Crossing Over to Yamada Love

Xiao Hua worked very hard. In her words, the work she did at the Mo family was almost the same as what she did at home, but the food at the Mo family was much better than at home, and the Mo family members were kind. Apart from missing her family, she was very happy staying there.

Mo Lan nodded. All three were good. She would talk to her grandmother at the end of the month and ask her to make clothes for each of them and give them a generous sum of money. Since they were good at making clothes, her family couldn't treat them badly.

After the food was ready, Mo Lan helped set the table before knocking on the door. Qiu opened the door and let Mo Lan in. Mo Lan glanced at her sister, whose face was flushed, and knew that they had been talking about intimate matters.

"Dinner is ready. Let's go eat." Mo Lan pretended not to know and told everyone to go eat.

"Let's go, let's eat." Wang Shi, supporting Mo Lan's hand, took the lead and walked out. Liu Shi followed behind, then Qiu Shi, and finally Mo Mei, whose face was flushed.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the table was cleared away, and they began to drink tea.

"Xuan'er, let's have dinner before going back. It's close by, just a few steps away." Qiu wanted her daughter to stay a little longer, so she suggested that they have dinner before going back.

"Alright, thank you, Mother. I already told you before I left that we'd have dinner here and then go back. I hope you won't mind if we linger." Chen Xuan replied with a smile. He had a good relationship with the Mo family, so he could rely on them here.

"No trouble at all, I'd love to. You all sit down, I'll go and make the arrangements for you. Make sure you get plenty of good food tonight." Qiu was delighted to hear Chen Xuan's words and hurriedly went to make the arrangements.

"Mom, thank you for your trouble. Please make less. We ate quite a lot for lunch. We're family, so we can just have something simple for dinner. No need to go to so much trouble."

"Zhong, please sit down and have some tea with your grandfather, your uncle, and your father. Don't worry about the meal." After saying this, Qiu hurriedly went to make arrangements.

Mo Lan smiled. "Mother, this means the mother-in-law is getting more and more satisfied with her son-in-law."

Dinner was another large meal, but no one ate much because they had eaten too much at noon and couldn't eat much at night.

After seeing Chen Xuan and Mo Mei off, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a sense of emptiness in their hearts.

A few days later, Chen Xuan's uncle and aunt were about to set off for the capital, and they came to say goodbye to the Mo family.

Since they were relatives, the Mo family treated them to good food and wine as a farewell gift.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed since Mo Mei's marriage. Life had returned to normal. During the day, Chen Xuan worked at the shop in town, and returned home in the evenings to be with Mo Mei. Qin Shi and Mo Mei helped out at the Mo family's shop in the mornings and afternoons. Qiu Shi, seeing her daughter every day, perked up again, her days filled with laughter.

At the end of July, the old Marquis sent people to the Mo family. Among them were the Marquis's second son, Wang Xiang, and the old Marquis's grand-nephew, Wang Mingyou, who was also the grandson of the second master, Wang Zhongguang. Accompanying them were two old women, two maids, six coachmen, a steward, six servants, and twenty guards. When they arrived at the Mo family, they brought a letter from the old Marquis.

The people hurriedly settled the people in the Marquis's residence and read the letter. The letter essentially said that Erlang was taking the autumn examination, and they couldn't help him at home. Everyone in the residence was anxious to see Wang Shi and her family, but the Marquis was too busy to come and fetch them. So he sent Wang Xiang and another person to bring them to the capital. As for Erlang, he could also go to the capital after the autumn examination, and the Marquis would arrange for Erlang to study there.

After reading the letter, Wang was quite excited. She also longed to go to the capital; at least she needed to pay her respects at her parents' graves, see her second brother, and revisit her former family home. She had originally planned to wait until her second brother finished the autumn examinations, but her eldest brother's words made sense; she couldn't offer much help at home while he was taking the exams. It would be better to set off for the capital earlier, so she could return before the New Year.

Mo Lan could tell that her grandmother was having second thoughts, and knew that persuasion would be useless. However, she was a little worried. Her grandmother was too anxious to notice, but she could sense it herself. The attitudes of Wang Xiang and Wang Mingyou, who came this time, were quite different from those of Wang Zhi and Wang Mingda, who came with the Marquis last time. Wang Xiang was relatively normal, but Wang Mingyou's demeanor was arrogant, and he was quite picky about the food and lodging. Clearly, he didn't care much for his poor relatives.

Behind her grandmother's back, Mo Lan gathered all the members of the Mo family together and secretly told them about it.

"Lan'er, what does your grandma mean?" Mo Changhe asked Mo Lan. His daughter, who spent all her time with her mother, should understand her thoughts best.

"Father, my grandmother really wants to go, but I always feel that this trip to the capital won't be as good as she imagines. Yes, my great-uncle is very good to my grandmother, genuinely so. But what about other people? The Marquis's mansion is so big, and people have different ideas. If our whole family goes, it will inevitably give people the impression that we're going to rely on the Marquis. I'm thinking, this time it's just my grandmother and me going. My second brother has to take the exam, and we can't leave the house unattended. After we open our own shop in the capital and have a foothold, we can all go and see what it's like." Mo Lan didn't hide anything and told her what she was thinking.

“Lan’er is right. Anyway, I don’t want to go to the Marquis’s mansion. Just thinking about it makes me sweat. I wouldn’t know what to say or do, I wouldn’t know what to do with my hands and feet, I would feel very uncomfortable. I’d rather stay at home.” Qiu Shi was the first to agree with Mo Lan’s opinion. The thought of going to the Marquis’s mansion made her tremble. As a country woman, she would only make a fool of herself in front of others if she went. It was better not to go.

"I don't plan to go either. My only worry is for Mother's health, but with Lan'er there, and the maids and servants, I don't think there will be any problems," Liu Shi said, expressing her opinion. She didn't want to go to the capital either.

“I’ll take care of the shop. How about you take our parents and Lanlan to the capital, Changhe? It wouldn’t be right if no man went.” Mo Changhe thought for a while and then gave his decision.

"Me?" Mo Changhe was taken aback. In fact, he didn't feel anything about going to the capital. He had been living here since birth and didn't yearn for any other place.

Mo Quan was also taken aback. He knew what his wife was thinking, but he couldn't go with her because his health couldn't handle it.

"I won't go. I'm afraid my body will fall apart before I even get to the capital. I'll feel at ease with Lan'er by my side," Mo Quan said, though there was a hint of disappointment in his expression.

"Grandpa, it's alright. When you're healthier, our whole family will go to the capital. Your granddaughter will then show you around." Mo Lan held Mo Quan's hand to comfort him.

"Yes. Grandpa is waiting for Lan to take me there." Mo Quan chuckled.

“Then Father should stay as well. Second Brother is taking the exam, so Father needs to be at home. Whether or not he can help, Second Brother will have someone to rely on at home.” Mo Lan didn’t plan to let Mo Changhe go either, because the capital was a mixed bag. Maybe the old Marquis would be in a good mood and take Father to meet guests. Father had never experienced this before, and if he was ridiculed by others, Mo Lan was worried that he wouldn’t be able to bear it.

"Can you and your grandma manage?" Mo Changhe hesitated.

“Alright, the two Xue brothers will be going too. The Marquis’s residence is also the maternal grandparents’ home of the Seventh Young Master Xue, so he will stay there as well. Xue Lingfeng will probably stay there as well. They will take care of us. There will be servants and guards along the way, so what problems could possibly arise? Don’t worry. I will write home when we arrive.” Mo Lan reassured everyone.

The Mo family remained silent for a while before agreeing with Mo Lan's opinion. The matter was settled, but plans can change quickly. Just as they were about to leave, Wang Xiang said that the Marquis had instructed that one of his nephews must go, so in the end, Mo Changhe accompanied Wang Shi and Mo Lan.

The Mo family prepared two cross-stitched screens for us. These were made by Liu and Mo Mei over the past two months. The screens depicted landscapes and looked grand and magnificent, befitting the status of the Marquis's mansion. The frames were also of high quality. They were quite eye-catching.

She also brought pine nuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts. Several jars of pickled wild vegetables were also brought. She brought a thousand taels of silver notes, which the old Marquis had secretly given to Wang Shi. She also brought some silver mules and bolts of cloth as gifts. Mo Lan didn't bring anything particularly special; she was just going to take a look and didn't want to attract attention.

Inside the carriage, she placed several cushions woven by her own family, two cattail pillows, and a brocade quilt for her and Wang Shi to rest in. The other bundles contained Wang Shi and her change of clothes, mostly brightly colored new garments. There were also two packages of jewelry, brought by Wang Xiang on behalf of the Marquis; these were of excellent quality and were likely intended as gifts for Wang Shi to present to her younger relatives when she traveled to the capital to meet her family.

After bidding farewell to the Mo family, and with their reluctant farewells, the carriage started moving. Watching the Mo family figures grow smaller and smaller along the roadside, Madam Wang lowered the curtain and wiped away her tears with a handkerchief. She had never traveled far from home in all these years. Now, leaving home for the capital, her heart truly ached.

"Grandma, it's alright, we'll be back in a few months," Mo Lan said, leaning against Wang Shi to comfort her.

"Yes, Grandma knows." Wang hugged her granddaughter and stroked her hair, feeling much more at ease.

The carriage arrived in town and stopped, as we had arranged to meet the Xue brothers there.

Mo Lan peeked out and saw only the handsome Xue Lingyun, but not Xue Lingfeng.

Xue Lingyun walked over with a smile, bowed to Madam Wang, and said, "Greetings, Great-Grandmother. Was your journey pleasant?"

"Okay, thank you for your hard work this time." Madam Wang and Xue Lingyun were very polite to each other. No matter what, the child had half of the Wang family's blood, and she still found him pleasing to the eye.

"Grandmother, you're too kind. This is all Lingyun should do," Xue Lingyun said politely, then turned her gaze to Mo Lan.

He stared at Mo Lan for a while, then took a basket from a servant beside him and handed it to Mo Lan, saying, "Lan Lan, Fifth Brother isn't coming. He asked me to bring this to you, saying you'll understand what he means as soon as you see it."

Wang and Mo Lan could clearly see that the basket was more than half full of pears. A cold glint flashed in Wang's eyes as she looked at Xue Lingyun. What did he mean by this? Was he helping Xue Lingfeng pass on a message that he wanted to separate from his granddaughter?