Chapter 20: Farmland

  Wan Niang handled matters with speed and efficiency.

  Agreed to Chen Jing's two requests, buying fields and concealing Chen Jing's medical skills, Wanniang immediately set out to prepare.

  Buying land requires finding an intermediary from a real estate agency.

  Conceal the medical skills, just need to inform Liu and Nian one voice.

  Wan Jun Ge is a brothel, and they always need to buy some girls, so Wan Niang has a lot of dealings with the pimps and knows many of them. She quickly found out where Chen Jing's family was selling their land. Coincidentally, there were also many good fields in the area that were being sold by the pimps.

  Wan Niang spent her connections and money, and the next day she bought back the 300 mu of sacrificial land that Chen Ju's sister had sold. She added an extra 1700 mu, for a total of 2000 mu, all registered under Chen Ju's brother's name.

  Chen Jiong didn't think it would be so soon.

  I was really surprised when I saw the land deed.

  "Wow, so many?" Chen Jiong asked, "How come there are so many people selling land now?"

  Two thousand mu, how big is it?

  His grandfather and father, Chen Ji's ancestors, as well as his two masters, were often invited to give lectures at the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Kyoto, and he would accompany them. One of which was his second master's alma mater.

  At that time, Chen Jing accompanied his teacher to stroll around the campus, walking slowly and covering every corner. Later, his teacher proudly told him: "This old campus covers an area of over 2,000 mu, which was quite impressive at that time."

  So, how big is two thousand mu, Chen Jing has a vague concept.

  "Last year, there was a war in the north, and the imperial court increased taxes on the two Zhejiang roads. Coincidentally, last year's harvest was also poor. Not to mention small farmers, even large landowners were struggling, with yields too low to pay taxes. It would be better to just sell out." Yuanni said, "This year, I don't know how the harvest will be. Those wealthy merchants have a lot of land, but they can't sell it. I told them I wanted to buy, and they hastily lowered the price to sell to me. This is your son's good fortune."

  Chen Jiong arrived in this world when last year was almost over.

  Moreover, Big Sister never let Chen Xuan worry about these livelihood matters and had never told him.

  The county town is still bustling with prosperity. The changes in the fields can be reflected in the city, but they will not be so obvious unless a major disaster occurs.

  Moreover, Chen Jiong's elder brother was a holder of imperial examination degree, so their family did not have to pay taxes.

  "Thank you, Wanyan," said Chen Jing.

  "It's nothing, just a small effort." Yuanni smiled. "These fields are all under your brother's name, so they don't need to pay taxes. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to help you buy so much. To be honest, it wasn't a big deal at all."

  Chen Jiong still thanked him.

  After some polite conversation, Chen Xuan and Wan Niang bid farewell.

  He thought that his relationship with Wan Jun Ge had come to an end.

  Taking these land deeds back home and putting them together with the remaining 2,000 taels of silver in a purple sandalwood box.

  Chen Jiong sat silently for a while, staring at these things.

  "How can I tell Sister-in-law?" Chen Jiong was at a loss.

  If the money and land deed are brought out, then this large sum of unexpected wealth must be explained truthfully. At that time, it will inevitably lead to another round of persuasion from Eldest Sister, with old clichés about studying hard, which Chen Jing has heard countless times.

  He wasn't tired of listening, but every time his sister-in-law mentioned it, she would get sad first, and Chen Jing couldn't bear it.

  Eating at others' homes, living in others' homes, without making any contribution, and causing others heartache. Thinking about it, I feel like a total waste.

  So he hesitated again and again.

  "Putting on a pretentious face and studying every day, I could tolerate it for one or two days, and even for a month or two. But now that it's been over half a year, I just can't take it anymore." Chen Jing sighed silently to herself.

  Reading books is a meaningless thing and will not add anything to Chen Jing's future.

  Chen Jie is very clear about his goals.

  He knew what path he would take in the future. He was destined to be a doctor. No matter what his sister-in-law said, no matter how biased the world was, being a doctor was Chen Jing's true calling.

  As a doctor, he is quite skilled and experienced.

  "Developing medicine and saving the lives of all living beings", this grand ideal may be difficult to achieve for the time being, but it is his most vague wish in his heart, and the general outline of all small wishes.

  It depends on luck how things will go.

  It's already impossible to return to his past life, Chen Xing thought, and he didn't have any extravagant hopes of being able to go back either.

  "Since I can't go back, I won't live a muddled life this lifetime." So, his previous goal was still to be a good doctor, open a decent clinic. Earn some small money, live a fulfilling life. If he encounters someone who can't afford medicine, give it to him for free, and get a "thank you" in return, that's happiness too, right?

  Chen Jie's pursuits were at odds with Dajie's worldview.

  "There's no need to tell her now, it would only add to her worries. My brother is still missing, my nephew is still young and not yet eligible for the imperial examination, so all of my sister-in-law's hopes are pinned on me. In a few years, when my brother returns and my nephew grows up, my sister-in-law will be busy taking care of them and won't have time to worry about me, I can tell her then." Chen Jing finally made up his mind and put the small box away.

  Not intending to reveal it now, after careful consideration, Chen Xing temporarily did not mention the matter of saving people in Wanjun Building.

  Anyway, I won't go again in the future. She thought that he had gone astray and was indulging in sensual pleasures, worrying about him even more.

  ***

  Chen Jiong was relieved that the matter of Wen's illness had been settled, except for the fact that Chen Jiong had secretly received a large sum of money from Yuanniang, everything else had passed without incident.

  At that time, among the doctors who attended the Wenxian Medical Conference, only Dr. Nai and Dr. Liu were from Wang County.

  Other doctors were not from Wangxian. Once they finished their work, they left Wangxian.

  At that time, after the consultation was over, those doctors were invited by Madame to go downstairs first. They did not know what medicine Xiwen took in the end, who prescribed the medicine, whether he recovered or not, and how well he recovered.

  Chen Jie's high-sounding words did indeed shock them for a moment. But since they didn't see Wen Jing recover, the shock was fruitless and didn't last long, soon dissipating.

  This thing is hard to talk about.

  "There's a kid who's really good at medicine..." Who would believe that if you said it out loud? Even if it were true, saying it would sound like bragging and nonsense, and would only make people think you're unreliable.

  If I must say, mentioning Chen Jiong's good medical skills also means mentioning their own diagnostic mistakes.

  Use his own incompetence to set off Chen Jing? Those officials wouldn't be so kind. So, after they went back, maybe they didn't even mention the matter at Wenyuan Pavilion. Even if they did, it was just bragging and wouldn't involve much about Chen Jing.

  This strange thing, talking about it can't bring me pleasure, even thinking of that kid, thinking of being refuted by him and having no power to fight back, feeling suffocated, completely loses the meaning of discussion.

  Or they would describe Chen Jinn as a show-off who is all talk and no action, making fun of him.

  Therefore, those officials either did not mention Chen Jie or distorted the facts. Chen Jie was still Chen Jie and had not become famous overnight because of his brilliant debate.

  Becoming famous is not an easy thing.

  Ni Dafu and Gong Zhi changed Chen Cui's prescription. In the end, Wanniang took which prescription to prepare the medicine, neither of the two doctors knew. Both were cautious men with some reputation in their daily lives.

  People with prestige will be cautious in their words and actions, so Chen Jing's performance will not spread from their mouths.

  That Dr. Liu had the greatest contradiction with Chen Xuan at that time, but afterwards, Wanniang found Dr. Liu again to keep Chen Xuan's secret.

  Wan Niang first affirmed Liu Daifu's medical skills and said, "It's a pity that Wen Ben was originally a strange disease, and it's not your fault if you can't cure it. I still trust your medical skills." Then she said, "In the future, Wan Jun Ge will still rely on you to move around. The matter of Wen Ben's illness will stop here, and don't mention it again in the future."

  Mr. Liu thought that Madame Wan would definitely replace him and was worried about his future livelihood. Unexpectedly, a pie fell from the sky, and Madame Wan still wanted to use him.

  He has kept his rice bowl intact and naturally doesn't dare to gossip.

  Whatever Wan Niang says, he agrees with whatever she says.

  So, in Wangxian's side, people only talked about Xiwen's illness, but no one mentioned the doctor who cured Xiwen. Ordinary people were only concerned with the famous courtesan Xiwen and didn't even think to ask who had cured her.

  It passed quietly without anyone noticing.

  Chen Jiong also warned Chen Qi not to be too talkative.

  Chen Qi often saw Xi Wen because of Chen Xuan, and later if he wanted to see Xi Wen again, he had to rely on Chen Xuan, so he fawned over Chen Xuan. Chen Xuan asked him not to speak, and he agreed in one mouthful.

  He is quite spoiled, but his mouth is pretty strict.

  Everything was quiet and unnoticed, no one in the Chen family heard any news, nor did Chen Xuan's elder sister know.

  Chen Jing's biggest dilemma was also solved, he had money now and bought back the land for sacrifice, he let out a big sigh of relief.

  On April 19, it was the first birthday of Chen Er's son. Chen Er invited relatives and friends who were adults to go to Nan Zhuang for a banquet, and also invited Chen Jing.

  With nothing on his mind, Chen Xuan went to the banquet with a light heart.

  Chen Qi knew that there were no carriages on Qiyuan Lane, so he came especially to pick up Chen Xuan and showed great enthusiasm.

  Qing Yun and Chen Jing's elder sister still guarded against Chen Qi, with a look of extra vigilance as if they were sworn enemies.

  Chen Qi knew they had unfinished business.

  It's always like this, and it affects his brotherly relationship with Chen Jing. Chen Qi still has to rely on Chen Jing.

  Measuring his words carefully, Chen Qi apologized to Chen Jing's elder sister: "......From childhood to adulthood, whatever I wanted, someone would send it to my doorstep; even if it was something expensive, crying and throwing a tantrum could get me what I wanted. At the time, I didn't intentionally mean to treat Qing Yun lightly. It was just that for the first time, I was refused something I wanted, so I acted willfully and arbitrarily, insisting on getting my way, which led to that embarrassing behavior of repeatedly going to her doorstep to pester her.

  Now that I've grown up, I understand human relationships. Qingyun is my brother-in-law's concubine, and I shouldn't have had those thoughts. Sister-in-law, Qingyun, I was wrong today. From now on, let's just forget about this matter and still be a family, okay?

  Jia Hang was the courtesy name of Chen Zhang, the elder brother of Chen Jiong.

  When they heard this, Chen Jiong's sister-in-law and Qing Yun were both slightly stunned.

  They will believe and they will doubt.

  Then Qing Yun let out a cold snort.

  She didn't believe him and wouldn't forgive Chen Qi.

  Mr. Li was also skeptical in his heart, but he wouldn't show it so obviously, and gave Chen Qi a step down: "This time, brother's words have made sister-in-law very happy. From now on, we are still one family, don't let those past things cause cracks."

  "Really, really." Chen Qi didn't notice that Li Shi was just being perfunctory and thought she had truly forgiven him. He happily said, "Sister-in-law is a wise and understanding person, Chen Mo is grateful beyond words!"

  Then, he bowed to Li.

  Chen Jiong finished changing his clothes and came out to see this scene, thinking it was funny.

  "Eldest sister-in-law, I'll go first. After the banquet is over, I will come back early." Chen Jing said to his sister-in-law before leaving.

  Mr. Li's eyes were slightly worried, he glanced at Chen Jing, and in the end didn't say anything, only reminding him not to drink too much, not to cause trouble, etc.

  Chen Jiong nodded in agreement.

  After he and Chen Qi went out, Qing Yun's face was slightly angry towards Li Shi: "Madam, that Seventh Young Master must be hiding some evil intentions! He's been talking nonsense again and looking for Second Master every day, definitely brewing up trouble. Second Master is kind-hearted, but being led astray by him, what can be done?"

  Li was also worried about this.

  But Chen Jing refused to say, and Li Shi couldn't force him to ask.

  "...Today I'm going to Jingzhong Alley, and I'll talk to Eldest Aunt about it." said Li Shi, "In a few more days it will be Dragon Boat Festival, take Rong'er to my mother's house for a few days, let him stay away from those people. And then have my brother talk to him again. When men speak, boys listen. Whatever we women say, Rong'er just ignores."

  She was preparing to have her brother from her mother's family come and persuade Chen Jing.

  Some things are more suitable for men to say.

  With this thought, Li also felt slightly relieved.

  That Chen Mo person is really a scourge!