Chapter 340: The Strange Incident at the City Gate
"Mom..." Ergou wanted to explain eagerly.
"He exchanged it for his filial piety. Besides that, what else does he have?" Su Qianqian said calmly and walked towards the woman.
He took out something like a small snuff bottle from his arms, asked Ergou to help his mother sit up and lean forward slightly, opened the lid and let her smell it, and soon the woman's breathing became less difficult.
He took out another pill and asked Ergou to feed it to his mother. The color of the woman's lips gradually became lighter and was no longer purple.
The woman thanked him repeatedly on the bed with tears in her eyes. Ergou also knelt down and kowtowed to Su Qianqian: "Young Master, I will definitely repay you for your great kindness!"
"Although the emergency has been cured, you still need to take medicine in the future, especially in winter, you must not catch a cold..."
Su Qianqian said this and looked at the surrounding environment, sighing softly. It turned out that emergency relief could not cure poverty.
What poor people fear most is getting sick. Once they get sick, most of them have no money to treat it. Like Ergou's family, they spent all their savings, and in the end they could not escape death.
Not to mention in this era of backward medical care, even in the era when she lived, it was not uncommon for people to lose everything and everything due to illness.
"These medicines are enough to cure your mother's illness. There is also some silver. We can buy some winter clothes and charcoal to help her get through this winter. When her body recovers, she will not suffer from the same illness again next year."
Su Qianqian took out the medicine and a piece of silver, placed them on the broken leg table, and prepared to leave.
"Sir, I said I found the person you were looking for..."
Ergou looked at the medicine and silver on the table, gritted his teeth, turned around and said to his father:
"Dad, this young master wants to write an article, and I want to hear you talk about... the interesting things you saw at the city gate that year. Dad, the young master has done a favor to our family, and I will accept it even if he loses his head!"
Ergou's father glanced at the woman, and they both sighed after looking at each other.
"If you are embarrassed, don't force yourself. It's just an article. It's no big deal if you don't write it."
Su Qianqian waved her hand, signaling Qin Hanzhang to leave.
"Sir, I have always liked to listen to gossip and chat with others. It makes my life less miserable. Since you have come here today, I will tell you a little bit. I will just do my best to show my shamelessness."
Ergou's father stopped Su Qianqian with his hand, looked at Qin Hanzhang carefully, shook his head and sighed.
Jiang Baipin and his people, as well as Qin San and the others were all outside. Only Ergou's family, Qin Hanzhang and Su Qianqian were in the room.
Ergou brought them two small stools that were barely big enough to sit on, wiped them carefully and asked them to sit down, then Ergou's father began his story.
“My lord, what you’re asking is, before the war nine years ago, what strange things happened in Jinning?
The young master is a wonderful person. No one has ever asked about it for so many years. I was so scared that I kept it a secret. I repeatedly told my wife and children not to mention it. In the end, no one asked about it. I thought it was just a dream..."
Ergou's father narrowed his eyes and recalled the past. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes became deeper on his dark face.
"Just think of it as a dream, my lord, listen to some stories!"
"When the army goes to the northern border, they will pass through Jinning, but they will never enter the city. I have only had the honor of meeting the Marquis once. He is truly mighty..."
Ergou's father looked at Qin Hanzhang, and there was a gleam in his dull eyes.
"Due to the war in those years, messengers and couriers delivering urgent messages were constantly passing through Tianjin and Ningxia day and night. No one wanted to guard the city gate, so I was sent there. Although I was not a gatekeeper, I guarded the city gate longer than the gatekeepers."
"The first strange thing I encountered was when Duke Xuan was transporting grain and grass to the northern border. When passing through Jinning, the Zhu Mansion naturally comforted the soldiers brought by Duke Xuan. However, those soldiers vomited and had diarrhea after eating the food sent by the Zhu Mansion, and they were delayed for five days before they could set off!"
Qin Hanzhang had a serious look on his face. He knew best the importance of food and fodder during wartime. If it was during the cold winter season and the news was already delayed and the supply of food and fodder was further delayed, the army might be unable to fight in five days.
"At that time, I saw Duke Xuan from afar, and I was worried as I left the city and headed north.
When he came back two months later, Duke Xuan stayed in Zhu's house for a long time and even left the city at night to go to Yunhe Mountain. He did not ride a horse but a carriage, and there was definitely more than one person in the carriage..."
Su Qianqian and Qin Hanzhang looked at each other. This incident showed that from then on, Duke Xuan had been connected with Yunheshan’s private soldiers.
"The second strange thing that happened to me was when news of great victories came back from the northern border.
The city gate officer's wife gave birth that day. He already had two daughters and had been hoping to have a son this time, so he asked me to keep watch for him while he slipped back home to wait for his son.
I was in a good mood those days and drank a little wine that night. I didn't expect that at nearly 10 p.m., someone with a badge wanted to enter the city.
I did not dare to be negligent. I opened the city gate and checked the badge. It turned out to be a messenger from the capital. There was a blue mark on the man's hand, which I remembered clearly.
He asked me to use the city gate clerk's seal on the document, but where did I get the seal? He hurriedly sent someone to find the city gate guard.
The man kept shouting and cursing, and kept turning his head to look at the carriage behind him. The person in the carriage must be of prominent status because he never showed up from beginning to end.
The city gate keeper came quickly and gave the messenger his seal with a smile, but the messenger took out two documents.
The gatekeeper took one look and changed his expression, saying: "Your Highness..." Then he was stopped by the messenger, who told him to use the seal quickly as he had to travel overnight. The gatekeeper was embarrassed but dared not disobey, so he used the seal and let him go.
The city gate officer lived in fear every day since that day. Three days later, he died suddenly at home, leaving behind a family of orphans and a widow.
After this incident, news came that Marquis Wuning was defeated at Mount Xumi...
Afterwards, the coffins of the Marquis and the two young masters were carried back to the capital. When they passed by, I secretly went to see them off. At that time, there was a lot of cursing in Jinning City..."
Ergou's father stopped and wiped his face with his sleeve.
"Sir, what I said may be a dream I had after drinking too much. You can take it as anecdotes or as my nonsense. Just listen to it. As for whether it can be used in writing an article, it all depends on luck."
Ergou's father stood up and poured some of the water in the clay pot into the broken bowl. There was no charcoal basin in the room, so the water soon lost its heat in the bowl and he handed it to Ergou's mother to drink.
"My Lord, I have no ability, so I can only tell you some old stories. I have kept them hidden for so many years, and it is too late..."
Ergou's father muttered to himself while holding the broken bowl and sighed.
After returning to the inn from Ergou's house, Su Qianqian and Qin Hanzhang were both silent. The sound of horse hooves was clearer in the night.
"'Prince'... I wonder if the man in the car is the prince, or if there is another meaning? In any case, this 'prince' must be related to the war."
Su Qianqian finally spoke softly.
[My lady, there is one thing that Ergou's father has not told you yet. He once heard a cough coming from the carriage. This is consistent with what Feng Shuangyi said. This person has a prominent status and a cough. Perhaps we can use this to find him. 】
The system suddenly gave a warning.
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