Chapter 77
After Yu Ying pushed Fu Wei into the yard, the people in the family were shocked to see his miserable appearance.
Fu Wei sighed secretly. He was so focused on persuading Huo Yachai that he had forgotten what he looked like.
And because he was so happy to see Ah Ying just now, he completely put this matter behind him.
Luo, who was hanging clothes to dry, quickly put them down and asked anxiously, "Erlang, what's wrong?"
When the gate closed, Fu Wei stood up from his wheelchair, looking fine. He replied calmly, "Su Yu fell on the way back. To prevent others from noticing the damage to my legs, I had to break both of them together."
Mrs. Luo was stunned. Looking at her son's mess, she stammered, "But how did he fall?"
Yu Ying came to Fu Wei's rescue and said, "I'll go see where Erlang fell first."
She didn't believe Fu Wei could fall while sitting in a wheelchair. She knew the stability of wheelchairs. If someone hadn't deliberately caused trouble, the wheelchair wouldn't have fallen.
Luo nodded quickly: "Then go and take a look."
After Yu Ying and Fu Wei entered the room together, they closed the door and lowered the tied curtains.
After thinking about what happened last night, she turned to look at Fu Wei behind her, ignoring his burning gaze, and asked, "Where are you hurt?"
Fu Weizhang opened his mouth and said, "Actually..." He paused, swallowed the word "nothing" and changed his words: "It's just my arm and shoulder that are injured."
Yu Ying was a little surprised. She thought he would say it was no big deal as he did in the past, but she didn't expect him to answer directly.
But the answer was still so nonchalant, as if he was not injured at all.
Yu Ying frowned: "What do you mean only the arms and shoulders are injured? Do you want to injure the legs as well?"
There was concern in her tone. Fu Wei smiled warmly and replied, "I know my limits."
When Yu Ying heard him say that he knew his limits, she knew that there was something strange about his injury this time.
But the most important thing now was to look at the wound on his arm, so I put aside this strangeness for the time being and said to him, "Sit down and let me see where the wound is."
Fu Wei hesitated for a moment, but still began to undress.
Yu Ying was afraid that he would feel uncomfortable, so she said, "I'll go out and get some cold water."
After that, she left the house and went to fetch water.
When Mrs. Luo saw her come out, she hurriedly asked how Erlang was doing.
Yu Ying knew Fu Wei didn't want to worry the Luo family, so she said, "It's nothing serious, just a few bruises. I'll get some well water to give him a cold compress."
Upon hearing this, Fu Zhen stood up and went to fetch water from the well.
When Yu Ying brought the water into the house, Fu Wei had already taken off his outer shirt and was only wearing a thin lining.
He sat on the bed with his back straight and rolled up his loose sleeves above his shoulders.
After several months of treatment, Fu Wei's arms were no longer as thin as when Yu Ying first met him. Now the muscles on his arms were well-proportioned and very healthy.
Everything else is fine, except for a bruise on the forearm and upper arm, just below the shoulder.
Perhaps it was because it had only been a short time, the bruise had not yet disappeared.
As soon as one looked at the shape of the bruise, one could tell it wasn't caused by a fall, but by being hit with a stick or something.
Yu Ying put the basin on the ground and put her hand into the freshly drawn well water. The icy water made her shiver.
After gradually getting used to the coldness of the well water, she wrung the cloth half dry, stood up and looked at Fu Wei. It was difficult to apply cold compress while sitting, so she said, "You'd better lie down on your side."
Upon hearing this, Fu Wei lay down.
Yu Ying put the cold cloth on his arm. Seeing that he was wearing thin clothes, she pulled the quilt over, asked him to raise his hands, and covered him with it.
He then wrung out two cloth towels and covered the other two bruises.
Fu Wei looked at her carefully and seriously, his eyes never leaving her.
Yu Ying had already noticed his gaze and tried to ignore it, but it was too strong to ignore. She turned and looked at him: "I know you miss me, but you should be more restrained."
Fu Wei looked away as she said, but a faint smile was still on his face.
He said slowly: "I miss you very much. Every day I wonder when you will come back and when I can see you again."
Once upon a time, they lived under the same roof almost day and night. Even though one of them was in Yu County and the other in Lingshui Village, he still felt like they were thousands of miles apart.
Not to mention that she had been away at the county seat for more than half a month. As the saying goes, a day without seeing someone feels like three autumns, and these eighteen days felt like eighteen three autumns.
“Ahem…”
Yu Ying was choked by his words and quickly looked away, saying, "Don't talk, you're disturbing me."
Fu Wei smiled and said nothing.
Applying a few handkerchiefs only takes a few moments.
When Yu Ying turned around and pulled the stool over to the table, she secretly exhaled a breath of hot air, adjusted her somewhat rough heartbeat, and then put the stool beside the bed and sat down.
She looked at Fu Wei's arm and said, "Apply it for a while and I'll give you a new one."
Her eyes moved from his arm to him: "Who hit you?"
Fu Wei would not and did not want to hide it from her, so he told her the truth: "He is Luo Dianshi, the younger brother of Director Luo of Luoji Medical Clinic."
Yu Ying's expression changed slightly: "He really did it?!"
After being surprised, he immediately asked, "Why didn't you guard against him?"
Fu Wei: "I hit him on purpose."
Yu Ying was stunned for a moment, then narrowed her eyes slightly and guessed, "A self-torture scheme?"
"The self-torture tactic, the sowing of discord, and the tactic of playing hard to get." Fu Wei added two other strategies.
Yu Ying was puzzled when she heard him say this: "What's going on?"
Fu Wei said, "I've been at the county government office for about twenty days now, and I've gradually gotten to know the situation there, including the backgrounds of the left and right staff. Staff member Qian has some talent, but he's arrogant and doesn't like to socialize, so everyone in the office says he's difficult to get along with. Staff member Sun, on the other hand, knows he's not very capable, so he's good at winning people over, and everyone in the office says he's easy to get along with."
"Honestly, for a county magistrate like Zhou, having too many staff would only lead to speculation, so he usually has one or two staff members around him. Staff member Qian is an old subordinate, and the relationship between them is different from that of others, so County Magistrate Zhou will not let him leave. Staff member Sun was simply hired by the county magistrate to better handle the affairs of Yu County. Now that three years have passed, he has understood everything he needs to know. Staff member Sun knows this, so he has been able to win over the hearts of the people and ensure his long-term position as a staff member in the county government."
Yu Ying understood after hearing this: "So, now that you've entered the government office, one of them might want to leave, and that person is Sun Muliao. He knows you're here, so he won't stay long, so he's instigating Luo Dianshi to deal with you?"
After all, living in an age of advanced internet, Yu Ying has a wide range of knowledge and has seen many such scenes.
Fu Wei was a little surprised at her quick understanding, but it seemed natural to him. He nodded and said, "Luo Dianshi is frustrated and depressed right now, so I can take advantage of him. I guess if you break my hand, I won't be able to stay, or I won't dare to stay any longer."
Yu Ying frowned upon hearing the phrase "breaking the hand." "So, you knew Luo Dianshi was going to hit you, but you let him do it anyway, hoping to win him over with your tactics of self-torture and playing hard to get, so you could forgive him and slowly dissipate his resentment towards you? Or perhaps you were using your sowing of dissent to trick him into distrusting Sun Muliu?"
Fu Wei laughed and said, "Not only him, but also Huo Yacha and the patrolling Yacha. In other words, I want to win over everyone in the county yamen."
Yu Ying was silent for a moment, neither supporting nor opposing his plan. She only warned him, "Don't use this self-torture tactic without thorough preparation in the future. What if something unexpected happens and your hand is truly crippled? What will you do?"
Fu Wei: "It's not that I'm unprepared. County Magistrate Zhou asked me to find a way to get Sun Muliao to leave the county government. If Sun Muliao leaves, I will stay for more than two months. If Sun Muliao doesn't leave, I will leave."
"When Sun Muli invited me for a drink, I didn't go. I suspected he would instigate Luo Dianshi to use violence against me, so I asked the magistrate to order the yamen runners to patrol the yamen during their off-duty hours. And for two days after attending the banquet, Yacha Huo secretly kept an eye on Luo Dianshi, perhaps worried he might do something wrong. If Luo Dianshi took action, he would be discovered quickly."
At the end of his words, he looked at Yu Ying and said, "It's not that I'm unprepared."
When Yu Ying heard his arrangement, she smiled helplessly, then looked at him and couldn't help laughing again.
After a moment, Yu Ying put away her smile and said seriously, "Since you are prepared, then follow your own ideas, but be careful."
Fu Wei nodded, and then asked her: "What happened to you in the county seat?"
He thought back to the person he had just met and remembered, "Where is Song Sanlang?"
Yu Ying got up and changed his cloth towel before telling him what happened in the county government.
It was said that they did not cooperate with the clinic, but set up a small stall, and Song Sanlang set up a stall in the county government and did not return.
Fu Wei listened carefully to what she said. After listening, he smiled and said, "If you really make a name for yourself, then leaving the shop won't be far away."
Yu Ying chuckled and said, "We've only been setting up our stall for a few days, and you've already thought of a shop for me. You're not going to become a fat man without eating a single bite."
"Go slowly and carefully, and you will be rewarded."
Yu Ying hummed softly, and seeing that it was almost time, she stood up and leaned over to remove the cloth from his arm, then said, "I brought something back for you all. I'll give it to you after dinner."
She picked up the basin of water and said, "You should rest for a while."
As he said that, he carried the water out of the house.
After a while, Fu Zhen simply washed himself and went into the house. He said to his second brother lying on the bed, "Maybe I'll have to sleep in the same room with you tonight."
Fu Wei thought that if Ah Ying still lived in the same house with him, he would definitely give money to let his elder brother and sister-in-law move out.
But that's obviously impossible.
He helped himself to the bed and sat up, and asked, "There were no accidents on the way to the county seat, right?"
Fu Wei was still worried that Yu Ying would only report good news and not bad news.
Fu Zhen knew what he was mainly asking about, and after sitting down on the stool beside the bed, he replied, "It's not easy for my sister-in-law to run around, but fortunately, there's no big trouble."
Hearing this, Fu Wei felt relieved.
Fu Zhen thought for a moment and asked, "I know you didn't fall, so what happened?"
Fu Wei said: "Although it wasn't caused by a fall, it was also within my calculations, so there is no need to worry too much."
Fu Zhen was silent for a moment. "Since you already know the situation, I won't ask any more questions. If you need anything, please tell me."
"There is something I want to tell you, big brother."
Fu Zhen was startled, then he heard him say, "Next spring, the government will select yamen runners. Big brother, come and participate in the selection."
"I'm going to participate in the selection of yamen runners?"
Fu Wei: "Brother, it's perfect for you to attend."
"But what if my sister-in-law wants to go to the county seat?"
Fu Wei pondered for a moment and said, "If she goes, you should ask for leave."
Fu Zhen frowned in confusion: "Can the government be so casual?"
"Of course not, but the magistrate is a military man, and he values talent, especially..." He looked his elder brother up and down, then said, "Someone like your elder brother who is tall, strong, and has some skills."
At this point, Fu Wei added, "Since you are in Yu County, and I can walk now, I will teach you another move. From now on, please come to Yu County every three days, and I will be able to teach you more."
Nowadays, the small courtyard in Yu County is surrounded by high walls, which can be used to practice shooting skills in secret.
Fu Wei had this idea, but when he came out with the stick, Yu Ying looked at his arm meaningfully, so he consciously told his elder brother that he would teach him next time.
The few people who hurried back from the county seat rested for half an hour and recovered before going out of the house to help.
Yu Ying entered the kitchen and found that Luo had bought a pig's trotter and a two-pound fish at some point.
Mrs. Luo said, "You've all been running around for the better part of a month. I'll buy you some pig's trotters to replenish your energy."
Yu Ying seemed to understand the meaning of "make up for what is lacking." She smiled helplessly and said, "It just so happens that I can do this, I'll do it."
Luo then gave the pig to her to deal with.
Yu Ying knocked off the pig's trotter lid and asked her eldest brother to chop the pig's foot in half with a hatchet and then cut the bones. Then she placed a few pieces of wood horizontally on top of the brazier and roasted the pig's foot on top to burn off the hair and remove the pig smell.
After a while, the pig's feet turned slightly black. Yu Ying washed them with two basins of water before cleaning them, scraping off the residue on the leather while washing.
While the eldest brother went forward to help chop the pig's feet, Yu Ying and Fu Ning went to the grocery store to buy some vinegar and sugar, as well as a small bag of salted green plums.
After returning home, blanch the pig's feet. Put ginger slices and wine in the water. When it boils, skim off the foam and rinse the pig's feet with cold water.
After everything was ready, Yu Ying put some sugar and oil into the pot. When it became sugar oil, she put the pig's feet in. After the pig's feet changed color, she added some soy sauce, salt and wine and stir-fried them.
When the aroma is overflowing, add three full bowls of Haikou bowls of water to cover the pig's feet, and then add four salted green plums and simmer together.
After half an hour, the water in the pot was almost gone. Yu Ying poured three spoonfuls of black vinegar, which wasn't too sour, into the pot and stir-fried it for a few seconds. The pig's trotter, which had originally only been lightly colored, suddenly took on a red hue, gradually deepening as it was stir-fried.
Cover the lid and wait for the final liquid to collect.
When it was finally taken out of the pot and placed in the ceramic bowl, the pig's feet that had been stewed for a long time had become soft and chewy, with an attractive color and rich aroma. Just looking at it would whet your appetite and make you salivate.
When Yu Ying served it on the table, the two enthusiastic fans said "Wow" in unison without blinking an eye.
Yu Ying scratched their noses and said, "Auntie's specialties are all out."
Fu An looked up and guessed excitedly, "I know this dish. It's braised pork trotters, right?!"
Yu Ying shook her head: "This is sweet and sour pig's trotter."
There was a large bowl of pig's feet, a fish, and a vegetarian dish on the table, which was more than enough for their family of seven.
Pig's trotters are everyone's favorite, with just the right amount of sweet and sour, soft, fragrant and smooth, not greasy at all.
The two little ones ate so much that their bellies were round and they complained about being bloated. Yu Ying could only give them a gentle massage on their abdomens to help them digest the food.
After the massage, I went out for a walk with them.
When I came back, it was already dark.
The oil lamp was lit in the main room, and the family sat in the room. Yu Ying and her sister-in-law took out the things they had bought in the county government.
Everyone has a share.
Luo Shi is a piece of cloth.
What was in danger were twenty pieces of paper and two pens.
Yu Ying said to him, "Paper in Yu County costs five wen a sheet, while paper in the prefecture is only three wen a sheet. I figured you'd need it, so I bought you twenty sheets. Even the pens in the prefecture are better than those in Yu County, and they're cheaper. Your old pens are falling apart, so I bought you two."
Fu An Funing had been waiting for his gift, looking at his aunt with anticipation.
Yu Ying looked at their eager eyes and said with a smile, "Of course I won't forget you."
As she spoke, she took out another pen and five sheets of paper from the package: "This is for Fu An."
Fu An was stunned for a moment and said in surprise: "Is it really for me? Not for my uncle?!"
"Your uncle has one, this is for you."
Fu An took it with surprise and joy.
He had never dared to touch his uncle's writing brush and could only practice calligraphy on the ground - although he is reluctant to use it now, it does not affect his happiness.
Finally, there is Xiao Fu Ning’s gift.
Yu Ying looked at her sister-in-law and said to Fu Ning, "Your gift was bought for you by your mother."
Upon hearing this, Fu Ning turned around and looked at A Niang.
Wen Xing took out the little doll hidden behind her.
When Fu Ning saw the little doll, his eyes lit up instantly. He ran towards A Niang and took the doll.
She hugged the doll, raised her head, grinned, and said softly to her mother, "Thank you, thank you, mother."
Wen Xing couldn't help but smile gently.
The soft light in the Tang house sprinkled on everyone's smiling face.
After distributing the gifts, Fu Wei called Yu Ying into the house and said, "Your Excellency is already planning to reclaim the sloping land to plant soybeans and medicinal herbs."
Upon hearing this, Yu Ying said, "Then can I rent the land?"
Fu Wei nodded and said, "Even if the money is not enough, the government will give us a year's grace period and collect the rent next year."
Yu Ying said, "If I rent another ten acres of sloping land where I don't have to pay grain but only silver, I'll still have enough money."
Yu Ying reserved some money for renting land and hiring people to do the work. Although it was not much, it was just enough.
After talking about this, Yu Ying thought of her elder sister-in-law and mentioned it to Fu Wei.
Then he said, "Take a look and see if you can find out where your eldest sister-in-law's great aunt's family is now."
Fu Wei had no idea his elder brother and sister-in-law would act like this. He was a little surprised, but then nodded. "I'll go check it out tomorrow when I'm on duty. Cases like theirs should be easier to investigate. After we find out where they are..." He paused, looked at her, and asked, "What do you want?"
Yu Ying, who was usually gentle, rarely showed anger. She said, "My sister-in-law has been gone for three years and suffered so much. It would be unreasonable not to exploit them."
Fu Wei saw that she rarely showed such an expression, so he couldn't help but smile and said, "Okay, I will peel off a layer of skin with you."
Yu Ying blinked and then corrected herself: "It is exploitation, in terms of money."
Fu Wei shook his head slightly. "Their behavior is against the law. Besides, the previous magistrate was also dismissed for corruption and bribery. It would be unreasonable for them not to receive a beating."
Upon hearing this, Yu Ying's face lit up with joy: "That's perfect! My sister-in-law will definitely be happy when she finds out."
At this point, she said, "I'll talk to my sister-in-law now."
Fu Wei saw her turn around and leave with a bright smile, and he also smiled.
During this trip to the county seat, he could feel that the relationship between her and her eldest sister-in-law seemed to have become much closer. There were no more formalities than before, and they had become close friends from sisters-in-law.
Before they knew it, the night was getting darker. As there were only two rooms, Fu Wei had to squeeze into one with Fu Zhen and his son, while the four female relatives slept sideways in the other room. As the bed was not wide enough, they added two long bamboo benches next to it.
After spending one night together, Yu Ying returned to Lingshui Village with her elder brother the next day.
After returning to Lingshui Village, Yu Ying rested for a while and then went to check the condition of the medicinal fields.
The medicinal field was well taken care of by Uncle He's family. Even the two people they hired did not slack off. There were almost no weeds and the herbs had grown a lot.
After returning from the medicine field, Yu Ying began to roughly calculate the expenses of this trip to the county government and the profits of the stall.
After everything was equalized, there was still two hundred coins left.
Yu Ying didn't take a single cent and gave it all to her eldest brother and his wife: "You guys have been busy with me all the time without a single complaint. I am grateful in my heart."
She pushed the two portions of money in front of her eldest brother and his wife and said, "This is the lost wages we agreed upon earlier. When the third brother of the Song family returns, after deducting his earnings, I will give the agreed 10% profit to your eldest brother and his wife."
Hearing this, Fu Zhen frowned and said, "Xing Niang and I didn't contribute much, so how could we ask for more? We only want a 10% profit."
Yu Ying said to them, "One tenth each. After all, I only prepared the herbs, while boiling the oil, pounding the herbs, cooking the facial cream, and all the other groceries were mostly done by my eldest brother and his wife, so naturally they have to pay for it."
In the end, Yu Ying simply settled the accounts for them: "Even if I gave four cents and six cents to the third brother of the Song family, and ten percent to the eldest brother and his wife, I would still make the most money."
Of course, she has to apply facial cream all the time. When the amount is large, she definitely cannot do it all by herself, so the share between her elder brother and sister-in-law is necessary.
Besides, taking ten cans of expensive facial cream as an example, after simply deducting the rent and Song Sanlang's commission, the minimum profit is still one hundred and sixty or seventy cents.
She gave 17 wen to her elder brother and sister-in-law each, and she still had more than 130 wen left.
And judging from the days when they set up a stall in the county seat, they were able to sell at least a hundred cans in that month.
Needless to say, the profit is huge.
After Yu Ying briefly explained the bill to her elder brother and sister-in-law, they finally accepted it.
The couple paid back another 150 coins for the last 200 coins.
They had received enough favors from their brother's wife and could not keep owing her money, so they were always thinking about returning the redemption money to her as soon as possible.
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