"drive!"
The wheels rumbled, and two horses trotted, pulling the cart forward steadily.
"Brother, is Heqin Pharmacy far away? We want to buy some medicinal herbs first." Zou Gui waved the whip leisurely.
The yamen runner who was driving the carriage with me replied politely and familiarly, "It's not far, we'll be there soon. There's not a place in the whole county that I'm not familiar with!"
"It's really thanks to you, brother, today. If no one led the way, we would be completely in the dark." Zou Gui bent his legs and leaned against the car door wall, laughing happily.
The yamen runner was honest and simple, "I'm just following orders. But I'm happy to do this kind of work, it's so leisurely!"
As the sun rose, the carriage was shaking and swaying, making people drowsy.
After days of running around and worrying about everything, Jiang Yushu didn't get enough rest last night. She felt dizzy and sleepy, and yawned with her hands covering her mouth.
"Miss, are you sleepy?" Cuimei came closer with concern and spread out two purses on her knees. There were silver ingots, small change, copper coins, and silver bills hidden on her body.
Jiang Yushu yawned again, leaned back, took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off her face, and answered tiredly, "Yeah. Heqin is a place with high north and low south. The county town is much hotter than Yuehu Town. The room is stuffy. I almost didn't sleep well last night."
"First, it's hot and humid, and second, you're worried." Cuimei buried her head in sorting out the silver and money and sighed, "We share a room, and I heard the girl tossing and turning for a long time. I wanted to chat with her to relieve her boredom, but I fell asleep without realizing it."
Jiang Yushu closed her eyes and rested, then burst into laughter and said angrily, "Still chatting, you lay down for a short while and fell asleep in the blink of an eye, sometimes grinding your teeth and sometimes talking in your sleep."
"You must be exhausted from traveling so fast." Cuimei was very embarrassed and advised: "Since you are sleepy, stop talking, close your eyes and rest, buy everything quickly, and go back to the county government office to rest."
Jiang Yushu nodded, closed her eyes for a moment, and gradually fell asleep.
"Girl? Girl?" Cuimei shook her gently, "Wake up, we're at the pharmacy!"
Jiang Yushu was dazed. She opened her eyes and sat up straight, her head a little dizzy. She pulled herself together, stood up, lifted the curtain, and said, "Are we there? Get off the bus, get off the bus, and first buy all the herbs that Doctor Fang ordered. That's the most important thing."
"Be careful." Zou Gui stood beside the car, pretending to support it but not daring to touch it.
Jiang Yushu got off the bus and stood still. The three of them looked around curiously.
"Please wait a moment, all three of you." The yamen runner tied his horse under the shade of a tree and led the way at a brisk pace. "Please. Don't worry, I'm watching. The shopkeeper and his staff won't dare to gouging you or raising the price!"
Jiang Yushu followed closely behind and said with a smile, "Thank you very much. We are unfamiliar with the place and are afraid that the store owner will take advantage of us."
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of four people stepped into the medicine shop, with a yamen runner leading the way. They shouted as soon as they entered the door, "Where's the shopkeeper? Come out quickly, we want to buy some medicinal herbs!"
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"Hey?" Cuimei suddenly stopped, "Look, my cousin is over there!"
Jiang Yushu was startled and looked up in surprise, seeing Pei Wenfeng and his two servants standing in front of the counter.
"Hey?" Cai Chun bravely pretended to be surprised, "Cousin, why are you here?"
Wu Liang also steeled himself, and although he did it on purpose, he pretended to meet her by chance and said respectfully, "Hello, cousin."
Pei Wenfeng, with a handsome face, turned around to greet him with an elegant demeanor. He asked in surprise, "What are you doing in the pharmacy? Are you feeling unwell?"
Jiang Yushu calmed herself down and shook her head, "No, I just came to buy some herbs. Is my cousin taking a day off today?"
Pei Wenfeng approached, fanning her until he couldn't help but fan her as he explained, "No, I took a leave of absence to see a doctor and get medicine, and then followed the elders' orders to go to Nanpu Temple to burn incense and pray for talismans. My mother and grandmother took it very seriously and repeatedly reminded me to do it myself."
"I see. Not surprising, elderly people often focus on praying to the gods and Buddhas. Being thousands of miles away, my aunt and grandmother must be very worried, so they asked you to go to the temple to pay your respects."
Jiang Yushu believed it and asked, "What's wrong? Is it still acclimatization?"
"For some reason, I still can't adapt to the climate and soil of Xicang. It's particularly troublesome." Pei Wenfeng shook his fan and frowned in worry.
Jiang Yushu had no doubts and couldn't help but sympathize. Some past events suddenly came to her mind, and she comforted him, "My cousin is from Jiangnan, and he grew up in a land of plenty. When you went to the capital to study, you also had trouble acclimatizing. It took you a full six months to adapt."
"Oh, don't mention it. I was so sick back then, it was so embarrassing. Fortunately, my uncle didn't despise me and went around looking for doctors and medicine. Only then did I gradually recover." Pei Wenfeng stared at me, sighed, and felt sad in his heart.
Jiang Yushu couldn't help laughing and comforted the "patient": "Okay, I won't mention it. The climate and soil of the frontier are very different from those in the south of the Yangtze River. As the saying goes, 'The disease is gone like a thread'. Don't worry, take the medicine patiently and recuperate slowly." After she finished speaking, she turned her head and gave Zou Gui a look. He immediately took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it, shook it open, and handed it to the drugstore owner, saying seriously:
"Shopkeeper, please weigh the herbs listed above one by one and write down their names. If there are any missing, we can get them elsewhere."
"Oh? Let me see." The middle-aged shopkeeper took the prescription, glanced at it briefly, and then handed it to the clerk, instructing him, "Prescribe the medicine carefully according to the lady's instructions."
"Yes." Everyone in the drugstore knew Pei Wenfeng and the yamen runners, so they didn't dare to be negligent and behaved attentively and efficiently.
The shopkeeper was very enthusiastic and said, "It will take a while for the medicine to be prepared. Ladies and gentlemen, please sit down and have some tea."
Pei Wenfeng raised his hand and led the way, "Come on, let's go have some tea, don't just stand there waiting for nothing."
Jiang Yushu followed suit, "Yeah."
After a while, the two sides walked to a corner of the store and sat opposite each other.
"They bought so many medicinal herbs and stored them. They are probably for the third son of the Guo family who was born with a disease, right?" Pei Wenfeng guessed.
Jiang Yushu felt sleepy and lowered her head to drink tea to refresh herself. She explained, "All kinds of medicinal herbs are not all for Azhe, but for daily needs. People can't help but have headaches and fevers occasionally. Fortunately, we have Doctor Fang, so we don't have to go to town to see a doctor on weekdays."
"It's indeed a good thing to have a doctor at home." Pei Wenfeng had to admit.
Jiang Yushu drank half a cup of tea, glanced around, leaned forward slightly, and asked in a low voice, "After yesterday's discussion, I calmed down and thought about it, and I felt something was strange. I know that Heqin has had poor harvests for years and the county is short of food, but why is Lord Pan suddenly so anxious? Well, he seems very anxious and eager to achieve the goal of producing tens of millions of grains. Is there any reason for this?"
"What?" Pei Wenfeng glanced at him, holding a white porcelain teacup. "Didn't Magistrate Gong tell you?"
Jiang Yushu was stunned for a moment, then replied awkwardly, "He was ordered to go on an inspection tour of the county. He was very busy with official duties, so he took time out of his busy schedule to see me. We exchanged greetings and then left. He forgot to inquire about this matter."
"When I heard you call me 'cousin-in-law', I thought you two knew each other." Pei Wenfeng skimmed the tea foam and sniffed the tea fragrance.
What do you mean by familiar? We've only met twice!
Jiang Yushu was at a loss for words, and didn't respond. She tentatively asked, "So, cousin, do you know the reason? Can you tell me about it?"
"Actually, the news has spread throughout the county, so I'm not afraid to tell you." Face to face, Pei Wenfeng lowered his voice and briefly explained, "This matter is precisely related to Guo Honglei's cousin-in-law! A few days ago, the prefecture sent Lord Gong to Heqin for an inspection. There's a famine going on right now, and there are many beggars in the city, begging for food all day long. Normally, we can ignore them, but when the prefect inspects, we have to intervene. As is customary, the county magistrate sends people to expel the beggars from the city in advance to avoid offending the prefect and bringing shame upon him."
Jiang Yushu listened attentively, her expression focused, and urged, "What happened next? What accident happened?"
"This is a tacit understanding in official circles, and it was perfectly normal. However, the person in charge of driving away the beggars was careless and missed a dozen of them. As a result, the officials, while patrolling the city in plain clothes, were surrounded by beggars and asked for food. It was an extremely embarrassing scene." Pei Wenfeng took a sip of tea and continued, "Furthermore, while rescuing the officials, the officers accidentally knocked over an elderly beggar who was already terminally ill and died on the spot."
"Oh my God."
Jiang Yushu was stunned after hearing this. She sighed and shook her head, asking, "So, how did it end? Did the prefect blame the county magistrate? We should investigate, right?"
"It's under discussion, but no results have been reached yet."
Pei Wenfeng fanned himself and, out of affection, confided in his cousin. "I heard that Lord Pan isn't doing well in the official evaluations, having been rated 'third class' twice in a row. If his government affairs still don't improve by the end of the year, he might lose his job."
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"Oh, I finally understand!"
Jiang Yushu suddenly understood, sighed, and whispered, "So, Lord Pan urgently needs a significant political achievement to keep his job. No wonder he's so anxious, wishing he could harvest tens of millions of kilograms of grain in one go."
"That's right." Pei Wenfeng knew it well and whispered, "Just know the reason. Just pretend you don't know the reason."
Jiang Yushu nodded and said, "I understand. Thank you for telling me, cousin."
Soon, both sides had collected the medicinal materials. The waiter announced loudly: "My two guests, the medicine has been collected and is complete. There is nothing missing. Please take a look."
When Cai Chun heard this, he immediately ran to the counter and planned to pay the bill together as instructed.
Cuimei was sharp-eyed and followed the instructions. She called Zou Gui and quickly squeezed to the front of the counter. She took out her purse first and said crisply, "Please pack it better."
"Okay!" The guy smiled and tied up a big bag of herbs neatly and presented it to me attentively.
"Cui Mei, you--" Cai Chun was a step late. He stood there dumbfounded, feeling anxious.
"What's going on?" The cousins had been childhood sweethearts, and the servants of the two families knew each other well. Cuimei played dumb and urged, "Xiao Zou, hurry up and load the medicine into the carriage. We have to go to the bookstore."
Zou Gui understood the situation quickly, picked up the large bag of herbs and walked out, "Okay!"
Cai Chun witnessed everything, opened his mouth, and finally answered dryly: "Nothing." He was helpless, paid the bill in frustration, and picked up a bag of medicine for his son.
"Miss, the medicine is ready." Cuimei reported.
Jiang Yushu put down her teacup, stood up and said apologetically, "I still have to buy some other things, cousin, please go and do your work. I'm sorry I can't--"
"What else do you want to buy?" Pei Wenfeng stood up and interrupted.
Jiang Yushu answered truthfully: "Go to the bookstore."
"I've taken a leave of absence anyway, so I have some free time. I'll go for a walk too. Let's go together." Pei Wenfeng didn't allow any arguments and walked out with his head held high.
The road is wide and everyone can walk on one side. Everyone can visit the bookstore.
Jiang Yushu thought about it and realized that she couldn't refuse, so she went with him.
So, seven people from both sides rushed to the bookstore in two carriages.
The exiles had no choice but to enter the county town. Jiang Yushu was completely absorbed in her selection, carefully selecting until noon, then she straightened up and clapped her hands, satisfied. "Okay, that's enough, that's all, check out!"
"Hey, sir, please come this way." The two waiters smiled so hard that their teeth were showing, and walked towards the counter with large bundles of goods in their arms.
Cuimei was in charge of the purse and watched the shopkeeper count the beads carefully, while Zou Gui was responsible for moving things.
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At the counter, Pei Wenfeng frowned, puzzled, and asked, "It's reasonable for you to buy brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. It's also legitimate to buy 'Qimin Yaoshu' and 'Tiangong Kaiwu'. But why did you pick out so many bizarre and strange books? Who are you showing them to?"
Jiang Yushu answered frankly: "It's for entertainment. Anyone who can read can read it." Probably because the bookstore was stuffy and hot, she felt dizzy and her face turned pale after staying there for a long time.
"That's ridiculous! Those aren't the books you should be reading!" Pei Wenfeng disagreed, but then he thought and sighed, "Forget it. You're living in a remote mountain village, and it's really boring. Just read them. It's noon now. Come on, I'll take you to dinner."
Jiang Yushu's forehead was covered with sweat, and she felt inexplicably chest tightness and shortness of breath, which made her feel a little uncomfortable. She took a deep breath, slowly walked out of the shop door, leaned against the wall, and politely declined, "No need. Before we went out, we asked the back office to make an extra lunch, so we have to hurry back to eat."
"What does that matter? It's fine." Pei Wenfeng didn't care at all and said gently, "I'll take you to Heyi Tower and ask the chef to make some capital-style dishes. We can eat and talk at the same time."
"Haha, my family has Nanny Pan and Xiao Tao cooking, and all three meals a day are the style of the capital. No need, really no need. Sigh, it's too hot today. I want to go back to the county government office and rest for a while after lunch."
Jiang Yushu lowered her head, her vision suddenly darkened, her heart pounding, and she felt weak and powerless, her mind dazed. She stumbled and fell against the wall, exhausted and unconscious.
The author has something to say:
Pei Wenfeng: Are you refusing to eat with me? You actually—[Shocked face]
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