Chapter 45 Chapter 45 Visitors
It was another sleepless night. Zhe Rou slept very badly. She had a nightmare in the middle of the night and woke up in a sweat. When her heartbeat finally calmed down, she tossed and turned on the couch for a long time, listening to the rustling sound of the persimmon leaves outside the window, and she could no longer sleep.
It wasn't until the next day, when the dawn began to break in the sky and a few rays of light filtered through the latticed windows. Zhe Rou heard the roosters crow and put on her clothes and went to the yard to wash up. Shui Qing brought her a small wooden basin filled with water, but after putting the water in it, she didn't leave immediately. She hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Zhe Rou glanced at her and asked softly, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"
Shui Qing hesitated for a moment, then looked up at the faint dark circles under her eyes and finally asked, "Madam...are you worried about someone?"
Zhe Rou was slightly startled.
Suddenly, the pair of deep eyes that she was familiar with appeared before her eyes again, sometimes smiling, sometimes cold, and sometimes painful.
Zhe Rou tightly grasped the edge of the wooden basin, feeling a faint palpitation in her chest.
Are you worried about him?
She was too busy running around on the road to think about it before, and when she settled down in Yanziwu, she instinctively didn't want to think about it. But now when Shui Qing asked her this question, she really thought about it carefully, and suddenly she realized something was wrong. The anxiety and torment she had been suffering for the past few days was not really worry.
After all, Lu Chen and she had a bond of companionship since their youth. Although she had resentment and hatred towards him, she did not want to see anything happen to him. However, compared to the possibility that Lu Chen might encounter an accident, what she cared more about was that Lu Chen was in danger because of the drug she had given him.
I was worried that I owed him a life, so I was tormented in the dream. It was guilt and a guilty conscience, but it was no longer a simple concern, nor was it the same as before. When I saw him injured and suffering, he would move my heart and I would be so distressed that I almost didn't know what to do.
Before I knew it, everything was subtly different.
Thinking about it this way, maybe... maybe it can be considered a good thing.
Shui Qing saw Zhe Rou was lost in thought, thinking she was worried about that person, so she hurriedly comforted her, "My lady, don't worry. Before he left, the young master left a message for me, saying that he was worried about me. If he didn't send a letter by carrier pigeon within ten days, then everything would be fine. He asked me to tell you not to worry about that person anymore. I calculated, and today is already the eleventh day."
"What?" Zhe Rou was stunned for a moment, then reacted after a moment and hurriedly asked, "Are you serious?"
Shui Qing counted the days in her mind again, and after confirming that they were correct, she nodded confidently at her: "Madam, yesterday was the tenth day. I didn't hear from the young master. The person you are worried about must be safe and sound."
Perhaps heart disease needs to be treated with heart medicine. Once I heard the news, it was as if a heavy burden was lifted from my heart, and I suddenly felt relaxed.
Zhe Rou's mind gradually calmed down. Although she still needed to take some tranquilizing medicine at night, at least she no longer had nightmares. She could also calm down and carefully plan for the future.
Yanziwu is a small village. Although it is not far from Pingjiang Prefecture and merchants often come and go, it can be considered as not isolated. However, there is no decent clinic in the village. If villagers have a headache or fever, they have to take a boat to the prefecture to see the clinic and pharmacy to diagnose and sell medicine.
In this case, if Zhe Rou wanted to sell the finished medicine, he would have to go to Pingjiang Prefecture to find a medical clinic to consign it for sale.
Compared to practicing medicine and selling medicine in Yanziwu, going to Pingjiang Prefecture is not only more troublesome, but also more likely to expose her whereabouts. After all, she is a foreign woman with a northern accent, and she knows medicine and makes medicine. If Lu Chen's people come looking for her, it will be easy to find her.
She could ask Shui Qing to dress up as a young man and go to the city to find a suitable clinic for her. However, Shui Qing is still young and cannot understand Wujiang Mandarin. If she goes there alone, she might suffer a loss. It would be better to find someone to go with her so that she can get familiar with the clinic a few more times.
After careful consideration and making up his mind, Zhe Rou personally made some snacks and prepared a bag of medicinal tea to nourish yin and replenish qi, and went to visit Madam Wu.
She remembered that Madam Wu had said that there was a young man in her family who worked hard to seek fame and fortune, and he would go to the provincial capital several times a month to buy books and study. Since he was a member of Madam Wu's family and knew her well, it would be the best if she could ask him to take Shuiqing on a trip a few times.
When they arrived at the Wu family, Zhe Rou presented gifts, explained her purpose to Mrs. Wu, and promised to pay her 150 coins each time as a reward.
Zhe Rou had paid special attention to the prices in the Huaibei and Huainan regions. This one hundred and fifty coins was roughly what a scholar could earn in a day copying books for others. She proposed this amount, which was neither too high to attract attention nor too low to be insincere.
Mrs. Wu was kind-hearted to begin with. When she heard that this move could not only help her but she could also get some compensation from it, she was naturally very willing to do it. She immediately agreed with a smile and handed the job to her young man.
Zhe Rou has always been meticulous in his preparation of medicines and his asking prices are relatively low. Soon, several medical clinics inspected the products and were willing to buy them. After selling two batches of the medicines, he was able to recoup his investment and even made a small profit, which allowed him to survive here.
Almost a month passed in a hurry. The sweet-scented osmanthus flowers fell and the frost arrived. The persimmons in the yard turned from green to red and hung on the branches, growing well.
She has now adapted to life here and has gradually become familiar with her neighbors. Looking back over the past six months, she has never felt so peaceful and leisurely.
Lu Chen was in extreme pain.
Wen Xu in Shangjing kept sending urgent letters, urging him to go back. Xie Yunzhou had already wiped out the water bandits, arrested more than ten bandit leaders, big and small, and recruited several small water transport gangs. He had Wang Zhonggan's account book in his hand. If nothing unexpected happened, he would cause turmoil if he returned to Beijing.
At this critical moment, Lu Chen needs to return to Beijing as soon as possible, and also find an opportunity to arrange for Wang Zhonggan's wife and daughter to beat the drum to file a complaint to the emperor.
Now he has been staying in Huai'an for more than a month. The situation is pressing and he can hardly delay any longer, but he seems to have a demon in his heart and refuses to leave no matter what.
Although Lu Chen had some power in Shangjing, his foundation was not solid. He had few capable men around him and only a dozen guards, and he had no time to guard against the assassin's coming again. He kept Nan Heng by his side, and except for two guards who were keeping an eye on Xie Yunzhou's movements, the rest of the men were dispersed to look for people.
However, as the days passed, there was no sign of her.
There are twenty-three roads and four hundred states in this world with a population of tens of millions. It is as difficult as looking for a needle in a haystack to find someone who is deliberately hiding her tracks and avoiding him. He has no idea where she will go.
Occasionally, there would be some seemingly good news, like hearing that a woman similar to the one in the picture had been seen at a ferry, or that a young female doctor had joined a pharmacy. But when he went to look for her, he would either find out that she was wrong or watch the clues disappear.
Such repeated alternations of hope and disappointment were even more deadly than having no news at all. Lu Chen could hardly sleep every night. The residual poison had penetrated into his bones, and he completely suffered from coughing up blood. He was visibly losing weight, becoming more and more haggard day by day, and his expression became more and more gloomy and cruel day by day. Even Nan Heng didn't dare to approach him easily.
Extreme love gives rise to hatred, extreme pain gives rise to resentment.
She knew clearly that he would never let go, but she hid herself away, quietly watching him search for her, watching him suffer a fate worse than death, and exhausting her last bit of energy.
妱妱.
妱妱.
She was willing to treat him like this.
The Jiangnan area is rich in shrimps and crabs. It is near the Double Ninth Festival, the time when autumn crabs are fat and full of roe. The villagers of Yanziwu live by the water, and there are all kinds of fish and shrimps. On this day, Shuiqing went to Pingjiang Prefecture to deliver medicine and came back with a basket full of fat crabs in his hands.
She seemed to be in a very good mood, her face slightly flushed. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she excitedly shouted, "Madam! Madam, look! Qilang gave us a lot of lake crabs! He said that we can eat them by washing and steaming them with a little green onion and ginger. They taste great!"
Qilang is Madam Wu's uncle. Shuiqing went to Pingjiang Prefecture with him several times, and the two became more and more familiar with each other. Shuiqing simply stopped calling him Young Master and only called him the eldest in the clan.
Zhe Rou smiled, took the bamboo basket from her hand, looked down, and was also a little surprised, "So many!"
Shui Qing smiled, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkled: "Yes! Qilang is so generous!"
He is still a young man after all.
Faintly sensing some subtle youthful thoughts, Zhe Rou smiled unconsciously, feeling both pleased and amused. However, she was secretly calculating in her heart that she should be more careful in the future, as Shui Qing was still innocent and naive, so she must not be fooled by anyone.
While chatting, the two of them washed the crabs, put them in the pot and turned on the fire. Crabs cook easily, and in just one stick of incense, they were steamed until they were red.
Zhe Rou was born in the north and had never tasted crab before. When she saw the crabs coming out of the pot, she was a little at a loss as to how to cook them.
Fortunately, Shui Qing had been with the eldest princess since she was a child and was knowledgeable. She volunteered to step forward and wash her hands in the basin. She carefully imitated the maid beside the eldest princess, peeled the crab shell, scooped a spoonful of plump and rosy crab roe for Zhe Rou, then used the chopsticks to pick out the snow-white crab meat and piled it into a small plate. She raised her face, her eyes bright, and looked at Zhe Rou eagerly.
"My lady, try it!"
Zhe Rou drooped her eyelashes slightly, lowered her head and took a sip.
The lake crabs are extremely fat, and the red jade is plump and delicious. After the mellow fragrance, there is a faint sweet aftertaste on the tip of the tongue.
So... so this is what crab tastes like.
It's not much different from what he said.
When they were in Taozhou, she and Lu Chen were penniless. She had to use the money she earned from collecting herbs to buy medicine for his leg injury, and there was only a little left, which was only enough to make two bowls of porridge and a few side dishes. The two of them had not tasted meat for a long time. They were woken up by hunger in the middle of the night, their stomachs rumbling, and they couldn't fall asleep. So they snuggled together and dreamed about what delicious food they would buy when they had enough money in the future.
As they were talking, Lu Chen started talking to her about crabs.
He swallowed his saliva in a serious manner, his Adam's apple rolling slightly, and talked about the ancient saying "If you don't go to Mount Lushan, you will disappoint your eyes; if you don't eat crabs, you will disappoint your stomach", "Rice is cheap, thatch and firewood are delicious, and the crab claws are plump when it is frosty"[1]. He also said that Fanlou has a famous dish called crab stuffed with orange, which is a crab with two flavors. The crab roe is plump and delicious. After tasting the crab roe, the sweet and seasoned crab meat is put into the round orange and steamed for a while. It is fresh, sweet and refreshing, and tastes a hundred times better than mutton.
Her appetite was tingling at the sound, and she swallowed quietly in the dark, her stomach growling even louder.
Lu Chen chuckled softly and held her in his arms. His pair of black eyes were as bright as the cold stars in the sky. He whispered a promise to her that when he returned to Shangjing, when the crabs were plump from autumn to winter, he would take her to Fanlou and order a crab feast for her to taste the crabs.
At that time, they all thought that the most difficult thing was to return to Shangjing. Who could have imagined that they actually returned to Shangjing later, but did not wait until the autumn and winter of this year.
Zhe Rou pursed her lips.
Counting the days, she has been gone for more than a month, but judging by Lu Chen's temper, he must still be sending people looking for her whereabouts.
I can only comfort myself a little - something happened to Wang Zhonggan, and I think he can't stay here for long. At most two months, he will have to return to Beijing sooner or later.
Since they can't support each other, it would be best if she and Lu Chen, these two fish, can live in peace and stability in the world from now on.
After the Double Ninth Festival, the weather became increasingly cold. Zhe Rou went to the market to buy some needles and thread, and picked out two pieces of cloth, thinking of making two warm jackets for herself and Shui Qinghe.
They were busy until the evening of the next day, and there was still some fine work left on the jacket. Seeing that the lamp oil was running low, Zhe Rou asked Shui Qing to go to the peddler at the village entrance to buy some more, while she stayed at home to continue making clothes.
Listening to the autumn wind blowing outside the house, making the persimmon trees rustle, I was afraid that it would rain at night.
Zhe Rou put down her needle and thread, stood up and went to the yard and called out "Xiao Li". The little yellow dog in the corner of the house pricked up its ears in an instant, ran over happily, lay down at her feet, rubbed against her, and turned over on its belly.
Zhe Rouqing couldn't help laughing, reached out and touched its soft belly, then carried it into the house and accompanied her in needlework.
I was sewing the hem of my clothes with my head down when I suddenly heard some faint rustling sounds outside the window.
Zhe Rou didn't pay attention at first, thinking that Shui Qing had just returned from buying lamp oil. However, the little fox that was originally dozing at her feet stood up alertly and barked a few times towards the door.
Zhe Rou felt something was wrong, and her heart tightened for a moment, then began to beat rapidly.
The sound outside the window got closer.
Zhe Rou quietly stood up, took out a dagger from under her pillow, and held it tightly in her palm.
Someone knocked on the door.
Her throat felt dry, and Zhe Rou swallowed unconsciously. She carefully moved to the door, lowered her voice, and asked cautiously, "Who is it?"
"It's me."
But after a moment, a low and tired male voice was heard outside the door.
She was very familiar with this voice.
Zhe Rou was startled and reached out to open the door.
Seeing her open the door, a room of dim candlelight poured out. The man outside the door raised his pale handsome face and smiled weakly at her, "Nineth Lady."
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