Chapter 70 You are my wife-to-be

Jiang Yanyi cried enough, sniffed, and then remembered to ask him: "Why did you come here?"

Feng Shuo looked at her red nose, hiding the pity in his eyes, and said: "I heard about the Chu family, and I didn't see you in the antique soup shop, so I came here to look for you."

He turned his head to look at the gray street in the snowy day, and asked: "Do you want to ride a horse?"

Jiang Yanyi realized that he actually came here on horseback. His black warhorse stood not far away. Although it was not tied, it was very human and did not run around. The heavy snow fell on the horse's mane. The horse stamped its hooves from time to time to shake off the snow on its body.

Jiang Yanyi had never ridden a horse before, and now she was in a heavy mood. She really wanted to run for a while to relax, but looking at the horse that was half a head taller than her, she hesitated and said, "I can't ride a horse."

Feng Shuo glanced at her and said, "Of course I'll take you."

Jiang Yanyi still remembered the injuries on Feng Shuo's body: "You have an old illness that makes you afraid of cold, so don't go."

Feng Shuo directly took her hand and walked towards the warhorse: "We have been exposed to the cold wind in the Xizhou camp for so many days, it doesn't matter if I take you for a ride."

His fiefdom was in the south before, and the hidden dangers of the old illness in winter were not obvious. When he arrived in Xizhou at the beginning of this year, it was cold here, and the old injury on his back hurt repeatedly. After using medicinal diet and medicinal baths for so long, his physical foundation is good and the improvement is obvious.

His hands and feet were cold indoors before, but now the hand he was holding Jiang Yanyi was warm even in the wind and snow.

Feng Shuo climbed onto the horse and held out his hand to Jiang Yanyi.

Jiang Yanyi hesitated for a while before handing him her hand. In the instant, she felt herself being pulled up with great force and her body became airborne. When she landed safely on the horse's back, Feng Shuo had already wrapped her tightly in a warm fox fur poncho.

"Let's go." His clear voice came out almost next to Jiang Yanyi's ear.

Perhaps it was because the weather was too cold, the hot air he exhaled while speaking felt particularly noticeable when it fell on her skin.

He bit the horse's belly, and the warhorse spread its four hooves and ran towards the deserted street.

This street was originally owned by the Hu family. Now that the Hu family has been raided, the shops along the street are all closed, and there are no pedestrians on the street. The ground is covered with a thick layer of snow, and the snow foam is raised by the horse's hooves.

Jiang Yanyi leaned back due to the inertia of the horse's running, and her back was just against his chest. He held the reins with both hands, and his arms naturally formed a protective circle, as if he could protect her within the range of his arms if the sky fell.

The wind blowing in his face was icy and biting. Feng Shuo didn't let the horse run too fast, so he didn't feel any pain when the cold wind blew on his face, but the depression lingering in his heart seemed to be mostly taken away by the coolness on his face.

The densely packed houses were disappearing rapidly as if they were retreating. The icicles under the eaves were gleaming in the morning light. The mountains in the distance were covered with snow, presenting a kind of gray-green color like a smoky cage.

A snowflake fell on Jiang Yanyi's eyelashes. She blinked lightly. The snowflake melted and turned into tiny drops of water hanging on her eyelashes. The long street nearby and the mountains in the distance were reflected in her eyes, like a lake.

Feng Shuo drove out of the city directly. There were mountains on both sides of the official road. The dry grass covered with thin snow fell on the roadside, adding a bit of desolation to the coldness.

Jiang Yanyi listened to the sound of horse hooves and looked at the vast world in front of her. Her mood slowly calmed down.

When Feng Shuo finally stopped riding, she said, "Thank you."

Feng Shuo said, "Do we need to say thank you to each other? When spring comes and the weather is not so cold, I will teach you how to ride a horse."

She said, "Okay."

Feng Shuo continued, "You are too weak to draw a bow and arrow, but you can learn to use a crossbow. I will teach you how to swing a knife and where to stab a sword to kill someone."

"When I am here, you can know nothing. But when I am not by your side, you must be able to protect yourself."

This is why he knew that she worked hard to run the store, but he did not stop her. He respected all her decisions. "For your own good" was not a reason to break the other's wings at will. He was willing to wait for her to grow from a chick to an eagle.

Jiang Yanyi's eyes were slightly red because of what he said. She asked, "Feng Shuo, why are you so good to me?"

"You are my wife-to-be. If I don't treat you well, who can I treat well?" He wiped away the tears from her eyes with his fingers: "I originally planned to wait for your mother and her family to arrive in Xizhou and then come to propose marriage..."

He didn't say the rest of the words, just hugged her gently: "Don't think too much, and don't be afraid. No matter what happens, you still have me."

The heavy snow is very cold, and this embrace is very warm.

After being in this alien world for so long, Jiang Yanyi knew for the first time that it was this feeling to completely rely on and trust someone.

From then on, there was someone to tell all the joys and sorrows.

Although Madam Jiang was buried in the capital, she still had to observe the mourning period.

Old Madam Chu was emotionally unstable and had to be persuaded by Jiang Yanyi to eat three meals a day. She could only live in the new house bought by the Chu family and could not go to the store. Fortunately, there was Chef Yao on the stove, so there would not be any trouble. The old scholar could also help to look after the accounts. Yang Xiu just had to bring the account book back to Jiang Yanyi every night.

She spent the 10,000 taels of silver that Chu Changping had given her before, and she had 8,000 taels left after decorating the entire mansion. She returned it to Chu Changping, who asked her to keep it for herself. Jiang Yanyi refused to take it and handed the silver note to Old Madam Chu that night.

What Jiang Yanyi was more concerned about was the injury on Jiang Yangui's leg. As the saying goes, "It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone." Maybe it was because of the bumps and bruises on the way to Xizhou, Jiang Yanyi saw him several times with a pale face and sweat all over his body.

The external medicine was changed every day, and the internal medicine was taken every day, but Jiang Yanyi couldn't figure out what was wrong.

She was worried, so she invited a famous doctor from Xizhou to treat Jiang Yangui's injury the next day.

Jiang Yanyi had never seen the wound on Jiang Yangui's leg before. Every time she came to see him, he had already asked the servants to change the bandage for him. This time, the doctor removed the gauze wrapped around his foot to check the wound, and Jiang Yanyi found that his wound had already festered, and there was a layer of rotten flesh outside the wound.

The doctor shook his head and said, "The wound cannot continue to rot like this. We have to dig out the rotten flesh."

Jiang Yanyi felt a knot in his heart.

Jiang Yangui lay on the bed with a pale face, as fragile as a piece of fragile porcelain, but he still said to her: "Sister, don't look at me, it's disgusting."

Jiang Yanyi couldn't help but redden her eyes: "The injury on your leg has worsened, why didn't you say it?"

She turned around and was about to go out to call the guard who usually took care of Jiang Yangui: "Chu Zhong!"

"Sister, don't blame Uncle Zhong. It was me who told him not to say anything. Grandma has been in poor health recently, and I don't want to trouble her anymore. It's just a useless leg. If it gets worse, it will be like this. Even if the doctor digs out the rotten flesh, it will still fester." Jiang Yangui said with a pale smile.

It's a severe winter now. The wound on his leg is too severe and it is easy to fester inside. But if it is not severe, it will be even more difficult to deal with frostbite on the wound.

His leg had already festered once when he was in the capital. The doctor scraped off the rotten flesh, but it is still like this now. Jiang Yangui no longer has any hope for this useless leg.

Jiang Yanyi was anxious and angry, and she was so heartbroken that she didn't know what to say. "Do you know that if the injury is too severely corrupted, we may have to amputate both of your legs to save your life?"

The ancients did not understand the concept of amputation, so she could only tell Jiang Yangui the consequences in this way.

Jiang Yanyi saw that his brother looked dazed, as if he had no idea of ​​the consequences of the worsening of the wound. Feeling sorry for him, he turned to the doctor and said, "Please dig out the rotten flesh on his leg."

But the doctor waved his hands, put away the medicine box and walked out, "My medical skills are not good enough, I dare not take the risk! Girl, for this kind of corrupt external injury, you should ask someone to go to the barracks to ask. The military doctors in the barracks are best at dealing with these."

As soon as the doctor left, Jiang Yanyi looked at Jiang Yangui lying on the bed, and said, "Do you really want to torture yourself to death? Or do you want to piss me off to death?"

Although Jiang Yangui had experienced so many changes and had become more mature, he was only fourteen years old after all, and he did not understand some knowledge that he had not been exposed to before.

When Jiang Yangui said that if his legs continued to deteriorate, he might die, his eyes revealed a bit of fragility and pain: "Sister, after all, our surname is Jiang, not Chu. I don't want to cause trouble to my grandparents' family anymore. If it weren't for my crippled legs, why would my mother have lost her life?"

He was afraid that Jiang Yanyi would be sad, so he didn't tell her that when he was in the capital, the doctor's medicine for him originally included a pain-relieving pill, but it was too expensive. When his aunt heard that the medicine was only for pain relief, she didn't let the servants buy it. Mrs. Jiang once went to her aunt to ask for help, but was ridiculed by her aunt. She said implicitly that the Chu family had already paid a lot of money for his medical treatment. Many similar incidents, both large and small, have already happened in the capital. If it weren't for these, why would Mrs. Jiang take the risk when she left the city?

They were the ones who brought the Chu family's misfortune. My aunt's eldest daughter lost her marriage because of this, and my second aunt chose to divorce for fear of being implicated. Jiang Yangui knew that his uncles hated them and were unwilling to care about him as a burden.

He had no right to hate them.

But when he thought of his mother's death, his heart ached and he wished he could take her place. Why was a useless person like him still alive and well! He continued to be despised and a burden to his sister!

Jiang Yanyi knew that Jiang Yangui could say such words. Thinking about the attitudes of the two uncles of the Chu family, she guessed that he and Madam Jiang might have suffered a lot of anger when they were in the capital. She looked at the young man who was gritting his teeth and crying on the bed, and said with heartache: "You also know that mother is gone. Yangui, you are the only relative I have in this world. If something happens to you, what do you want me to do?"

"Sister..." Jiang Yangui's shoulders were shaking, and he cried silently.

Jiang Yanyi held his hand and said, "Just think of it as living well for the sake of my elder sister and my dead mother, understand? Nothing is more important than living. If you don't want to stay in the Chu family anymore, I've rented a house on Duhufu Street, and there's an empty room. When your injury gets better, we'll move in. My elder sister opened an antique soup shop, which is enough for our daily expenses."

She remembered the injury on Jiang Yangui's leg, and called the servants in to change the herbal medicine and bandage it for him. Chu Changping was not at home, so she had to go to Feng Mansion in person.

Feng Shuo returned to the Xizhou camp, but when the housekeeper Fu Xi heard that she wanted to invite a military doctor, he hurriedly ordered someone to ride a horse to the Xizhou camp to send a message. Fearing that she would be anxious, he lent her the doctor in Feng Mansion and asked her to bring him over to treat Jiang Yangui's injury first.

The doctors in Feng Mansion were better at internal treatment. After all, Feng Shuo was rarely injured. Even if he had knife or sword wounds, he treated them himself. He almost never asked the doctors to help treat external injuries.

The doctor examined Jiang Yangui's wounds and took his pulse. After reading the prescription that Jiang Yangui was taking, he frowned and said, "For injuries like this, he has to take Huangqin Zhentong Pills for this prescription to be effective. Otherwise, his wound will remain inflamed and how can it heal?"

Jiang Yanyi hurriedly asked, "Where can I buy Huangqin Zhentong Pills? I'll ask someone to buy them now."

When Jiang Yangui heard the words "Huangqin Zhentong Pills", his dark eyes were stunned for a moment, but Jiang Yanyi was busy asking the doctor and did not notice the change in his expression. The doctor

shook his head and said, "That is a medicine only available at Xinglin Medical Clinic in the capital. Where can it be bought in Xizhou? However, I can make this pill, but it will take some time, as there are some hard-to-find herbs in it."

"Thank you, doctor!" Jiang Yanyi hurriedly thanked him.

The doctor took a look at Jiang Yanyi's purulent leg and said, "I'll prescribe another prescription for you to take in the next few days. I'll switch back to this prescription once the Scutellaria baicalensis pain-relieving pills are ready."

He was not good at treating external injuries. The rotten flesh on Jiang Yangui's leg was eventually dug out by Doctor Hu who was rushed from the military camp. Doctor Hu was an expert in treating such external injuries. He only used a small amount of Ma Fei San. Jiang Yangui felt almost no pain, and the rotten flesh and pus in the wound had been cleaned away.

Military Doctor Hu reapplied medicine to Jiang Yangui and reminded him of some daily diet precautions. Although he was a little shocked at first, he did not show any curiosity at all later on about how Jiang Yanyi had transformed from a camp prostitute into the cousin of the Chu family.

People of their age have seen all kinds of storms and waves, and they know what to say and what not to say, what to be curious about and what not to be curious about.

After sending the two doctors away, Jiang Yanyi comforted Jiang Yangui and went to the kitchen to boil medicine for him.

Jiang Yangui lay on the bed, looking calm, but his hands hidden under the quilt were clenched into fists, and his eyes were dark and deep, and you couldn't see to the bottom.

When Master Chu's first wife, Liu, heard that Jiang Yanyi had invited three doctors to treat Jiang Yangui, she slammed the table in anger in her room: "She really doesn't know how to spend money. She invited three doctors at once. Does she think she is in the capital? How can we afford to spoil such a big family? Does it mean that our Chu family owes her Jiang family?"

Liu's eldest daughter, Chu Shubao, was doing embroidery nearby. Hearing this, she said: "Mother, please stop talking. I went to see my cousin Yangui yesterday and found that he didn't look very well. Maybe his leg injury has worsened. Cousin Yanyi is also worried. The family escaped to Xizhou with their lives. We should support each other, why are you still saying this?"

Liu was very angry with her eldest daughter: "She ruined your marriage, and you still speak for her?"

Chu Shubao threw down the embroidery and said: "What's so good about that marriage? Kang Erlang has no fame and no character, and his family has five or six maids and concubines! You still tell me that this marriage is good, are you my real mother?"

Liu said angrily: "You are so arrogant, her uncle is the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, how lucrative is that? Your father is a commoner, do you still think you have the fate to marry into a noble family?"

Chu Shubao muttered, "It's his uncle who works in the Ministry of Revenue, not him. My third uncle was the general of Yunzhou a few years ago! His official rank was much higher than his!"

"You also know that was a few years ago!" When Liu mentioned this, she regretted it so much that her intestines turned green. A few years ago, when Chu Changping was the general of Yunzhou, the wives of officials she made friends with were all well-known. If the marriage had been arranged then, why did she end up standing out as the tallest among the short ones later?

Speaking of Chu Changping, Mrs. Liu was also full of resentment: "You always call your third uncle all the time. Do you know that this family almost lost their lives because of your third uncle meddling in other people's business?"

Chu Shubao said unhappily: "Third uncle once said that being arrogant only among brothers and sisters is called being domineering in one's own home. Being ruthless to outsiders is the real dominance! Whenever any brother or sister in the Chu family is bullied, we must unite to deal with it!"

The more Mrs. Liu talked to her daughter, the more upset she felt. If this silly girl continued to be taught by Chu Changping, she would be sold one day and she would have to help count the money. Money, she was so angry that she poked Chu Shubao's forehead with her finger: "You believe everything your uncle said? Why don't you listen to what I taught you? Why did I give birth to a brainless person like you?"

She was really upset, and directly called the housekeeper to go out: "Mother Qin, come with me to take a look. If the girl from the Jiang family buys a bunch of ginseng, deer antlers and other tonics, I will not recognize it if the money is used in the public account!"

The housekeeper said embarrassedly: "The money was given by the cousin herself. No money was taken from the public account."

Only then did Liu She felt relieved, but when she thought about why Jiang Yanyi paid the doctor so readily, she became unhappy again: "It is said that my third brother bought this house and gave her 12,000 taels of silver to decorate it." She

glanced at the furnishings in the house and said, "This room is so shabby, nothing is good to look at. I wonder how much of the 12,000 taels of silver she kept in her pocket!"

Chu Shubao rolled her eyes: "Mother, cousin Yanyi gave the remaining 8,000 taels of silver to grandmother last night. You always say that aunt doesn't like it. You should be a good person. I think your temper is the same as your aunt's!"

Just as Liu was about to get angry, she stood up and walked out the door: "I'm going to see my cousin Yan Gui."

Liu was so angry that she was shaking. She pointed at Chu Shubao's back and said to the housekeeper: "Is she my biological daughter?"

The housekeeper said: "This... How come the eldest lady is not your biological daughter? When you gave birth, the old servant was watching by the side. The maids didn't do anything!"

Liu glared at the housekeeper. She felt that she might be angry to death here today.