One hundred and sixty-eight

All the luggage at home has been packed, and we are waiting to set off for Yuzhang early the next morning.

Before leaving, I went to Yu's house to say goodbye.

The Yu family got up early, washed and changed into their most decent clothes.

The eldest sister-in-law of the Yu family went to comb her mother-in-law's hair. When she entered the house, she saw her mother-in-law sitting quietly on the couch with a dull expression, her new clothes still placed beside her. She didn't know what she was thinking about.

"Mother?"

Li came back to her senses and looked at her daughter-in-law: "What's wrong?"

"Sixth Lady and the others will be here soon, change your clothes first."

Li nodded: "Let's change first."

As Yu Dasao helped her mother-in-law change her clothes and comb her hair, she asked, "Are you feeling sad because you just met Liu Niang and now have to leave her?"

Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "Sixth Lady...do you feel a sense of strangeness?"

"We haven't seen each other for two years. We don't know what happened to Liu Niang, and Liu Niang doesn't know what happened to us."

"Not only do we feel that Liu Niang is a stranger, but Liu Niang will also feel that we are strangers."

Li fell into deep thought.

After a while, he said quietly, "Forget it. Why think so much?"

Mrs. Yu put the silver hairpin given by her sister-in-law on her mother-in-law, wondering what her mother-in-law said.

——Why does it sound like the mother-in-law is comforting herself?

She continued to put on the silver earrings, took a look, and smiled: "Whether Liu Niang is unfamiliar, this filial heart has never changed."

Li said "hmm" absentmindedly.

It's not that it hasn't changed, it's that it's gotten better than before.

When I was ready, someone called out from outside, "Sixth sister and brother-in-law are here."

Aunt Hu and Mrs. Yu helped Li slowly out of the house and helped her sit down in the living room.

There were people outside the hall waiting eagerly.

Looking at the figures of her daughter and son-in-law appearing in her sight, Li felt as if her daughter was saying goodbye to her before getting married.

When my daughter married into the Fu family, it was just a matter of the yamen runner informing them half an hour in advance.

They didn't know what was happening with the Fu family, and when Dalang tried to stop them, he was beaten.

She was forced to marry into the Fu family and had nothing to say goodbye to.

Now that we are so happy, he still comes to say goodbye, as if to make up for the regret of getting married in the past.

A smile finally appeared on Li's frail and pale face.

As long as your children are happy, why think so much?

…

It was not until the carriage left Yu County that Fu Wei's worries gradually dissipated.

Yu Ying whispered, "You can sleep peacefully now."

Fu Wei has been sleeping restlessly since Yu's brother and sister-in-law came half a month ago.

He would always feel her pulse or check her breathing in the middle of the night, and check on her every morning.

Fu Wei sighed softly, lifted the curtain and looked towards the front of the carriage, saying meaningfully, "The road ahead is full of dangers, so we can't rest easy."

Hearing this, Yu Ying's face darkened slightly.

In most places outside Lingnan, the power between the aristocratic families is tense and on the verge of a war, and they are secretly trying to win over other forces.

Some started a war with a poor excuse, and if they lost they occupied the city and divided their power. If you look into it more deeply, it is no different from rebellion.

The world is in chaos.

Going north from Yu County, you will pass through Cangwu.

There are more and more refugees outside Cangwu City. If the new emperor orders people to forcibly arrest Prefect Shen, then the refugees must be dealt with first, giving Prefect Shen time to prepare.

All Prefect Shen had to do was declare that these people were enemy troops pretending to be soldiers of his dynasty, and everything would be natural if he led the garrison troops to rebel. In the end, even if the garrison troops knew the truth, they would have no choice but to follow Prefect Shen in rebelling.

When entering the city, Fu Wei's gaze lingered on the refugees for a moment, examining them.

Pale and skinny children snuggled beside their parents, lonely people stared blankly, and old men and women with gray hair on their temples leaned on crutches, looking at the edible things and swallowing their saliva.

Even if Prefect Shen had people distribute porridge, it would only prevent them from starving to death.

In Prefect Shen's plan, the most innocent people were these refugees.

Their existence seems to be a shield for this city.

Although Fu Wei has lived a happy life in this life, he still has compassion.

It would be fine if you couldn't guess it, but if you guessed it and still let it go, you would feel guilty.

We will go into the city to rest for one night and continue our journey tomorrow.

However, when entering the city, the inspection was extremely strict. Even if the people guarding the city knew Fu Wei, they would still check all people and all objects one by one.

After entering the city smoothly and settling down at the inn, Fu Wei told Yu Ying to go to the prefect's mansion and then left.

Yu Ying also brought people to look for Song Sanlang.

Shortly after leaving the inn, the escort came forward and whispered, "Madam Yu, we are being followed."

Yu Ying frowned slightly.

Now Cangwu City is almost under the control of Prefect Shen, and the only people who can risk monitoring them are Prefect Shen's men.

"Pretend not to notice." Yu Ying whispered.

I went to look for Song Sanlang. His wife had already given birth to a child and was currently in confinement.

The baby was a little girl.

Yu Ying gave the little girl the small silver bracelet she had prepared and touched the baby's warm little face.

Seeing how much she loved children, Madam Su jokingly said, "Master, if you love children so much, why don't you give birth to one?"

Yu Ying smiled at the little girl and said, "Running around everywhere is not the right time to have children."

She was not ready to have a child yet, so since Fu Wei didn't mention it, she didn't say anything either.

"Yes, this is indeed not a suitable situation in this world. Not to mention the distant past, in the past two or three months, the inspections in Cangwu City have been very strict. I think it is because there are so many refugees and the situation is so chaotic." Madam Su said.

Yu Ying looked at Song Sanlang: "It may not be what it seems. We still need to be cautious and prepared. If anything goes wrong, hide."

Song Sanlang understood her reminder and nodded: "Thank you for the reminder, we will be careful."

Yu Ying then handed a purse to Song Sanlang.

Song Sanlang opened the purse with doubts. There were several small stacks of papers inside. He took out one of them and unfolded it to look at it.

When she saw the content, she was stunned for a moment, then looked at Yu Ying in surprise: "Sister-in-law, what do you mean by this?"

Yu Ying smiled and said, "I'm going to Yuzhang now, and I don't know when I'll be able to return to Cangwu. The journey is long, and transporting goods is inconvenient and expensive. So I'll give you the recipes for the facial cream and rouge, and you can manage it yourself from now on."

"How can such an expensive recipe be used?" Madam Su said in shock.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Just don't change the brand name, cut the dosage, or substitute other herbs to save money."

Song Sanlang felt ashamed of the gift. He folded the paper back into his pocket and handed it back. "It's still inappropriate."

Yu Ying: "How about this, I'll take 10% of the profits from now on."

Even one percent can make them feel at ease.

Song Sanlang: "10% is too little!"

Yu Ying placed the purse next to the little girl and said softly, "Consider it my gift to the little girl."

"Goodbye, everyone, take care."

Song Sanlang and Madam Su glanced at each other, then bowed and said, "I also wish Madam Yu a safe and smooth journey."

Yu Ying nodded and said goodbye to the couple.

When they left Yu's house, they were still followed. As they passed through the city, several fast horses from the government office galloped past.

Yu Ying turned her head and looked in the direction where the few people left.

It is the direction of the city gate.

Fu Wei went to the prefectural government office not long ago, and now he is leaving the city on fast horses. What's going on?

Yu Ying asked a yamen runner to check it out and she went back to the inn first.

Not long after, the yamen runner came back and told Yu Ying about the situation outside.

The government runners arrived outside the city gate, beating drums and gongs to gather the refugees together.

There was no place to accommodate them in the city, but it was not safe outside either. So a moat was dug outside the city, two miles to the left and two miles to the right of the city gate, and the refugees lived in the moat to prevent attacks from wild beasts and bandits.

When Fu Wei came back, it was already dark and there was no smell of alcohol on him.

Yu Ying stepped forward, took his coat, folded it, and asked, "Didn't Governor Shen invite you to a drink?"

Fu Wei poured a cup of warm tea: "I only drank a few cups of strong tea."

After saying that, he smiled and said, "This is the first time I've seen Governor Shen be so ambitious. There's a Lingnan sand table in the room, and the table is full of memorials."

"I'm about to become a fish on the chopping board, how can I not make progress?"

Fu Wei handed her the tea and asked, "Did anyone follow you when you went out?"

Yu Ying took the tea and sat down, taking a sip. "Did the yamen runner tell you that?"

He nodded: "If I'm not mistaken, it was someone sent by Governor Shen. He was afraid that something might happen to us in Cangwu, so he sent people to monitor us before we left Cangwu."

Yu Ying: "I guessed it too, so I didn't alarm anyone."

After that, he put down his teacup and asked him, "Were you the one who suggested that Governor Shen dig a moat?"

Now only the imperial city and upper county have moats, while middle county and lower county do not.

Fu Wei sighed, "Those refugees are the human shield of this city. It's impossible to let them into the city, as suggested to Governor Shen. So, we can only give them another life-saving talisman. The moat can protect Cangwu City. Governor Shen will give the people who dug the moat two meals a day. It's mutually beneficial, so there's no reason not to do it."

This is also the only way Fu Wei can help the refugees.

*

After leaving Cangwu City, about ten miles later, the people who were following them withdrew.

They went north all the way, and a few days later, the people who went to explore the way suddenly reported that a large army was marching towards Lingnan.

Fu Wei ordered his men to hide immediately and avoid the march.

Yu Ying asked, "What is the purpose of these marches?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the troops that came to announce the decree have disappeared, and the new emperor suspects that it was Prefect Shen who did it. Knowing that Prefect Shen had rebelled, he was furious and sent people to attack Cangwu City."

He frowned, "I just don't know who this leader is."

As if he had thought of something, his expression changed solemnly. He stood up from the stone and said, "I'll go find out."

Yu Ying pulled his arm and asked, "Do you think it's Master Zhou?"

Fu Wei nodded. "Lord Zhou was the magistrate of Yu County and is familiar with Cangwu. The court is already wary of the Zhou family. In order to weaken the Zhou family's military strength in Yuzhang, they will most likely let Lord Zhou lead the army to attack Cangwu."

The message might have been delivered when he left Yu County, but at a different time.

Yu Ying was silent for a moment, and finally let go: "Be careful."

Fu Wei nodded, and then went forward with Fu Zhen.

After Fu Wei left, Yu Ying was worried, but she did not show any worry when facing other people in the Fu family.

After an hour, the two brothers still hadn't returned, and Yu Ying began to get anxious.

Just as he was about to send someone to check, he saw Fu Wei and Fu Zhen coming back with about a hundred people.

Yu Ying hurried forward, glanced at the person behind him, and asked, "What's going on?"

Fu Wei pulled her aside and whispered, "It's Master Zhou."

"So these people...?"

Fu Wei: "My Lord said that going further north would be unsafe, so I sent more people to escort you to Yuzhang."

Including these people, there are about a hundred people.

Yu Ying got the point and immediately grabbed his wrist: "You guys? You're not going with us?"

Fu Wei was silent for a moment, then said, "Since Lord Zhou is going, I cannot refuse." He never thought of hiding.

"When you arrive in Yuzhang, be careful what you do. Crown Prince Zhou won't touch you for now, but there are people out there who might be interested."

After thinking for a moment, he continued, "I've noticed that Sect Master Zhou is quite impressed with your suturing skills. If Sect Master Zhou sends someone to invite you, you can go without worry. You can also let Sect Master Zhou protect you. If you then want to open a women's medical clinic in Yuzhang, with Sect Master Zhou as your backer, no one will dare to touch you."

Fu Wei has planned a future for Yu Ying, but he is still worried about her.

Yu Ying wanted to say something, but found that nothing mattered. There was only one thing that mattered.

"I'm waiting for you in Yuzhang. You must come back safe and sound."

Fu Wei smiled, a smile that was gentle and shallow: "I will."

Yu Ying finally couldn't help herself, and in full view of everyone, she took a step forward and hugged Fu Wei directly.

She had lived in a peaceful and prosperous era for more than twenty years. The biggest change she encountered was traveling across time to this dynasty, and then she saw too much hardship and difficulty.

Once upon a time, war was very far away from her, but now it is so close to her, and the closest people to her in this dynasty will also be involved in it. How can she feel at ease?

Fu Wei was stunned. He looked around and saw everyone's surprised expressions. He felt a little embarrassed, but he pretended to be calm and had no intention of pushing anyone away. Instead, he hugged the person in his arms with his arms and smiled helplessly.

When Mrs. Luo saw her son and daughter-in-law hugging each other, she had a bad feeling.

Just as he was feeling worried, Fu Ning asked in a low voice, "Why are uncle and aunt hugging each other?"

Mrs. Luo quickly covered her eyes and coaxed her, "It was my aunt who fell, and my uncle just helped her up."