CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 47: GALLOPING AHEAD—WAIT FOR ME!

Long Yue stopped in her tracks, listening to her elder brother and sister-in-law’s chatter inside, and started thinking rapidly.

In her past life, Li Qingmu went to the provincial capital to take the exam, but when he returned, he was penniless and in a pitiful state, almost dying from illness outside. But now it seems, did he really have no money back then?

The family had prepared a few taels of silver for him, and he had saved some money by selling paintings and calligraphy. If her brother lent him some more, he would have had at least a dozen taels, right? He shouldn’t have lacked money on that journey!

So why was he still so destitute?

Something’s not right, this matter isn’t right!

"Brother and sister-in-law, were you planning to lend money to A Mu?"

Long Yue’s heart skipped a beat, feeling that the situation was somewhat dire. She couldn’t care less about eavesdropping and rushed in to ask.

Li Qingyuan and Mrs. Wang were obviously startled, their expressions strange. Li Qingyuan nodded and said, "Yes, no matter what, I’m his brother. It wouldn’t be right to let him starve to death outside, right? Even if he passes the exam, our family will share in the glory, that..."

His later words were somewhat mercenary, and Li Qingyuan regretted saying them. But Long Yue didn’t care about that; she had only one thought in her mind now—Li Qingmu was never short of money in his past life!

She had paid too little attention to him, so much so that she didn’t even know how much silver he took for the exam in his past life. She always thought Mrs. Li Zhou had prepared five taels for him...

"Oh no!"

Long Yue suddenly realized something, and a chill ran up her spine. Could he have encountered bandits halfway and been robbed?

But it shouldn’t be; he was such a clever person, how could he possibly be robbed by bandits?

Or... was someone trying to harm him?

This thought flashed by but was immediately caught by her, and her face grew paler. Though the possibility was slim, what if? What if?

"Sister-in-law, what’s wrong? You look so unwell, are you sick?"

Seeing Long Yue’s pale face, Li Qingyuan was frightened and quickly went up to push her, looking worried.

Long Yue was awakened by the push, looked up at Li Qingyuan and Mrs. Wang and said, "Brother and sister-in-law, ever since sending A Mu off, I’ve felt uneasy in my heart and haven’t been sleeping well. I’m worried he’s being bullied outside. I must go find him. The house... I’ll leave it to you to watch over for now!"

"Oh sister-in-law, why are you saying this? Our third brother is such a clever person, who can bully him? It’s good if he doesn’t bully others, uh..."

Li Qingyuan spoke too quickly and let something slip, then looked awkwardly at Long Yue.

Long Yue certainly knew her man’s scheming and mean nature, so she also knew he generally couldn’t suffer losses, but not suffering general losses makes one fear suffering big losses!

"I don’t care. I have to go find him!"

Long Yue couldn’t explain to them the danger Li Qingmu might encounter, as there wasn’t even a shadow of evidence now, saying it would only invite ridicule.

"Brother, I’ve already told you how to care for the medicine field, remember to follow my instructions carefully and don’t slack off, understand? Otherwise, our half year’s hard work will go down the drain..."

"Rest assured sister-in-law, when it comes to money matters, we’re all attentive!"

"Good, and the embroidery work of Xiangxiang and A Xue, I’ve taught them a lot. Let them practice diligently these days, and if there’s anything they don’t understand, they can find Qiao’er at the Chai Family, she will teach them."

"Alright, alright, no problem, that’s agreed!"

"Alright, I’m leaving now!"

Long Yue was filled with anxiety, wishing she could sprout wings and fly. She turned and hurriedly packed a small bag in her room, took the ten taels of silver the Liu Family sent, then quickly informed Mrs. Li Zhou and the second family before rushing out.

"Sister-in-law, if you’re going to find third brother, take me along!"

A qiu thought Long Yue was going out for fun and cheerfully ran out, but when he reached the courtyard, where was Long Yue? She seemed to have flown away, already gone without a trace!

"Brother Chai, take me to the county, hurry, the county’s horse stable, I need to rent a horse to the provincial capital!"

Long Yue ran all the way to the Chai Family, grabbed Chai Tieniu, and headed to the cattle shed.

Chai Tieniu was bewildered by her urgency, but seeing her eager look, he asked no more, untied the rope, and got on the cart.

The ox cart was slow but faster than walking, Long Yue urged twice during the journey and finally reached the horse stable an hour later.

The stable owner hadn’t even had the chance to ask whether Long Yue wanted to rent or buy a horse before she left a string of Copper Coins, said "rental," and rode away on a chestnut horse.

"Yah, yah, yah!"

The sound of hoofbeats echoed as Long Yue wielded the long whip, hurriedly speeding down the road. Fortunately, she had learned horse riding and archery from her mother since childhood, and her skills on horseback were quite good. Otherwise, at this speed, she would definitely fall and get injured.

Even so, her entire journey attracted the attention of many passersby—a beautiful lady riding a horse so fast, where did she come from?

"Must be foreigners! Don’t provoke, not easy to handle!"

Foreigners referred to people from neighboring countries. Dazhou was located in the fertile Central Plains and Jiangnan, where people had high civic quality compared to the savage lands of the northwest and southwest. People there would fight at the slightest disagreement, sometimes even causing casualties.

So it was better not to provoke such people if possible, or it would cause trouble.

Thinking this way, as Long Yue passed by, pedestrians on the road hurriedly avoided her.

"Prime Minister, don’t get into trouble! Wait for me, wait for me, I’m coming soon!"

...

The weather was getting colder. Although only a few days away from home, this northbound journey occasionally had northwestern winds, and Li Qingmu feared catching a cold.

He quickly took out a piece of clothing from his pack to wear, feeling somewhat better.

There was a noodle shop ahead and a bun shop on the right; Li Qingmu thought about eating a bowl of noodles to warm up.

"Stop, you stinky kid is here again to steal buns, and today I caught you. You rascal, where do you think you’re running!"

"Ah, it hurts, it’s killing me. I only stole for the first day, don’t accuse an innocent person!"

"Hey, you rascal, still got a sharp tongue? If I don’t beat you to death!"

"Help, help!"

Li Qingmu was stunned, watching a dirty young boy burst out from the bun shop, chased by a robust middle-aged man holding a kitchen knife fiercely.

"Help, Uncle save me!"

The boy shouted, darting towards Li Qingmu.

Li Qingmu, "..."

Uncle? His mouth twitched slightly, feeling the boy was cheeky. Did he look that old? He wanted to stand aside, but when he saw the clothes the boy was wearing, though dirty like a beggar’s, the threads underneath were stitched with Gold!

His pupils slightly shrank, his gaze turned profound.

This boy was from an unusual background!