Chapter 1793 - 322:

"Alright, it's fine now."

Liu Yumei let go of her hand, and while she was at it she picked up another piece of flaky pastry and held it to Cui Cui's mouth.

Cui Cui opened her mouth with a giggle and caught it, chewing with her cheeks bulging.

Liu Jinxia laughed and tapped her own granddaughter on the head: "However much you're given, you just swallow it all at once, huh? Don't know to take it out and eat slowly, one bite at a time?"

Cui Cui: "Hee-hee."

Liu Jinxia asked, "Sister Liu, what's going on with the child?"

Liu Yumei: "After she skipped a grade, the study pressure got too much. Her qi and blood are all knotted up."

Liu Jinxia: "Then, then, then… what should we do?"

Liu Yumei: "Take the child out on a trip, let her relax a bit. Once the Heart Knot's loosened, she'll be fine."

Earlier she'd only mentioned it in passing; now, seeing the changes showing up in Cui Cui, Liu Yumei felt that Zhao Yi having Old Tian arrange for Liu Jinxia's family to go to Jiujiang was probably very necessary.

Even if they were just old sisters from the card table, Liu Yumei genuinely cared about her and took her to heart.

As for the usual old ladies in the village, she really couldn't be bothered to hang out with them.

In Liu Jinxia, Liu Yumei actually saw her past self.

When the man of the house is gone, a woman trying to hold up a family—whether it's in the countryside or out in the Jianghu… it's never easy.

Liu Yumei: "Cui Cui, can you recite 'Gazing at the Lushan Waterfall'?"

Cui Cui: "I can, it's a poem by Li Bai. Sunlight on the incense burner gives rise to purple mist…"

Liu Yumei smiled at Liu Jinxia:

"What a coincidence, that waterfall is exactly the one written on the prize ticket."

...

Her granddaughter was Liu Jinxia's root.

So she took the prize ticket.

But she gave Old Tian a sum of money.

Old Tian hadn't wanted to accept it, but Liu Jinxia insisted—if he wouldn't take the money, then she wouldn't take the ticket.

Old Tian had no choice but to accept it.

Liu Jinxia made a formal explanation to Old Tian, saying she didn't mean anything in that way, and told him to go take a look at the other old ladies; she could even help arrange a match for him.

As for the prize, Liu Jinxia promised to help Old Tian pick it up, but she wouldn't keep it.

And Liu Jinxia also knew that the money she gave definitely wasn't enough to cover the travel expenses, so after they came back she would have Li Sanjiang invite Old Tian out to a restaurant in town for a proper meal.

Draw the lines clearly, say the words plainly.

Old Tian held the money in his hand, watching Liu Jinxia's back as she walked away.

He really did like her, and liked her more and more.

But Old Tian also knew that there was probably no chance of anything happening between him and Liu Jinxia.

Even so, he still looked forward to seeing her tomorrow.

Oh, no, he wouldn't see her tomorrow—they'd be getting on the bus arranged by the travel agency first thing in the morning and heading to Jiujiang.

The prize ticket was, of course, fake, but the travel agency was one Old Tian had found himself; as long as you were willing to spend money, everything was easy.

Dragging his lonely figure, he walked to Aunt Zhang's little shop, bought a pack of cigarettes, and picked up the phone to dial.

"Hello, Young Master, it's all taken care of; they'll be setting off tomorrow morning.

Young Master, is everything okay at home?

Oh. The Zhao family is gone."

He hung up the phone.

With a "thud," Old Tian dropped to his knees on the ground.

He burst into tears with a wail, crying his heart out, utterly miserable.

His feelings and loyalty were, of course, attached to the Young Master, but as someone born and raised in the Zhao household, he also had a deep affection for the Jiujiang Zhao clan.

The Zhao family wasn't just where he lived—it was the place that had sustained and filled his ancestors with pride for generations.

Li Juxiang, who had come to buy mosquito coils, saw this scene and heard the commotion from afar, and simply turned around and went back.

Back home, Li Juxiang told her mother about it.

Liu Jinxia was stunned for a moment: "What?"

"Mom, did you say a lot of harsh things to Uncle Tian before?"

"I didn't."

"Then Uncle Tian really did look pretty pitiful."

"You pity him?" Liu Jinxia jabbed her daughter's forehead hard with a finger. "If it weren't for you, your mom would have remarried nice and clean back then—men were lining up, fighting over me!"

Cui Cui had a melon-seed face, a standard beauty in the making; Li Juxiang was also more attractive than most women her age in the village, which showed that when Liu Jinxia was young she must have been very pretty too.

The reputation of having "killed" her parents-in-law and husband didn't matter; as long as she remarried far enough away there would still be plenty of men scrambling for her.

Li Juxiang: "Yes, yes, yes, I believe it. Even now, isn't there someone who's practically crying to have you?"

Liu Jinxia: "You want a stepfather, do you?

Actually, you really don't have to insist on staying single. You're still young, and life is easier now. Find someone honest and down-to-earth from a poor family, and we can bring in a son-in-law."

"Mom, you want Cui Cui to have a stepfather?"

The mother and daughter bickered a few lines back and forth, then both laughed, and went to bed early.

Early the next morning, the travel agency's bus arrived and stopped on the road outside the village lane.

A small minibus, just to pick up the three of them. When Liu Jinxia handed the prize ticket to the tour guide on the bus, the tour guide was a bit puzzled, then took it and checked it over, and nodded: "Alright."

Seeing the guide had finished checking, Liu Jinxia promptly reached out and snatched it back.

They still had to use that ticket in Jiujiang to claim the three-piece set. If she lost the voucher and couldn't get it, wouldn't she have to compensate Old Tian?

It was Cui Cui's first time ever going on a trip, and she was very happy, looking out the window and nibbling on snacks.

"Mom, did you know how much I used to envy Brother Yuanhou? He got to travel all over the country."

"Silly child, your Brother Yuanhou wasn't going to play, he was working."

"Then I want to get into Brother Yuanhou's university in the future, so I can work all over the country too."

Liu Jinxia turned around and said, "As long as you can keep studying upward, Grandma will do whatever it takes to support you!"

Then Liu Jinxia turned to ask Li Juxiang:

"Has Ying Hou gotten his admission letter yet?"

"It's not time to send out the admission notices yet, is it? Anyway, he seems to still be at home, lying there sick."