Madam frowned, looked at Old Zhao and the little girl, and asked, "You guys want to go together? Have you got your travel permit?"
Old Zhao quickly took out her and her daughter's household registration: "We have it with us."
Mammy shook her head: "No, I am only responsible for picking up Jiang's daughter. It is really not appropriate to bring you along."
Old Zhao quickly stuffed a silver ingot into the nanny's pocket and said, "Please help us. Chang'an really can't do without us."
The nanny looked at the five taels of silver in her hand and said, "That won't work either. You don't have a pass. If someone finds us, they might think we're kidnapping people."
Song Yufeng was anxious and pointed at Song Xiyue: "What about her? Didn't she also not get a pass?"
Mammy sneered: "Although she doesn't have a pass, she has a letter from the master of the mansion, so she is different from you."
As she said this, she stuffed the silver back into Mrs. Zhao's hands, lifted her skirt and climbed into the carriage.
Song Yufeng was about to say something when her mother suddenly covered her mouth.
"Don't talk." Old Zhao whispered to comfort her daughter, and then said to the nanny, "If it doesn't work, forget it. We can go to look for An'er after we get the pass. Please go. An'er is in your hands."
Seeing the carriage start to move, Song Yufeng struggled with her mother.
But she was only twelve years old and her height was barely as high as old Zhao's ears. How could she beat her strong grandmother?
Song Yufeng wanted to scream, but her mouth was covered, and in the end she could only watch the carriage drive away from the village.
Xiao Zhao, who had been standing at the door watching the show, had a smile on her face. When she saw some villagers coming towards her, she stepped forward and helped her mother-in-law to drag her sister-in-law back into the house.
Song Yufeng's mouth was finally freed from her mother's grasp, and she burst into tears: "You are all liars! You said that I would go to the capital with Xiyue, but it turned out to be a lie!"
Old Mrs. Zhao held her daughter in her arms and comforted her repeatedly: "Yufeng, it won't be too late to go after we get the travel permit. Don't worry, mother will definitely send you to the capital."
Song Yufeng pushed her mother away and cried, "Why didn't you do it before?"
Old Zhao sighed, "It takes time to get a travel permit. Mother asked the village head, and he said that we need to go to the county government office with the village head."
When applying, you must also ask for the reason for going to Beijing, what you are going to do, when you will leave, and when you will return. All of these must be clearly stated.
How could she let the clan leader know that she used Xiyue to pretend to be Chang'an to go to the capital? So she didn't apply for a pass.
I really hoped that I could just pay some money and be done with it, but it turned out that they were not open to negotiation at all.
Song Yufeng cried for a while, then said fiercely, "Okay! I'll trust you again, mother. If you lie to me again, I'll tell my third brother and his wife about this! None of us will be able to survive!"
Old Zhao gently stroked her daughter's back and assured her repeatedly: "Don't worry, mother won't lie to you and will definitely let you go to the capital."
Xiao Zhao, who was standing behind the mother and daughter, frowned, stared coldly at Song Yufeng, then turned and went to the kitchen.
In the side room, Song Baqi was lying on the bed, stretching his hand towards the door, mumbling for water, but no one paid any attention to him.
At this time, Chang'an was teaching his two apprentices and his uncle to read at home, while Aunt Qian and Aunt Jin were sitting in another room chatting with Aunt Wu.
"My husband should be back in a few days. Then we can go to the temple fair together." Aunt Jin rubbed the awl on her hair and drilled a hole in the sole of the shoe in her hand.
Mrs. Wu nodded: "It just so happens that my muhuanzi has also finished wearing it, so I'll take it with me to exchange."
"My house is all done too. After I sell the wood berries and the clay statue, I will buy two books for Goudan, as well as pens, inkstones, and paper."
Qian stretched her head to look at the children in the west room and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that my Goudan could also go to school. It's all thanks to Chang'an."
Mrs. Wu smiled and didn't respond.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door outside the yard: "Samsoon's! Open the door."
Mrs. Wu put down her needle and thread, stood up and opened the door.
The person who came was the clan leader's daughter-in-law. She panted and said, "His third aunt, go and have a look. There is a carriage in front of Song Jizu's house. I think it must be Chang'an's mother who sent something back again."
Wu was stunned and said quickly: "Okay, I'll go and take a look now."
Then she trotted towards the new house.
From a distance, I saw a carriage in front of the new house. My stepmother-in-law and others were talking to the people in the carriage.
Wu ran quickly, but before she got close, the carriage had gone far away.
"Wait!" She chased after it, but the carriage ran faster and faster and soon left the village road.
Wu stood on the village road and looked for a long time before turning back.
At this moment, the door of Song Jizu's house was closed, as if nothing had happened.
When Wu returned home, she saw the clan leader's second daughter-in-law, Li, still there. She said in frustration, "The carriage left and I didn't catch up."
Li was also very regretful: "I just saw the carriage when I went out, and immediately rushed over to report the news, but in the end I was still a step late."
"Thank you, sister-in-law." Wu thanked her and asked her to sit down.
Li didn't hesitate, she took a small stool and sat down, stretched her head and looked, and asked, "Where is Chang'an?"
"In the west room." Now that the weather was getting colder, Mrs. Wu had someone make a kang table so that the children could sit on the kang in the room to study.
Goudan and Xiao Chutou no longer make clay figures here. After they learn to read, they go home to review their studies and make clay figures at home.
Li stood up and went to the west room to take a look, then came back and asked Wu: "Chang'an has become a young teacher?"
Mrs. Wu smiled and said, "She only knows a few words, and those kids are willing to learn from her, just for fun. How can she be called a little teacher?"
"We are not outsiders, why are you hiding it?" Li said with a smile, "I also want to send my brother's child to Chang'an to learn how to make clay figurines. I wonder if it will work?"
Wu couldn't refuse, so she smiled and said, "I'll ask Chang'an later."
Wu had seen Li's brother's child before, the dark-skinned kid who played with her family last time.
But Chang'an didn't seem to like playing with those two, so I couldn't agree on her behalf.
Li chatted for a while longer before leaving.
Before leaving, he went to say hello to Chang'an and praised him a few words.
A few days later, gossip about the Zhao family spread in the village.
Because many village children saw Old Zhao putting her granddaughter on the carriage that day, the villagers speculated that Old Zhao had sold her granddaughter for money.
"Xiuying, you don't know that the carriage that day was used to collect children. The old woman actually sold her own granddaughter. Tsk tsk, she is so heartless!"
Qian warned Wu carefully: "You must keep a close eye on Chang'an and don't let the old man take him away."
Mrs. Wu was stunned: "She sold Xiyue?" That's impossible, Song Xiyue is the life of her stepmother-in-law.
Besides, Xiao Zhao is still alive, she is not dead, how can she allow her mother-in-law to do such a thing?
Chang'an, who was listening to the gossip, suddenly remembered what his cousin had said before.
Song Xiyue always said that she wanted to go to the capital to enjoy life in my place, and also said that she wanted to be my parents' daughter.
Could it be that my cousin has pretended to be me and gone to the capital to find my mother?
Oops, I was careless.
Changan became anxious, stepped forward and grabbed his aunt and said, "I want to write a letter to my mother."