CH 20

“Wang Zhao.” When Old Master Yuan saw him come in, his face was obviously happy and his beard was cocked up, but he was still confined to abide by etiquette, brought his wife and bowed to Fu Zhiyu in a formal manner. However, he was quickly helped up by Fu Zhiyu. 

“Don’t be like this. There are no outsiders now and it’s not that you don’t know my character. When did I care about these rules?” Fu Zhiyu said softly, “Sit down quickly.”

Old Master Yuan was helped up by him but still waved his hand and said solemnly: “Manners must not be abolished.”

Fu Zhiyu and Consort Yun had seriously discussed the matter of Fu Zhiyu pretending to be sick and decided not to tell Old Master Yuan who was too upright and couldn’t act. Although it worried the old man, it couldn’t be helped. They could only explain it to him later when there was no need to pretend anymore.

“Let me see,” Old Mrs. Yuan’s eyes were flushed when she saw Fu Zhiyu, “Such a serious illness, I don’t know how much you have suffered. I couldn’t sleep all night, and your grandfather kept sighing.”

Fu Zhiyu turned around to show her, signalling that his body was all right, and said, “It’s all over, it’s fine now.”

Old Mrs. Yuan finished her examination, wiped her eyes, and soon remembered something, pulling him to the dining table to sit down, “Then eat something quickly. I specially stewed the meat, Wang Zhao has liked to eat it since he was a child. Eat quickly and gain some weight, it’s good for your health!”

The bowls prepared for him by the old lady were all very big, bigger than Fu Zhiyu’s face, and the stewed beef was piled up inside like a small mountain. It couldn’t be helped, it was like this every time he came.

“Whose child is this again?” Only then did Old Mrs. Yuan pay attention to Yuan Mingdao who was standing aside. Her first reaction was to touch his smiling face in distress, “Why are you so thin! You look like you haven’t eaten enough, come, come, have a bowl of meat first!”

Fu Zhiyu: “……”

This was what the old lady was like. He could gain three catties (catty ~600 grams) if he stayed here for longer.

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But it was precisely because of this that Yuan Mingdao grew up very fast when he lived here, suddenly turning from a skinny kid to a handsome young man and later was half a head taller than Fu Zhiyu.

Yuan Mingdao was pressed by Old Mrs. Yuan on the chair by the dining table. His hand with chopsticks was obviously trembling. He looked at the large bowl of meat, as if recalling something, and gulped in horror.

Fu Zhiyu and Yuan Mingdao sat at the dinner table for the rest of the afternoon before they could barely finish the bowl of meat.

Yuan Mingdao had indeed eaten a little too much today. Fu Zhiyu kept feeding him in the morning, and he ate so much in the afternoon. He rubbed his stomach and kept burping. 

No one could resist Old Mrs. Yuan’s enthusiasm. Besides, she also practised martial arts and had a lot of strength. Anyway, it was impossible for a person who was pressed into a chair to get up until honestly eating the meat in the bowl clean.

Fu Zhiyu also told his family everything he had to say this afternoon. Except for those things that could not be revealed, the rest was all told. After listening to it, the old man and the old lady of the Yuan family were also relieved.

In addition, Fu Zhiyu also brought a lot of things, gold, silver, clothes, and some supplements. Several large boxes were piled up in the yard. After he finished explaining to the Yuan family’s housekeeper, he turned to his grandparents and said, “In a few days, I will find a chance to send you into the palace. Mother also misses you very much.”

“Good, good,” Old Mrs. Yuan nodded uncontrollably and couldn’t help but say, “Won’t you stay for a while? At least have dinner.”

“…I’m really full,“ Fu Zhiyu felt that he was stuffed up to his eyeballs with food. Not to mention dinner, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to eat tomorrow, “I’ll come back when the family is all together.”

Fu Zhiyu was referring to his two uncles, both of whom were now far away. But he remembered that his elder uncle would return to the capital for debriefing in the spring, and his younger uncle’s caravan would also be back.

He had important things to discuss with these two people.

Winter was about to pass, and there were not many days left before spring.

“Mingdao,“ Fu Zhiyu finished speaking, then turned his head and stretched out his hand to the child, “Let’s go, there are still things to do.”

Yuan Mingdao was standing at the dinner table burping. He had been watching Fu Zhiyu in the courtyard from a distance and didn’t expect him to turn and offer his hand to him.

He was stunned for a long time, forgetting to burp. He walked up to Fu Zhiyu’s side in a daze and held his hand.

The master’s hand is really soft, he thought secretly.

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Fu Zhiyu led him all the way into the carriage and looked at the sky. It was getting late now, about an hour before he had to return to the palace.

He hasn’t forgotten about going to the Xie residence to visit, but this matter was not as important to him as Yuan Mingdao and the Yuan family. He also deliberately delayed it to this point just to make a visit and leave a gift. Anyway, as long as the etiquette was followed, no one could pick a fault. Xie Ke’s incident yesterday made him even more determined.

He really didn’t want to say one more word to the protagonist, God knows what this guy would do.

Yuan Mingdao was sitting in the carriage, his expression still stunned, as if he was in some confusion.

“Aren’t you wondering why I didn’t leave you in the Yuan residence?” Fu Zhiyu felt his gaze, glanced at him, and added, “Just like in the previous life?”

When Yuan Mingdao heard this, he suddenly looked up.

“Why are you so surprised?” Fu Zhiyu smiled at him, “I guessed something from the beginning when I saw you. Did you find a chance to let the other children in the carriage escape? Only you didn’t run. Did you want to come to the capital to see me?”

Yuan Mingdao seemed to be still in shock, opened his mouth, and didn’t answer.

“You.” Seeing him like this, Fu Zhiyu only thought how cute and funny he was. He stretched out his hand and pinched Yuan Mingdao’s face, saying, “A little observation and you can tell, it isn’t that difficult, what, only you can be reborn and I can’t?”

The ten-year-old Yuan Mingdao and the grown-up Yuan Mingdao could be considered worlds apart in some habits and actions. Especially when he was in the Yuan residence, his attitude and look at Old Mrs. Yuan was clearly not the way as if he had seen her for the first time. Fu Zhiyu didn’t really have a problem with his brain, it was obvious enough.

“Master!” Yuan Mingdao rushed into his arms all at once, his voice choking, “I…”

“It’s okay, speak slowly.” Fu Zhiyu said, patting him gently on the back, “A lot of things have happened since I came back, and I will tell you little by little.”

If Yuan Mingdao hadn’t been reborn, it would be impossible for Fu Zhiyu to bring him back to the palace no matter what. The palace was a very dangerous place for a ten-year-old child. What he was afraid of was that Mingdao could easily be used by the Third Prince and the Crown Prince. The Yuan residence was much safer.

But now that Yuan Mingdao had been reborn, he could understand many things. It was fine to bring him into the palace; at least he wouldn’t be easily harmed by others. Besides, no sane people in the imperial palace would harm Liuli Palace at this time; there was nothing to gain and the consequences would be endless. So there was no threat to Liuli Palace now. 

In this case, Fu Zhiyu felt that there was no need to separate from Yuan Mingdao.

The child was sobbing. Although he wanted to speak, he couldn’t say a word. Fu Zhiyu was not in a hurry. He knew that this incident had a great impact on Mingdao and it would take some time to absorb the shock.

“Master,” Yuan Mingdao said while sobbing, “I… I really regret it. At that time, I was so angry that I left in a hurry, abandoning you alone in the palace. There was no one to take care of you. Woo… It’s all my fault.”

“How can I blame you?” Fu Zhiyu touched his soft hair and comforted gently, “I hadn’t realised it at that time, it turned out that Mingdao could even give up his life for me. It gave me something to think about before I died, just to feel that I hadn’t completely failed as a human being and that there were people who were willing to treat me sincerely.

By the way, there was also a palace girl, named Qiu Rong, who accompanied me in my last days. She was young and very lively. I am also very grateful to her. It’s just that calculating the years, she should be only about five or six years old now, and she doesn’t look like a native of the capital. It’s even possible that her name was changed after she entered the palace. I was groggy all day and don’t remember much about her. There is really no way to find her now, and I don’t know if I will see her again in this life.”

Halfway through Fu Zhiyu’s words, the carriage stopped.

Fu Zhiyu frowned. He hadn’t gone far enough, he hadn’t even left the Yuan family’s street yet; the Xie residence was still far away from here.

At this moment, there was the voice of the guard outside the carriage: “Wang Zhao, someone stopped the carriage, it’s… Xie Ke of the Xie family.”