The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 681 - 680: Demoted to Official Servant

Chapter 681: Chapter 680: Demoted to Official Servant

Wang Yongan awoke again to find himself lying on the kang, the place where he had been hit with a plank was evidently treated with medicine, feeling cool and soothing, no longer the painful burning sensation that pierced to the bone.

Turning his head to look around, he saw Lady Qian, asleep on the edge of the kang desk with her hair messily tied up, her face showing exhaustion and streaked with dried tears.

Lady Qian always took great care in her appearance, sporting shiny, well-combed hair and clean, neat clothes, and her makeup was always properly applied whenever she appeared before Wang Yongan.

Suddenly seeing Lady Qian like this, Wang Yongan felt somewhat unaccustomed to it for a moment.

He opened his mouth to speak, only to find his throat hurting and dry, and it was unbearably painful to even think about speaking.

Reluctantly giving up, Wang Yongan reached out to awaken Lady Qian, but as soon as he moved, a sharp pain shot through his wound, causing him to see stars and his undershirt was soaked with cold sweat in an instant.

He couldn’t help but let out a muffled groan.

Fortunately, this slight movement was enough to quickly awaken the vigilant Lady Qian, who casually smoothed her hair and looked at Wang Yongan.

Wang Yongan mouthed the gesture for drinking water, and Lady Qian, having attended to him for many years, understood him well. With just a glance, she knew what he needed and poured him a cup of warm water, helping him sit up halfway to drink it.

After drinking a cup of water, Wang Yongan finally felt some relief in his throat and could manage to speak with some difficulty.

"How did I get back here?"

Lady Qian’s nose tingled, and tears started falling, "Official, you’ve finally awakened! What on earth happened? How could you be flogged? What about the County Magistrate? Is it true he was arrested? How is Jinchai doing now?"

In these past few days, Lady Qian and her parents had a really hard time, firstly worrying about Wang Yongan, and secondly fretting whether Jinchai would be implicated. They were so worried that they could neither eat nor sleep.

Thinking of making inquiries, upon stepping out the courtyard door and not yet leaving the alley, one could see soldiers, armed with knives, patrolling back and forth, so who would dare to proceed further? They had to stealthily return home without any noise.

With great difficulty, after waiting for three days, some gutsy individual ventured out to check and found the soldiers had disappeared, prompting people to tentatively leave their homes.

The Qian Family, feeling guilty, waited until everyone else had left before sneakily sneaking out, thinking of going to the County Yamen to ascertain the situation.

Now, among the Qian Family’s three people, there was only one man, Shopkeeper Qian, who had to pluck up the courage to go. Arriving at a street across from the yamen, he saw the gate was still guarded by soldiers; he dared not approach.

Lingering and dawdling until noon, only then did he see Wang Yongan being tossed out from the yamen, his clothes torn and his back a bloody mess.

Collapsed motionless at the gate of the yamen.

With no other choice, Shopkeeper Qian clenched his teeth and mustered his courage, approaching the soldiers to ask if they could take Wang Yongan away.

The soldiers had long found Wang Yongan’s presence at the gate bothersome and simply waved their hands to signal Shopkeeper Qian to drag him away; they did not mind.

Shopkeeper Qian expended a great deal of effort, dragging and pulling Wang Yongan to finally get him home. Attempting to summon a doctor, they found all the doctors were already occupied, allegedly called to the yamen to treat the wounded soldiers and prisoners.

This time the Government Office’s crackdown met with fierce resistance from the local strongmen who knew it was a matter of life and death; hence, the soldiers led by Zhu Haoran also suffered numerous injuries.

Military doctors were in short supply, and that was why they had to conscript civilian Doctors.

Shopkeeper Qian dared not complain, he simply bought two bottles of medicine for treating carbuncles from his shop and went back for Lady Qian to apply them to Wang Yongan, then whether he lived or died would be up to fate.

Wang Yongan was tough by nature, and by evening he began to run a fever, burning so deliriously that Lady Qian’s eyes were nearly blinded by tears. Now, with Jinchai’s situation still unknown, if something happened to this pillar of the home, they truly wouldn’t be able to go on living.

In the middle of the night, without any other options, Lady Qian vaguely remembered a time when Jinchai had come back to Qilidun with a fever one evening. With Old Doctor Liu out on a call and neither heaven nor earth responsive to their pleas, Old Granny Zhang had once used a folk remedy, using some leftover alcohol at home to wipe Jinchai’s body and reduce the fever. After a tumultuous night, Jinchai’s temperature finally subsided.

At this moment, Lady Qian took all the wine left in the house and repeatedly wiped down Wang Yongan’s body. By the time it was nearly dawn, the fever on Wang Yongan had finally receded.

Lady Qian, exhausted from the long night, dozed off leaning on the kang table. Only when she saw Wang Yongan wake up did she completely relax.

Wang Yongan, his mind full of concerns and his body in pain, saw that not only did Lady Qian not answer his questions, but she also asked some trivial ones, and his face immediately darkened, "How did I get back here?"

Lady Qian was startled, stammering, "It was... it was your father, he saw you being thrown out of the County Yamen, so he boldly carried you back... "

The light in Wang Yongan’s eyes darkened, and he buried his head in the pillow, his thoughts unknown.

But Lady Qian couldn’t wait, "Official, where is Jinchai? Where is Jinchai now?"

Something grave must have happened; her husband had been beaten, and she heard that Prefect Gao had already been thrown into prison. Poor daughter, what was she to do now?

Wang Yongan replied impatiently, "A married daughter is like spilled water; why do you care about her?"

Lady Qian froze, tears still lingering on her cheeks, "Official, she’s our flesh and blood, with the County Magistrate overthrown and only men residing in the yamen, nothing will happen to Jinchai, right?"

Wang Yongan snorted coldly, "If she really has the ability, it would be great if she could hook up with some influential soldier or official!"

Lady Qian’s face turned white, and she stared at Wang Yongan, dumbfounded, "Official, you... "

"Enough, seeing that I’ve woken up, what are you transfixed there for? Can’t you go and make me a bowl of noodles? Have you called for a doctor?" Wang Yongan scolded, his face stern, his mind in disarray.

Lady Qian dared not speak anymore and went out to prepare food for Wang Yongan.

As she stepped out the door and just entered the kitchen, Shopkeeper Qian stealthily returned from outside. Seeing his daughter bustling in the kitchen alone, he followed her in, looked around to make sure no one was there, and then whispered, "I went to inquire today, and I heard that several traffickers had gone into the government office and came out leading a bunch of women. They were said to be the concubines previously taken by the County Magistrate. Now with the County Magistrate’s downfall and his home confiscated, the women he had taken into service were reduced to official servants and sold to the traffickers to be trafficked!"

Lady Qian’s hand shook, and the kindling she was holding clattered to the ground, "What? Jinchai is to become an official servant and to be sold?"

Suddenly, she stopped cooking and boiling water and rushed straight to Wang Yongan’s room.

Slamming open the door, Lady Qian with quivering lips, asked cautiously, "Official, tell me the truth, was Jinchai sold to the traffickers?"

Wang Yongan waved his hand in irritation, "How would I know?"