Chapter 152: Journey to the Northern Frontier
The next morning, on Qingyun Street.
Xie Yuduo and Du Xiaowu each rode a horse and carried a sword. They said goodbye to their families and headed towards the northern border with a team of elite soldiers who were responsible for escorting them.
Seeing him leave again, Chen Qi felt heartbroken, but she held back her tears and went home with her child.
It is said that businessmen value profit over separation, but he is doing this for his country, his people, and his family, so she has no way to complain.
In the past two years, because of Xie Yuduo's difficult task, which was really too involved, Chen Qi seldom attended banquets in Beijing. Apart from occasionally going to the Wen family and Meng Qinghui for entertainment, she usually took good care of the children and managed household affairs.
Fortunately, I still have a naughty child at home, two ambitious brothers in the Imperial College, and the garden in the house is not small, with excellent scenery, and it is quite interesting to visit.
These days are not that difficult to endure.
However, Xie Yuduo had agreed to travel as fast as possible, traveling day and night, and the round trip would only take fifty days. However, until the fifty-third day, no one had returned home.
Chen Qi counted the days on her fingers and felt uneasy.
In the more than ten years since he got married, he has traveled hundreds of times at least, but he has always been eager to return home and always comes home early and never late.
On the fifty-fifth day, Chen Qi could no longer wait, so she sent several groups of people to leave the capital separately and gather information along the official roads.
On the fifty-seventh day, the person Chen Qi sent out to gather information had not returned yet, but Xiao Wu's letter arrived first.
He is ill and is on his way back to Beijing. He will be home tomorrow morning.
When Shen Qi received the letter, she took a deep breath and her heart tightened.
She knew that Xie Yuduo had always been in good health and had a strong will, and he would never complain about illness or pain easily. If he said he was sick, it must not be a minor illness that could be cured in three to five days.
Normally, no matter how busy he was, he would write a letter home to Chen Qi in his own handwriting. However, this letter reporting his illness was not written in his handwriting, but by Xiao Wu. He must be very ill, so seriously ill that he couldn't even lift a pen.
She had a bad feeling a long time ago, and it turned out to be true.
Even though she was extremely confused, Chen Qi still pinched her palms to calm herself down.
He was ill, and that was when he needed her.
While Chen Qi asked the servants to clean up the bedroom to facilitate his treatment and recuperation, he also sent people to invite the most respected old doctors from major medical clinics in the capital to stay at Xie's house to prepare to take his pulse and prescribe medicine.
She also asked someone to take out all the prescriptions, pills, and medicinal materials stored in the storeroom at home, sort them into categories, and put them in order so that they could be used at any time.
Also, have someone send Huai Ming and Huai Lang to stay at the Wen family for a while, so they don't run around and cause trouble...
After finishing all this, Xiao Ling saw that her expression was still not right, so she forcibly pried her hands open. She discovered that her nails had long been embedded in her flesh and blood was oozing out, but she didn't feel any pain.
That night, Chen Qi did not sleep all night, and the lights in the Xie family's house on Qingyun Street were brightly lit.
…
Xie Yuduo's trip to the northern border this time was very far away from Beijing.
On the twenty-first day, he finally entered the northern border area.
On the 26th day, after meeting with more than a dozen senior border officials, he successfully negotiated the business route.
On the thirty-second day, he arrived at the border, and the border general came out of the city to greet him. That night, he drank with the generals guarding the city all night long.
On the thirty-fifth day, he bid farewell to all the generals and returned home to Beijing by traveling day and night.
On the forty-third day, the team passed through a small town and stopped to rest. At midnight that night, he was assassinated by several assassins from the enemy country...
Xie Yuduo was a light sleeper with a sharp mind. He had a dagger for self-defense at his waist. The soldiers accompanying him were also quite skilled and killed the assassin on the spot.
Even so, he was still deeply stabbed in the side.
This team was ordered to ensure the safety of Mr. Xie, but he was seriously injured. As a last resort, they first had the military doctor bandage and treat him, and then rushed to the nearest big city overnight to invite a famous doctor to see him.
His condition is serious and urgent.
At first, he was just weak and tired after bleeding, and gradually began to have a high fever. When the fever finally subsided, he began to fall into a coma again.
Originally, when he was still somewhat lucid, he could arrange some things one after another, planning to continue his journey home as soon as he felt a little better.
Later, his condition gradually worsened and the team had to rest on the spot. The accompanying military doctor and local famous doctors repeatedly considered and used various medicines, but his coma time was getting longer and longer.
The last time he was conscious was five days ago, and he only uttered two words.
"go home."
In the capital, the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Princess' Mansion received the news early on. Xie Yuduo had always asked them to keep it a secret from his family, so Chen Qi was the last person to know about it.
This matter reached the ears of the emperor, and the imperial doctors and the guards in the capital rushed to the capital overnight, contacted the returning team, accompanied them, and treated and gave medicine, working day and night...
Finally, in the early morning, the group arrived at Qingyun Street in Beijing.
Everyone entered the mansion together, and the house was in a commotion. After everyone put Xie Yuduo on the bed, the imperial physician took his pulse again, prescribed medicine, and fed him medicine. Seeing that his condition was not getting worse, he withdrew and gathered all the doctors to continue discussing the condition.
Until this moment, Chen Qi was finally able to sit in front of the bed and take a good look at her husband's face.
His face was pale, his lips were chapped, his eyes were tightly closed, and his usually handsome face was now covered with stubble. His once strong body had become much thinner due to being in a coma.
In all these years, Shen Qi had never seen him so sick.
Chen Qi bit her lips and teeth hard, not wanting to cry out loud in front of him, but she couldn't help it, tears streaming down her face, she cried silently.
…
She knew she could cry, but she couldn't cry all the time.
Chen Qi had already arranged all the household chores in advance, sent letters to the general managers of the provincial shops to reassure people, and then handed over the business of all the shops in Beijing to Xiao Ling to arrange and coordinate. He also ordered Xiao Wu to take over the Xie family's trade routes around the world and continue to raise the last 16 million taels of silver for military pay.
Since ancient times, a journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step. The battle in the northern border was a matter of life and death. He had worked so hard to raise military pay, and she couldn't let him fail.
He was ill, and she had to help him keep his business, the Xie family, his wife, daughter, and family...
Win this battle for him.
…
For many days, Shen Qi stayed in bed, never leaving his home, and no one was allowed to visit him except the imperial physicians and doctors from the capital.
Except, the prime minister of the current dynasty.
The Prime Minister, with white hair like frost, came alone in plain clothes.
Chen Qi did not kneel to greet him, did not avoid him, did not serve him tea, and did not even stand up.
When the kind-faced old prime minister came to inquire about her condition in person, she had been sitting at the head of Xie Yuduo's bed, looking at her husband who had been in a coma for several days, tears in her eyes, and silent.
She was just a common woman, born in a poor family when she was young and became a merchant's wife when she grew up. She had always been gentle and good-tempered, but in front of the prime minister, who was in a very high position, she used her tearful eyes to accuse the court of being mean-spirited, and used her long silence to accuse the ministers of being incompetent.
You are officials and earn the emperor's salary, so why do you put the burden of serving the country and the people on the shoulders of a businessman like him?
Since you have imposed such a heavy burden on him for no reason and forced him to travel all over the world to share the country's worries, why didn't you protect him!
If it weren't for the imperial court's tyranny and the coercion of powerful officials, her husband would have been the most carefree and wealthy man in the world. How could he have ended up in such a predicament?!
…
That prime minister had lived a life of maneuvering and stirring up troubles, experiencing great ups and downs, and stepping on the blood and tears of thousands of people to reach the highest official position.
Now, facing Mrs. Shen's eyes that were silently shedding tears, he actually felt a bit of sincere guilt in his heart, and when he stood up again, he actually staggered a little.
This couple has unparalleled wealth and rare affection, not to mention their children to take care of them. They have both happiness and joy that is hard to match.
If, if Xie Gong...
It's him, he's sorry to Mr. Xie and Mrs. Shen.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
