Chapter 1 Chapter 1 It’s been three years, why haven’t you grown up yet…
It was early summer and the sun was not too scorching. Chen Jinshi returned home triumphantly with a newly acquired "Blue-Eyed General" in his hand, the hem of his robe fluttering in the wind as he walked quickly.
"Grandpa, please walk slower." Wang'er was carrying a book box and chasing after him.
Chen Jinshi walked across the corridor and pointed at the exquisite gilded cage in his hand: "Hurry up, I want to show it to Mom."
The "Blue-Eyed General" in the cage was baring its teeth and spreading its wings, looking very proud.
Wang Er wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "It's just a katydid. Miss Chen has been busy these days. I'd better go back to my room to change clothes and have some snacks before going over."
Chen Jinshi looked about fourteen or fifteen years old, already tall and with sharp features. He glared at her, "What is she busy with? It's just something at the counter. Look at the tone of her voice. I'm sure Mom will like it."
Wang Er wiped his sweat again and thought to himself, it would be fine as long as Miss Chen doesn't mind that he is not doing his job properly.
The master and servant walked along the corridor, around a whitewashed wall, and then came to the hall connecting the east and west courtyards. A breeze blew through the hall, bringing a slight chill.
Chen Jinshi stopped leaning against the wall. Wang'er fanned him with a banana leaf and glanced into the garden. "Oh, the master and the eldest young master are in the garden."
Chen Jinshi turned his head and saw his father sitting opposite Shen Ying. His brother Chen Jinxing was standing in front of Shen Ying, holding the account book in his hand and talking.
Chen Jinxing was four years older than him and took over the management of several family pharmacies from the old grandfather.
The Chen family's ancestral business was medicine. Since their father, Chen Jichuan, was a military general, the old man hoped that the two eldest wives, Chen Jinxing and Chen Jinshi, would not follow their father's example, but study medicine well and inherit the ancestral business.
Chen Jinxing has been quite talented in medicine since he was a child. He was taught personally by the old grandfather. His situation when he was young was much better than Chen Jinshi, and his temperament was much gentler.
Chen Jinshi was a rebellious person, so Chen Jichuan didn't force him to become a doctor: "Your brother is studying medicine, so you can study literature and take the imperial examination."
Fortunately, Chen Jinshi had some talent in reading and writing, so Chen Jichuan sent him to study at Mingdao Academy, the best academy in Jinling.
"The second brother should be back by this time."
Chen Jichuan looked at the sun and said to Shen Ying.
Chen Ying didn't respond, but just took the account book and checked the income of the big house business this month, and asked Chen Jinxing to collect it carefully.
"That shop on Flower Market Street has a lot of people coming and going, so you need to pay more attention to it."
Chen Jinxing collected the account book and nodded, saying, "Don't worry, Mom. I'll see patients every day so I can gain some experience."
"The prescriptions you write now will only count if they are reviewed by three experienced doctors and approved by them. Once you have prepared a hundred prescriptions, you can start treating patients on your own."
"I've taken note. I'll do my best to live up to my mother's instructions."
Chen Jinxing has always been respectful to Shen Ying.
In fact, when Chen Ying entered the Chen family, he was already in his teens and was often called by his grandfather to be taught. Among the three brothers and sisters in the family, he was the one who needed Chen Ying's care the least.
But since the other party was brought back by his father and had special expertise in medical skills, he treated her as both a teacher and a mother. He respected her and it didn't take much effort.
After the two of them finished talking, Chen Ying replied to Chen Jichuan: "Yes, it's time for Brother Shi to come back at this time."
As she spoke, she looked out of the garden and listened for any noises, but she didn't see anyone coming back.
Chen Jinshi was listening behind the wall. He straightened his chest and was about to go out with the cage.
"Brother Shi is not easy to discipline."
The leg he had just taken a step forward retracted and remained hidden behind the wall.
Before Chen Ying could speak, Chen Jichuan continued, "You've been so hard-working these past three years. Of the three children, he's the one that's been the most bothering for you."
Chen Ying shook her head slightly, and looked at Chen Jichuan with a look of genuine admiration in her eyes: "General, please don't say that."
Shi Ge'er also has good times.
Now that he has grown up, he causes her less headaches.
Chen Jichuan pulled her hand over, held it in his palm, and squeezed it tightly: "You have done a great favor to the Chen family, and I remember it in my heart. Dulan, I'm afraid..."
At the end of his speech, Chen Jichuan's voice gradually became lower, and Chen Jinshi could not hear clearly. He only saw Chen Ying put her hand over her father's mouth, and then gently shook her head.
"General, what I did is really nothing. I was just taking care of three children. If it weren't for you, Dulan and her family would have died long ago... You will live a hundred years."
Dulan's family had been itinerant doctors on the grasslands for generations. Three years ago, during a battle between Daling and the Northern Yuan Dynasty, her father and brother carried a dying Daling soldier back to their tent from the battlefield.
In her and her family's view, curing diseases and saving lives does not distinguish between enemy borders. Moreover, they are wandering on the edge of the two countries and migrating with the tribe, so they have no clear national affiliation.
What he didn't expect was that saving this man would cause his entire family to be labeled as traitors by the Northern Yuan general Batu.
Batu had just lost the battle and wanted to take someone down to vent his anger.
Fortunately, General Chen's cavalry arrived quickly. At that moment, Du Lan looked at the hanging beheading knife, filled with despair, and saw the knife was shot away by Chen Jichuan's bow and arrow.
Then she turned around and saw the man who was kneeling on the ground with her hands tied behind her back... tall, mighty, and like a god sent down from the sky.
The armor shone brightly in the sunlight. The man had saved her and wanted to let her and her family return home.
She was nineteen years old at the time.
It was difficult for her to define that feeling, but she only knew that figure would be branded in her heart for the rest of her life and could never be erased.
So she stopped his troops and said, "General, please take me away."
Chen Jichuan has a handsome face and is a Confucian scholar-general who comes from a medical family. If it weren't for the years of wind and sand eroding his skin and his palms becoming rough due to calluses, he would really look like a scholar.
He asked with a smile, "Your home is here, why do you want to follow me?"
"Dulan wants to repay the favor!"
She spoke with conviction and without any selfish motives.
Chen Jichuan saw the admiration in her eyes.
He had been widowed for many years, and many of his subordinates had advised him that there might be another way to go.
For example... accepting her "commitment of body".
The hero-saving-beauty plot is, after all, a cliché.
Chen Jichuan, however, did not think so. He was deeply attached to his late wife and would never accept anyone else in his life.
But he also had some selfish thoughts in his heart.
"Do you know medicine?"
Du Lan nodded: "My family has been practicing medicine on the grassland for generations. We are not as good as the orthodox ones in the Central Plains, so we know some unconventional remedies."
Chen Jichuan said, "Sometimes unconventional methods are the most effective. I have a child who has suffered from asthma since childhood. To be honest, my family has been doctors for generations, but we can't cure him. If you are willing, you can go back with me and take a look at his condition. Besides, I have two sons and one daughter, all of whom have lost their mother and have no one to take care of them..."
Du Lan was surprised and happy to hear this. She didn't expect that the general was really willing to take her away.
"But, Dulan, what can I give you?"
Du Lan just shook her head. She didn't want anything, she just wanted to follow the man she admired, to be with him, to look at him.
At that time, the cherry blossoms in the small town of Chabu, near the border of Daling State, were in full bloom, so Chen Jichuan gave her a Chinese name, Chen Ying. Her mother was originally a Han Chinese, with the surname Chen.
Chen Ying regained her composure and looked at the man in front of her. The general had indeed aged a lot in these three years.
Chen Jichuan also always said that he had treated her badly and made her waste her best years on Shi Ge'er.
Chen Ying didn't think so: "In our tribe, from my current age onwards, it is considered the prime of life."
She is twenty-two years old.
She had figured it out a long time ago that admiration was just admiration.
"I hope you'll take more care of Shi'er's affairs and make sure he studies hard. You're the only one in the family who can persuade him."
"Don't worry, General."
Their hands were still clasped, a touch that felt solid and powerful. Chen Ying looked at him with eyes that were dense and gentle. As long as he was there, even if he grew old and weak, and his strong bones gradually withered, her spring-like gaze would always gently linger around him.
"It's windy. I'll get a blanket for the general. Let's go to the shade of the trees."
Chen Jinshi withdrew his eyes. The 'Blue-Eyed General' in his hand had wilted, even though it had been full of energy the entire afternoon.
His eyes darkened and darkened as he looked at Kugua, feeling indescribably frustrated. He then saw the pencil case in Wang'er's hand, and his anger suddenly surged. He snatched it away, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it twice.
"I don't want anything that woman makes for me anymore!"
Wang'er was confused. What was wrong with the Second Master?
"Master, those people in the school today praised your pen caps for being beautiful and exquisitely made. Aren't you very happy?"
Chen Jinshi's face still had a childish look, but the expression between his brows could no longer be suppressed, and his eyes were naturally proud. At this moment, he strode forward, and the corners of his robe made a rustling sound in the wind.
"That was because I was as dumb as a pig and dog before, and was fooled by her little tricks!"
Wang'er quickly picked up his pen bag and followed him: "Master, where are you going? Miss Shen just set a rule a few days ago. Every day when you get home, you must first pay your respects to her..."
Wang'er had been prepared to give him a cold shoulder and continue to try to persuade him, but unexpectedly his young master suddenly turned around, and with a twirl of his robe, he headed for Tinglan Garden.
Chen Ying was doing needlework in the house. She thought that summer was coming soon, so she should make a pair of new, lighter shoes for Shi Ge'er.
Over the years, it has become a habit to add clothes to him in winter, add food to him in autumn, and take care of him.
Chen Jinshi stopped outside her door, slightly gathered his clothes, bowed slightly, and knocked on the door twice with his fingers.
Chen Ying put down the things in her hands, knowing that he had returned from school.
"Emu, it's me."
She moved to the door, pulled out the bolt, and stood sideways inside.
Chen Jinshi bowed to her and said, "Mom, I'm back."
Chen Ying looked at him calmly for a few seconds, her eyebrows slightly furrowed: "Why are your clothes dirty?"
Chen Jinshi's heart moved, he lowered his head and looked around, and saw some mud spots on the hem of his clothes.
Chen Ying's face immediately darkened: "Where did you go on the way back from the academy?"
Chen Jinshi bowed his head and replied, "I went to the martial arts training ground in the suburbs."
He was fond of playing with guns and sticks and wanted to join the military camp, but Chen Jichuan would not allow it.
He stole a glance at her expression, and before she could get angry, he quickly picked up today's homework.
"Emu, please review it."
Chen Ying took the booklet and looked through it, originally wanting to check whether he had put his heart into what he had learned that day.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chen Jinshi's gaze quietly passed by her tall figure and looked into her room.
There was a half-embroidered shoe upper on the small round table. Judging from the size, it was clearly his. If it wasn't his, whose could it be?
After a moment, Chen Ying closed the booklet and he quickly came back to his senses.
"Mom, I've done my homework today, so don't tell my dad about me going to the martial arts arena. Besides, I haven't had this asthma attack in a long time."
He raised his eyes, the corners of his eyes slightly raised, and he was secretly holding back his anger. It had been three years, why hadn't he grown taller than this woman?
I heard that the women in the Northern Yuan Dynasty were much taller and stronger than the Han people, with plump and slender figures, deep eye sockets, long eyelashes, and skin that had a lustrous agate-like luster.
The woman named Chen Ying also looks like this, but her skin is whiter, not as wheat-colored as hers, perhaps because she is half Han Chinese.
Chen Ying was speechless for a moment. She glanced at the pencil case he had tucked into the corner of his bookcase. It was dirty and gray, and had been deliberately destroyed by him.
She pretended not to notice and asked him, "Did you have any arguments while discussing studies with your classmates today?"
Chen Jinshi shook his head.
She returned the book to him and was about to close the door and let him go back.
Chen Jinshi put his hand against the door panel, deliberately exposing the broken pen case.
"Am, what were you three talking about in the garden today?"
Chen Ying was still about to close the door: "Don't worry about what's going on at home."
He held the door open with his backhand, and said with a half-smile, "Did something happen on the counter? Mom, Chen Jinxing isn't as smart as me. If there's anything wrong, tell me."
She ignored him and let him push the door open if he wanted to.
She let go, turned around and walked into the house, calling the housekeeper Chen Xing's wife over, "Bring the Second Master's medicine."
Chen Xing’s wife replied “yes”.
She sat down on the stool, and Chen Jinshi followed in and looked up.
"Children, don't look around or ask so many questions."
Chen Jinshi put his hand against the door panel, deliberately exposing the broken pen case.
It was unknown when it started, but this woman no longer allowed him to enter her inner room or get on her bed.
Who cares.
"I'm not a child anymore."
Chen Ying stood up, a head taller than him, and he immediately deflated.
She was about to go behind the screen, but as soon as he lifted his foot, he was pinned to the spot by her gaze.
"What else are you going to do? Go back to your room and study. The college entrance examination is almost here, and you're still being lazy all day."
He paused, and seeing that she still didn't say anything about the pen bag, he simply took it out and put it on the table: "This one is broken, make me a new one."
Chen Ying glanced at him coldly, took out a few copper coins from her purse and handed them to him: "Take this and buy another one."
Chen Jinshi gritted his teeth and ordered confidently: "Make me a new one."
Chen Ying simply stuffed the silver into Wang'er's pocket and said, "Go buy a new one for your Second Master."
Chen Jinshi said angrily: "Chen Ying!"
Chen Ying smiled silently, sat down again, and said slowly: "Brother Shi, you are not young anymore."
Chen Jinshi didn't know what she was going to say, but her words made his face hot and his throat choked.
I didn't dare yell at her anymore.
But when he thought of the situation between her and his father today, the anger in his heart bubbled up again and turned into a sneer.
"Chen Ying, you and my father are about to get married, let me congratulate you first."
Chen Ying glanced at him and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Chen Jinshi, you'd better not lose your mind today."
"I saw it all today. Well, you just wanted to be my mother, didn't you? After all these years, you're finally going to get your wish. When I call you Mom from now on, won't you be even more bossy to me? So, I can't object anyway, so let's make some rules first."
Chen Ying felt that he was now speaking calmly, with only a slightly strange tone.
She kindly advised him: "Brother Shi, I don't want to be your mother, but if you really want to call me mom, I can also be your mother reluctantly."
The author has something to say:
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[Crying][Crying][Crying] Mom, please love me [Crying][Crying][Crying]
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* "Amu" is a private term, not a blood or family relationship. It represents a caring relationship, and it is generally recognized in this society that such care needs to be reciprocated. For example, "If nothing else, Chen Jinshi, the second child of the Chen family, is definitely a very filial child."
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