Chapter 288 Forbidden Book
On the fifteenth day of the third lunar month, the inn in the border town officially opened.
On the first day of opening, all the guest rooms were fully occupied to accommodate a caravan from the south.
There is a restaurant in the inn, which employs more than a dozen chefs who prepare special dishes to ensure that caravans from all over the country can taste their hometown cuisine.
As the shopkeeper, Zhao Zhe is adept at welcoming and seeing off guests.
Jiang Yuzhu only visited it once and then handed over the shop with confidence.
Less than three months into the pregnancy, the morning sickness disappeared and Jiang Yuzhu felt comfortable again.
"Madam, the master has sent another letter."
Hongli held a thick letter in both hands.
The master has been gone for only half a month, but more than a dozen letters have been sent back.
Hongli didn't see the specific content and racked his brains to figure it out, but couldn't understand where there were so many greetings?
"What do you know?"
Seeing Hongli's thoughts, Hongjin sneered and said, "The master won the top three prizes in the imperial examinations and shocked the court with his brilliant writing skills. He was praised by the late emperor. Even if he wrote a letter to greet me every day, he would never write the same letter twice a year."
If Xie Zhao had not been so talented, this marriage would not have fallen into the hands of the Jiang family.
The late emperor believed that a husband and wife should complement each other. He heard that Jiang Yuzhu, the eldest daughter of the Jiang family, was illiterate and a fool, so he took the initiative to arrange the marriage. His original intention was to see the couple have fun together.
Unexpectedly, things in the world are unpredictable. Not long after, the emperor passed away.
Hongli retorted, "Do you need to tell me that the master is talented? If the master only wrote those cheesy words every day, how could the lady be fascinated by them?"
The two maids were arguing and neither was convinced.
Jiang Yuzhu ignored her and told Hongxiu to prepare melon seeds, tea, and peanuts, and ate while watching.
Others would never have thought that Xie Zhao was worried that she would be bored during her pregnancy, so he wrote the storybook.
Since I am on the road most of the time, I can only use the serialized mode.
Jiang Yuzhu watched the exciting part, then realized that it ended and began to look forward to the next plot.
"I'm not letting you watch it for your own good, especially Hongli. You don't have enough concentration, and I'm afraid you'll be unable to sleep if you think about it so much."
Xie Zhao writes a suspenseful story, unraveling the story bit by bit.
Every time I finish watching it, I fall into the cycle of "Who is the murderer?" and "It turns out to be him."
"Madam, my cousin is here."
Ningxiang pushed open the curtain and came in to deliver the message. Ever since she learned that her wife was pregnant, Chen Zhilan came almost every day.
This time, I brought a lot of nourishing medicinal herbs.
Jiang Yuzhu glanced at the sky and saw that it was almost time for dinner. She smiled and said, "Did Huang Dali catch some fish today? Make spicy grilled fish tonight and keep her for dinner."
After taking over Sishui City, General Mo, Princess Yutan and Jiang Huaiqing set off for Beijing, leaving only Mo Qianyu in the border town to clean up the mess.
The news of Jiang Yuzhu's pregnancy was kept secret, and it was only Shen Zhilan herself who noticed something was wrong.
Upon learning that Jiang Yuzhu was pregnant with twins, Shen Zhilan stayed in the border town and refused to leave.
The door curtain moved, and Shen Zhilan walked in like a gust of wind and asked, "Sister, when will you leave for Jiangnan?"
"Recently."
The capital is still in chaos now, and Jiang Yuzhu doesn't plan to go back and cause more trouble.
The conditions in the north are not as good as those in the south. Besides, her mother-in-law, Shen, often wrote letters, planning to send someone to pick her up.
Yan Lin felt Jiang Yuzhu's pulse and found that the fetus was firmly seated. She planned to set off.
Otherwise, when the month gets older and it gets hot and humid in summer, it will be very painful to be on the road.
After hearing this, Shen Zhilan smiled and said, "That's great, let's go together."
Some time ago, Chen Zhilan's mother came from Jiangnan, and the mother and daughter reconciled. Many of the unresolved issues from their previous lives were uncovered.
It turned out that it wasn't that her mother didn't love her, but she had to do so for Shen Zhilan's sake.
Jiang Yuzhu was waiting to give birth in Jiangnan, and Shen Zhilan happened to go back to her parents' home to support her mother, without delaying either.
"Sister, I heard from my mother that there is a magical spring in Yueya Village near Sucheng. After drinking the water from the magical spring, all the women in the village gave birth to twins."
After hearing this, Shen Zhilan decided to go to Yueya Village to find a midwife for Jiang Yuzhu.
"I learned the craft from my master, but I haven't practiced it much. Besides, my master also said that it's more difficult to have twins."
After the miscarriage, Shen Zhilan took it very seriously and made plans for Jiang Yuzhu in all aspects.
Jiang Yuzhu also thought it was feasible and nodded, "I'll do as you say."
The two agreed on a departure date and arrived at the neighboring city on the last day of the third lunar month.
The first thing Jiang Yuzhu did when she arrived in the neighboring city was to go to the bookstore with her maid.
The waiter greeted her warmly and asked, "Madam, what books do you need? I can help you find them."
Most of the people in the bookstore were men, and occasionally a maid would come to help the literate young ladies find storybooks.
"I'm looking for Mr. Stone's book."
Jiang Yuzhu remembered that her cousin's pen name was Mr. Stone, which should be correct.
The young man was stunned for a long while, and said with a red face: "Madam, you are asking too much, we don't sell miscellaneous books here!"
"Mr. Shitou's painstaking work, how could it be a miscellaneous book?"
The travel notes written by Chen Tao are actually very interesting, and they introduce the local customs and practices of various places in detail.
Because it is so detailed and lengthy, it becomes Jiang Yuzhu's hypnosis tool.
The few books I have left are no longer enough.
The young man was quite annoyed and said reluctantly: "No!"
"Impossible, aren't you the largest bookstore in the city?"
Jiang Yuzhu noticed that the waiter looked strange and asked.
If the biggest shop isn’t there, it will be even harder to find a small shop.
The young man was helpless and with a red face he went to the shopkeeper and whispered something to him. After the shopkeeper looked at Jiang Yuzhu and her group, he invited them to a private room in the bookstore.
"Ma'am, are you looking for Mr. Stone's masterpiece?"
The shopkeeper confirmed again and he wanted to explain one thing first. Because the book was out of stock, there was only one set left in the bookstore, and the price was a little higher.
When Jiang Yuzhu heard the shopkeeper mention money, she replied calmly, "Money is not a problem."
It's not easy for my cousin. He paid too much to become a male concubine just to write travel notes.
The popularity of travel notes is the greatest respect for Chen Tao.
The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Madam, I still want to ask, what are you going to use Mr. Stone's masterpiece for?"
Although she was surprised by the shopkeeper's persistence, Jiang Yuzhu still said patiently, "Study before going to bed."
The shopkeeper felt relieved after hearing this and made a gesture to the waiter.
After a while, the boy brought over a thick book, signed by "Mr. Stone".
The signature is in official script, which matches Chen Tao's handwriting.
Seeing that there was nothing wrong with the cover, Jiang Yuzhu spent fifty taels of silver to buy it without bargaining.
As soon as the people left, the clerk hurriedly grabbed the shopkeeper and said, "Shopkeeper, that lady looks unfamiliar and is not a familiar customer of the shop. How could you be so bold as to sell to her?"
It would be a disaster if the banned book was discovered!
If they were reported to the government, everyone in the bookstore would have to go to jail.
The shopkeeper raised his eyelids and said calmly: "Didn't you hear what the lady said? Watching before going to bed is to please men."
The shopkeeper is not afraid even if the secret is exposed.
In the past, Mr. Shitou’s travel notes could not be sold, so the shopkeeper used them to paste on the wall.
Who would have thought that a few days ago, Mr. Shitou suddenly had an epiphany and wrote several banned books with detailed descriptions and illustrations, which became hot items all of a sudden!
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