"Let's go in," said Yu Dong as she took little bun from Fang Chi, they have been standing outside the house watching others drive away until they could no longer see the carriage. She turned to Mu Ran and Mu Zhu who were standing next to them and smiled cordially at them. " You two will be living with us until your daddy return from the capital, alright?"
Mu Ran exchanged a glance with her brother and then nodded as she turned to look at Yu Dong, the two of them were still young and even though she wanted to take care of her brother and not disturb Yu Dong and anyone else, she still had to rely on them since as much as she was embarrassed to admit that she couldn't cook!
She was the heir of her family and even though her daddy would teach her small things like how she should be taking care of her brother, things like cooking and cleaning were something that she didn't learn since her granddaddy was against it. He would often say that learning such things was the job of the mers, a girl wasn't supposed to do something like that, so even if she was interested in learning to decrease the workload of her daddy, her granddaddy didn't allow her to do that.
So, now that the two of them have to stay alone without their daddy, Mu Ran has no other option but to stay with Yu Dong. She bowed in front of Yu Dong and very wittily started speaking, " Thank you very much for taking care of us, for the next three and half months we will be troubling you then."
" Three and a half months?" Fang Chi, who knew that the vacation was only one month felt a bad feeling rise in his heart as he turned to Yu Dong and asked, " Didn't you say it was just for a month? How come it increased to three months all of a sudden?" If those three have to stay in the capital for three months, he was sure that sooner or later they will snap and rush back home to deal with Yu Dong.
" Well, it's actually one and a half but the rest of the journey is included in it since reaching the capital will take them at least three weeks," said Yu Dong as she walked inside the house ushering Yu Mai, Mu Ran and the others to get in while asking Zhu Qian to join them in the meals until Lang return since she will be staying with Shen Li and the others to protect them.
" You did tell them that right?" asked Fang Chi as he walked beside her, with one of his eyebrows raised. He was pretty sure that if Yu Dong would have told them that the entire thing was going to be three months long neither of them would have left. When she didn't answer he lowered his head and looked at her only to see her smile cheekily. " You did tell them that they are going to be in the capital for three months straight right?"
" If I did then I would have sent three packaged trunks not humans, Chi." was all Yu Dong said as she closed the front door behind them.
—————-
" Woah, this is the first time I have come this far." Chen Mi climbed on the specialised bunk bed that was made inside the carriage and looked out of the window as he gushed about everything and anything that went past them. " I didn't know that we had another village other than Big mountain one."
Chu Chang was the only one who have gone past this route so he wasn't affected by Chen Mi's excitement and calmly responded, " There are many villages past the Big river village but the closest one is the big mountain one, that's why you have only heard about it but this one is at a good distance away from our village that is why you haven't heard anything about it." He paused then pointed at the big house that was situated at the centre of the village and added, " This village is well known for its embroidery, the husbands of the village head are really skilled in buttonhole embroidery and each of their works are sold for a high price, that is why they are quite popular in their village and even have a shop in town."
" A shop owned by mers?" asked Shen Li a bit surprised by Chu Chang's sudden revelation. " How is that possible? Doesn't the law states that mers can't own a business?"
" Yes, it's true that the laws state that a mer cannot own a business," conceded Chu Chang as he placed his hands on his knees. " But there are a few exceptions, like them," he tilted his head towards the big house that was slowly left vanishing from the sight. "Their embroidery was sold under the shop of their wife but somehow it fell in the hands of the previous Emperor after a lot of turns and twists, it can be called their good luck or their fate... but the previous Emperor fell in love with their stitches and the soft clothing that they used... in the end, they were called to the capital by the Empress Dowager on the request of the previous Emperor who gave birth to an heir for her. The husbands of this village's head are quick-witted and knew what they needed to do so they took advantage of the opportunity and became the personal embroiderers of the previous Emperor, their services were deemed meritorious by the Empress Dowager and they were bestowed with a chance to wish for what they wanted —— and do you know what they asked?"
" A chance to open a store?" said Ye Liu after much thought.
" That's right, they asked for the right to open a store," said Chu Chang as he smoothed the wrinkles on his clothes. " They are the only mers in the Empire who owns a business, of course, they have retired now that the previous Emperor has gone to the afterlife but even the current Empress shows them enough face by not revoking the privilege that was bestowed by her mother." He breathed heavily as he turned his head away from the window and looked at Shen Li and Ye Liu. " and this is what I am aiming for as well."
