For now, she definitely couldn't return to her homeland. If she did, Yong Yaxuan would probably come looking for her soon. And if that triggered a conflict between the two countries again, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to protect her homeland.
She was in a daze when the young man asked anxiously, "Can you tell what kind of poison it is?"
Ji Feiyu gave a faint smile and said to the young man gently, "I've basically figured it out. By the way, young man, we've been on the road for a while and are a bit thirsty. I wonder if we could get some water?"
Only then did the young man remember. He quickly rubbed his hands and said, "Wait a moment, you two!"
As soon as he left, Hu Die came up and asked, "How was my performance just now? Was I smart? Is this illness easy to cure?"
Ji Feiyu stepped forward, sat in front of the couch, lifted the patient's eyelids, and pried open his mouth to look at his tongue coating. Without even glancing at Hu Die, she said, "It's not difficult to treat. It's just that your method of feeling the pulse was so clumsy."
Hu Die was so choked that he couldn't say a word for a long time. After Ji Feiyu had a clear understanding of the patient's symptoms, she stood up, smiled at Hu Die, and whispered in his ear, "You'll say later that..."
Hearing this, Hu Die immediately beamed with joy. "My wife is really a genius!"
Ji Feiyu was quite helpless at his reaction.
At this time, she and Hu Die were pretending to be an ordinary young couple. For the convenience of their actions, they always introduced themselves as husband and wife in front of outsiders.
Originally, Ji Feiyu didn't want to agree to this kind of thing that made her feel taken advantage of. But Hu Die said that as a young man and a young woman traveling outside, if they weren't a couple, they would easily attract attention. They could either act as mother and son or temporarily pretend to be a couple. Anyway, safety was the top priority.
Ji Feiyu thought his words made sense, so she gave in.
Just then, the young man came in with two bowls of water. While they were drinking the water, Hu Die obediently listed all the herbs Ji Feiyu had told him and also mentioned where they might grow. The young man was immediately filled with gratitude. Hu Die winked at Ji Feiyu proudly, but she just continued drinking water as if she hadn't seen it.
They didn't take any payment for that treatment. Instead, taking advantage of the young man's gratitude, they asked him to help them find an empty house to live in and paid the rent.
Since their first medical consultation had a good reputation and they were the only medical clinic in the village, they didn't have to worry about having no patients.
In fact, on a daily basis, Ji Feiyu only treated colds, bandaged wounds, and detoxified snakebites for the villagers. When it came to really difficult and complicated diseases, she would still advise them to seek treatment elsewhere. After all, she was just a mediocre doctor and didn't have many medicinal materials at hand. She didn't want to mislead others or herself.
For ordinary diagnoses, she and Hu Die usually went together, with Hu Die in the open and her in the back. After all, the villagers didn't believe that a woman could achieve great things. So every time the villagers saw them going out for a medical consultation together, they just thought that the couple was deeply in love and inseparable.
However, there were still some discordant voices. Generally speaking, they thought she was ugly and didn't deserve Hu Die.
Of course, most of these remarks came from the young girls who admired Hu Die, and Ji Feiyu could only turn a deaf ear.
On the contrary, seeing this, Hu Die showed even more "affection" for her. He often showed off their love in front of those young girls, making it hard for her to accept or reject.
Moreover, when someone advised him to marry a better wife, he would loudly express his infatuation and admiration for her, making Ji Feiyu shiver with disgust at his cheesy look.
And Ji Feiyu's various expressions of disgust were transformed into all kinds of envy, jealousy, and hatred in the eyes of the village women.
So, Ji Feiyu could only sigh that beauty was a curse. Because if the women knew how promiscuous Hu Die was deep down, they would definitely not like him.
From this, Ji Feiyu somewhat understood why Hu Die always made himself look good when he disguised himself. He was truly a carefree butterfly, loving the feeling of having all kinds of flowers surrounding him.
Time passed quickly for the two of them in Xinghua Village. Summer passed, and autumn soon arrived.
One day, when she and Hu Die were taking a walk in a neighboring village, they suddenly found an orange orchard. She begged him to buy some oranges. As a result, seeing that Ji Feiyu liked them, Hu Die waved his hand and bought the whole orchard.
Ji Feiyu: ???
Hu Die: "Now the whole orchard is yours. Eat as much as you like!"
Hu Die waved his hand proudly and left.
Ji Feiyu was left speechless in front of the whole orchard: How could she eat all these oranges?
So in the following days, Ji Feiyu started to pick oranges like crazy and give them away. Finally, the villagers in Xinghua Village felt embarrassed.
Ji Feiyu said, "It's okay. You can eat as much as you like. These oranges are very sweet!"
The villagers didn't take them.
Ji Feiyu said, "If you really feel embarrassed, then help me water and fertilize the orange trees next year?"
This time, the villagers took the oranges and responded with a smile, saying okay.
Ji Feiyu thought that she had finally found someone to take care of the orchard.
One day, Ji Feiyu was sitting under an orange tree, peeling and eating oranges. Suddenly, she heard a passer - by say that they wanted to buy some oranges. Immediately, she got an idea. She couldn't eat all these oranges by herself. Why not sell them?
So Ji Feiyu happily stuffed some oranges into the passer - by's hands, took a cloth bag, picked some oranges, and went to the fork in the road at the village entrance. Sure enough, her business was good on the first day, and all the oranges were sold out.
So on the second day, Ji Feiyu picked more...
After a few days like this, Ji Feiyu actually had some copper coins in her pocket. However, Hu Die didn't quite approve when he heard about it.
"That was a gift I gave you. Isn't it inappropriate for you to show yourself in public like this?"
"Thank you very much. Should I just let them rot? Besides, apart from collecting herbs and treating some minor ailments, there's basically nothing to do. Our income is far less than our expenses. Can you still wave your hand and buy me an orchard? Are you crazy?"
Hu Die argued seriously, "Hey, money can't buy my happiness. Besides, if we transfer this orchard later, we might even make a fortune."
Ji Feiyu didn't comment. She actually didn't know how Hu Die had made his fortune, but he seemed to especially like to buy houses and land. Was this just being rich and willful?
Ji Feiyu decided to ignore him and continued to sell the oranges.
At that time, Ji Feiyu thought that living a carefree life for a few months would mean everything was safe. Moreover, the village was secluded and she had disguised herself. She thought no one would come looking for her. But she didn't know that in the imperial city, Yong Yaxuan was furious because he couldn't find her.
Yong Yaxuan's patience was almost exhausted. Since Ji Feiyu left, he hadn't had a good night's sleep and had never gone to the concubines' chambers again. His heart was tortured. Thoughts of longing, anger, and regret intertwined, almost driving him crazy.
On the other hand, Ji Feiyu was obviously living a carefree and unrestrained life.
Since she started selling oranges, meeting different passers - by seemed to be the best way for Ji Feiyu to kill time after getting bored with practicing medicine in Xinghua Village.
As the saying goes, people come from all over the world. Passers - by always brought different stories and all kinds of things she didn't know. When Ji Feiyu occasionally heard them talk about the news related to the distant imperial city, she only felt that everything was familiar yet strange, as if it only concerned others.
However, this pleasant and ordinary good life didn't last long.