Chapter 43: Preparing to Leave
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Of the five taels of silver, one tael was for the consultation fee, and the rest was for Doctor He’s trouble.
Fish Rice Alley was where Aunt Ke lived. Aunt Ke also agreed that she should treat Madam Yang’s illness as soon as possible. There were two young children in the family, and Father Gu had been separated from them. It was not a good thing for Gu Yundong to hold on alone.
Doctor He glanced at her but only accepted one tael of silver.
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you pass on the message. Take these back. 1 won’t take them.” Doctor He said, “However, you have to remember not to find those unreliable quacks again. It’s a small matter to waste money, but it’s a big matter to get your mother killed. Now, in Xuanhe Prefecture, I’m afraid only Imperial Physician Song can treat your mother. It’s not a bad thing to wait longer. You can’t eat hot tofu in a haste.”
Gu Yundong smiled sincerely. “Thank you, Doctor He. 1’11 remember it.”
Doctor He reminded her about the things she had to pay attention to and prescribed a warm and nourishing prescription for her. Madam Yang’s body was indeed not very good. Not to mention eating her fill and wearing warm clothes all these years, even the illness of pregnancy that she had not recovered from after giving birth back then needed to be treated.
Gu Yundong brought Madam Yang back to Aunt Ke’s house and told her about the situation. The latter nodded to show that she understood. “Don’t worry. When I hear from Imperial Physician Song, I’ll get someone to send you a message.”
Thus, Gu Yundong packed her things the next day and prepared to go to the village where they had settled down.
Before she left, she cooked a feast. Nie Cong also came over to eat. This was the first time he had eaten Gu Yundong’s cooking. He immediately regretted it. “If I had known that your cooking was so delicious, I would have come earlier.”
Aunt Ke gave him a sidelong glance. “Shouldn’t you do something to repay her for the meal?”
Nie Cong was stunned. “Do what?”
He had already done everything he could to help. Now that she was about to leave, was he supposed to send her there personally? That wasn’t good, right? Not to mention that men and women shouldn’t touch each other, he didn’t have the time. There had been so many things going on recently.
Aunt Ke was a little helpless about her nephew’s stubbornness. No wonder her father wanted to send him to the government office to train.
She slapped Nie Cong hard. “She and her family are young and weak. They don’t have anyone to back them up. They’re going to unfamiliar places tomorrow. What if they’re bullied? Are we going to let her come all the way to the prefectural city to ask for help?”
Nie Cong suddenly came to a realization. He swallowed the chicken in his mouth and stood up. “Wait, I’ll be back in a while.”
Gu Yundong laughed and looked at Aunt Ke. “Actually, Young Master Nie has helped me enough. No matter where 1 go, I still have to rely on myself in the end.”
“Hypocrite. Why didn’t you stop Nie Cong before he left? 1 know what kind of person you are. Don’t say such meaningless words in front of me.”
Gu Yundong laughed. “Thank you, Aunt.”
“In fact, you’ve helped Nie Cong a lot. You don’t know how much he benefited from the last time he led the way to capture the bandit leader.”
Needless to say the government office, Nie Cong’s father had a whole new level of respect for him and relied on him a lot.
Nie Cong returned quickly and handed her a letter. “Your village belongs to Fengkai County. I don’t know anyone there, but Constable Jiang from our government office has a good relationship with Constable Li from the county office over there. If you need help with some small matters later, look for him. This is a letter from Constable Jiang.”
Without waiting for Gu Yundong’s reaction, he said mysteriously, “1’11 give you something good. You have to keep it well..”