The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 163 The Scapegoat Across a Thousand Miles

That night, Lady Lü used one hundred taels of silver to obtain the "true scriptures" of the border town's military leaders.

The couple also carefully planned how to get close to their target, a 35-year-old military officer.

Next, during the two weeks or so that the exiled prisoners would have to serve their labor service.

The atmosphere in the west room was surprisingly peaceful.

Aside from the picky baby in the next room, who cries out several times a day, this winter break has been quite pleasant.

Seven days later.

Gan Hongzhen and his family of four came to No. 36 Courtyard.

They traveled for more than five months, passing through more than a dozen prefectures where refugees fought amongst themselves.

I've been robbed, robbed, and schemed against—I've encountered every kind of bad luck imaginable.

Despite the hardships along the way, Gan Hongzhen and his wife were filled with joy when they saw their eldest grandson, youngest granddaughter, and son-in-law.

The legends left behind by their eldest daughter in Jinzhou City and Jinzhou Pass have already given the Gan family of four a baptism of fire.

At that time, the Gan family inadvertently revealed at Jinzhou Pass that they were Gan Minglan's maternal relatives.

The enthusiasm of the soldiers and people at Jinzhou Pass was simply overwhelming.

During the two-day stay, they were not asked to pay a single penny.

When they left, the families of the soldiers stuffed a large amount of dry food into their hands.

There's no way to get rid of it.

before coming.

Gan Hongzhen and his wife planned that if they were not allowed to enter a military stronghold like the border town, the family would settle in Huaiqing Prefecture.

A butcher, of course, can't he slaughter pigs anywhere?

Anyway, I planned out both the way forward and the way back several times.

Who would have thought that the eldest daughter, affectionately known as the Jade-Faced Rakshasa by the people of Jinzhou Pass, also had an extraordinary reputation in the border town.

After the border guards at the city gate read the family's identity documents and learned that the person who had come to the border town to visit relatives was a scholar's wife, they quickly found the squad leader on duty that day.

The squad leader smiled warmly at their whole family.

He even personally brought them to courtyard number 36 in Hepingfang.

On the way to Hepingfang, the team leader proudly introduced the family:

“Our scholar’s ​​wife is very capable. She can kill barbarians on horseback and has a lot of good ideas on foot.”

Her brain works better than all of ours combined.

The old man probably doesn't know yet, but a month ago, the scholar's wife and others were sent to Haijin Town to transport grain.

Those grain merchants from other places only benefited because the checkpoints in various prefectures were occupied by refugees and they couldn't transport grain from Haijin Town!

They all thought they would be lucky to be able to transport even a small portion of the grain back this time, but a few days ago, they received some incredibly good news.

Because of the scholar's wife, the brothers managed to bring back almost every last grain!

Soldiers at the squad leader level have limited information.

But he had a simple view of merit: what a great achievement it was to transport enough grain to feed 100,000 border troops for half a year!
If the scholar's wife were a man, she could be promoted to commander of a thousand men just for this one time!

Of course, this was the news of Gan Minglan's victory in protecting 600,000 shi of grain and killing over a thousand bandits, which had not yet been relayed back.

In short, her family's worries about her disappeared without a trace after she entered Jinzhou Pass.

Unlike Madam Yang, who was so angry at her daughter going to battle with a big belly that she wanted to slap her, Gan Hongzhen, Gan Mingfu, and Gan Mingshou, the three men, were filled with excitement.

With skills like those of a daughter/elder sister, it's an excellent way to survive and make a living in chaotic times.

Looking at her little granddaughter lying in swaddling clothes on the kang (a heated brick bed), so cute and fragrant, with her nose and head looking exactly like her daughter's, Yang's heart almost melted.

"Zizai gave his little sister such a lovely name, Yuanyuan. Oh my, such a round head and round eyes. It would be even better if her little face were a little rounder."

Fatty nestled in the arms of his favorite uncle, eating the pastries his uncle had bought, and tattled on his sister's misdeeds:

"Before Mom left, my little sister was chubby. After Mom left, Yuanyuan refused to drink milk properly, and her little face became thin from hunger."

Mrs. Yang was quite surprised: "A baby who is only two months old already knows how to be a picky eater?"

Luo, protective of her daughter, said, "My Yuanyuan is just as smart as her father. She has such a keen sense of smell! In the past month, we've found her no less than ten wet nurses, but she cries as soon as they hold her. She'd rather drink goat's milk than human milk. You haven't seen it, my Kang'er is so worried about this little thing that he can't eat or sleep well."

The mother and mother-in-law had a long discussion about how clever (and picky) little Yuanyuan was.

The women and children were praising each other: you praised my son for being smart, and I praised your daughter for being beautiful.

Then he praised the couple for passing on their intelligence and beauty to the same child!

the other side.

Zuo Wenkang was also busy preparing food and drink for his father-in-law's family, being extremely attentive.

"Father, Mother! Come and try my cooking! This is lamb spine stewed for three hours with lots of spices from the Western Regions!"

The sheep from this border town are different from those from Daming Prefecture; they have no muttony smell at all.

Brothers, please don't be shy, just treat us like family!
If it weren't for the money my parents gave us over the years and on the day we left, my family would have suffered so much more on the road.

My wife and I had already discussed it beforehand, and we would take care of our parents in their old age and see them off when they pass away, together with my two brothers-in-law.

Even with all her petty schemes and calculations, Mrs. Luo nodded repeatedly upon hearing her son's words:
“My dear in-law, Kang’er is right! Our family is where it is today entirely thanks to my daughter-in-law. It is his duty to be filial to his father-in-law and mother-in-law!”

Luo's words came from the bottom of his heart.

She's constantly worried that her daughter-in-law is too capable, and her son isn't good at keeping her around.

Our in-laws arrived at the perfect time! What a wonderful coincidence!

It would be best to let the son show his filial piety.

Thinking of this, she began to sincerely thank them again:

"Thanks to our ample funds, the escorting officials kept finding ways to get us to take money out of our pockets. Oh, and the bodyguard hired by our in-laws saved our lives several times."

Gan Hongzhen paused, his heart leaping into his throat: "What? Is someone on the road really trying to kill you?"

Even now, Mr. Luo still feels lingering fear when he recalls these events:

"There was a gang of thieves called the Thieves' Guild that followed us for a long time. If it weren't for the bodyguard hired by our in-laws who discovered them, I don't even want to think about the consequences."

"He's a really nice person. Kang's daughter-in-law said he accompanied us all the way to Jinzhou Pass before leaving. It was well worth the invitation, in-laws."

When it comes to the lives of the whole family, whether something is expensive or not is another matter.

Gan Hongzhen was also surprised.

The bodyguard was just randomly picked from a security escort agency in Daming Prefecture, yet he was so dedicated and responsible.

Thinking that his unnecessary actions had actually helped his daughter's family a lot, he felt very happy.

It's a bit of a shame that their journey here was so chaotic that they didn't get to meet the brother on his way back.

Gan Minglan: Very good, very good. The bodyguard has been carrying the burden for her all the way. We should give him a nickname: the Thousand-Mile Blame-Carrying Hero!

(End of this chapter)