simple folk customs.

An Ning said that she and her brothers and sisters were on their way back to their hometown, but they passed by here and couldn't find the direction, so they stopped here to stay the night.

The villagers were simple but not stupid. After taking a closer look at the four people, they settled them in the home with the most men in the village.

An Ning and An Ping recognized the family who were staying overnight. They were well-known for their honesty and kindness. They knew that it would not be dangerous for them to stay here, so they nodded to Wen Niang and the others.

Although the family was large, it was very clean. The warm bedding and pillows smelled of dried chrysanthemums, and everyone slept comfortably. The next day, Wen Niang felt the simplicity of Xiaohe Village.

Several aunts in the family kept pulling them to eat and drink.

"You are too thin. You should eat well."

Wen Niang didn't feel relieved until she finished her meal. Looking at An Ning who had just returned from outside, she couldn't see much emotion on her face and she was a little worried at the moment.

"Excuse me, I just went out to check the road and will set off soon. Thank you very much for bothering you."

An Ning and An Ping left a silver ingot in the room where they had slept, and left with Wen Niang and Bi He.

"My sister and I went to ask the aunt who loves gossiping the most in the village. My father got married and has his own son."

Wen Niang and Bi He looked at the two people worriedly. Just as they were about to say a few words of comfort, An Ping's somewhat joyful voice was heard.

"But they didn't live a happy life. The widow my father married was a powerful woman. Not long after she came into the house, she subdued my father and my grandmother, and made them afraid to go east."

"Although we had food and clothes, we had endless work to do every day and were often beaten and scolded. My father wanted to resist, but the widow had two brothers who were butchers. They came with knives once, and my father never dared to resist again. I saw that son, he was a good person, and he even gave us some candy when he saw us."

"People in the village said that the widow knew that their family sold their daughter in exchange for the betrothal gift to marry her, and she was worried that she would be sold in the future, so she kept a close eye on them. They were not allowed to go out for drinks, and all their earnings had to be handed over. She also kept the deeds to the family's land and houses at her mother's house."

"We watched from a distance. My father was weaving a basket, my grandmother was washing clothes, and the stepmother was sitting in the yard embroidering with a cane next to her. My father would whip her whenever she was lazy."

An Ning was not as happy as An Ping, she just said it lightly.

"That aunt said that my father once again took the money from selling the baskets to go to the secret door, and when he came back from the comfort, he was hung up and beaten half to death by my stepmother. From then on, he never dared to do it again. My grandmother didn't dare to scold her, and had to serve her carefully."

Wen Niang and Bi He can now feel An Ping's happiness, but they still don't know what An Ning thinks.

"An Ning, if you feel bad, we can help your father and stepmother get divorced."

An Ning shook his head.

"No, this is the best outcome I want to see. I sold our wife for the money I got. Making them live an uncomfortable life is what I want to see."

An Ning didn’t know what kind of scene she wanted to see when she came back before, but after today, she knew that she had let it go and no longer had to be sad about the past. She could finally have a good birthday.