Yi Shuihan belatedly realized what she meant, and the expression on his face cracked. "I didn't mean myself!"
“I understand.” Xiao Qingyin nodded. “Even a stubborn duck will stick its nose up.”
Yi Shuihan was so angry that he wanted to kill the woman on the spot and clear his name.
Xiao Qingyin seemed oblivious to his murderous intent and continued, "I have a medicinal pill that everyone who's used it says is excellent. Do you want it? I can give you a discount."
Yi Shuihan took a deep breath, suppressing his urge to kill, opened the door and ordered, "Bring over two thousand taels of silver."
After the silver notes arrived, he tossed them to Xiao Qingyin, saying, "Come on, I'll take you back."
While happily counting the money, Xiao Qingyin asked, "How do we get back?"
"Of course you should go back the way you came. It's curfew now, do you really expect to take a carriage?"
Xiao Qingyin frowned; she didn't want to go through that rooftop parkour again.
Do you have any rooms available?
"No."
Which room is yours? Can I borrow it first?
"No."
Yi Shuihan glared at the woman before him. She wanted to climb into his bed the moment they met? Dream on!
Xiao Qingyin's expression was equally unfriendly. This man had kidnapped her in the middle of the night to rescue someone, yet he wouldn't even lend her a room for the night. Was he even human?
She glanced outside the door and suddenly saw a heart-shaped tree canopy, which made her freeze in surprise.
As far as I can remember, there was a tree of the same shape growing in the courtyard of the house next to her newly bought house.
Could it be such a coincidence?
She grabbed a stool, went outside, stepped on it, and looked towards the next room.
The courtyard under the moonlight was not clear enough; only a blurry outline could be seen. But it was enough for Xiao Qingyin to confirm that her new house was next door.
"Alright, take me next door."
Xiao Qingyin jumped off the stool and said to Yi Shuihan.
Yi Shuihan's expression turned slightly cold: "You were following me?"
He knew that the house next door had changed hands today, but he didn't know that the buyer was Xiao Qingyin.
This woman even found his secret hideout. Did she already know what he really looked like?
"Heh," Xiao Qingyin sneered, "Who's following whom? I just returned to the capital and only made one move at the Yong'an Marquis's residence, and you're already coming to me for help."
If this person hadn't never mentioned the Fengling bandit stronghold, she would have thought she had been under his watchful eye the whole time.
Both of them were skeptical of this coincidence.
Yi Shuihan carried Xiao Qingyin to the neighboring house. Xiao Qingyin tiptoed to the room reserved for her and quietly went to sleep.
I slept until the sun was high in the sky the next day before waking up.
"Yinyin, what are you doing here?"
Looking at the figure in the sunlight, Han thought for a moment that she was seeing things.
“Good morning, Grandmother,” Xiao Qingyin smiled. “I went to the next house for a house call last night, and since it’s curfew, I can’t go back, so I’ll stay here for the night.”
"ah?"
Han looked completely bewildered.
"You go out to treat patients in the middle of the night?"
Xiao Qingyin nodded.
"Oh dear, you child..." Mrs. Han said with a worried look, "Why are you making house calls in the middle of the night? That's too dangerous."
"I'm perfectly fine, so you don't need to worry."
Xiao Qingyin omitted the story of her abduction and told Han Shi about it. Han Shi's brows furrowed more and more as she listened.
"How can you keep going around treating people like this? Not to mention the Xiao family, the Yong'an Marquis's mansion will also have objections."
“Grandmother, I never thought about this marriage.”
Xiao Qingyin said earnestly.
Madam Han was astonished: "But this is an imperial marriage..."
"The marriage was not originally intended for me. The Xiao family wants me to marry in their place, but that depends on whether I am willing or not. I have never met the heir of the Marquis of Yong'an, and I will not marry him."
"Do you also dislike him because of his disfigurement and bad reputation?" Han asked. "Appearance is secondary, and rumors shouldn't be taken at face value. He's not a bad person."
"Your maternal grandmother had dealings with him?" Xiao Qingyin asked curiously.
Han nodded and told Xiao Qingyin a story from the past.
"After our home was ransacked and our property confiscated, we were left homeless, without even money for food. We were treated like rats in the street, hated by everyone."
“Once, your cousin Zhao was bullied by a group of children. He fought back and injured two of them. The children’s parents wanted to take him to the authorities.”
“The heir of the Marquis of Yong’an happened to be passing by and stopped him. He also paid compensation on his behalf, which settled the matter.”
"At that time, the heir of the Marquis of Yong'an was only five years old. As the saying goes, you can tell what a person will be like at three years old. If a person is upright when he is young, he will not be bad when he grows up. Over the years, he has made many military achievements and killed people who deserved to die."
After listening, Xiao Qingyin smiled and said, "I didn't believe all the rumors, but marriage is a major life event and should be treated with care."
“You’re right,” Mrs. Han agreed. “The wedding is still a long way off. You can take your time to think it over. If you really can’t get along, we’ll figure something out then.”
"Mmm," Xiao Qingyin replied casually, then asked, "Where did my cousin and the others go?"
"I went to the dock to carry bags," Han replied. "I'll be back for lunch and a rest at noon."
Carrying bags...
Xiao Qingyin was taken aback for a moment, but quickly understood.
Yun Zhao and the others must have had nothing else to do, which is why they did this kind of manual labor.
Xiao Qingyin couldn't understand the emperor's decision. The Yun family army had guarded the border for decades and won countless battles, but they were stripped of their titles and had their property confiscated just because they lost once.
Young and strong men died on the battlefield, only to be cursed; women and children were displaced and bullied.
Even after more than a decade, they still cannot walk and do things with dignity.
It's chilling.
Once the shop in the capital opens, Xiao Qingyin thinks she can entrust it to her cousin Zhao and cousin Shu to manage.
"Grandma, have you bought the groceries?"
"No, I'm just about to go to the restaurant."
“Let’s go together,” Xiao Qingyin said with a smile. “I’ll cook for you later so you can try my cooking.”
There was a large restaurant nearby. Xiao Qingyin originally wanted to steam fish and stew meat, but when she saw that they had beef for sale, she immediately changed her mind.
She wants to eat beef hot pot!
Cattle are an important agricultural resource and cannot be slaughtered at will. In this era, it is not easy to eat beef.
Xiao Qingyin could only eat a few meals a year in Yizhou.
It's a rare opportunity to come across this, so I definitely can't miss it.
The Han family naturally had no objections.
Xiao Qingyin ordered all the fatty meat, as well as beef bones, beef tongue, brisket, chuck, chuck, marbled beef, and five-flower beef...
I bought all the best parts of the meat.
The first thing I did upon returning home was to make beef hot pot broth.
...
After finishing his work, Yi Shuihan came to see Yi San. As soon as he entered the door, he smelled a rich fragrance.
"What are you eating that smells so good?"
He asked his subordinates who were engrossed in their meal.
Everyone looked up at the house next door, swallowed hard, and said, "The aroma is coming from over there."
Yi Shuihan frowned.
He had tried all the delicacies in Beijing, but he had never smelled this fragrance before. Could it be the scent of medicine?
Is that woman making medicine?
"Yi Wu, go and take a look."
"Alright!"
The young man with big eyes and a baby face immediately stood up, walked impatiently to the courtyard wall, and jumped over it in a few swift movements.
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