The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 102

Chapter 102: Going to a Wedding Feast

The carriage was parked near the Crispy Fragrance Pavilion and hadn’t moved at all.

Xue Luan didn’t know if Li Changyu was deliberately waiting for her here, or if she really had something to do and hadn’t left yet. But by the time she came to her senses, she had already been helped into the carriage by Li Changyu and Duanwu.

Duanwu, without a word, lowered her head and lifted Xue Luan’s injured foot, removing her shoes and socks, revealing a pair of fair and clean little feet.

The five round toes were perched there, very cute.

Xue Luan subconsciously shrunk her foot and turned to look at Li Changyu beside her.

Seeing that the other’s gaze was locked on those few little toes, but her face had no other expression, she lowered her head and watched Duanwu handle it.

Duanwu felt around her ankle for a while and pressed on it, then tore a long strip of cloth from her clothes, took a bamboo tube, and poured water to wet it, and applied it to the sprained ankle.

Then she left the carriage.

The two of them were sitting side by side in the carriage. Xue Luan endured the pain in her foot and said in a low voice, “Sister Changyu, thank you this time. And please trouble you to find someone to go to my house and tell my mother to send someone to pick me up… When my foot is better, I’ll come to your door to thank you properly.”

Li Changyu said, “No need to call anyone. Let Duanwu drive the carriage over and take you to your door.”

Xue Luan lowered her head, fiddled with the corner of her clothes, and hummed softly in agreement.

Li Changyu’s gaze swept over her small and round ears and said to Duanwu outside, “Take Miss Xue back.”

Duanwu agreed, and the carriage soon began to move.

The person beside her had not spoken, but her strong presence made Xue Luan, who was in a narrow space, a little restless.

Fortunately, it was not far from the Xue residence. After a few turns, they arrived.

Matron Zhang was pacing back and forth at the Xue family’s door, her face full of anxiety. Seeing a carriage stop at their door, she quickly went up to it.

She saw the carriage window curtain lift, revealing half of Xue Luan’s head. Only then was she relieved. She patted her chest and chided with relief, “My little ancestor, you said you would be back at noon. How come you’ve only come back now? Your mother is so anxious.”

Mrs. Xue heard the voice in the courtyard and also hurried out with her maid, Xing’er. Seeing Li Changyu get out of the carriage and then turn to carry a person down.

A closer look revealed that it was none other than her precious daughter. She quickly stepped forward and said repeatedly, “Oh my, this won’t do, it won’t do—”

She now knew Li Changyu’s identity. She was the most honorable person by the county magistrate’s side. How could she dare to trouble her with such a thing?

But Li Changyu had no intention of putting her down. “Her foot is sprained, and her foot is covered in mud. My clothes are already stained with some. I’ll just carry her in.”

Seeing her insist, Mrs. Xue couldn’t just snatch her daughter away and had no choice but to let her carry her daughter back to her boudoir.

When she saw her daughter’s swollen ankle, Mrs. Xue’s heart ached, and she couldn’t help but reprimand, “How can you be so careless? You went out without taking Xing’er with you. If something had happened, what would I have done?”

Xue Luan felt wronged and also felt that she had lost face in front of Li Changyu. Hearing her mother say this, she could no longer hold it in and threw herself into her arms, crying her heart out.

Mrs. Xue patted her damp clothes and long hair and, seeing her little face pale and her eyes red, and thinking of what her mother-in-law had said last night, her heart also ached, and she blamed herself. “It’s all my fault. It’s my fault for not being able to protect you well…”

The blood disorder was mostly hereditary. Someone in her ancestors had had this disease, and it had skipped a generation and seemed to be gone. She had thought that this disease was gone, but who would have thought that it would be passed on to her daughter? How could she not blame herself?

Luan’er was her first child, born when she was eighteen after ten months of pregnancy. When she was pregnant, she was anxious but also full of anticipation. Everyone hoped for a son, but she secretly hoped for a daughter, and in the end, her wish had come true.

This child had been very good since she was little, unlike other babies who would cry all night. She would sleep after she was full and would smile when she was teased, revealing her bare gums, which would melt one’s heart.

When she was five, she would carry her father’s medicine box. She was not even as tall as the strap, but she would look up at her father with a serious expression and say, “Father, when A’Luan grows up, I also want to be like you, a doctor who saves the world.”

But who would have thought that later, she would faint at the sight of blood, and only then was it discovered that she had such a disease…

Such a cute child, yet she had to suffer such a fate. She didn’t know what the future would hold. Mrs. Xue’s tears couldn’t be stopped and rolled down her cheeks, dripping onto Xue Luan’s face.

Seeing her mother cry, Xue Luan’s nose also grew sour. She forced a smile and comforted her in return, “It’s not my fault… I was just careless… Mother, don’t blame yourself…”

Li Changyu, who had been standing by the side, had long since left the room. She listened quietly for a while, then left with Duanwu.

It wasn’t until the mother and daughter’s emotions had finally stabilized that Xue Luan looked to the side. “…Sister Changyu is gone?”

Only then did Mrs. Xue come to her senses, her face full of apology. “I was so rude. I was so busy crying that I forgot about our honored guest. I’ll take you to her residence later to thank her properly.”

Xue Luan hummed in agreement.

Only then did Mrs. Xue instruct Matron Zhang to prepare hot water to wipe her daughter’s body.

…

Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen were busy with the new house these few days.

They had originally just wanted to build two rooms to store medicinal herbs, but later, they thought that since they were already building, they might as well build one more for Ping’er to live in in the future. So it became a matter of building three new brick-and-tile houses and a shade shed for planting medicine.

The village chief had found ten people from the next village to help her, including three couples, plus three male masons and one female laborer, all of whom were common people from the next village, Xinan Village.

In the past, for someone with Jiang Huaizhen’s identity to hire people to come to the valley to help, not many would have been willing. But times had changed. Her deeds had long been known to the surrounding villages, and Lin Shuang’s previous reminder to harvest the rice had also benefited some people. Hearing that they were going to build a house, the villagers were eager to come.

The wages were also in line with the current market. A mason was twenty-five copper coins a day, and a carpenter was thirty. There were also major and minor workers, with the major workers earning ten more copper coins a day than the minor workers.

If it were villagers helping each other for a day or half a day, they just had to provide meals. But if they were hiring short-term laborers to help with the harvest or to build a house, they usually had to be paid by the day, and the workers had to provide their own meals.

But they were all from the nearby villages and had known each other for a long time. The homeowners would still provide breakfast and lunch, and the food could be relatively simple, as long as it was filling.

Breakfast was usually just porridge with pickled vegetables, and lunch had to have at least one meat dish.

Lin Shuang was not a stingy person. Her own family was making sauce, and every morning, besides porridge and pickled vegetables, as long as she had time, she would make a few fragrant large flatbreads, which the workers would eat until their faces were shiny, and they would have the strength to work.

For lunch, a large meat dish, plus a vegetable soup and a vegetable dish, was enough.

Even if she was not short on money, the market was like this, and it was not good to break it, in case the workers went to other families to work and compared, which would make things difficult for the homeowners.

Lin Shuang had also made an agreement with Butcher Zhang to have him deliver a few catties of meat every morning on his way, so she wouldn’t have to go out to buy meat.

Three houses, a dozen or so workers, and it was estimated to take a month. And on the day the beams were raised, they would have to hire a few more people to help.

This could not be rushed.

The village chief’s family did not need to build a new house. Their current house was big enough, and they just wanted to earn some more money to buy one in the city. Now that the busy farming season was over, their two sons and daughters-in-law would come over to help when they had time.

With them, plus Jiang Huaizhen also working with them, Lin Shuang no longer had to worry about the house. Other than the two meals a day, she was busy with her few medicine fields the rest of the time.

During this period, the family also went to Hu Guiying’s house for her second brother’s wedding feast.

Old Madam Jiang had not even been to the county seat a few times when she was young. Later, when she got married, she was trapped in the valley and rarely left. Her son and granddaughter’s identity as executioners meant that no one would invite them to their weddings or funerals. Now that she was old, she finally had the chance to attend such an occasion. She was very excited and could barely sleep the night before.

Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen were lying on the bed, talking about going to the wedding feast tomorrow.

“Guiying’s house is near the river. Can you take me to see the wild ducks then?”

“They all hide during the day and only come out at night to lay their eggs,” Jiang Huaizhen replied.

“Have you seen them?”

“I have.”

Lin Shuang suddenly sat up straight, her eyes full of interest. “Then have you also gone to pick duck eggs in the dark?”

Jiang Huaizhen hesitated for a moment and hummed in agreement.

“When?”

“When Grandma was sick.”

Lin Shuang’s straightened body froze, and the playful thoughts in her heart dissipated in an instant.

How could she not understand that Jiang Huaizhen had not gone to the riverside for fun? She had gone to save money for Grandma’s medical treatment.

At that time, she had not yet gone to the yamen and did not know Hu Guiying. She must have been alone.

Lin Shuang could almost see a little girl, squatting on a cold river rock in the middle of the night. Her sleeves were wet with dew, and her eyes were red from staying up, but she still had to stare at every reed marsh, afraid of missing an egg that could be exchanged for medicine.

The night was dark, the river was deep, and the sound of the night owls was loud.

She must have been full of anxiety and also full of fear.

She had no other way out. As long as she heard of a way to earn money, she would run there.

Of course, there might have been many people on the riverside, waiting for the dawn to pick duck eggs for a living. They also had their own sorrows and helplessness behind them. But those people were not her Huaizhen.

The more she loved her, the more she couldn’t bear to see her suffer.

A fine pain rose in Lin Shuang’s chest, as if she were being pricked by countless needles. Even though she had not been treated well in her past life and had had it even harder than Jiang Huaizhen, she still couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

She abruptly hugged the person in her arms, so hard she almost crushed her.

Jiang Huaizhen’s breath brushed against her neck, warm and real.

“It was just staying up all night to pick duck eggs…” Jiang Huaizhen patted her long, loose hair, feeling her heartache for her. A warm current surged in her heart, and she comforted her softly, “If you want to go, I’ll go with you.”

Lin Shuang hugged her tightly.

If it weren’t for knowing her past, her resilience, and her light and understated words, who could have imagined her helplessness at that time?

She had to go, to go with Jiang Huaizhen to pick duck eggs happily. Maybe she would also bring a few pots of osmanthus wine, so that when Jiang Huaizhen saw the wild ducks again, what would come to her mind would be the fragrance of wine and laughter, not the loneliness and desolation of being alone by the river back then.

“Then you’ll go with me.”

Jiang Huaizhen replied softly, “Alright. I’ll go with you.”