Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 194
Mo Yan had initially wanted to use this storefront to sell goods from the south. But with the current war between the north and the south, trade had cut off, and she didn’t know what to sell at that storefront anymore. [1]
She slowly walked back to the workshop, and it had just closed for the day. Xiuying walked towards her. Mo Yan courteously greeted her as ‘Sister Xiuying’, and Xiuying nodded her head slightly, “Miss Mo.”
Her greeting seemed unnaturally stilted. Mo Yan took a look at her, and Xiuying’s face darkened as she asked, “Is your brother doing alright?”
Hearing her tone, it seemed like there was a problem between the two. “What happened between you two?”
“Do you still not know? Our engagement has been rescinded, my mother forcibly rescinded it. She’s insistent on me becoming Cao Zhang’s concubine!” After saying that, Xiuying wiped away her tears.
“A concubine? He hasn’t even been engaged yet, but he already wants a concubine? Did he say that?”
Xiuying shook her head, “I don’t know, I only know that my mother whole-heartedly wants our family to climb up the social ladder using their family, she’s gone insane!”
Thinking about Cao Zhang’s actions by the pond a while back, and Zhao’er suddenly saying that he had fallen ill and that she should go and see him, it was very hard for someone to not feel like Cao Zhang was up to something.
“Sister Xiuying, wait a second, let’s return to the village together.”
Mo Yan got into her carriage, and gave Xiuying a ride to the village. The carriage stopped outside of the Cao family’s door, and while Xiuying returned home, Mo Yan entered the Cao family’s home on her own.
Mrs. Li was cooking in the kitchen on her own. A light was on Mr. Cao’s in-home clinic, as well as the living room. Hearing noise from the courtyard gate, she went out to see Mo Yan enter, and the smile on her face instantly fell away.
Mo Yan didn’t greet her properly, and merely called her ‘Auntie’ with a faint voice. Mrs. Li said unhappily, “Doesn’t Zhao’er send your mother’s medicine directly over to your house?”
“I’m not here to get her medicine, I’m here to see Cao Zhang,” After saying that, Mo Yan headed towards Cao Zhang’s room.
Mrs. Cao was sitting in the living room. When she saw Mo Yan enter, the faint shadow of a smile replaced the originally lost expression on her face, “Yan’er, you’ve come? Please, make yourself at home.”
The sound of coughing came from Cao Zhang’s room. Mo Yan turned her head towards the sound, and Mrs. Cao sighed, “Zhang’er ill, he’s severely ill!”
“I’ll go check up on him!”
Mo Yan lifted up the curtain to Cao Zhang’s room, and saw him coughing by the side of his bed. When he saw Mo Yan, he had the dignity to tidy his messy head of hair, and cover himself up using his blanket.
“Yan’er, you’ve arrived.”
There was a smile in the undercurrent of his tone, but his voice was incredibly raspy.
“Are you ill? With a doctor right beside you and protecting you, what illness can’t be cured?”
Cao Zhang laughed bitterly, “I don’t want to be cured, it’d be fine if I just passed away like this. It’d be better than antagonising someone or harming someone else.”
Mo Yan cut straight to the heart of the matter, “Are you taking Xiuying as a concubine?”
“What did you say?” Accompanying his words was another bout of coughing that tugged at people’s heartstrings, and it made people feel heartache when they heard it. It seemed like he knew nothing about this matter.
“Take good care of yourself. When you get better, if you want to, you can continue to be my accountant. We’ve built a few more stores.”
“Good, good!” Cao Zhang didn’t have the strength to support his body any longer, and laid down to take a rest in exhaustion.
Mo Yan lowered the curtain to Cao Zhang’s room and stepped out. She didn’t bid farewell to Mrs. Cao before leaving, but she stood up to call Mo Yan, “Yan’er.”
Mo Yan turned back to say, ‘Madam, we aren’t very close, and you shouldn’t refer to me like that. Otherwise, you might be lowering your own status.”
She walked out of the house, and Mrs. Cao followed her out of the house to call her again, “Yan’er, if you can make him better, I’ll…”
Mrs. Li stood at the door of the kitchen, and angrily glared at Mo Yan. Mo Yan turned back again to say, “Madam, don’t worry, I only came to see Cao Zhang today due to our relationship in our youth. I just hope that he’s fine.”
After saying that, she exited the courtyard. However, she heard Mrs. Li say from inside the courtyard, “Madam, you don’t need to be so courteous to that ignorant girl. With her personality, she’d be an unlucky star in anyone’s family.”
Immediately following that was Mrs. Cao’s reprimand, “It’s ok, I don’t care what she’s like, I only know that my son likes her and only smiles when she’s around. Your daughter Xiuying has no relations with my family, and we don’t want her to feel like she has a debt to us.”
So Mrs. Li had acted all on her own and her actions were only wishful thinking. She truly had gone insane!
Mo Yan sat in her carriage and drove back to town. On the road, she didn’t hurry her horse at all, and just let it slowly plod along. When they arrived at the workshop, it was already evening, and the sun was setting.
The main door of the workshop had already closed. Mo Yan dismounted to knock on the door, and Ze Wu opened it, “Young miss, it’s already so late, we thought you weren’t coming back tonight!”
Mr. Zhen also ran out to ask, “Have you had dinner yet?” After saying that, he replied to himself self-depreciatingly, “I didn’t need to ask, of course you haven’t yet, I’ll go and make your dinner.” After saying that, he ran towards the kitchen.
Ze Wu went to park the carriage, and Mo Yan was walking to the house when she heard the sound of hooves galloping. She reflexively turned over to look, and saw a large white horse galloping over from the main road, and the person on the horse was laid on it.
The large white horse stopped outside the workshop, and the person on the horse rolled off and collapsed on the ground motionlessly. The large white horse pawed at the ground and kept snorting and whinnying. Not only was it calling its master, it was also calling for help.
Mo Yan rushed over, holding Lu Junming’s head and calling him next to his ear. Chi Jie felt something was off when he heard the sound of the whinnying horse, and ran out to see what was going on.
The two worked together to move Lu Junming into his room. Under the lamplight, they saw clearly that his body and face were covered in ash, and there were even faint bloodstains. The colour of his moon-white outer robe could no longer be discerned.
Chi Jie moved his hand under Lu Junming’s nose, “There’s still breathing! He’s alive.”
“Nonsense, of course he’s alive, but why isn’t he waking up?”
“We should ask Ze Wu to ask a doctor to come over to take a look.”
It was in the middle of the night, and they weren’t sure if a doctor would be willing to come over. Mo Yan suddenly remembered that Zhao’er was coming back tonight.
“Go and find Zhao’er, he should be back in town today!”
Ze Wu ran out to find him. This place wasn’t far from Ms. Hua’s courtyard, and within moments Zhao’er had run over. After momentarily steadying himself, Zhao’er reached out to take Lu Junming’s pulse, while Mo Yan and Chi Jie looked on in anticipation.
After taking his pulse, Zhao’er said warmly, “Sister, don’t worry! Big brother’s alright, he’s just overworked himself. He’ll be fine if he takes enough and has sufficient nourishment.”
“Are you sure?” Mo Yan was ultimately still doubtful of his medicinal prowess.
Zhao’er emulated his master and lightly shook his head, “I’m very sure, don’t worry! Tomorrow, I’ll go to one of the apothecaries in town to buy some nourishing medicine, and big brother will be fine after drinking it.”
Mo Yan fetched water to wipe off the ash on Lu Junming’s face and hands, and Zhao’er took the handkerchief in her hands, “Sister, go and rest! Leave this to us, let us change his clothes and let him sleep more comfortably, while also checking that his body doesn’t have injuries.”
Mo Yan wafted her hand under Lu Junming’s nose, and she also felt breathing, which was very even as well. Then, she looked at his chest, which was rising and falling rhythmically, like he had actually fallen asleep.
“Are you sure he’s just fallen asleep?”
Zhao’er wrinkled his eyes and smiled, “I’m confident, sister, don’t worry!”
Mo Yan left the room. As her stomach started growling and she saw the kitchen was lit up, she went over there.
Mr. Zhen wasn’t there, but when she gently touched the lid of the pot, it was warm. Mo Yan opened the pot, and inside was traditional Hunan beef noodle soup, without any tofu sheets, just the way she liked it.
Mo Yan smiled faintly before serving herself a bowl of beef noodle soup. After having a bowl, she thought about Lu Junming’s exhausted appearance. He must not have eaten anything.
Seeing that there was still some soup left in the pot, she went to tell Zhao’er and Chi Jie that if Lu Junming woke up, there was food in the pot.
P.S. I changed the last line of the last chapter because it seemed wrong for the tone this chapter seemed to convey.
[1] If you think this first paragraph has no link whatsoever to the previous chapter, you’re right. I think this was a remnant of a previous draft of the story that never got caught.