After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

"Mom, don't be angry, I was wrong! Please open the door!"

Jiang Xiaoqi finally confessed her experiences over the past two years when the atmosphere was just right.

He didn't know if he had chosen a good time, but after he finished speaking, his mother didn't speak to him for three days.

Second sister is the best. Although she spanked me a few times, she raised me high and then gently put me down.

"Mommy~ Open the door! You haven't eaten for three days! Don't starve yourself!"

"Alright, little brother, be quiet for a while. Mother is still angry. Wait until she calms down before you come back to apologize."

"Second sister~ you just..."

"Stop! I've only just calmed down myself. Don't expect me to speak up for you and Mom. But I'll still bring Mom her meals on time, don't worry."

Jiang Xiyue flicked her neat ponytail, turned her head without looking back, leaving her little brother with a dashing back view.

Since leaving home, she has said goodbye to jewels, fine silks, and hairpins. Wearing neat training clothes or riding attire every day is so convenient.

She really liked herself this way. Although she also liked the jewelry her brother had given her, she would rather give up all that gold and jade than run freely on the grass like this.

Just as a door that can't be opened is a person that can't be woken up, Jiang Xiaoqi had no choice but to obey her sister and obediently wait for her mother's anger to subside.

I waited for a while next to the small courtyard where my mother and sister lived, and only after watching my second sister take dinner inside did I turn around and go back up the mountain.

"Hey? Junior brother, you're back! Your aunt still won't see you?"

"Yeah, I was probably too angry. Sigh, I should have known better than to say it."

"Sigh, just like you said before, it's a matter of sticking your neck out or not. If you don't speak up now, you won't even have anyone to speak up for you later."

"No, senior brother, I mean, I might have miscalculated. My mother is not the same as she used to be."

Maybe I got the order wrong. I should have talked to Grandpa first. He'll only be angry for a day at most. We can get him to calm down faster then.

"Hahaha, is this what people mean when they say 'women are fickle'? Regardless of age."

"Alright, senior brother! You didn't even try to stop me that night, all you do is make sarcastic remarks."

"Haha, alright, alright, there's no such thing as a mother holding a grudge overnight. Your mother is angry because she cares about you and loves you. You should be happy. Unlike me, I've been motherless since I was little, and I never even had the chance to make her angry..."

Li Haisheng pretended to be relaxed, but Jiang Xiaoqi could still detect a hint of loneliness in his words.

"Senior brother, should I say 'My mother is your mother' at this moment? But I don't want to say it. You don't need anyone's pity because you are strong!"

"Oh? Why do you act like you know me so well? I really don't need anyone's pity."

However... it would be nice if your mother were my mother-in-law~ Li Haisheng thought to himself.

However, he certainly didn't dare to say these things aloud. It's better not to say inappropriate things at inappropriate times; his junior brother is a cautionary tale.

Lin Yueniang ignored her son for a full seven days. I wonder if it was because Jiang Xiaoqi was the seventh child. Cough cough, just kidding.

That day, Jiang Xiaoqi was about to go down the mountain to coax her mother again, but when she opened the door, she saw her mother and second sister already sitting at the stone table in the courtyard.

Jiang Xiyue winked at her underlings: What are you standing there for? Come over here!

Jiang Xiaoqi ran to the stone table in a few steps, lifted his robe and was about to kneel down. After kneeling to his elders and master for so many years, he had completely adapted to the "kneeling culture" of this era.

"Alright, get up..." Lin Yueniang's voice was a little hoarse.

"mother……"

"Xiyue, I left something at the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain. Can you help me go and find it?"

"Huh? What are you going to get? Oh dear, Mother, if you want to get rid of me, just say so! What do you mean by 'getting something'?"

Okay, okay, I'm leaving, I'll make room for you guys~

"This child, after leaving home, is like a bird returning to its nest."

Jiang Xiaoqi opened her mouth, but the words she had prepared a few days ago were hard to utter.

Lin Yueniang was silent for a while before finally speaking: "Xiao Qi, you've grown up, and it's not wrong to have your own ideas, but you must know that you are the only son of the Jiang family."

You are responsible for upholding the honor of the Chiang family in the future. If anything happens to you, can your grandfather bear the blow?

Two years ago you were only seven years old. What seven-year-old would go to war? Even the most tyrannical ruler wouldn't conscript children.

I know your master is very capable and can protect you, but Mr. Ouyang also has his own mission on the battlefield, and he cannot watch over you all the time.

Your senior brother is just a young boy, and he's only a senior brother; he has no obligation to protect or take care of you.

Wenbin and the others are your servants, but what master would rashly take his servants to the battlefield?

They are just like you, only children in their families. They also have parents and families. If anything happens to them, how will you explain it to Butler Wen and Uncle Li Shan? Where are you going to find a replacement son for them?

We are the masters, that's true, but we bought their ability to work, not their lives or property!

This was the first time Jiang Xiaoqi had heard her mother say so much. It turned out that her mother's seven-day silence wasn't entirely because she had disregarded her own safety; her mother had thought about so much more.

When did I start treating Wenbin and Li Mo as my possessions?

How could my own soul in this later life not value the right to life of others as much as the natives?

Compared to his mother, he was more like a soul under the rule of a feudal dynasty.

He knew that his mother had many things she wanted to say but had kept to herself.

For example, he was his mother's only son, born when she was quite old, and now that she is forty-one, she is overwhelmed with grief over the loss of her son.

“Mother, I truly know I was wrong, but I do not regret going to the North.”

If you, like me, had witnessed the tragic struggle of the northern people against the northern barbarians over the years, the desolation of nine out of ten houses being empty, and the determination of everyone to be a soldier, perhaps you would understand your child.

If my son can become an official in the court in the future, this experience will be even more valuable. I will understand better the hardships of soldiers fighting bravely against the enemy and the suffering of the people.

Did you know that Marshal Mu suffered consecutive defeats and lost three cities because the imperial court failed to provide adequate supplies, leaving his soldiers hungry and cold? How could they possibly win battles in such a harsh environment?

But the military pay had already been approved, and there should have been ample military supplies and provisions. It is likely that powerful officials, nobles, and members of the imperial family intervened to seek personal gain.

Later, an incompetent warlord came to the northern border and hindered things, pushing General Mourinho to the brink of despair. Only then did he send his trusted confidants to ask his master to come out of seclusion.

Serving our master is a disciple’s duty. Besides, the medicine we were preparing for our master was almost ready, and we didn’t know when he would return. That’s why my senior brother and I begged our master to take us with him.

But these are all external factors. As a son of the Chiang family, I was wrong to go north without the consent of my elders!

Lin Yueniang suddenly realized that her son was not nine years old, but nineteen.

She understood. Admitting her mistakes but not repenting, and saying so much, it all boils down to the dilemma of "being unable to balance loyalty to the country and filial piety."

"Sigh...you." Even if he had so much to say, he didn't want to say it anymore. Perhaps his son was destined to be different.

How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan? I don't think I should stop here at Yunqing Mountain.

The Northern Border? If war breaks out again, she still hopes her son can focus on the imperial examinations. As for the barbarians' ruthlessness and ferocity, she, Lin Yueniang, also wants to see for herself!