Chapter 444: 440: Lotus Root_1

“Madam, let’s go.”

After Wei Zhan finished his lotus root paste soup, he took his wife’s hand and left once she finished as well.

At this time, the boatman rowed over with about twenty lotus root chunks on his boat.

Wei Zhan helped Yingbao onto the boat first. He gave a sigh of relief when he turned back and saw that Xiao Mo hadn’t followed.

The two of them navigated through the dense lotus leaves on the boat. Wei Zhan casually washed a piece of tender lotus root, took a bite, and found it to be incredibly refreshing and sweet.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The boatman chuckled and said, “In a few days, we’ll have water chestnuts and barnyard millet here. If young master visits again, you can have some.”

Wei Zhan smiled, “I will buy some when the time comes.”

Yingbao quickly picked several large lotus leaves. She placed the lotus roots on them and immediately carried them back to the shore.

At this time of the year, lotus roots are the most tender and delicious when eaten fresh. She wanted to take some back for her parents, grandparents, and her mother-in-law to try.

The boat quickly docked, and Jiang Jie and Luo Zhao also returned. They had bought quite a bit of lotus roots as well.

“Sis, let’s go back now. It’s getting late,” Jiang Jie said.

Yingbao looked at the sky. The sun was already setting, “Alright.”

She turned to ask, “has anyone delivered the lotus root paste?”

The maid Magnolia nodded, “Yes, I have already paid for it.”

Xinghua added, “It’s all in the burlap bag and we’ve put it on the carriage.”

Yingbao went to the cart and asked Magnolia to separate some of the lotus root paste; the remainder was given to Jiang Jie to take home.

Thus, Magnolia poured half of the lotus root paste onto a large lotus leaf and gave the remaining bag to Jiang Jie.

After returning to the city by carriage, Wei Zhan said goodbye to his brother-in-law and took his wife directly home.

Just as they entered the yard, they ran into his elder sister-in-law from the Cao family and his second sister-in-law from the Yu family.

“Ah, the seventh son and his wife are back!” Cao Shi greeted with a smile, “Did you enjoy your time outside?”

Yingbao politely replied, “It was okay.”

Cao Shi looked at the lotus leaf package in Magnolia’s arms, curiously asking, “What did you bring back?”

“We brought some lotus roots. Elder sister-in-law and second sister-in-law, would you like to try some? They’re very tasty,” Yingbao said.

“That sounds great!” Yu Shi laughed, “I haven’t eaten lotus roots for quite a while.”

Yingbao turned to Magnolia and said, “Give some lotus roots to elder sister-in-law and second sister-in-law.”

“Yes,” Magnolia stepped forward and gave Yu Shi four roots and four roots to Cao Shi as well.

Cao Shi looked at the roots in her hands, pursed her lips, and said cheerfully, “Thank you, Yingbao.”

Yu Shi also said, “The lotus roots at this time truly are tender. Thanks, Yue.”

“We’re family, no need to mention it. With the rest, I’ll go and let my mother-in-law try.” Yingbao nodded to her sisters-in-law and went to Madam Wang’s yard with Wei Zhan.

Cao Shi held the four lotus roots, watched Wei Zhan and his wife walk away, and smirked.

She went back to her yard and threw the roots onto the ground, “Is this even worth giving? If she’s not embarrassed, I am.”

Her daughter, Jade Pearl, came out from the house and saw the lotus roots on the ground, “Mom, why did you bring this back?”

Cao Shi rolled her eyes, “Your auntie gave it.”

Jade Pearl: “Why would seventh aunt think to give this? Are we short of lotus roots in our kitchen?”

“She’s from a poor background, treasures everything. Pearl, ask someone to throw it away.”

Cao Shi went into the inner room and asked the Nanny, “Did you have someone pick up my sister?”

The Nanny sipped her tea, “Yes, it should be about ten days.”

Cao Shi nodded and settled on the bamboo chair, “It’s really hot today. It seems like it’s going to rain.”

A small maid immediately started fanning her.

Nanny said, “It’s about time for it to rain, if not, the seedlings in the field will die of drought.”

These subjects were out of Mrs. Cao’s understanding and interest, her entire mind thinking about how to make a connection with her brother-in-law Wei Zhan once her sister visited.

In this family, it seemed the decisions were made by the father-in-law, but the real householder was the concubine’s mother.

Her husband’s birth mother and her father-in-law were childhood friends and could voice a few sentences in his presence, but she, now aged and faded, was abandoned by him in an old house in Luzhou.

Observing that Wei Zhan was about to have a child, Mrs. Cao was very anxious.

Because once the Wei family had a direct grandchild, the father-in-law and mother-in-law no longer valued their side offspring.

Therefore, she had to find an assistant, to distract the focus of her younger brother-in-law.

As for men, who doesn’t cheat? Once there’s a first time, there will be a second. He might just drive the homemade county daughter away.

While she was pondering this, a big wind blew outside, quickly followed by dark clouds and thunder.

“Oh dear! Hurry and close the windows!” The nanny stood up and ran outside to call the maids to close the windows.

In the new room of the west courtyard, Yingbao laid on the bed, eating lotus slices while mentally asking Xuanwu, “Why did the Supreme Immortal imprison me?”

“Because someone said you had fallen into devilry.” Xuanwu replied.

“Why did they say I fell into devilry?”

“Probably because your birth parents forced you.”

Xuanwu wasn’t sure before, because Yingbao never mentioned her birth parents.

Later, he learned about it roughly from the self-generated story in the book of Heaven’s Dilatation.

Adding up that the host has reincarnated many times, discarded by her birth parents every time, Xuanwu finally understood why Yingbao would fall into devilry.

This was only in the mortal world, let alone in the Fairy World, her kindred’s actions would be even worse.

Because in that place, the rule of survival of the fittest prevailed, where the strong were revered, and cultivators would go to any lengths to seize opportunities.

In the mortal world, they would fight over property and the throne, even to the point of fratricide and parricide.

Those cultivators, in order to seize a bit of opportunity, in order to live eternally, could do anything.

Her birth parents, for the sake of some kind of treasure, dug into her body when she was a few years old and looked carefully, even picking out a few of her bones, but they found nothing.

Later they used her flesh and blood to refine pills, treating her as a human spiritual medicine for many years, until she fell into devilry and fled.

The book of Heaven’s Dilatation showed that after the witch had cultivated to a high level, she was very savage, had strong killing instincts, and returned to take revenge, killing the whole Chen family.

But she let go of one woman, who once fed her, named Chen Tiantian.

Who would have thought that this act led to her soul being scattered.

Xuanwu sighed and threw out a cantaloupe, “Here, I planted this for you, it’s ripe now.”

The cantaloupe rolled on the mat and was caught by Yingbao.

She stood up and found a small knife to peel it.

Ever since she destroyed that cave, she found it inconvenient to store things daily, and let alone planting things on golden glowing objects, now everything had to be handled by Xuanwu.

Sigh, who made her owe him a drop of blood? For now, she could only bear with it.

Wei Zhan came back from his mother’s place, and saw at first glance, Yingbao peeling a cantaloupe,

“Where did the cantaloupe come from?” Wei Zhan walked up and asked.

Yingbao: “Someone gave it to me.”

Wei Zhan became instantaneously alert, “Who gave it? How come I didn’t know?”

Yingbao cut the cantaloupe into small pieces and put them on a plate. “If you were to know, wouldn’t that be terrible?”

Wei Zhan picked up a piece to taste, and found the taste very familiar.

He put his mind at ease, sat next to his wife and said, “Once my holiday is over in a couple of days, I will go to the Ministry of War to see if my appointment has come.”

He had been back to Beijing for quite a long time, and the Imperial Court should assign him a post.

At that time, he would take his wife with him to take up the post, hopefully far away from Beijing.