☆, Chapter 167: Stopped by a little girl
Zhou Mujiao turned and ran, calling out as she ran, "Xiao Wu! Is that you, Xiao Wu?!"
"Sister! It's me!"
Xiao Wu is here, Xiao Jiu is here, the 18th, the 6th, the 9th, even Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao are here!
What a wonderful surprise!
Zhou Mujiao patted this one's head, patted that one's hand, and then helped this one tidy their hair. Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears: "Xiao Wu has grown taller, Xiao Jiu has become stronger, and Shi Ba is so tall now. Chu Liu, you're not doing so well. You need to eat more. Chu Jiu is almost taller than you..."
A group of children surrounded her, chattering noisily yet happily.
After the children's excitement subsided, Zhou Mujiao went to talk to Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao: "Uncle, Aunt, thank you for taking care of Xiao Wu and Xiao Jiu these past few days."
"Why are we talking about this as family? But you, how come you've lost so much weight? Is the palace not feeding you? Don't those Yue Dong Lou and Hao Yun Lou restaurants ever send you food? You've become so thin you're practically unrecognizable..."
Zhou Mujiao originally planned not to return to the palace tonight, but to go back early tomorrow morning. Today, all her family members came, so she sent someone to tell them that she would not enter the palace for the next ten days, and that they should not come looking for her unless there was an emergency.
When the Empress Dowager heard the story, she couldn't help but exclaim, "This girl is incredibly audacious! If the emperor weren't the emperor of today, and the empress dowager weren't the empress dowager of today, she would have lost her head countless times."
Princess Jinling said quietly, "To be honest, Zhou Mujiao is quite lucky. Since she came, my grandmother and I have been getting better."
Physician Liu couldn't help but interject, "Princess, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to speak ill of your future master like this?"
Princess Jinling choked for a moment, then retorted, "I'm stating the facts. My master does indeed possess great fortune, but I'm not denying her abilities. It's Physician Liu who has misinterpreted my meaning—Physician Liu! Don't forget your place. I am a princess!"
Physician Liu clicked his tongue inwardly and remained silent.
The Empress Dowager said, "Jinling, since you want to be the number one divine physician princess in the world, you must first change your attitude. If you can't even respect your own elders, how can you be a doctor with the heart of a parent?"
Princess Jinling felt uneasy. Suddenly, she seemed less inclined to be the world's number one divine physician princess. However, she had already made that boast to Zhou Mujiao. If she suddenly said she was giving up, wouldn't Zhou Mujiao laugh at her? Zhao Yunjing already thought she was inferior to Zhou Mujiao. If she gave up now, wouldn't Zhao Yunjing look down on her even more?
Princess Jinling thought for a moment and decided to leave the palace. Since Zhou Mujiao's family had come to the capital, it would be only natural for her, as her future apprentice, to go and see them so that they could get acquainted with her... right?
Inside a house on Zhuque Street, Zhou Mujiao and the children had just sat down at the table when Jinling arrived with two carts of gifts. She called them "Master" enthusiastically, and she had prepared gifts for each of the children, stuffing them into their hands and giving them no reason to return them.
Zhao Yunjing had reported the matter of Princess Jinling in detail in his letter, so Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao couldn't really put on a good face when they saw her. But as the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face, and besides, she called Zhou Mujiao "Master," was a guest, and was a princess of noble status...
The couple's faces were stiff, and they couldn't taste the meal at all. Fortunately, Princess Jinling only showed her face and left after eating; otherwise, the couple might have fainted.
"Ah Jiao, what's the story with that princess?" As soon as the person left, Aunt Zhao couldn't wait to ask.
After briefly mentioning her 'love-hate relationship' with Princess Jinling, Zhou Mujiao reassured the two: "Jinling is just a bit willful, but she's not a bad person at heart, and she can listen to reason."
"So she doesn't have those kinds of feelings for Yun Jing anymore, right?"
Zhou Mujiao laughed and said, "That depends on how determined she is to become the world's number one divine physician princess. If she is determined enough, she won't have time to do anything else. Medicine is endless. She is already a teenager, so she is considered to have entered the profession halfway through her life. It will be more difficult for her to learn than for a child."
The Zhao couple breathed a sigh of relief, but not entirely. Now they could only hope that the imperial examination would come soon. Once the results were announced, regardless of whether Yun Jing was at the top of the list, they would let Yun Jing and Zhou Mujiao get married first.
Because Grandma Li was still in Peach Blossom Village, Uncle Zhao couldn't let go of his family affairs, so he planned to rush back after the Lunar New Year, leaving Aunt Zhao in the capital to take care of the children. After the New Year, when the children went to the academy and the results of the imperial examinations came out, Uncle Zhao and Grandma Li would come together again.
Time flies, and the Little New Year is just around the corner.
That day, Zhou Mujiao left the palace and was stopped before she even got home.
The girl who stopped her was about thirteen or fourteen years old. She had a pointed chin and a pale face. Zhou Mujiao thought she looked familiar, but couldn't quite place her. At that moment, Physician Zheng, who had come with her to the palace for the festival, reminded her: "Doctor Zhou, she's the one who bumped into our carriage last time and fainted."
Zhou Mujiao remembered that she looked unwell. Out of a doctor's instinct, she took her pulse and asked a few questions. Then she asked her what had stopped her.
The little girl's name was Meng Yu. Meng Yu said, "Miss, Madam has been talking about you at home since early this morning. I haven't fully recovered yet and can't do heavy work, so Madam asked me to come out and greet you..."
Meng Yu actually went to work for the Zhou family?
Zhou Mujiao hummed in agreement, remaining calm and collected throughout the journey. Only after returning did she ask Aunt Zhao about Meng Yu.
Aunt Zhao explained, "That day, your uncle and I took some children to the market, and we encountered her selling herself to bury her father..."
Meng Yu's act of selling herself to bury her husband was already tragic. Many people watched, but no one offered help because she was too weak and looked like she might die at any moment. When Aunt Zhao and the others arrived, Meng Yu had been kneeling for half a day, and the corpse wrapped in a straw mat in front of her was already stiff. Some hooligans saw that she was pretty and said they wanted to take her back as a concubine. Aunt Zhao saw that Meng Yu really resisted, so she bought Meng Yu and took her to Huichuntang to see a doctor. Only then did she learn about the past relationship between Meng Yu and Zhou Mujiao.
"Originally, I planned to give her some money so she could go to another place and live a good life, but the girl refused. She insisted on giving me her indenture, saying she wanted to repay your and my kindness with her life. I tried to drive her away several times, but she wouldn't leave. It's freezing cold, and I couldn't really let her kneel outside the door, so I decided to buy her back. I found that she is quite meticulous in her work and can even read a little. I plan to have her stay by Eighteen's side from now on. What do you think?"
Perhaps all the tragic stories of this era are more or less the same. Zhou Mujiao felt that Meng Yu was not unusual at the moment, so Zhou Mujiao did not interfere.
She and Zhao Yunjing spent most of their time in the palace and quietly studied at the academy, neither of them coming down the mountain for ten days or half a month at a time. It was up to Aunt Zhao to manage the household. If she interfered in such a small matter as buying a maid, it would not be of any benefit to Aunt Zhao's growth.
After the Lunar New Year, Uncle Zhao returned to his hometown. On the surface, he was protected by Zhou Yunliu's men, but secretly, Jiang Wuyu's men were also following him. Uncle Zhao just needed to focus on his journey and nothing would go wrong.
Seven days have passed in the blink of an eye, and tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve.
Zhou Mujiao and Zhao Yunjing originally thought they could have a reunion dinner with everyone, but things didn't go as planned.
Because something happened in the palace.
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