Chapter 304 Xiaomei's Choice
Mingfu Village, Xiejia Village, and the academy run by Xie Daoheng all have their own armed forces. As long as the passes and garrisons along the border are not breached, Xie Wanniang is not worried about the safety of her relatives and friends.
On the contrary, she herself, as well as Hao Yu and Chen Shi, who came all the way from Yi County to help take care of her, and Hao Yu and Chen Shi's son and daughter, were the ones in the highest danger among all of them.
Even with her lavish spending, her estate had been transformed into a small fortified village, complete with watchtowers, arrow towers, crossbows, traps, hidden weapons, tunnels, and waterways. She also had a considerable number of capable fighters. Yet, Xie Wanniang still couldn't completely settle down.
Because she had a premonition that the Tatar cavalry might be held back by the Zhenbei Army, which had acquired new weapons, outside the pass, but the Tatar spies would definitely not miss the perfect opportunity to stir up trouble in Baoding Prefecture while the battle was at a stalemate and the border troops were unable to attend to other matters.
They might choose to incite the disaster victims to cause trouble, or they might target the families of military officers, including her.
It's hard to say what other people's families are like, but given the precedent of the Tatar princess being captured by Jiang Yuan, she and her child would definitely be the people the spies most wanted to capture or kill.
This is why Hao Yu put aside his affairs in Yi County and moved to Xie Wanniang's estate with his wife and children.
When Jiang Yuan was about to face a major battle, Hao Yu was unable to go to the battlefield to protect Jiang Yuan, but he could choose to help Jiang Yuan protect his wife and daughter, so that Jiang Yuan would not have to worry about the safety of his wife and children while fighting the Tatars to the death.
Compared to Marquis Jiang Tong and his wife Han, who only saw profit, Xie Wanniang felt that Hao Yu was more like Jiang Yuan's father.
Of course, this is not surprising. In this era, there has always been a saying that "a master and his apprentice are like father and son," not to mention that Hao Yu is a relative of Jiang Yuan.
Hao Yu took special care of Jiang Yuan, and Jiang Yuan and Xie Wan Niang naturally reciprocated. Otherwise, Chen Shi would not have truly regarded Jiang Yuan and Xie Wan Niang as her own family.
It's worth mentioning that neither Atai nor Xiaomei left with Xie Wanniang this time; they stayed at Zijing Pass.
Atai had already become a member of the border army, so he would not leave. Xiaomei had originally studied medicine for her brother Atai, so she would not leave him at this time.
Of course, Xiaomei still felt guilty for not being able to be with Xie Wanniang, who was pregnant.
Xie Wanniang herself, however, did not think there was anything wrong with Xiaomei's choice at all.
In her words, she was a doctor herself and didn't need Xiaomei to take her pulse all the time. As for childbirth, the old women around her, as well as Hao Yu's wife Chen, were all capable of handling it.
Especially Granny Lu, before she came to Xie Wan's family, although she was not a professional midwife, she learned the skills of midwifery because her mother was a midwife. So she secretly helped other servants in her former master's family deliver no less than fifty children, and her experience can be said to be quite rich.
With them by her side, Xie Wanniang wasn't worried at all about having no one to help her during childbirth.
Another point is that she actually has more than just Xiaomei as her female apprentice. Xiaoyang, who wants to learn everything, and Yang Xiaotong, who comes from a military family and has no interest in cooking, tailoring, martial arts, accounting, etc., but loves the smell of herbs, have also learned a lot about medicine from Xie Wanniang.
They might not be as good as Xiaomei, but with Xie Wanniang as their mentor, they still had no problem taking pulses, writing prescriptions, and decocting medicine.
Not to mention that Xie Wanniang had prepared all sorts of medicinal herbs, pills, and powders that might be needed in advance, and she also paid close attention to her health.
By demonstrating how well-prepared and well-mannered she was, Xie Wanniang completely dispelled Xiaomei's last worry and overwhelming guilt. Only then did she lead a large group of guards, including Haitang and her daughter Yang Xiaowei, back to Tang County in a grand procession.
As for Xiaomei, since she was just an ordinary doctor with little fighting ability, Xie Wanniang specifically instructed the guards at home not to let her go out alone.
She also instructed Xiaomei, "If it's not necessary, you should stay at home. If there's an emergency, be sure to bring your guards with you when you go out."
Fearing that Xiaomei might just take one or two people and run off to the war zone, Xie Wanniang held up her right hand and emphasized, "Five. If you're going to run towards the city wall, you have to take at least five people with you."
Xiao Mei knew that Xie Wan Niang meant well, and moved, she obediently nodded, "I remember, don't worry, I will definitely take good care of myself."
She was indeed a doctor, but she wasn't entirely without the ability to protect herself. Many medicinal herbs, if combined differently, could turn from life-saving medicines into deadly poisons. Not to mention, she also followed Xie Wanniang's example and carried silver needles and a simple silver hairpin with a sharp tip that could be used as a weapon.
Unless an enemy shoots her from afar, or a huge rock falls from the sky and kills her, she won't be killed so easily.
As a woman and a doctor, Xiaomei felt that she was unlikely to be killed by an arrow shot from afar.
As for falling boulders, she would stay in the safe area below the city wall with the military medics to treat the wounded. She wouldn't run directly to the city wall to fight off the enemy with the soldiers, so the boulders would most likely not hit her.
In short, her safety is well guaranteed.
It has to be said that this girl has really developed her courage over the years. The little girl who used to just swallow her anger when she was bullied can now calmly go to the outer perimeter of the combat zone to treat the wounded.
Xie Wanniang was very pleased with this. In her opinion, it is very important for people, especially women, to have a skill.
Material possessions may leave you at any time for various reasons, but the skills you learn yourself will not so easily become someone else's.
As long as you are relatively healthy in mind and body, you will always be able to make a living with this skill.
Xie Wanniang felt an immense sense of accomplishment as Xiaomei transformed from a pitiful little girl into a confident and capable female doctor.
Having released the fledgling eagle that was now capable of living independently, Xie Wanniang began her routine pregnancy care in the safe fortress she had built for herself.
Of course, in order to be able to adapt to changing circumstances, Xie Wanniang did not forget to have people keep a close eye on the changing situation of the drought and the war.
Chen disapproved of Xie Wanniang's concern for her while pregnant, but Hao Yu knew that Xie Wanniang was not the type to leave her fate to others.
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