Hua Zhi felt helpless when she thought of Shaoyao's lawless temper when she got angry, but she didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Shaoyao was not an unreasonable person who didn't know right from wrong.
"How is your injury? Is it serious?"
"It's just a little blood, it's fine now, not as bad as the one at the farm." Yan Xi's distressed expression was too obvious, Hua Zhi felt a little uncomfortable even though she enjoyed it, so she changed the subject and said, "The hot water should be ready, go wash up and change your clothes first."
Gu Yanxi resisted the urge to hug her again. Some things, once they happen for the first time, one would want to do them countless times, but that was too offensive. He finally saw some emotion expressed in Ah Zhi towards him and he didn't want to ruin it, so he followed her words and walked to the next room.
Hua Zhi calmed down her mood which was disturbed by Yan Xi's coming, got up and went to the kitchen. She didn't mean to wash her hands and cook soup, but cooking was really not difficult for her. Thinking that he had been traveling hard all the way and his appetite might not be so good, she asked Bao Xia to pick out one of the cold dishes she had prepared before, and also made him a bowl of sour and spicy noodles.
As soon as the food was laid out, Gu Yanxi came over and covered her mouth with her hands. She smiled and said, "This is the noodles made by our young lady herself. Mr. Lu must eat every drop."
Gu Yanxi was stunned. Is this... noodles made by Ah Zhi herself
Hua Zhi glanced at Bao Xia in annoyance. What on earth was there to say? And what kind of look was that from Yan Xi!
"It's not like you haven't seen me cooking before. I taught Fudong how to cook before."
Bao Xia smiled mischievously, "How can they be the same, right, Mr. Lu?"
"Of course it's different." Gu Yanxi replied to Bao Xia, but her eyes didn't move away from Hua Zhi, "I will definitely eat every morsel of soup."
Hua Zhi tucked the fallen hair behind her ear and said, "Take your time eating. I'll go change my clothes."
Bao Xia turned her head and laughed twice, and then she felt a little sour in her nose. When the young lady was engaged before, they felt that Shen Qi knew her well and was a perfect match. But when the Hua family got into trouble, the Shen family stood aside and watched. They were angry and worried about the young lady. Their young lady was so good and powerful, but it seemed that no one was worthy of her. But who could say that this was a good thing? No one was worthy of her. Would she be single for the rest of her life
Fortunately, fortunately Mr. Lu appeared. He stood by the young lady when she was in the most difficult time and became her support, but he would not trap her in the inner house on the grounds of love like other men. Fortunately, fortunately, their young lady knew best, and Mr. Lu's thoughts were not in vain, and the time had finally come when the clouds cleared and the sun came.
If Mr. Lu becomes their son-in-law, I think the young ladies won't need to restrict themselves in order to live the life they want.
With her back to the young lady, Bao Xia bowed deeply to Gu Yanxi with red eyes. Their young lady deserved the best treatment, and she only hoped that Mr. Lu would not let her down.
Gu Yanxi watched the master and servant leave, then sat at the table looking at the four plates of cold dishes and the bowl of steaming noodles. No one could see the tenderness in his eyes, and just as he said, not a single drop of soup was left.
In this life, he only wishes to have Hua Zhi, nothing else.
Maybe it was the sour and spicy taste, or maybe it was the warmth in my heart. My whole body felt warm as if it was soaked in warm water. Drowsiness came over me, and I insisted on walking back to the house and fell into a deep sleep. I felt so at ease that I even lost my vigilance. When I woke up, it was already the next morning.
It was only dim outside, with rumbling thunder, but the room felt extremely hot and stuffy.
Glancing at the clepsydra, it was already morning. Gu Yanxi got up and walked out of the door. Before he looked at the sky, he saw a person standing in the corridor outside.
The two looked at each other, and Gu Yanxi walked closer, "Has it been a long time?"
"It's so stuffy." Hua Zhi motioned for him to look up, "It's going to rain."
In summer, it should be bright at the hour of Mao, but now it is gloomy and dark. I don't know how thick the clouds are. Once the rain starts, it will be heavy and will not stop in a short time.
At this time, Shaoyao and the Sixth Prince opened the door almost at the same time. Shaoyao was holding a veil in her hand and looked like she was about to go out in a hurry. The Sixth Prince was also neatly dressed. When they saw the people outside, they both stopped in their tracks.
The Sixth Prince greeted him and called him Brother Yan Xi.
Shaoyao also called Brother Yan, "Something is wrong this day, I'm going to the government office."
Gu Yanxi fell asleep yesterday before anyone came back, so she naturally didn't have time to ask some questions. When she saw that the person was about to leave, she stopped him and said, "There's no point in being anxious for a while. Tell me what's going on over there on the river first."
"I asked them to pool their efforts to get through one by one, and only in the past few days have they managed to get through two of them. And this progress was only made possible by my whipping. They all thought they were working for me. Who am I doing this for?" When it comes to this, Shaoyao feels a little itchy, but there is no other way. She can take action against officials, but she has to endure it no matter what when it comes to the unarmed civilians.
"The people have long been numb to the corvée labor collected every year. It's just their share to get through the year." Hua Zhi was a little helpless. The labor service regulations of the Daqing Dynasty were that if a family had seven people, three would serve, if there were six people, five from two families would serve, and if there were five people, two would serve. Xiangyang was a big county, and this time the Seven Stars Division was forcing people to pay instead of labor. The number of people doing labor service should be around 8,000. With so many people, they only managed to open up two not-so-long rivers in five days. This showed how inefficient they were.
"Yan Xi, the thing I mentioned in the letter..."
"The people of the Seven Stars Division need to learn all kinds of things to deal with various situations. Among the people we brought this time, there are those who are good at fortifications. Their horses are not as fast as Linying, so they should have arrived last night."
Yu Tao replied, "Yes, we are all here. After a short rest, Wu Xing asked for some things and went out of the city. He has not returned yet."
"I hope it's not too late. Have all the Heavenly Masters in the city been cleared out?"
"It's too early to clear up."
"Haven't you received any water reports from upstream in the past few days?"
“No.”
But the water level was receding slowly. It had only receded by two inches in the past few days, and the river water was turbid. This was clearly a sign of rain upstream! Hua Zhi felt helpless. How common was flooding in this area that they reacted so slowly!
Shaoyao put on her veil and said, "I'm going to the government office."
The thunder roared louder, and lightning was looming through the thick clouds. Hua Zhi looked at Xiao Liu, who was also about to leave and follow him, and said, "Go to the kitchen and take a few steamed buns before you leave. Take a few more."
The Sixth Prince responded, threw all the rules behind his head, and ran away as fast as he could.
Gu Yanxi looked at him and said, "It's right to let him stay with you. He has improved."
"You will naturally improve as you encounter more things. He was injured before, but I didn't hear him cry out in pain."
Gu Yanxi couldn't help but laugh when she heard her proud tone. If someone didn't know, they would think Xiaoliu was her child!
PS: This part of the plot is actually not dragged out, but it may feel that way if I update it once a day. I'll give you a spoiler: this part is to correspond to the previous plot about Xiangyang being the site of the Wei River bursting its banks in August. I will be a volunteer for the last two days, so please bear with me.