Seeing his wife of many years growing more haggard by the day, the Prime Minister was at his wit's end and could only send men to Luo Town to bring the two children back to the manor.
It should have been a joyous occasion, but on the way, the Little Miss was targeted by villains and her life or death became unknown. The Young Master suffered from a persistent high fever, and it was only after summoning Imperial Physician Li, a great master from the palace, that the fever finally broke.
After the Young Master recovered, Madam Gu requested to leave the Song Manor and set up a tea stall in the market.
Since then, every day after private school, the Young Master would deliberately detour to this place, watch quietly for a while, and then have her buy a bowl of tea soup on his behalf.
After drinking the tea soup, Song Yili would then head back to the manor.
After sending the Young Master back to the manor, Fugui would hurriedly rush to the Hundred Herbs Hall to fetch medicine. The Young Master had started coughing again recently, but whenever he became engrossed in his studies, he would neglect everything else, burying his head in books and forgetting the time. The medicine placed by his side would always go cold before he remembered to drink it.
Speaking of the Little Miss, Fugui was actually quite curious.
He had heard the Young Master mutter more than once about how well-behaved, cute, and intelligent she was.
There were even two portraits of the Little Miss hanging in the bedroom. In the paintings, the young girl had eyes like polished lacquer and a smile like spring, looking like a little fairy before the seat of Guanyin, radiating spirit from head to toe.
Come to think of it, the portraits of noble ladies from prestigious families painted by artists were already embellished to some extent. With his own Young Master missing the Little Miss so much, he had likely embellished her image inadvertently as well.
Fugui had fetched the medicine and was rushing back to the manor when he saw a small figure in the crowd from afar.
Fugui stopped in his tracks, his expression suddenly becoming somewhat dazed. How could that child look so much like the Little Miss in the paintings?
Although dressed as a young boy, the facial features, the smile, and even the tiny black mole on the bridge of the nose overlapped perfectly with the person in the paintings.
Fugui was startled and instinctively wanted to chase after her to get a better look, but he was bumped by a passing peddler carrying a load, causing him to stumble. By the time he steadied himself and looked again, the Little Miss was nowhere to be seen.
He stood frozen in place for a long time before blankly raising his hand to scratch the back of his head. "That's strange. Could my eyes be playing tricks on me?"
The Little Miss, whom even the Prime Minister and the local authorities could not find, how could she possibly appear in the Capital City? It must be that he had been looking at the portraits too much these days and was hallucinating.
……
After Madam Gu returned to the Song Manor, she did not stay for long.
On one hand, there was always a hurdle in her heart; Zhi Wen had severed his father-son relationship with the Prime Minister for her sake back then, yet she had failed to protect their young daughter, and she felt truly guilty.
On the other hand, although she knew the Prime Minister had sent people to search everywhere for Er Ya, she still could not set her mind at ease.
Thus, she set up a small tea stall by the city gate. Once she had saved enough travel money, she would head south again to return to the vicinity of the inn where Er Ya was abducted and start searching again.
As for the eldest son, although Old Madam Song did not think much of her daughter-in-law, she truly loved Yili to the bone.
With her protection, Yili's life in the manor would not be easily bullied by others.
Madam Gu was bowing her head, wiping a coarse ceramic bowl, while calculating her plans to head south.
Suddenly, a voice rang out before the stall, crisp yet somewhat hesitant.
"Mother, why are you here?"
Her hand trembled, and the ceramic bowl nearly slipped. She looked up abruptly and saw a young boy who looked exactly like Er Ya standing before the stall.
"E-Er Ya?"
Madam Gu's voice trembled so much it was almost out of tune. Looking at Song Yi'an, her expression was a mix of excitement and disbelief.
Song Yi'an was stunned by her gaze and smiled embarrassedly.
Madam Gu could no longer hold back and pulled Song Yi'an tightly into her arms.
Song Yi'an stiffened slightly at first, then felt Madam Gu's trembling arms and the suppressed sobbing against her neck.
Her own eyes grew hot, and she raised her hand to pat Madam Gu's back soothingly.
"Mother, I'm here. Don't be afraid." Her tone was like she was coaxing a child.
Madam Gu was left crying and laughing by her young daughter's words. How old was her Er Ya, and why did she speak like a little adult?
Madam Gu let go of her young daughter and smoothed the stray hairs on her forehead, then carefully checked her daughter for injuries. Seeing that Er Ya was completely unharmed, she finally felt relieved, her voice filled with lingering fear.
"Er Ya, how have you been living these days?"
Speaking of the journey from Luo Town to the Capital City, the twists and turns were so perilous that Song Yi'an probably couldn't finish telling them in three days and three nights.
She had only arrived in the Capital City the day before yesterday. At that time, she was penniless and had no travel permit to enter the city, so she had to huddle at the city gate for a day and a night. Only when she waited for a donkey cart carrying hay did she seize the chance while the driver was dozing off to slip into the high pile of grass, thus luckily sneaking into the Capital City.
Since it was too much to explain in a few words, Song Yi'an picked and chose what to say, only mentioning that she was lucky to have received secret help from a noble person, which allowed her to escape the clutches of those villains. As for the attack on the rainy night later, she deliberately omitted it to avoid causing Madam Gu unnecessary worry.
Even with such an understated account, Madam Gu was already terrified, her face turning from white to pale.
She had almost lost Er Ya forever; thank goodness, thank goodness.
With her daughter found, Madam Gu had no heart to continue running the stall. She packed up early, preparing to take her daughter to have a good meal.
Who would have thought that just around the corner, they would run into Song Yili, who had just finished private school.
When Song Yili saw the familiar little person beside Madam Gu, he froze in place.
Song Yi'an's eyes lit up. Recognizing her brother, her heart warmed, and she instinctively let go of her mother's hand and ran happily toward him.
Unexpectedly, the other party recoiled as if burned, stepping back sharply with evasive eyes.
Song Yi'an stopped: "?"
What was going on? Had she changed her attire so much that her brother didn't recognize her?
"Brother?" she called out tentatively again.
At almost the same moment, a soft female voice sounded from behind Song Yili.
"Brother Yili, why have you stopped?"
A girl dressed in a light blue dress stepped forward. The fabric was fine cloud brocade, shimmering with a gentle luster in the sunlight.
Judging by her age, she was about the same as Song Yili, and she was the daughter of the eldest branch of the Song Manor, Song Mingsi.
Having finished private school with Song Yili, Song Mingsi had followed him when she saw that the direction he was walking was not the route back to the Song Manor.
She swept a curious gaze over Song Yi'an and asked gently, "Brother Yili, who is this?"
However, Song Yili acted as if he hadn't heard.
The ignored Song Mingsi narrowed her eyes, her gaze falling back onto Song Yi'an as she scrutinized this unfamiliar face.
A bit of displeasure bubbled up in Song Yi'an's heart. Without waiting for Song Yili to recover, she stepped forward, stood on her tiptoes, reached out with her small hand, and pinched his cool cheek, not forgetting to give it a tug.
"Brother, you wouldn't have forgotten such a cute sister, would you?"
Song Yili shuddered from the real sensation on his face. He opened his mouth, his voice sounding incredibly dry: "Er Ya, are you... really..."
Song Yi'an hummed. She knew it; how could Song Yili not recognize her?
Seeing that the siblings' reunion would not end anytime soon, and noticing that the Eldest Miss Song was being left aside, Madam Gu took a step forward, bowed to Song Mingsi, and took over the conversation.
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