Chapter 46 Chapter 46 Ji Yanlang read this letter over and over again...
Ji Yanlang had been gone for nine days, and Fang Ying had been busy for eight and a half days. If she were to say that she missed him, she really didn't have the time - although she might not miss him even if she had the time.
However, not having time to think about people does not mean that Fang Ying does not care about the war in the front. The emperor is leading the army in person. If this battle cannot defeat Northern Zhao, then no one will have a good time this year.
So when she heard that Ji Yanlang had sent a letter, she was genuinely surprised. She quickly walked over to her second sister-in-law and asked with concern, "What did the letter say?"
Li had already glanced through it. Hearing this, she handed the letter to Fang Ying. "It's just to let you know you're safe. My eyesight is a little blurry, so I can't see clearly. Please read it to me."
"Yes." Fang Ying took it and read, "On the knees of my dear mother..."
She read slowly, but her eyes had already scanned the words on the paper. Sure enough, the first page was just greetings and a report of safety. It said that he had met his father and two brothers, and was writing this letter to his mother on his father's orders.
The letter first said that the father was fine and "extraordinarily brave and brave", and sent greetings to the mother on behalf of the two brothers. Then, turning to the second page, it mentioned that the father had received the imperial order and led the Zhangde Army north to Zhenzhou to block the reinforcements sent by the Hu people to Taiyuan.
"The morale of the Northern Zhao army is low and they are vulnerable. Tomorrow, I will follow the emperor from Luzhou and march to the city of Qinzhou. Mother, please wait for good news. Victory reports will be reported back to the capital soon. I also wish to greet my second brother, fifth brother, and my sisters-in-law..."
Yue Qing'e was standing next to Fang Ying, her eyes fixed on the letter. When she saw her suddenly stop, she immediately showed a mischievous look and asked with a chuckle, "Why don't you read on? There's more to come."
Fang Ying glanced at her sideways and read the last sentence directly: "I wrote this letter in a hurry and couldn't express everything I wanted to say. I respectfully await your reply. Your son Yanlang pays homage to me."
"Hey... why are you being lazy and missing a sentence?" Yue Qing'e saw that her ears were red and wanted to tease her even more.
Li had just noticed that Fang Ying was mentioned at the end, so she gave it to her to read. Seeing that her daughter-in-law was embarrassed, she smiled and said, "It's written for her anyway. It's fine as long as she reads it. If she doesn't want to read it, then don't read it."
Fang Ying felt a little hot in her ears, so she said nothing and just handed the letter back to Li.
Yue Qing'e was unwilling to let her off easily and jokingly said, "It's not enough to just see it. Liu Lang is still waiting for a reply."
"..." This guy is really something. He wrote to his mother, and at the end, he had the audacity to say something like "If Liu Niang has any letters, please send them along with the reply"? He didn't even write to her alone, so how could he be sure that she had a letter for him?
Besides, "Didn't they say there would be good news soon? Maybe they could capture Taiyuan City in a few days and return victoriously." Fang Ying whispered.
Li laughed. "How could it be that easy? Don't listen to Liu Lang's nonsense. If Taiyuan City is really that easy to capture, would the emperor really need to lead the expedition himself? Besides..." Her smile faded. "If we really take it, maybe the emperor will continue to march north."
As soon as these words were spoken, the lively and joyful atmosphere in the room suddenly cooled down. They continued to march north to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. The Hu people were strong in both military and cavalry, and had occupied Youyan for forty years. They were much more difficult to deal with than Northern Zhao.
"What's wrong? You're so worried just because you have to write a reply?" Li noticed this and didn't want to worry about something so far away at this moment. She cheered up and teased Fang Ying, "Don't take it too seriously. Just write about some trivial daily matters."
Yue Qing'e immediately nodded in agreement: "It would be best if we talk like you usually do at home."
In order to please Li, Fang Ying pretended to be shy and lowered her head in response.
Li smiled and said, "After you finish writing it, send it to your second sister-in-law and send it along with your second uncle's reply letter."
Fang Ying responded again, and Li Shi remembered and asked, "Is everything arranged at home?"
"It's arranged. I'll be living in the same room with Fang Quan for the time being."
Mrs. Li nodded and said, "We'll just move into the new house after the New Year or the beginning of spring." She glanced out the window and smiled, "It's noon now. I was feeling a little sleepy."
Fang Ying and Yue Qing'e hurriedly excused themselves and asked their mother-in-law to rest. After leaving the yard, she thanked her second sister-in-law again, "The quilt is so thick and soft, sister-in-law, thank you for your trouble."
"Is this little thing worth mentioning again?" Yue Qing'e smiled and shook her head. "I even specifically told them not to take anything too good, lest..."
She paused, but Fang Ying knew she was trying to avoid the food being too good and outshining the Fang family's master. So she smiled and held Yue Qing'e's hand, saying, "Now that there's nothing to do at home, it's rare for sister-in-law to have some free time. How about I ask the kitchen to cook a few dishes tomorrow, and we can both take a break and have a few drinks?"
Yue Qing'e's eyes lit up: "Okay."
"Then it's settled. I won't post any invitations. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll ask Lichun to invite my sister-in-law."
Yue Qing'e smiled and agreed. The two sisters-in-law said goodbye at the fork in the road. Fang Ying returned to her own courtyard, changed her clothes, sat down and drank half a cup of tea. Then she suddenly asked, "Has there been any news from the Deng family in the past two days?"
After Ji Yanlang left, Fang Ying arranged for her servants to visit the Deng family every other day to see if the mother and daughter were okay and if they needed anything. However, there was nothing special going on there. At most, they would talk about how the shoes Deng Hehua made for her were. This made Fang Ying hurriedly send someone to tell them that there was no rush to wear the shoes, and that they could just take their time making them and not to get too tired.
"Yang San's wife came back to say that both the mother and daughter of the Deng family are fine, but Mrs. Deng is worried about Liu Lang. She pulled her aside and asked her where Liu Lang was and whether the war had started." Xing Niang, who had been at home, replied.
"What else did you say?"
Xing Niang thought for a moment and replied, "You're still asking what my wife does at home."
Fang Ying remembered that she had said she would invite the mother and daughter to her home, but she had not been able to do so these days. So she instructed, "Tell Madam Yang San to go there tomorrow and tell her that Liu Lang has written to report that he is safe. Ask them when they are free. I will send a car to pick them up and have a chat with them."
Xingniang went to answer, and Lichun asked, "Madam, do you want to grind ink?"
Fang Ying turned her head and glared at him. Lichun smiled apologetically and said, "Madam, aren't you going to practice calligraphy anymore?"
If she hadn't gone out, this would have been a good time to practice calligraphy. It was bright outside, so there was no need to light a lamp. But with Ji Yanlang's incident today, Fang Ying suddenly thought of writing a letter. Hearing this, she felt a little embarrassed and snorted, "I'm tired today. I won't practice anymore."
Lichun said nothing more. He poured tea for his mistress and said with a smile, "Send Sister Chu Yin away. Madam will finally have one less thing to worry about."
"Hmm." Fang Ying let out a long breath, picked up the tea and drank it slowly, his thoughts turning from Chu Yin to Zhou Congshan.
There was something wrong with this young lady. Even if they were familiar with each other and had no formalities, why did she urge her to take Chu Yin away without even having a sip of tea? Was there someone hiding in the yard, or was Zhou Congshan in a hurry to go somewhere?
She refused to say anything. Fang Ying had no idea what to do. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. She casually told Lichun, "Spread the paper and grind the ink."
"Why!"
Lichun answered very straightforwardly. When Fang Ying looked up, she had already walked briskly into the study.
"..." Did this girl misunderstand something? She just wanted to practice calligraphy to calm her mind!
But she just said she wouldn't practice anymore... Fang Ying frowned and sat for a while, thinking about Li. She had to write this letter after all, so she had to go into the study.
She picked up the pen and wanted to make a draft first, but she was at a loss as to the opening line - Fang Ying had never written a letter, nor had she ever received one. It was only during the past two years that she had stayed with Li, and occasionally read letters from family members to her, that she knew the general idea of how to write a letter.
But the way relatives write to Li is definitely different from the way husband and wife write to each other... Fang Ying was thinking about it when the pen dipped in ink dripped a drop of ink because it was hovering for too long.
“…” Forget it, let’s skip this for now. Fang Ying moved away from the rapidly spreading ink and wrote: I have just received your letter and am glad to learn that you are in good health…
When Ji Yanlang received this reply letter, he was already in Qinzhou City. He first quickly read the reply letter written by his brother on behalf of his mother, and then couldn't wait to open another letter with a faint floral scent.
"Sincerely, my dear, I am glad to receive your letter. I am very relieved to learn that you are well and well."
Ji Yanlang laughed and shook his head, muttering, "Why are you so rigid..."
Reading further, the polite words stopped and she finally started talking about what had happened after they parted, but she was still very serious. She said that when she returned to her parents' home, she found that no one taught her sister to read and write. She advised her parents but was still worried. Later, when she met Zhou's sister, she brought it up. Unexpectedly, Zhou's sister lent her a maid who had served Madam Zhou and could write and calculate.
Up to this point it was actually fine, although the writing was a bit dull, but it was still about what Fang Ying did at home. But then the writing suddenly changed direction and started to keep accounts.
First, he talked about how much money he had given to his mother's family to cover the food expenses of the borrowed maid. Then he said that he would give the maid double the monthly allowance, two hundred yuan per month, and even stated the advance expenses for the first month.
Ji Yanlang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry - was this a letter home or a bill?
What made him even more depressed was that after reading this point, the letter only had a few words left: "Everything is fine at home. I believe that Second Uncle has already mentioned it in the letter, so I will not elaborate. Aunt Deng and Sister Hehua are also well. They visited us yesterday. Although there was a slight language barrier, we had a great time together. I am at home and have nothing else to do except hope that you will return home victorious soon. This letter cannot express my feelings, so I will tell you more later. My wife Ying wrote this afternoon on October 26th."
Ji Yanlang read the letter over and over again three times before he could barely see a hint of lovesickness in the sentence "I only hope you will return home victorious as soon as possible."
"She must have been embarrassed to express her feelings directly in the first letter." Ji Yanlang reflected on himself while savoring the longing, "I should have written to her first so that she could reply. If I had asked her to write like this, I would have been embarrassed to write too..."
After thinking about it this way, that trace of lovesickness gradually grew into ten points.
Ji Yanlang wanted to write a reply immediately, but before he could ask someone to grind ink, the government received a military order. He had to hurriedly put away the letter and go to receive the order.
It was mid-November when the Ji government received another letter from the army. By then, the news of the great victories in Qinzhou and Fenzhou had spread throughout the capital. The case of Zhang Xiong, the nephew of Concubine Zhang, who had abducted a woman and beaten someone to death, had been concluded by Kaifeng Prefecture and handed over to the Criminal Court for review.
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The author has something to say: Kaven, I’ve been waiting for a long time...
Also, writing letters really consumes a lot of brain cells...
Another note: I wrote this letter in a hurry and cannot express everything I want to say. I look forward to your reply. I have just received your handwritten letter and am pleased to learn that you are in good health. I am very relieved... These are all old-fashioned letter clichés and are not original.
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