Chapter 162 - 162 Old Friend
162 Old Friend
Gu Yanfei’s eyebrows twitched. She remembered that the eldest branch had a farm nearby, so she suggested, “Jiaoniang, I think the snow will fall for at least a few more hours. My family has a farm two miles away. Let’s go there to hide from the snow first.”
The girls perked up and agreed.
Although they were all wearing cloaks and hoods to block the snow, the wind and snow were too strong now. Everyone’s faces, bodies, and hands were more or less stained with snow. Their bangs were also messed up by the wind, and they looked slightly disheveled.
Everyone immediately changed course and took a path to the left. The hooves left clear hoof prints in the soft snow.
Suddenly, Gu Yanfei, who was leading the way, stopped her horse without any warning. She looked at the wild grass by the roadside and raised her hand to make a “stop” gesture.
Hence, Wei Jiaoniang, Lu Qin, and the others also stopped their horses.
A few feet ahead, lying motionless on the side of the road, was a rust-colored figure. This person was slightly bloated, and her body was covered in snow.
“There’s someone there!”
Lu Qin was the first to point over and shout.
The girls were in an uproar. They quickly urged their horses forward and surrounded the person on the ground.
The accompanying maidservants dismounted to investigate. Two of them worked together to flip the prone figure over and gently pat the snow off her face, body, and head.
It was an old woman in her 50s. She was wearing a rust-colored dark-striped cotton jacket. Her pale face was slightly green from the cold, her face was wrinkled, and her eyes were closed.
There was a pool of blinding blood on her white hair.
“It’s an old woman,” a maidservant reported in bewilderment. Her face was pale, and her palm was stained with the old woman’s blood. “She’s unconscious and has an injury to her head.”
Gu Yanfei got off the horse and carefully checked the wound on the old woman’s head. When she touched it, she felt a sticky sensation unique to blood. The back of the old woman’s head was slightly swollen, and there was a wound the size of a baby’s fist where blood was oozing out.
The other girls were talking at once.
“Why would this old lady fall here alone? Did she encounter robbers on the way?”
“Definitely not. Look at the silver hairpin on her head. If this was a robbery, they would have looted her.”
“That’s true.”
“…”
The few of them were discussing heatedly. Wei Jiaoniang and Lu Qin quietly looked at each other with thoughtful eyes.
The old woman’s clothes were neither new nor old. They were clean and without patches. She did not look like a poor commoner, but she was definitely not from a rich family.
Looking at the silver hairpin in her bun, the silver ring on her finger, and the clean handkerchief peeking out of one cuff, she did not look like an old lady from a small family. Instead, she looked more like a servant from a large family.
The two of them exchanged a look. Lu Qin leaned over and glanced at the old woman’s wound. “She’s quite seriously injured…” she asserted.
Whoever it was had been clearly trying to kill her!
Now that the weather was cold and it was snowing, if they left her alone, it could be imagined that if this old woman lay here for a night, she would definitely be dead.
“Let’s bring her to the manor first.” Gu Yanfei stood up and wiped the blood from her hand with a handkerchief.
“Then let her ride with me.” Wei Jiaoniang couldn’t wait to volunteer herself. She patted her chest confidently and said, “My riding skills are good, so it won’t be a problem to bring another person.”
Receiving Wei Jiaoniang’s gaze, Gu Yanfei smiled and instructed Juan Bi to carry the old woman onto Wei Jiaoniang’s horse.
Juan Bi had always been nimble. She easily carried the old woman off the ground and onto Wei Jiaoniang’s horse.
Everyone quickly got back on their horses and continued on their way against the cold wind and snow.
Along the way, they finally arrived at their destination before the sky turned completely dark.
“That’s it!”
Gu Yanfei pointed at the manor path in front of her from afar. Her small face hidden in the hood was filled with nostalgia.
In her previous life, she had been to this farmstead in the suburbs of the capital.
She had originally thought that after they split up, she could bring her brother to stay here. For this, she had even personally come to decorate the place.
At that time, because of her brother’s leg injury, it was not convenient for him to walk, so she removed all the thresholds in this farmstead. There were also slopes added to the stone steps to make it easier for the wheelchair to pass.
She had set up a study and workshop for her eldest brother and herself. Her eldest brother was very skilled and even knew how to make a wheelchair.
She also got someone to draw the hot spring water over and made a hot spring pool. She also dug a pond beside the field behind the manor and planned to plant lotuses. Not only could she admire the lotuses, but she could also eat lotus seeds and dig lotus roots…