When they came to Jiang's house, the mother and her four children were all fine, but when they went back, the three little ones were all injured, which made Mingyue very angry.
She really underestimated the ugliness of human nature and overestimated Chen Daniu's character. She felt that she had a great responsibility for the children being hurt like this, and her heart was filled with guilt.
Fortunately, she had taken Jiang Xingzhi's pulse on the way and knew that he only had external injuries and was not really hurt inside. He fainted because he was malnourished and had suffered severe blows one after another. His body functions were automatically protecting him, which led to him falling into a coma.
Perhaps Jiang Xingzhi became Chen Daniu's main target of venting his anger, and the other two little guys were not seriously injured, but they still needed to apply some blood-activating and blood-stasis-removing medicine so that they could recover faster.
After returning to the dilapidated temple, Mingyue carefully placed Xingzhi on the torn quilt, asked Yizhi and Muzhi to look after him, and went out to collect herbs to treat the external injuries.
When Mingyue came back from collecting herbs, Yizi was checking his brother's injuries and blowing on his wound from time to time.
Children's skin is delicate, and even if they were beaten with a rattan stick through their clothes, blue marks were still left on Mu Zhi's body. Now those marks were slightly swollen and looked extremely scary.
But Mu Zhi blinked his big eyes and told his second brother: "Mu Zhi, it doesn't hurt. Second brother will stop hurting after a sneeze."
But both Jiang Yizi and Mingyue knew that he was comforting them.
It is precisely because the child is sensible and well-behaved that Chen Daniu seems even more hateful. You know, even a tiger will not eat its own cubs. He is not even as good as an animal.
Mingyue let out a light breath, closed her eyes, and then stepped into the dilapidated temple.
"Mom, you're back!" Mu Zhi stuck to her as usual, and regardless of his naked upper body, he threw himself on Mingyue.
Yizhi wanted to hold his brother's arm, but he failed to do so. He blushed anxiously and said, "Muzhi, you are still injured."
Mingyue caught Mu Zhi who rushed over, and deliberately avoided the bruises on his body. She placed him on the altar under the statue and said softly, "Mu Zhi, please sit here first. Wait for mother to apply medicine to your elder brother, and then I will rub your wound, okay?"
Mu Zhi looked at his eldest brother who was lying unconscious on the torn quilt, and tears suddenly flowed out of his eyes. His voice was a little sobbing: "Okay, mother, you look after eldest brother first, you must save him, he got beaten so many times, the bad dad wanted to beat me and my second brother, but eldest brother kept asking the bad dad to beat him, so the bad dad beat him until he bled. Eldest brother also didn't let us call mother, saying that he was afraid that you would worry. It hurt so much, but I listened to eldest brother and didn't cry out at all."
Mingyue felt a pang in her heart. Even though he had been beaten like this, he was still worried about her, an adult. This child really made her at a loss for words.
Yizhi, who was standing by, couldn't help but wipe away his tears. Originally, his elder brother wouldn't have been injured so badly, but he was just trying to protect himself and his third brother...
Mingyue sighed, touched the little guy's head, and promised: "Don't worry, your eldest brother will be fine." As she said that, she went to undress Xingzhi and prepared to apply herbal medicine on him.
After such a while, some parts of Xingzhi's clothes had stuck to his wounds. Even though Mingyue was very careful when taking off his clothes, he still frowned in pain while he was unconscious.
After the clothes were untied, what caught Mingyue's eyes were dozens of bloodstains that had begun to bleed again, as well as a number of severely swollen bruises.
The two little ones were so frightened by their eldest brother's injury that they bit their lips and sobbed softly.
Mingyue wrapped the herbs in a handkerchief and pressed them into a herbal paste with a stone. She then applied it gently and slowly on Xingzhi's wound.
Seeing Xingzhi trembling with pain, Mingyue took a deep breath and said as if talking to herself: "I will change everything. No matter if men are superior to women or women are superior to men, I will change it. Everything will be fine in the future."
All human beings are born equal, and both men and women should enjoy equal fairness.
Being impartial and fair is what she wants to strive for.
After Jiang Xingzhi's condition got better, Mingyue went to check Yizhi and Muzhi's injuries. After confirming that they were not broken, she used her strength to rub the bruises on their bodies, which could promote blood circulation and help the bruises disappear. The two children were obviously in so much pain, but they bit their lips and didn't say a word, let alone stop Mingyue from rubbing their wounds. They were so sensible and well-behaved that it was heartbreaking.
After rubbing the bruises on the little ones, Mingyue asked the two little ones to look after Xingzhi while she started to prepare lunch.
Although it’s lunch, it’s actually a bit late now.
It was already late afternoon, and fortunately both Mingyue's body and the three little ones were used to being hungry, otherwise they would have been too hungry to walk.
There were still three fish left from yesterday's catch. Mingyue put them in three bamboo pots and made a simple barbecue rack. She put the bamboo pots on it to make fish soup and also put in some wild vegetables that she had picked this morning but had not finished eating.
Soon, the delicious aroma of fish, meat and wild vegetables wafted out of the dilapidated temple.
Mu Zhi and Yi Zhi stared at the bubbling bamboo jar and began to swallow their saliva unconsciously.
At this time, Mingyue touched Xingzhi's hot forehead and frowned.
Xingzhi actually started to have a fever, which is really bad news.
Mingyue asked Yizhi to take care of Muzhi and help him eat first, while she went outside to find some antipyretic medicine. She also found several thorns and kept them as a backup. This was the only substitute for the silver needles she could find.
Besides... she had to take her sons into the city quickly.
Firstly, she had to go to the government office to report on the dismissal of Chen Daniu, and secondly, she had to sign up for the upcoming Royal Library ability test.
You have to know that the rules set by the first empress are that everyone has the opportunity to enter the Royal Library, of course, this "people" does not include men.
According to the rules, any woman can sign up for the test at any time. As long as she can pass the test, she can enter the library and get the opportunity to find the Queen's gift.
It’s a pity that no one has appeared yet who can take the gift. Instead, all those who passed the test and entered the library have been recruited by the royal family.
So now this test has been passed down to this day and has become a way for the royal family to select talents, and those who take the test no longer desire to find gifts.
Mingyue wanted to give it a try because she had a strong premonition.
This gift is for her.
Although this premonition sounded ridiculous, Mingyue had to try it.
After all, if she couldn't find a way to get the attention of the royal family and stand out, once Jiang Huiyue turned things around, the four of them, mother and son, would be in trouble.
You have to know that Jiang Huiyue is not a person who can tolerate anything. She has always been vindictive and will not suffer such a big loss for nothing.
Even though Mingyue has muddied the waters for the Jiang family, Jiang Huiyue may not let her, the culprit, go.
As the sky gradually darkened, Mingyue made a decision in her heart: to go into the city tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)