The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 679 - 668: Calm and Peaceful (Birthday Update for Book Friend "Full of Books in the Garden")

Chapter 679: Chapter 668: Calm and Peaceful (Birthday Update for Book Friend "Full of Books in the Garden")

Gifts filled half the room, of which the most numerous were various types of fabric. Manbao touched them and found they were all unfamilar to her, yet the colors were particularly attractive.

Zhou Lijun and Bai Erlang opened the boxes laid out on the ground. Zhou Lijun looked at the ink stick in her hand, then at the box of brushes that Bai Erlang held, closed it, set it down, and went to rummage through other things.

She then discovered that in addition to a set of pearl jewelry, her little cousin had been given boxes of strange medicinal materials.

Zhou Lijun was puzzled, "Why would they send medicinal materials to my little cousin?"

Bai Shan speculated, "Because Manbao is a doctor?"

Manbao examined the tuber fleeceflower in the box and the cubilose in another, scratching her head and saying, "I can’t even eat these things."

Especially the tuber fleeceflower; she looked at it again and again, realized its quality was not bad, and then suggested, "Send it back to Dad?"

Zhou Lijun said, "Sell it."

The aunt and niece exchanged a look, and Zhou Lijun said, "Little aunt, if you send it back, Grandpa will ultimately have my dad exchange it for money at the pharmacy."

Bai Shan said, "Let’s keep it for now; we might be able to use it for gifts later."

He also thought the gift from the Ji Family was a bit odd; even if it was to send medicinal materials, why tuber fleeceflower?

But what did it matter to them? They were the recipients of the gifts; whatever was sent, they accepted.

Right now, what they could use were some fabrics and brushes and ink, which Bai Shan generously shared with everyone.

Manbao only kept the pearl jewelry for herself and distributed the rest to everyone.

Bai Erlang and Zhou Lijun weren’t shy, each picking something they liked, and stored the remaining items in their rooms.

Zhou Lijun also asked, "Should we keep an account book? I heard that wealthy families record the gifts they receive, just like we do in the countryside when someone hosts a dinner, noting the gifts given by each household that need to be reciprocated later."

Manbao was surprised, "We have to reciprocate? Aren’t these gifts given to thank us for saving lives?"

Bai Shan almost spat out his tea and said to Manbao, "Just know it in your heart, don’t say it out loud."

"We’re among family here, not outsiders."

Bai Erlang found it bothersome and waved off the idea, "Then let’s not keep track; we are unlikely to have much to do with the Ji Family from now on, anyway."

Bai Shan nodded, "Ji Hao is too prone to trouble, and it even caused the master to go outside."

"Let’s have dinner first. The master and fourth brother are probably out there dining with others. Tomorrow I still need to go to Jishi Hall." Manbao was excited as she continued, "You don’t know, yesterday I saw someone extremely skilled. He sutured wounds at an incredibly fast pace—so many techniques I didn’t understand. Tomorrow I’ll go and ask Doctor Ji."

But Doctor Ji was not in Jishi Hall; Junior Doctor Ji said, "Father has been kept at the Ji Family; he probably won’t return until Young Master Ji wakes up."

"What about the patients that come to the pharmacy for treatment?"

"Manager Zheng and I are here." Junior Doctor Ji was a bit confident but still invited Manbao, "Aren’t you already capable of seeing patients and prescribing medicine on your own? Would you like to stay?"

Manbao rolled her eyes and asked, "Are there any patients with belly wounds?"

Junior Doctor Ji: "... Typically, those with belly wounds bleed to death before they can reach us, and besides, where would we find so many patients with belly wounds?"

He struggled to hold back and still couldn’t help but say, "Forget about patients with belly wounds. What if someone from the Ji Family hears about it?"

Manbao then set down her basket, took out her writing materials with a sigh, "Alright, I understand. Come on, let’s see patients together."

Bai Shan went off to school as well, with the Double Ninth holiday not starting until tomorrow. According to plan, there should have been half a day today to visit the school inspector to determine whether to buy or rent horses, but after yesterday’s incident, the whole school was quiet.

An ominous quietness before a storm.

Apart from the students in Class A3 discussing Ji Hao’s injury in hushed tones, no other class in the school talked about the incident.

It was said that early in the morning the teachers had arrived and sternly forbade discussion of the matter in the classes. Even their teacher, Mr. Zhai, mentioned it twice, hoping they would not get too involved in the issue.

He said with indifference, "This is a matter for adults; you are still young and need not get overly involved. If you have free time, you may visit your schoolmate at the Ji Family."

Though the students in Class A3 were outraged at Ying Wenhai, who had caused the injury, they did not dare voice it.

The County Governmental Office was also unnaturally calm.

County Magistrate Tang had locked Ying Wenhai in the jail, neither interrogating him nor using torture, and even allowed the Ying Family to send him bedding and food.

But all those who came to bail him out were rejected by the magistrate; even when the chancellor from the Prince’s office came, County Magistrate Tang blocked him with neither softness nor hardness.

County Magistrate Tang’s steward couldn’t understand the magistrate’s actions and asked, "My lord, you neither immediately spoke up for the Ji Family nor gave face to the Prince of Yizhou. Aren’t you afraid of offending both sides?"

County Magistrate Tang said, "I’ve already offended both sides, so there’s no need to mind anymore. I’m an official appointed by the court, and I only need to act according to the court’s regulations."

County Magistrate Tang was so weary that upon returning to his inner quarters, he said to Madam Tang, "I really regret not seeking a post in Huayang County from the beginning. Like Yang Heshu, it would be much better to be the magistrate of a small county, free and easy, controlling everything within the county... cough, I mean... well."

Madam Tang gave him a sideways look and said, "Weren’t you the one who thought small counties were boring? Weren’t you proud for quite a while when you beat Yang Heshu to the Huayang county post first?"

County Magistrate Tang could only sigh.

Madam Tang paused before asking, "Should we write a letter to father?"

County Magistrate Tang waved off the idea, "It’s only a minor case, no need for that."

"One side is the Minister Ji, the other the Prince of Yizhou. Where is it minor?"

"If the case is straightforward, doesn’t that make it minor?" County Magistrate Tang said, "Prepare yourself tomorrow; go to any temple or Taoist abbey, taking the children with you to keep out of the way. These next few days everyone will want to see you, it would be too bothersome."

Madam Tang was still worried, "Are you really okay with this?"

"Ji Hao isn’t dead yet. Right now I’m just waiting to see how he fares. If he lives, everything will be easy to handle. By then I probably won’t even need to make a judgement; Ji Family and Ying Family will likely work out an agreement themselves," County Magistrate Tang said, "If he dies... that’s the end. No matter how I judge the case it won’t matter, as it will still need to be referred to the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Justice and Punishments for another decision."

"But what matters is, how do you judge it the first time?"

County Magistrate Tang said, "According to the law?"

Madam Tang replied, "Then you’ve offended both sides."

County Magistrate Tang said, "No worries; at worst, we’ll just pack up and head back to the capital. Right now I feel a bit stifled living here the past two years, anyway."

Madam Tang snorted, "It seems to me you’re quite enjoying it. I’ve heard you stood yesterday on a slope talking half the day with a young girl? What could you be talking about for so long? Let me hear it too?"

County Magistrate Tang tsked and shook his head, "There you go again with the jealousy. She was only a twelve-year-old girl, who went into the tent to give Ji Hao an injection to stop the bleeding, so I asked her about Ji Hao’s condition. Oh right, haven’t I told you? She and her junior brother are friends of Zhangbo; Zhangbo specifically asked me to look after them."

"Oh, it’s not just Yang Heshu anymore, now it’s Zhangbo too."

Seeing that she was even jealous over Yang Heshu, County Magistrate Tang immediately didn’t dare to speak any further.