Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 743: Chapter 743: Hiding One’s Tracks
 

“No, I need to do something about this…” The elder Daoist muttered to himself.

He got up from the pumpon, pinched three incense sticks, and walked over to the statue of God of Heaven Destiny and carefully bowed three times before inserting the incense into the incense burner.

He approached slowly, placing both hands on the statue of God of Heaven Destiny before gently turning it.

As a “click-clack” sound of gears turning came, the statue of God of Heaven Destiny began to rotate, revealing a dark hole beneath it.

The elder Daoist didn’t hesitate and jumped into the hole, disappearing instantly.

Di Yelei and the others left the Taoist temple and headed straight for the wharf.

“Although the journey to the wharf isn’t long, we have to pass through a small town on the way. I’m afraid the enemy might set an ambush in the town waiting for us.”*

“Why don’t we just take a detour around the small town?”

Eunuch Xiao spoke up, a rare occurrence.

While they were in the temple, everyone was worried about revealing their whereabouts, so they didn’t let Eunuch Xiao speak.

“The wharf here is quite small, and it is located close to Peach Blossom Village, so we’re used to calling it Peach Blossom Village Wharf.”

Di Yelei surveyed the surrounding terrain: “The place I mentioned earlier where we might encounter an ambush is Peach Blossom Village. To take the water route, we have to go to the wharf, and the closest wharf nearby is only at the Peach Blossom Village. If we encounter the enemy, I’m afraid we can only fight to the death!”

“Since there’s no way back, we can only move forward. Even if it’s a battle to the death, we have to carve out a path to survive!” Zhao Yuanlang said decisively.

Although he appeared calm, inwardly he was extremely anxious. If not for years of discipline that taught him to hide his emotions, he would have likely cursed and cried out long ago!

What he didn’t tell Di Yelei was that when he went to attend the Hundred-Day Feast, he had already made a series of preparations for such an emergency.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiong played his cards differently than anticipated; he didn’t besiege the Di Residence directly but waited outside Macheng County. At the moment, his troops were probably still wandering around like headless flies!

Di Yelei was not worried about the deadly battle, but rather whether the reinforcements that Zhao Yuanlang mentioned could arrive in time.

“Father-in-law, I’m afraid you may have misunderstood my point.”

Di Yelei shook his head: “Our current difficulty is not how to reach Peach Blossom Village but how to hide our tracks and wait for reinforcements.”

That’s right!

The journey to Peach Blossom Village wasn’t far; once they reached the small town, they’d be able to get to the wharf in just a few steps.

Everyone was covered in wounds and bloodstains. As soon as they appeared in the small town, they would likely attract attention immediately, not to mention concealing their tracks and waiting for reinforcements.

Once they realized this, everyone felt troubled.

–

Having sent Di Xuan and the others away again, Liu Sisi hurried to check on Elderly Mr. Di’s condition.

Elderly Mr. Di and Ms. Zhao were both injured, but mostly with superficial wounds. Both of the elderly people were visibly shaken, and at the moment, they had already taken the soup medicine and changed their clothes.

Ms. Zhao had already fallen asleep, but Elderly Mr. Di was holding his chest and slanting in the chair, refusing to rest.

“Father, what happened? How were you captured by the Li Sect people?”

“Sisi, it’s you. Sit down.”

Elderly Mr. Di’s breathing was very unstable: “Ah, we returned home and lay down. Not long after, Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua started barking wildly. We weren’t alert and scolded the dogs instead. Little did we know…”

As it was said, Elderly Mr. Di felt nothing but regret in his heart! What a pity for Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua, the two good dogs!

“Afterward, they killed the servants and took my wife and me away…”

“Father, are you saying they didn’t capture Second Sister-in-law?”

Liu Sisi pieced things together and finally discovered something unusual from Elderly Mr. Di’s words.

“Ms. Wang? Wasn’t she thrown out by the Third Child…” At the main entrance of Di Family?

Elderly Mr. Di left the rest of the sentence unsaid, and Liu Sisi understood his meaning: “That’s not right! People from Upper Village reported that Ms. Wang was captured at the same time as you. Could it be…”

Liu Sisi’s gaze met Elderly Mr. Di’s, and they both saw a touch of surprise in each other’s eyes.

A married woman was taken away by a group of soldiers, only to mysteriously disappear, causing everyone to worry.

“Father, don’t worry too much, perhaps Second Sister-in-law just coincidentally went missing, and will return in a couple of days. You should rest and recuperate for now, and later Sisi will find a capable doctor for you.”

Old He used to visit Di Residence often, but now that he’s at odds with Li Sect, Liu Sisi couldn’t find him, and had to find any doctor available to treat her father.

When the doctor saw it was someone from Di Residence, his legs were trembling, and he quickly checked Elderly Mr. Di’s pulse, left a prescription, and ran away without even taking the silver.

“I know my own body, I’m fine! It’s just some external injuries. Ah! Sisi, don’t worry about us old bones, instead, hurry up and take care of the children in the house.”@@novelbin@@

“Father, don’t worry, Sisi has already sent the children out of the mansion and arranged places for them. You just need to focus on healing, and Sisi will take care of everything.”

Liu Sisi comforted Elderly Mr. Di in detail and instructed the servants to bring the soup medicine.

“Sisi! Marrying you as our daughter-in-law is truly a blessing for our Di Family!”

Elderly Mr. Di sighed with deep emotion.

“Father, don’t talk now, finish your medicine first.”

Just as Liu Sisi was persuading Elderly Mr. Di to take his medicine, Old Cheng came in to make a report.

“Madam, people from the main Family have come to see you.”

People from the main Family came, and Liu Sisi frowned, not speaking. It seemed that no good could come from their visit!

“At a time like this, are they here to gather information?”

Elderly Mr. Di, with his experience and cunning, instinctively speculated.

The Di Family’s main branch members had come a few days earlier to attend the triplet’s 100-day banquet, and just last night, they drank too much and stayed at the Di Residence. The Di Residence was besieged, and the three of them huddled in a corner, trembling in fear.

Only when the siege of Di Residence was lifted, and the troops withdrew, did the three men emerge from the corner, discuss for a while before deciding to come and question them.

As soon as the three of them entered the doorway, they took in everything in the room, bowed to Elderly Mr. Di, who was leaning on a chair, and got straight to the point.

“Di Seventeen, congratulations on giving birth to a good son! Also, congratulations on Nephew Ye Lei’s rapid rise to prominence!”

Wasn’t it worth congratulating? He was the Prince Consort, and his luck was really good!

However, thinking of the current state of Di Residence… the three of them couldn’t help but reveal a hint of contempt on their faces.

Elderly Mr. Di did not respond, instead, he picked up the teacup beside him, took a sip, and then slowly put it down before smiling at the three.

“Very well, my Third Child has always been handsome and dashing, and naturally incomparable to the mediocre people around!”