Chapter 773: It Turns Out to Be an Acquaintance!

an.The fat woman's heart trembled, and she whispered in defense, "I have diarrhea, I don't feel well, so I missed that job..."The maidservant, however, mercilessly ripped away her cover-up and said, "...Tao Hongying ladled a bowl of meat sauce, the kind with chili peppers, red and oily. She thought about telling her mother that they would be having lo mein for dinner tonight.

Noodles with a light and refreshing broth, seasoned with chili sauce and thinly sliced cucumbers from the previous day. Accompanied by two small dishes with sweet and sour flavors, this is a favorite among the whole family.

As soon as she stepped out of the kitchen, before she could even speak, she saw her eldest uncle leading a woman and children back home!

She was momentarily stunned, her foot caught on the step and she nearly tripped over a porcelain bowl. In a panic, she could only grab onto the doorframe for support.

When Li Laoda heard the commotion, he turned his head and saw his sister's expression. He immediately guessed she had misunderstood, so he quickly said, "Little sister, is mother in the room Someone said they knew you and mother, so I brought them back."

"Huh" Tao Hongying blinked her eyes, her face flushed with embarrassment. She quickly said, "Mother is in the house, sewing a pouch with Fu Niuer."

Li Lao Da nodded and led the woman and child inside.

Tao Hongying felt that the woman's back looked familiar, so she called Shuiyun, who was fetching water in the kitchen, to take the porcelain bowl, and hurried after her into the room.

Jia Yin woke up from her nap and went to the west wing to play with the dragon and phoenix twins. As a result, she made the two little babies cry out in excitement.

Although Huiniang wasn't angry, the old woman couldn't just let her granddaughter run amok everywhere...

She called for Grandma He and took her granddaughter to do needlework together.

Jia Yin is only a few years old. It's still too early for her to learn embroidery seriously, and her family wouldn't want her to tire herself out. Just the other day, Jia Ren and his friends came back and jokingly said they wanted their younger sister to sew them pouches.

The old woman now moved a small basket filled with various scraps of cloth. She coaxed her granddaughter to help her work, passing the time and chatting idly with Grandma He as well.

Originally, He Ma's only instruction to Jiayin was in proper etiquette. But now that the old lady has become a first-rank誥命夫人 (imperial consort), during the Lunar New Year, she is required to enter the palace to pay respects to the Empress Dowager and the Empress. Therefore, the old lady also decided to learn some etiquette.

In case she truly had to enter the palace, she wouldn't be ignorant and bring shame upon her family.

Grandma He had spent her whole life in the palace. There was no one who knew it better than her.

The two elders and the child were talking animatedly when Li Zhensheng suddenly returned with people, making them all curious.

Before the old woman could ask a question, the woman knelt down with a thud. "Ma'am," she sobbed, "I am Nanny Sun, the wet nurse who served young Miss Sun. Don't you recognize me!"

Mrs. Sun Little girl

The old woman was stunned for a moment, lowered her head to look carefully, and suddenly changed her expression, “Oh my, Mrs. Li, it’s you Didn’t you go home to the countryside with Madam Sun How are you here”

This Li's wife wasn't just anyone, she was the same wet nurse from the Sun family who had let Li Jiaqiang and his family board their boat when they fled from the north to Junyang.

The wet nurse shared the same surname as her family, and because she almost choked the young master due to her own carelessness, she was saved by Li Laotai. Therefore, she got along especially well with the Li family.

Just two years ago, when the Li family wasn't doing well, Zhao Yur and Tao Hongying were still wearing clothes given to them by Mrs. Li!

Old Mrs. Li helped her up and saw that there were white hairs in her hair and her face was pale and sallow. She was completely different from her previous plump and cheerful appearance, clearly having gone through hardship.

Li Sao wanted to speak, but as soon as she opened her mouth, tears flowed uncontrollably. "Woooooo, Auntie, save me! Our mistress is dead, and the master is gone. Uncle wants to sell our mistress' dowry. I really can't do anything about it, so I brought Miss Nuannuan out to escape!"

"Oh, poor our lady! She died with her eyes wide open!"

Old Mrs. Li heard it and was muddled, but she also knew that the Sun family had fallen on hard times. She quickly helped Mrs. Li sit down on the edge of the kang.

She gently put the bewildered and silent little girl back on the kang and instructed Jia Yin, "Funiu'er, you play with Nannan for a while. Grandma has something to say."

Jia Yin nodded and quickly went to get the snack box, then put it in front of Nuan Nuan. The little girl immediately grabbed a piece and started eating it.

The old woman felt even more heartache. She remembered that when Fu Niu was just a baby, they boarded the Sun family's boat soon after. At that time, their daughter had already learned to crawl and stand, almost half a year old.

But when they were compared side by side, Funiu was almost a head taller than Nannan!

Li Zhensheng saw his mother's face was not looking good. He didn't want to upset her, so he changed the subject, "Mother, I haven't heard you talk about the Sun family."

Tao Hongying poured a cup of warm tea for Li's sister-in-law and replied, "Big brother, you don't know. We fled from the north to Kyoto and sought refuge with our uncle in Junyang outside the city. But on the way, we were blocked at the dock and no ships were willing to carry refugees."

"Luckily, we had a nanny goat at home at the time, so we fed Fu Niu'er with its milk. The Sun family happened to be passing by on a boat. Since their daughter had no milk to drink, they took our family and the nanny goat onto their boat. That's how we reached Kyoto."

"Indeed," the old woman sighed, "Mrs. Sun is a truly kind person who has taken good care of our family. After I helped her with a small favor, Mrs. Sun gave our family over a hundred taels of silver and many pieces of clothing and household items."

“That’s because of these over a hundred taels of silver. Our family was able to settle down smoothly in Junyang, and we met these relatives here in the village. It's a pity that after the relocation of the capital, all the houses and land in Junyang were bought for nothing, and we had to flee here.”

Li Saozi wiped her tears and choked back, “Back then, I accidentally fell asleep. Miss Nannan was choking on a snack. It was Fu Niuer who cried out, and the aunt came to save Miss Nannan.”

Our wife mentioned several times before, worrying about how her in-laws were doing.

Seeing that she had calmed down a little, the old woman asked, "You just said that Mrs. Sun passed away What on earth happened"

Li Saozi's tears flowed even harder. She wiped her face fiercely and said, "Auntie, our mistress was murdered! Back then, when our mistress brought her dowry and the young miss to her natal home in the south, our master followed, leading the clan members on their journey."

“But when Madam arrived at her ancestral home, she discovered that both the old grandfather and grandmother had passed away. She waited and waited but our master did not come. She even heard many rumors saying that Master and his clan were killed by barbarians. Our Madam then fell ill.”

Perhaps thinking of the anxieties of that time, she furrowed her brow and continued, "But for Miss, Madam was still very strong. However... our uncle and Madam slowly changed their faces. At first they said business was bad, later they said there wasn't enough money at home and asked Madam to help with some silver.

"Our wife, of course, disagreed and insisted on buying a manor and moving out. Less than a month later, our wife passed away. My uncle said that our wife, being deeply in love with her husband, was worried to the point of becoming ill and ultimately died from it."

At this point, Li's wife became quite agitated, grabbing the old woman's hand and her lips trembling, "Auntie, when our mistress died, her fingernails were purple. Our mistress was poisoned to death! And she was cremated three days later, her ashes scattered at sea. The mistress' dowry was sold off, and Chun'er and the others who served her closely were also sold away."

I saw that things were bad, so I took the silver notes my wife had hidden and ran out with Miss. My uncle even spread rumors that I was fleeing in anger and had sold Miss into slavery, causing people to search for me everywhere... was Lao Li who, seeing her granddaughter holding a palm-sized note, had a bad look on her face and vaguely guessed, "Funiu'er, is something the matter"Jia Yin stood up and said, "Grandma, come insid...