128 Duel (First Update)

Gu Yanfei's eyebrows moved as he remembered that there was a manor nearby. He suggested, "Darling, I think this snow will last for a few more hours. I have a manor two miles away from here. Let's go there to take shelter from the snow."
The girls couldn't help but be invigorated by the words and responded one after another.
Although they were all wearing cloaks and had hoods on to shield themselves from the snow, the wind and snow were too strong. Each person's face, body, and hands were more or less touched by some snowflakes, and their bangs were also blown messy by the wind, looking somewhat disheveled.
Everyone immediately changed direction and took the left road, leaving clear hoof prints on the soft, accumulated snow.
Suddenly, at the forefront, the guide Gu Yanfei abruptly stopped the horse without warning. His gaze turned towards the wild grass on the side of the road, while he raised his hand to make a "stop" gesture.
As a result, Wei Jiaoniang, Lu Qin and others also stopped their horses one after another.
A few yards away on the roadside, there was a rusty figure lying there. It was slightly bloated, covered in a layer of snow, and not moving at all.
"There is someone there!"
Lv Qin was the first to point and shout.
The girls were in an uproar and quickly rode forward to surround the person on the ground.
The maids who accompanied them dismounted to take a look. Two of them worked together to turn the person over and gently pat off the accumulated snow from her face, body, and head.
That was an old woman in her fifties, wearing a rust-colored patterned cotton coat. Her pale face was slightly bluish from the cold, with wrinkles all over, and her eyes tightly shut.
There was a shocking puddle of blood amid her grayish hair.
"She is an old woman," a maid reported in a skeptical and worried tone, her face paling as she accidentally touched the old woman's blood with her hand. "She passed out and there's a wound on her head."
Gu Yanfei dismounted and carefully examined the wound on the old woman's head, feeling the sticky texture of blood. The back of her head was slightly swollen, and there was a bloody wound the size of a baby's fist, with blood flowing out steadily.
其他姑娘们七嘴八舌地说着话：
“这老太太怎么会一个人倒在这里，难道是路上遇了劫匪？”
“肯定不是。你瞧她头上的银簪还在，这要是劫匪，还不把她洗劫一空啊。”
"That's true."
“……”
Several people were talking lively, Wei Jiaoniang and Lu Qin quietly exchanged glances, their eyes full of contemplation.
This old woman's clothes were neither new nor old, clean and without patches. She didn't look like a poor peasant, but she definitely wasn't from a wealthy family either.
Looking at her hair bun with a silver hairpin, fingers adorned with silver rings, and a clean and neat handkerchief peeking out from the cuff, her demeanor is not like the old ladies of small households, but rather resembles a servant from a wealthy family.
They exchanged a glance, and Lu Qin leaned over to take a quick look at the old woman's wound, asserting, "It's quite severe...".
This is clearly an attempt on her life!
Now that it's cold and snowing, if they leave her unattended, it's easy to imagine that if this old woman lies here overnight, she will definitely die.
"Let's take her to the manor first." Gu Yanfei got up and wiped the blood off his hands with a handkerchief.
"Then let her ride with me." Wei Jiaoniang volunteered eagerly, patting her chest confidently. "I am good at riding, and it's no problem to take one more person."
Receiving a glance from Wei Jiaoniang, Gu Yanfei smiled and instructed Juan Bi to lift the person onto the horse.
Juan Bi was always efficient in her work, effortlessly lifting the old woman from the ground and placing her on Wei Jiaoniang's horse.
They quickly mounted their horses again and continued on their way against the cold wind and heavy snow.
Throughout the journey, they hurried and straggled, and finally reached their destination just before it became completely dark.
"That's the place!"
"Gu Yanfei pointed far ahead at the Zhuangzi Road, her small face hidden in the hood filled with nostalgia."
"In her previous life, she had been to this suburban Zhuangzi."
She originally intended to bring her older brother to live here after the family is divided, and personally came over to decorate it.
At that time, her older brother couldn't walk easily because of a leg injury, so she removed all the thresholds in this courtyard and even added ramps in places with stone steps to facilitate wheelchair access.
She set up a study and a handicraft workshop for her big brother and herself. Her big brother is very skilled and can even make wheelchairs.
She also had someone bring hot spring water over and created a hot spring pool. Furthermore, she dug a pond by the field behind the house and planned to grow lotus flowers. This way, she could enjoy the beauty of lotus flowers and also eat lotus seeds and dig out lotus roots...
This village is big and spacious, with fields, rivers, and mountains, enough to sustain itself.
Two hundred years later, as she found herself in this familiar yet unfamiliar environment, memories came rushing back.
She had planned very well, but the result...
Things didn't go as planned.
The girls halted their horses in front of the farmhouse, and the horses snorted and neighed with white breath.
Juan Bi was the first one to dismount and went to knock on the door.
As soon as the manager in Zhuangzi heard that the visitor was his own daughter, he was overjoyed and quickly brought people to greet her, opening the main gate of the mansion.
In this remote area, there are usually no visitors at all. Today, suddenly so many distinguished guests arrived, causing a stir throughout the mansion.
Gu Yanfei instructed Zhuangzi's steward to send someone to report to various government offices in the capital, so as not to worry Wei Jiaoniang's family.
Immediately after, she had someone move the old woman to the east wing room.
Liuxin and other girls were greeted by the people in Zhuangzi and invited to sit in the hall. The accompanying maidservants also went to help with boiling water and serving.
Only Weijiaoniang followed Guyanfei to the internal room of the east wing, where the unconscious old woman was carried onto a bed by several maidservants.
Just now when Gu Yanfei found the old woman on the road, he only roughly checked her injuries. Now that they have found a place to settle, he carefully took her pulse and asked Juan Bi to examine her limbs and torso.
The rest of the elderly woman's body had no injuries, only the back of her head was struck by a hard object, causing a potentially fatal wound.
At this moment, the wound on her scalp has stopped bleeding and even shows a little sign of healing.
"Not bad." Gu Yanfei hooked his lips and looked at Wei Jiaoniang.
With a proud tilt of her chin, Wei Jiaoniang winked at Gu Yanfei.
After Gu Yanfei taught her the disease-curing talisman, Wei Jiaoniang had been itching to try it, but she couldn't hurt herself again for treatment...that would be too stupid.
Just now, when she set off with the old woman, she kept drawing talismans to ward off illness, repeatedly, over and over again.
Even if it only succeeds once out of ten times, the effect is quite good, and the bleeding stops.
Gu Yanfei and she exchanged a secret smile, sharing an unspoken understanding.
She is amazing! Wei Jiaoniang was so happy that her tail was about to wag.
As long as the bleeding stops, the wound shouldn't be a big problem. Gu Yanfei instructed: "Juan Bi, go and get some cold water to clean the wound, and bring some clean white cloth."
Juan Bi immediately left, and before long, she returned with a middle-aged woman who had a delicate face. One of them held a coarse cloth and scissors, while the other carried a basin of water.
The woman approached the bed while holding the basin of water, and upon seeing the person lying on the bed, she suddenly froze and blurted out, "It's Madam Pang!"
"Do you recognize her?" Gu Yanfei raised an eyebrow slightly.
"I do." The daughter-in-law placed the basin on the bedside table, her gaze constantly drifting towards Pang Madam's body. After a while, she snapped out of it and nodded, saying, "Miss, Pang Madam is the wet nurse of the former lady."
This Zhuangzi is the dowry of the Xie family, and the people inside are the accompanying servants brought by the Xie family, naturally recognizing the wet nurses of the Xie family.
The daughter-in-law hesitated for a moment, then said, "Pang wet nurse made a mistake a few years ago and was expelled from the Marquis's residence. It was said that... she mistreated the third miss."
The thought of Gu Yunxiao's identity made her look a bit embarrassed.
"......" Gu Yanfei blinked her eyes and was slightly stunned for a moment.
Mother's wet nurse?
Now that it was mentioned, she did have a faint impression.
In the previous life, probably around the time of the Spring Festival, a person claiming to be the wet nurse of the mother came to the Hou Mansion to pay her respects. However, by the time she found out, it was already too late, and the person had been sent away.
By the way, people used to call her Auntie Pang back then.
But later on, there was no news of Auntie Pang anymore.
Counting the days, it seems like Auntie Pang came to the Hou Mansion in the previous life around these few days.
Gu Yanfei's ink-black eyes were deep and bottomless, staring fixedly at the unconscious Pang Mama, with a complex feeling in her heart, unable to say whether it was melancholy or sighing.
After sitting quietly for a while, she asked the servant to cook some ginger soup for Luqin and the others.
The servant responded repeatedly, bowed slightly with some restraint, and quickly retreated.
According to Gu Yanfei's instructions, Juan Bi cleaned the area around Pang Mama's wounds with cool boiled water, applied some Golden Wound Medicine, and finally wrapped it up with white cloth.
"Juancui, you go find someone to take care of her first, she... " Gu Yanfei glanced at the hourglass, "She will probably wake up at the hour of the Dog."
After saying this sentence, she affectionately linked arms with Wei Jiaoniang and went to the hall in the front courtyard.
At this time, Gu Yanfei's mood has returned to normal, with a smile on his face as if nothing happened.
Outside, heavy snow is floating in the air, and everything in sight is covered in a white blanket of snow, which is gradually getting thicker.
The girls, including Luqin, have already had ginger soup, looking content and chatting.
With a place to shelter from the wind and snow, they all feel at ease, drinking tea and eating snacks. The worst-case scenario is to spend a night in this farmhouse.
Seeing Gu Yanfei and Wei Jiaoniang walking hand in hand, the girls put down their cups and asked with concern:
"How is the old lady's injury?"
"Did you call a doctor?"
Wei Jiaoniang tugged at Gu Yanfei's sleeve and answered lightly, avoiding the important question, "She's fine, this time we saved a life, surpassing the creation of a seven-level pagoda."
Next sentence, the topic shifted: "I'm hungry, what is good to eat?"
The girls heard that the injured person was fine, so they were relieved. Lu Qin spoke first: "This osmanthus cake is good, soft and delicious!"
"And these pine nuts are also very fragrant and sweet."
“……”
"The girls chatted and laughed, creating a lively atmosphere in the hall, even the roaring wind and snow outside were drowned out."
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