Chapter 186: That Pew-Pew Person

"Eat your food, or I'm calling your mother." A single warning from Wen Nong made Wen Fa quiet down immediately, looking so resentful that he practically wished he could chew the duck meat in his mouth to absolute smithereens.

On the other side, the adults and Old Man Wen were getting thoroughly carried away with their drinking. Either Shopkeeper Qiu was reciting poetry and matching couplets, or Old Man Wen was teaching Li Fu, Shopkeeper Qiu, and Doctor Jin how to play drinking games. It was a lively back-and-forth affair, buzzing with excitement.

Wen Yao had long since finished eating, so she sat beside Madam Luo to chat while keeping a sharp eye on her grandfather and father to prevent them from drinking too much and doing anything outrageous.

Fortunately, by the end of the meal, aside from a few who had drunk too much and were calling each other brothers regardless of generational gaps, everything else went relatively well.

The table of youths had dispersed long ago, and several of them had taken Li Yi off to the study to play.

It was not until the dead of night that the Wen family members, along with Li Fu and Hong Hai, managed to load the heavily intoxicated Shopkeeper Qiu, Li Fu, and Doctor Jin into their carriage. They even had the sober Wen Xiuzhu drive the ox cart to accompany them for a long distance before returning.

Wen Yao had already prepared hangover soup in the kitchen and forced a bowl down the throats of both Old Man Wen and Wen Xiuyi. Old Man Wen was directly escorted home by Madam Luo, while Madam Li and Madam Cai finished cleaning up the mess and led their respective husbands back.

After finishing his hangover soup, Wen Xiuyi sat on the doorstep trying to sober up, his head buzzing violently.

"Dad? Dad?" Wen Yao sat down beside him and asked, "Do you remember anything you guys were talking about earlier?"

Wen Xiuyi shook his head to clear it slightly. Hearing her words, his heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What? I didn't say anything I shouldn't have, did I?"

Drinking leads to mistakes! Drinking really leads to mistakes!

Wen Yao shook her head. "Not quite that. But that Li Fu—I actually heard him pull you aside and say that it's a huge waste for someone with your talent not to enter officialdom. He said as long as you're willing, there's at least a spot for you in the Ministry of Works. Dad, just what kind of background does this guy have that he can throw around positions in the Ministry of Works?"

Wen Xiuyi blinked in a daze. "The Ministry of Works? What does the Ministry of Works do?"

Wen Yao gave him a brief lecture on the Six Ministries. Only then did Wen Xiuyi rub his temples and say, "Stop talking about it. He brought it up once this afternoon, and he even mentioned it to your grandfather. Who knows what he actually does? Why is he so keen on recruiting people to become officials?"

Wen Yao rested her chin in her hands, equally baffled.

"Never mind what his background is, as long as he isn't a bad person. The fact that he gets along well with Datou's godfather means he can't be anyone too sinister. Alright, alright, my head is killing me. I'm going to bed. You should get some rest early too, and don't wake me up tomorrow morning—let me sleep in." With that, Wen Xiuyi stumbled back to his room, shut the door, and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

The night was growing deep, so Wen Yao had to wave her hand, telling Aunt Lu and the others who were wrapping things up to rest early, before rolling off to her own room to sleep.

The next morning, true to his word, Wen Xiuyi couldn't get up. Over at the old family homestead, however, the sound of Madam Luo's scolding could be heard bright and early.

No one dared to go near that side. Even Madam Li and Madam Cai hastily packed up their things and headed off to work at the duck shed early on. As for Madam Luo's wrath, Old Man Wen would just have to bear it all by himself.

In the end, it was younger Madam Luo and Jiang Yuniang who finally arrived and rescued Old Man Wen.

With a splitting headache, Old Man Wen quickly grabbed his tobacco pipe and made his escape. As soon as he reached the new residence, he had Wen Yao whip up some breakfast to line his stomach, continuously muttering that he would never drink that much alcohol ever again.

He had simply thrown up in the room because he drank too much, and the old harridan had been pinching his ear and chewing him out ever since—scolding him right up until he fell asleep, and picking right back up the moment he woke up.

Suppressing a laugh, Wen Yao ladled a bowl of congee for the old man and poached a duck egg to go with it. After finishing the bowl, the old man finally felt his stomach settle quite a bit.

"That liquor distillery of yours..." Old Man Wen thought about telling Wen Yao to drop the idea after all. Otherwise, with wine flowing in the house every single day, things were bound to get out of hand. But meeting his granddaughter's darting, mischievous eyes, Old Man Wen swallowed the rest of his words back down.

"Forget it. I'm going to go keep an eye on them while they work." With that, Old Man Wen grabbed his tobacco pipe and left.

Let them toss and turn all they wanted, one and all. They could flip the world upside down for all he cared.

Wen Xiuyi slept straight until noon. The moment he woke up, Wen Yao dragged him out again—this time to buy fertilizer for Qiu Rongrong. The father-and-daughter duo rented a horse-drawn carriage from Matchmaker Deng and headed straight for the prefectural city.

Matchmaker Deng teased the two of them.

"You two travel back and forth like this all the time. You might as well just buy a carriage of your own. It'd be much more convenient."

The two of them thought about it, and realized he was right. Besides, both Lu Jiang and Lu River knew how to drive a carriage, so whenever they needed to go out, they could just tap whoever was free.

Without a second thought, they forked over the money: twenty taels for a complete set, horse and carriage included. In Matchmaker Deng's words, it was practically selling it at a loss while giving it away as a favor.

Of course, the father and daughter only took those words with a grain of salt. Brokerage agencies never ran at a loss; they only made varying degrees of profit.

So, when the father and daughter returned after two or three days away, Dahuang's exclusive shed had gained a companion: a tall, brown steed. It infuriated Dahuang so much that it paced back and forth, snorting fiercely. The big brown horse refused to back down either, baring its teeth at Dahuang and snorting right back, stopping just short of throwing blows and getting into a full-scale brawl.

Madam Luo was already too tired to lecture them anymore. She glared fiercely at the father and daughter, who had shrunk into themselves like quails, and stubbornly refused to speak a single word to Wen Yao for the entire day. In the end, it wasn't until Wen Yao promised that Lu River would drive the carriage to take the maternal great-aunt home and make two triumphant loops around Cuijia Village that the old lady was finally placated.

She knew what the old lady truly cared about.

"Go on and show off all you want." Though Madam Luo muttered this under her breath, she at least started talking to them again anyway.

Anyway, the carriage was already bought, and there was no returning it.

Almost the moment Wen Yao and Wen Xiuyi returned from the prefectural city, Qiu Rongrong sent people to the dilapidated estate to haul her belongings back. This had already become an unspoken secret between the two sisters.

Wen Xiuyi was also invited to stay at Qiu Rongrong's estate for half a month as a technical consultant, pointing out and resolving all the issues on the property. From initial skepticism to absolute conviction and deep admiration, the tenant farmers and estate stewards were completely won over in the span of just half a month.

During those two weeks, Li Fu brought Li Yi over for two more visits.

As it happened, the day Li Fu brought Li Yi to the Wen household to find Wen Xiuyi, they weren't brought by Hong Hai; instead, Li Fu and Li Yi had driven the carriage themselves, accompanied only by their own guards.

As it turned out, Wen Xiuyi wasn't home that day, nor was Wen Jun or Wen Yao—they had reportedly gone down to the docks to check on the storefronts.

Since it wouldn't do for Li Fu to openly admit he just came for a free meal, he had no choice but to pay his respects to Old Man Wen and Madam Luo with his son in tow, and prepared to head back.

Right as he voiced his intention to leave, however, they heard Wen Ying's voice ringing out from outside the front gate.

"Grandma, Grandma..."

Madam Luo panicked. Dropping everything, she bolted outside, terrified that something might have happened to her granddaughter.

Upon reaching the entrance, she saw Wen Ying's basket for gathering duck eggs dropped right by her feet. Several eggs were smashed, and the unbroken ones had rolled across the ground. Wen Ying was currently pointing at someone sitting inside Li Fu's carriage, hopping up and down incessantly.

"Wen Ying, what's wrong?" Madam Luo hurried forward, shielding her granddaughter behind her as she cast a wary glance at the bewildered figure sitting in the carriage.

Li Fu and the others followed closely behind. Seeing that it was his guard who had frightened the little girl, Li Fu immediately apologized, "Elder Sister Wen, I am truly sorry. This is my guard. Did he scare your child?"

For a moment, Madam Luo didn't know what to say. But Wen Ying poked her head out from behind Madam Luo's back, pointed directly at the guard, and cried, "Grandma, Grandma, it's him! That person who goes *whoosh whoosh whoosh* flying all over the place—it's him!"

Madam Luo froze in place, and the rest of the Wen family froze along with her.

What person who goes *whoosh whoosh whoosh* flying all over the place? What on earth was Wen Ying talking about?