Several days later, they finally arrived at Northern Ridge.
As the supervisor, Qu Wei naturally returned to his own supervision station.
Qi Yue continued to escort Huang Zaiâan back to the valley.
Little Shanzi was a clever spirit; when Prefectural Magistrate Huâs men came looking for him, he ran away, and therefore was not taken back to the Longnan County Government.
The reunion of teacher and student certainly had its joys.
Once everything was settled, seeing that Qi Yue had yet to visit the Zhao Family, Huang Zaiâan leisurely strolled over.
âWhy havenât you left yet? The lodging conditions here arenât nearly as good as your manâs house.â
Qi Yue paused momentarily, continuing her work at hand.
This time, from the Longnan County Government, a lot of items were arranged for Huang Zaiâan, and taking advantage of the number of people around, they were all brought over.
Quilts, clothes, etc., much had been procured.
âMaster, why donât you come back with me? Didnât my adoptive father mention that he could approve of me opening a pharmacy? You could help me out.â
âOld man me isnât going anywhere. A golden nest, a silver nest, none are as good as my own dogâs nest,â Huang Zaiâan took a swig from his flask of Spiritual Spring Water and glared at Qi Yue.
âHey, donât change the subject. Why havenât you gone yet?â
He glanced at the bedding and quilt cover that had already been tidied up, âJust how long do you plan to dawdle over such a trivial task? If you donât go now, does your man still want his leg treated or not?â
ââ¦Master, how about I go tomorrow?â Qi Yue hesitated.
At this moment, she wanted to see Zhao Xiyan immediately, but was also afraid to see him too soon.
Because she hadnât yet adjusted her excitement at the prospect of meeting him, in case she saw him, she feared she would lose control.
âNo way, go now!â Huang Zaiâan rudely snatched the bedding she had already organized several times out of her hands and tossed it aside.
âGet going quickly. Donât you want your man to stand up sooner?â
âWeâve already divorced; heâs no longer my man.â
âEven if youâve divorced, if you want to be with him, you can remarry, canât you? Whatâs so hard about that? Or shall your master speak for you?â
As Huang Zaiâan spoke, he was already walking outside.
Qi Yue hurriedly went forward and pulled him back.
âMaster, you absolutely must not go. The matter between him and me can only be resolved by ourselves.â
âReally donât want your master to speak for you?â
âReally, not now or ever.â
âWhy?â
âIf others speak for us to reconcile, how would our relationship be any different from all other husbands and wives in this world? I would rather not have such a relationship.â
Huang Zaiâan mumbled to himself as if he half understood.
âHow come you, girl, are unlike anyone else?â
âIâm Qi Yue, the one and only Qi Yue.â
Qi Yue laughed, and immediately felt the layer of unease in her heart vanish.
Yes, there was nothing to be uneasy about.
She would simply meet him with a normal state of mind, as if he were a family member.
Thinking this way, she immediately bid farewell to Huang Zaiâan and headed towards the Zhao familyâs wooden house.
More than one Shichen later, as the sun was about to set, she finally reached the end of the forest to the east. There was a small path there, which led to the view of the wooden house.
Qi Yue quickly arrived at the small path and indeed saw the last rays of the setting sun resting on the roof of the wooden house.
While she was still hesitating how to make her appearance, she saw several indigenous people in front of the wooden house, sneaking peeks around and seemingly up to no good.
Without further thought, she immediately rushed up and knocked down two of them. Another indigenous person suddenly started shouting loudly.
Then she saw Shen Yu poke her head out of the house.
These tribal people, upon seeing Shen Yu, quickly placed some wild vegetables at the entrance of the courtyard and took off running.
Qi Yue was puzzled about what was going on when Shen Yu excitedly approached.
ââ¦Yueyueâ¦Yueyue, is it really you?â
ââ¦â Qi Yue instinctively opened her mouth to call out âMotherâ, but then remembered she was divorced from Zhao Xiyan and by all accounts shouldnât call her that, so she just hummed an acknowledgment.
âMother has missed you to death!â Shen Yu hugged her tightly, her tears falling onto Qi Yueâs clothing.
It was a hot day, and she had changed into a lighter garment.
âWhy did it take you so long to come? Mother missed you so muchâ¦â
Qi Yue did not know how to respond to her enthusiastic and emotional former mother-in-law, and could only let herself be embraced woodenly.
Soon, the Zhao Family members came out as well.
Zhao Shuanghua, Zhao Shuangyue and the other two young ladies, just like Shen Yu, were especially teary-eyed.
Qi Yue felt like her outer garment had turned into their tear container.
Cong Zhonglan also came over, pushing two children ahead of her, calling her âYueyueâ with tears streaming down her face.
Fortunately, she did not pour out her tears on Qi Yue as Shen Yu and the others had done.
Zhao Yongzhe and Zhao Yonglian also came over, both of them looking excited and happy.
After chatting for a while, Cong Zhonglan said she had learned a new way to cook wild vegetables and wanted to make some for her, pulling Zhao Shuanghua and the others to the kitchen.
Qi Yue looked around several times, but saw no sign of Zhao Xiyan and finally couldnât restrain herself.
ââ¦Uh, whereâs Zhao Xiyan? Why havenât I seen him?â As soon as Zhao Xiyanâs name came up, the faces of Shen Yu and the others instantly fell.
Zhao Yonglian sighed and said, âI donât know whatâs gotten into that child, heâs become more and more reclusive, barely speaking all day, just staying in the back courtyard. No amount of calling can make him move, not even wind or rain can persuade him to come insideâ¦â
Shen Yu simply dabbed at her tears.
Zhao Yongzhe took over the conversation, detailing what had happened after she left, which wasnât much different from what Huang Zaiâan had told her previously.
The only difference was that after Zhao Xiyan had thoroughly dealt with the natives, not only did they stop interfering with their slash-and-burn farming, they even started bringing over wild vegetables and sometimes even helped out with their work.
Even the wood they needed to hand over in these past few months had been chopped and carried over by the natives.
Qi Yue finally realized why she had seen the native bringing vegetables earlier.
It seemed that Zhao Xiyan had frightened them into submission.
Finally, after Shen Yu wiped her tear-stained face for a while and calmed down somewhat.
She clutched Qi Yueâs hand, almost pleadingly, âYueyue, itâs good that youâre here. Yanyan will listen to you. Please convince him to pull himself together for Mother, will you?â
Qi Yue thought that Zhao Xiyan must have felt hopeless about getting back on his feet after she left, making him despondent. She immediately agreed.
âDonât worry, I found some medicinal herbs on my trip. Once heâs able to stand again, things will be better.â
When they heard Qi Yue had a way to help Zhao Xiyan stand again, everyone was overjoyed and hurriedly pushed her to the back courtyard to find him.
At this moment, in the pavilion in the back courtyard, Zhao Xiyan was staring blankly at the darkening sky in the distance.
Suddenly, his ears twitched, and a gleam of light flashed through his dull, lifeless eyes.
He listened intently, but that haunting voice seemed to disappear like the wind once again.
âHa, Iâm hallucinating again.â
He didnât know when he had developed this problem of auditory hallucinations.
He would often hear Qi Yue coming back, calling his name from afar.
âZhao Xiyan!â
At first, he would excitedly wheel himself out to greet her, only to realize heâd heard wrong.
After many disappointments, he learned his lesson and stopped going out.
He tightened the grip of the hand resting on his right knee and gave a bitter smile inwardly. She probably wouldnât come back anymore.
âZhao Xiyan!â
There it was, another voice in his head.
He didnât intend to pay attention, closed his eyes, and savored that echo in his mind, suddenly thinking that hallucinations were a good thing.
At least he could still hear her voice.