Chapter 698: Chapter 471: Leave Request to Return Home
The three of them found a small restaurant to eat at. Two adults and one child: Wei Ziang held Little Bun in his arms, eating by himself while skillfully feeding her steamed egg custard at the same time.
If Little Bun weren’t calling out "Third Uncle, Little Aunt" from time to time, they really would look like a father and mother taking their child out for a meal.
"Little brother, it’s not even your rest time yet. How come you’re in the city?"
The two of them chatted idly as they ate.
Xiaomi knew what Wei Ziang had been doing these past two years, and she knew just how seriously those masters took things. They kept a tight grip on people every day; forget coming home early, being able to leave on time was already impressive.
Thinking of this, Xiaomi’s eyes lit up. "Don’t tell me you’ve finished it?"
Wei Ziang smiled and nodded, and conveniently picked a piece of sparerib for Xiaomi.
"Yes. Once General Song finishes what he’s busy with, I’ll go ask him for leave. After that, I won’t have to come into the city anymore."
Xiaomi’s eyes immediately brightened. "Really? That’s great. Father and Mother were still worrying yesterday. They said we’re about to head back, and they didn’t know if you’d be able to go back with us."
"Now it’s fine. If you go back with me later, Father and Mother will definitely be very happy."
According to the plan, they only had a few days left before they set out and left Anning Village.
After all, they couldn’t delay Eldest Brother’s exam; otherwise they’d have to wait another three years.
Last time, Eldest Brother was nineteen, not yet of age, and couldn’t take the exam.
Wei Ziang nodded with a smile. "Don’t worry, this afternoon we’ll go back together."
"Then after we finish eating, let’s go strolling around. Little Bun hasn’t been in the city for long either; she hasn’t had time to look around yet."
As long as they made it out before the city gates closed, it would be fine; or they could head back early tomorrow morning.
After they finished eating, the two of them took Little Bun out shopping. Little Bun could already say some simple words; with a mix of guesswork and prompting, they could more or less understand what she meant.
They didn’t have any fixed destination; they just wandered around, looking at things and buying little trinkets. When they had too much to carry, they hired someone to send everything to the Deputy General Wei’s residence.
Wei Ziang had been in Lishi City for a full three years. Maybe he wasn’t known to everyone, but he still had some reputation; no one dared pocket their things.
They strolled around for a whole day, and when they figured General Song should be done with his business, they took Little Bun to General Song’s residence.
"I knew you’d definitely come. Ah, the Fourth Young Miss is here too."
General Song personally led them inside, a bit surprised to see Xiaomi.
He had only heard that Miss Jiang Si often came into the city, but he rarely ran into her.
"I was just taking Little Bun out to play and happened to run into Little Brother. I heard the thing you’ve been researching has already succeeded? Congratulations, General Song."
After so long, she had naturally learned how to say a few polite lines.
General Song hurriedly said, "It’s mainly thanks to Little Wei and the masters. I barely helped at all."
"Since it was completed within Lishi City’s territory, it’s naturally thanks to General Song’s protection as well. I’ve heard Little Brother mention over the years that quite a few thieves tried to steal the design. They were all personally caught by General Song. However you put it, your contribution is not small."
Hearing that, General Song’s brows opened and his eyes smiled. "Not at all, not at all, Fourth Young Miss overpraises me. This is just my duty."
Still, duty is duty and merit is merit. Just as Xiaomi said, since the firearm was developed within Lishi City’s territory, General Song’s reward would certainly not be small.
Knowing what Wei Ziang mainly came for, General Song didn’t delay. He directly led them to the study and wrote a leave pass for Wei Ziang to return home to visit his family.
After all, Wei Ziang was still under General Song’s command; he couldn’t just leave the border region at will—unless he went back to the Capital with Lord Xie and the others.
So if he wanted to go back to Cheng County with everyone, he had to have General Song write him a leave note. That way it wouldn’t count as him deserting the border on his own, and he wouldn’t be considered a deserter.
However, once he reached the Capital at the end of the year, he would definitely receive more rewards. By then, whether he returned to the border or not, no one would care.
If necessary, he could simply resign and return to his hometown; that wouldn’t be impossible either.
Once General Song handed the document to Wei Ziang, the two of them got up, ready to take their leave.
But before they could speak, General Song invited them to stay for dinner. After this parting, it was hard to say if they would ever meet again, so he might as well treat it as an early farewell for the two of them.
They’d originally thought they could return to Anning Village tonight, but with General Song keeping them, they could only stay.
Because of this delay, it was already midnight by the time they left General Song’s residence. The city gates had long been closed, and Little Bun had already finished a sleep.
They had no choice but to go back to Wei Ziang’s residence first and wait until tomorrow morning to hurry back.
Fortunately, Xiaomi was anxious about having to take care of Little Bun herself and didn’t drink. In the middle of the night, she made milk powder for Little Bun and burped her; Little Bun could then sleep straight through till dawn.
The milk powder was what they hadn’t finished when Xiaomi and the others were young. Time could be stopped in the space, which meant as long as it wasn’t taken out, it would never spoil even ten or eight years later.
In the morning, the cook in the residence made small mantou and little stuffed buns. Xiaomi had already fed Little Bun a cup of milk powder in the room, then carried her out. A small mantou on top of that was enough.
Wei Ziang had already brought their horses over. After Little Bun finished eating, he casually took her into his arms and handed the reins to Mi, then they walked out of the city on foot first.
Not only that, he had someone pack up his things as well, and later the people from the residence would take them to Anning Village by carriage.
After that, he wouldn’t come back again.
Only when they walked out of the Wei General’s residence did Xiaomi turn back for a look. Over these years, she had come here quite often. Leaving just like that now, she really did feel a bit reluctant.
But this tangled feeling was quickly cast aside. Xiaomi led the horse and briskly caught up to the two who were already walking ahead.
Whether it was Fu’an Village or Xiangmu Village, whether it was Anning Village or this Wei General’s residence, to her they were all the same.
Because it was the people she cared about that made a place feel like home; once her family left, her heart followed them as well.
Wherever they settled in the future would be their new home.
Thinking so, Xiaomi’s steps grew even lighter.
"Little Brother, I heard Aunt Qian’s fleet has grown again. This time she left a ship in Cheng County on purpose. We can go straight by boat to Nanyang Prefecture."
Wei Ziang turned his head, slightly surprised. "Really? Is it because of that suggestion you gave Aunt Qian before?"
These past few years, Xiaomi had indeed been studying ship models. It wasn’t all for show either; at the very least, she could now, entirely by herself, make a model of a large ship.
It might not be a one-to-one replica, but compared to only being able to make small sailboats at the beginning, the progress in making large ship models was still quite big.
At the same time, she also had people collect a lot of information on this world’s shipbuilding.
After all, she held the title of Marquis of Agricultural Administration here, and everyone believed that if Xiaomi studied something, she would definitely produce results.
Because of that, they didn’t even need to trouble themselves; people from above took the initiative to send the materials over.
All the information about this world’s shipbuilding technology.
Including the core techniques.