Old Lady Fang stood in the hall for a moment, the scorn receding, replaced by worry.

Did she know where Miss Jun and them had gone? Was Chengyu doing well?

And how far had they gone?

Chengyu had never gone outside before, and all of a sudden, he was going so far.

Moreover, they weren’t bringing any servant girls or boys with them. He was used to being waited on.

Jun Zhenzhen was also used to being prideful and willful; could she take care of Chengyu?

She exited the main hall with worry on her face. She did not need to hide it, because it was a reasonable response.

Fang Jinxiu walked directly to her; Old Lady Fang stopped.

Old Lady knew that Fang Jinxiu was at the manor the other day.

“I am here for house arrest,” Fang Jinxiu took the initiative to say.

Old Lady Fang’s expression was complicated. Liu’er had described what happened on that day. Even though she was unwilling, it was obvious that their plans had succeeded because of Fang Jinxiu’s presence.

Old Lady Fang didn’t know if she should punish or praise her.

Liu’er said that Fang Jinxiu had imitated Miss Jun’s speech to a very high degree.

“Because I hate her, so I like to imitate how she talks and acts,” said Fang Jinxiu unpleasantly.

Although Old Lady Fang didn’t really understand this logic, it wasn’t important.

Because she knew that it was fortunate that Fang Jinxiu was there at that time in the middle of the night when someone came to investigate so they could avoid being discovered. Old Lady Fang had broken out in cold sweat. And then because of the fear, decided that Fang Jinxiu would stay at the manor and pose as Jun Zhenzhen.

Until someone found out.

No matter how they said it, Fang Jinxiu was part of the success.

“You don’t need to be under house arrest,” said Old lady Fang. “I instructed you to do this.”

Fang Jinxiu did not say anything, merely turning around in silence. Old Lady Fang called after her.

This child, since receiving the order to stay at the manor until she had returned, had not uttered a single question.

“Jinxiu, don’t you want to know what’s going on?” she asked quietly.

Fang Jinxiu turned around, but shook her head.

“Grandmother.” Her expression was serious. “Eldest Sister, Second Sister, and I have never thought about asking what you are doing, why are you doing it. Because we believe in you. Everything you do must be for our good, for the good of our family. If you want us to know something, then we will know it. If you need us to do something, whether it be playing the fool or responding swiftly, we will do it.”

Old Lady Fang’s eyes sparkled with tears.

The Fang Family was so unfortunate, yet so blessed.

“You good child,” she said, unable to stop herself from reaching out. “You good child.”

She felt somewhat awkward with this movement.

Since her husband had died, she had been busy with supporting the family business. She had put away all her womanly feelings. While she could act pleasantly to her grandson and descendants, she had never acted on her feelings of wanting to embrace them.

But once her hands were extended, she could not pull them back.

Otherwise, she would make this child feel awkward.

When Fang Jinxiu saw Old Lady Fang’s movements, her expression became uneasy.

Since she was young, she had decided to treat herself as a boy. Doing such cutesy things like being embraced by her elders was not something a boy could do.

But Grandmother had already extended her arms, and she couldn’t make her take them back.

Otherwise Grandmother would feel embarrassed.

Fang Jinxiu stepped forward and leaned into Old Lady Fang’s embrace.

The pair sighed, striving hard to prevent the other from noticing their own stiffness, doing their utmost to express their enjoyment of the warmth.

“Grandmother, we will be able to live well, yes?” Fang Jinxiu ventured.

Old Lady Fang stroked her shoulder and nodded.

“Yes, we will. We definitely will,” she said, then paused. “Old Heavenly Father is fair.”

Old Heavenly Father was giving justice to the Fang Family.

……

Head Shopkeeper Song threw the cup of tea the servant boy had handed him onto the table. The sound of the teacup colliding represented the twitchiness in his heart.

“Send someone to go find, find where Young Master Fang is,” he ordered.

Next to him, several tree-like men hurried to respond. Just as they were about to exit out the door, Head Shopkeeper Song shouted after them.

“In the days previously, did Old Lady and Lady go to the temple?” he asked while stroking his beard.

The men exchanged glances.

“They did,” said one of them. “They saw Monk Nianzhi. It was after the news of the servant girl Lingzhi’s pregnancy.”

It looked like it was true.

Head Shopkeeper Song waved his hand.

“Go. Under my eyes, there are very few things that can remain hidden in Yangcheng,” he said.

It certainly was not easy to hide someone in Yangcheng. It’s just that now the person in question had already left Huaqing and was in Kaifeng[1]. Head Shopkeeper Song’s eyes really could not cover so much.

……

“This is the old capital.”

The carriage was travelling along a mountain route. Lei Zhonglian could not help but point out the beautiful, early summer plains ahead.

Miss Jun turned her eyes in that direction, and sorrow passed through her eyes.

“That was from over a decade ago,” she said.

At that time, she still had not been born. Her Grandfather was not the emperor, only a prince.

The Jurchen armies had gone south to threaten the capital. The emperor stubbornly insisted on leading the troops himself, which resulted in a great loss at Hebei, and he was taken by the Jurchen armies.

Chaozhong [2] was sent into a frenzy. Grandfather hurriedly took over the emperor’s position and moved the capital to Nanjing, while rescuing Great-Grandfather.

But the Jurchen were faithless. Once they got the money, they went back on the deal and killed Great-Grandfather. One military officer, Zhu Shan, angrily rushed to the northern area.

After successive victories, they expelled the Jurchen. When an arrow shot through the Jurchen crown prince, scattering them internally, he claimed much credit for taking revenge for Great-Grandfather. Grandfather and the other nobles bestowed him with a title.

She had heard Father and Grandfather tell the tale of this old stuff before. Occasionally, Master would also speak of it.

Grandfather, when he was alive, voiced his desire to return to Kaifeng. Although stability and peace had returned there for many years, everyone was afraid, so the proposal was never settled.

Father occasionally reminisced about how wonderful Kaifeng was, but she and Elder Sister never felt much about it. After all, they hadn’t lived there.

“Only this time, we are not going into the city of Kaifeng,” she said. She looked at the map spread out in her hands. She pointed. “We will go here, through the mountain, and take the closest road to Runan.”

Lei Zhonglian leaned over to look at where she was pointing. And grunted.

Since the beginning, he had not responded so happily.

Although he hadn’t gone out in over ten years, he had over twenty years of travelling experience. How could a delicate young miss from a bureaucratic family be more knowledgeable than him.

Perhaps that was the reason why Old Lady Fang made him drive the carriage.

Driving the carriage was just one excuse. In reality, he was here to escort them.

Escort.

It had been over ten years, and now he was actually escorting the Fang Family’s Young Master.

The flavor in Lei Zhonglian’s heart was mixed. Old Lady Fang trusted him, or was she testing him? She did not even send any guards, just the three of them on the road.

No matter what the Fang Family was doing, he, Lei Zhonglian, knew what he should do. That was enough.

Where they wanted to go, he would escort them there.

However, the situation was completely different from his imagination.

This Young Lady really was deciding and acting on her own. She chose the roads, and they stopped where she said. Even times when they couldn’t find lodging, and they would have to camp outside, she would choose the place.

Did she understand it? How could she read the stars and moon and determine the direction? How could she read the terrain and elevation and know what snakes and insects would come? Wasn’t she a delicate young miss of a bureaucratic family who never went far beyond her doors?

“I have gone out,” Miss Jun said in a deadpan. “I came here from Funing to Yangcheng. We traveled for a month.”

One month?

Lei Zhonglian was speechless.

Her one month experience must have been so much more than his over ten years of travel experience.

She really did possess talent bestowed by Heaven.

[1] Old Capital of Northern Song

[2] China-North Korea area