Chapter 82
A horse carriage is more stable than an oxcart, and it is not subject to the ravages of wind and rain. For Yu Ying, who had ridden an oxcart for more than half a year, this made her feel a world of difference.
The carriage was so comfortable that she felt drowsy, but the whispers of the mother and daughter filled her ears. The topic seemed to be related to her, so she couldn't fall asleep.
Although the mother and daughter spoke quietly, Yu Ying was so close, how could she not hear them?
And they don't seem to be shy about Yu Ying.
"Mother, why is she so ugly?" At the age of seven or eight, it is no longer considered a child's way to speak without restraint. The girl, who is between sensible and not sensible, asked a question without any courtesy.
Yu Ying's lips twitched slightly as she closed her eyes.
Although she has a few spots on her face, she is not ugly.
Madam Qian frowned and scolded, "Mother told you that even if you meet someone you don't like, you shouldn't say anything rude. Have you forgotten?"
Yu Ying: ...
This was not a scolding at all, and Mrs. Qian's words were not polite at all.
He simply opened his eyes and looked at the mother and daughter in front of him, his gaze falling on the chubby little girl of seven or eight years old.
The little girl stared at her unscrupulously and with a rude look.
Yu Ying looked at her and continued Madam Qian's words in a calm tone, "You must not discuss me in front of others. This is extremely rude."
Madam Qian frowned, looking unhappy: "Madam Fu, I'm teaching my daughter. As an outsider, you shouldn't butt in."
Yu Ying looked up at Madam Qian with a calm expression. "Madam Qian, I have no objection to you teaching my daughter in front of me, but what you just said seemed quite rude and offensive."
Just as Madam Qian frowned and was about to say something, Yu Ying continued, "When I got on the carriage, I went to pay my respects to the Magistrate. She was gentle and dignified, and never looked down on me because of my background. So now I respect her even more."
Yu Ying paused, then continued, "Perhaps Madam Qian, of noble birth, looks down on me because I was once the descendant of a criminal. But even so, I am not one to tolerate slander or say a word when others talk about me to my face. If Madam Qian and Miss Qian speak disrespectfully again, I will refute them. If Madam Qian wants to discuss it, I will also seek the judgment of the Magistrate. I believe that the Magistrate will deal impartially and determine who is at fault."
Madam Qian's face darkened. She didn't expect that she would use the magistrate's wife to pressure her.
This time, she went to the magistrate's wife and asked to go to the county government with her. If things went wrong, it would only bring shame to her husband.
Finally, Madam Qian spoke somewhat reluctantly: "I just spoke out of turn, Madam Fu, please don't mind."
Yu Ying smiled faintly, shifting her gaze from Madam Qian to the little girl, and said, "It's okay."
The little girl looked in surprise at the woman in front of her who was dressed similarly to the maid at home.
Unexpectedly, she could make A Niang surrender. At the same time, she felt that the woman in front of her was different from the old woman at home who was servile to her.
Thinking of this, she withdrew her gaze.
Because of this little incident, they had nothing to say to begin with, and now they were ignoring each other.
This kind of getting along is very good for people who don't like you and whom you don't like either.
After a day of traveling, they only stopped to rest for half an hour at noon before continuing on their journey.
The yamen runners walked, so it took about the same amount of time to reach the county seat by horse carriage or ox cart, three days and two nights.
They arrived at the post station just before nightfall.
The post station was small and there were not many rooms, so some yamen runners could only sleep on the floor downstairs.
Fu Wei and Yu Ying were given a small room.
The hut was even narrower than the thatched hut where Yu Ying slept when she first traveled through time. Even the bed could barely accommodate two people.
Fu Wei and Yu Ying entered the room. After seeing the surrounding environment, he frowned slightly.
Perhaps they knew that the magistrate would stop here to rest, so they cleaned the post station specially.
Although I don’t know what the magistrate and Qian’s staff’s houses look like, the house they live in is obviously very dilapidated.
When the wind blew, cold air suddenly rushed in through the large gaps in the window, and it was very cold.
When you step on the floor, you can hear a creaking sound, which is the sound made by termites gnawing at the wood in the beams.
The bedding on the small wooden bed was patched and had become white from washing.
Fu Wei apologized to Yu Ying and said, "I'm sorry for putting you in such a difficult position."
Yu Ying smiled and said, "This environment isn't very good, but it's much better than the thatched hut we lived in before."
As he was speaking, a yamen runner came to call Fu Wei.
Fu Wei had no choice but to leave first.
Yu Ying looked at the small bed and sighed helplessly.
In the eyes of others, she and Fu Wei were husband and wife, so there was nothing strange about the small size of the bed.
But they are not like that. If the bed was bigger, she wouldn't sigh so much.
After sighing, Yu Ying began to clean up.
She calmly went to the kitchen to get some straw and blocked the large gaps in the window.
Although there was still cold wind blowing in through the gaps, it was much better than before.
Yu Ying had foresight before coming and knew that the environment would not be very good, so she specially prepared clean sheets.
She took out the indigo duvet cover and sheets and began to make the bed.
The sheets were spread on the bed, covering the mattress which was full of patches and whose original color could not be seen. Then the quilt, which was worn but not dirty and had no strange smell, was put into the quilt cover.
When Fu Wei came back and saw the brand new bed, he looked at Yu Ying in surprise.
Yu Ying crossed her arms over her chest, a faint smile on her face: "So, I still have some ability, right?"
Fu Wei clapped his hands lightly and praised: "You still have foresight."
Yu Ying smiled and said, "Perfunctory."
After the house is cleaned up, the next issue is eating.
If it were another county magistrate, he might let the yamen runners prepare their own dry food, but this week the county magistrate was obviously going to start a big move, and he would naturally not miss the opportunity to win over the hearts of the people, so when he came, he said that the yamen would cover all the food and lodging.
There are yamen runners who are responsible for preparing food, so Yu Ying doesn't need to make any arrangements.
Dinner is stewed meat with cabbage, and each person is served with an egg. The oily food can make people forget the fatigue of the day.
After dinner, Yu Ying went to the kitchen to make a pot of longan and red date tea.
Dried longan and dried red dates can be bought at dry goods stores. Both are produced in Lingnan and are not very expensive.
It’s just that the brown sugar is a little rare, so Yu Ying only puts a little bit in when cooking.
After brewing a pot of red date tea, Yu Ying tasted it. Longan is naturally sweet, so even with a small amount of brown sugar, the tea still had a hint of sweetness.
Yu Ying poured a few bowls of tea and brought them to the maid who was serving the magistrate's wife. She said, "It's cold, and a bowl of longan and red date tea will help you sleep better. Please ask my sister-in-law to send it to the magistrate's wife."
The old woman took the tray and said, "Mrs. Yu is so thoughtful."
Yu Ying smiled and said, "I made a lot. Everyone has a share. I'll keep the portion for my sister-in-law and send it to her later."
Hearing this, the old woman smiled and said, "Mrs. Yu, you are too polite. I will serve it myself."
Yu Ying: "It's okay."
Yu Ying turned and left, returned to the kitchen to get a few more bowls, then called over the familiar Wu Xiaoyamen runner and asked him to deliver these bowls to Qian Muliao's room.
Although I can't get along with Madam Qian and her son, I still have to do my best to save face.
After Yu Ying poured three more bowls, she carried the pot to the main hall and said to Huo Yacha, "It's cold, and everyone is sleeping in the main hall tonight. I made some hot tea. Drinking it will warm you up and help you sleep better. Please ask Huo Yacha to call someone to distribute it."
Huo Yacha said, "Madam Yu, for your kindness, I would like to thank you on behalf of everyone else."
Yu Ying smiled and said, "My husband has been taken care of by everyone these days. I am only making some hot tea, which is my duty."
When the yamen runners nearby heard what Fu Muliao's wife said, they all sighed that Fu Muliao had married a virtuous wife.
After Yu Ying finished speaking, she turned back to the kitchen and brought a few bowls of hot tea upstairs.
Pushing the door open and entering the room, Fu Wei, who was looking at the bamboo slips, turned his head and looked at the steaming tray and asked her, "Did you go to make tea?"
Yu Ying brought out two bowls and placed them on the small table, saying, "It's cold, but you and I still have a bed to keep warm, while other yamen runners have to sleep on the floor. So I made a pot of longan and red date tea to warm you up. Don't be too busy, drink it while it's hot."
Fu Wei looked at the other bowl in her bowl and asked, "Who is the other bowl for?"
Yu Ying picked up the tray and said, "This is for the maid who serves the magistrate's wife. She has to serve the magistrate's wife, and by the time she's done, this longan and red date tea will probably be gone. I don't want to be remembered for a bowl of tea."
Having said that, he left the house.
*
In the magistrate's house.
County Magistrate Zhou was soaking his feet, and Mrs. Zhou was about to coax the child to sleep when the servant came in with a few bowls of tea.
"This is the longan and red date tea that Madam Yu sent. She said she made a lot of it, so everyone should have a share."
Longan and red dates are both warming and nourishing, so there is nothing strange about using them together to make tea.
Upon hearing this, Madam Zhou smiled and said, "Madam Yu is quite thoughtful."
After the old woman put the tea on the table and left the room, Mrs. Zhou picked it up and took a sip. Only when she was sure it was okay did she give it to her children.
After feeding her son half a bowl, she picked up a bowl and handed it to her husband.
Watching her children playing on the bed, Madam Zhou lowered her voice and asked her husband, "What do you think of Madam Yu?"
Magistrate Zhou, who was sipping his tea, nearly choked on his wife's words. He put down his bowl and looked at her with a strange expression, "Why would I deliberately look at my subordinate's wife?"
Madam Zhou glanced at him and said, "Have you never noticed the dark spots on Madam Yu's face?"
Magistrate Zhou put the empty bowl aside and thought for a moment: "I just glanced at it, not carefully."
"Sure enough, if you look closely, you'll know there's something to that black spot."
Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Zhou was puzzled: "What else could there be?"
"It looks to me like it was deliberately applied, but I'm not entirely sure. I'll take a closer look in a few days to see if there's any change."
After hearing what his wife said, County Magistrate Zhou couldn't help but recall Yu's appearance carefully, but he really had no impression of her, so he didn't think there was anything wrong.
But then he remembered that the Yu family had a family of imperial physicians who were exiled for misdiagnosis, so he said, "Never before have exiled women met a good end. And since Yu was born into an imperial physician's family, she knows how to identify herbs. It's not impossible that she used this to hide her appearance and protect herself."
When Madam Zhou heard the word "exile," her face darkened slightly. "In the past, criminals who were exiled were all accused of evil. But now I can't figure out whether those who were exiled were truly guilty or were wrongly accused."
The court is in a state of chaos now, and those who were exiled may not have committed any serious crimes.
In the case of the Yu family, they had only made a minor misdiagnosis of the emperor's favorite concubine, which did not result in death or irreparable damage, but they were still beheaded and the entire family was exiled to Lingnan.
Magistrate Zhou sighed softly, "My lady, please be careful with your words."
Madam Zhou stopped talking. She just glanced at him and said, "Although Yu County is a little poor, it is fortunately peaceful. I don't know what you are thinking about. You are still thinking about Kyoto."
County Magistrate Zhou sighed and said, "I have my own plans."
Such a political situation will sooner or later lead to chaos. If he doesn't seize power quickly, how can he protect himself in the future?
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