Chapter 257: Chapter 257: Xiao Yuling
Additionally, Gu Qingli had bought all of this year’s medicinal materials from Qinghe Village at market price. The reason was that Doctor Shen’s clinic had not reopened since the Earthworm incident, and the town’s clinic could not accommodate so many medicinal materials. Therefore, Gu Qingli simply bought them all. This delighted the villagers, as it saved them trouble and earned them more money.
Gu Qingli stored all the medicinal materials from the village in her space and let them be nourished by spiritual energy for a while. Quite a few of these medicinal materials were not yet mature. After some time in the space, she could use those medicinal materials to make medicinal pills, with the same effects. This also solved her problem with the shortage of medicinal materials.
Today, Wushuang sent news that after all ten thousand acres of medicinal materials in Qiyang County were harvested, they were sent to the Gu Clinic, which was in need of materials. There were also lands purchased for planting medicinal materials in other counties, but some places with large demand had to be supplied with materials. Mainly in the south, where the population was dense and the economy was more developed than in other places, the land was scarcer and fewer lands were purchased.
Gu Qingli was preparing in her space tonight. Tomorrow, she was going to send another batch of medicine and wine to Qiyang County, and she planned to buy everything for the three children’s Hundred Days Banquet then as well.
Xiao Yunjing finished his work and came to help after checking on the three little ones.
“Li’er, we must be cautious during this time.”
“What now?”
“Today, the Secret Sect sent back news saying that Qingchen successfully killed Chu Xiong’s last two sons, and he may seize power after the New Year.”
He would attack them at most three months after taking power. During this half-year, he had been controlling the court, and most of those who needed to be removed had already been taken care of. So, it wouldn’t take him long to grasp control of the entire court once he took power.
Gu Qingli frowned slightly. “Then you have to make sure my family stays low-key and tell my brother to stop his activities.”
“Li’er, don’t worry about their safety. They are protected by the Secret Sect, so there’s no need to worry. In addition, I have managed to subdue another martial arts faction, one of the groups among those who ambushed us at Cloud River Gorge. I sent Yun No. 2 with some men to subdue them.”
The day they returned to Qiyang County, they found out that the group was a martial arts faction called the Sky Clouds Gang, who were entrenched in Cloud River Gorge. On the third day, Xiao Yunjing sent Yun No. 2 with men to subdue them. There were not many people in the gang, only about two hundred, but their martial arts skills were impressive. Staying up in that mountain, they would slaughter any “fat sheep” they encountered. Because of their high martial arts skills, they had never been discovered.
After subduing them, Xiao Yunjing incorporated them into the Secret Sect and had each one sign a slave contract. In this way, his strength had grown stronger, though it wasn’t obvious.
Gu Qingli nodded. “Then I’m relieved. If anything happens to them, we won’t be able to explain it to Father.”
“Don’t worry, Li’er. I’ve arranged for all of this,” Xiao Yunjing said, hugging her.
“Mmm.” Gu Qingli smiled and buried her head in his arms.
Lishan Mountain, a scenic mountain in the southeast of Daqian, had a large temple on its slope. This temple was the famous Jiutian Xuannu Temple in Daqian Kingdom. The temple enshrined the statue of Jiutian Xuannu, and many royal and noble women loved to come here to burn incense and worship on the tenth day of the tenth month every year, praying for Jiutian Xuannu to bless and grant favors.
At this moment, behind the temple, there was an inconspicuous small courtyard where a beautiful woman had just finished worshipping. An old servant woman helped her to stand up. The woman furrowed her brow, seemingly weighed down by countless troubles.
“Madam,” the old servant woman called out softly.
“Sigh!” The woman let out a heavy sigh.
Just then, the courtyard door opened, and a forty-something woman wearing a nun’s robe walked in. The nun had a kind face. She sat cross-legged opposite the beautiful woman. The old servant hastily served tea for the two of them, then withdrew and closed the door, standing guard outside.
“Ling’er, can you still not let go?” the nun asked.
The beautiful woman’s eyes dimmed as she nodded ever so slightly.
The nun sighed. “Back then, if you hadn’t feigned your death, how could you have escaped? Since your body has largely recovered, what do you want to do? With our decades of friendship, I must help you no matter what.”
The woman called Ling’er bowed her head for a moment and then said, “I want to go to Yanshan Pass first and see my poor child.”
Ling’er, whose original name was Xiao Yuling, was the former Concubine Xiao and Xiao Yunjing’s mother. She had supposedly been dead for over twenty years but was actually hiding in Jiutian Xuannu Temple. Back then, after Xiao Yuling had her father secretly take her child out of the Imperial Palace, she was indeed resolved to die. The poison in her system was incurable; if she died, others would not focus their attention on her child. Perhaps her child would still have a glimmer of hope.
By coincidence, her best friend, Hui Jing—who was then merely a managing nun in Jiutian Xuannu Temple but was now its abbess—rushed to the Imperial Palace on that fateful day. She helped create a massive fire and then took Xiao Yuling to Jiutian Xuannu Temple. At that time, Xiao Yuling was truly on the verge of death. Hui Jing, who happened to be knowledgeable in the art of Qihuang, gradually helped her dispel the poison. Unexpectedly, she managed to save her life. Although she was alive, the poison in her body was never completely removed, so she was nursed there for many years.
She had been nursed there for ten years. Alive, she thought of her child constantly, wondering how he was doing. So she asked Hui Jing, now an abbess, to help her find out about Xiao Yunjing’s whereabouts. Only then did she learn that her parents were dead, and her brother had taken her son, who had survived, away from Capital City, their whereabouts unknown. Afterward, she began to inquire everywhere.
Last year, she finally learned that Xiao Yunjing had become a general at Yanshan Pass. She knew this was her son by the name alone. As fate would have it, someone who had gone down the mountain to gather news happened to hear that the Gu Clinic had a particularly good medicine. They brought back two pills for her to take, and soon after taking them, the residual poison in her body was cleared away. After recuperating for several months and regaining much of her health, she longed to find her son even more.
Hui Jing said, “When do you want to go? I’ll accompany you on the trip.”
Their current location was quite far from Yanshan Pass, and she was worried about Xiao Yuling going alone. She and Xiao Yuling had been good friends since childhood. Hui Jing’s father had committed a crime, and their whole family was about to be executed, but Xiao Yuling secretly saved her and her younger brother, allowing them to escape their fate. She herself had come here, tonsured her hair, and become a nun. Her younger brother had been sent to a place where no one knew him; he had since married and had children, ensuring their family line did not die out. No matter what Xiao Yuling wanted to do, she would ensure her safety.
“Xin’er, thank you!” Xiao Yuling said, grasping Hui Jing’s hand.
“There’s no need for thanks between us. If anything, our Xie family owes you,” Hui Jing said sincerely, patting Xiao Yuling’s hand.
“Well, let’s not keep saying thank you. Let’s leave tomorrow. Tonight, we two can sleep and chat together; it’s been so many years since we’ve slept in the same room.”
Hui Jing smiled and nodded at Xiao Yuling.
The following day, Hui Jing, Xiao Yuling, and Yueniang, who had been by Xiao Yuling’s side, hurried down the mountain. They bought a carriage in a small town at the foot of the mountain and then headed towards Yanshan Pass.
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