The general kneels on the washboard again

The sky in the distance gradually brightened, and a few majestic crowing of chickens disturbed the peace of the whole village. However, there were guards outside every door, so now everyone could only stay at home.

In the courtyard of Yue Niang's house, Princess Minjia and Zhong Hongyuan were saying their final goodbyes.

Reminiscing about the past was inevitable: "Brother Hongyuan, I still remember when I was ten years old, my father asked you to teach me archery. When I first saw you, I wondered how such a handsome man could exist in the world."

......

Zhong Hongyuan raised his hand, but still did not touch Princess Minjia.

Princess Mingjia said angrily, "You never cross the line. This time, it was only because of my provocation. If you are willing to cross the line, even if it means being ridiculed by the world, I am willing to do so."

Zhong Hongyuan looked at his princess distressedly: "Princess, I'm sorry, I thought I could get away."

Princess Minjia stood up, her back to Zhong Hongyuan. "No, I won't run away. The night before I left Kyoto, my mother seemed to have a premonition. She told me that if you are born into the royal family, you must not do whatever you want. I have been used to doing whatever I want since I was a child, and she was afraid that I would make mistakes. But I also grew up eating the food of the people. How could I not love this country?"

Just these few short sentences.

Princess Minjia then washed her face in a wooden tub by the well, straightened her posture, and opened the door. "Duke Jiang, I'll go with you. Take good care of Hongyuan."

She didn't even look back at him, but both of them were crying their hearts out.

Even though she had long understood that the princess would not be with the knight, Yue Niang was still touched and started crying too.

Jiang Yunxiao came in to clean up the mess and finally recognized Yue Niang this time: "Little beggar, why is it you? You were telling me yesterday, huh, so you knew it all along? No wonder you knew that man was a liar."

Old Madam Fu protected Yue Niang even more closely.

Jiang Songrui also walked in, looked at the impoverished grandparents and grandchildren, and shook his head.

He threatened without anger, "Let's just pretend that what happened today never happened. If I hear a third person talking about it, you will lose your lives."

Then he led people to carry the crying Zhong Hongyuan away.

Jiang Yunxiao pointed at his father helplessly and tilted his head towards Yue Niang. "He's just so annoying, but you mustn't say anything nonsense."

Old Madam Fu hurriedly promised in a panic: "No, no, don't worry, Master."

After everyone left, Old Madam Fu hurriedly brought Yue Niang into the house and asked, "Yue'er, do you know that young military officer?"

Yue Niang knew that it was about Jiang Yunxiao calling him a liar, which was nothing, so she explained it to Old Lady Fu word by word.

After hearing this, Mrs. Fu also complained to Fu Shiqing: "This Shiqing is getting more and more out of touch. You are only nine years old, and he doesn't worry about you getting lost."

He then carefully instructed Yue Niang: "Next time you encounter something like this, stay away from it. What if that beacon boy gets so angry that he takes you away with him?"

Mother Ji, who was hiding in the house, came out.

"Madam, this scene just now was really scary."

Old Mrs. Fu patted her chest with lingering fear: "Yes, fortunately it was Jun Ye."

From the conversation between the two, Yue Niang learned that Ji's mother had been preparing valuables in the house in order to "redeem Yue Niang."

Old Mrs. Fu was as kind and gentle as I remembered.

It was dawn, and Yue Niang had plans for the day, but she was only a nine-year-old child after all.

I told the old lady directly, but I was afraid she would not agree. After making a simple breakfast with the leftover fish soup from last night, I said I wanted to go find Erya to play.

It was not the busy farming season these days, and Erya was still free, so Yue Niang begged Erya to take her to the town.

Erya agreed, as she just needed to buy some hair ornaments.

Erya's mother happened to see them: "Oh, Yue'er, I was just about to go to your house. What were those soldiers doing outside your house last night?"

Yue Niang knew that Er Ya Niang was worried that her family would get into trouble, so she quickly pretended to be innocent and said, "Aunt, didn't those soldiers surround every family last night?"

Erya's mother also broke the casserole to ask the truth: "But the military master in your family was the last to withdraw."

Yue Niang pretended not to know: "Ah? Really? But my grandmother and I are all fine, and those soldiers were very friendly. They even asked us to go back to the house to rest. We don't even know when they left."

Erya's mother breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that everything is fine, it's good that everything is fine, Erya, you should go and come back soon."

What Yue Niang was going to use today was Jiang Yunxiao's one or two taels of silver, but she also secretly took note of it in her heart and would definitely return it to him double in the future.

Yue Niang planned to buy two chicks and two hens, as well as some daily necessities.

I originally wanted to buy some seeds, but Erya wouldn't let me, insisting that it would be enough to just share some from his family.

The two men took the chicks across the village entrance and were stopped by a woman when they were almost at Erya's house.

The woman had a high forehead, high cheekbones, a thin mouth, and a sharp and sarcastic face.

Pointing at the hen in Yue Niang's basket, he opened his mouth and said, "You ugly beggar, you stole my hen. Everyone, come and give me some justice."

Several houses nearby were attracted by the excitement.

Erya argued, "Aunt Zhang, who stole your chicken? We bought this in town today."

"Bought it? This little beggar's family is so poor that they have nothing to eat and their walls are leaking. How could she afford it? She even stole something from the army yesterday. Did you forget that the general removed the broken wall from her house at the latest this morning?"

The woman refused to give in and even advised Erya with 'good intentions': "Zhao girl, don't stay with people like that, or you won't know how your house was robbed."

Yue Niang put the basket on the ground and said, "Aunt Zhang, right? First, you said my family stole things from the army. Why are we still here and not imprisoned? Secondly, you said this hen is yours. Do you have any evidence?"

Aunt Zhang looked around at the people behind her and felt very confident. She skipped over what happened to Junye this morning and just talked about stealing chickens: "Can you afford to sell them? I don't have enough chickens, and you have too many."

This was the first time Yue Niang faced such a shameless person. If her height allowed, she would definitely kick her to the ground.

But his strength did not allow him to do so: "Okay, since you said this chicken is yours, what does it look like?"

Aunt Zhang laughed: "What? Don't all hens look like that?"

Yue Niang hadn't spoken yet when she heard a timid voice from the crowd: "Aunt Zhang, your chickens are not lost."

Looking closely, a skinny, sallow-skinned boy of seventeen or eighteen years old was speaking up for justice.

Aunt Zhang glared at the young man and snorted, "Li An, are you involved too?"

Ang Lee, this name always feels strangely familiar.

The young man quickly denied it, "No, auntie, I don't have any. It's just that your family has six chickens, which my father gave to your family two days ago. And since you don't believe this girl, nor do you believe me and the Zhao family's sister, then you can ask the village chief to seek justice. Or we can go to town now, it's not too late, and ask the vendors."

At this time, Aunt Zhang scolded Li An harshly: "You are such an unlucky guy who deserves to have his head chopped off."

Yue Niang urged again, "Aunt, you haven't told me what color your hens are."

Aunt Zhang said casually, "It's grass yellow."

Yue Niang smiled and opened the basket. Inside, lying with their feet tied up, were two white cowpeas.

"Then I'm afraid this isn't my aunt's house."

Yue Niang was actually afraid that she would not be able to tell whose chicken it was, so she deliberately chose one with a different color from Erya's chicken. Who would have thought that it was also different from Aunt Zhang's chicken.

Aunt Zhang was in the wrong, so she left after saying that it was not her house.

The perpetrator left, and the onlookers naturally dispersed as well.