Jiang Yanyi had just experienced a carriage crash not long ago. Although she was frightened by the hidden arrow this time, she was very calm after she came to her senses.
She glanced at the crowd below. Yang Xiu and Bing Shao, who were disguised as ordinary people, nodded to Jiang Yanyi calmly and remained silent.
Previously, Jiang Yanyi and his sister were nearly hit by a carriage. Yang Xiu and Bing Shao were sent by Chu Changping to protect Jiang Yanyi, but they were not present. The two of them felt very guilty and insisted on going back to work for Jiang Yanyi.
This time when coming to collect donations, Jiang Yanyi apparently only brought Huo Jianjia with him, but Yang Xiu and Bing Shao were watching secretly.
The guards of the wealthy businessmen also rushed forward at this time and protected their masters and hid in Lai Fu Restaurant.
Madam An Shao had never experienced such a dangerous situation. When she was helped to stand up by her maid, her legs were very weak and her face turned pale.
She was sitting next to Jiang Yanyi just now. When the arrow shot at her, her mind went blank and she was completely dazed. Now her heart was beating so hard that it seemed like it was going to jump out of her throat.
Jiang Yan saw that her maid could hardly hold her up, so she hurriedly lent a hand: "Is Madam An-shao okay?"
Madam An's hands were cold. She reluctantly nodded to Jiang Yanyi and said, "It's okay."
She was just a bystander and was so frightened. Jiang Yanyi, who nearly died from the sharp arrow, looked calm. Madam An Shao couldn't help but admire Jiang Yanyi. A woman who could be favored by the King of Liaonan must have some outstanding qualities.
If any other noble lady were to take her place today, I’m afraid she wouldn’t be able to be as calm as Jiang Yanyi.
Jiang Yanyi helped Madam An into the private room that Manager Xu had prepared for them, and said to the waiter at the door, "Go get a doctor."
The waiter hurried out to call the doctor.
Although Jiang Yanyi knew that Huo Jianjia was good at martial arts, she was still a little worried. She was also afraid that some wealthy businessmen would have ulterior motives and take this opportunity to send people to snatch the donation banknotes. After comforting Madam An Shao, she went out to find Manager Xu.
Shopkeeper Xu was in a state of panic at the moment. When he met Jiang Yanyi, he bowed so much that he almost knelt on the ground, as if a disaster was about to happen, and said, "Shopkeeper Chu, today's accident was really a sudden disaster. If the prince investigates, I hope Shopkeeper Chu will speak for Xu."
Jiang Yanyi naturally knew that the person who shot the arrow could not have been arranged by Manager Xu, so she asked, "Where is the banknote for the donation?"
At this point, Shopkeeper Xu would never dare covet this fortune again, and hurriedly said, "I've locked it in the warehouse. There are a lot of guys watching it, so nothing will happen."
Jiang Yanyi said, "People's hearts are hidden. The money raised today is not a small amount. If someone pretends to be a thief and steals the banknotes, Manager Xu will have to deal with the situation himself."
Manager Xu is not stupid, as he was able to take the position of the head of the Chamber of Commerce immediately after the fall of the Hu family. He has been dealing with merchants for many years, and he knows better than Jiang Yanyi who has what kind of character. Now that Jiang Yanyi has done this, he knows that he must not take it lightly.
He bowed deeply to Jiang Yanyi again and said, "Thank you, Shopkeeper Chu, for your advice. I will never forget your kindness."
After instructing Shopkeeper Xu, Jiang Yanyi turned around and was about to go back to the private room when he saw the waiter who had just gone out to call the doctor leading a female doctor upstairs.
There were only a few pharmacies on Duhufu Street, and Jiang Yanyi recognized most of the doctors on duty. The female doctor who came upstairs was fat, and Jiang Yanyi had no impression of her. He thought that the female doctor was not a doctor near Duhufu Street, so how could she get here so quickly
Perhaps because of the lesson from the previous female itinerant doctor, the female itinerant doctor had never been caught. It was said that she was proficient in the art of disguise, making it difficult for the searching officers and soldiers to find her.
Jiang Yanyi now becomes nervous when he sees the female doctor.
She went to the lobby of Lai Fu Restaurant and took a walk around. Yang Xiu Bing Shaoxian was mingling in the lobby disguised as a diner. When he saw Jiang Yanyi coming downstairs, he followed her to the backyard without making a sound.
"Boss, is there anything wrong?" Yang Xiu asked.
Jiang Yanyi whispered, "Just now the waiter of the restaurant brought a female doctor upstairs to see Madam An Shao. I am worried that she is the female doctor named Fang from the previous dynasty."
They had noticed the female doctor that Jiang Yanyi mentioned, but she was fat and had gray hair, and was obviously an elderly doctor. Another female family member in the restaurant was frightened, so the two did not think much about it. But after hearing what Jiang Yanyi said, they became alert.
Yang Xiu asked: "What should we do?"
Jiang Yanyi said: "It must be aimed at me. If she wanted to save Jiang Yanxi, she wouldn't dare to kill me. The previous arrow might have been intended to lure Jianjia away."
"Mrs. An is still in the room. Just in case I go up first, you two can pretend to be waiters from the restaurant and come in to add tea. Follow my instructions and do what I say."
Yang Xiu and Bing Shao all responded in agreement.
Jiang Yanyi then turned around and went upstairs.
In the private room, Mrs. An Shao sat at the eight-immortals table and had her pulse felt by a white-haired doctor.
"Young Madam has been frightened, so she just needs to rest for a few days. I'll prescribe a prescription for calming the nerves. Just follow the prescription and take it a few times and you'll be fine." The doctor's voice was surprisingly kind and gentle.
Madam An thanked her and said to Jiang Yanyi, "Miss Chu, you should also let this female doctor take your pulse."
Before entering the room, Jiang Yanyi was not sure whether this old doctor was the traveling female doctor named Fang. However, after entering the room, he smelled the medicinal smell on her body which was different from that of ordinary doctors, and he was basically sure of it.
Although a cook may not be good at other things, his sense of smell and taste is sharper than others.
Jiang Yanyi had previously been treated with scraping for a cold and had smelled the scent of medicine on the female itinerant doctor, which was exactly the same as the one on this old doctor.
To avoid the female itinerant doctor noticing, Jiang Yanyi pretended not to know her identity and said, "The arrow didn't hurt me, but there was another murder case in the east of the city. The government officials were delayed there, and I don't know when they can come."
She said this on purpose to let the female traveling doctor relax her guard. After all, if the government officials arrived later, she would have more chances and would not have to go to extremes and fight to the death.
After Fang Zhi changed her appearance, she looked no different from an old lady in her seventies or eighties. When she heard that the government officials would arrive later, her eyes moved slightly.
Mrs. An Shao is kind-hearted, and she couldn't help but sigh when she heard that another murder had occurred near the end of the year.
Fang Zhi said at this time: "I see that this girl doesn't look very good. She has the symptoms of Yin deficiency and excess fire. I have been practicing medicine for many years and my medical skills are quite good. If the girl trusts me, why not let me give her acupuncture?"
Jiang Yanyi thought it was strange that she could trust him, so he declined, "Thank you for your kindness, doctor. It's not convenient to go out. I'll ask you to come to my house to take my pulse later."
Fang Zhi rashly suggested acupuncture, and Jiang Yanyi's polite refusal left her with no reason to ask again.
Fang Zhi had no choice but to agree with a smile. When she went to pack her medicine box, her hand reached for the bamboo tube containing smoke in the compartment of the medicine box.
"Sir, let me give you a pot of hot tea!"
At this moment, Yang Xiu came in carrying a teapot, and Bing Shao followed him with a plate of cakes. Fang Zhi had already touched the bamboo tube of incense, but seeing this situation, she had to put the incense down first.
Jiang Yanyi observed her calmly, and when Yang Xiubing Shao put the things on the table, he gave them a look that suggested they take action.
In a flash, Yang Xiu turned around and swept the defenseless Fang Zhi to the ground with a kick. Before Fang Zhi could react, Bing Shao stepped forward and directly took off her hands. Fang Zhi screamed in pain.
Madam An was so frightened that her face turned pale. She stood up from the stool and looked at Jiang Yanyi in shock: "Miss Chu... This is..."
Jiang Yan was relieved to see Fang Zhi being subdued, and said, "This man is a wanted criminal by the government!"
Bing Shao pulled the leather mask off Fang Zhi's face. Mrs. An Shao saw that the wrinkled old lady instantly turned into a middle-aged woman with a fierce look. She was so scared that she took a step back.
The government officials arrived quickly, and Madam An Shao realized that Jiang Yanyi's previous statement about riding a horse and injuring someone was just a lie to the female doctor.
Jiang Yanyi originally thought that those who came were just some government minions, but when he went to the window and looked out, he saw a man with a stern face riding on a tall horse, and he was stunned.
Why did he come in person
A snowflake slowly floated down from the window. There were rows of houses on both sides of the long street. A thick layer of snow accumulated on the eaves. Frost formed on the dead branches beside the road that had lost all their leaves. From a distance, it looked like jade trees.
Feng Shuo was dressed in armor, his body was straighter than pine and cypress, his face was stern, he was riding the Dark Cloud Horse, which was half a head taller than an ordinary warhorse, the horse was snorting, and the hot air he exhaled formed a white mist in the air.
As if he noticed her gaze, Feng Shuo raised his eyes and looked over here on horseback.
There were more and more flying snowflakes, falling down in large flakes. After a long sunny day, it started snowing again.
Jiang Yanyi saw Feng Shuo retract his gaze, and he jumped off his horse, seemingly heading straight for the restaurant.
Her heart started beating faster for no reason.
As Jiang Yanyi expected, a wealthy businessman saw the opportunity brought by the riot and hired someone to pretend to be an accomplice to steal the silver bills used for fundraising by the Chamber of Commerce. Fortunately, after Jiang Yanyi's reminder, Shopkeeper Xu had moved the silver bills to another place.
After negotiating with Manager Xu and learning that the person involved was Song the Registrar of the government office, Feng Shuo went straight upstairs to look for Jiang Yanyi.
An Yongyuan looked much more ferocious than Feng Shuo, but Madam An dared to punish An Yongyuan to kneel on the washboard, but she did not dare to look at Feng Shuo for too long. Ever since Feng Shuo entered the room, she did not dare to breathe.
Jiang Yan thought about it and thought that since the government officials had arrived, they could send Madam An back and her safety would be guaranteed, so he let Madam An go back first.
Madam An Shao was more than happy to accept this. She did not even say a few polite words to Jiang Yanyi and left in a hurry with her maid.
Jiang Yanyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He glanced at Feng Shuo and said, "Look how scared you are."
Considering that Yang Xiu and Bing Shao were still in the room, Feng Shuo did not do anything out of the ordinary. He just glanced at Jiang Yanyi and said, "Why didn't I scare you?"
This sentence didn't sound like a flirtation, but Jiang Yanyi felt inexplicably embarrassed. She quickly got down to business: "Look who I caught for you!"
Feng Shuo raised his eyebrows and looked at the ground. He had never seen a female itinerant doctor before, but after interrogating the former officials in the prison, he asked the painter to draw a portrait of the female itinerant doctor according to the confession. Combining those characteristics, he recognized her at a glance, "The maidservant beside the queen of the previous dynasty?"
Fang Zhi cursed fiercely, "Traitors! The kingdom of the Great Qi Dynasty cannot be firmly established by rats like you!"
Feng Shuo sneered: "Whether you sit firmly or not, your Great Qi Kingdom has been destroyed for more than ten years."
Fang Zhi's face suddenly turned ugly.
Feng Shuo ordered Xing Yao, who was waiting at the door, "Take the person away!"
Xing Yao quickly entered the room with his guards and dragged Fang Zhi away. Feng Shuo glanced at Yang Xiu and Bing Shao who were still in the room.
The two pretended not to see his gaze, and stood in the house with their heads down, refusing to leave.
Feng Shuo was a man of his time, so he could guess that this was probably Chu Changping's order. In the end, he just rubbed Jiang Yanyi's head and said, "I'll give you a reward later, but don't take risks again!"
He rushed here from the Xizhou camp after hearing that someone shot an arrow and almost injured Jiang Yanyi.
Jiang Yanyi was delighted, with a smile on his face: "The military funds I have raised are roughly 150,000 taels!"
Feng Shuo had not expected this amount. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, "Did you put a knife to their necks and force them to donate?"
If he hadn't been concerned that Yang Xiu and Bing Shao were still in the room, Jiang Yanyi would have wanted to pinch the flesh on his arm and twist it hard.
She gritted her teeth and said, "No."
Feng Shuo saw that she was like a cat with its fur standing on end, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, with rare gentleness, "Let's go, I will personally take you back."
Jiang Yanyi was afraid that Huo Jianjia might be in danger, so she asked Bing Shao to find someone. As soon as she finished speaking, she ran into Huo Jianjia when she went downstairs.
Huo Jianjia was still holding the bloody Guan Gong sword in her hand. No one dared to get within ten feet of her. When they saw her walking in that direction, the onlookers automatically made way for her.
But Huo Jianjia was dejected and looked gloomy, as if he was an unlucky guy who thought he was unlucky.
The first thing he said when he saw Jiang Yanyi was, "Boss, I cut too hard and forgot to leave anyone alive."
After killing all the people who attacked the noodle shop, Jiang Yanyi said he wanted to leave them alive, and Huo Jianjia kept this in mind.
Jiang Yanyi didn't expect that she was so upset just because of this matter, so he comforted her: "It's okay, the mastermind has been caught."
Huo Jianjia's eyes then lit up again.
When Huo Jianjia learned that the mastermind was the female itinerant doctor who killed her father, she wanted to chop off her head with a big knife. Jiang Yanyi told her that the government still had to interrogate the female itinerant doctor. Huo Jianjia said in a sullen voice, "If you want to chop off her head after the interrogation, let me go."
She turned around and returned the Guan Gong sword to the waiter of Lai Fu Restaurant. The waiter took the sword and looked at the blood that had not yet dried on it, and his legs went weak.
***
The female itinerant doctor was imprisoned and part of the military funds were raised. Jiang Yanyi felt that the string in his head that had been tense for several days suddenly loosened.
When she was in a good mood, she liked to tinker in the kitchen and ask Huo Jianjia and Qiu Kui what they wanted to eat.
When Huo Jianjia was eating steamed buns and instant noodles at the noodle shop, she often heard Bing Shao say that the rice crust of Jiang Yanyi's firewood pot rice was unique. She had been there for a long time and had never tasted Jiang Yanyi's firewood pot rice, so she immediately asked for it.
Yang Xiu and Bing Shao would never compete with a little girl. Although Qiu Kui wanted to eat rice with Chinese sausage more, Huo Jianjia was as thin and small as a bean, so she unconsciously gave in to her a little, and in the end, they had rice in a wood-fired pot for dinner.
The tender potatoes planted in winter and the lovely green peas are fried in a pan with lard mixed with sesame oil. The potato cubes and peas are covered with a layer of light golden oil. The combination of vegetarian dishes and animal oil always produces a particularly tempting aroma.
Jiang Yanyi only added some salt. Some ingredients need thick sauces, but the original flavor of the firewood pot rice is authentic. After frying the flavors, she added some water to the pot to prevent the potatoes and peas at the bottom from being burnt. Then she covered the rice that was cooked until 70% done, and poured the mellow rice soup that had been drained along the edge of the pot.
The aroma of the rice is almost completely cooked into the rice soup. When using rice soup to cook rice in a wood-fired pot, the aroma of the rice will be more intense after it comes out of the pot, the rice crust will taste better, and it will be easier to stick together. After all, the starch content in the rice soup is quite high, but it requires higher control of the heat.
To go with the firewood pot rice, Jiang Yanyi also stewed a pork rib soup. He added medicinal ingredients such as Adenophora Root, Astragalus Membranaceus, Chinese Angelica Sinensis, and Agrocybe Agrocybe to the soup. The pork ribs were stewed until they were soft and the meat and bones could be separated with a light touch of chopsticks. The meat was tender and not firewood at all. The soup was fresh, fragrant and rich, warming and nourishing.
Jiang Yanyi stir-fried the preserved bacon with salted vegetables and garlic sprouts. Before it was even out of the pot, a group of people were overwhelmed by the aroma and waited at the kitchen door for dinner. The salted vegetables were fried with the oil from the bacon, which gave them a unique flavor. Pick up a handful of salted vegetables with rice, and you can still have another half bowl even if you are full.
Huo Jianjia ate too much at this meal and ended up lying dead beside the stove.
Aunt Guo injured her hand, so Yang Xiu and Bing Shao very consciously took over the dishes and chopsticks.
During this rare free time, Jiang Yanyi was reading a storybook to the two little girls by the stove. Huo Jianjia would respond to Jiang Yanyi from time to time. Qiu Kui, who used to love listening to Jiang Yanyi's stories the most, was now concentrating on sewing shoe soles.
Just by looking at the size of the sole, Jiang Yanyi knew that she must have made it for Luo the blacksmith.
Thinking that this silly girl would have to get married after the New Year, Jiang Yanyi suddenly felt a little sad like an old mother.
She said to Qiu Kui, "When you go to his place, if he dares to treat you badly, you must come back and tell me, don't be stupid and bear the consequences."
The dry firewood in the stove was crackling. Qiu Kui looked up at Jiang Yanyi in a daze. Her eyes gradually turned red. She nodded and said okay.
Huo Jianjia held her belly and changed her position with difficulty. She said coldly, "If he dares to treat you badly, I will chop off his head!"
This successfully frightened Qiu Kui so much that he pricked his hand.
She said quickly: "He is very good to me. Every time he comes to see me, he buys me candy figures or candied haws."
Huo Jianjia said: "My father used to buy it for me too."
She glanced at the coarse cloth Qiu Kui used to sew the soles of his shoes and asked, "It's so cold in Xizhou. When you sew the soles of your shoes, put some sheepskin inside to keep them warm."
When she used to travel around with her father, whenever she came to the northern territories, her father would ask someone to make a pair of sheepskin boots for her. Thinking of the past, Huo Jianjia's eyes were slightly sad.
Qiu Kui held the needle in her hand and brushed it against her temples before continuing to sew: "The shop only sells whole sheepskin materials. I don't need so much."
The sheepskin used to make clothes is not just peeled off the sheep directly. It has to go through many processing steps. After this processing, the price increases several times.
Huo Jianjia heard this and said, "The sheepskin scroll is useless anyway, so you can cut it up and make shoe soles."
She looked at Jiang Yanyi: "Boss, what do you think?"
Qiu Kui also looked at Jiang Yanyi eagerly.
Jiang Yanyi no longer had any hope for the parchment scroll and said, "Take it and use it."
When Qiu Kui heard this, she happily went to get the sheepskin scroll. She drew a shoe shape with charcoal according to the blacksmith Luo's size, picked up the scissors and started cutting.
Jiang Yanyi laughed and shook his head. Just as he was sighing, Qiu Kui, who was cutting the shoe shape with scissors, suddenly asked in surprise: "What is this?"
Jiang Yanyi turned around and looked at her: "What's wrong?"
Qiu Kui brought the parchment scroll over to show Jiang Yanyi: "Hua Hua, there's something inside!"
Jiang Yanyi was stunned when he saw the partition exposed in the middle of the parchment scroll after it was cut.
No wonder Chi Qing and the others couldn't find the partition by pinching the edge, it turned out to be in the middle.
She took out two palm-sized yellowed drawings from the compartment, and looked at them carefully in the light of the fire. She found that there were indeed maps on the drawings, but the words were only the size of sesame seeds.
Now the outside world knows that the treasure map is fake and no longer focuses on Xizhou. But it turns out that the treasure map is real!
Jiang Yanyi's heart was pounding. If Feng Shuo secretly sent people to look for the treasure now, not only would he not have to worry about the bandits snatching it away, he could also build up Xizhou's military defenses without making a fuss.
The author has something to say: Jiang Yanyi: Make a fortune in silence!
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2021-01-21 23:59:42~2021-01-22 23:56:37~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: pp 3;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 110 bottles of Rourou; 30 bottles of Huichangdeer; 10 bottles of Yuancongbencong; 5 bottles of Xiaohuliya; 3 bottles of Jiangyin; 1 bottle of chenannn, whowhowho, and Qingzha;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!