Chapter 28: Taking Action Again

  Yao Yanyu frowned and glanced at Cui Wei, who immediately shut her mouth. Mrs. Feng was delighted to hear this clearly, and she quickly grasped Yao Yanyu's hand, but for a moment, she couldn't speak.

  Feng Shaochen hastily stepped forward to persuade her, "Grandmother, this place is cold and damp, with mountain winds blowing. Your body is not well, it's not suitable for you to stay here for long. Why don't we first ask Old Lady to go to the Dabeisi Temple and find a clean room to rest for a while?"

  "The young master is absolutely right. The old lady's body can't stand the cold, you all quickly go to the temple to rest. Also, send someone back to the city to invite a great doctor to come and carefully diagnose the pulse of the old lady." Yao Yan thought to herself: hurry up and leave, I still have to go find that big beehive.

  "Alright, let's go up. We've made a big fuss and even missed the incense offering time." Old Lady Feng sighed, although she was physically fine now, but after going through all this trouble, her spirit was greatly exhausted.

  The old women hurried forward to serve, and the servants lifted the bamboo sedan chair back onto the road.

  Feng Shaochen then bowed deeply to Yao Yan: "Thank you, Miss Yao, for saving my grandmother. After I return home and inform my father, we will definitely come to your house another day to express our gratitude."

  "Thank you, young master." Yao Yan slightly bowed: "Old Madame usually avoids greasy food and doesn't eat too salty dishes. She should eat more light vegetables every day. When it's cold, be sure to pay attention to keeping Old Madame warm, and also, never let her fall again in the future."

  "Yes, I've taken note of that." Feng Shaochen gave a elegant bow, "Thank you, Miss Yao. If you have the time, why not go to Da Jue Temple together? It's already past lunchtime, would you like to join me for a vegetarian meal?"

  "No." Yao Yan immediately refused: "I still have to go back to An Tang. Young master, please excuse yourself."

  "Well then, miss, I'll take my leave." Feng Shaochen had already turned around, his eyes still fixed on Yao Yanyu.

  Yao Yan's words made Cui Wei immediately turn around and run back, and when Feng Shaochen turned his head again, he happened to see her fleeting figure, and couldn't help but smile. This Yao girl was naturally kind-hearted, unpretentious, looked good, had a good temperament, and also knew medicine, really great.

  Cui Wei was pulled by Yao Yan's words and ran back, suddenly breaking out in a cold sweat: "Miss! Miss! Why are we running back again?!"

  "Let's go back and find those two kids who poked at the beehive."

  "Go find them?!" Cui Wei was completely flustered, "What's the point of finding them?! Those two bear kids have already caused us enough trouble!"

  "That beehive is a good thing, I've been looking for it for a long time."

  Cui Wei helplessly sighed and stopped talking, saving some energy to run around in the mountains with her own crazy master.

  After the two people went back, the two little kids had already gone home. Yao Yanyu took Cui Wei to their house, and the villager had already extracted the honey from the beehive and filled half a can.

  The villager heard that Yao Yanyu wanted the big beehive and brought it over to her without saying another word.

  Cui Wei took out a few taels of loose silver from her purse and gave it to the villagers, who were overjoyed and invited the two to stay for dinner.

  The villagers living in the mountains make a living by farming and hunting, kind and simple, with nothing good to eat, only a bowl of rice porridge and stewed rabbit meat. Yao Yan and Cui Wei had been struggling back and forth in this mountain forest for half a day, and were already hungry, but this meal was surprisingly more delicious than those mountain delicacies and seafood.

  After lunch and a short rest, the two of them confirmed the direction of Ci Xin An and bid farewell to the villagers on their way back. They still returned quietly from the back door, but unexpectedly, someone had been waiting for them early on.

  Madam Feng saw the two of them and rushed up to greet them, pulling on their sleeves and asking: "Miss, why have you only just returned? I was worried to death!"

  "What's going on?" Yao Yan asked curiously.

  Old Lady Feng lowered her voice and said, "Someone from the Prime Minister's mansion has arrived. They say they want to invite the young lady to the Dajue Temple. I'm puzzled, how did people from the Prime Minister's mansion know we were here?"

  "Someone from the Prime Minister's residence?" Yan Yu's mind flashed to the white-haired old lady on the mountain steps of the Upper Dajue Temple, and her heart skipped a beat, "Could it be...?"

  Cui Wei had also thought of it and suddenly turned pale: "Isn't that the old lady you saved on the mountain?"

  Yao Yan pouted and said: "We should have known she was the wife of a prime minister, we should have asked her for some silver."

  "The young lady is still smiling." Old Lady Feng sighed, "Quickly change your clothes, look at all the mud on you! If the people in the Prime Minister's mansion see you like this, they'll laugh at us. And if Big Sister and Master's wife find out, won't they beat us slaves to death!"

  Cuiping quickly brought over the clothes, and together with Feng Nianiang, they helped Yao Yanyu take off her mud-stained blouse. The old servant girl brought hot water, and Cuimei handed a towel to Yao Yanyu to wipe her face and wash her hands. She then changed into a pale blue cloud-patterned jacket, re-did her hair bun, jade pin, pearl flowers, earrings, bracelets, and necklace, putting everything back in place. Then, accompanied by Feng Nianiang, Cuimei, Cuiping, and seven or eight other maidservants, they left the nunnery and followed the people sent by the Prime Minister's residence to the Dajue Temple.

  The people in the prime minister's mansion were tight-lipped, and even Feng Niangniang couldn't get anything out of them. It wasn't until Yao Yanyu arrived at Dajue Temple that she found out that it was actually because Madame Feng was feeling unwell again. The abbot of Dajue Temple, Kong Shangshi, was unable to do anything, so Feng Shaoyan sent someone to fetch Yao Yanyu over.

  Yao Yan gave Mrs. Feng another injection, her technique was different from the imperial physician's and also unlike those rural doctors, Master Kongxiang watched by the side, as a monk in his nineties he too felt astonished.

  This should be the "Taiyi Shennian" recorded in the long-lost "Bencao Jiyi"! However, Master Kongxiang didn't say anything. At his age and as a monk, being taciturn had become second nature to him.

  Yao Yan ordered someone to cook a bowl of hawthorn porridge for Old Madam after finishing the acupuncture.

  Madam Feng slowly regained her composure, leaned back on the couch with her hands clasped together and bowed towards the sky: "Amitabha! This young lady from the Yao family is truly a Bodhisattva sent to save my life!"

  An old woman beside her was feeding her a spoonful of hawthorn porridge, smiling and saying: "Please have another mouthful, Old Lady. Miss Yao said that this hawthorn porridge is very beneficial to your health, you should eat it often in the future."

  "Good, good!" Old Lady Feng nodded in agreement, and before long, a bowl of hawthorn porridge was eaten up.

  That night, the son of the prime minister, Feng Ziyun, heard that his mother had an accident and rushed to the Dajue Temple with his wife, Lingxiang County, and the imperial physician and servants. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he saw Old Lady Feng lying safely on the couch in the Chan room.

  Lingxiang Junzhu asked: "I heard that it was a girl with the surname Yao who saved the old lady?"

  Feng Shaochen hastily replied: "Yes, this Miss Yao is the daughter of Governor-General Yao of the Two Rivers."

  "Yao Yuan's daughter?" Lingxi County Master was puzzled: "Is it the third young madam of Dinghou Mansion? I haven't heard that she knows medicine." Besides, isn't she almost dead from illness? How is it possible for her to run up the mountain and still treat others' illnesses?

  "Mother." Feng Shaochen smiled and said: "The eldest daughter of the Ding Hou Mansion is married to Mr. Yao, this young lady is the second daughter of Mr. Yao."