Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Just as Xia Yu was in the capital preparing to welcome the envoy, Zhangjiacun wrote a letter saying that Changyuan had secretly run away. He left only a few words, which could be barely made out as meaning that he was going to join the army and fight.

It turned out that he had followed the village chief to the county government office that day, begging the commander who came to receive new recruits to accept him.

But Old Master Zhang had already given the commander some silver before him, asking the commander to refuse that kid Changyuan's request.

The commander could tell that the man wasn't on the list, and that he had an uncle who was an official in the court, and a younger sister who was newly appointed as the Lady of Wenfu Township by the emperor. So the commander very politely accepted the money from Old Master Zhang and assured him that he would never accept Changyuan, this half-grown boy, into the army.

Just when everyone thought the kid had given up, he ran away that very night with all the money he had saved over the years.

The next day, when they discovered he was missing, the village chief led a search party everywhere. Finally, they learned from an old woman who ran a tea stall at the county dock that he had boarded a boat early that morning, saying he was going to find the new recruits who had left the day before. Because she had never seen anyone so eager to join the army, the old woman was very impressed with him.

Now, Wang has fallen ill, and her lips are covered in blisters from worry.

The family wrote to Xia Yu to tell her about their situation and to ask her to help them find someone to help them find Changyuan.

"Sigh, they really are a handful!" Xia Yu sighed helplessly after reading the letter.

Seeing Xia Yu's unwell expression, the nineteenth servant cautiously asked...

"Miss, is something wrong at home?"

Xia Yu sighed.

"Third brother ran away secretly, saying he was going to join the army and fight. Nobody knows where he's gone now."

"what?"

Xia Yu's words left Shijiu and Daniu speechless. It seemed like a war was really about to break out, and many people couldn't avoid it. Yet, someone under his age was voluntarily running into the war zone.

"Miss, what should we do now?" Nineteen asked cautiously.

"What can we do? We can only try to find out who the new recruits from Zhongzhou Prefecture have been assigned to. If they can find the military camp, that would be good, but I'm afraid they might run into trouble along the way, which would be difficult to handle."

"I'll go talk to my grandfather about this first; I'll need his help."

Xia Yu changed her clothes and went to the Honglu Temple with two maids. At this time, the Grand Tutor should be in the Honglu Temple discussing the specific matters of welcoming the delegation with the officials.

She arrived at the Honglu Temple by carriage. The guards at the gate recognized her, bowed respectfully, and allowed her to enter without any obstruction.

They found the office of the Grand Tutor and discovered that Shen Jingheng was also inside.

"Grandpa, Uncle, greetings." Xia Yu bowed to the two of them.

"Xiaxia, why are you here? Didn't you say you weren't coming today?" Grand Tutor Li asked, puzzled as to why she had arrived at this hour.

"Grandpa, my third brother secretly joined the army without telling the family."

Upon hearing this, both men in the room were startled. Just by looking at Changyun's age, they knew that Xia Yu's third brother was still young, far from the age to join the army.

"Do you know which unit they followed?" Li Taifu asked.

"I don't know. He went looking for the newly recruited troops in the county on his own the next day. I don't know if he found them yet," Xia Yu said helplessly.

Upon hearing this, the Grand Tutor sighed.

"This situation is not easy to handle!" After saying that, she turned to Shen Jingheng.

"Was this recruitment of new soldiers handled by your people? I'm afraid you'll need to ask the new army camp in Zhongzhou Prefecture if there's anyone named Changyuan there."

"Yes, Grand Tutor, rest assured, I will have someone take care of this matter immediately." Then he looked at Xia Yu.

"Don't worry, as long as he's in the military camp, we'll definitely find him."

Shen Jingheng called out to the outside, "Aoki!"

"My lord, do you have any orders?"

Shen Jingheng told Aoki about Changyuan's name, hometown, and age, and then made arrangements.

"Have someone go to the recruit camp in Zhongzhou Prefecture and search for him, one by one, until you find him."

"Yes, sir." Aoki gave a simple reply and left.

After Aoki left, Grand Tutor Li looked at Xia Yu and said gently...

"Since Zecheng is willing to help, he will definitely find the right person, so don't worry."

Xia Yu didn't react immediately after hearing his words and blurted out a question.

Who is Zecheng?

"Cough cough... cough cough..."

Shen Jingheng, who was drinking tea, choked and couldn't help but cough.

"Oh, I spoke carelessly. Zecheng is Lord Shen's courtesy name," Grand Tutor Li explained to Xia Yu, glancing at Shen Jingheng who was still coughing.

However, this cough reminded him of a letter his mother had written. In the letter, his mother had mentioned wanting this young girl to marry his younger brother. If the marriage were to happen, wouldn't she become his sister-in-law?

"Grandpa, Uncle, I won't keep you from discussing important matters any longer. I'll take my leave now." Xia Yu curtsied and was about to leave when she suddenly heard Shen Jingheng speak.

"Wait first!"

"Hmm? Uncle, is there anything else you need me to do?" Xia Yu asked, puzzled.

"Ahem, it's nothing, you may leave now." Shen Jingheng wanted to say, "Don't call me uncle anymore, call me elder brother from now on." But then he thought it might be inappropriate for him to say that, and it would be better to let his mother handle it. So he changed his mind and told Xia Yu to leave. However, his unusual behavior was noticed by the Grand Tutor.

Grand Tutor Li stared at Shen Jingheng's profile and fell into deep thought.

"Grand Tutor, Grand Tutor! What are you thinking about so intently?" Shen Jingheng called out twice before pulling Grand Tutor Li back to reality.

“Although this girl comes from a peasant family, she earned the title of village lady through her own abilities, and now she has formally recognized me as her grandfather. No matter what happens in the future, I will never let her become someone’s concubine.” Grand Tutor Li suddenly said this out of the blue.

Shen Jingheng's thoughts were still on how to bring Xia Yu and his younger brother together, so he nodded quickly upon hearing Li Taifu's suggestion.

"That's right, how could a dignified lady of the village become a concubine!"

Grand Tutor Li glanced at him a couple more times, and seeing that he didn't seem to be lying, he let the matter drop for the time being. The two continued their discussion of the official business they hadn't finished earlier.

However, as Shen Jingheng lay in bed that night, half asleep and about to drift off to sleep, he suddenly remembered the two nonsensical words the Grand Tutor had said to him, and then he suddenly realized what the old man meant at the time.

"He probably thinks I want to take that girl as a concubine!" Shen Jingheng muttered to himself.

"Heh, that old man really has a wild imagination. How could I possibly do such a thing!"

He sighed and shook his head, truly baffled as to why the Grand Tutor would have such a thought, before lying down again and gradually falling asleep.