After Marrying The Paranoid God of War (Rebirth) - Chapter 7.2
Noon.
After leaving the government office, Ruan An felt a bit hungry and found a nearby eatery to have a meal. Yellow croaker noodles are popular at the moment. The deboned yellow croaker required minimal seasoning, making it delicious and tender.
A bowl of yellow croaker noodles costs ten copper coins. Ruan An had hesitated to eat it before, but now that she had a thousand taels of silver, she didn’t feel regretful. She even asked the vendor to add two more fish.
The vendor quickly brought the noodles to the table. Yang Wei, disguised as an ordinary person, sat across from Ruan An.
This time, Ruan An did not deliberately disguise herself as an old woman. As a young and beautiful woman with charming features, she attracted the attention of the diners around.
The girl noticed the unfriendly and covetous gazes around her and thought that in the future when she went down the mountain, she should cover her appearance to facilitate medical treatment and avoid trouble.
Ruan An focused on eating her noodles but noticed that Yang Wei had been looking at her. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, she couldn’t help but raise her eyes and softly ask, “Big Yang, aren’t you hungry? Would you like to try a bowl of yellow croaker noodles too?”
Looking into Ruan An’s clear and bright eyes, Yang Wei shook his head.
Finally, he understood Huo Pingxiao’s intentions. It turned out he stayed in the mountains not because he was interested in this beautiful village girl.
Well, for someone as indifferent and unruly as him, how could he easily be moved by a girl?
But this little female physician is really fortunate. Marquis Dingbei is indeed generous. When he said he would pay the medical fee, he directly gave her a thousand taels.
Thinking of this, Yang Wei sighed softly, “Miss Ruan is truly fortunate.”
The people around were bustling, and Ruan An didn’t quite understand why Yang Wei said that.
Yang Wei continued with emotion, “With a word from Marquis, the household registration of those two medicine apprentices can be easily resolved. If you save his life, he will grant you a thousand taels for the medical fee. Your fierce mistress, like a shrew, will not trouble you again. After he eliminates the bandits, Qingquan Town will be peaceful and smooth. Isn’t Miss fortunate?”
Ruan An chewed on the tender yellow croaker and the chewy noodles but felt a sense of tastelessness. She put down her chopsticks, lowered her eyelashes, and said softly, “Brother Yang, if you have something to say, just say it.”
Yang Wei sighed, this girl occasionally revealed a stubborn and unwilling expression. Ruan An had a tough spirit, or else as an orphaned girl, she couldn’t have survived and practiced medicine everywhere in this world.
He thought, she’s really a good girl, but her background was too low.
Marquis Dingbei might not notice the feelings revealed in the girl’s expression, but he could see through her thoughts.
Although Ruan An tried to control herself, Yang Wei could see that her occasional gaze toward Huo Pingxiao still carried uncontrollable admiration.
However, for a proud son of heaven like Huo Pingxiao, there was no shortage of admiring glances from young ladies. Too many girls liked him.
The distance between Ruan An and him was like the flexible reeds on the ground and the scorching sun in the sky, a gap of tens of thousands of miles. How could there be a good result?
Thinking of this, Yang Wei continued, “Miss Ruan, do you know? In Deputy Minister Liu’s house in Chang’an City, the legitimate daughter, outstanding in appearance and talent, would rather lower her status to become Marquis’s concubine just to be with him. But Marquis Huo still hasn’t agreed to her father’s earnest request and hasn’t given Deputy Minister Liu any face.”
After hearing this, Ruan An’s long and thick eyelashes trembled.
She wasn’t foolish and naturally understood the meaning behind Yang Wei’s words. He was sighing about her background and had also seen…
her secret admiration for Huo Pingxiao.
In fact, after learning about Huo Pingxiao’s true identity, Ruan An understood it very clearly. If she told him about what happened that day, the man might take responsibility, as Yang Wei said, even a noble daughter from Deputy Minister Liu’s family had to become his concubine.
As a helpless village girl, she probably couldn’t even become a concubine. She might only be able to be his secondary wife or a “wife” with even less status.”
Considering this, the young lady laid down the chopsticks in her hands. Although a difficult-to-express bitterness surged in her heart, she calmly addressed Yang Wei: “Brother Yang, thank you for your kind reminder. However, despite my humble status, I am not the kind of young lady you imagine.”
Yang Wei was momentarily stunned.
Ruan An continued, “I have medical skills and can heal the sick. The number of lives I’ve saved is no less than the number you’ve taken. I am not the kind of girl who can only marry and do nothing else. In the future, I can easily use the medical fees rewarded by Marquis Dingbei to open my own medical clinic. It’s a better livelihood than many young men.”
“Besides, as you know, my surname is Ruan, so you should know that Ruan An in Li Kingdom is not an unknown medical practitioner.”
Yang Wei did not expect Ruan An to speak this way. On the one hand, he understood that she was delicately expressing that he had no right to interfere in her private matters with Marquis Dingbei.
On the other hand, he also felt that Ruan An was the person who saved Huo Pingxiao’s life after all, and it would be wrong for her to say something bad about him in front of him.
He regretted interfering and advising Ruan An.
Yang Wei quickly apologized to Ruan An: “Miss Ruan An, I didn’t mean anything else. Please don’t misunderstand.”
Ruan An did not respond to his words. She didn’t want to waste the food in front of her, so she endured the sour and almost tearful emotions in her nose and finished eating the noodles.
Without Yang Wei telling her, Ruan An also understood that Huo Pingxiao was not someone she should yearn for.
She had self-awareness and knew that Huo Pingxiao’s care for her was based on his own cultivation. He supported her not only to repay a debt but also to achieve his own goals.
She wouldn’t be foolish enough to think that he, such a person, would have genuine feelings for her.
Feeling that he had said something wrong, Yang Wei dared not look at Ruan An again. Seeing that she seemed to have finished the bowl of noodles, he said in a low voice, “Miss Ruan An, you don’t need to pay the vendor for this bowl of noodles. I’ll treat you.”
Yang Wei stood up to settle the bill with the vendor. Ruan An took a deep breath. Although her emotions were not completely settled, she noticed a medicine stall set up nearby on the street.
She saw that the Tianma herb1 displayed on the ground looked good. Alone, she walked toward that alley.
When she reached the medicine vendor, she bent down to pick up a Tianma herb and asked, “How much is one of these Tianma herbs?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Ruan An suddenly felt that the breath on top of her head was not quite right, and her nose was immediately filled with a strange medicine scent.
Her almond-shaped eyes widened suddenly, recognizing that the medicine vendor had drugged her. Before consciousness faded, she felt that a sack was placed over her head.
Ruan An’s heart raced faster and faster as she realized someone was trying to abduct her.
But who was trying to take her away?
A name gradually emerged in her mind.
Just as she was about to utter his name in her heart, a vast expanse of white light flashed before the girl’s eyes, and in an instant, she lost consciousness and fainted.
Meanwhile, Yang Wei finished paying and turned around, only to find that Ruan An’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
When Huo Pingxiao descended from the mountain, he only instructed one thing: to protect Ruan An.
Yang Wei couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. He called out loudly, “Miss Ruan!”
He searched the streets and alleys several times, but no matter what, he couldn’t find any trace of Ruan An.
The other Northern Court attendants who were acting separately also failed to find Ruan An. In the end, they had no choice but to go to the county office with Yang Wei first to report this matter to Huo Pingxiao.
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- Tianma Herb
