strictlysupreme Chapter 183 The young lady is not like a young lady, and the maid is not like a maid.
Chapter 183 The young lady is not like a young lady, and the maid is not like a maid.
Anping County —
After saying goodbye to Gao Lao Er at the end of summer, she carried a large hemp sack into the city. This time, she didn't slack off. She used her divine sense to scan the entire Anping County to make sure that her family was not there before continuing to run towards Anning Prefecture.
On the way to Anning Prefecture City—
As summer drew to a close, they slowed down and stopped on the official road near the river.
Xia Mo turned around, grinned, and smiled broadly at Xia's father and the others who were setting up the tent, calling out happily, "Father, Mother! Eldest brother, second brother!"
Xia's father and the others accompanied Xia's second brother to take the provincial examination today, which was to become a scholar. Due to some matters, their departure was postponed from morning to afternoon. As a result, they arrived at Anning Prefecture City late at night and stopped halfway there.
When Xia's father and the others saw Xia Mo, their eyes widened in disbelief.
"Nannan?!"
Xia's father asked with a serious expression.
"Father, Mother, Eldest Brother, Second Brother," Xia Mo said happily as she ran over with a burlap sack in her hand. When she reached her father and mother, she threw the burlap sack aside and rushed into her mother's arms.
Xia's mother hugged Xia Mo tightly and smiled happily.
"Good girl, come here quickly, let your mother take a look," Xia's mother led Xia Mo to the fire, and by the firelight, she looked at Xia Mo's deliberately smeared face.
“You’ve gotten darker and thinner,” Xia’s mother said.
Xia Mo said shyly, "Mom, when I walk outside, I deliberately smudge myself with dark paint. I'm not actually dark; I'm still fair-skinned."
Xia Mo playfully pulled up her sleeves a little to show her mother her skin without tanning.
Looking at her fair skin glowing pink in the firelight, Xia's mother smiled with delight.
Brother Xia and Brother Xia's second brother happily gathered around Xia Mo, and like Xia's mother, they carefully examined Xia Mo's face and complexion.
"Little sister, your eyes are even brighter now," Brother Xia said.
“This time, I saw even more things, and I even went to Lingzhou Prefecture. Not only are my eyes more discerning, but,” Xia Mo whispered into Xia Dage’s ear, “my cultivation has also improved!”
Brother Xia was also happy for Xia Mo.
"Oh, right, little sister, we have guests here," Xia Erge hurriedly reminded Xia Mo to be careful.
Late summer smile.
Beside the carriage, a mistress and her servant emerged, clearly a young lady and her maid, however…
Xia Mo's gaze, however, was fixed on the maidservant, scrutinizing her.
The young lady didn't act like a young lady, but the maid walked with a dignified and restrained posture, more like a young lady raised in a noble family.
Xia Mo raised an eyebrow.
"We encountered these two girls being stopped on the road, so we rescued them and planned to take them to Anning Prefecture City," Brother Xia explained.
The young lady and her maid stepped forward, secretly glanced at Xia Mo, and gave her a greeting as equals.
“My surname is Lu, Miss Xia can call me Miss Lu,” Miss Lu said.
Xia Mo looked at the maid beside Miss Lu.
The maid's pupils contracted slightly, as if she had been seen through. She steadied herself and said, "I am the maidservant beside Miss. My name is Miao'er."
Xia Mo smiled meaningfully and nodded.
“It’s great,” Xia Mo turned her head and winked playfully at her older brother Xia.
This beautiful young lady is after her older brother.
“Miss,” Brother Xia shook his head almost imperceptibly, signaling Xia Mo not to joke.
Xia Mo smiled and said, "I'll tell you all later, brothers."
"uh-huh……"
A human voice suddenly came from inside the burlap sack, startling everyone present except Xia Mo.
"What happened?" Xia's mother asked anxiously, swallowing hard.
“The person in the bag is someone I picked up on the roadside,” Xia Mo said, touching her face.
When disguising herself as a medicine boy, she added some solid ointment to change her appearance; now that she doesn't, the other person will only think she and the medicine boy are two different people.
"You," Xia's father smiled with a mixture of helplessness and indulgence.
Brother Xia stepped forward and opened the burlap sack.
The woman, who had been stuffed into a burlap sack, climbed out on her own, her eyes filled with deep wariness as she looked around.
Upon seeing that it was a woman, Xia's mother hurriedly stepped forward: "Girl..." The word "madam" was already swirling in Xia's mother's mouth, but because of the other person's appearance, she swallowed it back.
He looks so old, he looks like he's in his mid-thirties.
"On my way back, I saw her abandoned on the side of the road. I felt sorry for her, so I picked her up," Xia Mo said in a sweet, clear voice, with the pure innocence of a young girl.
The wary woman turned her head and looked at Xia Mo, meeting Xia Mo's clear gaze.
The woman looked around by the firelight and realized that none of the people here were people she knew, nor were they the two people who had bought her. She was somewhat taken aback.
"Who...are you?" the woman asked, her voice broken and harsh, like a knife scraping against a sheet of iron.
"Don't be afraid, this isn't the first time my daughter has brought people back to safety," Xia's mother quickly reassured her.
The woman looked at Xia's mother warily.
Xia's mother smiled gently at the woman.
"Who...are you?"
Xia's mother briefly explained, "We are a family going to Anning Prefecture to take the imperial examination. Yes, my second son is the one going to take the examination. The rest of us are just accompanying him. We rescued these two on the way."
The woman hesitated when she heard that this family was used to picking up and rescuing people.
Xia Mo asked innocently, "Sister, why were you left on the roadside covered in a burlap sack?"
The woman met Xia Mo's clean and clear eyes, and for some reason, felt that Xia Mo was someone she could trust.
The woman lowered her eyes in distress.
"Sister?" Xia Mo cautiously stepped forward.
Having suppressed all aggression, Xia Mo was like a docile little rabbit, looking harmless and fragile.
The woman naturally lowered her guard against Xia Mo.
"elder sister?"
As summer drew her back to the calls of "sister," the woman lost her way and began to believe in Xia Mo.
"Sister?" Xia Mo continued to call out.
"Aren't you afraid of me?" the woman asked in a hoarse voice.
“My intuition tells me that you’re not scary, and that you’ll actually like me a lot,” Xia Mo said, giving the woman a sweet smile.
The woman let out a long breath and gradually relaxed her guard.
"Sister, are you cold sitting by the fire?" Xia Mo pretended to speak incoherently, just like a child.
The woman had no wariness of Xia Mo's actions and let Xia Mo lead her.
Xia Mo's reaction stemmed from seeing the woman's resentment towards her fate, a sense that there was still hope.
“Yes,” the woman followed Xia Mo’s lead.
Xia Mo gestured to her mother to help pour the water down.
Soon, the water, heated by the fire, was brought to the woman: "Sister, have some water, sister is thirsty."
The woman accepted it trustingly.
"Sister, are you hungry?" Xia Mo took the steamed bun that her mother brought and said, "Soak it in water and eat it."
"Ah."
Xia Mo chuckled, as if the woman was willing to talk to her, and she was like a child who had just received candy.
The woman couldn't help but smile along with Xia Mo, infected by her laughter.