Chapter 55: Cousin or Madam?
They stayed in Muxi Village for several days, during which time they hardly ever cooked at home. The villagers missed them and invited them to their homes for meals every day.
Even if they don't come to their door, we still have to bring them food, and it's always the best dishes and meats we can offer. Even though they've been suffering from a drought for so long and they themselves have hardly anything to eat, we still want to save the best for Pei Wu and Jiang Ru.
Before leaving Muxi Village, Jiang Ru used the money to buy some meat and gave it to the village head. After they left, the village head would give the meat to the villagers.
In early May, Pei Wu finished his last lecture at the academy, bid farewell to his teacher, and finally awaited the arrival of the new prefect of Jinzhou.
Coincidentally, this person was someone Pei Wu actually knew.
The new prefect is named Li Mingjing, a former Grand Counselor under the Censorate. He is an upright and straightforward man who despises those who act through connections. He has impeached almost everyone in the court and the country. He even pointed at the Empress Dowager and called her a wicked empress who brought disaster to the country, and pointed at Su Mu and called him a treacherous minister who brought disaster to the country, without caring about his own life at all.
Sometimes he couldn't even stand Song Pingzhang, regardless of Song's higher official rank or his old age. He almost made Song Pingzhang faint from anger before.
But it is precisely because of this man's straightforwardness that he will not engage in deception. He will speak frankly and offer advice if he disagrees with something, and he only cares about whether it can make the Great Xia Dynasty prosperous. If you were to ask who Pei Wu admires, Li Mingjing would be one of them.
Although he was of the same rank as Pei Wu, Pei Wu still waited for him personally outside the government office. As soon as Li Mingjing got off the carriage, he started to complain about everything, saying that Pei Wu was not managing well and that Jinzhou was not prosperous enough.
Hearing his criticism, Jiang Ru also felt a little dissatisfied. She tugged at Pei Wu's sleeve and whispered, "Was he demoted because he was too blunt?"
He was doing well in the capital, but was suddenly transferred to Jinzhou, which was obviously a demotion, but this matter could not be said openly.
Pei Wu gestured for Jiang Ru to be quiet and whispered, "His hearing is very sharp."
Jiang Ru's words reached Li Mingjing's ears. He knew, of course, that he had been demoted, but in Li Mingjing's eyes, no matter where he was employed, it would not affect his ability to make a name for himself.
He shared the same idea as Pei Wu: there was still much he could do in Jinzhou, and Jinzhou needed reform.
Pei Wu recounted everything that had happened in Jinzhou to Li Mingjing in great detail. Li Mingjing remained critical, praising only the ditches Pei Wu had built, though even that wasn't much of a compliment; he merely said, "They're quite clever."
Jiang Ru glared at him several times for his sharp and sarcastic remarks. She had a bad impression of him from the very first meeting, especially since he had to insult Pei Wu of all people.
Pei Wu had a good temper and remained calm throughout, never getting angry no matter what he said, but Jiang Ru did get angry.
Jiang Ru was still fuming when Li Mingjing turned around, a half-smile on his face: "Lord Pei, your wife seems to be quite dissatisfied with me."
Pei Wu: "What?"
Jiang Ru: Ha!
Li Mingjing then said sarcastically, "Since you are not my wife, why are you glaring at me like that? I'm not cursing your husband."
Jiang Ru was immediately silenced by those words, and she pointed angrily at Li Mingjing: "You..."
She was furious. Pei Wu stepped to the right and stood in front of her. His tone was calm, but it seemed to hide a sharp edge: "If Lord Li is so picky, why bother coming to my Jinzhou? Wouldn't it be better to stay in the capital and be a good remonstrating official?"
In a sharp exchange, Li Mingjing, having been hit where it hurt, glared at Pei Wu for a while without saying a word, then sneered, "Now that Lord Pei has shown me around, you can prepare to leave. After all, I am the new prefect of Jinzhou."
Jiang Ru had only one thought: no wonder he was demoted.
She decided not to argue with the fool, tugged at Pei Wu's sleeve, and before leaving, she gave Li Mingjing a sarcastic remark: "Lord Li had better do a better job than Pei Wu, otherwise you'd better resign and go home as soon as possible."
After saying that, Jiang Ru angrily pulled Pei Wu into the carriage.
Their carriage had plenty of dry rations, mostly made by Aunt Li and Aunt Zhang, and also by Pei Wu's aunt, enough for them to eat all the way to Bianjing.
After leaving the government office, Jiang Ru discovered that the long road was lined with people; almost all the people of Jinzhou had come, carrying their own treasures, all wanting to offer them to Pei Wu.
Pei Wu politely declined, but he couldn't resist the enthusiastic crowd. Many people crowded around the carriage, filling every available space. Some even passed chickens into the carriage from outside the curtains. In the blink of an eye, Jiang Ru had a chicken stuffed into her hand.
A proud rooster.
Jiang Ru, holding the heavy, sturdy chicken, blinked blankly at Pei Wu: "Whose is this?"
Pei Wu was also bewildered: "I don't know."
Seeing that Jiang Ru was having difficulty holding the chicken, he reached out and took the chicken from her. However, as soon as the chicken was in Pei Wu's hands, it flapped its feathers and struggled. Pei Wu tried to hold it down but was flustered and didn't know whether to press its wings or its claws first. In an instant, feathers flew everywhere in the carriage, and chickens and dogs ran wild.
Jiang Ru quickly took the chicken from her. This chicken was good at changing its tune, and once it was in Jiang Ru's hands, it obediently stopped making a fuss.
Pei Wu was quite troubled. He plucked the chicken feathers off his clothes and, seeing how well-behaved the chicken was with Jiang Ru, asked in bewilderment, "Why is he so fierce to me?"
The chicken, which had been put down, glared at Jiang Ru. Jiang Ru poked the chicken's comb and snapped, "If you dare glare at me again..."
The chicken lowered its head meekly.
Jiang Ru turned to look at Pei Wu: "Maybe it's because I'm rather fierce."
Although it was said in jest, Pei Wu still said, "You're not fierce."
Pei Wu always had a soft spot for Jiang Ru, but Jiang Ru was easily swayed by his charm and quickly beamed with joy after a few words from him.
The people lined the streets to see them off. To avoid hurting the people, their carriages traveled very slowly until they left Jinzhou Prefecture. Only then did the number of people on both sides of the road finally decrease.
Pei Wu summoned the constables and ordered them to return all the gifts they had given him. The constables hesitated, saying, "These are all the good intentions of the people."
Pei Wu smiled faintly: "I know, it's precisely because they mean well that I can't accept it."
He doesn't lack these things, but they are very important to the people. Pei Wu said, "Tell them to take them back and use them themselves. As long as they are well, that is the best blessing for me."
The constable had no choice but to comply and carried everything back.
The carriage was empty in no time, with plenty of room for the two of them. Jiang Ru leaned closer to Pei Wu and whispered, "You know, Li Mingjing is so annoying. Will he treat the people of Jinzhou badly? And today, the people came to see you off. Will he retaliate out of jealousy?"
It was clear that Jiang Ru had a very bad impression of Li Mingjing, so Pei Wu explained to her, "I have dealt with him before. Although he is a bit blunt, he is not the kind of narrow-minded person. Seeing this, he will only secretly resolve to surpass my achievements in the future, so there is no need to worry."
Jiang Ru was slightly relieved, but she still didn't have a good impression of Li Mingjing. She curled her lips in disdain and said, "He even made sarcastic remarks about me being your wife. He's really outrageous."
Jiang Ru leaned forward and took out a mirror from her bundle. She forced Pei Wu to move closer to her, their faces touching with a little distance between them, both of their faces reflected in the mirror.
The mirror barely framed both of them. Jiang Ru winked at the mirror and said, "Don't I look like your cousin?"
They don't look alike at all. The only thing they have in common is that they both have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
However, Jiang Ru was unaware of this. She looked at herself in the mirror for a while, becoming more and more satisfied, and said with a smile, "You are handsome and I am beautiful, we are a match made in heaven."
That's not how you use "a perfect match." Pei Wu's lips moved, but he didn't say anything in the end.
However, Jiang Ru belatedly realized that she had said it, but after thinking for a while, she couldn't think of a word to correct him, and Pei Wu didn't notice either, so she just went with the flow and pretended that she hadn't said it.
After more than ten days of bumpy travel, the carriage finally arrived in Bianjing. Jiang Ru, instead of being proper, took up half of the carriage and lay down to rest.
She actually wanted to ask Pei Wu to lie down with her, but Pei Wu refused. He had many rules, so Jiang Ru simply lay down by herself.
After a long and bumpy ride all the way to Bianjing, Jiang Ru's back was aching terribly. She grimaced as she sat up from the carriage. The carriage wasn't tall enough, so they all had to bend over to get off. But Jiang Ru was caught off guard and bumped her head straight into the top of the carriage.
Pei Wu had been watching her the whole time. In the nick of time, Pei Wu reached out and blocked the top of the carriage. Jiang Ru was strong and her head hit her soft palm. But Pei Wu suffered because the back of his hand hit the edge of the carriage, instantly breaking the skin and leaving it bloody and mangled.
Jiang Ru was taken aback and quickly reached out to grab his hand to check it. She was a little annoyed: "Why did you catch it with your hand? How did it get so badly damaged?"
Pei Wu's hand was torn and bleeding. His hand was already thin, and now it was a terrible sight after the impact. Jiang Ru felt a pang of heartache and her own hand ached as well. She lowered her head and blew on the wound a few times, saying, "It's over. I'm really a sinner now."
In her haste, she took Pei Wu's hand to look at it. Xia Xia came over to greet them when they didn't come out for a long time. But when she opened the curtain, she saw the adult and Jiang Xiao Niangzi holding hands, looking at each other's hands with "affection".
Xia was so shocked that she covered her mouth, not knowing how to react for a moment, until Jiang Ru carefully took Pei Wu's hand and asked, "Xia, do you have any wound medicine?"
Even from halfway across the carriage, Xia saw the blood on Pei Wu's hand. She only paused for a moment before quickly nodding, "I'll go get it right away."
She ran out of the carriage and exaggeratedly shouted to everyone, "Lord Pei is injured! Quickly, fetch a doctor!"
The group was in complete disarray, running around busily, and even Pei Wu's repeated insistence that there was no need to call a doctor was completely ignored.
A moment later, everyone looked at the wound on Pei Wu's hand and asked, "Is this wound really life-threatening?"
Xiao Zhu hesitated, then said, "Perhaps there's poison in this wound?"
Pei Wu said helplessly, "I told you before that it was fine, but nobody listened to me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Ru immediately said, "It's not a problem anymore. It's so deep that you can see the bone. If we don't call a doctor soon, the wound will get worse."
Actually, the injury only looks serious. I rinsed it with water earlier and it's already much better. It's just a small cut on the back of my hand, not a big wound, let alone one that's deep enough to expose the bone.
Jiang Ru glanced at him briefly before quickly looking away. She squatted down and looked up at Pei Wu, saying, "I'm so sorry, I hurt you."
Pei Wu was about to reassure her that he was alright, but Xiao Fang returned with the doctor, so he had to stop talking for the time being.
After examining Pei Wu's injuries, the doctor hesitated for a moment before asking, "May I ask if you have any other wounds, sir?"
Pei Wu shook his head.
The doctor hesitated and said, "Just sprinkle some wound medicine on it."
Jiang Ru said, "Let's bandage it up."
Doctor: "This needs to be bandaged."
Jiang Ru nodded solemnly: "Let's wrap it up."
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