Chapter 83: The Gathering of Heroes - The Mother-in-Law Group Goes Offline
"If this is what you mean by being good to me, then so be it."
A sense of powerlessness welled up from the bottom of Li Yang's heart, instantly spreading to every part of her body. Suddenly she felt...so tired. He was right. She suddenly didn't want it anymore.
Having said what needed to be said, Li Yang lay back down, pulled the blanket over herself, and as she closed her eyes, tears streamed down her nose and fell to the corner of her other eye, wetting her eyelashes.
A sudden chill swept over her, and she instinctively shrank her neck, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.
"What's the meaning?"
Chen Junbo hung his head for a long time, hoping she would lose her temper and the matter would be over. But instead, he received this response: "So be it?"
"Zhaozhao, what do you mean by that?"
Li Yang was turned around by him, his wound hitting the bed board. He frowned in discomfort, but bit his lip and refused to speak.
Chen Junbo seemed to have run out of patience. "My mother has already been taken away by my maternal grandfather. This kind of thing will never happen again. What else do you want? Tell me, and I will take care of everything."
"Chen Junbo, that's enough." Li Yang coldly looked at the person in front of him, carefully examining this person who was once very close but is now a complete stranger.
He seemed oblivious to the fact that this wasn't official business; she had nearly lost her life today. What use was the money he'd given her if she was about to die?
Thinking of this, Li Yang found the conversation rather boring and turned to face the inside of the tent, but someone stubbornly pressed down on his shoulder, saying, "That doesn't count."
“No, Zhaozhao, we can talk about it and make things clear. If you’re angry, you can take it out on me instead of staying silent.”
Chen Junbo sensed the weariness Li Yang felt towards their relationship. He felt a secret sense of relief; before this, she had been attentive and had expectations. But then he felt disheartened, as it seemed that each time it was she who wanted to give up.
It seemed that between the two of them, he was always the one making the effort, taking steps to get closer to her. She, on the other hand, remained quietly in place, acting as the judge, calmly choosing whether to keep him or not.
When Mingming was in Gao County, she came to visit him in person. At that time, he thought that his Zhaozhao had finally grown up and would finally miss him. Who knew that as soon as the Flower Bureau incident happened, she never came again.
Now, she can say "never mind" with ease.
What does "forget it" mean?
He was always the one who "let it go" with others; he wouldn't allow her to so easily barge into his life and then so easily walk away.
“It hurts…” Li Yang suddenly frowned, the wound on his buttocks seemed to be torn open due to the pressure and the pulling of turning over. “Chen Junbo, let go, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Junbo abruptly released his grip, and upon lifting the blankets, he saw bloodstains seeping onto the sheets. "Call a doctor, go call a doctor quickly."
The doctor came over and immediately started scolding Li Yang when he saw the open wound on her body. "Are you out of your mind? Why are you running around like this? If this wound keeps opening and getting infected, we'll have to cut out the flesh and clean the wound. You'll behave yourself then, won't you? Seriously, a girl like you can't stay in bed all the time."
The two people inside the room awkwardly continued to berate him.
When Chen Junbai met Li Yang's cold gaze, his face stiffened. He stuffed a sum of money into the doctor's hand, and the old doctor said again, "Alright, change the medicine now. You can't get out of bed anymore. You have to lie down for ten days to a month, no, half a month, until the new flesh of the wound has healed."
Upon hearing this, Li Yang turned over, leaving only his back view.
After seeing the doctor off, Chen Junbo stopped bothering her. After setting up the screen, he heard footsteps coming and going, accompanied by the sounds of heavy objects being moved in and out of the main house.
After a long while, when the commotion subsided, Li Yang quietly turned over and looked through the embroidered screen. The carved round table in the main room had been removed and replaced with Chen Junbai's study desk. The stack of documents on one side concealed the young master Chen's official business in a dignified manner.
Was he going to handle official business in the main house? Was he afraid she would run away?
Why bother?
Feeling agitated, Li Yang simply turned over and refused to look anymore; out of sight, out of mind.
For the next ten days or so, the two of them stayed in the same room without saying a word, living together in a familiar yet distant way.
Every day, Chen Junbo personally brought her three meals of herbal medicine to the bedside table, watched her finish, and then silently cleaned up the mess before tucking her in and returning to his desk to work on documents.
After he did that, Li Yang couldn't say anything.
After much pleading and cajoling from Young Master Chen, she actually softened a little. She had witnessed how this young master had gone from spilling soup even when carrying a tray to becoming skilled at everything.
Li Yang sighed inwardly, and several times he was tempted to say, "Chen Junbo, why bother?"
But humans aren't plants or trees; how can they be without feelings? That's just her nature. She remembers every bit of kindness others show her. Over the past few days, she's done everything herself—preparing medicine, serving meals, bringing tea and water—doing it all herself. Little by little, these actions have accumulated into a dense collection of memories.
Watching Young Master Chen humble himself and cook for her, her fading disappointment, combined with the little things they did together every day, made Li Yang momentarily confused. It's not that he doesn't care about me; perhaps I'm just being too sensitive.
Gradually, she would peek out from her sleep to listen to the conversations outside. Bi Fang would come to report on official business to Chen Junbo every day, and the two of them made no attempt to hide it from her.
The emperor's southern tour involved a great deal of matters, and Chen Junbai inquired about every detail. As soon as he left, Li Yang saw him sitting at his desk, gently stroking his brow, through the embroidered screen.
As she looked at it, she couldn't help but sigh and softly said, "Chen Junbo, I want to drink some water."
"What?" Chen Junbo suddenly turned his head to look at the embroidered screen. "Drink water, okay, drink water."
As the glasses clinked, Mr. Chen's hands trembled slightly. This was the first thing Zhao Zhao had said to him in over ten days.
"The doctor said that you're bedridden all day and your body is weak, so you should drink more hot soup. Green tea is cooling, so I've had someone prepare some roasted wheat kernels for you. Would you like some?"
Li Yang: "Okay."
"Okay, okay." Chen Junbai took out the roasted wheat kernels from the celadon jar, put them into the pot, lit the match, and then poured in water to brew tea. "Zhaozhao, wait a moment, it will be ready soon."
Li Yang: "No rush."
"Okay." She was actually willing to talk to him now. He had tried to test her repeatedly, and she had responded to every question. This unbearable cold war was finally over. Chen Junbai was overjoyed. He was even a little afraid to look at her, fearing that their warm conversation just now was nothing but a mirage.
By the time he brought the tea inside, Li Yang had already propped herself up on her arms and sat up. Chen Junbo handed her the tea and took a soft cushion from the foot of the bed so she could lean against it to prevent her wound from reopening.
Then, he quietly looked at the young woman in front of him, "Zhao Zhao, I..." He had so much to say, but he didn't know where to begin.
“I haven’t forgiven you yet,” Li Yang suddenly said.
Chen Junbo suddenly looked up at her, only to see Li Yang's eyes soften and her lips curving into the sweetest smile in the world.
"Okay, okay, I won't forgive you." Chen Junbo rubbed his hands together, then smiled, a hint of excitement on his face.
Li Yang turned her head slightly, her eyes sparkling with a captivating charm, and said, "Are you stupid?"
Their eyes met, and they burst out laughing. Li Yang lowered her gaze and gently blew on her teacup before taking a few sips. Chen Junbo, on the other hand, kept pulling her blanket up and folding it back, busying himself for a while until the blanket was back in its original place.
"Is His Majesty's southern tour a major headache?" She asked, holding a teacup that rested on the brocade quilt.
Chen Junbo didn't want to bother her with these trivial matters. "It's nothing, and it's not the first time. Bi Fang is too cautious. He always needs my approval for everything, no matter how small. Mr. Zheng and the others had already finalized most of the itinerary. Now, only the lunch banquet needs to be decided."
"A banquet? It's hard to decide?" Li Yang was curious. After all, the ingredients in Songshan Town were usually more abundant than those in the north. Why was Chen Junbo having such a problem?
Seeing her interest, Chen Junbo explained, "His Majesty usually eats according to Mongolian customs, but he has a penchant for novelty and also has a particular fondness for the cuisine of Jiangnan."
Therefore, this banquet needs to take into account the tastes of foreigners and also needs to have the characteristics of Jiangnan, which is a challenge.
Furthermore, it's inconvenient to serve dishes that have already appeared during the previous southern tour, as His Majesty always seeks something new and exciting on each southern tour; this presents two difficulties.
"I see." Li Yang pondered to himself. The first problem was easy to solve, but the difficulty lay in the fact that he had already submitted a report during the last southern tour, and this report had to surpass the previous one. "Do you have the previous banquet records?"
Chen Junbo had no doubts. "Yes." He immediately got up and pulled out the banquet booklet from the previous southern tour from a pile of documents and handed it to her.
After glancing at the booklet, Li Yang didn't rush to answer but instead asked, "How many days did it take His Majesty to travel all the way from the south to here?"
Although Chen Junbo was puzzled by her question, he still answered seriously, "We will travel by water without stopping. This is the first stop of the southern tour, which will take about two months."
"The menu for the last banquet mostly featured Jiangnan specialties. Look, this braised eel with sizzling oil, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, and scallops are mostly imported goods..."
Chen Junbo leaned over to take a look and found it to be true. Then he heard her say, "But there aren't that many waterways on the grasslands, so these dishes are probably more novel than delicious."
Chen Junbo couldn't help but nod. He hadn't expected her to come up with any ideas before, but now, listening to her explain in detail, he found it all very convincing.
Li Yang's dark eyes shone brightly, and her dimples flashed as she looked at him and said, "Chen Junbai, do you have a way to gather special recipes from all over the world? Home-style dishes are fine. I think we might be able to present His Majesty with a feast of heroes."
When I lived in the back mountains, my mother would get tired of the usual dishes and would pester my father to come up with some sour and spicy dishes from the south to treat her. Occasionally trying dishes from different places would whet my appetite, and even the usual dishes would taste better.
This gathering of culinary talents features dishes prepared with local specialties from all over Daqing, encompassing a wide range of flavors—sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and savory. This would allow His Majesty to experience the joys and sorrows of the people of the world right here in Songshan. What do you think of this idea?”
That's a brilliant idea.
The salt merchants and officials discussed for a long time, but the only options were shark fin and sea cucumber. Li Yang's idea might indeed catch the eye of the emperor, who was used to delicacies from land and sea. After a moment's thought, Chen Junbai immediately arranged for people to carry it out.
Since there's still plenty of time, we can test whether this gathering of talents is feasible.
After watching him finish explaining everything and then turn back behind the screen, Li Yang stretched lazily and said, "General Manager Chen, when will the doctor's ban be lifted? I'm really getting moldy from lying here."
The man smiled and said, "Let's wait another day. The doctor will come to check on you tomorrow. If you've recovered, you can go out."
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