Hearing the old man"s words, Li Qingling"s heart jumped. She asked how long it would take for the old man to reach the capital.The old man thought for a moment and said that it would take at least a month for them to get to the capital by carriage.
Last time when he was in a hurry to find him, he had travelled through the night in a hurry. Who knew how many horses had died? It had taken him ten days to get there.
It was not as though someone like him, who rode in a carriage, was particularly rushing. It would take at least a month.
"When will you be back?"
When the old man heard Li Qingling"s words, he was a little unsure, "As for when he will be back, I"m not too sure either." It all depended on the emperor"s mood. If the emperor was in a good mood and did not force him to stay in the capital, he could come back earlier. If the emperor was not in a good mood and did not let him go, then there was nothing he could do.
Thinking about this, the old man could not make the decision, so Li Qingling frowned, "Then you have to be careful along the way, rest when you need to, and don"t try to be brave." The old man was old, and she was really worried about his health after taking the carriage for so long.
It wasn"t easy for him to hear Li Qingling say soft words, but the old man"s heart was extremely happy. He extended his hand and tied up his beard, nodding his head with a smile.
"I know, I won"t joke with an old bone like you."
He still wanted to return and take care of these children, so how could he ignore him?
Seeing that this old man did not seem to be a reckless person, Li Qingling finally heaved a sigh of relief.
However, when she thought of how the old man would not know when he would return, she felt a little depressed.
At this time, the Village Chief hurriedly ran over with the original villager.
When he arrived in front of Li Qingling and the others, seeing the old man, he gasped for breath and asked, "He Mo, is this the doctor that lives in your house?"
"Yes, I didn"t tell Cun Zhangyeye about it earlier. Grandpa Xue, he"s an imperial physician, and half a month ago, he was sent by the Emperor to Shuangyang County to be treated for the plague. He only came back after he was cured." He did not expect him to carelessly save such a great figure. "Grandpa Xue is actually rushing to enter the capital to meet the emperor, so I"ll have to trouble Cun Zhangyeye to accommodate and let him into the village. He …"
Before he could finish his words, the Village Head hurriedly said, "Hurry in, hurry …"
After the village chief said this, his heart trembled. The villagers had blocked this lord"s path, so he hoped that he would not be angry.
"The villagers do not know your ident.i.ty either. I am truly sorry for stopping you here." The village chief knelt down before Imperial Physician Xue. "I hope that sire can be magnanimous and not bicker with this commoner."
When the two villagers saw that the village chief had knelt down, they were so frightened that they kneeled down and begged the old man for mercy while trembling in fear.
Never would they have thought that they would be able to stop an important figure with just a casual wave of their hand.
However, when Liu Zhimo told them this, they did not care at all. It was truly a sin to continue blocking him.
The old man quickly helped the village chief up and called the two villagers over.
"Get up! "You don"t have to be so courteous to me." The old man smiled. "Since I"m not at home, I"ll have to take good care of the kids."
Although Liu Zhimo and the others were intelligent, they were still young children. With the adults in the village looking after them, he could feel more at ease.
When the Village Chief and the others heard this, how could they dare not accept it? They nodded their heads repeatedly and said that they would take good care of Liu Zhimo and the others.
"Then, this old man will stay here and thank you." The old man was not arrogant, and directly went to the village chief to look for trouble. This action of his gave the village chief another fright, and he almost kneeled down again.
They were just a small commoner, how could they afford to be hunted by an adult?
The old man saw that they were really scared and added that his time was of the essence, he smiled and told them, "This old man does not have much time left. Let"s go home and see the other children. We can talk after this old man returns."
"Master, if you have something to attend to, please go ahead. This humble one will not disturb you any longer."
"Alright …"
Seeing the old man nod his head, the village chief spoke a few words to the two villagers before walking away.
The two villagers left the village and allowed Liu Yi to bring the carriage into the village.
When the old man returned home with Li Qingling, he made Li Qingling boil a pot of water as soon as he could so that he could bathe. In the past half a month, he had not had a proper bath.
Hearing that, Li Qingling nodded, turned and entered the kitchen.
When she had boiled the water and was about to call the old man to the bath, she heard laughter from the hall.
The corner of her mouth curled up. The old man had been away from home for the past few days, and the atmosphere in the house had become somewhat depressing. Now, it was finally getting better.
"This old man is done. Hurry up and take a bath!"
As soon as she entered the hall, she called out to the old man, who rose to his feet.
"You guys can play here now, after grandpa takes a bath, then I"ll come out and play with you guys."
"Alright, grandfather, go quickly!"
Seeing how happy the children were, it was obvious that the old man had not told them about the matter of him going to the capital. If the old man had told them, the children would definitely cry.
In order to gain more time with the children, the old man took a battle bath, changed into a set of clean clothes and ran out.
At this moment, he had already taken a bath. After changing into a clean set of clothes, he could feel at ease to hug the children.
"Aiya, grandfather"s darling, do you miss grandfather? I missed you guys so much. " The old man asked while hugging Li Qingning with his left hand and Liu Zhirou with his right.
On the other hand, the two little fellows were very polite, and they obediently thought about it.
With such a simple sentence, the old man couldn"t help but laugh.
He had never been married in his life, neither children nor girls. On the other hand, he was fated to be with these children, and he really treated them like his own grandchildren.
However, when she thought about how long he was going to be gone, she felt even more reluctant.
"Doctor Xue, it"s getting late. We really should leave." When Liu saw how happy the old man was, he braced himself and interrupted.
He really didn"t want to interrupt. This old man was getting along with these kids, but there was really no other way. His Majesty was still waiting for him!
Upon hearing Liu Yi"s words, the children turned to look at the old man, asking all sorts of questions in unison, "Where are we going?"
The old man also knew that he couldn"t stay any longer. He smiled and patted the kids" heads, "Grandfather has things to do and has to leave for a period of time. You guys have to obediently listen to your older brother and sister at home, do you understand?"
As soon as his words fell, the children became unhappy and their moods plummeted. "Grandpa had already left in secret before he came back, is he leaving again?"
Last time, the old man left during the night and the few children had already gone to sleep, so they did not tell them about this matter. When they went to look for Grandfather the next day, Li Qingling told Liu Zhimo that his grandfather had matters to attend to and would be back very soon.
However, the children had to wait for more than half a month for the old man to return. Now that he was back, they had to leave. The children were in a bad mood again.
When the old man saw the red-rimmed eyes of his children, he felt even worse. If it weren"t for the fact that he was afraid that the emperor would punish him for his displeasure, he really wouldn"t want to go to the capital.
"When grandpa finishes with this matter, I will immediately rush home and accompany you all properly, okay?"
"Then grandpa, when will you be back and how long will you take?"
The old man was stumped by this question. With the expectant gazes of the children, he did not dare to casually open his mouth and make a promise.
He could only say with a wry smile, "Even this grandfather of mine can"t say for sure!"
He thought for a moment and explained the situation to the children. If he did not explain this to them, they would hate him and not like his grandfather.
If that was the case, then his gains wouldn"t make up for his losses.
The two little fellows didn"t really understand the Old Man"s words, the older Li Qingfeng and the other two boys understood.
You can"t shirk from knowing that the old man is a saint.
They could only suppress the reluctance in their hearts and help the old man coax the two little fellows who refused to leave.
After being coaxed around by their brothers for a long time, the two kids unwillingly nodded their heads and jumped down from the old man"s embrace. Their small mouths constantly chattered, constantly telling the old man to come back as soon as possible.
Seeing these children who cared so much about him, the old man"s eyes reddened.
He smiled as he patted the children"s heads. He promised them that he would definitely try to return earlier.
For the sake of his children, he did not want to stay in the capital.
He was alone in the capital, so there was no point in playing with him. It would be better for him to come back early to play with this child!
"Alright, alright, grandpa is in a hurry, don"t waste grandpa"s time." Liu Zhimo interrupted the children"s words, "Tell grandpa to go early, grandpa will be back soon."
If he allowed these kids to continue talking, he felt that the old man wouldn"t need to leave tonight.
The old man knew that he could not continue delaying, so he stood up and looked towards Liu Zhimo and Li Qingling, "I wonder when Grandfather will be back? I"ll leave the family to you guys, take good care of yourselves and the children, don"t make me worry, understand? "
Li Qingling nodded obediently towards Liu Zhimo, and said that he got it.
The old man frowned and rubbed his chest. He didn"t know why, but he felt very uneasy, as if something big was going to happen.
Because of this uneasiness, he continued to nag and nag until Liu Yi urged him again. Only then did he have no choice but to stop and leave with his backpack.
What he did not expect was that his premonition really came true, Li Qingling and the others really met with a huge accident, and almost died.