Outrageous
Tang Feng never expected that his fever would worsen that night. He became delirious and could no longer hear anything outside. He lay weakly in the carriage, his body burning hot. By the end, every inch of his skin was aching. Tang Feng remained relatively conscious, thinking that he had been scolded and targeted by spies along the way, and now he was sick. He vowed that he wouldn't let Li Yunrui off the hook once he got back; he had to give him a good scolding to vent his anger.
In a daze, it seemed someone was wiping his body with a damp towel, and then placing the towel on his forehead. It felt cool and very comfortable. Tang Feng forced his eyes open halfway, his vision still blurry, and heard the person say, "Are you feeling better?"
Tang Feng's head was spinning. He vaguely heard those words and, thinking Zhou Ziliang had arrived, tugged at the man's sleeve and whispered in a hoarse voice, "Ziliang, I'm fine... don't worry."
Haqiya was washing a towel when Tang Feng suddenly grabbed her sleeve. Hearing Tang Feng mumbling something incoherently, she leaned down and asked, "Tang Feng, what did you say?"
"Ziliang... don't worry, wait for me to get back... and then... we'll get married."
Upon hearing this, Haqiya exclaimed, "Ziyang? This is the woman Tang Feng said he dotes on? So Tang Feng isn't married yet! Does that mean I still have a chance?" Haqiya removed the towel from Tang Feng's forehead and called out towards the outside of the carriage, "Liu Yiwan! Change the water again! Then boil some hot water and bring it over; your young master wants some."
Haqiya helped Tang Feng up with the water Liu Yiwan had brought, but Tang Feng was delirious from his illness and had long since lost consciousness. His mouth was tightly closed, and the water had spilled onto his clothes. Haqiya thought for a moment, took a sip of water herself, and was about to feed it to Tang Feng when Liu Yiwan grabbed her arm. "My dear young lady! Don't cause any more trouble! My young master is engaged. If this gets back to Xiling, he'll probably hang himself in the manor, and still won't be able to prove his innocence!"
"Is your wife so amazing? She's completely bewitched Tang Feng!" Hachiya pouted. "But I'm just as good! Her wife comes from a noble family, after all."
"A family of generals"
"A military family? Your young master is so weak and frail, he gets sick after sleeping outside for one night. Do you think any woman from a military family would even look at him?" Hachia rolled her eyes. "I'm no less impressive! I'm a princess, my father's most beloved princess."
"Tch! So what if she's a princess? My sister-in-law would never let my brother sleep outside. She respects and protects him, unlike you! So unreasonable and domineering, you threw stones at my brother right away. If it weren't for my brother's kindness, how could you have gotten into the carriage?" Qin Liuliu stood to the side, hands on her hips, somewhat angry, but Haqiya didn't care. "You little brat, I won't argue with you. Even if I marry your brother, you'll still have to call me sister-in-law."
"Pah! You can only have one sister-in-law!"
Perhaps the noise was too loud, because Tang Feng snorted. Qin Liuliu got into the carriage and pushed Haqiya off, saying, "Get off right now! My brother doesn't like you."
Hachia was pushed down, clutching her handkerchief, and said through gritted teeth, "You brat, what's wrong with liking your brother! If you insist on stopping me, I'll just have to like him!"
“Princess… I advise you not to bring trouble upon yourself.” Liu Yiwan sat to one side, gesturing to Haqiya to sit down. “Don’t worry, Liu Liu is in the carriage; the young master will be fine.”
"Can he be as attentive as me?" Seeing Haqiya's unhappy expression, Liu Yiwan laughed, "He was raised by the young master himself. If we're talking about attentiveness, you really can't compare to him, Princess. Take my advice, my young master and the young marquis are childhood sweethearts, and they were betrothed when they were young."
"Yan Yun has a female general?" Haqiya rolled her eyes. "So what? The latecomer surpasses the former, haven't you heard of that?"
Liu Yiwan shook her head. "What kind of logic is that? My young master almost hanged himself at home because of the young marquis!" After saying that, Liu Yiwan specifically looked at the carriage to make sure there was no sound before letting out a long sigh. If Tang Feng knew about this, he would beat her to death.
"So what! There's nothing I, Hachia, can't have if I want it." Hachia turned and left. Liu Yiwan shrugged. "That's beyond my control." Then he lifted the carriage curtain and asked, "How is Young Master?"
"His temperature has come down. I just took off my brother's clothes and wiped his body. He was burning up. I don't know how that woman took care of him. She was busy for so long, but he's still unconscious!"
"Alright! She's a princess, what could she possibly do! Here, give me the towel, I'll do it!"
When Tang Feng woke up again, it was already the next morning. He propped himself up, touched his forehead, and felt a chill; he'd slept all night. After pulling back the covers, he saw he was naked from the waist up. He quickly dressed, grabbed the carriage, and slowly got up. Just as he stepped down, he saw Hachiya carrying a basin of water. "Awake? Let me touch you," she said, reaching to touch his forehead. Tang Feng took a few steps back. "You, you, you, stay away from me! I'm telling you, I'm sick. You'll catch it if you get too close!"
"Oh, what am I afraid of? I took care of you all night yesterday."
"One...one night..." Tang Feng coughed for a while after hearing this. When he got up, someone had taken off his clothes. How could this woman be so shameless? No, it seemed like she was capable of doing such a thing. Tang Feng covered his chest with his hands. "Pervert!"
Just then, Qin Liuliu brought over a bowl of hot soup. "Brother, brother, you're awake? Come on, eat your food!" After saying that, Qin Liuliu waited for Haqiya. "Why are you still here? Didn't you stay long enough yesterday?"
Tang Feng felt his blood pressure rising as he listened. "You mean she really took care of me all yesterday..."
"Yeah! We couldn't even drag them away, it's infuriating!"
"Bring me the horse," Tang Feng said, placing the bowl in Qin Liuliu's hands. "Let's set off now. I want to leave this heartbreaking place."
It was half a month later when they arrived at the Tengli River. During those two weeks, Tang Feng hadn't seen a single person. Sitting on his horse, he pulled on the reins. "We're almost there! Ice Lake, go check out the front first."
"Yes!" After seeing the frozen lake, Tang Feng thought carefully and called Haqiya over. "Are there many people in the villages along the Tengli River in your country?"
"Hmm... how would I know?"
"Your own people, don't you know?" Tang Feng looked at Haqiya incredulously. "Forget it, forget it. What am I even hoping for? Liu Yiwan, get me the map." Tang Feng took the map from Tenglijiang and smiled. He had guessed correctly; the downstream river was wide. As long as there were enough manpower, his methods should be fine. Just then, Binghu returned. "My lord, everything has been negotiated over there. The people in the village are far better than those in the imperial court." Binghu looked at Haqiya and emphasized the words "imperial court." "Everyone was overjoyed to hear that you were going to help them grow rice."
"Happy? Then call them all out to help! They're all big and strong; one of them could easily do the work of two in Xiling." Tang Feng led the delegation into the village. There were many clusters of villages along both sides of the Tengli River, which put Tang Feng at ease. He didn't want to make a big show of things only to have no one follow through in the end.
Tang Feng didn't rush back to his house. Instead, he sat alone by the Tengli River for a long time. "We're destined to meet," he thought. "Three years ago, I went to the Great Swamp to govern you, and today, I can certainly do it again." Tang Feng looked at the rice paddies by the river and couldn't help but laugh. "These Qiang and Hu people are really something. They don't even bother with irrigation; they just plant rice seedlings directly in the shallows of the river?" It would be a miracle if they could even get rice. Tang Feng mounted his horse, holding the reins in one hand, a piece of paper in the other, and a pen in his mouth. "Sigh! I've really wasted my youth on the development of Yan Yun! If one day I run out of what I have in this modern world, and my talents are exhausted, will I be able to retire and return to my hometown? I hope that when Prince Duan becomes the Crown Prince, he can bestow a Liufuji (a famous Chinese fast-food chain) near my home. It's too far to go out to buy food every day."
Tang Feng wandered along the riverbank for three or four hours until sunset. Finally, covered in dew and chilly air, he returned to his house, took off his wet clothes, and sat in a bucket filled with hot water. Comfortably, he leaned against the wooden tub. "Ah! So comfortable. The weather on the grassland is really something, such a big temperature difference between day and night. Maybe the rice will grow better than the wheat," Tang Feng chuckled, holding the drawing he'd made by the river that day. "Looking at it today, the land by the river is very fertile. We might be able to start work tomorrow. It's just that getting the water supplies might take some time." Tang Feng circled and drew on the drawing. "Ah! As expected of me, so clever! Who else could be so clever?"
After taking a shower, Tang Feng instructed Liu Yiwan and Binghu to notify all the able-bodied men in the village to gather at the riverbank the next day, bringing shovels and hammers. He then went back to sleep. Lying in bed, Tang Feng hugged his pillow, "Ah~ so comfortable, finally I have a bed to sleep in." Tang Feng rolled around on the bed, "Tomorrow... as soon as we start work, everything will be on the agenda. Does that mean we'll be going back soon?"
The next morning, just as dawn broke, Tang Feng arrived at the riverbank. Holding a tree branch, he drew circles on the ground and then told the villagers, "Just dig in the areas I've circled, but don't go too deep, about half an arm's length. Don't worry about the water; I'll handle that. The rest of you, prepare the wheat and rice, the more the better, so you'll have rice to eat next year."
Tang Feng sat to one side watching the villagers start working, and said to Hachiya, who was sitting next to him, "Princess, aren't you going to share the joys and sorrows with your people?"
"How could I possibly do this! I'm a girl! How could I do such a thing? Don't you know anything about chivalry?" Hachiya stood up, grabbed Tang Feng by the collar, pressed down on him, and stared intently at him.
Tang Feng wasn't afraid. He spread his hands, looking completely innocent. "How could that be! The women of our grasslands are different from the women of your Yan Yun. This is what the princess herself said, not something I made up out of thin air."
Hachia released Tang Feng's collar and said angrily, "Fine! You insist on making me do it, huh! I'll go cause trouble right now, and if I fail, you won't dare go back to see my father!" Hachia was about to go over when Tang Feng grabbed her by the back of the neck. "Oh, Your Highness, please calm down! I'm scared, okay? I'm scared! Please leave, don't make me angry here. I even suspect that my illness the other day was caused by you!"
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