The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

After noon, Lieutenant General Zhou came with his men and escorts, and they all went to the restaurant together.

If he could kill Zhang Ping'an, General Zhou would not be polite.

The restaurant had already prepared the dishes because they had made arrangements in advance. They started serving the dishes as soon as everyone sat down. There were nearly twenty tables in total, which cost the county government a lot of money.

Even County Magistrate Yang felt a little pained.

Under the influence of Zhang Ping'an, he has become more and more stingy and has been increasingly strict with the financial expenditure of the county government.

Most of the soldiers were straightforward, eating meat with big mouthfuls and drinking wine with big bowls. Not to mention that these people were the elite soldiers under Lord Zhou, who had experienced life and death on the battlefield and were used to seeing life and death. They didn't care about red tape at all.

He simply asked the waiter to replace the wine glasses with large bowls, rolled up his sleeves and started eating. He was very relaxed and didn't care what the waiters and the shopkeeper thought.

The one eating today is the uncle!

The meal was lively and the atmosphere was very warm!

Zhang Ping'an hadn't seen such a lively banquet for a long time. Since he passed the imperial examination, most of the banquets he had attended, even if they were lively, everyone was very restrained and cared a lot about their personal image and reputation. It was rare to see such a sincere banquet.

It’s a bit like the night market food stalls in my previous life, very relaxing!

After the meal, Admiral Zhou, still drunk, stood up and stumbled over to pat Zhang Ping'an on the shoulder, saying, "Master Zhang, thank you for your expense today. This restaurant is indeed the best in the county. The chef's cooking skills are really good!"

"You're welcome. You've all worked hard for the court," Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.

"I enjoyed the meal today. Goodbye! I will come back to invite Lord Zhang another day!" Lieutenant General Zhou bowed.

His mouth was filled with the smell of alcohol, and he didn't know if he would still remember the promise after waking up. So far, Zhang Ping'an has never eaten the meal invited by Lieutenant General Zhou.

After Lieutenant General Zhou and his men left, Zhang Ping'an took County Magistrate Yang and others back to the county government office.

After the afternoon, the yamen was dismissed. Chen Jianqiu then brought Chen Ergu and other members of the Chen family to reunite, and they all went to a restaurant for dinner.

It was summer and autumn at that time. The weather was very hot and it got dark late. The sunset in the sky was gorgeous.

While waiting, Xu suggested, "Doctor Chen, why don't you take some time to check on Yingniang? Her belly is getting bigger!"

"Okay," Chen Ergu nodded.

Xu then took the two of them to the inner room.

Aunt Chen said gently, "Put your hands out, don't worry!"

Upon hearing this, Yingniang stretched out her hand and placed it on the pulse pillow, looking a little worried.

Chen Ergu placed two fingers on the patient's wrist and began to take the patient's pulse carefully.

Xu was waiting on the side and was also a little nervous.

"Come, let me see your hand," said Chen Ergu, putting down her hand.

Yingniang then changed her hand.

After Chen Ergu carefully took the patient's pulse again, she put her hand down after a while.

He looked up at Madam Xu and said, "I still need to feel her belly to check on the baby. I just observed that Yingniang's pulse is a little disordered. I think she is too nervous. How about you go out and wait in the outer room for a while, Madam Zhang, and I will check on Yingniang alone."

"Is this... serious?" asked Mrs. Xu. She didn't think too much about it, but she was just worried that the situation was not good.

"We'll have to wait and see," said Chen Ergu with a smile.

"Okay, I'll wait for you outside," said Xu, and then reminded Yingniang: "Don't be nervous, otherwise you won't be able to see clearly. Relax!"

Then he went out.

After Xu left, Yingniang burst into tears and asked in a trembling voice, "Doctor Chen, is my condition not good?"

"Don't think too much. Your pulse is a little disordered, but it is not impossible to adjust. Let me touch your stomach first," Chen Ergu comforted.

After saying that, he placed his hand on Yingniang's belly and felt it carefully. He then leaned over to listen to the movements inside her belly before saying, "The fetal movements aren't very frequent, and the baby is quite quiet. But I think you might be in labor prematurely. Try to stay in bed and avoid exertion, especially not lifting heavy objects."

"Premature birth? Why is that?" Ying Niang asked nervously, "This baby doesn't move much normally, and I've been a little worried."

Chen Ergu looked outside the room to make sure she couldn't hear the conversation. After thinking for a moment, she decided to tell the truth: "Your condition is quite serious. If you don't pay attention, you may have a miscarriage, especially now that the weather is hot and ulcers are prone to occur. As a doctor, I still have to tell you the truth so that you can understand and take it seriously!"

The main reason for easy miscarriage is that you were injured when you took medicine for miscarriage before, and you did not take good care of yourself, which led to uterine prolapse. So when your mother-in-law brought you to see a doctor, I did not prescribe medicine for you. It is indeed difficult to get pregnant in this situation.

But now it seems that you are destined to have a child, so you must be extremely careful with this pregnancy."

"I knew it, Doctor Chen, you saw through it at that time," Ying Niang said with a pale face, her hands clutching the bed sheet tightly.

"Don't be nervous. Since I didn't say it then, I will not say it now. In fact, when I was taking your pulse, I thought about what Jianqiu and Lord Zhang told me about you and your husband, and I roughly understood that you were also persecuted. If I tell this to others, you will really have no way to survive. We are all women, how can I bear it? Don't worry!" Chen Ergu patted Yingniang's hand and said gently.

"Actually, I... I don't want to. I also want to tell the truth to my family," Yingniang burst into tears. This was also what was bothering her.

"Don't say more, I understand. Now that you have a child, you have someone to rely on no matter what. Lord Zhang has a bright future now. I believe it won't be difficult for you to make a living with him. Let's give birth to the child safely first," said Chen Ergu.

After that, he took out a handkerchief and wiped Yingniang's tears: "Okay, stop crying, otherwise others will think too much. We should go out for dinner."

She sighed in her heart. She had been wandering around the backyard treating the ladies for many years and had seen all kinds of private matters. This was nothing.

Only people with a conscience would be tormented by painful memories all the time!

After they packed up and left, Xu asked with concern, "How is it? Is it serious?"

Chen Ergu smiled and said, "It's nothing serious, but it might be best for her to rest in bed. Her health is weak and she can't overwork herself."

"Okay, okay, then stay in bed and recuperate," Xu responded quickly.

After everyone gathered, they went to the restaurant to eat together.

After eating, it was already late, so everyone went back to rest.

The next day came in a blink of an eye. After Zhang Ping'an arrived at the yamen for duty, he opened the latest official document as usual. He thought it was just some trivial matters, but today's document was different. The document said that in five days, someone from the court would come to Ci County and other coastal areas for inspection.

Ci County is the first stop, and the tour will continue all the way to Dongshan County, Fuzhou.