Chapter 9: Teasing

  They're here!

  Zhen Shining made a silencing gesture and waved her hand, indicating that Xikui should hurry out.

  "General..." Ji Kuai pushed open the door, and Shen Zhongge and Rong Sheng had already walked to the entrance one after the other. Although they had already received news from Zhen Shi Niang's mouth, when they suddenly saw them, Ji Kuai still couldn't help but tremble all over, and it took a long time for her to remember to kneel down with a thud, "Your servant has seen the general!"

  He's not a ghost, why is this girl so scared?

  Shen Zhongge frowned at the pale face of Shang Xiyu, "......Get up, where's your wife?"

  "Little... Grandma is in the house." The magpie stood up trembling and stepped aside.

  Shen Zhong Dai stepped into the house.

  "The general has arrived." Zhen Shi Niang was sitting in a chair doing needlework, feeling a sudden darkness before her eyes, and a tall figure blocked her way. She looked up to see Shen Zhongjie enter, hastily put down her needlework and stood up, without making a curtsy, and said with a smile, "I have seen the general."

  With just one glance, a hint of disgust flashed across Shen Zhong's eyes. "This woman is getting more and more vulgar!"

  As soon as Shen Zhong's body entered the house, he followed his gaze to Zhen Shi Niang, and Ji Kuai hated that she couldn't find a seam in the ground to drill into.

  Only saw her family's young lady with a few newly picked lotus flowers the size of a palm, inserted at the temples, and a thick layer of powder on her face, as if covered with a white mask.

  This is not makeup, it's clearly whitewash.

  It's just that, after all, nowadays people like to wear thick makeup, and she has been taking care of her mistress for many years, who never wore makeup, so suddenly changing is a bit unaccustomed.

  But she shouldn't have painted her small mouth like that, should she?

  Obviously, it was a delicate and lovely cherry lip, but the young lady at home insisted on applying lipstick to the outside of her lips. Especially the left corner of her mouth still had a small tail that she hadn't had time to wipe away after her sudden cry earlier. At first glance, it looked like a big bloody mouth, like a beautiful ghost at midnight.

  What made the magpie most ashamed was the large red satin embroidered flower jacket on her mistress, which she didn't remember wrongly, this dress was still five years ago. Although Zhen Shiniang's figure is thinner than five years ago, the parts that should be plump are not ambiguous at all, and they have also become much taller. Imagine what it would look like to wear such an ill-fitting dress on her body?

  The chest is tight, but the clothes below are empty and hanging loosely like a small bucket. The clothes that should cover the buttocks now only cover the abdomen.

  The magpie was worried that her young mistress would lift her sleeve and expose the patched bellyband, but fortunately, her young mistress was clever and wore a coarse pink blouse underneath, so she wouldn't be seen through at the waist, and Shen Zhongjie's eyes were spared.

  But this way, small jacket wrapped in a large jacket, bloated and unsightly, isn't it somewhat more tacky?

  "General, what brings you here? Please sit down..." Seeing Shen Zhongge frowning at himself, Zhen Shiniang smiled faintly in her heart, but showed a surprised and honored expression on her face, and ordered the shy and foolish Ji Kuai beside her, "Quickly serve tea to the general."

  Would you like some tea?

  The magpie was taken aback.

  That tea is for rich people to drink, she hasn't seen what tea leaves look like in two years, where can she go to make tea now?

  Just as he hesitated, Shen Zhong shook his head and said, "No need to, I just happened to be passing by and came in to take a look."

  For this woman who is as common as can be in front of him, staying with her for another moment makes him feel unbearable.

  It seems he really mistook him for someone else just now in the pharmacy!

  It's just that this vicious woman would never have such a calm gaze, and in vain he heard that the woman had contracted blood deficiency syndrome, and quietly gave birth to a thread of worry for her!

  Just now at the entrance of Yaotang, Zhen Shiniang was not found. Shen Zhongjie went back to find the master doctor Feng Xi and asked: "What disease did that woman get just now?"

  Feng Xi was asked a question that left him bewildered, but since the other party was the renowned General Fuxing of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he didn't dare to speak recklessly. Recalling that Zhen Shiniang indeed had symptoms of blood deficiency, he casually said it was due to blood deficiency.

  In the five years, he had already transformed from a nineteen-year-old young man full of vigor to a calm and composed general who did not reveal his emotions. As for Zhen Shiniang, although he hated her, he had left her in the ancestral mansion for five years without disturbing her, which was somewhat unjustifiable on his part. Especially when he suddenly met those clear eyes that seemed to see through worldly affairs in the medicine room, and a face as white as paper, it unexpectedly made him feel a pang of sympathy in his heart.

  So as soon as he heard she had contracted a blood deficiency syndrome, he rushed over without saying another word.

  Who would have thought it was just a misunderstanding!

  He recognized the wrong person.

  She is still that forthright and overbearing woman, looks like she hasn't changed a bit in five years.

  No, it's not unchanged, but rather more intense!

  Zhen Shining didn't know that Feng Xi hadn't mentioned her selling medicine at all. He chased after her because of a deep-seated worry in his heart, thinking he was coming to question her about why she went to sell medicine. Now seeing him turn around and leave, she secretly let out a sigh of relief, but on her face, a hint of regret appeared, as she coaxed, "General, since you've come, why not stay for lunch before leaving? I'll personally cook for you." Her flattering tone carried a hint of trying to please.

  Men are all afraid of women who take the initiative to get close to them.

  As expected, Shen Zhong's heart still had a thread of doubt and his footsteps were somewhat hesitant. After hearing this, he instantly quickened his pace, as if a ghost was chasing him from behind.

  Following them out of the door and watching until Shen Zhong's master and servant disappeared from view, Zhen Shiniang suddenly burst out laughing.

  "......Miss!" The magpie's face turned bright red.

  It took a good half of the day before Zhen Shi Niang finally stopped laughing, “...what's wrong?”

  "You shouldn't have dressed up like this and scared the general away!" Ji Kuai complained.

  As a second-class official and a great general of the auxiliary country, he is a red man in front of Wan Shi. He came to his ancestral home, which was unprecedented, and this rare opportunity should be seized by the young lady of her family.

  "Are you going to let him know about our drug dealing?" Zhen Shining smiled at Xi Que.

  "But..."

  But is it necessary to destroy one's image and scare people away?

  "You remember, I have nothing to do with him!" Zhen Shi Niang composed her expression, "...you'd better give up the idea of currying favor."

  The magpie pursed its lips.

  "...... Has the money for donkey hide been returned?" Ji Xiang asked as she helped Zhen Shiniang wash up and change into a well-fitting outfit.

  "Ah..." Zhen Shi'niang slapped her forehead, "He's mixed me up so much that I've actually forgotten about this matter."

  "I'll go and collect it this afternoon." Seeing Zhen Shiniang's face turn pale, Ji Kuai said sympathetically, "......It just so happens that the medicine for Madam is finished, I also need to go to the pharmacy."

  The mother-in-law of the magpie has been suffering from chronic rheumatism for many years. Last month, she started using Zhen Shiniang's prescription and felt a significant improvement, so she didn't dare to delay even for a day. Early in the morning, she urged Li Changhe to go and fetch the medicine, coincidentally Li Changhe went to the neighboring town today.

  “……You can take the horse carriage this afternoon, be careful on the way.” Also feeling tired from the morning's ordeal, she was a bit short of breath. Zhen Shi Niang nodded, "Remember to ask Li Zhuangui what General Shen asked about this morning?"

  "Miss didn't say it, but I was going to ask anyway." This concerns their lives and deaths as master and servant, and can't be ambiguous.

  "Also..." Zhen Shi Niang thought for a moment, "Tell Li Zhuang Gu to say that if anyone else asks about me in the future, just say you don't know where I live."

  Although she had always used the surname Jian, once Shen Zhongge found out that the person who made the Jianji Agar was living in the Shen family's ancestral home, he would eventually find out about her selling medicine. This was a small matter, what she was most worried about was being discovered by him, the existence of Jian Wu and Jian Wu.

  After all, most people in this town knew she was a widow with two children.

  Also knowing that this matter cannot be taken lightly, Jixia solemnly nodded, "Miss, rest assured, I know what to do."

  Things like threatening people by pounding on the mountain and shaking the tiger, she had done it many times for her young mistress when she was in the Shangshu Mansion.