"Little Master, time to eat!"
"Thatâs right, Son. Crying is of no use, and getting angry is just as pointless. The one who ends up upset is yourself, and itâs not worth it." Yang Chuxia said while picking out some of his favorite dishes for him. She thought to herself that this brat couldnât be spoiled; the slightest problem and he already knew to protest by crying and refusing to eat. If this went on, what would the future hold?
Whether he understood or not, he just nodded continuously, "Little Master knows, Little Master knows."
"Hurry up and have him change the way he addresses me, itâs really grating on the ears." Ye Ziâan was listening on the side, feeling exasperated. The little rascal calling his own mother âLittle Masterâ seemed like he was asking for a spanking.
"The young master must have picked that up from Miss Cousin this afternoon."
Ming Liu explained from the side.
It turned out that when Yangyang had been crying, Linyu and Yang Xiayun had come over and consoled him for a while. Later, the two of them somehow started talking about the young master of the Li Family, who referred to himself as âlittle masterâ this and âlittle masterâ that, and so Little Yangyang picked up the term.
And he thought it sounded better than âBaby,â so his self-reference changed.
Luckily, this wasnât a major issue. While Ye Ziâan was not willing to press him to change it, he didnât make a big deal out of it either.
~~~~
"Madam, the girl has woken up." The day after, just after finishing breakfast, Sister-in-law Li came to report.
Yang Chuxia had been thinking non-stop about the person she brought back last night. It was an incident she had encountered personally, so her anger was even more intense.
"Mhm, Iâll come and have a look with you. Did she say where sheâs from? Is she from Mianyang?"
Sister-in-law Li respectfully replied, "Sheâs from Mianyang, she said sheâs from Shoutao Village."
"Shoutao Village?" Yang Chuxia was very familiar with this village. It had played a big role in bringing down Principal Clerk Zhou. Also, when she had gone to collect taxes from Yangdong and another village, Shoutao Village had been very cooperative.
When they reached the guest room, the girl was huddled in a small corner of the bed, her arms wrapped around her legs, her face filled with terror as she watched the door. Seeing the door open, she shrank back even further.
"Miss, donât be afraid. Our Madam has come to see you."
Indeed, the girl had been frightened and hardly dared to look up.
"We found you outside the city last night, stuffed inside a burlap sack. We rescued you," Yang Chuxia said after some thought, and added, "Donât be scared, this is the residence of the County Magistrate of Mianyang. I heard youâre from Shoutao Village. Iâm going to ask you a few questions, and then weâll let your family come to take you home."
At this, the girl finally began to relax a bit. However, because she was so scared, as soon as she relaxed, she started crying.
"Tell me, who were the two people that put you in the sack?" To keep the girl from being scared, Yang Chuxia deliberately softened her voice.
"I donât know them," said the girl, raising her head as Yang Chuxia saw clearly. She wasnât a particularly beautiful girl, but she had a well-proportioned face and a pair of eyes that were captivatingâbright and clear. Those with such eyes were usually the type much cherished by their families. "My sister-in-law took me to town to buy fabric for clothes. After we bought the fabric, she saw a stall selling candied haws across the street and wanted to buy some for my nieces and nephews, so she asked me to wait outside the fabric shop. Then I donât know... I donât know how I ended up in the woodshed."
"Wuu..." As she spoke, the girl was overwhelmed by fear again, "They were so scary, so frightening, they wouldnât let me out."
"How many days were you held by them?"
"How many days?" The girl looked confused, shaking her head, "I donât know."
"Did you manage to get a clear look at those two people?"