Chapter 723 Similar Yet Not Similar

Meanwhile, in Qincheng.

The rain lasted for three days, delaying everyone's journey to some extent. Just when the rain finally stopped, it started raining again as soon as it got dark.

Having reached the desolate wilderness, and with the rain making it difficult to discern directions, Prince Luo, Xiao Chengyu, asked, "How about we spend the night here?"

I barely got any rest for two nights. Even if the people could handle it, the horse couldn't.

“Alright, there’s a cave by the mountain. I’ll take Doctor Yan to spend the night there.”

Qin City is mountainous and rocky, so local funeral practices differ from those in the north and the capital. After death, people are not buried in the ground, but their coffins are placed in stone caves.

The neat rows of stone caves on the mountainside are tombs.

With nowhere to hide along the way, Madam Xu had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure, taking Doctor Yan to a stone cave to hide for the night.

"good."

The King of Luo nodded in agreement, and the group took shelter from the rain under the rocks, fed the horses hay, dried their clothes and shoes, and started cooking.

It was raining heavily outside, but the cave was surprisingly dry.

Before entering, Madam Xu bowed to the innermost coffin, and then pulled Doctor Yan to a stone wall where they could tidy up.

"Aunt Xu, thank you."

Yan Yan wiped the rain off her face with a handkerchief. The tarpaulin was not breathable, and her clothes were completely soaked through as she rode the horse along the way. To make matters worse, she was on her period.

She thought that using medicine to treat cold constitution would delay the pain, but this time her lower abdomen felt like it was being twisted into a pretzel, and the pain was so bad that she almost wanted to roll on the ground.

In order not to delay everyone's schedule, Yan Yan gritted her teeth and persevered.

The men were careless and didn't notice Yan Yan's unusual behavior; it was Madam Xu who was the first to notice.

"Don't be so polite. It's not easy for a woman to travel. You're such a stubborn girl, not saying a word."

As Madam Xu spoke, she told Yan Yan to rest first. She went out of the stone cave to fetch firewood and boil water, and then told Yan Yan to wash up first.

“As a doctor, you should know that women are vulnerable. If we develop a chronic illness, it will affect our ability to have children in the future.”

While busy with her work, Madam Xu chatted with Yan Yan. She had been in the same situation years ago; after giving birth to Xu Da, she hadn't conceived again. She had originally wanted a sweet daughter, but her dream had been shattered.

Looking at the Chen family and their daughter Lin Yuesha next door, Madam Xu could only feel envious.

"Everyone says that having a daughter is like having a warm cotton-padded jacket, and they can best understand the hardships women go through and feel sorry for their mothers. It's a pity that I only had one stinky boy."

Madam Xu sighed constantly, feeling resentful whenever she mentioned Xu Da.

Having given up all hope for herself, she longed for Xu Da to get married soon, so that her daughter-in-law could give the family a little girl. But...

It's a long story.

"Aunt Xu, in the eyes of the world, having a son is like having the family line continue."

Yan Yan took a sip of the ginger and jujube tea powder made by Lin Yuesha. It was warm, and the pain in her lower abdomen lessened a bit. She hung her clothes that she had changed out of on a tree branch and dried them over the fire.

Clothes are dry, and I feel much more comfortable. The backpack that Lin Yuesha made is really practical.

“Those women can’t think straight, but our Protectorate General’s Mansion won’t.”

Having a son means you'll eventually have to go to the battlefield and fight as a soldier from the lowest rank. If you're not careful, you could lose your life.

We live for only a few short decades, and in the end, we return to dust. We don't even care about our physical bodies, so why should we care about men and women?

It doesn't matter, nothing matters.

Even if the Xu family has no male descendants, how could the Xu family be wiped out or something?

"Once you die, you kick the bucket and end up in the underworld. Who knows what you'll do there? You can't just close your eyes and wait for the living to burn paper money for you, can you..."

Those who have struggled on the brink of death have a clearer perspective.

"So that's how it is."

Yan Yan was stunned. As a woman, if she didn't have talent, she wouldn't be qualified to learn the Yan family's medical skills.

After her fiancé died, she was single-mindedly focused on avenging him, but rarely stopped to think about what she could truly do for herself or what kind of person she could become.

She was interested in cesarean section, but in the eyes of the common people, this was a shocking and unconventional act. Some women would rather die, or even lose their unborn child, than suffer this pain.

When she mentioned it to people, they thought she was a crazy, whimsical person.

Yan Yan was very frustrated by this, and even had the idea of ​​giving up.

"People have different ideas. How can you know the final result if you don't try?"

Madam Xu sighed and said, "Twenty years ago, if there had been a way to help women have cesarean sections to remove their babies, she wouldn't have ended up like this..."

"Are you referring to Madam Qi?"

The female doctor Yan was taken aback for a moment, and then asked, "Aunt Xu, what kind of woman is Madam Qi?"

Although he has been gone for twenty years, he has left behind many rumors in the capital. Yan Yan seemed to remember her mother mentioning that her father had once been in love with Madam Qi.

"It's hard to describe, but she was very kind and innocent."

Madam Xu shook her head. Anyone with a modicum of shrewdness would not have been so foolish as to trust Madam Zhuang.

I remember that after she had a misunderstanding with Madam Qi, Madam Qi even wrote a letter to explain and sent her a double-sided embroidered handkerchief.

"She seems to be very good at taking care of everyone's feelings."

Madam Qi is always meticulous and thorough, which is somewhat similar to Lin Yuesha.

"Does she resemble Yue Sha?"

Yan Yan smiled and said, "Then you must be very popular."

"It's similar, but not quite. I can't say for sure."

Madam Xu always felt that women like Qi Heng's mother, though gentle and kind, lived very tiring lives. They had to take care of everyone and rack their brains to do so, which was often done with a flattering tone.

However, Lin Yuesha was different. Although kind, she was very capricious and followed her own heart.

Now, twenty years have passed since he passed away, so there's no point in saying these things.

The only thing Madam Xu was certain of was that Qi Heng was nothing like his mother, nor like Lord Qi. "Lord Qi was upright and honest, and he was the dream of every girl in the capital back then, even more sought after than Prince Luo."

"Young Master Qi is very attentive to Sister Yue Sha, but he refuses to show his face, so we don't know what his face looks like under the mask."

The son of the most beautiful woman in the capital, he couldn't possibly be anything less than stunning, yet he always had a pockmarked face and remained completely unfazed by it.

She doesn't care about anyone's slander, only because she has a good appearance.

"this……"

Madam Xu's eyes flickered. She had only just learned about it herself. Qi Heng had really fooled Lin Yuesha. Given Lin Yuesha's gentle yet strong-willed nature, the situation was not optimistic.

However, these are not things she should worry about; they can just watch the show from the sidelines.

As the two were talking, a delicious aroma wafted in from outside. Madam Xu sniffed and smiled, "Hot and sour noodles, they've already started cooking hot and sour noodles."

In the days leading up to their departure from the capital, as if by prior agreement, none of them were willing to eat the food that Lin Yuesha had brought for them. Instead, they relied on dry biscuits to stave off hunger and hurried on their journey.

The continuous rainy days finally became unbearable for everyone, and no one could eat the hard, dry flatbread.