Yingbao suddenly sat up from the bed, covering her pounding heart for a while before she calmed down.
This dream came without any warning, but it was very real, and my nose was filled with a strong smell of blood.
After breakfast, Yingbao told her father and Mr. Wu about her strange dream.
Jiang Sanlang thought his daughter was frightened by the crowd looking at the list, but when he thought of his daughter's ability to predict the future, he suddenly felt a sense of urgency.
Did my daughter dream that foreigners will attack us in the future? How is this possible
But what if it is true
If a real unrest breaks out, we won’t be able to sell our grain anymore.
Mr. Wu and Jiang Sanlang think differently.
He stroked his beard and thought of a possibility: a Jurchen invasion.
The foreigners described by Yingbao all looked like Jurchens, and they were indeed not very stable.
In recent years, the Jurchens have become increasingly powerful. They used the money given by Da Qian to raise horses for Da Qian. As a result, Da Qian did not see a single horse, but instead fattened up the Jurchens.
But he himself had no official position, and his son was only an official of the sixth or seventh rank who moved from one poor county to another. He was too far away from the center of power and could not even submit memorials to the emperor.
The current government affairs are basically controlled by Grand Tutor Xiao. Any other officials who disagree with him, regardless of whether they are right or wrong, will either be demoted or have their property confiscated and exiled.
Others may think that the capital city is prosperous, but that is actually just an appearance.
When you step out of the provincial capital and county towns, you will see famine and banditry everywhere. The people in the countryside are living in dire straits, and there are people fleeing famine on every road.
The Jurchens were restless on the border, becoming more and more rampant each time. He would not be surprised if they could attack the capital of Daqian one day.
Seeing that both of them had their own thoughts and neither could give her an answer, Yingbao ran to Mrs. Wen's house to chat with Sister Wen.
There were so many people yesterday that she hadn't had time to ask about Wen Shu's marriage, but today was a good opportunity to ask about it.
Wen Shu felt a little embarrassed and was reluctant to say it.
But seeing Yingbao staring at him without blinking, she could only say, "My grandmother arranged a marriage for me with a young master from the Xiao family."
"W-what?" Ying Bao thought she had misheard: "Which Xiao family?"
Wen Shu: "It's the Second Young Master of Xiao Yushi's family."
Yingbao's face twitched, a little bit unbelieving: "Are you talking about Xiao Chengjuan?"
Wen Shu nodded shyly.
Yingbao hesitated for a long time, and finally decided to say something bad about Xiao Chengjun, "Sister Wen, let me tell you, Xiao Chengjun is not a good person. He, he already has someone in his heart, so don't marry him."
Wen Shu was surprised: "Why did Yingbao say that? Who does he like?"
"You know Chen Tiantian, right? Xiao Chengjun likes her. Last time, he even wanted to beat me up for her." Yingbao is determined to ruin Sister Wen's marriage.
Xiao Chengjun is selfish, arbitrary, and paranoid. Regardless of whether he will have an affair with Chen Tiantian in the future, Sister Wen's life will definitely be ruined if she marries someone like him.
"Also, he deliberately left my mother and me on the road last time, and gave away my boxes. Sister Wen, who do you think he gave the boxes to?"
"Who? Could it be the Wen Jiao sisters?" When Wen Shu returned to Yuzhou, she seemed to have heard someone say that the young master of the Xiao family gave five boxes of gifts to Wen Jiao and Wen Tian. As a result, when they brought the boxes home and opened them, they found that they were full of junk and there was nothing valuable inside. The two sisters were furious and said that it must have been the young master Xiao who did it on purpose.
Yingbao: "It was given to Wentian and Wenjiao." She only found out about this later.
Wen Shu frowned.
No wonder I felt something strange when I returned to Yuzhou. It turns out that this is how the Xiao family’s marriage came about.
I guess it wasn't originally meant for myself, but was changed later.
"I will talk about this with my mother." She was reluctant at first, but she couldn't stand her grandmother and second aunt praising Xiao Chengjun all the time, so she nodded reluctantly.
My mother didn't know about it at first, but later she found out. Seeing that my grandmother was trying hard to make this happen, she decided to wait and see.
Now they are just exchanging engagement letters and nothing has been officially confirmed.
Yingbao breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Sister Wen was not interested in Xiao Chengjun. She chatted with her for a while before saying goodbye and leaving.
When I returned to my yard, I saw that my father had already started packing up, preparing to take a boat back to Qinchuan County the next day.
The rest of the people have also packed up and are waiting to leave the city before dawn tomorrow.
It is now July, the hottest time of the year.
Yingbao secretly made a bowl of assorted iced drinks and gave them to Mr. Wu, Jiang Jie and Yuanbao.
The assorted iced drinks are made with cooked peaches, apricots, lychees and longans, with a little bit of fermented rice wine added in.
Mr. Wu likes this ice drink very much and eats half a bowl in one breath.
After finishing the meal, he was still not satisfied, and stroked his beard and said, "It would be great if Shi'er could have a taste too."
When Yingbao saw him mention Wu Shi, she asked, "Where did Uncle Wu go to take up his post?"
"Shu." Mr. Wu sighed, "I thought he could stay in the capital, but I didn't expect him to be sent to Shu."
That place has many mountains and little land, and it is extremely poor. The people are barbaric and cannot be civilized. In some places, they still wear animal skins, and the whole family lives in caves. They move around like savages and cannot understand human language at all.
Yingbao: "What about Granny Wu? Where did she go?"
"Your grandmother Wu went to Jianglin. My eldest daughter married in Jianglin, and she went to my daughter's home." It wasn't really that she lived in my daughter's home, because they also had a house in Jianglin. My husband felt lonely at home, so he took two maids there. At least she could see her daughter and grandchildren every day.
Furthermore, my wife’s maiden family was Jianglin, and she knew many people there, so she wanted to find a good marriage for her son at the same time.
"Oh." Qinchuan County where Yingbao is located is very far away from Jianglin. She roughly knows the direction but has never been there.
Yingbao took out some more pills and handed them to Mr. Wu: "These are longevity pills. Take one pill a day to prolong your life. You can take them together with the last ones."
She never stopped giving Mr. Wu the pills. Even when she went traveling, she would prepare one or two years' worth of pills and give them to her brother and Mr. Wu.
Including his own grandparents, he also reserved pills for them.
Now they are in very good health. Mr. Wu even climbed mountains and waded through water to take his young apprentice to see his son, and he came back still energetic without a trace of fatigue.
"Okay." Mr. Wu took the pills with a smile and put them in his bag.
He also learned from Yingbao that when he went out, he had someone make a large shoulder bag to carry on his body, which he put a lot of small sundries and silver coins in.
Yingbao took out another bag and said, "This is for Uncle Wu. I don't know his address, so I can only ask Grandpa Wu to pass it on."
She was still worried about whether the tumor on Wu Daozi's neck would recur, so she continued to prepare medicine for him.
Mr. Wu has been teaching his younger brother without regrets and has nurtured him into a scholar. This kindness can never be repaid.
Therefore, it is necessary to prepare medicine for them with Wudingzhi myself.