After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 861 Revealing the secret
As they were talking, Haitang vaguely heard Xiangcao calling her from the other side of the wall, and she knew that the girl had returned from Mother Li.

In order to prevent Xiangcao from being unable to find anyone and alerting her grandparents in the main courtyard in front, Haitang immediately stood up and said, "Brother Jin, Xiangcao is looking for me. I have to go back first."

Jin Jiashu certainly would not cause trouble at this time, and hurriedly said: "Sister Hai, just go back and rest in peace. I will go to see the Duke of Zhenguo and his wife tomorrow, and then come to your house to talk."

Haitang nodded, took a few quick steps, ran to the base of the wall connecting the two houses, jumped onto the top of the wall, and looked around. She just happened to see Xiangcao leaving the backyard. She guessed that she was probably going to the front yard to find her, so she turned around and nodded to Jin Jiashu, then climbed over the wall and returned to the Hai family's backyard.

Jin Jiashu watched his beloved leave from under the wall with his eyes wide open, until he could no longer see her figure or hear any sound from her on the other side of the wall. Then he sighed softly and reluctantly returned to the thatched pavilion, taking the lamp and tea with him, and went back to his room.

If it weren't for meeting Sister Hai, he wouldn't have been so interested in staying in the back garden to enjoy the breeze. He was very tired after traveling for days and should have rested long ago.

Haitang returned to her backyard, and while Xiangcao was away, she quickly walked to the door next to her room and gently pushed it open to go in.

There were several rooms in the backyard. In addition to Haitang's two boudoirs and one sewing room, there were two other rooms that were usually used to store sundries. Now they were filled with packed large luggage. Haitang entered one of them, found her box, untied the knots to disguise herself, and let her cloak get a little dusty. After finishing, she walked out of the room again.

At this time, Xiangcao came back, but she didn't bring anyone else. She just had a puzzled and anxious expression on her face. When she saw Haitang standing in the middle of the yard, she was immediately surprised and happy: "Where did you go just now, young lady? I couldn't find you anywhere!"

Haitang smiled and said, "I remembered something and wanted to find something, but it had already been packed into a box, so I started to unpack it and look for it. I was probably too focused on finding it, so I ignored your call, and when I came to my senses, you had already left the yard. I'm really sorry for making you anxious."

Xiangcao smiled and said, "What are you talking about, young lady? It's just a small matter. Next time if you need to find something, just call me and I'll find it for you." She also saw that there was some dust on the hem of Haitang's cloak, so she hurriedly said, "Oh, the cloak is dirty, young lady, please come into the house and I'll clean it for you."

Haitang went into the house and said, "I just untied the rope that tied the box, but I didn't have time to tie it back. You don't have to worry about it. I will deal with it after dawn tomorrow. I haven't found my thing yet."

Vanilla responded, helped her take off her cloak, and asked again: "What are you looking for? Maybe I know where it is."

Haitang smiled and said, "It's the colored paper with lotus patterns printed on it. I thought that before I officially set off, I had to say goodbye to my good friends again. Using that colored paper just fits the season and is more elegant than other paper."

Xiangcao thought for a moment and said, "This thing has not been put away. It is in the study room in the west wing of the main courtyard. The young lady said earlier that it should be kept for use when writing letters to the young ladies of various families. There is no need to put it away for the time being. Did the young lady forget?"

Haitang showed an expression of sudden enlightenment: "Yes, I actually forgot, how stupid."

Xiangcao smiled indifferently, saying it was just a small matter. But when she helped the girl get on the kang and bent down to put Haitang's shoes in place, she found that there were a lot of hay crumbs on the soles of the shoes, and she couldn't help but blink.

The Hai family only has a large lawn in the second courtyard, but it has always been well maintained. Even if the girl walks there a few times tonight, she won’t get so much hay on her soles. On the other hand, in the Jin family next door, after the owner left, the widow Lu and her son Lu Gawa were only responsible for taking care of the front and back courtyards. They only watered a few trees and vegetable gardens in the back garden. The flowers and grass had already dried up. Xiangcao had visited the Jin family before and knew that their back garden was now full of hay. If she walked around in it, her soles would be covered with hay. Did the girl just come back from the Jin family’s back garden?
Vanilla remembered that at the beginning of the year, her daughter climbed over the wall with a sword to rescue people at the Jin family. She knew that the wall was not an obstacle at all for the girl.

She pursed her lips and smiled: "The girl must be very happy today, and her mind must have flown away to who knows where, so she forgot about the colored paper, right?"

Is there something behind this statement?

Haitang looked at Xiangcao and saw that she was smiling but didn't show any strange expression. She didn't continue the topic and just went out with her cloak. After a moment of silence, Haitang looked down at the ground beside the kang, where the shoes she had just taken off were.

She reached out to pick up one of the shoes and found that the sole was covered with a lot of hay. Even though she went to the backyard of the Jin family tonight, with only the moonlight in the sky and a lantern in the thatched pavilion to illuminate, she knew that the weeds in the backyard were almost dry. She was so focused on "talking to Jin Jiashu" and "watching out for outsiders to discover her" that she actually ignored the flaws under her feet, and was exposed in front of the maid. Vanilla must have discovered it, right? She probably guessed where she actually went.

Haitang touched her nose a little embarrassedly, and her ears felt slightly hot.

Forget it, even if Xiangcao knew, it wouldn't matter. This girl always stood by me, and she wasn't a big mouth. As long as Jin Jiashu proposed to her grandparents as soon as possible and successfully persuaded them to agree to the marriage, she wouldn't be afraid of anyone knowing if she met him privately.

Nothing happened during the night. Haitang and Xiangcao, the master and servant, kept silent tacitly, pretending that nothing had happened. They got up early in the morning and washed up.

After Haitang got dressed, she went to the front courtyard. Grandfather Haixiya went to Uncle Xie's house next door for some reason, so Grandmother Ma had breakfast alone. Haitang accompanied her for breakfast, and after dinner, she talked about the Jin family: "Brother Jin left early yesterday, and we didn't ask him in detail. I wonder how long he plans to stay in Chang'an? How will he deal with his father's funeral?"

Ma said, "The gatekeeper said that Xiao Jin went out early this morning. He must have gone to pay respects to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. When he comes back, I will call him over to talk. We have arranged everything for him to move his father and stepmother back to their hometown. He only needs to go to the store and tell them, and they will deliver the things to the temple. We have even arranged the convoy to escort the coffin. He has to ask someone on his own about the date. If he can make it in time, he will go with us so that we can take care of him on the way."

This was similar to what Haitang had originally thought, so she smiled and said, "I originally thought that Brother Jin had left Chang'an at the beginning of the year, and that we would see him again after arriving in the capital. I didn't expect that he would be back in less than half a year. It's great that we can still accompany each other all the way to the capital. It's great that we don't have to separate!"

"That's right!" Ma didn't think much about it for a moment after hearing her granddaughter's words. "After all, we have been neighbors for several years. He grew up in our family. I was reluctant to let him go when he suddenly said he wanted to separate. Now, not only can our two families go to Beijing together, but we can also continue to visit each other frequently after arriving in Beijing. From his tone, I can tell that Madam Xu treats him very well, but she doesn't plan to raise him as a precious young man. She also lets him study and take the imperial examinations as before. This is the way to live a normal life. Xiao Jin has become a royal relative, but he has no intention of alienating our small family. Our two families can still be as close and harmonious as before and get along well!"

(End of this chapter)