Chapter 77: Apology Gift "A man's knees are made of gold? But only...

Lin Meiju was walking in a hurry when someone suddenly appeared in front of her. Her nose just brushed against the black cloth. At that moment, she smelled the delicate fragrance of plants and soapberries on him. It was originally a very light scent, but because she was too close, the scent seemed to turn into a tangible fine net, enveloping her from all directions.

Lin Meizhu stepped back calmly, looking up at him: "Get out of the way."

Shen Changfeng still stood in front of the door, but with a humble attitude, he extended his hand and made a gesture of invitation: "Doctor Lin, please sit for a while."

Luo Shanchang quickly tried to smooth things over: "That's right! Shopkeeper Lin, look, the hot food will be served soon. How can you leave on an empty stomach?"

Lin Meizhu looked at the person in front of her with a half-smile in her eyes and said, "You can ask me to stay, but I won't sit at the same table with random people."

Among these people, only Luo Shanchang knew the inside story. The others were secretly surprised. The room was buzzing with whispers, and everyone turned their eyes to the unknown person in front of the door.

Shen Changfeng lowered his head slightly and said softly, "This is a matter of great importance. I hope you can temporarily put aside past grudges and not let your prejudice against me affect your judgment."

Lin Meizhu replied, "If I were only concerned about the grudge between you and me, I wouldn't be attending the banquet today."

Jiang Jin, who sneaked to the side door of the private room, happened to see this scene. He rubbed his eyes and realized that he was not mistaken: Shen Changfeng stood solemnly, bowed his head and clasped his fists, and indeed gave the young widow a proper military salute, but the woman ignored him and just looked at him coldly.

What was going on? Was that young woman a member of the drug dealer's family? Did Shen Changfeng even bow his head and beg for mercy just to get the herbs? A man bowing to a woman like this wouldn't be afraid of being embarrassed if he told anyone else about it! Jiang Jin felt that if the brothers in the garrison knew how this medicine came about, they probably wouldn't want to use it!

Looking at Shen Changfeng again, he was clearly calm and not embarrassed at all. Jiang Jin even felt that if the little woman ordered him to kneel down, Shen Changfeng might kneel down without hesitation!

Luo Shanchang was quick-witted. Listening to the conversation between the two, he thought that Shen Changfeng might be able to persuade them a little by relying on their old relationship. He quietly asked the servant to take the rest of the people out through the side door, and by the way, pulled Jiang Jin away with a complicated expression, leaving the two of them to talk.

Qingsong was quick-witted and quick-handed. Before leaving, he stuffed a cup of tea into Shen Changfeng's hand.

Shen Changfeng held the cup of tea and closed the door. Lin Meizhu's face changed. She looked behind her and saw that everyone had left. She pushed Shen Changfeng away and tried to pull the door, but she didn't know which wicked person had locked it from the outside. She tried several times but couldn't open it.

As soon as she looked up, she found that the evil ghost was right in front of her. Shen Changfeng stretched out his arm and pressed the door panel above with one hand. It was only because of his height that she didn't notice it just now.

At this moment, she was standing under him and could even hear the dull rumble of his heartbeat in her chest. His arms and chest formed an airtight, thick barrier, trapping her firmly in this cramped little space. She felt a little short of breath and reached out to push the terrifyingly tough man.

The man didn't move, but shamelessly said, "Don't be angry."

How could he bear this? Lin Meizhu used all her strength to stomp on his foot. Shen Changfeng had been prepared for this. Not only did he not get angry, but he grinned and supported her forearm to let her breathe out. He felt balanced in his heart: Look, who hasn't been stepped on? The one who can endure the pain and let her step on him firmly is a real man.

Seeing her chest heaving, Shen Changfeng knew she was angry, so he finally moved aside. Lin Meiju left him and walked towards the side door, but she pulled it but it didn't budge - this time it was really locked by someone from the outside.

Lin Meiju caught a glimpse of the tall figure gradually approaching, and knew that she could not avoid a conversation today. She took a deep breath and paused what she was doing.

"Everything that happened in the past was truly my fault." Shen Changfeng handed over the cup in his hand and said slowly, "Actually, you're not wrong. I am indeed conceited and proud. If I had realized these problems earlier, I wouldn't have ended up like this."

"I don't dare to ask you to forgive me or accept me right away. I just hope you can see the changes in me and give me another chance like you gave the others."

"Have a cup of tea to cool down?"

After a long time without a response, Shen Changfeng's outstretched arm gradually felt sore. But he still persisted stubbornly, as if he would persist until the end of time if she didn't accept him.

The person sitting in the rose chair in front of me was motionless. If it weren't for the traces of wind blowing on her skirt and the noisy voices still ringing in the street, one would have wondered if time had stood still.

This was the first time the two of them were alone together after their divorce. Shen Changfeng carefully and cautiously looked for an opportunity, trying to awaken a trace of warmth in her heart, so as to pry open the tight and solid barriers in her heart. Seeing that there was no sign of wavering on Lin Meiju's face, he made up his mind, lifted the corner of his robe and took a step back. Seeing that his bent knees were about to hit the ground, the person above his head sighed faintly.

Lin Meizhu stood up and took the tea from his hand. Shen Changfeng was delighted, but before a smile could even appear on his face, he heard her say, "Are you reluctant to leave me, or are you missing the old you who was admired by everyone?"

"Do you think, as a man, that bowing and kneeling before a woman is enough to demonstrate his sincerity? But in my opinion, your honesty, repentance, kneeling, and even crying are all worthless. A man's knees are made of gold? I only think that a man's knees are just his calves."

"Haven't I knelt enough in the past? But what did all my pleas and pleadings get in return?" Lin Meizhu looked at the tea buds floating in the teacup, then cast her gaze on Shen Changfeng and asked him, "Why should I write off everything just because you kneel before me and let me drink a sip of the tea you offer me?"

There was no sarcasm in Lin Meiju's eyes, but a sincere desire for an answer. She really wanted an answer, and she was giving him a chance.

But Shen Changfeng could only lower his head in silence, he could not give an answer.

Lin Meizhu continued, "Look, I drank the tea, but time hasn't turned back. The pain in my heart is still there, and you can't change anything. Of course you can apologize and change your ways, but I can also choose not to accept or forgive you."

When he first saw Lin Meizhu willingly accept the teacup, Shen Changfeng felt a surge of relief at having survived a disaster. How was this any different from Lin Meizhu personally feeding him a candied date? But before the date even reached his lips, her words were like a barbed wire, pounding down on him like a slap from nowhere. Lin Meizhu was always gentle, but now her soft words pierced his eardrums, quickly growing like tiny teeth, tracing their way through his blood vessels to his chest, gnawing furiously at the delicate tissue of his heart.

Now, the person who had been silent for a long time became Shen Changfeng.

This scene was incredibly familiar, except now the person being criticized was Lin Meizhu. Unlike usual, she didn't become arrogant due to her high position in the relationship. She treated him as an equal, and that was the difference between him and her.

She was strong and resolute enough to fight back against those who had hurt her in her own way, and she no longer avoided facing her former, timid and insecure self. How could she blame her former self? It had been so difficult for her back then. If she could, she would hug her then-helpless self and say to her: You've done well.

After Lin Meizhu finished speaking, she turned and left without even looking at Shen Changfeng.

I had only halfway opened the door when I heard someone behind me hurriedly chasing after me: "It's too late!"

"We have to wait for the commander's order, which will take at least two days, and at most five days. Then we have to wait for the apothecaries and the pharmacies to respond to the order, procure the herbs from various places, and then transport them to Jingzhou... You know very well that the wounded in the garrison can't wait that long."

Lin Meizhu paused, opened the door, and faced Luo Shanchang, who also had an anxious and earnest look on his face. He cupped his hands and said, "Manager Lin, I know everyone is resentful of the guards. I usually don't dare to bother you, thinking of making do with it. I even set up a herb garden in the station, which you know. But this time, without your help, there are hundreds of wounded soldiers. This hurdle is really hard to overcome!"

Judging from the fact that he ordered the establishment of more medicinal gardens and worked hard for the soldiers, Luo Shanchang was not a corrupt official. He was just busy all day long but still accomplished nothing.

Lin Meizhu replied, "I can't help you. There's a flood in the north, and Huishengtang has responded to government orders and shipped all its medicinal herbs to Henan. The stock of Panax notoginseng, Sanguisorba officinalis, and other hemostatic and hemolytic herbs has already run out, and new stock hasn't arrived yet due to the canal transportation blockage. The situation at other medical clinics is similar..."

Seeing her attitude soften, Shen Changfeng looked at Lin Meizhu who was in deep thought and said firmly, "You have a way."

Lin Meizhu raised her eyes and met his trusting and earnest gaze. Gradually, his tone became more affirmative and tinged with reliance. "You must have another way."

Lin Meizhu averted her eyes, remained silent for a while, and then sighed, "It's true that we're out of the raw materials for the wound medicine, but we can mix old lime and tung oil to achieve similar effects. It can be used as a temporary first aid. Wait for half a week, and the herbs from the canal will arrive."

A sudden surge of warmth surged through Shen Changfeng's heart, a powerful warmth that reached even his fingertips. He couldn't help but smile. If Lin Meizhu had shimmered with a shimmering white light that day as she repelled the swindler, then now he felt a thousand-foot-long radiance behind her. She looked delicate, but her core was as resilient as grass, unbroken by wind and rain. She possessed a heart of great love, unmoved by external influences, and possessed a transcendent character. How could he not love her? How could he not respect her? How could he let her go?

Luo Shanchang was also very happy. He clapped his hands and said, "Excellent! Excellent! Then I'll send someone to move it right away..."

Lin Meizhu shook her head and asked, "How many wounded are there in the garrison this time? What are their conditions?"

Luo Shanchang said, "There are at least thirty seriously injured, and the rest are over two hundred wounded."

Lin Meizhu thought about the medicine reserves in the pharmacy and said, "It will take at least ten days for the medicine to arrive from the canal. If the arrow wound penetrates, it will cost a few coins. If we change it twice a day, we will have to..."

Shen Changfeng recalled the way she used to bite the tip of her pen, frown, and clatter the abacus. He subconsciously looked at her hands, and sure enough, he saw her white fingers tapping unconsciously.

Shen Changfeng continued: "I want fifty kilograms."

This kind of scene of retorting was too familiar. Lin Meiju paused, looked up and met Shen Changfeng's eyes, and opened her face unnaturally.

When they were settling accounts at the palace, Shen Changfeng had no patience for waiting and would always put his arm around her waist and tell her to stop. When Lin Meizhu was halfway through her calculations and didn't want to pay attention to him, he would rest his chin on her neck, gently sucking on her earlobe, his lips pressing against the side of her neck, causing her trouble everywhere. She was so out of breath that she still had to say, "There's still some left, I just calculated..."

Shen Changfeng loved the way she studied diligently, but sometimes he hated her for being so absorbed. He snatched the pen, writing down a number for her, despite her objections. Then, he pushed the troublesome account book to the floor and sat her down at the ebony table. The moon's outline blurred in the flickering red candlelight, but the faint scent of ink at the tip of his nose took shape, a spirit, a charm, drawing him to sniff her hair, kiss her lips, bite her neck, and rub the place where the ink was most intense.

Luo Shanchang didn't know why the two men across from him stopped talking mid-sentence. Shen Changfeng drank a few sips of herbal tea. Lin Meizhu turned away, raised her sleeve to cover her face, and coughed lightly. She hurriedly asked Shen Changfeng, "What's wrong? Did you miscalculate?"

Shen Changfeng turned to Lin Meizhu and said calmly, "Doctor Lin knows best how good I am at calculating accounts."

Lin Meiju held up the white porcelain cup and took a sip of tea, then said calmly, "Then I'd like to trouble you to help me with the calculation." Then she wrote down a few herbs and their weights on a piece of paper and motioned for him to read.

"The amount needed for those injured by knives and axes should be at least doubled. Based on ten days, how much old lime will be needed? Each part of old lime must be mixed with five parts of cooked tung oil. One-third of the raw tung oil will be lost after being boiled. Auxiliary medicinal materials are also needed for refining, half a part of frankincense, half a part of myrrh..." Luo Shanchang came forward to take a look, twisting the paper, looking at one end and forgetting the other, and felt his head getting bigger.

This is indeed a huge number. Shen Changfeng quickly calculated in his mind and said, "At least 25 kilograms of old lime, 560 kilograms of tung oil, and frankincense..."

Lin Meizhu interrupted him and said unhappily, "Not even a pound."

Luo Shanchang cried out, "Why is this?"

Lin Meizhu said, "The medicine hall only has 30 kilograms of old lime, and the amount of tung oil is far from enough."

Shen Changfeng was tricked, but he didn't get annoyed. He said, "It's indeed a bit difficult to meet such a large demand in a short period of time. In addition to wound medicine, we also need epidemic prevention medicine. Unless... we can persuade other pharmacies to lend a hand."

Luo Shanchang was very clear about the attitudes of the other drug dealers. He was afraid that even if he said a hundred words, they would not be able to match Lin Meizhu's one word. Thinking of this, he said to Lin Meizhu, "Shopkeeper Lin, could you please..."

Lin Meizhu shook her head: "I have only been in Jingzhou for a short time, and I am only an acquaintance with the other drug dealers. I am afraid they will not be willing to do me a favor."

Luo Shanchang was completely overwhelmed and at a loss as to what to do when he heard Lin Meizhu say, "It's not about personal feelings, but there are other ways."

Luo Shan sighed, "I can't come up with so much money right now!"

The gloom between Lin Meizhu's eyebrows disappeared, a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, and a low smile was suppressed in her voice, "I do."

Shen Changfeng recalled that the last time she laughed like this, several thousand taels of his silver disappeared. His heart skipped a beat, and the fingertips that were taking notes turned blue and white as they pressed on the tip of the brush.

Luo Shanchang was surprised and said, "Are you willing to help the garrison pay the money?!"

"I'm not paying in advance, I'm hosting. But I have one condition..."

"What conditions!"

Lin Meizhu slowly stood up, looked down at Shen Changfeng, and said something earth-shattering.

"Expel this man from Jingzhou."