The strong-willed Zhixuan whimpered and ran to hug Antai tightly when he was about to step into the carriage, "Dad, can you not go? Let's go back to Gongjiang's hometown together!"
"The emperor's orders cannot be violated. Good boy, you must listen to your sister from now on!"
"But I don't worry about you. I don't want to be without a father."
Qianru also cried and burst into tears.
King Gui is the emperor's uncle. She had heard of his bad reputation in her previous life when she was in the Marquis Mansion.
He was a powerful man with military power in his hands. Even the emperor had to be courteous and reverent. He would stomp his feet and make the capital city tremble.
"Dad, when you go, don't be serious."
"What are you going to do if you don't take things seriously? Look at Zhixuan and wait for me to come back."
At this time, Shangguan Yuan came on horseback, patting his chest and promising that he would escort An Tai to Gui County safely.
Only then did Zhixuan let go.
But as soon as the carriage moved, he regretted it again and chased him all the way, crying and shouting: "Dad!"
An Tai opened the curtain and waved him back, but when he saw that he refused and fell into the snow, he got out of the car and held him in his arms.
"Be good! As General Shangguan is here, dad will be fine. You have to be strong and protect your sister."
Zhixuan took out a bunch of small bells from his arms and put them into his father's hand. "Dad, put this on your body and hang it up when you go to bed at night. This way, you will be alert when bad guys come."
The bell was bought for his son at the Antai New Year's Eve Lantern Festival. He did not expect that his son would be so filial and resourceful. He immediately saw a glimmer of long-term hope and cherished the bell in his arms.
Qianru also had something she wanted to give to An Tai, but it was a little ugly and she didn't have the nerve to take it out at first. Now that it was the last moment, she didn't care about so much, so she closed her eyes and stuffed a crumpled sachet into it.
Aetna.
"There are some refreshing herbs in there, as well as some Bupleurum pills. Dad might be able to use them."
Shangguan Yuan took it and took a look at it, tears of laughter came out, "It's made like this, no wonder it's taken out now."
She blushed with embarrassment and solemnly assured An Tai that no matter what, she would definitely find a way to raise Zhixuan.
An Tai nodded happily and reluctantly stepped onto the carriage.
Qianru and Zhixuan watched him off silently from behind, all the way out of the south city gate.
At that time, the carriage had already left the capital for more than ten miles.
Zhixuan threw himself into her arms regretfully and confessed to her what happened that day when the imperial army raided the house.
He guessed that Liu and Zhihui were going to blame Qianru, so he took a shortcut over the wall and went home.
Sure enough, after Mr. Liu lured Qianru away, Zhihui hid the money box in Qianru's house.
He was so angry that he retaliated with tooth and secretly placed the money box in Mrs. Liu's house, allowing Mrs. Liu to be searched.
The Liu family was doomed, but the entire An family also suffered a great disaster.
"Sister, I regret it so much. I should have taken the money box away with me. If the officers and soldiers had found nothing, maybe things wouldn't be like this."
"It's not your fault. It's because the evil people in this world are too rampant."
Qianru comforted her like this, but in fact she couldn't pass the test of conscience.
In the afternoon, an official came to ask for An Qianwen's medical expenses. After Qianru paid it, she found that the remaining money at home was really pitiful.
An Tai didn't know if she could come back alive. For the sake of her future life, she fired all the handymen and cooks at home.
The original intention was to save some money so that I could plan for a long-term livelihood in the future.
Unexpectedly, one day while doing laundry, Zhixuan came to help and got his shoes wet. He failed to replace them in time and caught a cold.
The onset of the illness was sudden, and after only a few hours, my face was burning and red.
She hurriedly went to ask the doctor.
After grabbing a few doses of medicine, the whole family's money was reduced to more than thirty taels. After deducting Zhixuan's three months' tuition and miscellaneous expenses, only five taels of silver were left.
It's so stretched.
How should I spend my days in the future?
The official came again to ask for An Qianwen's medical expenses.
She had no choice but to hand over her last five taels of silver.
She had no choice but to find all the jewelry in Liu's, An Qianya's and An Qianwen's houses and sell them for a total of more than twenty taels of silver.
When I was going home, I saw a carriage parked in front of my house.
The driver looked familiar.
Shangguanyuan?
She quickly stepped towards the threshold, only to realize that it was Mrs. Shangguan.
Zhixuan, who had a runny nose, was serving tea to the old lady.
The old lady took it in disgust and put it aside. When she raised her eyes and saw her, her face became even more embarrassed.
The person who came here is not kind!
What should I do?
She hesitantly walked up to the old lady and greeted her.
The old lady threw a crumpled sachet at her feet angrily.
The sachet was given to An Tai a few days ago, and now it is in the hands of Mrs. Shangguan. What is going on?
While she was still reacting, the old lady Shangguan's slap was branded on her face.
"Why do you hit my sister?"
Zhixuan waved his little fist and wanted to avenge her, but was held back by the old lady's maid.
"When we first discussed the marriage, I still had a good impression of you. I didn't expect that on the outside you look as proud as your father, but on the inside you act like a coquettish vixen."
"Shut up!" She couldn't bear it anymore and retorted angrily. Unexpectedly, she was slapped again before she could say anything. The more she retorted, the more slaps she got.
She was born in a general family and had great skills. Even though she was older, her vigor was not comparable to that of a boudoir woman like her.
"An Qianru, please remember, you are an abandoned woman and not worthy of my son. You are not allowed to interact with each other again in the future!"
After that, he ordered someone to give her a bag of silver and left.
Scholars can be killed but not humiliated.
She chased him out and angrily threw the money at the old lady's feet.
"Even if I, An Qianru, am so depressed that I beg on the street, I will never ask for your Shangguan family's money."
The old lady didn't look back, ordered someone to pick up the silver, and got on the carriage with great satisfaction.
"Sister, this is definitely not what Brother Shangguan meant."
"Marriage is a major matter of parents' orders and matchmaker's words. It doesn't matter what he means."
What she said was not unfounded.
When he married Shangguan Yuan in his previous life, Shangguan Yuan obeyed his mother in everything. After his rebirth, she seemed to have changed a bit, but now it seems that it is nothing more than that.
She took out her handkerchief and wiped the snot from Zhixuan's face.
Because of illness, Zhixuan has been late for school for five days.
To prevent him from missing his homework, she found the book and asked him to sit by the stove in the kitchen and read.
This way she could boil the medicine and supervise him at the same time.
The next day, seeing that his nose had stopped, she took him to the college early to enroll.
Master Zhou from the college was Antai's classmate and was very sympathetic to the An family's situation. Not only did he not embarrass them, he also took the initiative to help and beg the dean to reduce Zhixuan's miscellaneous fees.
Although this is a drop in the bucket for Anjia's current situation, it is a timely help after all.
Qianru was extremely grateful and silently made a note of Master Zhou in her heart.
Unexpectedly, Zhixuan ran back just after noon.
His whole body was covered in wounds, his forehead and face were all bruised and swollen.
Qianru wanted to rush to the academy to seek justice for him, but as soon as she left the house, several ladies came to her with bruised and swollen children to settle accounts.
Each of those children was more seriously injured than Zhixuan, and the most serious one even had his nose crooked.
"An Zhixuan, how could you be so harsh to your classmates?"
"I cannot allow anyone to slander my father and sister. My father is an upright official and my sister is the best woman in the world."
The ladies were too lazy to argue with them, so they just said two words: "Compensate!"
Zhixuan then grabbed all the money in his book bag and threw it to them. There were twenty taels in total, which happened to be the tuition fees paid to the academy early in the morning.
How can this little money be enough to calm people's anger?
They want two hundred taels.
Qianru really couldn't afford it, and she didn't dare to give them the remaining money at home, so she had to let them scold her.
"You've been greedy for thirty thousand taels of silver, and you still have to rely on us for medical expenses. You're like a bunch of beasts!"
At this time, Hu Yong, the imperial censor, suddenly arrived and rescued them, but also brought them bad news.
An Tai was assassinated on his way to Guijun.
To be precise, he was burned to death while staying at the inn. Shangguan Yuan was seriously injured and could not hand over An Tai's ashes to them in person, so he entrusted the matter to Hu Yong.
Hu Yong knew that life in An's family was difficult, so he waited until he received the pension before sending An Tai's ashes there.
They had just decorated the mourning hall when Liu, An Qianya, and An Qianwen appeared unexpectedly.