Chapter 680, Growing Crooked
The effect of the imperially bestowed archway was subtle and silent. Anyway, from then on, the Yan family officially entered the sight of court officials and aristocratic families.
Wu Jingyi came in person to pick up the 200,000 stones of medicinal materials, and Yan Zhigao handed them over to him.
"Brother Yan, your family is very kind and righteous!"
After looking through the medicinal materials, Wu Jingyi was so happy to see that all of them were of high quality that he immediately became friends with Yan Zhigao.
Yan Zhigao was very happy about this.
The Yan family rose to prominence late and was very short of personal connections. It was a great thing to be able to establish friendly relations with a first-rank official.
Because he remembered to deliver medicine to the soldiers in the northern border, Wu Jingyi did not stay long. He stayed at Yan's house for one night and then left.
After sending Wu Jingyi away, Yan Zhigao returned to the backyard and saw Madam Li reading the invitation. He asked with a smile, "We have such a big happy event in our family, and Daohua didn't even bother to come and see it?"
After Madam Li put down the invitation and received the imperial memorial archway, she received invitations every day and couldn't even keep up. When she heard her husband mention their daughter, she said with a smile, "That girl is much calmer than us. She said she is busy with work and has no time."
Yan Zhigao asked curiously, "What could she be busy with at this time?"
Madam Li: "I don't know why I suddenly got interested. Some time ago, I picked some smart children from various villages and brought them to Taohua Village. I said I wanted to cultivate some talents."
Hearing this, Yan Zhigao fell silent. His daughter had always been very far-sighted. On the contrary, he, as a father, had been much more negligent.
As the Yan family's status improves, there will indeed be many places where people will be needed in the future.
Especially since my daughter will marry into Prince Ping’s mansion in the future.
Alas, after learning about Grandma Gu and Grandpa Gu’s identities, and after learning that his daughter and Xiao Yeyang had been married, he did not do anything about it.
Thinking about it now, it was really wrong.
After his eldest son returned from his hometown, he had to plan the future development of the Yan family with him.
At the border ferry of Ningmen Prefecture, Dongli had been waiting here early with a boat. When he saw the fleet transporting medicinal materials, he immediately approached.
The transporting officers and soldiers discovered him and wanted to arrest him directly. Dongli quickly took out the guard token and soon saw Wu Jingyi on the deck.
Wu Jingyi silently looked at Dongli for a while: "What's the matter?"
Dongli pointed to the small boat below and said, "I'd like to ask Commander Wu to bring some things to the Northern Frontier."
Wu Jingyi sneered as if he had heard something funny. "Ask me to bring something? Do you know what the fleet is doing? Do you know what obstructing public service is?"
Dong Li thought to himself, of course he knew, he also helped to organize the medicinal herbs on the ship, but he did not show it on his face, just said respectfully: "It was the old man's order."
Wu Jingyi was silent for a long while before he tentatively asked, "Old man? Old man?"
Dongli nodded.
Immediately, the guards on the boat saw Wu Jingyi's expression change. He had a stern face one moment, but a beaming smile the next.
"You should have told me earlier. It's just a small thing. I'll help you."
Seeing the drastic change in attitude of Governor Wu, Dongli couldn't help but twitch his lips: "Then I will go and bring the things up immediately."
Wu Jingyi said considerately: "I'll send someone to help you."
The fleets transporting medicinal herbs were all large ships. After Dongli moved all the things on the ship, they only occupied a corner of the deck.
"Excuse me, Commander Wu." Dongli took out a white porcelain bottle from his arms and handed it to Commander Wu. "This is a thank you gift from the old man."
Governor Wu quickly smiled and said, "It's just a small favor. Why are you so polite? It's really too distant. Don't do this next time." Although he said that, his hand nimbly took the porcelain bottle.
He knew that the old man was an excellent doctor, and the things he gave must be good things.
The corners of Dongli's mouth twitched again. After saluting with his fists, he turned around and jumped off the deck. With the help of the water power, he quickly returned to the shore.
"Father, this guy is quite skilled in Kung Fu. Who is he?"
A fair-skinned, handsome young man of about eighteen or nineteen years old came up to Wu Jingyi and stared at Dongli who was going away.
Commander Wu glanced at his youngest son who had sneaked up on him and said unhappily, "Why are you asking so many questions? I told you to listen more and watch more than you talk. Just stay away."
Wu Dingbai curled his lips. Seeing his father looking at the medicine bottle that the man had just given him, he thought it was boring. Seeing the guards carrying things into the cabin, he immediately ran over and asked, "What are these?"
Before the guards beside him could stop him, Wu Dingbai lifted the covering cloth.
There was an immediate cry of surprise from the deck.
After hearing this, Governor Wu hurried over and was a little dazed when he saw the things in the bamboo basket.
There were several full baskets of fruits such as grapefruit, oranges, apples, pears, dates, plums, etc. In addition, there were fresh vegetables not common in northern Xinjiang, such as yam, radish, winter melon, pumpkin, potato, two baskets of various pickled dried meats, and several baskets of dehydrated vegetables.
Daohua knew that the food in the army didn't taste very good, so she specially made some sauces and pickles.
She originally wanted to ask the Sun family to deliver these things last time, but the Sun family’s ship was not big, and they were going to the north to do business, so they had a lot of goods to transport, and she was embarrassed to ask them for help.
This time, the court sent a ship to deliver medicinal materials, and the person in charge was Mr. Wu, whom he knew, so Dongli was sent over.
"Why are these vegetables dry? Can they still be eaten?"
Wu Dingbai picked up a bag of dehydrated vegetables, looked through it, and frowned in disgust.
Wu Jingyi also took it and looked at it, then shook his head and put it down: "Isn't this nonsense?" What a waste.
At this time, Wu Dingbai's eyes fell on the fruit. He picked up a red apple and took a bite. Before he could swallow it, he was slapped on the head by Governor Wu.
"Are there any rules? This is a gift for someone else."
Wu Dingbai snorted, "There are so many, what's wrong with eating just one?"
When Commander Wu saw his son dared to talk back, his eyes widened. "No matter how much it is, it's still someone else's. Taking something without asking is stealing. Don't you know this?"
Wu Dingbai was speechless: "It's just an apple."
Governor Wu said: "Apples are rare in this season, so it's not just an apple." As he said this, he signaled the guards to move away quickly. If they didn't leave, he couldn't help but reach out his hand.
After the guards left, Wu Dingbai saw his father looking at the apple in his hand with sharp eyes. After hesitating for a long time, he reluctantly handed it over.
Wu Jingyi didn't mean to be polite at all, nor did he look down on his son. He picked up the apple and took a bite, then squinted his eyes and said, "This apple is so sweet." As he said that, he finished the apple in a few "crunch, crunch" bites.
Wu Dingbai was so angry that he didn't want to talk, but he thought that he had lost an apple and couldn't leave it uninformed, so he asked, "Dad, who are these for?"
Wu Jingyi glanced at his son and asked, "Who do you think could ask your father for help?"
Wu Dingbai's eyes lit up: "Is it for that Lord Xiao?"
Wu Jingyi said "hmm".
Wu Dingbai asked again, "Who gave it to him?"
Wu Jingyi: "Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask."
Wu Dingbai curled his lips and said, "So mysterious." He paused and said, "Dad, is that Lord Xiao really the one from Prince Ping's Mansion?"
Wu Jingyi looked at the river without saying anything.
Wu Dingbai clicked his tongue and shook his head. "This is truly surprising! I remember when he was little, he was even more dandy than I was. How come he grew up so crooked?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Jingyi's face turned dark and he raised his leg to kick Wu Dingbai.
"Oh, Daddy, am I still your son?"
(End of this chapter)
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