Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 210 Do you want to be an irresponsible mother?
Yan Song did not often stay overnight at Wei's place, but on this night he agreed to stay, Wei went to great lengths to serve him.

Especially tonight, she has to coax him to burn the Taoist talisman together at midnight. It is not easy for the Grand Secretary to do this personally, and Lady Wei is even more gentle and considerate than can be described.

Finally, at midnight, she prepared a brazier and went to the backyard with Yan Song. She pricked her index finger with a needle and began to add strokes to the talisman paper, wholeheartedly praying for themselves and their daughter.

The courtyard was quiet and peaceful, with a wintersweet tree in the corner blooming like clouds, creating a scene reminiscent of a gentle paradise.

Meanwhile, footsteps echoed through several streets and alleys in the capital.

Yan Shu was a light sleeper, and he woke up when the sound of footsteps rushing towards him outside the courtyard gate broke the silence of midnight.

When the footsteps passed through the courtyard and then approached the main house, softly calling "Master," even Madam Yan woke up. She sat up and asked, "What happened?"

Yan Shu put on his coat and got out of bed: "I'll go take a look."

Upon arriving at the gate, the old woman on night watch stood before him, panting, leading a guard: "Master, the female thief has been located; she's near Anqing Alley!"
"In addition, the brothers found another house in Anqing Hutong. There were quite a few people guarding the house in the middle of the night, and the key point is that they all seemed to be quite skilled in martial arts. It's very strange!"

"A mansion?" Yan Shu had been listening attentively for the first part, but his gaze suddenly sharpened in the latter half. "What kind of mansion?"

"It's just an ordinary three-courtyard house. Precisely because it's ordinary, the highly skilled person standing under the courtyard wall seems particularly strange."

Yan Shu paused for only a moment before immediately ordering his guards, "Go and prepare a horse for me!"

After saying that, he quickly went back into the house, put on his clothes, and went out.

The Yan family has handled thousands, if not tens of thousands, of cases over the decades, and the people working under them are all seasoned veterans.

The grain shipment at Tongzhou Wharf was originally handled with utmost secrecy and was virtually foolproof, but unexpectedly, it was still spotted.

Although aside from losing some customs permits, there were no other losses, the more than 200,000 taels of silver that had to be paid to the imperial court were ultimately unrecoverable. As for who exactly was targeting these grain ships, they still haven't found out.

There are countless people who want to bring down the Yan family, but which group has gone so far as to infiltrate this area?
They actually located these ships with incredible accuracy!

Two months have passed, and now these connections have suddenly reappeared, like a rope tightly binding Yan Shu's heart.

To avoid alerting the enemy, once they reached the main street outside Anqing Hutong, Yan Shu ordered everyone to dismount and then split into two groups to flank the target residence from both sides, thus taking it by surprise.

Then he led a group of people and walked into the alley.

The moment he stopped in front of the door, He Qu and the others who were lying on the roof in the distance also quickly and quietly withdrew.

"Sir, the house is quite quiet, and it's impossible to tell how many people are there. But there are flames in their backyard, as if someone is in a hurry to destroy something!"

The bodyguards who accompanied Yan Shubing reported closely.

Yan Shu listened intently and immediately said, "Knock on the door!"

……

The Lu family's carriage, carrying the excited Jiang Shi and the silent Lu Jie, sped forward, following the carriage that had been outside the west gate of the Lu family residence. They turned countless corners and passed through numerous alleys. Jiang Shi, finding the scenery outside somewhat familiar, lifted the curtain to take a closer look. She then realized that they had unknowingly arrived at Anqing Alley, where her maternal home was located!

Why are Lu Jia and the others here?

The question had just popped into her mind when she saw the carriage ahead stop. Lu Jia and the man from before got out of the carriage and walked side by side into the depths of the alley!

Upon seeing this, Madam Jiang immediately got off the carriage and followed.

Lu Jie followed behind her to the center of the alley, where they both heard a commotion coming from ahead.

Jiang stopped walking, then quickened her pace and walked a little further.

At this moment, the moon behind the clouds emitted a faint light, roughly illuminating the outlines of the houses in the alley.

As Jiang saw the source of the commotion ahead, her heart tightened. She had grown up in this alley of Anqing, and she knew it so well that she could walk to the end of it with her eyes closed!

The area where the noise was coming from was one she was much more familiar with!
"What's wrong? Why don't you leave?"

Lu Jie reached her side and began urging her on. "They were clearly walking forward. It's so noisy up ahead, we should go and see what's going on."

Jiang glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, and then continued forward.

If she wasn't mistaken, the place where the commotion was coming from was the house that her mother, Wei, had secretly purchased a few years ago.

It was indeed strange that Lu Jia would appear here with a man in the middle of the night, and it was even stranger that there was a noisy commotion coming from the Wei family's private residence in the middle of the night!
No matter the reason, she couldn't not go and see.

After walking only three or five feet forward, the noisy sound became clearer; it turned out that someone was banging on the door aggressively!
And where the moonlight shone was the Wei family's residence! A large group of people were gathered outside the residence, each holding a torch and carrying swords, looking like they were hunting down a criminal!

Why is this house surrounded?

Jiang was stunned for a moment.

Lu Jie, who had been standing nearby for a moment, was also stunned and exclaimed, "It's Baekhyun?!"

Upon suddenly hearing Yan Shu's courtesy name, Jiang felt as if she had been struck by lightning, her whole body trembling!
Why would Yan Shu come to block the Wei family's door in the middle of the night?
"What is he doing here?" Lu Jie asked, glancing at Madam Jiang before stepping forward.

Jiang grabbed him and pulled him back!
"What are you doing?" Lu Jie looked at her hand on his wrist, then at her face. "Why do you look like that? Are you scared to see her here?"

Jiang turned her gaze to his face, her chest heaving twice: "They must be doing something important here in the middle of the night. Let's hurry and leave without disturbing them!"

“How can we just leave like this? Aren’t we supposed to take Jia’er back?” Lu Jie pulled his hand back. “You are her mother and have a responsibility to discipline her. She ran away in the middle of the night and should hang herself. We’ve already chased her all the way here. How can we just abandon her?”
"Then wouldn't you and I become irresponsible parents?"

Jiang's face burned with embarrassment, and her voice involuntarily lowered: "We should have taken her back, but aren't there outsiders here? Do you want her to embarrass herself in front of the Yan family?"

“Baekhyun isn’t an outsider either,” Lu Jie said. “Jia’er will have to call him uncle when she sees him. Let’s go! It just so happens that the uncle is here, let him help discipline the child.”

After saying that, he took Jiang's arm and strode forward.