Lin Jinrong hadn't reacted yet, her face was red and puffy. Lin Shenzhi had already pulled her arm excitedly and said: "Fourth sister, look at this vast land! You can't see the end of it! And there are such high and big mountains, unfortunately they seem close but are actually far away, no chance to go for a tour! Fourth sister, so many birds! I saw geese, really lined up in a row! I also saw two eagles, so big! Fourth sister, I heard the crickets chirping underground, but Wu Ergou and I dug everywhere and couldn't find any. Brother Gang is awesome, he caught one and then let it go, saying we're on the road, not good to raise, if it dies it's a pity..."

  "Really? That's great." Lin Jianrong could fully understand the excitement and joy of Lin Shen, who had been confined at home for many years and suddenly saw the vast wilderness, and was close to the mountains, flowers, grass, clear wind and sunshine.

  The sun had just risen above the horizon when Lin and Wu's men left Pingzhou City. They followed the official road westward, proceeding at a steady pace towards Qingzhou.

  It was already after the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the morning temperature had become somewhat chilly. Lin Shen hadn't traveled far from home, so he couldn't help but lift up the curtain and lean against the window to take in the view. The cold wind poured into the carriage, and both Lin Jingyong and Tao Shi instinctively wrapped their cloaks tighter around them, yet they tacitly ignored him and also took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy the scenery.

  Not long after, the trees gradually thinned out, and a vast expanse of land stretched out before them. A clump of grass grew in the east, and a patch of earth was exposed in the west, making the barren land look ugly, like a mangy dog's head, slowly coming into everyone's view. Lin Shiquan rode his horse forward: "Third Aunt, Fourth Sister, this is that piece of alkaline land to the west of the city."

  Lin Jinrong and Tao Shi both looked out with great care, Tao Shi holding Lin Shen tightly: "Shen, the land your uncle gave you is right here."

  Lin Shenzhi looked out of the carriage, "Where? Where?" Lin Shiquan stopped the horse and pointed with his whip, "Look over there, where the white stone monument is. The land that Third Uncle bought is right next to it."

  Lin Jinyong didn't see clearly, and Tao Shi also couldn't see clearly. Only Lin Shenzhi pretended to point randomly: "Is it there?"

  Lin Jianrong lightly patted his hand: "What are you doing? Can't see clearly at all, how did you learn this temper?"

  Lin Shenzhi's face turned red with a smile, and Lin Shiqian stretched out his hand: "Brother Quan, carry me on your horseback and take me over to show me the way." He was young and had little contact with his older cousins in the family, so he couldn't play together. However, after only a few encounters with Lin Shiqian, who treated him warmly and took care of him, he fell in love with Lin Shiqian.

  Lin Shiquan saw that Tao Shi was not speaking and advised: "Younger brother, the dew is cool, we are in a hurry to rush on our journey, can't we go back later?"

  "What's wrong with the cool dew? A big man should learn from women and sit in a carriage?"

  "It won't be too late to arrive in Qingzhou anyway." Wu Xiang jumped down from the carriage with ease, stretched out his hand and asked Danyan to get off the horse and hand over the reins and whip.

  Wu Xiang rode his horse forward, stopped beside Lin Shiquan, and bowed to Tao's mother, smiling: "Auntie, reading ten thousand volumes of books, traveling ten thousand miles, let my little brother and I sit on the horse for a while, enjoy the scenery, and blow some cold wind. It will only be good for him." He was following Tao Fengtang's call, so he also called her Auntie Tao.

  Although Tao was worried about the cold dew, Lin Shen's bad temper had frozen, but he didn't want to offend Wu Xiang's face, so he smiled slightly and agreed. Lin Shen was overjoyed, almost crawling onto Wu Xiang's horseback with his hands and feet, Wu Xiang held him tight, patted the horse's belly hard, and laughed loudly as they galloped forward.

  Taoshi thought Wu Xiang was just playing with Bao Lin, but he didn't expect him to play this trick. Suddenly frightened, his face turned white, and he repeatedly ordered people to hurry up and chase after them. The capable managers of the two families, Lin and Wu, saw the situation and quickly rode their horses to catch up.

  Lin Jinyong looked out of the window and saw that the morning sun was shining on Wu Xiang's figure, making it a brilliant golden yellow. She couldn't help but feel envious and let out a soft sigh, then turned back to Lin Shiquan with a smile: "Third brother, you must have had a hard time on this journey."

  She spoke with complex meaning, Lin Shiquan understood but didn't mind, only slightly smiling: "It's nothing, I'm happy." He also comforted Tao Shi: "Third Aunt don't worry, Wu Ershao is skilled in riding and knows what he's doing, he was just teasing Xiao Qi for fun." Tao Shi saw that Wu Xiang indeed slowed down gradually, the servants also caught up, so she put her mind at ease, laughed and said straightforwardly: "Shiquan you must stand up for me, don't let people look down on us."

  She didn't speak without reason. Lin Shiquan's trip to Qingzhou was not easy, and Mr. Lin San was dissatisfied with the Tao family for not bringing Lin Yizhi out, but instead wanted to bring him along. It is said that his own biological son is not brought to see the world, but instead wants to bring an unrelated outsider to take advantage of what reason.

  She coldly laughed and told the Tao family to stop thinking about supporting others, that in the future when they grew old and needed to be taken care of, they would still have to rely on Lin Yizhen. Lin Shiquan was not reliable, everyone knew what kind of ideas he and his son had, only the foolish Tao family would treat a bad egg as a treasure.

  "Everyone else is stupid, only you are the smartest! I'll take care of my own son's funeral, how dare you wish for someone else to do it!" Mrs. Tao was furious: "It was my brother who invited him to go, not me plotting to let him take advantage of something good. I'd rather bring your precious eldest son to Qingzhou, but the other family didn't invite him! Can't have me bringing the whole family to eat and drink and take advantage of others' hospitality, can it? You have the face, I don't!"

  She had long been moved by Lin Jianrong, and she wanted to let Lin Shiquan learn from him, so that he could help Lin Shenyi in the future. She didn't plan to take Lin Shiquan with her, nor did she ever think of taking Lin Yizhi along.

  She returned to her mother's home, but had to bring a mysterious illegitimate child to get in the way. What was she doing? Was she stuffed from eating too much? Even if she had some doubts earlier, being interrupted by Old Master Lin made her so angry that she had to take Lin Shiwu with her.

  Lin Shiquan also knew that this trip to Qingzhou was not easy, and after a moment of silence, he looked up at Mrs. Tao and said seriously: "Third Auntie, don't worry, I'll do my best and won't let you down." Just as he finished speaking, someone behind him shouted: "Quan Shao, Third Master has something to ask for you." He was just a young man who relied on his relatives to survive, and in order to distinguish himself from the real Lin family's third young master, the Lin family servants all called him Quan Shao.

  "I'll go first then. If anything happens, someone will call me." Lin Shiquan also rode his horse to the back... to listen to what Old Master Lin San had instructed.

  Lin Jianrong saw him standing in front of Lin San's carriage with his hands tied, listening to Lin San's words with a humble expression, his eyes dim. This situation was within her expectations. With Lin Shiquan's identity, he had long been destined for an awkward position in the Lin family. On the surface, people still called him "Quan Shao", but in reality, he was not even as dignified as a favored steward. Behind his back, there were sneers and secret calculations. She was worried that Lin Shiquan would not be able to bear it, or harbor resentment, or lose his fighting spirit, which would go against her original intentions. However, an arrow shot from the bow has no turning back, and once on the road, one can only grit their teeth and continue forward. If successful, then keep going; if not, then admit that luck is not on your side and make new plans.

  After traveling for about half an hour, they saw the two attendants from the Wu family standing by the side of the road waiting. Wu Xiang and Lin Shen were there, but the other two attendants had vanished. Mrs. Tao was frantic: "Quickly go ask what's going on! Where have the people gone?" She couldn't help but secretly complain that Wu Xiang was indeed a careless person, truly difficult to manage.

  A servant from the Wu family came to reply: "The second young master has taken the seventh young master out for a walk, they won't be delayed for too long. Please don't wait for him, Third Madam, he will bring the seventh young master back himself."

  The children of wealthy families are too spoiled, with many minor ailments. There are experienced elderly people who offer advice: why don't the children of farmers get sick even though they eat and live irregularly but still grow up strong? It's because they often walk barefoot on the earth. So it's good to let young children walk barefoot on the earth too. Wu Xiang unexpectedly found such an excuse, Lin Jianrong couldn't help but laugh while advising Tao Shi: "Most likely it's just little Seventh Brother being curious."

  He rarely goes out, and is usually too tightly controlled by his grandfather. It's better to let him relax a bit, otherwise he'll become a bookworm. With someone following him, there shouldn't be any big problems."

  Tao frowned and said: "I am not one of those who don't talk reason, but things must be distinguished between light and heavy, slow and urgent."

  "If we keep delaying like this, we'll miss the relay station and won't even have a place to rest. We can't just sleep in the wilderness."

  Just as someone was sent to look for him, Lin Sanlao sent Lin Shiquan again to ask what happened in the end and why he stopped again. Are you going to hurry on the road or not?

  "Tell him that Wu's wife has entrusted me to take care of Wu Erlang, and I will not betray her trust. Now, I'll wait for Wu Erlang; if he's in a hurry, he can leave first. We can still make it to Qingzhou without him." Lin Shiquan smiled awkwardly again, intending to go back and relay the message to Lin Sanlang. Lin Jianrong couldn't bear seeing him so troubled, so she said: "Third brother, even if the steward goes, Wu Erlang might not listen to their advice. Why don't you go find Wu Erlang instead? Just tell him we're walking slowly and waiting for them." Without waiting for Tao Shi's response, she directly called over Lin Sanlang's servant: "Go relay the message to Third Master; we'll leave immediately."

  Lin Shiquan then listened to Lin Jianrong's arrangement and went to find Wu Xiang and Lin Shen. The horse carriage started moving again, but Tao Shi had already lost her good mood from earlier, she was sulking with a straight face, secretly scolding the ancestors of Old Master Lin for eighteen generations without mentioning it.

  After walking and stopping, it took more than half a day before Wu Xiang and the others finally caught up. Wu Xiang personally escorted Lin Shen to the carriage, exchanged a few polite words with Tao Shi, and then quietly mouthed to Lin Jing: "Wait for me."

  Lin Jinrong hadn't reacted yet, her face was flushed as Lin Shenzhi pulled her arm excitedly and said: "Fourth sister, look at this vast land! It's so big that you can't see the end of it! And there are such tall mountains, unfortunately they seem close but are actually far away, no chance to go for a walk! Fourth sister, there are so many birds, I saw geese lined up in a row! I also saw two eagles, really huge! Fourth sister, I heard frogs croaking underground, but Wu Ergou and I dug everywhere and couldn't find any. Brother Gang is amazing, he caught one and then let it go, saying we're on the road, not good to raise, would be a pity if it died..." "Really? That's great." Lin Jinrong could fully understand Lin Shenzhi's excitement, having been cooped up at home for years, suddenly seeing the vast wilderness, being able to get close to mountains, wildflowers, clear wind and sunshine.

  "Stop running off to join your Wu Erge in his nonsense! We're on a tight schedule, and if we let you two carry on like this, it'll take us four days to cover what should only take two. When will we ever reach Qingzhou?"

  Lin Shenzhi drooled on his face and fell into Lin Jinyong's arms: "Auntie's birthday is six days later, we can make it." He flipped over again, leaned into Tao Shi's arms, and shook her hard: "Mother, let me sit in the same car as Wu Ergou? He just invited Quan Gege to his car. I want to go too!" Tao Shi didn't allow it, but Lin Shuangrong persuaded: "Let him go, boys should be with their brothers more often."

  Lin Shen's gentle words were met with Tao's stern warning as she tapped his forehead, "If something like today happens again, don't even think about asking me for anything."

  Lin Shen happily agreed and Lin Jinrong whispered in his ear, "You watch out, if anyone gives you a hard time, brother, remember to tell me."

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  Ahh, Kunming's weather is really comfortable. It's just that typing on my laptop is too slow and inconvenient. Feeling comfortable, I'll take a roll and continue to beg for votes.

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