"Mother, you're making it sound like I'll become an official." Zhao Dahe was overjoyed. "My mentor has studied for decades and is very knowledgeable, but he still depends on teaching to make a living in town."
"If I didn't study well, how could I be a teacher? Besides, how did he reward you if he doesn't earn much?"
"That's not it. My mentor's wife rewarded me," Zhao Dahe said. "My mentor married into her family. I heard my mentor went bankrupt from studying and had no choice but to marry her. Marrying a woman with a business-minded family is the right choice. " Zhao Dahe spoke self-righteously.
Meng Yao sighed helplessly. Her predecessor did too well in brainwashing her children. She could not convince Zhao Dahe with just a few words, so she could only wait for the time being.
Nonetheless, it was better to get to town as soon as possible and solve the problem at its root.
Even if Zhao Dahe became an official, it would be useless if he was not as promising as Zhao Xiaoshu.
"All right, let's go already!" Meng Yao urged.
The two soon arrived at Mr. Niu's house. Mr. Niu was unwilling to make another trip to town since he cherished his cow and was afraid it would be exhausted. He only made a round trip a day.
Meng Yao said she would pay more for the ride and ask Zhao Dajiang to get some grass later, but Mr. Niu was still unwilling.
"Mr. Niu, I fell asleep and dreamt that my third son was crying for help. When I woke up, my heart was beating so fast that I couldn't calm down. I thought that Zhao Xiaoshu had slipped away."
Meng Yao squeezed out a few tears as she continued, "A mother and son are connected. I can't live with myself, knowing something terrible might happen to Xiaoshu."
Niu Ben'er exited the inner room when Zhao Dahe said, "You d*mned old man, it's not like you move around much. You only make a trip a day, so how tired can you be? If we don't make it in time to save my little brother, would you be able to rest easy for the remainder of your life?"
Mr. Niu knocked on his tobacco pipe and placed it on the back of his waist. "All right, I know. What about the fare you mentioned just now?"
"I'll give you twenty wen," Meng Yao hurriedly said. "I'll also bring you the grass."
There weren't many people pulling the cart, and Mr. Niu was afraid that something would happen, so the cart was more than twice as fast as usual. In less than half an hour, they arrived at the town.
"I won't drive the cart into the town. I'll wait here while you two go and look for Xiaoshu," Mr. Niu urged
Meng Yao quickly located the carpenter's shop using her predecessor's memories. The door was closed, and Meng Yao knocked for a long while before someone finally opened it.
It was a thin little girl, the carpenter's daughter. She was in the predecessor's memory.
"Ya'er, where's your father?" Meng Yao asked.
"H-He is…" Ya'er stammered but could not finish her sentence. Her father told her to keep Zhao Xiaoshu's matter a secret, or he would make her Zhao Xiaoshu's companion.
Ya'er wanted to be Zhao Xiaoshu's companion, but her mother was sick. She worried that no one would care for her mother if she left with Zhao Xiaoshu.
"I don't know where my father is," Ya'er stopped stammering.
"What about Xiaoshu? Call him and tell him that his mother is here to see him." Meng Yao's heart sank, and she had a terrible feeling in her gut.
"Xiaoshu isn't here either. I don't know where he went." After that, Ya'er shrank back and closed the door tightly.
Meng Yao thought the carpenter was trying to dispose of Zhao Xiaoshu.
"Do you know where the graveyards are, Dahe?" Meng Yao grabbed Zhao Dahe, her tone anxious.
"We need to leave town and head south for five miles," Zhao Dahe answered.
Meng Yao ran like crazy while Mr. Niu waited outside the town. He drove the oxcart and closed the five-mile distance instantly. However, they did not encounter any carpenters along the way.
Meng Yao felt uncertain. When she saw these things in her dream, she only knew which day it was. She didn't know whether it was the day's beginning or end. She wondered if the carpenter had already thrown Zhao Xiaoshu into a grave.
"Mother?" Zhao Dahe was worried. "It was just a dream. Didn't you always tell me that dreams are meaningless?"
"That wasn't just a dream. It was a premonition, and I'm worried about it. It would be great if weren't one, but Xiaoshu isn't in the carpenter's shop, and we don't know where he went. I'll be more at ease if we could check the graveyards," Meng Yao said.
They arrived at a graveyard, so Mr. Niu stopped the oxcart and said, "I'm not driving in there." It was a graveyard, and even though it was daytime, Mr. Niu still felt a chill run down his spine.
Mr. Niu heard that people who committed crimes would get thrown there after death. He believed that ghosts cried and wolves howled at night; if one passed by that place, they would encounter ghosts.
Zhao Dahe did not want to go over either, but his mother had already run away from him. As her son, he could not be a coward.
"Xiaoshu?! Are you here, Xiaoshu?!"
There was no sign of the carpenter, so Meng Yao could only search for him while calling for Zhao Xiaoshu, praying he was all right.
"Mother, there's no one here. Xiaoshu is at a playful age, so he might even be hiding somewhere in a corner in town." Zhao Dahe felt a chill run down his spine, which was highly uncomfortable.
"We haven't even begun looking for Xiaoshu, yet you're saying no one is here? Xiaoshu is your younger brother, Dahe. Is this how you treat him?" Mang Yao snarled, "If you still acknowledge me as your mother, you will help me look for Xiaoshu."
"This graveyard is massive. How can we find Xiaoshu?" Zhao Dahe was unhappy.
"We can leave once we've searched every nook and cranny!" Meng Yao said coldly. "If you're not going to help me look, get lost! I'll look for Xiaoshu myself!"
It was a matter of life and death, and Meng Yao would still help, even if it were a random stranger. It was something Meng Yao had carved into her bones since she was a child.
Meanwhile, behind the graveyard not too far away, Zhao Xiaoshu opened his eyes with incredible difficulty. Behind the grave far away, Zhao Xiaoshu opened his eyes with difficulty. His entire body was in so much pain that he felt like he would fall apart.
He could not move and wondered if he was going to die. Zhao Xiaoshu heard someone calling out to him, and he thought it was his mother. He laughed bitterly and thought he was hallucinating. 'Why would my mother come looking for me?'
Zhao Xiaoshu's mentor even said Meng Yao wouldn't care about him even if he died. His mother had sent him to become an apprentice carpenter because she didn't care about Zhao Xiaoshu. Otherwise, Meng Yao would've told him to go home. She never even visited Zhao Xiaoshu at the carpenter's shop.
Zhao Xiaoshu would not feel sad even if he died and did not want to be a son to a mother like Meng Yao if there was such a thing as rebirth.
Zhao Xiaoshu's eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, and he could no longer keep them open. He wanted to fall asleep.
"Xiaoshu?! Xiaoshu!" Meng Yao noticed Zhao Xiaoshu. Although the carpenter had beaten Zhao Xiaoshu beyond recognition, Meng Yao knew it was Zhao Xiaoshu.
Zhao Xiaoshu tried his best to open his eyes again, trying to see the figure in front of him. 'Is that my mother?'
Zhao Xiaoshu's tilted his head to the side and fell unconscious while Meng Yao grabbed his wrist. She felt a pulse and heaved a sigh of relief. However, she wondered if there would be a butterfly effect since she saved Zhao Xiaoshu.