Hong Gu smiled and said, "What your daughter said makes a lot of sense. If you don't go out and see the world, how will you know how vast the sky is? A girl shouldn't always stay in one place, otherwise her horizons will be narrow and she won't even know how she was fooled in the future."
Granny Wang smiled and said, "That's true. I've watched our girl grow from a few years old to her teens. She hasn't made much progress in needlework, but her temperament has matured a lot. But girls always have to get married eventually, and once they're married, they can't be as free as they are now."
Hong Gu comforted her, saying, "Older sister, since you won't be able to be this free after you get married, why don't you let your daughter enjoy these few years? After all, you probably won't have the chance to do this again in the future. It's better to let her do whatever she wants these few years."
Granny Wang laughed and said, "It was I who was too attached to appearances."
Seeing Xu Zhi's exhausted face, Zheng Yuanyuan said, "Sister-in-law, why don't you lie down and rest? I won't go anywhere, I'll just sit here and watch over you, okay?"
Xu Zhi had just finished drinking a bowl of steaming herbal soup that Bai Wei had brought over. Now, she felt her eyelids getting heavy. After lying down, she said to Zheng Yuanyuan, "There are some books over there that I like to read. If you get bored, you can pick a few to read."
Zheng Yuanyuan agreed and, together with Bai Ying, helped Xu Zhi lie down. After Xu Zhi closed her eyes, Zheng Yuanyuan found a book, leaned against the opposite side of the kang table, glanced at it for a few moments, rubbed her eyes, and somehow fell asleep as well.
When Xu Zhi opened her eyes again, she felt sticky all over. She propped herself up on her arms and sat up. She saw that the thin blanket that had been covering her had been replaced with a slightly thicker one. When she looked up at the opposite side, she saw that Zheng Yuanyuan was also asleep, her little face rosy. There was a book with a few pages open next to her pillow.
Xu Zhi propped herself up on her arms and sat up. Bai Ying, who was serving outside, heard the commotion inside and lifted the curtain to come in. Seeing that Xu Zhi was sitting up, she came over and whispered, "Miss, you're awake. The Third Madam instructed that you shouldn't get off the bed yet, so she can come over and check your pulse again."
Xu Zhi nodded and said, "I need to use the restroom."
Upon hearing this, Bai Ying quickly got Xu Zhi a thick cloak, wrapped her up tightly, and accompanied her to the toilet. When she returned, she saw that Zheng Yuanyuan had already woken up and was sitting on the kang with her head drooping, probably not fully awake yet.
Seeing Xu Zhi enter, Zheng Yuanyuan looked somewhat embarrassed and said, "Sister-in-law, I don't know how I fell asleep."
Xu Zhi laughed and said, "We're both exhausted. Otherwise, how could we sleep in the middle of the day? If you haven't had enough sleep, just keep sleeping."
Zheng Yuanyuan quickly said, "Sister-in-law, I'm not sleepy anymore. Just now, Sister Baiguo said that Auntie is coming over to help you take your pulse. I was thinking that you could stay at home for a few days and I'll go back to the courtyard in the south of the city to keep an eye on things."
Xu Zhi waved her hand and said, "It's no longer a place we can make decisions about. Listen to your sister-in-law. If you want to stay here, then stay for a few more days. If you feel uncomfortable here, then go home and relax. Once things are settled in the courtyard in the south of the city, we'll set off for Wuzhou with the cotton-padded clothes we've made."
This is what Xu Zhi figured out after coming out of the restroom.
Why was her father able to arrive so quickly? Why was Zheng Yuanyuan able to see the adult exuding murderous intent in the courtyard? Xu Zhi knew that there were spies sent by the Great Yan in the capital, and that there were also traitors bribed by the Great Yan within the Great Liang. The most urgent task was to find these people. And in the eyes of the entire capital, the one who had the most direct connection with Wuzhou was the cotton-padded clothing donation that she and Zheng Yuanyuan had organized.
If these cotton-padded coats were purchased ready-made, someone might have tampered with them, using inferior materials or sending substandard coats directly to Wuzhou. When these were distributed to the soldiers, it might have shaken morale. But unexpectedly, Zheng Yuanyuan went and purchased the raw materials herself, hired people to make them stitch by stitch.
Since that's the case, if we want to cause some trouble, we have to start with these cotton-padded clothes. Xu Zhi also thought that if those people were going to make a move, they would probably do so after all the cotton-padded clothes were finished or all the raw materials were purchased and delivered.
Zheng Yuanyuan is a very responsible person. She was afraid that if she bought everything, there would be nowhere to put it, so she asked the delivery people to deliver it in parts. When she was almost out of supplies, she would tell them and they would send some over.
Those people had considered using the workers here, but the daily morning searches were very thorough, making it difficult to smuggle anything in. This led them to take the risk of bringing kerosene under the cover of night to burn things.
Perhaps Xu Rao's people had been secretly watching these things all along. Xu Zhi no longer cared who sent people to sabotage things; that was not her concern. What she was worried about now was whether she could deliver these winter coats to Wuzhou before the coldest days of winter, whether she could successfully complete this task, and quickly go to Wuzhou to see Zheng Boyuan and check on how he was doing on the other side of the border river.
Zheng Yuanyuan looked at Xu Zhi seriously, thought for a moment, and said, "Sister-in-law, I think I should go home. It's more comfortable at home. You should take good care of yourself here. I feel at ease with Uncle in Chengnan. Once things are settled there, we'll leave as soon as possible."
After having lunch there, Zheng Yuanyuan went home, while Xu Rao returned home around dinner time.
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