CHAPTER 159: CHAPTER 158: TELL MY BROTHER TO SELL YAO SHI

There were no peppers in Great Liang, and Yu Xiaolian wanted to try planting some peppers, but she didn’t know if these pepper seeds would sprout.

There were two types of pepper seeds in Yu Xiaolian’s supermarket, one from fresh spicy peppers and one from pepper segments. To increase the survival rate, Yu Xiaolian took some seeds of both types.

The seeds from fresh peppers were wet and needed to be dried, which took a little longer.

Yu Xiaolian soaked the seeds from the pepper segments in warm water for two hours, then wrapped them in a damp cloth. She chose plump seeds in the hope that they would succeed.

She placed the wrapped pepper seeds in a corner of the windowsill. Once the cloth dried, she moistened it with water again.

Her efforts paid off, and after about two days, the seeds started to sprout.

Yu Xiaolian filled a large wooden basin with high-quality black soil and placed it on the floor of her room.

She scattered the sprouted pepper seeds evenly in the wooden basin, then covered it with plastic wrap to seal it.

Whenever she felt the soil was dry, she would lift the plastic wrap, water the soil, and then seal it again.

As the pepper seedlings emerged one after another, the signboard and shelves for the carpenter’s shop also arrived.

Yu Changhe and Sun Fengshou climbed a ladder and, with great effort, hung up the signboard.

Yu Xiaolian stood at a distance, helping to check if the signboard was straight. Looking at the elegant characters for Taotao Residence, she really wanted to take out her phone and post on social media.

She even thought of the caption: I opened a supermarket in ancient times. Do you believe it?

She could already imagine her goofy forensic friend commenting: Open a supermarket? Can’t you aim a little higher? Ancient men are simple, pure, and easily fooled. You, a perennial singleton, hurry up and find someone!

Thinking about the days when she and her friend ogled young heartthrobs together, Yu Xiaolian’s lips curled slightly, and her eyes grew misty, realizing there was no going back.

"Xiaolian Sister, what are you daydreaming about?"

Zhao Sanyan was holding two steamed buns and a water pouch, looking up at her.

Yu Xiaolian patted Zhao Sanyan’s head, "Going to bring food to little Su again!"

Zhao Sanyan nodded, "Yeah, little Su only ate one bun all day yesterday, which didn’t seem enough, so I brought two buns today."

"Go on, come back soon!"

Yu Xiaolian watched Zhao Sanyan run off into the distance and suddenly felt an urge to follow and see what the little Su they mentioned looked like.

As Yu Xiaolian stepped into the dilapidated temple, her eyes widened in shock.

"Su Jingyue?"

Was this still the same big-eyed little Su Jingyue she knew?

Su Jingyue now wore ragged clothes, barefoot and disheveled, his face dusty and filthy.

Su Jingyue stood there, a bun still in his mouth, staring at Yu Xiaolian in disbelief, as if unsure if the person in front of him was real. It wasn’t until Yu Xiaolian called him again that he dropped the bun and ran over crying, hugging Yu Xiaolian’s leg, "Sister Xiaolian!"

Yu Xiaolian never would have thought that the little Su mentioned by little Tiger was actually Su Jingyue.

Didn’t Su Jingchen say he left Su Jingyue in the care of the Huo family? How did Su Jingyue end up getting kidnapped to Luocheng?

Yu Xiaolian squatted down and wiped away Su Jingyue’s tears, "Don’t cry, come home with Sister Xiaolian."

Su Jingyue nodded blankly, still unable to believe he had really encountered Sister Xiaolian.

Afraid it was all just an illusion, Su Jingyue secretly pinched his thigh, yelping in pain, confirming that this wasn’t a dream—he truly had found Sister Xiaolian.

Yu Xiaolian led Su Jingyue home, regretting that if she had visited the temple sooner, Su Jingyue wouldn’t have had to stay there with the beggars for over ten days.

Su Jingchen, how could you be so unreliable?

Do you even know your brother is missing?

And you promised me you’d take good care of Su Jingyue, was this what you meant?

When Yu Xiaolian brought Su Jingyue back, it shocked the whole family.

Yu Changhe and the Sun family were amazed at how fate had brought them thousands of miles away only to encounter this child again.

Grandma Sun and Sun Fengshou were amazed that Yu Xiaolian seemed addicted to picking up children. Not long after picking up Zhao Sanyan, she had brought home another one.

Only after hearing Su Jingyue’s story did Yu Xiaolian realize it wasn’t that Su Jingchen or the Huo family were unreliable, but that Yao Shi was the villain.

You can guard against a thief for a thousand days, but not forever. Yao Shi was determined to sell Su Jingyue, so she had someone watch his route to and from school every day.

On the day Su Jingyue was caught, he had lingered at the academy gate playing with friends for a while. The coachman sent by the Huo family waited at the carriage, unaware that Su Jingyue had been taken.

Yu Xiaolian asked, "How do you know it was Yao Shi who sent people to grab you?"

Su Jingyue angrily replied, "Who else could it be? I asked the broker, ’Was it Yao Shi who sent you? If so, you’d better send me back. Yao Shi’s my father’s concubine; she has no right to sell me.’

I even promised him double the silver from my father, but he said he was bound by some kind of code and couldn’t release me.

I spat, what kind of code lets someone kidnap kids? He was just afraid of a lawsuit if he brought me back."

Su Jingyue was taken by a broker and locked in a large wooden crate pulled by a carriage, with many other children his age. Each time the broker fed them dumplings, they would pass out for a day or two. When they woke, he would give them water and dumplings and make them sleep again.

Before reaching Luocheng, Su Jingyue hadn’t eaten dumplings or drunk water for several days, with no chance to escape.

After arriving in Luocheng, the broker carried the sedated children from the carriage, one by one, to a room in the broker’s backyard.

Others had eaten the drugged dumplings and water before getting off the carriage, but Su Jingyue hadn’t, so he snuck out through a dog hole at night.

After crawling through the dog hole and running a short distance, he swapped clothes with a little beggar.

He then hid in a dilapidated temple behind the academy, hoping to find a scholar from the academy to write a letter to his brother. But every time he got close, the scholars would pinch their noses and hurry away, unwilling to listen to him.

Yu Xiaolian asked Er Sanyan to boil water for Su Jingyue to wash and asked San Sanyan to bring a new set of clothes that little Tiger hadn’t worn yet for Su Jingyue to change into.

"Go wash up, don’t worry. I’ll take care of writing a letter to your brother!"

Su Jingyue nodded, "Sister Xiaolian, you must tell my brother to sell Yao Shi to the hardest place."

Believing his brother wouldn’t spare her easily for daring to sell him, Su Jingyue trusted in his sibling’s judgment.

Yu Xiaolian picked up a pen to write to Su Jingchen. When she left, he was at Linzhou County School. Now she didn’t know if he was aware his brother was missing or whether to send the letter to Linzhou or to Mingxiang Pavilion.