Two hundred and eighteen
"Are you Fu An?!" Zhu Qi's voice came from next door.
After a while, several people jumped over from the other side of the wall.
The courtyard suddenly became crowded.
Yu Ying looked at the unfamiliar handsome and thin boy.
He was about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a gray robe, a cloth bag on his shoulder, and a long stick.
Ever since he'd climbed over from the next yard, his eyes hadn't left Fu Wei. The young man's startled gaze slowly lifted from the palanquin. Seeing that familiar face, his eyes flushed slightly, and he spoke with a choked voice, "Uncle..."
Fu Wei recognized him at a glance. It was indeed Fu An.
The changes are quite big. When he was a child, Fu An was dark and thin, almost skin and bones. Now you have to look carefully to find some similarities in his facial features.
Fu Wei was able to recognize him not because he had seen him as a child, but because he had seen this face in a dream.
But compared to the dream, this young man was much shorter and thinner.
If this is Fu An who has been missing for eight or nine years, why did he come to this abandoned house?
Fu Wei remembered that he had never brought Fu An to this house.
He suppressed his doubts, glanced at Fu An, then at Chen Liuniang, and said indifferently, "Let's go back to the inn first."
He was not thrilled to have found his long-lost relatives.
The followers behind him pushed Su Yu and turned the direction towards the alley entrance.
Zhu Qi turned to Fu An and said, "Fu An, let's go back to the inn first and then tell me what you have been through in the past nine years."
Fu An came back to his senses and nodded, but then his inquiring gaze fell on the young woman in green.
Zhu Qi noticed his gaze and said, "This is the female doctor who serves the Marquis... Miss Chen."
The Marquis is talking about a female doctor, so this is a female doctor.
Yu Ying nodded slightly towards Fu An.
Fu An noticed the pause when Zhu Qi was speaking, and when he looked at Miss Chen again, a complicated look appeared in his eyes.
There are other female doctors who are skilled in medicine around my uncle.
After a glance, he looked away and hurriedly chased after him.
Yu Ying looked at the young man's back as he left in a hurry and frowned slightly.
The uncle and nephew probably hadn't seen each other for eight or nine years, and when they were in Lingshui Village, they seemed to have only been together for about a year.
Why does it feel like the boy doesn't look unfamiliar at all?
Yu Ying paused for a moment and followed.
He quickly walked to Zhu Qi's side and asked, "Why is the Marquis here?"
Zhu Qi still had a surprised smile on his face and replied, "What a coincidence! Not long after the young lady left, the Marquis said he was going out and would come to the west alley."
Yu Ying followed him out and saw a carriage and a group of more than ten people.
She had only been there for a moment when they arrived. They couldn't be too far away.
There was no way she didn't know that Xingwu was following her, so that meant they came from a different route, which ruled out the possibility that they followed her.
Zhu Qi suddenly asked, "Why did you come to the west alley?"
Yu Ying: "The day before yesterday, when I entered Yu County, I happened to see a grocery store at the entrance of this alley, so I wanted to buy some things. I happened to see a little cat, so I followed it in, and then I met the Marquis..."
At this point, she asked in confusion, "Why did that young man appear in the next room? And why did he call the Marquis "little uncle?"
Zhu Qi: "That young man's name is Fu An. He is the Marquis's nephew who was lost for many years when he was in Yu County. I don't know why Fu An appeared here."
After she finished speaking, they had already reached the alley entrance, so Yu Ying didn't continue asking questions.
We walked back to the inn with the carriage.
Walking behind, he carefully looked at the young man following the carriage.
Although the boy is handsome, his skin is dark and he is not tall enough.
The stick he was carrying was a bamboo stick, and he walked with steady steps, like a martial artist of this era, but there was also a smell of herbs on his body, which seemed to be emitted from the cloth bag.
In the book, Fuan was abducted by human traffickers. At that time, Fuan was described as dark and thin. It was unlikely that such a child would be sold to a good place.
But Yu Ying sensed a certain aura in this young man. It was a quality that seemed to have been cultivated in an environment rich in both spirit and life: a confident and composed aura.
It took nearly half an hour to return to the inn from the west lane entrance.
As soon as he came back, Fu An followed Fu Wei into the house.
The uncle and nephew, who had not seen each other for almost nine years, closed the door and no one knew what they were talking about.
In the room, Fu Wei lit the stove and made tea.
Fu An's complicated eyes fell on his uncle's leg, and his voice was muffled: "Why hasn't your uncle's leg been cured?"
Fu Wei glanced at him and said, "Don't you remember?"
Fu An was stunned and looked at his uncle in confusion.
Fu Wei: "If you miss the treatment period, it will be incurable."
Fu An opened his mouth slightly and muttered to himself: "Why... are they all different?"
When Fu Wei heard "everything is different", he raised his eyebrows slightly and looked up at Fu An who seemed to have suffered a blow.
"What's different?"
Fu An looked at his uncle, and after a moment's silence, he came to his senses and spoke, "My living grandmother, my living father, mother, and Ningning are all gone, and my aunt...is gone too, and my uncle's leg hasn't even been cured."
Fu Wei's grip loosened slightly, and the small palm-leaf fan in his hand fell onto the table.
Fu Wei noticed the subtle changes in his uncle and seemed to have noticed something. He asked tentatively, "Does my uncle feel weird too?"
Fu Wei was distracted for only a moment, and soon he calmly picked up the palm-leaf fan, slowly fanned the stove, and said slowly: "I know, I should have a happy family, a good wife, a..." He paused, and vaguely remembered the soft and lovely little girl in his dream, the little girl who called him daddy in a soft voice.
"I have a lovely daughter."
Fu An was surprised for a moment when he heard this, then carefully observed his expression: "But they are not here. Grandma is not here, and neither are my parents, Ningning, or my aunt. There is no Zhizhi either."
After observing for a moment, he confirmed: "You are not the uncle I am familiar with, but you are still my uncle, right?"
Fu Wei raised his eyes and looked at him again: "Your existence makes me more convinced that the dreams I had were experienced by another me."
When Fu An heard his indirect admission, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
When he opened his eyes again, he had already accepted his fate and said, "I know, this is not the place for me to live."
He had heard many strange stories from his aunt, including three thousand worlds and three thousand selves. When he was young, he only thought of them as fantastic stories, but now they have become real things.
Fu Wei didn't know how he accepted it so quickly, so he just asked, "Tell me, what's wrong with you?"
After all, Fu An was handed over by his uncle, so he must be very cunning and would be able to weigh the pros and cons of speaking or not speaking.
Now that half of it has been said, if I hold back, I am afraid that the already weak relationship between uncle and nephew will become even colder.
Even though the uncle here was a stranger, he still chose to believe him.
"I remember my uncle and aunt and I went back to Lingnan. We just slept like usual, but when we woke up, we were working as laborers in the mines. My aunt and I had studied medicine and mathematics, so we spent half a month observing the mines, and another half a month before we could leave the mines. We earned money practicing medicine and returned to Lingnan."
I originally wanted to go back to Lingnan first and then return to the imperial capital, but I didn't expect to meet my uncle here.
Fu Wei paused as he gently fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan. "What else can your aunt do?"
Fu An smiled and said proudly, "My aunt is not only an excellent doctor and arithmetic expert, but also has beautiful handwriting. She is also very kind-hearted, has many students all over the world, and has saved many people. She is a remarkable woman respected by everyone."
Every advantage he mentioned corresponded to the woman in Fu Wei's dream.
"But... why is my aunt not here?" Fu An was at a loss.
Why is everything different without my aunt?
Fu Wei was silent for a long while before he asked, "What are you going to do from now on?"
Fu An shook his head: "Maybe one day when I wake up, I will return to a familiar place, or maybe I won't be able to go back." He paused, thought for a moment, and then said: "No matter where I am, I will probably be a doctor who saves lives and heals the wounded."
Fu Wei retracted his gaze, looked towards Fenglu, and said quietly, "You are kind-hearted."
Fu An looked at his uncle's legs: "Uncle, is his leg really incurable?"
Fu Wei: "It can't be cured."
Fu An fell silent. After a few breaths, he asked, "Can I take my uncle's pulse?"
Fu Wei said coldly: "No need, I know my own problems."
"I've come back this time to relocate the graves of your grandmother, parents, and Fu Ning. Go and burn incense for them. From now on, you can follow me back to the imperial city, or travel around the world. It's up to you."
Fu An's expression darkened.
Everything was blissful one moment, and then everything changed drastically the next, making it hard for anyone to be happy.
When Fu An came out of the house, he saw a woman in green preparing to boil medicine in the yard. He wanted to look away, but then he saw her picking among several kinds of medicinal herbs. She didn't even need to weigh them, but just weighed them in her hands and threw them into several earthenware jars. He couldn't help but be stunned.
These subtle movements are surprisingly familiar.
After watching for a long time in the corridor, Zhu Qi saw him and walked to his side. He seemed to be worried that he might have other ideas and reminded him, "This is the girl that the Marquis has taken a fancy to."
Fu An turned around and looked at him in surprise: "Is this the girl that my uncle likes?"
Zhu Qi nodded: "The Marquis has never married, and his backyard is empty. He doesn't even have a personal maid. This is the first woman the Marquis has ever asked for."
Upon hearing this, Fu An became curious about the woman. He couldn't imagine that there was any other woman who was more outstanding than his aunt and could attract his uncle.
"What is her origin?" Fu An asked.
Zhu Qi: "I was originally a tea-serving maid in the Cangwu prefectural governor's mansion. I followed the Marquis only seven or eight days ago. When I was staying in Chunfeng Town, I encountered an assassin. Miss Chen treated the guards who were injured."
"Don't be fooled by Miss Chen's youth and the fact that she's just a tea-serving maid. Her medical skills are comparable to those of an imperial physician. She can bend an ordinary embroidery needle into a suture needle and skillfully sew up knife wounds. We were stunned by what we saw."
Fu An opened his eyes slightly, a look of surprise on his face: "Using an embroidery needle as a suture needle to sew up a knife wound?"
Zhu Qi nodded, recalling what happened a few days ago, and said, "All the materials used for suturing were boiled in water. Facing the bloody wound, he was absolutely precise. His hands moved the needle with great skill."
At the end of the conversation, he muttered to himself, "I don't know where Miss Chen learned her medical skills, and she even prescribed medicine to regulate the body for the Marquis. I'm curious, but the Marquis won't let me delve into it too much."
After saying this, he realized that he had said too much, so he put his arm around Fu An's shoulder and said, "By the way, I haven't asked you how you've been spending the past nine years. Tell me about it."
Fu Wei smiled and nodded.
He left Yu County when he was about ten years old. The last time he saw his childhood playmate was when he returned to Lingnan a month ago. That's why he reacted quickly when he saw someone at the entrance of West Lane.
But I didn't expect that the boy who was once the childhood playmate of the merchant's young master is now so skilled and we felt very familiar with each other when fighting.
Now that I think about it, it was undoubtedly the moves that were taught to me by my uncle.
The two of them left side by side. Fu An turned around and looked at the woman in the middle courtyard with an inquiring look. Coincidentally, the woman was looking at him as well.
Their eyes met, seemingly looking at each other indifferently, and then they both nodded in succession.
Fu An withdrew his gaze and when he turned back, his eyes were full of suspicion.
*
Yu Ying boiled medicine for the injured guard. The little maid sent by the county magistrate handed the boiled medicine to her, and she boiled a few more doses of medicine.
"Miss Chen."
A young man's clear voice came from behind. Yu Ying turned around and bowed to the young man: "Young Master."
The young man looked at her carefully, then turned his gaze to the medicine pot and asked, "What medicine is this?"
Yu Ying also smelled the scent of herbs on the boy. Knowing that he was also a medical practitioner, she didn't hide anything from him. "It's not a complicated medicine, just simple herbs. Coptis chinensis, Scutellaria baicalensis, Phellodendron amurense, and Gardenia jasminoides. They have anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting, and hemostatic and analgesic effects."
The medicine is simple and effective.
Fu An looked at the medicine jar silently.
This recipe is also the one they often use to suture wounded soldiers.
Is it a coincidence?
After a moment, he asked, "I have something to ask you."
Yu Ying: "Young Master, please ask."
Fu An: "Why did the girl appear at the entrance of West Alley today?"
Yu Ying repeated Zhu Qi's answer.
Are you chasing after the raccoon?
He didn't see any raccoon, but only saw her pause for a moment outside the abandoned house where his uncle and aunt had lived for some time. After a moment, she slowly walked in, as if looking through the abandoned house, her mind in a trance.
Fu An didn't ask further, and said, "So that's how it is. I lived there for a while before, so I wanted to go back and take a look. I didn't expect to run into Miss Chen, and also reunited with my uncle. It was also fate."
Yu Ying didn't know where they had lived before, and she felt a little strange when she heard this.
They had lived there before, so why did she feel familiar with it?
Just as I was wondering, Fu An said, "I heard that Miss Chen is also good at sewing, but it seems that she is not good at sewing. I happen to have two sets of sewing tools here, I can give one set to you."
Yu Ying quickly refused: "I won't accept any reward without any merit. I can't accept it."
But giving gifts after just one meeting is neither appropriate nor acceptable.
Fu An, with a bright smile on his face, took out a cloth bag the size of a man's palm from his cloth bag and handed it to her: "Miss, you may want to take a look at it first. Even if you don't want to accept it, you can observe it for a while. I can ask my uncle to make a set for you in the future so that you can use it to practice medicine and save lives."
Yu Ying hesitated for a moment, but still took it and slowly opened the cloth bag.
The cloth bag was sewn with a small interlayer, which contained circular and triangular needles for sewing, fine small scissors, tweezers, and catgut thread that seemed to be made from sheep intestines.
Her pupils suddenly shrank and she looked up at the person in front of her in astonishment.
When their eyes met, Fu An knew that she would use these things.
He went to see the wounds of the injured guards that had been sutured, and saw the suture needles that Zhu Qi had put away.
It looked like the needle my aunt had used on Sanlang Song ten years ago, and it was used to suture wounds.
Fu An stared into her eyes closely, as if he wanted to explore something deep inside them.
Two people of similar age stood in the yard looking at each other. The boy was handsome and the girl was beautiful. Everyone who saw them thought they were a perfect match.
Fu Wei sat behind the windowsill, his eyes darkening as he interrupted their gaze: "Sixth Lady, come in."
The call of "Liu Niang" made Fu An dazed, and his eyes became full of surprise as he looked at the woman opposite him.
Yu Ying heard the voice and said, "My Lord, you have called me. I will take my leave now."
He bowed, walked past and went to Fu Wei's house.
After being stunned for a moment, Fu An turned his head to look towards his uncle's room and met his uncle's eyes with a sullen expression.
I just felt that there was something intriguing and wary in my uncle's eyes.
It wasn't until the window was closed that Fu An realized, maybe his uncle thought he would covet a girl called "Sixth Lady"?
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