Mo Yunfeng looked around, then looked at He Zhiran with a bewildered expression on his face.
"Who is this?
And why are you dressed like this, Ninth Brother?"
In Mo Yunfeng's impression, Ninth Brother had a clean personality.
However, at this moment, Mo Jiuye was wearing rough linen clothes covered in dust.
In addition to that, there had never been any maids around Ninth Brother, so why would this woman be following him?
Mo Yunfeng was totally confused.
Mo Jiuye knew they were pressed for time and understood Mo Yunfeng's puzzlement.
He spoke again, explaining everything to Mo Yunfeng from the beginning.
After listening to Ninth Brother recount what had happened in the Mo family over the past few years, Mo Yunfeng knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.
Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran knew that it would be difficult for Mo Yunfeng to accept all these facts at once, so crying was a way for him to vent his emotions. Therefore, neither of them went up to try and stop his behavior.
After Mo Yunfeng had cried enough, he looked towards Mo Jiuye.
“Ninth Brother, for now Third Brother will not reveal himself publicly.”
“Third Brother, what do you plan on...” Before Mo Jiuye could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Mo Yunfeng.
“Anyway, everyone thinks I’m dead, and I'm not on the exile list for the Mo family, so I might as well take this chance to go out and look for news on Eldest Brother and Second Brother.”
Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran looked at each other, both feeling that what Mo Yunfeng said made sense.
Right now, not only was their current status unable to allow them to go out and search for Eldest Brother and Second Brother, but even after arriving in the northwest, they would first have to register with the local government office. Plus, the court had stipulated that exile criminals could not leave their place of exile for the rest of their lives without an imperial edict from the Emperor.
Local officials would come and check the households of exiled people from time to time. If they discovered someone had left, they would definitely report it to the imperial court.
That would bring unnecessary trouble to the family.
Therefore, it was best for Mo Yunfeng to not participate in the exile for now and directly go out to search for news instead.
Mo Jiuye nodded, “That’s reasonable. I’ll find an opportunity for Mother and Third Sister-in-law to secretly meet with Third Brother, which will reassure them as well.”
“Good, just make arrangements as you see fit, Ninth Brother.”
On the surface Mo Yunfeng looked calm and unruffled, but when Ninth Brother mentioned Mother and his wife, he was already impatient to see them.
Mo Jiuye looked up at the color of the sky, “Third Brother, it’s getting late. Just wait for me here while I go back and think of a way to bring Mother and Third Sister-in-law over to see you. Time is of the essence.”
He Zhiran secretly took out some rations from her space again for Mo Yunfeng before following Mo Jiuye back to the camp.
With Mo Chuhan’s high martial arts prowess, he had already noticed when Ninth Brother and Ninth Sister-in-law left the campsite.
He knew that the reason Ninth Brother and Ninth Sister-in-law had gone out was related to Third Brother’s matters. Worried that something might happen, he waited at the direction they had left, ready to meet them at any time.
Seeing them return from afar, Mo Chuhan hurriedly went up to greet them.
“Ninth Brother, Ninth Sister-in-law, where is Third Brother?”
“Eighth Brother, I and Ranran have obtained some new information. I’ll slowly tell you about this matter later. Right now I have to take Mother and Third Sister-in-law to see Third Brother as time is of the essence. If necessary, I’ll need your help to deal with Eldest Brother Peng here.”
Although Mo Chuhan was confused, he could see that Ninth Brother was very anxious.
“Alright, feel free to take Mother and Third Sister-in-law away. Leave things here to me.”
The tent where Old Lady Mo and Third Sister-in-law lived housed the female relatives, so Mo Jiuye was not convenient to come forward. He Zhiran took the initiative to go call them.
Soon, she brought the two puzzled women away, avoiding the officials’ line of sight to meet up with Mo Jiuye.
Pressed for time, Mo Jiuye supported Old Lady Mo while He Zhiran pulled Third Sister-in-law as they walked towards the woods.
On the way there, they told the two women that Mo Yunfeng was still alive and that they would soon be able to see him.
If it wasn’t for Mo Chuhan having died and come back to life beforehand, the two women would have found it hard to believe their own ears.
Especially Third Sister-in-law. Over the past few days, when she saw Mo Chuhan return alive, she didn’t know how envious she was of Eighth Sister-in-law. She never expected that her own husband could return from the dead as well...
Overjoyed, Third Sister-in-law burst into happy tears. In order to confirm that this was not false, she forcefully grabbed He Zhiran’s arm, continuously asking all sorts of questions.
“Ninth Sister-in-law, will my husband have become very thin as well?”
“Ninth Sister-in-law, do you think my husband will still remember me?”
“Ninth Sister-in-law, help check if my hair is very messy?”
“Ninth Sister-in-law...”
He Zhiran understood Third Sister-in-law’s feelings and patiently answered all her various questions.
Old Lady Mo was similarly agitated, with tears flowing like rain upon hearing her third son was still alive.
She kept softly murmuring, “Heaven blessings, my Mo family has gained another descendant... Amitabha... Amitabha...”
With two additional people, Mo Jiuye was unable to use lightness skills to hurry on the road, thus their speed naturally became much slower.
After walking for about half an hour, the group of people finally saw a tall figure standing up ahead.
Seeing the few people approaching, Mo Yunfeng strode forward to meet them.
He knelt on both knees in front of Old Lady Mo.
“Yunfeng has been unfilial and caused Mother to worry.”
If it wasn’t for the familiar voice, Old Lady Mo wouldn’t have recognized the bearded man with half his face covered by messy hair before her eyes as her third son, Mo Yunfeng.
She reached out a trembling hand and lightly touched Mo Yunfeng’s disheveled hair.
“Are you really my Yunfeng?”
Mo Yunfeng smoothed back his bangs to the back of his head, then lifted his head.
“Mother, your unfilial son Yunfeng is here.”
With his hair no longer blocking his face, even though stubble covered his cheeks, Old Lady Mo recognized her son at a glance.
“Yunfeng...It really is Yunfeng...Mother’s Yunfeng isn’t dead...That’s wonderful...”
Old Lady Mo excitedly grabbed Mo Yunfeng and bawled loudly.
Third Sister-in-law also wanted to ask about her husband’s circumstances, but upon seeing the interaction between mother-in-law and husband, she held herself back from immediately going forward.
She was still holding onto He Zhiran’s arm, ceaselessly shedding tears.
After crying for a while, Old Lady Mo gently patted Mo Yunfeng’s shoulder and helped pull him to his feet.
“Ever since you left home these years, Feng has shed who knows how many tears for you.”
As she spoke, Old Lady Mo was already leading Mo Yunfeng to stand before Third Sister-in-law.
Third Sister-in-law’s eyes were blurred by her tears.
“Husband, now I won’t have to be envious of Eighth Sister-in-law anymore...sob...I also have a husband now...sob...it’s all my fault for making you sad for so many years...”
Mo Yunfeng strode forward and engulfed Third Sister-in-law in his embrace.
“I’m sorry, Cui Lian, for making you heartbroken and grieved for so many years. It was all my fault.”
