Chapter 149 Mao Leren
Zhou Wu glanced at the man standing outside the door, and after making sure that there was no danger, he called Shufeng to leave.
Shuofeng stood up and followed Zhou Wu. He had to admit that his living standard had improved dramatically since he went to the county government office. Everyone in the county government office, including Zhou Yanxiu, was very tolerant of him. Now there was someone in the kitchen of the county government office who was responsible for his meals.
Zhou Wu would not be stingy with chicken, duck, fish or meat as long as it was something he liked to eat.
When he got back at this time, the kitchen had already prepared his meal.
Jing Wei looked at Zhou Wu and Shu Feng's backs as they left, touched his beard, and felt somewhat fortunate that he didn't shave when he left the inn.
"jingle......."
The bell for the end of get out of class rang at the girls' school, and Cui Qingyi followed the students out. She was not surprised to see Jing Wei still waiting outside the yard. She said something to Konjac and prepared to go to the inn with him.
Wangcai follows automatically without any instructions.
Even though Wangcai occasionally made some noise as they walked side by side, it was still a little awkward if they didn't talk. Afraid that she'd tear the soles of her embroidered shoes out of embarrassment before even reaching the inn, Cui Qingyi could only try to find a topic to talk about.
"Where is the escort agency of the head of the Beijing escort agency? Why did you decide to go to Dongping County?"
Cui Qingyi really just picked a topic at random, but she asked a very crucial question.
Although Qinghe County is a large county in the east of Dajin, the large caravans in Dajin usually only hang around in Qinghe City. In counties like Dongping County, the population is small, and the income that a large caravan can get from a trip cannot even break even with the expenses of the people and horses. Simply put, it is not cost-effective.
Cui Qingyi knew from Jing Wei's temperament that his escort agency was quite large, at least not comparable to the escort agency run by the Qiao Yishi brothers.
A business that can afford to hire Jing Wei, the head of the escort team, to personally escort the goods must be large in scale, so Cui Qingyi asked this question.
Jing Wei was happy to chat with Cui Qingyi, and answered without hesitation when asked:
"My escort agency is located in Yunzhong County. I came here because the owner of the Fengxing Caravan heard that a foreign caravan had visited Dongping County before. He wanted to try his luck here and see if he could resell some of the foreigners' rare items. If he could then ship them back to the north, he could make a fortune."
Cui Qingyi thought about it and realized that a foreign caravan had indeed come to Dongping County before, and she got the mother pepper plants from that caravan.
But are all the caravans nowadays so willful?
Just with a piece of news, and not even sure whether the foreign caravan would come, you dare to cross half of Jin and run here to wait?
Cui Qingyi subconsciously felt that things might not be that simple. After all, she had met many businessmen in her two lifetimes, but none of them were so stupid.
The Fengxing Caravan stayed at the largest inn in Dongping County. As soon as Cui Qingyi saw the sign of the inn, she confirmed her previous guess that the Fengxing Caravan was quite large.
Jing Wei walked in front, and the busy caravan members coming in and out of the inn greeted him one after another, "Captain Jing is back. The innkeeper asked you to go find him when you got back."
Jing Wei nodded but was in no hurry to find the manager of the Chamber of Commerce. He took Cui Qingyi all the way to the guest room on the first floor of the inn.
"Mao Leren isn't feeling well. She caught a cold while sleeping in the open air during our journey. As soon as we arrived in Dongping County, I sent someone to call a doctor for her. I think she's already taken medicine."
Cui Qingyi nodded, thinking that this man was quite thoughtful and kind-hearted. Otherwise, it would be a rare opportunity for an ordinary caravan to bring people safely, so why would they spend money to treat people?
Jing Wei knocked on the door of the guest room, and soon footsteps were heard from inside. To Cui Qingyi's surprise, the person who opened the door was a little girl with a pigtail bun. The little girl was pale and thin, and looked no more than five or six years old.
Seeing the bearded man, the little girl's eyes showed some fear, and her thin shoulders trembled slightly.
Jing Wei didn't know whether he sensed the little girl's fear or not. He stepped back slightly, revealing Cui Qingyi behind him.
She didn't feel anything just now because of the distance between them, but now that she was standing behind this person, Cui Qingyi felt that this Beijing escort leader must be at least 1.9 meters tall. She was almost 1.7 meters tall and looked like a short melon standing behind him. If this person hadn't turned sideways, she doubted whether the girl, who looked like a small bean sprout, could see her.
"Xiao Mao, has your aunt woken up yet? The person she is waiting for has arrived."
When he heard that it was the person his aunt was waiting for, Xiao Mao's eyes lit up. He looked at Cui Qingyi and pursed his lips slightly, as if he wanted to smile at Cui Qingyi but his smile looked a bit ugly.
"Auntie drank the medicine and fell asleep. I'm going to wake her up."
As soon as the little girl opened her mouth, Cui Qingyi's eyebrows raised uncontrollably, and her expression became a little uglier as if by reflex.
A child of this age may not have a soft and cute voice, or a clear and innocent voice, but it is definitely not likely to be as hoarse as that of a hundred-year-old woman.
A muffled cough soon sounded from behind the screen. It was obvious that the owner of the sound was trying to suppress the cough, but failed. Instead, the cough became even more uncomfortable because of the intentional suppression.
It seems that this person is seriously ill, Cui Qingyi thought.
Cui Qingyi didn't have to wait long. A woman in an apricot-colored long dress soon appeared from behind the screen. Her facial features were not outstanding, but when put together, her face looked inexplicably attractive. However, the dark circles under her eyes and the sickly look on her face reduced her attractiveness by a lot.
Cui Qingyi is not a person who judges people by their appearance, but she is a little confused at this moment. Why did the Donglin Caravan bring such a person back to her? Is it because they took her money and just found someone to fool her?
As soon as Mao Lingren saw Cui Qingyi, she knew that this person was the kind-hearted boss that the Donglin caravan had mentioned. She bowed to Cui Qingyi.
"Hello, Miss Cui. I'm Mao Lin, you can call me Mao Le Ren. Shopkeeper Lin said you were looking for a ventriloquist, so I shamelessly followed him here. I hope you can give us a place to stay."
Mao Lin was very humble from the start. She knew that if she wanted to find a good job in her current state, she had to be proactive, otherwise no boss would hire her to work when she looked so sick.
Cui Qingyi was really confused when she saw the two sickly people, one big and one small, falling down at the slightest gust of wind. She suspected that the owner of Donglin Trading Company had a grudge against her, otherwise why would he bring these two sickly people to her.
Cui Qingyi reached out to help the person up. Her face didn't look good, which Mao Lin naturally saw. She sighed in her heart and stood up with the help of Cui Qingyi. When she stood up, she couldn't help but cover her mouth with a handkerchief and coughed a few times.
"Miss Cui, I caught a cold because I was in such a hurry on the road. I just need a few days of rest. How about I perform a show for you first?"
Cui Qingyi felt that she was not a kind-hearted person, but this matter was... embarrassing.
Seeing that this person was about to perform a performance for her in the room, Cui Qingyi waved her hand and said, "You should take good care of yourself first. No matter what happens, wait until you recover from the cold."
Upon hearing Cui Qingyi's words, Mao Lin immediately turned around to pack her bag. The little girl was very smart and followed Mao Lin closely to help pack her things.
But in the end, Cui Qingyi still didn't take Mao Lin and the others back. First, her family was preparing for Konjac's wedding and had no place to accommodate them.
The second Mao Lin was coughing so badly, she wasn't sure if he had any other illness besides a cold. It wouldn't be wise to take him back so rashly.
But people couldn't just be left to the Fenglin Caravan. Cui Qingyi went to the counter, paid the ten-day room rent for Mao Lin and the other two, left some silver for them, and then went home.
Jing Wei sent Cui Qingyi to Mao Lin, but seeing that there was no reason for her to stay, he turned around and left to find the owner of the Fengxing Caravan. When he finished telling her what happened, he found that the owner had already left.
But it wasn't surprising that Mao Lin and the other two weren't taken away.
Konjac returned home first from the girls' school. She was not sure whether the person who came this time was a man or a woman, but just in case, she quickly cleared out a room on the left side of the house. When she saw Cui Qingyi coming back with Wangcai, she hurried to greet her.
"What do you think of the people the caravan brought back? Do you think they are feasible?"
Cui Qingyi drank some tea to calm herself down before telling him about Mao Lin. Konjac frowned after hearing this: "Those people from the Donglin caravan are really something. We're looking for someone to do business with. How can we bring a patient here?"
When their teahouse opens, will the customers come to listen to opera or musicians? It's impossible.
It's not that they are cruel. Just put yourself in their shoes. If we went to a teahouse to watch a play, we would be afraid that if the actor on the stage was sick, he would pass on his illness to us.
Konjac suggested, "Miss, we have already entrusted other caravans with us. Why don't we give them some money and let them go back to where they came from? If they don't want to go back, they can do something to make a living in Dongping County."
Not to mention, Cui Qingyi actually thought about the possibility of doing so. With Zhou Yanxiu in charge of Dongping County, the public security has always been excellent. It is not something that can be said about other places, but within the county, no one dares to bully others openly.
People came from afar, so it was considered kind of them to give them money even though they didn't need it.
Thinking of this, Cui Qingyi sighed again, "Not only that, Mao Leren himself is not in good health, and he is also with a little girl of five or six years old. I think that little girl is not doing well either."
After hearing this, Konjac frowned even more tightly. At this moment, she had cursed the manager of the Donglin Caravan over and over again in her mind.
Inside the inn
Mao Leren held the little girl's shoulders and lay back on the bed. He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed violently a few times. Because he coughed so violently, his body was shaking violently. Mao Ya's big eyes were full of fear, and she stretched out her arms to pat Mao Leren's back.
She usually didn't like to speak because of her throat condition, but she didn't care about that at the moment and kept asking if she needed to see a doctor.
Mao Leren coughed and waved his hands, and finally stopped waiting and pointed at the teacup on the table, "Go pour me some water."
After drinking a cup of tea, Mao Leren felt the itchiness in his throat was suppressed a little. Then he looked at Mao Ya. Her face was a little sallow, and because of the violent coughing before, her face was abnormally flushed. There was a light in her eyes:
"Maoya, are you scared?"
Mao Ya really wanted to answer that she was not afraid, but how could she not be afraid? She was scared to death.
"Auntie, Auntie, I'm scared. Please don't die, please don't die."
Mao Leren pulled a weak smile from the corner of his mouth, patted Mao Ya's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I didn't die before. We have come here from thousands of miles away, so I will not die either.
You won't die, and both of us will live well."
Hearing this, Mao Ya felt much more relieved. She climbed onto the bed and leaned close to Mao Leren, whispering, "But aunt, what should we do next? Shopkeeper Cui doesn't seem willing to take us in."
Mao Leren paused as he stroked Mao Ya's shoulder. How could she not see the problem that Mao Ya had noticed?
She straightened Maoya's shoulders and said solemnly, "Maoya, remember, we don't need anyone to take us in. We make a living by our own abilities. Think about why the owner of the Donglin Caravan was willing to let the Fengxing Caravan bring us here.
We are all free now, and as long as we have the ability, we will never go hungry anywhere."
Mao Ya nodded and lay down again against Mao Leren's arm.
Although she was young, she had experienced a lot and understood what her aunt was thinking. However, the money they had with them had long been spent on medical treatment and medicine along the way.
Now my aunt is even sicker. If the innkeeper Cui doesn't take them in, they will be kicked out of the inn sooner or later.
Moreover, when they met the Donglin caravan before, my aunt was not so seriously ill.
All in all, the next day, while the girls' school was on break, Cui Qingyi and Konjac went to the inn again, bringing with them the old doctor who had treated Cui Qingyi before.
This old doctor has good medical skills and good medical ethics.
Who would have thought that as soon as she entered the inn, the waiter came up to greet her. He scratched his head and seemed a little embarrassed, but still said, "Mr. Cui, you are finally here."
Cui Qingyi's heart skipped a beat, knowing that something might have happened to Mao Leren, and hurriedly asked what happened.
"Mr. Cui, you should take those two guests away and find them somewhere else to stay. Although our inn is open for business and there's no reason to chase people away, this person coughed so loudly that the guests in the rooms on both sides didn't get much sleep last night.
I got angry with the shopkeeper and checked out early this morning."
The waiter didn't say a word. He thought that if he coughed like that, it might be tuberculosis. If he continued to live with them, would they still be able to open for business?
Cui Qingyi actually had some hidden worries in her heart.
There are many symptoms that can cause persistent coughing. If it is a lung disease, it may be contagious, which is really troublesome.
Anyway, let's go and take a look first. She turned to look at the old doctor carrying a medicine box behind him. She saw the old doctor leisurely took out a mask from the medicine box, put one on himself first, and then took out two and handed them to Cui Qingyi and Konjac.
"Why are you panicking? Let me take a look first."
Cui Qingyi wanted to laugh while holding the mask in her hand. She had caught a cold before and was afraid of infecting Konjac, so she just made a mask and wore it. She didn't expect to be seen by the old doctor.
After asking her why, she came to the second consultation with a mask she made herself, and even proudly introduced it to her, "How is my mask? I boiled the inner layer in medicinal herbs. The protection effect is definitely better than yours."
I didn’t expect that the old doctor still carries this thing when he comes out to see patients.
However, masks are very effective in preventing diseases transmitted through the respiratory tract, so Cui Qingyi put one on without hesitation.
Mao Ya was sitting by the bed, crying silently. She didn't understand why she was fine last night but had a high fever and was unconscious when she woke up in the morning.
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