Yu Qizhe suppressed his mixed emotions and saw that blood was oozing from the wound on Yu Jiao's leg where the cloth had just been torn off. He hurriedly took the medicinal wine and took a sip. However, because he was too flustered, he accidentally swallowed it down his throat.
Yu Jiao saw it and burst out laughing, her almond-shaped eyes curved and her pupils sparkling with light.
Yu Qizhe rarely lost his composure. A blush slowly spread across his pale and fair face, and his thin, watery lips were also stained with color. He avoided Yu Jiao's clear gaze, lowered his head and took another sip of the medicinal wine, this time carefully holding it in his mouth and spraying it on the wounds on Yu Jiao's legs.
The burning pain came again. Yu Jiao lost the mood to joke. She clenched her fists and bit her lips to endure it.
Yu Qizhe glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, taking in Yu Jiao's forbearance. While sprinkling the medicine powder, he suddenly blamed himself for not grinding the herbs more finely before.
After carefully covering all the wounds with the powder, Yu Qizhe wrapped the remaining powder with paper and asked, "Will this... really not affect the efficacy of the medicine?"
Yu Jiao was almost exhausted from the pain and leaned lazily against the wall. When she heard Yu Qizhe's question, she looked at the medicine bag in his hand and smiled, "It won't affect anything."
Although Yu Qizhe's expression remained cold and his voice was chilly, Yu Jiao could hear his hidden concern.
When Yu Qizhe saw her bright and pure smile, his heart moved slightly, but then his face quickly turned cold. He put the medicine bag next to Yu Jiao's hand, picked up the basin that had been stained red with blood, and walked out.
Yu Jiao already understood his coldness and silence, and said to his back, "Yu Qizhe, thank you."
Yu Qizhe did not respond. He continued to walk outside with the wooden basin in his hand, not forgetting to close the wooden door of the cabin.
After the wound on her leg was treated, Yu Jiao felt much better. She closed her eyes and fell asleep again soon.
When she woke up and opened her eyes, she was surrounded by darkness. She subconsciously touched the switch of the bedside lamp, but only felt a handful of straw. Then she suddenly remembered her current situation and couldn't help but laugh at herself.
It’s time to think carefully about how to live as Meng Yujiao in the future.
In Meng Yujiao's memory, she had a very cold relationship with her mother Liu Sanniang. However, her father Meng Qingyun was particularly partial to her and doted on her even more than his younger son. Unfortunately, Meng Qingyun passed away a year ago.
Liu Sanniang's dislike for Meng Yujiao became increasingly obvious after Meng Qingyun's death. Sometimes she looked at Meng Yujiao as if she were an enemy, and she didn't look like a daughter who had crawled out of her belly at all. Otherwise, she would not have allowed Meng Yujiao's uncle to sell her to the Yu family for good fortune.
Meng Yujiao's indenture is now in the Yu family, and she cannot go back to the Meng family. Even if she goes back, she and Liu Sanniang will probably not be very happy living together. Yu Jiao plans to stay in the Yu family for a while, and after getting her indenture back, she can live a free and easy life.
That day, Yu Jiao was awakened by a loud noise. Her legs could move now and all her wounds had scabbed over. Perhaps because she was young, her body's self-healing ability was still quite strong. It was just that the ribs on her chest had not yet healed.
She moved to the window of the hut and quietly looked outside.
There were many people standing outside the wall of the Yu family's yard. It was quite lively, but the faces of the Yu family members were very unhappy, and they were confronting another family with red faces and thick necks.
The woman with a shrewd look and wearing a maroon long gown said, "The betrothal gifts have been returned to you. What are you unhappy about? At the beginning, your Yu family gave five taels of silver as betrothal gift, and our Liu family didn't lose a penny! It's because your Yu Jinshu is incompetent that he can't even get the title of scholar in three years. Our Liu family's daughter has been learning poetry, books and etiquette since she was a child, and she is not going to marry a poor country boy! You, the Yu family, don't bother to make trouble and make the villagers laugh at you!"
Three years ago, the Yu family arranged a good marriage for Yu Jinshu, the eldest son of the third branch. The girl was a daughter of Mr. Liu from a nearby village. The Yu family attached great importance to this marriage and had originally scheduled the wedding date for the fall of this year. With not much time left, who would have thought that the Liu family would come to cancel the engagement at this time.
The Yu family was naturally unwilling. You have to know that in these ten miles or so villages, there were only a handful of successful candidates for the imperial examination. To put it nicely, the Liu family's daughter came from a family of scholars. After this kind of marriage was called off, it would be difficult to find another one.
The couple in the third room had livid faces. Seeing more and more villagers outside the courtyard watching the excitement, Zhao felt even more embarrassed and became furious. "Do you Liu family still have any shame? You want to go back on your promise to marry someone else! Don't think that if you keep it a secret, no one will know that your Liu family has one daughter and two sons! You can do such a shameful thing. Even if your daughter wants to marry into our family, our Yu family doesn't even want her!"
It was Liu Zhang, the mother of the Liu family girl, who came to cancel the engagement. After hearing what Zhao said, she responded calmly, "Don't throw dirty water on my girl. Our Liu family has never done the ugly thing of marrying one girl to two men! It's your Yu family who is not up to the standard. To tell you the truth, my husband liked your Yu family because you had a man named Yu Wulang who won the imperial examination. Now your Wulang is too sick to take the imperial examination, and your Yu family has no more outstanding men. Water flows to the low places, and people go to the high places. We, the Liu family, are sincerely here to cancel the engagement. Don't be too aggressive, Yu family."
Yu Qizhe won the top three places in the student examination at a young age. He was very famous in the whole Qingshui Town. Everyone knew that this young man from the Yu family had a bright future. Those who wanted to marry into the Yu family actually had their eyes on Yu's fifth son. However, Yu's fifth son was still young at that time, so he could only marry among other eligible sons of the Yu family.
"Bah!" Zhao put her hands on her hips, like a lit firecracker, and said angrily, "You Liu family's words are nice, but if you look down on our Jinshu, why did you let the matchmaker come to your house again and again? You have delayed my son for three years, and now you want to kick my son away because you like another scholar. If you dare to do such a shameful thing, don't be afraid to admit it! Do you really think that your Liu family's daughter is so popular? If you cancel the engagement, then cancel it. Are you afraid that my son won't be able to find a wife?"
After Zhao finished speaking, she turned to Yu Hanshan, who was standing beside her, and said, "What are you standing there for? Go inside and get Miss Liu's engagement letter!"
Before Yu Hanshan moved, Old Madam Yu had already walked out of the main hall. The one from the Liu family who came to cancel the engagement was Liu Zhang, who was considered a junior. Both Old Man and Old Madam Yu wanted to save face and did not want to personally argue with the junior, so they asked Zhao and Yu Hanshan to deal with it.
Seeing that Liu Zhang spoke so bluntly and did not give the Yu family any face at all, Old Lady Yu had no room to sit in the main hall, so she took out the engagement letter of the Liu family girl.
"Liu family, this is your daughter's engagement letter, take it." Old Madam Yu handed the engagement letter to Liu Zhangshi. Seeing that the old lady came in person, Liu Zhangshi politely took the engagement letter and said with a smile, "Sorry to bother you."
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