The whole family is reborn, and their five-year-old child becomes the darling of the entire capital.

In her previous life, she had never heard of the Ning family marrying a girl from the countryside. Could there be some hidden reason behind this?

The Duchess showed a hint of confusion, but nodded slightly in agreement. She knew this was not the right time to ask. "Very well. But if you want to gain a foothold in the capital and build a career, you must abandon all the ties of the countryside."

The Duchess spoke earnestly and sincerely, her words filled with goodwill and admonition.

However, when these words reached Madam Ning's ears, they sounded like the pressure and coercion from someone in a high position.

Madam Ning's face stiffened, her heart filled with fear and unease, lest her insistence jeopardize her beloved son's future. "I am deeply grateful for the guidance of the Duchess."

Ning Xiaohe, standing to the side, stared intently at Mu Siliao, her lips gently biting down.

The Duchess noticed Ning Xiaohe and chuckled softly, "I heard that Xiaohe and Xixi are in the same class?"

"Indeed, Xiaohe is rather slow-witted and her studies have progressed slowly, so we had to have her study again. Who would have thought that your cousin would also be enrolled in the Imperial Academy?" Madam Ning replied with a smile, a hint of helplessness in her words.

Ning Xiaohe lowered her eyes, a hint of sadness flashing across them. She had already learned the lessons of the primary academy, but she was aware of her own status in the family. Since she could not rely on the Yan family, she had no choice but to seek a higher branch to attach herself to.

-

Mu Yunchao held the still-sleeping Xiao Yuxi in his arms and gently and carefully placed her on the carriage.

He turned his gaze to Xie Yaochuan beside him and earnestly instructed, "I have specially arranged more than a dozen guards to ensure Xixi's safety."

“She was in a coma when she was brought home from Yunnan last time. We can’t be sure if she can withstand such a long journey. Please keep a close eye on her condition.”

Xie Yaochuan smiled slightly and replied with a firm and confident tone, "Don't worry, bring Xixi back safely just as you took her out. By the way, keep a close eye on Yan Hou's every move, and communicate with him immediately if there are any problems."

Just as Xiao Yuxi was drifting off to sleep, she felt as if her whole body was swaying, and something seemed to be gently pecking at her cheek.

"Yingrui, I really want to take a nap a little longer..." Xiaoyu waved her little hand, murmuring to herself in a half-dreaming, half-awake state.

"Lazybones! Lazybones!" Suddenly, a clear and loud parrot's cry rang out, like a thunderclap ripped across the sky, instantly waking Xiao Yuxi up.

Her eyes widened in astonishment, then she cried out with ecstatic joy, "Bu Bu!"

After circling and dancing in the air once, the colorful parrot landed lightly on Xiao Yuxi's shoulder, leisurely stroking its magnificent feathers.

After a long while, Xiao Yuxi realized that she was in a carriage, and Xie Yaochuan was leaning against the door, gazing at her with a smile.

"I told you long ago, it won't be more than two days, how about that?" Xie Yaochuan said in a casual tone.

"Brother Yaochuan is so amazing!" Xiaoyu looked at him with eyes full of admiration, her eyes sparkling like stars.

Xie Yaochuan desperately suppressed the smile that was creeping onto his lips, gently tapped on the car window, and instructed, "Find a place to rest up ahead."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuxi quickly got up from her seat, reached out and lifted the curtain to look outside. She was surprised to find that they were already far away from the capital.

She knew yesterday that she needed to leave very early this morning, but she still couldn't get up on time. After all, it was indeed too early.

This trip was a homecoming journey, so the carriage used was extremely luxurious, followed by thirty or forty other people. Such a grand procession was simply to show the villagers that the second daughter of the Hu family from back then had now achieved great success.

Previously, Xie Yaochuan had specially arranged for someone to disguise themselves as a traveling merchant to gather information, but even the Lady Yun that Xiao Yuxi had mentioned was nowhere to be found.

Such caution is truly frightening.

It is likely that only those who have known them since childhood can make them lower their guard.

His main goal was to communicate with those who had been trafficked and then follow the trail to their homes.

Those two people from last time went through great lengths to pry a little useful information out of those tightly sealed mouths, but they died inexplicably in prison the very next day.

Based on my years of experience navigating the officialdom, I'm certain that someone in the court is deliberately obstructing our investigation.

Given this, staying in the capital now would likely lead to more obstacles and dangers. It would be better to find an excuse to leave the capital temporarily and then secretly follow the clues to investigate further.

"Where's your box?" Xiao Yuxi gently stroked the parrot's head, a hint of doubt in her eyes.

The parrot turned its head to look at Xie Yaochuan, then quickly turned back, repeatedly chanting, "The food has been changed! The food has been changed!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuxi's eyes widened in disbelief, and she asked in a slightly trembling voice, "Then... all that gold was used to exchange for food?"

She knew that the gold was a huge sum of money, enough to buy a lot, a lot, a lot of grain!

The parrot seemed to be full of disdain and pride for everything around it; it turned its head away, looking smug.

Hmph, this parrot doesn't care about any of that!

Xie Yaochuan's eyelashes trembled slightly, inwardly annoyed. He had been so focused on bringing the parrot back that he had completely forgotten about the box he'd given to the guards to find out which country it came from, and had completely forgotten to retrieve it.

The parrot turned its head to look at her, repeatedly calling out, "The food has been changed! The food has been changed!"

Then it flew directly onto Xie Yaochuan's shoulder and stopped, tilting its head to look at her.

Seeing this, Xiao Yuxi couldn't help but pout and say, "Oh dear, why are you so greedy?"

She spoke without any sense of intimidation.

Xie Yaochuan chuckled softly, unable to contain himself.

The cars following behind them were filled with all sorts of food, except for Xiao Yuxi's own clothes; the contents filled several large boxes.

Mu Yunchao specially prepared all of this for her, fearing that she might not be used to the food during her journey and would lose all the weight she had worked so hard to gain.

The parrot clearly disagreed with Xiao Yuxi's accusation, angrily flying over and pecking at her, shouting indignantly, "You're the greedy one! You're the greedy one!"

Little Yu Xi puffed out her cheeks and glared at him, "Bu Bu, you're bad!"

The parrot flew over and pecked at Xie Yaochuan's sleeve in an annoyed manner.

Xie Yaochuan, somewhat amused and exasperated, opened the box next to him and fed the parrot.