Shi Ning'an cast a cold glance at her and said, "Do I need to care about a dog's barking?"
The noble ladies around all let out disdainful laughter. Among the noble ladies, there were also hierarchies based on their family backgrounds, just like they used to look down on Shi Ning'an. Now, not only was Shi Ning'an doted on by the Rong family, but she was also granted the title of County Mistress by the Empress Dowager, so her status was quite extraordinary. However, the group of people in front of them were not on the same level as these high - ranking noble ladies.
Shi Aoxue was about to fly into a rage, but Shi Qingmei grabbed her and gently bowed, saying, "May the County Mistress be in good health."
Shi Ning'an ignored them and left with Lu'er and Yingtao.
Rong Heng got the news and came over. Along with him was Tang Chuyao.
Tang Chuyao explained to Shi Ning'an, "Shi Yongtang found his long - lost eldest daughter some time ago. Her name is Shi Aoxue."
Shi Ning'an said indifferently, "I just saw her."
Rong Heng quickly rolled up his sleeves and asked, "Did they bully you?"
Shi Ning'an gave him a sidelong glance and said, "They wouldn't dare to bully me in public. Besides, Yingtao is here."
Rong Heng breathed a sigh of relief slightly and said, "You don't know. From yesterday to this morning, my elder brother almost tore my ear off. He repeatedly warned me to stay by your side all the time. But you're a young lady and I'm a young man. When you're playing with other ladies, I can't always follow you, can I?"
Shi Ning'an couldn't help but burst out laughing, and the previous unpleasantness vanished.
However, Shi Qingmei...
Shi Ning'an knew that Shi Qingmei was a scheming and vicious person. In the previous times, it was because she relied on her past life experiences and Shi Qingmei had underestimated her. Now, she had to be on guard.
Just now, Shi Qingmei's look in her eyes, and the eye contact between Shi Qingmei and Shi Aoxue after Shi Qingmei stopped the latter, were quite unusual.
Shi Ning'an took a deep breath. The current situation was quite different from that in her past life. She didn't know what would happen and didn't know how to deal with it for the time being. But no matter when, she couldn't let her guard down.
She looked up and asked, "Fourth Cousin, do you know what General Wei Feng and the Prince of Northern Qi are doing today?"
Rong Heng didn't understand what Shi Ning'an meant, but he still answered honestly, "I wanted to 'compete' with that fellow Wei Hongmiao, but I got the news early this morning that the Emperor summoned them into the palace early. It's said that there will be a banquet to discuss something with the Prince of Northern Qi."
This was the matter of the civil officials. There were no civil officials in the Rong family, so they naturally didn't know the specific situation.
However, upon hearing that Wei Hongmiao and the Prince of Northern Qi were not around, Shi Ning'an breathed a sigh of relief slightly. Without Wei Hongmiao, Shi Qingmei would be fighting alone, and she didn't need to be too anxious.
Shi Ning'an got into the carriage and soon arrived at the neighboring garden. From afar, Shi Ning'an saw a crowd surrounding the garden.
Yingtao, with sharp eyes, pointed forward and exclaimed softly, "Hey, isn't that the County Mistress?"
Shi Ning'an took a closer look and indeed saw a young girl standing with hands on hips. Who else could it be but Zheng Chi? And there was a girl standing beside her, wearing a veil hat to cover her face. She seemed to be pulling Zheng Chi back to stop her from rushing forward.
Judging from the figure, Shi Ning'an thought that the girl should be Tang Chutong. It seemed that Tang Chutong was in good spirits.
At this moment, Zeng Ruoyun was sitting in front of the consultation table, feeling the pulse of a woman.
Zheng Chi had been unhappy with Zeng Ruoyun for a long time. Once she got the chance, she would never let it go. Standing with hands on hips, she said in a strange tone, "Oh, isn't this Miss Zeng? What? Are you setting up a consultation table here? You won't let go of any business, will you?"
Zeng Ruoyun rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, isn't this Miss Zheng? Have you had enough of the scenery in the capital? Have you come to the suburbs to pollute the air?"
Zheng Chi was furious and repeatedly asked, "What did you say? Who's polluting the air?"
Tang Chutong didn't want to show herself in public, so she could only wear a veil hat and tried hard to pull Zheng Chi back and persuade her, "Zheng Chi, say less. Miss Zeng is providing free medical consultations. She's doing good deeds for the people. Don't talk nonsense!"
Zheng Chi refused to listen and said, "She said I'm polluting the air here."
Zeng Ruoyun sneered and said, "You're quite self - aware. Since you know it in your heart, why don't you stay away from here?"
Zheng Chi refused to leave. She plopped down on the stool in front and said, "Come on. Since you're providing free medical consultations, take a look at me."
Zeng Ruoyun pointed her finger and said, "Are you being reasonable? I'm providing free medical consultations for the common people. What does it have to do with you? Get out of here!"
Zheng Chi had never suffered such humiliation and shouted, "I'm also a subject of the Great Zhou Dynasty. I'm also a commoner of the Great Zhou. Since you're providing free medical consultations, why can't you consult me?"
Zeng Ruoyun slapped the table and stood up, saying, "Zheng Chi, do you think I'm afraid of you?"
Zheng Chi also slapped the table and stood up, saying, "You're such a rude person and yet you claim to be noble. I..."
She originally thought that no matter what, she couldn't lose her momentum. But halfway through her words, she felt something strange on her face. She reached out and touched it, and there were small pimples around her mouth.
The surrounding common people all exclaimed.
"Wow, girl, what's wrong with your face?"
"Wow, it's so scary!"
Zheng Chi panicked. She didn't care about arguing with Zeng Ruoyun anymore. She quickly turned around and grabbed Tang Chutong, saying, "Sister Tang, what's wrong with me?"
Tang Chutong was also extremely surprised and held her hand, saying, "Your face... There are so many rashes on your face. This... this... this..."
At this time, Shi Ning'an, Rong Heng, and Tang Chuyao walked over. When they saw Zheng Chi's face, they were all startled.
Rong Heng was the first to react. He punched the free - medical - consultation table of Zeng Ruoyun and shouted, "You're using your dirty tricks again. You used that powder, didn't you!"
He was very strong. With this punch, the free - medical - consultation table immediately collapsed.
Zeng Ruoyun stared round - eyed. She was so angry that she didn't care about anything. Looking around, she saw a stone beside the pole supporting the free - medical - consultation shed. She picked up a stone and threw it at Rong Heng.
"A bunch of crazy people. You smashed my free - medical - consultation table? Rong Heng, I'll skin you alive today!"
Although Rong Heng spoke fiercely, he couldn't really do anything to a woman. He was also afraid that Zeng Ruoyun would go crazy and hurt someone, so he had to catch the stone and throw it away.
Zeng Ruoyun continued to pick up stones and desperately threw them at Rong Heng.
However, the free - medical - consultation shed was a wooden shed supported by long poles. The long poles were only slightly inserted into the ground and were supported by a circle of stones around. When Zeng Ruoyun carried away the stones like this, the long poles couldn't support it anymore, and the wooden boards on top collapsed.
Rong Heng was strong. He could easily catch the stones that Zeng Ruoyun threw with all her strength. But when he looked up, he saw the wooden boards falling, and Zeng Ruoyun was still squatting on the ground. It seemed that she was about to be hit by the wooden boards.
Shi Ning'an was originally looking at Zheng Chi's face. Hearing the loud noise, she was so scared that she exclaimed, "Cousin!"
Rong Heng took two steps forward. Zeng Ruoyun thought he was going to attack, so she forcefully threw the stone down. Rong Heng couldn't dodge in time, and the stone hit him right on the forehead. Afraid that Zeng Ruoyun would be hit by the wooden shed roof, he gave her a hard push and knocked her to the ground. The shed roof collapsed and hit Rong Heng hard on the back.
Shi Ning'an and the other two covered their mouths, and so did the people around.
Rong Heng might have been knocked unconscious by the stone. He didn't stand steady, and the back of his head was hit by the wooden board again. He fell down and just happened to lie on Zeng Ruoyun. Unfortunately, their faces were facing each other and their lips were touching.
For a moment, Shi Ning'an didn't know whether to feel sorry for her cousin who had been inadvertently taken advantage of or for Rong Heng who had been hit twice.
Rong Heng was pushed away in a daze. He got up and sat down in a daze, still not understanding what had happened.
Zeng Ruoyun held a long pole and fiercely hit Rong Heng with it.
Tang Chuyao, being a young man, reacted the fastest. He immediately grabbed the long pole and urgently shouted, "Miss, Young Master Rong is injured."
It turned out that there were nails on the thick shed roof. Since they were embedded in the wooden boards, the people who set up the shed didn't expect it. After all this commotion today, the wooden boards cracked, and the nails were exposed. They scraped down from Rong Heng's neck when hitting his back, and now blood was gushing out.
Only then did Zeng Ruoyun react. She threw away the long pole, pulled Rong Heng up, and let him sit on the stool properly.
Rong Heng was in a daze. After a while, he came to his senses and pushed Zeng Ruoyun, saying, "Well... Zheng Chi has always been wild. Don't argue with her. Give her the antidote."
Zeng Ruoyun was full of anger, but seeing the wound on Rong Heng's back, she couldn't yell at him. She just endured it and said, "Take off your upper clothes. I'll treat your wound."
Rong Heng was a military man and didn't care much about his appearance. But there were many people here, so he felt a little embarrassed. He only took off his outer robe, and asked Tang Chuyao to help lift up the inner one from below, only exposing his back.
Zeng Ruoyun stared blankly at the scarred back. An ordinary sixteen - or seventeen - year - old young man from such a good family should be staying at home and being doted on by his family. But on Rong Heng's back, there were new and old wounds. There didn't seem to be a single bit of good flesh.
She knew that being a military man was not easy, but it was a peaceful era now. She thought there would be no more wars and the world would be at peace.
She stretched out her finger and touched the wound on Rong Heng's back. Rong Heng didn't feel anything at all.
Zeng Ruoyun's eyes were a little hot. The peace she thought of was protected by military men like Rong Heng with their own bodies.
Rong Heng didn't know what Zeng Ruoyun was thinking. He just looked at the three people with strange expressions in front of him and then at Zheng Chi's red and terrifying face. After thinking for a while, he still said politely, "Miss Zeng... that antidote... um..."
Zeng Ruoyun came back to her senses. She asked the maid to fetch clean water to wipe the blood off Rong Heng's back, and then personally applied the medicinal powder on it. Then she said indifferently, "Think about yourself first when something happens. Don't always think that others are to blame. Miss Zheng, think about it. Did you eat something unusual this morning?"
Zheng Chi was stunned. She thought for a long time and then stammered, "Well... yesterday, the palace bestowed a kind of fruit that was tribute from foreign lands. I was greedy this morning and ate some... Could my face be related to that fruit?"
After Zeng Ruoyun applied the medicine on Rong Heng's wound and carefully bandaged it, and told Rong Heng's attendant what to pay attention to in the following days, she nodded to Zheng Chi and said, "Didn't the person who sent the fruit say anything?"
Zheng Chi scratched her head embarrassedly and said, "It was said that some people might have adverse reactions after eating it. If you want to eat it, you need to cut it open and eat a little first. You can eat the whole thing if there's no problem."
Tang Chutong patted her and asked, "So, how many did you eat?"
Zheng Chi mumbled, "Two."
Zeng Ruoyun gave her a speechless look and said, "Was it really delicious?"
Zheng Chi quickly nodded and said, "It was really delicious. I still have some at home. Do you want it? I'll give it all to you."
"No need. I don't want to look as ugly as you."
Zeng Ruoyun went to the medicine chest to look for medicine.