Chapter 107 From now on, if anyone dares to slander you again, I will not let them get away with it.
The Emperor also personally wrote a comment on the back: "The women of the Su family possess a benevolent heart and a desire to save the world; this book should be passed down through generations!"
When the news reached the capital, people cursed those who spread rumors, and the female doctor's clinic's business returned to its booming state. Pei Zhi hung Su Wan's manuscript and the book with its postscript in the clinic, and the patients who came for treatment couldn't help but praise it.
Ye Wanning looked at the manuscripts and medical books on the wall, and then at Pei Zhi's postscript, tears streaming down her face. She rushed to Pei Zhi's side and hugged him tightly: "Thank you, Pei Zhi. I really don't know what I would have done without you."
"Silly girl, don't thank me." Pei Zhi patted her shoulder. "Protecting you and your mother's hard work is what I should do. If anyone dares to slander you again, I won't let them get away with it!"
The villagers in the courtyard applauded and cheered.
"Miss Ye, General Pei, you two are truly a match made in heaven!"
"Miss Ye's medical books are valuable; we all trust you!"
...
The full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival bathed the courtyard of Ci'an Hall in a silvery glow. On the stone table were flour, red bean paste, maltose, and osmanthus filling that the children were clamoring to buy, filling the air with a sweet fragrance.
Ye Wanning had just finished cleaning the steamer when Pei Zhi came in carrying a food box, followed by Xiaodouzi and Xiaohua, who were hopping around.
"Sister Wanning! We brought freshly ground flour!" Little Bean held up a cloth bag, spilling flour all the way. "Brother Pei said that mooncakes made with fresh flour are softer!"
Pei Zhi chuckled, patting the flour off his clothes. "I just got these from the mill; they're still warm." He placed the food box on the table; inside were freshly bought salted egg yolks. "Knowing you like a sweet and salty flavor, I bought extra."
Ye Wanning smiled and nodded, picking up the basin and pouring flour: "The children have been looking forward to making mooncakes for a long time. Yesterday they were talking about drawing tigers on the mooncakes."
“Draw a tiger? Leave it to me!” Pei Zhi rolled up his sleeves and volunteered. “My tiger drawing will definitely be more lifelike than Xiao Douzi’s.”
"No way! Brother Pei's tiger looks like a cat!" Little Bean said, hands on her hips, unconvinced.
The children burst into laughter. Ye Wanning began kneading the dough, while Pei Zhi helped by adding water.
"Add it slowly, or the dough will become too runny," she reminded him, kneading the dough until it was smooth and even.
Pei Zhi nodded, but didn't control the amount properly, adding half a ladle of water with a "whoosh," instantly turning the flour into a thin paste. "Oops!" He hurriedly added more flour, but ended up adding more and more, eventually kneading out a hard dough that was heavier than a stone.
"Brother Pei, are you making stone pancakes?" Xiao Hua covered her mouth and laughed, her eyes curving like crescent moons.
Ye Wanning couldn't help but laugh and took the dough from his hand: "Let me do it, you can take care of the filling."
Pei Zhi scratched his head awkwardly, picked up a small piece of dough, rolled it into a thin wrapper, and scooped in a spoonful of maltose red bean paste. There was too much filling, and the red bean paste leaked out between his fingers as soon as he squeezed it, getting all over his hands. He tried to rub it on himself, but Ye Wanning caught him red-handed: "Don't rub it, we still need to bake mooncakes later."
The children were laughing so hard they were rolling on the floor. Little Bean held up the little mooncake she had made: "Brother Pei, look at mine, it's rounder than yours!"
After finally managing to put all the mooncakes into the baking pan, Pei Zhi volunteered to build the stove and start a fire. He squatted in front of the stove, puffing out his cheeks and blowing air into the fire pit, getting soot all over his face, making him look like a little tabby cat.
Ye Wanning walked over, took out a handkerchief and wiped his face: "Be careful, don't burn your hands."
"It's alright, I'm a general, starting a fire is no problem for me." Pei Zhi straightened his back, but the next second he was choked by the smoke and coughed, and the children laughed even harder.
The mooncakes were baked, and as soon as the oven door was opened, the whole house was filled with their delicious aroma. But when Pei Zhi reached for the mooncakes he had made, his face fell immediately—his mooncakes had all collapsed because the dough was too soft, lying there crookedly, and two of them had cracked, revealing the red bean paste inside. Compared to Ye Wanning's round and plump mooncakes, they were worlds apart.
"Hahaha! Brother Pei's mooncake collapsed!" Little Bean laughed, slapping the table. "It looks like a flattened bun!"
Pei Zhi's ears turned red, but he picked up a flat mooncake, wiped off the dust, and brought it to Ye Wanning's lips: "Although it's a bit ugly, I put in your favorite maltose. I put in half a spoonful."
Ye Wanning took a bite, her mouth filled with the sweet aroma of maltose, and her heart trembled with warmth. Looking at Pei Zhi's anxious eyes, she smiled and said, "It's delicious, even better than the round ones!"
"Really?" Pei Zhi's eyes lit up, and he picked one up and took a bite, but then frowned. "It's a bit hard."
"Because you added too much water when you kneaded the dough, and then added too much flour." Ye Wanning wiped the red bean paste from the corner of his mouth. "It's okay, the thought is what matters most."
The children also picked up the collapsed mooncakes and ate them heartily:
"Delicious! It's so sweet!"
"Brother Pei's mooncakes are the best!"
Pei Zhi watched the children wolf down their food, and then looked at Ye Wanning's gentle smile, his heart filled with warmth. He sat on the stone bench, pulled Ye Wanning to his side, and pointed to the full moon in the sky: "Look, the moon is so round tonight."
"Mmm." Ye Wanning leaned against him, holding half a collapsed mooncake in her hand. "Back in the Ye family, we could only eat half a cold mooncake during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It's not as good as it is now—with so many people around, and you making this collapsed mooncake."
Pei Zhi held her hand tightly, his eyes full of determination: "From now on, I will make mooncakes with you every Mid-Autumn Festival. Even if they always collapse, I will still put plenty of maltose in them."
...
The night before Pei Zhi set off for the campaign, the general's mansion was lit all night. Ye Wanning sat by the window, a piece of red brocade in her hand, her silver needle flying up and down as she embroidered a small tiger amulet. The candlelight flickered, illuminating her focused profile and the fine beads of sweat on her forehead.
"Miss, you've been embroidering for three hours already, take a break." Chun Tao brought in ginseng tea and a hand warmer. "The general isn't leaving until tomorrow, there's still time."
“It’s alright, I want to finish embroidering it before he leaves.” Ye Wanning shook her head, her fingers moving up and down incessantly. “This protective talisman needs to be embroidered tightly to be effective and to protect him.”
She recalled Pei Zhi's death on the battlefield in her past life, and her heart ached as if pierced by needles. In this life, she was determined to protect him, and even if it was just a small protective charm, she would do her utmost to do so.
Embroidering until dawn, the protective amulet was finally almost finished. Ye Wanning looked at the little tiger in the center of the amulet and suddenly remembered her mother saying that mixing one's own hair into the silk thread would make the amulet more spiritual. So she picked up a pair of scissors, secretly cut a strand of her hair, mixed it into the silver thread, and embroidered it on the back of the protective amulet.
The black hair and silver thread were intertwined, hidden among the dense stitches, almost invisible unless you looked closely. Ye Wanning put the protective talisman into the brocade pouch before letting out a sigh of relief.
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