Chapter 229: Rumors

"Jiayue, if it hurts, bite this handkerchief and don't hurt yourself." Shi Jingyuan took out a handkerchief from his arms and handed it over.

Gu Jiayue immediately looked at him with gratitude.

She tried so hard to hold back her screams that she nearly broke her teeth. But she was in a hurry to go out today and didn't have time to grab a handkerchief.

Seeing Gu Jiayue biting her handkerchief, Shi Jingyuan took out another handkerchief from his arms and carefully wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Then he poured another cup of tea, blew it cool, and brought it to Gu Jiayue's lips. "Here, you've been sweating a lot, drink some water to moisten your throat."

Really, Shi Jingyuan is worthy of being the dream of thousands of girls in Kyoto. He is really good at it.

After all this, Gu Jiayue barely remembered Jiang Luli, who was squatting in front of her and diligently rubbing her feet. All she could see was Shi Jingyuan's handsome face and pleasant voice.

"Thank you, Master Shi."

Shi Jingyuan smiled slightly. "You're welcome. I just hope you can feel more comfortable."

Jiang Luli saw the interaction between the two and felt anxious.

He didn't understand why Shi Jingyuan did this, since he knew that he loved Gu Jiayue.

But no matter how he thought about it, if he didn't say anything, Gu Jiayue wouldn't know what he was thinking.

"Cousin, that should be enough, right? Rubbing it any further might cause secondary damage."

Jiang Luli was forced to let go of Gu Jiayue's ankle after Shi Jingyuan's revelation. He put his hands behind his back and rubbed them quietly.

Gu Jiayue lowered her skirt and said, "Thank you, Jiangshanchang. I wonder how my second brother is doing now?"

They were supposed to go to the courtyard together to accompany their second brother, but Gu Yuhe suddenly dropped out halfway. As a result, she still didn't know what happened to her second brother.

"When I came, Xiao Fuzi was treating your second brother. The door was closed and I didn't know what was going on. But your grandfather and uncle were waiting in the yard. If anything happened, they would come and let me know."

Gu Jiayue nodded. She didn't know any medical skills, and going to the yard to guard it just made her feel more at ease.

But now she had many things to do and could not spare any extra time. Besides, someone was waiting in the yard at home. If anything happened, they would definitely send someone to look for her.

So she stopped asking about Gu Yuchuan and started asking about other things. "Master Jiang, what did I ask you to do before?"

What Gu Jiayue was talking about was that she had used papermaking and movable type printing to exchange for benefits. It had been almost two months, and there was still no news.

She had reason to doubt whether Jiang Luli had helped her with this matter. After all, capitalists were not very trustworthy.

Jiang Luli felt very uncomfortable under that look. "Don't worry, I've written down all your requests in a letter and sent it to Kyoto. There's no news yet, probably because you want to see the results first. Just wait patiently."

Gu Jiayue changed her mind and thought that what Jiang Luli said made sense.

This is not playing house, you play the father and I play the mother.

Although it is just papermaking, how many people’s interests and cakes will be affected?

So wouldn't that be safer? At least we should let that noble see the benefits, right?

"I was overthinking it. Please forgive me, Mr. Jiang."

Jiang Luli waved his hand and was about to say something else when a student rushed in. "Master Gu, something bad has happened! Master Ye was dragged away by an old lady by her hair!"

"What?" Gu Jiayue forgot about the injury on her foot for a moment and quickly stood up to look at the student who was panting at the door.

Because of her anxiety, she almost fell. Jiang Luli was quick to catch her arm. "Be careful."

After confronting Ye Yuntang two months ago, Gu Jiayue gave her a basic chemistry and physics textbook. After studying for a month, she went to the school to start classes.

This was something completely new, and her class was very exciting because she could breathe fire, make snow, and even make rain. These little experiments fascinated the children in the class.

Even the teachers at the school would attend her classes whenever they had free time, especially Shi Jingyuan, who never missed a single class.

After class, he would always stop people and ask them questions, which caused some bad rumors to spread in the village. Ye Yuntang didn't mind this, but her parents thought it was not good, so she had no choice but to avoid him as much as possible.

But Shi Jingyuan was eager to learn, and he would wait at the school gate early every morning like a husband waiting for his husband.

Today he was busy going to the river to check on his bridge, so he didn't go to see Ye Yuntang first.

Hearing that she was in trouble, Shi Jingyuan still remembered to play with Jiang Luli? He stood up and walked out more anxiously than Gu Jiayue.

Gu Jiayue was very anxious, but her feet would not allow it.

Jiang Luli quickly squatted down. "Let me carry you over."

Looking at the man squatting in front of her, Gu Jiayue leaned over without thinking. "Thank you very much."

The situation is urgent now, so why bother about the distinction between men and women?

Jiang Luli's earlobes turned slightly red. He carried Gu Jiayue on his back, put his internal energy into his feet, and tried to run steadily towards the scene of the incident.

When the two arrived, the scene was abuzz with activity. Onlookers surrounded them in three layers. Ye Yuntang was protected by Shi Jingyuan and Ye Yunqiao. A gray-haired old woman with droopy eyes was jumping around and cursing loudly, her hands on her hips.

There were too many people and I couldn't hear clearly, but when I saw the adults watching covering their children's heads with their hands, I knew it was not something nice.

Gu Jiayue patted Jiang Luli's shoulder. Jiang Luli instantly understood what she meant. He found a relatively flat place and gently put her down.

She held Jiang Luli's arm and slowly walked towards the scene of the incident.

"Please make way."

When the person in front heard Gu Jiayue's voice, he quickly made way.

As I got closer, I heard the old woman saying some ugly and foul words.

"Shameless little whore, flirting with men at such a young age, flirting and making alluring eyes. Bah!"

"I was wondering where your worthless parents got the money to repair the house. Turns out you, a shameless slut, sold your ass for the money."

"Tell me, how many men in Taohua Village are your patrons?"

The old lady's words became more and more outrageous, and the onlookers could no longer bear it and began to criticize her.

She glared at the people around her with her droopy eyes. "Hey, you crooked bitch, you're still standing here getting so angry. Why don't you go home and ask your man if he's slept with this shameless bitch?"

"And you guys," she pointed at the men standing in front of Ye Yuntang, shielding her with their bodies. "Are you all the patrons of that little bitch? Come and take a look, are there any men from your families here?"

"If you have any, you must take them home to have a look. Ye Yuntang is very good at seducing men. If your man doesn't come home at night, don't cry!"

The old lady spoke in a sarcastic tone, and not everyone among the onlookers understood what was going on. A few of them began to look at the men with strange eyes.

A man's face flushed red as he looked at the old lady angrily. "You, you're talking nonsense!"

"Look, look, he's anxious."

"You haven't done anything, why are you blushing? Judging from your appearance, Third Master Ye's family must have spent a lot of money on their new house, right? Zizizizi..."

More and more people were looking at him strangely. The man looked at his companions around him for help.

But they were powerless to help. They couldn't just let them go and fight with the old lady, could they? What if she started to blame them?

The old lady from the Ye family in the next village is famous throughout Annan County.

Once you get a little bit of it on you, you can never get rid of it.

Shi Jingyuan had never seen anyone so foul-mouthed in his life. He wanted to retort but found himself speechless.

But when he saw that the man looked like he wanted to die immediately after what the old woman said, he got angry!

He picked up a stone from the ground, held it in his hand, and was about to rush forward.

The people in the village were afraid of getting in trouble with this old woman, but he was not afraid!

"What are you going to do? Do you want to beat me to death so that I can't testify?" Old Mrs. Zhang panicked for a moment, but quickly calmed down.

She bent her legs and sat down on the ground, her big hands slapping her knees. Her head swayed, and she opened her mouth and started crying. "Oh my God, I can't live like this. My granddaughter and her lover are going to beat me to death."

Shi Jingyuan's fingers were cracking, and just as he was about to rush out regardless of anything, someone grabbed his hand.

“That’s enough!”