“She, she hasn’t come back yet.”
The rest of the Song family also arrived at the door and were all stunned to see Qi Ying.
“Miss Qi.”
Xu stepped out quickly, “What brings you here?”
Qi Ying looked around the crowd and did not see Song Si’s figure, so she nodded towards the crowd and withdrew her eyes, “I came to look for the little girl, I didn’t expect her to be here, can I go in and wait?”
“Of course you can, please come in.”
Qi Ying tethered her horse to a tree by the door, Xu led her in and introduced her to Grandma and Master Song, “This is Miss Qi of the Weiyuan Dart Bureau.”
“So it’s Miss Qi, please come in.”
“Excuse me.”
“No bother, no bother.”
Grandma Song gave Master Song a wink and told him to take the men to the field first, while she stayed behind to keep Qi Ying company.
Master Song complied and carried the hoe out, with Liu Cui Lan and Song Shu and Song Shen following.
The peasant family did not have a living room, so Grandma Song instructed Xu to lead Qi Ying to the hall to sit, while she went back to her own house, brought out the clay pot with warm water, went to the kitchen, brought in a bowl and poured water for Qi Ying.
“Thank you, Grandma.”
“Miss Qi mustn’t call me that, I can’t afford it.”
“Little girl and I are good friends, her grandmother is naturally my grandmother too.”
Grandma Song put the clay pot down and sat down on a wooden stool to one side, “Is Miss Qi here for something today?”
Qi Ying was generous, “Yes, my cousin returned from the academy today and said that little girl’s elder brother had been expelled from the academy, so I came to ask if there was anything I could do to help?”
You’re here about Si’er?
Grandma Song’s mind turned several times, and her gaze lingered on Qi Ying’s face for a moment.
She knew why Song Wan Yue had met Qi Ying, and such a friendship was nowhere near enough to make a young lady from a dart board come to her door to help out, the only possibility was ……
“Thank you so much Miss Qi, I’m not going to lie, there are relatives at home in the county, Yue’er stayed there to ask for help, if you’re not in a hurry, let’s wait for her to return together.”
“Good.”
Qi Ying was eager to do so, and readily agreed.
Grandma Song got up, “Then you guys talk first, I’ll go boil some water.”
“Mother, I’ll go.”
Xu followed suit and got up, but Grandma Song pushed her back and sat down, “I’ll go, you stay with Miss Qi and talk.”
After Grandma Song left the house, she glanced towards Song Si’s house and shook her head when she saw that there was not the slightest movement inside.
She knew her own grandson, this was a lack of heart for this Miss Qi, otherwise he would not have not come out to say hello.
……
Song Wangyue arrived home half an hour later, got off the carriage, saw a horse tethered in front of her house, thought of a possibility, then shook her head again, thinking it was impossible.
“See you tomorrow, little girl!”
Gu Yi waved his hand at her.
“Be careful on the way.”
Gu Yi smiled happily and fondly let go of the curtain and rode away in the carriage.
“Yue’er, you’re back!”
Xu had been with Qi Ying for half an hour and had long since lost track of what to say, especially to Qi Ying’s unusually enthusiastic attitude, and she was on pins and needles, keeping her ears open to listen to the commotion outside.
When she heard the sound of the carriage, she hurriedly came out of the house, and without waiting for Song Wan Yue to reply, she added, “Miss Qi is here, she heard about your big brother and came to ask if there was anything she could do, she has been waiting for more than half an hour.”
It was really her!
Song Wan Yue subconsciously glanced towards Song Si’s house and saw that the door was tightly closed, so she withdrew her eyes and quickly stepped inside.
“Sister Qi!”
Qi Ying stood up, “Little girl!”
“I’ve kept Sister Qi waiting.”
“It’s me who came over without greeting you in advance and disturbed you.”
“What are you talking about, Sister Qi, our family is already grateful that you have come to help at this time, please have a seat, Sister Qi.”
Qi Ying sat down again and asked directly, “I wonder how your relatives have done with the investigation into your elder brother’s matter?”
“Nothing yet, I remember that Sister Qi’s cousin is also at the school?”
“Yes, I heard from him today, and that’s why I came to the house.”
“Then can you ask him for a favour?”
“You tell me.”
“Mother, I’m thirsty, so go and get me a bowl of water.”
Xu understood and turned to go out again.
Only then did Song Wan Yue lower her voice, “I want him to keep an eye on two people for me, one is called Lu Xing, who is my elder brother’s roommate; the other is Zhang Huai, to see who he has been getting close to in recent days.”
“That’s no problem, I’ll have him do it later. See if there’s anything else you need from me, just let me know, our dart board has been in the county for more than ten years at least, we still have some contacts.”
“Thank you sister Qi, I won’t need it for now, I’ll look for you at the dart board when I need it.”
Qi Ying nodded, “That’s a deal, if you need anything, you’ll come to the dart board and find me.”
“Okay.”
Qi Ying was silent for a while, but finally he couldn’t hold back, “Little girl, your big brother he …… is he okay?”
If it were anyone else, encountering such a thing before the examination would be unbearable, let alone Song Si who is the most favored student.
After Qi Ying heard his cousin’s words, the first thought in his head was that he was afraid something would happen to him, which is why he asked his cousin for the address and rode over regardless.
“Don’t worry, sister Qi, my big brother won’t be beaten down by this.”
“That’s good, that’s good, I saw all the people in your family when I entered, but not your big brother, I was afraid he might not think about it ……”
These few words from Qi Ying made her thoughts clear, but Song Wan Yue could only pretend not to understand, “My big brother is the strongest person in this family, sister Qi don’t need to worry about it.”
The first thing you need to do is to ask a few questions, but you don’t expect Song Wan Yue to follow her words at all.
“Yue’er, tell grandmother, does that Miss Qi have her heart set on your big brother?” Grandma Song called Song Wan Yue into the mouth house alone and asked her in a suppressed voice.
Song Wangyue answered honestly, “It seems like there is some.”
Grandma Song slapped her thigh, “It’s really what I thought, what can we do?”
The Qi family ran a dart board in the county and naturally had a wide range of contacts, so they might be able to help with Song Si’s affairs. If Qi Ying didn’t have such a mind, they would have begged with a thick skin, but now it was obvious that Qi Ying did have that mind, and if they did help, and the matter came out, the Qi family would use the favour to ask the Song family to accept the marriage, and it would be a bad ending. After all, Song Si did not have that kind of heart, and she could not force her grandson to say yes.
Song Wan Yue was just about to persuade her when the sound of hurried footsteps rang outside the door, followed by Gu Yi’s urgent voice, “Little girl, come out quickly, your third uncle is in trouble in the county!”
