Chapter 1508: Injured
Chapter 1508: Chapter 1508: Injured
Why do we have to be so respectful to two blades of grass and two eggs?
Qin San Lang laughed, hugged her, and said, "This is a custom in the Capital. Younger children will send spring seedlings to newlyweds, it has the meaning of sending a child. The black ribbon stands for a son, the red ribbon stands for a daughter, implying the newlyweds can have both a boy and a girl this year."
"Ah, so there’s such a custom." This was the first time Xiao Yu had heard of it.
Qin San Lang nodded. "Mm, it’s only given in the first year. On the second Dragon-Head-Raising Day, they won’t send it anymore."
This custom was meant for newly married couples.
Gu Jinli said, "Sister-in-law Zhang is really thoughtful."
Unlike Ji Zhenniang, who’s always so clueless.
Thinking of Ji Zhenniang, Gu Jinli added, "About those waves of people in Beicang Prefecture, we should tell Xie Cheng and the others, right?"
"We should. I’ll go find them after we eat." Qin San Lang held Gu Jinli’s hand, went back to the table, and continued eating.
After eating, he went to call Zhang Yan and Xie Cheng. The three of them left the courtyard to find Niu Dabao and the others, and told them about those groups of people.
Gu Jinli, meanwhile, had Xiao Ji go boil water and carry the hot water into the room. She took a comfortably hot bath, then started going through the account books.
She read until her heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys all ached!
God above, raising soldiers really burns money. Fortunately Brother Qin had gotten quite a haul of gold and silver jewelry back on Hundred Wolves Mountain, or they really wouldn’t have been able to support all those extra soldiers and their families.
She cursed Emperor Chu again in her heart. Couldn’t he stop being so stingy? The soldiers went to war, and he still couldn’t bear to give more pay and provisions? That bit of rations he gave them when they set out—what was that supposed to cover?
It was as if Emperor Chu was terrified the soldiers would run off with the money and provisions. On their over two-month journey west, he only issued pay and supplies once, saying that once they reached the Northwest Camp, the soldiers would then be given money and rations in a unified distribution.
If you didn’t survive the trip and report in to the Northwest Camp, then you could forget about getting anything.
The expenses of maintaining the troops on the road really made Gu Jinli’s heart bleed, but their recent income had her grinning from ear to ear.
Brother Qin’s fishing village was bringing in a lot, and her pharmaceutical workshop had sent out several batches of goods, earning a huge sum.
Her eldest brother had also written to say that the soy sauce and ham were selling very well. Both items were making a killing, and even Brother Cheng had started earning money. He said that once the dividends from the cake shop came in, he’d send someone to deliver the silver notes to her so she could spend freely and stop pinching pennies.
He also tattled on Da Gou and Ergou, saying they’d ruined the wheat seedlings in the fields, making him pay a good amount of silver in compensation.
Originally, their parents had wanted to pay the compensation for him, but Eldest Brother wouldn’t allow it, saying that Da Gou and Ergou were raised by him and that since he hadn’t watched them properly, he had to bear the responsibility.
Brother Cheng also talked about many things at home, as well as one farce involving Mrs. Chen.
Mrs. Chen felt there was too much masculine energy in the house and that it would clash with her, so she really wanted a daughter to add a bit of gentleness to the family. Around the New Year she suddenly started vomiting for a few days—she felt nauseous and had no appetite—which delighted her. She strutted around with her belly stuck out, showing off at a few homes at the end of the village, saying she was pregnant again!
But after Doctor Wu took her pulse, he told her very firmly, "You simply ate too much greasy food over the New Year and hurt your stomach, so you’re suffering from acid reflux and nausea. You’re not pregnant."
Mrs. Chen didn’t believe him and had Gu Dagui go to the county to invite Doctor Zhou. The result was the same: it was a stomach problem, she wasn’t pregnant.
Mrs. Chen was furious, while Gu Dewang breathed a sigh of relief. He privately told Brother Cheng and the others, "It’s a good thing she’s not pregnant. If she really gave birth to a girl, that’d be a second version of my mother. How would we go on living in this house then? Just thinking about it is terrifying!"
Ha ha ha. Reading this, Gu Jinli couldn’t help laughing out loud; Brother Wang, you really are something. You know your mother all too well.
But she soon couldn’t laugh anymore, because Brother Cheng had written that Eldest Brother had taken him to the fishing village.
Some middle-aged men in the fishing village had seen how much money the village was making and felt that Qin San Lang was an outsider. They wanted to kick Qin San Lang’s people out of the village and were currently scheming something bad.
Brother Cheng was only nine, and Eldest Brother had taken him to the fishing village. Wasn’t that exposing their weakness to the villagers?
But Brother Cheng wasn’t afraid at all. He said the fishing village was great fun and that he especially liked boats. He’d played on the boats for two days, even gone into the water to look for seafood, and had caught some strange but tasty fish to bring back for their parents.
Frowning as she read, Gu Jinli put down Brother Cheng’s letter and went to look for Gu Jin’an’s.
In his letter, Gu Jin’an explained why he’d taken Brother Cheng to the fishing village: Brother Cheng was already nine, practically an adult. The family business was growing, and with the world in chaos, they had to harden him early, or else he’d be helpless if something happened in the future.
He ended with: I know taking Brother Cheng to the fishing village is risky, but I was right by his side protecting him. If even then he still ends up getting hurt, it only shows he’s too weak. Even without the people from the fishing village, in the future he might run into other Evil Men when he goes out and still lose his life... It’s survival of the fittest; Brother Cheng has to grow up.
When she saw the four characters "survival of the fittest," Gu Jinli suddenly felt a bit sorry for Brother Cheng. With an elder brother like this, it really was pain and joy in equal measure.
Gu Dashan, Mrs. Cui, Gu Jinxiu, Luo Huiniang, Tian Xiaohua—and even Gu Dewang and Gu Defa—had all written to her.
Gu Jinli finished reading them one by one. Seeing that Qin San Lang hadn’t returned yet, she took out paper to write back home.
But there were too many replies to write, one letter per person, and she had to use a brush and traditional characters. Her hand only managed three letters before it went sore.
Ah, so tiring.
"Sanqing, I’m going to nap for a bit." Gu Jinli lay down on the table and soon fell asleep.
Sanqing sat beside her, keeping watch.
When Qin San Lang came back, Gu Jinli was sleeping soundly, with no sign of waking.
Qin San Lang felt a little distressed; it seemed the journey had truly exhausted her. He went over, picked her up, and carried her into the inner room, saying to Sanqing, "You can go down."
"Yes." Sanqing immediately left and closed the door.
Gu Jinli opened her eyes warily, but when she saw it was him, she closed them again and went back to sleep, mumbling, "I left hot water for you... remember to bathe~"
Qin San Lang chuckled at that and bent down to kiss her. "Mm, Xiao Yu, sleep well. I’ll be back in a bit."
With that, he laid her on the bed, covered her with the goose-down quilt, then went to the kitchen to fetch two buckets of hot water back to the room and bathed in the outer room.
This old courtyard had no bathhouse; they could only bathe in their own room. Luckily the room was big, divided into outer and inner sections, so they didn’t have to worry about getting the sleeping area damp.
After Qin San Lang had tidied everything up, he checked the doors, windows, and the coals in the brazier, then slipped under the quilt and pulled the sleeping woman into his arms.
Gu Jinli wriggled in his arms, found a comfortable position, and went on sleeping.
Qin San Lang watched her and smiled. "Just like a little rabbit."
Mm, also like a little wolf cub.
Qin San Lang kissed her again and almost woke her, then quickly stopped. Once she was sleeping soundly, he held her and drifted off as well.
The next morning, Qin San Lang and Gu Jinli woke up on time, but Gu Jinli didn’t let Qin San Lang get up. She pressed him down and said, "We’re still young, so we ought to lounge in bed a bit."
Qin San Lang laughed and asked, "Xiao Yu wants to laze in bed?"
Gu Jinli corrected him. "It’s not that I want to, it’s that the two of us are going to laze in bed together!"
Thinking of how hard she’d had it on their westward journey, Qin San Lang hugged her tight and said, "All right, we’ll laze in bed together today."
And truly, lazing in bed in the cold was quite comfortable. Without realizing it, the two of them fell asleep again, and when they woke, it was already halfway through the hour of Chen.
Gu Jinli felt refreshed. She stretched lazily and said, "I’ve slept my fill. Let’s get up. If we’re any later, Aunt Niu will call us lazybones."
"Mm." Qin San Lang got up first and went to fetch the clothes she was going to wear.
Just as the two of them finished dressing, Daqing came to ask for an audience and reported some news: "You Ping has been injured."