Chapter Fourteen Decision

  Not only for Fu Zheng Chu Xinyi, as his power grows higher and higher, his interactions with the inner court will also increase, he really needs a virtuous and dignified wife to help him navigate.

  However, since it was an imperial decree that gave them in marriage, he couldn't divorce her. To resolve the issue with Zhen Shi Niang, there were only two ways: either kill her or separate from her. Although he had killed many people on the battlefield, letting him kill a helpless woman, especially one who had once been intimate with him, was something Shen Zhongjie really couldn't do.

  After thinking for a few days, he still decided to take some time off to visit his ancestral home and have a good talk with Zhen Shiniang. It would be best if the two of them could part ways amicably. Although he felt that it was unlikely she would agree to a divorce, given her malicious and cunning nature, getting her to consent to a divorce was as impossible as making the sun rise in the west.

  But he still didn't want to act on his murderous intentions unless absolutely necessary.

  It was thought that way, but there were too many official duties. When Shen Zhongjie finally got three days off and came to Wutong Town again, it was already a month later.

  It's autumn harvest season, and the front and back yards of our ancestral home are filled with freshly picked chestnuts, mushrooms, wild vegetables and other mountain products.

  Xī yuè was sitting in the courtyard with Qiū jú, picking mushrooms and chatting intermittently. "It's too little." Looking at the mountain goods in the yard, which were less than half of what they had in previous years, Xī yuè's face was full of worry. "This winter is going to be another hungry one." The adults would be fine, but it was a worry that Wén gē and Wǔ gē wouldn't make it through.

  In previous years, it was she and Qiujie who picked mountain goods together. This year, she is pregnant and only Qiujie is left to do the task alone.

  "...Miss said it's okay, after selling her medicine, they can still buy half a pig for the New Year." Thinking of being able to eat several delicious pork meals in a row, Qiujie's mouth watered and she wished that tomorrow was already the New Year.

  "You...!" The magpie glared at her, "All you know is eating, never using your brain for anything. Miss was just comforting us."

  "What?" Qiujie looked up in confusion, a small grey mushroom cap pinched off in her hand.

  "Be more careful, don't waste them all..." Ji Yu picked up the half-root she had thrown away, only peeling off a layer of soil from the end of the root, and then threw the rest back onto the canopy. "Your uncle went to do some business yesterday and passed by Xiang Rui Medicine Shop. The young lady's pills haven't sold one single piece yet. The price is too high and no one has ever used them before, everyone is worried they won't work, so nobody dares to buy..." Sighing, "I'm worried that the young lady will secretly stop taking the medicine again this winter."

  Zhen Shiniang's qi and blood were weak, requiring her to take tonics for a long time. However, every winter, especially during the lean period between the exhaustion of old grain stocks and the arrival of new harvests, they would run out of food. Whenever this happened, Zhen Shiniang would secretly stop taking her medicine, saving the silver to buy food for everyone to eat. This was also the reason why, despite being skilled in medicine, Zhen Shiniang's health had been deteriorating over the past five years and showed no signs of improvement.

  So when autumn comes, magpies and chrysanthemums are busy drying fruits and vegetables for winter use.

  "How could this be?" Qiu Ju shrieked.

  "Hush..." Xi Que hastily waved her hand, "Don't let Miss hear." It was just lunch break, Jian Wu and Jian Wen had just fallen asleep. Xi Que guessed that Zhen Niang must have been unable to sleep again and gone to the backyard to play chess alone.

  "Miss, although she doesn't often go out to see patients, the ones she does see are all cases that Doctor Feng can't cure. The whole town has been talking about it, saying our miss is a divine doctor. Whoever gets medicine from her dares not disbelieve?"

  Magpie sighed, "If Miss personally sat in the clinic, people would naturally believe it, but Miss's body is not suitable for sitting in the hall." She sighed again, "I reckon everyone probably thinks Rui Xiang is selling fake medicine under our miss's name."

  Her identity was not allowed to be revealed, and she was a woman. When Zhen Shining went out for diagnosis, she always covered her face with a green gauze. Jian Dafu's reputation was loud again. After all, the people in the town had never seen her true face. Without her personal recommendation, anyone could push out any medicine and say it was from Jian Dafu. Who would believe?

  "What can be done?" Qiuju's small face fell.

  "Yesterday, Aunt Li sent over a few sets of old clothes again. I've been altering them for the past two days. I'll alter one set for Brother Wen and Brother Wu, and also alter one piece for you. We can barely make do with that for New Year's...". Ji Kuai's voice hesitated for a moment, "Then... we won't need to buy new clothes."

  "Hmm..." Qiu Ju nodded, "As long as I'm not hungry, I..."

  Just then, came a knock at the door with a "thud thud thud" sound.

  "... everyone is busy harvesting, who has time to visit at this moment?" While muttering, Qiuju got up and ran over to open the door.

  This person is really good-looking, as if I've seen him somewhere before.

  Looking at Shen Zhongge's extraordinary good looks outside the courtyard gate, Qiuju forgot to move her eyeballs and opened her mouth wide, unable to make a sound.

  "Is Grandma around?" Shen Zhong walked past her and into the courtyard.

  "Who's come?" Seeing that Qiu Ju had been gone for half a day without any news, Xi Que asked. She raised her head to see Shen Zhongge and Rong Sheng walking in with big strides, which startled her so much that the half-covered mushroom dish on the side was knocked over onto the floor. "G...General..." she stammered as she stood up in fear.

  "There's no old lady here, you've come to the wrong door!" Regaining her composure, Qiujie turned around and chased after him.

  This person is really impolite, no matter how good-looking they are, they can't just barge into someone's courtyard.

  "What...?" Shen Zhong's eyes narrowed, and the air around him suddenly dropped a few degrees.

  What a heavy killing aura!

  The autumn chrysanthemum was startled and quivered, with words stuck on the tip of her tongue.

  "Is something wrong, General?" Ji Wu's teeth chattered slightly.

  "Where is Grandma?"

  The "..." was suppressed by Shen Zhongjie's sudden outburst of murderous aura, and the magpie hesitated about whether to think of a way to hide Zhen Shiniang.

  "General..." Seeing Shen Zhongge had already walked to the door, Jixia suddenly remembered that Jian Wen and Jian Wu were still sleeping in the house, so she quickly called out to stop him. "The madam is at the back garden by the lotus pond." Seeing Shen Zhongge turn around, Jixia let out a sigh of relief. "I'll take you there."

  Just about to nod, thinking he wanted to discuss the matter of divorce with Zhen Shiniang, it's not convenient to have a servant following, so he shook his head, "I'll go myself." Before becoming wealthy, Shen Zhongjie had lived here for over ten years and was very familiar with this place.

  Missing the simple and unadorned furnishings in his house, even the magpie couldn't persist, and it flashed to one side.

  "Rong Sheng went ahead to book two guest rooms in town." Shen Zhongge instructed as Rong Sheng followed over.

  Zhen Shining was both overbearing and stubborn, and discussing reconciliation with her wasn't something that could be settled in just a few words. Today, he couldn't go back, although it was his own old home, but he didn't want to stay under the same roof as Zhen Shining.

  Also knowing that General Zhen had a strong dislike for Zhen Shi Niang, Rong Sheng responded with a "yes" and turned to leave.

  The scenery remains the same, it's just more crowded than before.

  As he entered the backyard from a side door, Shen Zhongge was filled with nostalgia for this old house that held so many childhood memories.

  I remember that just beyond this gate was a small flower bed, my mother loved chrysanthemums, every year at this time, it would be filled with golden yellow chrysanthemums, and in the evening he would sit under the lamp reading books, and smell the fragrance of flowers. "What a pity, they've all been planted with vegetables!" Looking at the former flower garden and empty space now blocked by a half-meter high fence, inside which were densely planted bean sprouts, Shen Zhongsheng couldn't help but feel regretful.

  He walked past the fence and saw that the playground of his childhood was also surrounded by a half-person-high fence, with twenty or thirty chickens raised inside. Shen Zhongge frowned, "This stupid woman!"

  She's really capable of making a big fuss, but for just three people eating, do they need to make such a big fuss about the whole yard? Not to mention that when she first came here, she still had a generous dowry in her hands, and that half-acre lotus pond can easily support three to five people!

  Seeing the former paradise being destroyed like this, Shen Zhong Xiao had a heartache. Hearing a pungent smell wafting from the chicken coop, he quickly quickened his pace and didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he was out of the alley. He looked up to see that the lotus pond and the stone bench and table by the pond were still there, not yet ruined and turned into pigsties or sheep pens. Shen Zhong Xiao's heart finally felt somewhat at ease.

  "...this white lotus was indeed raised very well by her." As he thought about it, his gaze fell on the slender gray-white figure sitting on a stone bench not far away, and Shen Zhongke was stunned.

  Is that her?