Chapter 11 Reunion
At first, Wen Youqing waited anxiously, but four or five months passed, and there was no movement from the aristocratic families. There was also no movement from the cannibalistic cult, no missing people in the city, and no new wealthy people appeared.
Wen Youqing was no longer nervous and started to busy herself around Xunyang City again.
Fortunately, there had been plenty of rain this summer, and the gauze had indeed shown some effectiveness. Many weeds had grown on the ground in the city. Wen Youqing quickly used the money from the government office to buy some easy-to-grow grass and trees.
They were all tree species she'd planted in Ant Forest in her previous life. While quite a few had died, at least about 50 to 60 percent had survived, which was considered some success. She'd even found shriveled potato bulbs among the cargo from Southeast Asia; she wondered if they could be grown.
At first, the people did not understand, and some even deliberately damaged the trees, cursing them. They simply did not have enough to eat, so how could they have the mood to plant trees?
Wen Youqing was not afraid either. She acted like a lady from a noble family and said that the property was the personal property of the governor. Once she caught one, she took people to smash their house.
After two or three, no one dared to speak anymore. Whether they were angry but not vocal, or truly convinced, Wen Youqing didn't care. She just wanted to plant trees, dig wells, and take a good bath.
A hot bath in the cold winter is extremely rare. As soon as Wen Youqing came out of the bath, she was wrapped tightly in a big cotton blanket.
A helpless voice came from outside the quilt: "If your hair can't be dried, at least wrap it in a headscarf."
"Sister-in-law, I'm here to eat." A second voice came from outside the cotton blanket, trying to hold back laughter. "Water lily, Brother Shen, please feast your eyes on me."
"Get lost." The usually calm man cursed for once. "You just come here to eat every day. Don't you have anything else to do?"
Wen Youqing was used to it. He pulled back the blanket to reveal his face and said with a smile, "A little yellow sheep froze to death on the road today. I'm stewing it now. You can eat it right away."
Wang Rong felt embarrassed when he saw Wen Youqing's frankness. He turned to look at the charcoal stove in front of him and said, "It's too cold, too cold. Go clean your hair first."
After the others left, Wang Rong breathed a sigh of relief. He was spotted by Shen Zijie, who had returned and laughed heartily at him. "You're just trying to be a hero. You've been humiliated by your sister-in-law a few times, and you still don't believe it."
Wang Rong wrinkled his nose, not having any basis for this topic, and said, "Someone from the Cui family is here."
"What position? Governor? Or prefect? Or do you want to replace me?" Shen Zijie didn't care and ordered the maid to set the table.
"Serve as a libation priest."
"Such a small position?" Shen Zijie frowned. "When did the Cui family change their ways? They're not trying to secretly take some of the military power from you?"
"Cui Junji came in person." Wang Rong's voice grew increasingly unsettled as he spoke. "He was previously close friends with the Crown Prince and even married the daughter of the Longxi Li family. Given his family's temperament, he should have been offered a position in the Ministry of Revenue within the palace. Who would have thought he'd end up here?"
"Does he... know something?" Shen Zijie frowned and couldn't help but think of the worst.
"Hey, maybe it's for his missing cousin." Wang Rong said this himself, curled his lips in disbelief, and asked the most promising young man in the family to come to a remote place to find a guard dog.
How is that possible?
"What are you talking about?" Wen Youqing, dressed up, pushed the door open and quickly warmed her hands on the pot.
"Your ex-fiancé is coming." Shen Zijie didn't hide, and reached out to hold Wen Youqing's cold hand naturally.
Before she knew who it was, Wen Youqing instinctively retorted, "Your ex-fiancé."
After saying that, Shen Zijie looked at Wen Youqing who hadn't noticed yet, lowered his eyes and said nothing more.
Wang Rong indeed thought that there was something wrong between the couple, so he laughed it off and said, "Hey, why bother talking about irrelevant people? Let's eat."
A few days went by like this, and it was really the coldest day of the year. The north wind wrapped in fine snow hit the window frames. Wen Youqing was so cold that he huddled beside the charcoal stove, holding the hand warmer tightly, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the raised twined branches on the gilded stove wall.
"Young Madam, at the west corner gate..." Si Shi came running in in a panic, "There's a frozen person lying in the snow. It looks like... Please go and take a look."
Something must be causing trouble for Si Shi to panic like this. Wen Youqing wrapped herself in her cloak and walked out.
Seeing the large snowdrifts on the ground, Wen Youqing knew they were most likely the remains of someone who had frozen to death. Having seen them so often, she wasn't afraid anymore and walked over to poke the snow off them with a stick.
Wisps of white mist were blown away in the wind and snow, and a face that made her extremely disgusted appeared in front of her - who else could it be but Cui Junji?
Without hesitation, Wen Youqing restored herself to her previous state. Her anxiety was so intense that the hand warmer scattered all over the floor, and the crimson flame instantly went out in the snow. She even shoveled a few handfuls of snow onto the ground and said to Si Shi, "Throw it out of the city, and throw a few pieces of raw meat with it. The farther away, the better."
Si Shi was a little hesitant.
"Didn't you hear me?" Wen Youqing rarely acted like a young lady. She walked over the charcoal ash and headed towards the inner courtyard. Her embroidered shoes left long trails on the snow, as if she was wiping away something dirty.
The unbearable things in the capital city surged in his mind - Cui Junji's arrogance when he broke off the engagement in public, the targeting of various people, the red envelopes with the fortune-telling horoscopes that spread throughout the streets and alleys of the Cui Mansion...
Wen Youqing suddenly stopped in front of the Moon Cave Gate, staring at the gray smoke rising from the west corner gate. By this time, the servants should be adding charcoal to the earth dragon. In another half hour, Cui Junji's blood would have congealed into ice.
A sneer appeared unconsciously on his lips: "Using sheep's blood, it's smelly enough to attract wolves."
The heavy snow blocked the road today, and Shen Zijie came back much later than usual. When Wen Youqing was about to send someone out to ask again, there was a noise coming from the front yard.
"Go get a doctor." Shen Zijie's voice suddenly came clearly.
A bad premonition instantly hit Wen Youqing. She suddenly stood up and went out. She saw her husband walking in the snow wearing a black cloak, his eyes shining coldly in the snow.
Holding a bloody person in his arms.
After entering the house, Shen Zijie squatted down to check Cui Junji's pulse, then pulled off his clothes. "Go get some white wine!" He said as he ripped open Cui Junji's shirt, folded his hands, and pressed his chest, his movements as standard as a model used in hospital first aid training.
Wen Youqing looked at her husband's hand pressing on the pale body in disbelief, and only came back to her senses when Shen Zijie shouted for the second time: "You..."
"Yes, I am." There were no other words, everything was clear, but the person involved didn't have time to dwell on it, and said quickly: "If the Cui family lost two people in Xunyang, we would definitely not be able to rest in peace."
Upon hearing this, Wen Youqing immediately ran to get some liquor, throwing away everything from this era, and smeared the liquor on Cui Junji, who was almost naked and stiff, to warm him up.
CPR was complete, the alcohol was applied, and the man finally regained some body temperature. She took out some medicine and poured it on the wounds, big and small. She felt an inexplicable joy in her heart. She had saved not this old corpse, but her own heart. Unconsciously, she began to hum a song.
After everything was done, Wen Youqing sat down in front of the bed with sweat all over his head, but his eyes were full of hope like flames.
She had never looked at Shen Zijie so seriously before, but unexpectedly, tears started to flow as soon as she opened her mouth.
Shen Zijie's back froze as he washed his hands. He washed his hands thoroughly before handing the clean handkerchief to Wen Youqing. "It's a good thing."
Yes, in this absurd world, it is a good thing, a very good thing, that she is no longer alone.
But when Wen Youqing looked down and landed on Cui Junji's still pale lips, all the grievances she had suffered before suddenly surged in her throat, lingering awkwardly, and finally she cried out "wow".
—
Cui Junji woke up at midnight.
Cui Junji's pupils suddenly contracted when he woke up. He subconsciously touched the sword at his waist. The wound on his abdomen tore as he moved, and the severe pain made him fall back onto the bed.
The guard heard the noise and immediately went to call Shen Zijie. Shen Zijie hurriedly helped the alert Cui Junji back to bed and said, "We'll talk about what happened later. Now you must recover from your illness. You are in my mansion now, there is nothing to worry about."
Cui Junji and Shen Zijie were not familiar with each other, having only met a few times, so he was naturally on guard. He had originally thought he would die at the hands of those assassins, or freeze to death in the snow, but he hadn't expected...
After weighing it over in his mind for a while, Cui Junji finally lay down and said earnestly, "Thank you, Brother Shen, for saving my life."
"You're welcome. If my wife hadn't found you, you would have been in great danger." Chen Zijie pushed the credit away and gave all the credit to Wen Youqing.
Wen Youqing frowned as he pushed the door open, put down the hot porridge, and after paying his respects, he looked at Shen Zijie who was explaining to Cui Junji, and acknowledged his "merit" of saving Cui Junji.
Hearing this, the frail Cui Junji sat up again, bowed earnestly to Wen Youqing, and said, "Thank you, Madam Shen."
Wen Youqing was deeply offended by these words. It was as if they were deliberately emphasizing the word "severe," trying to imprint it firmly on her. She returned the greeting, "Master Cui, there's no need to be polite. It was my husband who carried you to the carriage and fed you the medicine. I was just being quick-eyed."
Cui Junji was stunned for a moment after hearing these words. He didn't have the impression that Wen Youqing was such a sharp-tongued person. Just as he was about to subconsciously lighten the mood, he saw Wen Youqing quietly kicking Shen Zijie.
Shen Zijie immediately said, "Brother Cui has just recovered and needs to recuperate. My wife and I will not disturb him any further. Let him take care of himself first. There will be plenty of time to catch up."
As soon as they got home and entered the second door, Wen Youqing pushed Shen Zijie hard and pushed him against the door. The servant didn't dare to stay any longer and quickly retreated.
Wen Youqing immediately scolded him, "Don't you know what kind of relationship he and I have? He almost killed me! It's fine for you to save him, but leave me out of it!"
After taking a few deep breaths, Wen Youqing continued, "Are you crazy? Are you mentally ill?"
"you……"
"What are you doing? You're farting!"
"Do you want to go back?" Shen Zijie suddenly asked.
"Back where?" Wen Youqing thought he was talking about returning to the capital, and she became even angrier. Regardless of the joy of recognizing her "relatives" just now, she rolled up her sleeves.
"Our world."
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