Shopkeeper Chen really managed to save his life by luck. He is a grateful person. In the past few years, he has been making a fortune by following Jian Ning and selling ginkgo paste.
Although he hadn't yet bought a house in the capital, he had already sent his wife and children there last year to settle down. His son, Chen Qinian, was now attending the same academy in the capital with his older brother, Xiaomi, and Dajun, who had changed his surname to Huo Junyi.
Chen Qinian was a hardworking man. He knew that it was not easy to study in the capital. It was all thanks to his father who traveled across two states and counties to sell ginkgo paste. Therefore, he was willing to study hard and his grades were comparable to Dabao's.
Shopkeeper Chen thought that his son also relied on Jian Ning to become a normal person, and renting a house in the capital to study and pay for daily expenses was really expensive. Fortunately, with the strong support and promotion of the current Queen, ginkgo paste was widely sought after by the queens of various palaces and the noble ladies of the capital, and even the noble ladies and businesswomen of various states and counties began to take ginkgo paste.
As the general distributor of Baiya County and Dazhou County, Manager Chen's wallet has been getting fatter in recent years. He wants to repay Jian Ning because he always remembers the people who dug the well when he drinks the water. In addition, he has some experience after traveling all over the country for many years.
Even if the people of Yanchao could speak Yue language, there were some slight differences in their accents. That day, he and Ding Yang were going back to the inn where they were staying, and they ran into Ma Lao and others on the way. He saw a young woman with several strong men. Although they were all wearing Yue clothing, their accents revealed that they were from the Central Plains. He also saw several strong men respecting the young woman like the moon surrounded by stars. He suddenly thought of Manager Tong and Ma Lao he mentioned.
So, he sent Ding Yang back and decided to quietly follow Ma Lao and others, thinking of following them to their destination, obtaining solid evidence of their surrender to the enemy, and then going back to report to Jian Ning.
He was just a businessman, so how could he have any experience in tracking people? Moreover, Ma Lao and the others were all wandering people. They had just followed him out of the inn for a while when they discovered him. They deliberately led him to a forest outside Qujing County. He was quite tough, but when one of Ma Lao's men put a knife to his neck and asked him who had ordered him to follow them?
No matter how they tried to coerce and intimidate him, he refused to admit he had followed them. When Ma Lao ordered that it would be better to kill him by mistake than to let him go, he tried to escape and was struck down by a knife. He wailed, closed his eyes, and rolled on the ground, believing himself doomed. As he fainted from the pain, he lamented that he had become a lonely ghost in a foreign land.
Unexpectedly, when he woke up again in a drowsy state, he seemed to be in a broken bamboo house. He shouted a few times but no one responded. The burning pain in his shoulder blade made him faint again. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Jian Ning and others.
He had no idea who saved him, even the fool said he was lucky to have saved his life!
"It was your own strong will to survive. The person who rescued you used the wrong herb, which caused the wound to become inflamed and ulcerated. Fortunately, you survived." Jian Ning smiled and took out the bag of silver he had asked Ding Yang to bring back and placed it beside the bed. "I'll return it to its original owner. Once you recover from your injuries and the goods arrive, we'll settle the bill."
When Shopkeeper Chen knew that it was Jian Ning who saved him again, his eyes suddenly turned red. Looking at the bag of silver beside the couch, he dared not die easily. His whole family in the capital depended on him for survival. He couldn't imagine that if he died this time, how would his wife and children live the rest of their lives in peace?
"It was probably my uncle who saved him." Huo Jincheng said suddenly.
"How do you know?" Xu Dali's eyes lit up when he heard him mention his master. He had already heard Huo Jincheng talk about the jar.
"I'm just guessing, I'm not sure." Huo Jincheng said, "Last time after returning from Danyang, I mentioned you and my uncle to Master. Master once told me that my uncle loved to tinker with herbs, but he never found the right medicine, whether for himself or others. Master also said that my uncle learned everything quickly, and he could remember martial arts moves at a glance, but he could never remember the effects of herbs. He would remember them today and forget them tomorrow, yet he never accepted it."
Xu Dali scratched his chin, frowned, and thought for a moment, then looked at Huo Jincheng. "It seems so. In the past, when I occasionally had a headache, fever, or diarrhea, my master would always pick some herbs for me. It seemed that they never helped. Later, my mother secretly put away the herbs that my master had picked, and spent money to buy medicine for me."
"That's strange," Ding Youtian said with a smile. "If he's your master, why did he secretly send Manager Chen to the inn where you were staying after saving him? Why didn't he want to meet you?"
Xu Dali didn’t know, and Huo Jincheng didn’t know even more.
"If you don't want to see me, you must have your reasons." Jian Ning thought that everyone is different, especially those with great martial arts skills. Wei Dong is comparable to Feng Qingzi, and his fellow apprentice is naturally not weak either. Most masters have some weird personalities, including her own master, Grandma Wu.
In the evening, Ding Youtian, Huo Jincheng and others were drinking and chatting in the dining hall. Listening to their laughter and chatter, Shopkeeper Chen, lying on the simple wooden bed temporarily set up in the flower hall, felt tears welling up in his eyes again.
It’s great to be alive, he felt nostalgic in his heart.
Jian Ning and Qing Lian were busy in the kitchen. She cooked the remaining dumplings, took them out after the water boiled, soaked them in well water for a while, and put them in a food box after they cooled completely. She would ask Huo Jincheng to take them back for Dabao, A'man and several brothers of the Ma family to taste.
After the moon rose, Huo Jincheng took the food box and rode on Qiu Ge to say goodbye. Qiu Ge was reluctant to leave his little friend, so he carried Huo Jincheng and circled around Jiguana Mountain three times before leaving reluctantly.
A few days later, Manager Chen's wound was almost healed, so he said goodbye and left.
Ma Fuquan is a workaholic. He originally said that he would come to Xing'an County to meet Jian Ning and others when he had free time. However, after being promoted to admiral, he had too many things to deal with and had no time to spare.
Jian Ning then sent Ding Yang back to Dingxian Village by boat. Firstly, his wife had given birth, and he wanted him to go back and see her. Secondly, he wanted him to visit Ma Fu's family as well. He then asked Ding Youtian to write a letter to Dabao, telling him that everything was fine at the Tian family.
Flowers bloom and fall, and before you know it, a year has passed. Little Chuntian can run all over the yard, and Duan Xinyan is pregnant with her second child. As soon as she has a little morning sickness, she scolds Erlangzi.
That day, after lunch, Jian Ning took Xiao Chuntian by the hand and walked around the front yard outside the government office, looking back a few times. When she was leading Xiao Chuntian to the front yard again, Qinglian came out after cleaning the house with a basin of water. She saw her going to the front yard again. Turning around, she saw Duan Xinyan holding a plate of pickled crispy radish, chewing it with relish as she walked. She stopped and said with a smile, "This is the first time I've seen Madam so anxious. I've never seen her take time off to go to the capital, and I thought she didn't miss her brothers and sisters there much. I didn't expect I was wrong."
Duan Xinyan swallowed the radish in her mouth and hummed a contented "hmm." She felt her whole body warmed. She rubbed her chest and said, "That's great! My eldest sister's pickled vegetables are getting more and more delicious. This baby must be a boy. Anyway, I can't be as heartless as my eldest sister. Wherever my children are, there I will be. I won't let any of them out of my sight."
"Madam is not a heartless person." Qinglian went to the backyard with the water.
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