After the situation in Su Prefecture was reported again, the civil and military officials of the entire court were shocked and praised it extensively. It had to be admitted that this guy was a genius in governing the country.
Emperor Xia Jing walked with floating steps, thinking to himself that it would be great if all the officials of Great Xia were as capable as Lord Jiang.
On the one hand, he felt regretful that this guy did not participate in the imperial civil service examinations earlier!
In the midst of being busy, Jiang Yuqing passed her 5th birthday. The little dumpling had become a big dumpling.
The 100,000 pairs of boots from Changlong Leather Goods Store and Dingtaifeng Ready-to-Wear had been completed and delivered to the military camp.
Jiang Yuqing promptly settled the payment with them.
On her last trip delivering goods to the barracks, she brought back a tiger on her return trip. People along the way were quite frightened upon seeing it. If not for the collar around the tiger's neck and someone riding it, they would have fled already.
To avoid scaring others, Jiang Yuqing gave up riding White Number Ten and rode White Number Nine all the way home instead.
Poor White Number Nine had been kept in the Spirit Realm for over a year without a suitable chance to let it out.
Fortunately, it did not mind at all, on the contrary, it enjoyed life in the Spirit Realm quite a bit.
The abundant spiritual energy increased its intelligence by a lot. Now, it could use actions and facial expressions to convey some complex emotions very intuitively.
For example, it learned how to roll its eyes.
No need to think too hard, this was definitely learned from White Number Ten. Among all tigers, it had the strongest eye-rolling skills.
Upon White Number Nine's arrival, both Jiang Wenyuan and Lu were badly startled, and rubbed its enormous head, "We haven't seen you for over a year, how did you grow so big? It seems that place really nourishes people."
White Number Nine also nudged them with its big head, using concrete actions to express its delight.
Externally, the family unanimously claimed that it was a tiger raised in their old home in Qingzhou that traveled a long way to find them.
In Su Prefecture, there were many stories circulating about wolf packs repaying kindness and traversing thousands of miles to find their benefactor.
Therefore, after the initial fright, people were amazed to discover that this big fellow was unbelievably clever.
Not only could it hunt for itself, it even knew how to open and close doors by itself. After closing the door, it would grab the door bolt in its mouth to lock it back up.
It could even pick up pens that the staff accidentally dropped with its mouth and return them.
If you praised it for being smart and majestic, you would see a very delighted expression on its furry tiger face. This was practically a demon that had gained awareness!
As time went by, everyone knew that the big white tiger raised in the prefectural magistrate's residence not only didn't eat people, it was also very humane.
Thus, Jiang Yuqing removed its collar.
By the time it went out to the streets again, people were not only unafraid of it, the bolder ones would even go up to touch it.
It was also very good-tempered in letting people touch it. However, after they finished touching, it would grab their clothes in its mouth and pull them to the meat stall, pushing them forwards.
The meaning was, you've looked and touched, if you don't buy some tasty food, how can you just leave unashamedly?
When the incident spread, people were not only not repulsed by this behavior. Many who had spare money specially ran over to meet it, touching it and then deliberately standing there, waiting for it to pull them to the meat stalls to buy meat.
Because of White Number Nine, several streets near the government office had increased business at their meat stalls. Thus, the stall owners all treated White Number Nine as their wealth god, wishing that it would come out to the streets every day.
As for White Number Nine's almost shameless begging behavior, Jiang Yuqing did not have any good solutions either. After all, it earned that money fair and square, it would be unreasonable not to feed it.
When April was nearing its end, a steady and handsome young teen traveled on dusty roads and entered Su Prefecture's government office.
The people in the office did not recognize him and asked, "Who are you and what business brings you here?"
The youth answered, "I've come to find my parents and younger sister, I'm from Qingzhou." The people in the office were immediately surprised, "Oh! So the young master has arrived. Please wait a moment, I will notify the magistrate right away."
When Jiang Wenyuan heard his son had come, he was shocked. To come so silently without sending any advance notice. Luckily the journey seemed safe overall.
Sizing up his son again, he was taller than when they were in the capital city, and his facial features were more resolute too.
Hence, he nodded with great satisfaction. He gently asked about his son's journey before personally bringing his son and the escorts from his wife's family to the rear office.
Jiang Yuqing was at the medical hall and not home. White Number Nine happened to be home after just returning from eating its fill in the streets. It was lazily sprawled under the eaves basking in the sunlight.
At this time, it picked up a familiar scent again and immediately crawled up, running in the direction of the scent's origin.
Seeing that the person was unexpectedly the young master’s elder brother, White Number Nine was thrilled. It bounded over to smother him in chaotic snuggling and nudging.
Its steel whip-like tail swept around furiously like a fire wheel, afterimages could be seen.
From the looks of it, this "excellent" skill learned from the village dogs will stay an incurable habit for life, a hopeless case for tiger refinement.
Jiang Yuchuan also didn't expect to see White Number Nine here. Ever since they parted ways last year after the new year, there had been no trace of White Number Nine. His family said it went with his sister to the capital city.
Yet when he arrived in the capital city himself, he did not see it either. His sister said White Number Nine couldn't stand the crowded capital city and ran off to the mountains and forests outside the city walls.
For it to now show up in Su Prefecture as well, it really lived up to being an outstanding tiger.
Jiang Yuchuan hugged its enormous tiger head for a good while, playing and frolicking. After that, Lu also received news of her son’s arrival.
As she approached middle age with only a son and daughter, it pained this mother deeply whenever one of them was not by her side. Lu held her son closely for a period, carefully looking him over to confirm he was perfectly safe and healthy before finally letting down her guard.
Then she busied herself with arranging rooms for her son and the escorts to stay in, and urged the kitchen to prepare food and drink. Meanwhile, she dispatched someone to the medical hall to inform her daughter that her elder brother had arrived from their old home in Qingzhou.
Before the dispatched person had walked out the door, Jiang Yuqing had already ridden White Number Ten back.
Upon hearing her elder brother had come, the little dumpling was overjoyed. She jumped off of White Number Ten's back and dashed straight towards the inner hall, yelling "Brother" repeatedly as she ran.
From inside, Jiang Yuchuan heard his sister's approaching cries of "Brother". He promptly put down the half-finished tea in hand and ran out the door, perfectly intercepting the incoming "cannonball" in his embrace.
The siblings had not seen each other for over half a year and cherished this reunion immensely.
Due to the son’s arrival, dinner was prepared especially sumptuously. Jiang Yuqing even brought out homemade grape wine, fruit juices, and more. As Lu raised her cup, looking between her husband and children, tears suddenly fell from her eyes.
Jiang Wenyuan put his arm around his wife's shoulders, gently patting her back, "From now on, our family will never be separated again."
Jiang Yuqing also grew somewhat choked up. She thought of how difficult it truly was for her parents. With only two children, either this one or that one was never by their side.
Yet they endured that gnawing longing and let their children venture out to strive and make their own way.
How pitiful parental love is in this world!
The Lin family escorts only stayed in Su Prefecture for two days before embarking back. When they left, Jiang Yuqing entrusted them to bring back to her family a large box of health tonics and medicines like ginseng invigorating pills, plus several crates of assorted leather and some dried meat.
In the bitterly cold Su Prefecture, there was nothing else available this season except leather and a little dried meat.
After resting for a few days, Jiang Yuchuan was sent by his father to enroll in the local government school of Su Prefecture. There, his status was undoubtedly the most noble.
The heir of Marquis Hou’s estate, son of the prefect of Su Prefecture, no one dared bully him. Other than a few students accustomed to currying favor, most feared his status and didn’t dare befriend him.
Only after some time did people slowly discover that this heaven-favored prodigy had an extremely amiable personality.
Not only academically stellar, but he never put on airs either. He would not look down on others because of status and background, sincerely treating even the most common janitorial staff of the academy with goodwill.
Only then did everyone relax and befriend him. Occasionally during festivals or breaks, they would also accept his invitations to visit the government residence as guests.
Every time they went, as long as he was not especially busy, Prefect Jiang would keep them company at meals.
He encouraged them to study diligently, taught them principles and experiences about being a person and handling affairs, and would even guide their schoolwork, lending them the notes and materials he wrote himself back then.
Jiang Yuchuan adapted extremely well in Su Prefecture.
Jiang Yuqing's medical clinic was also fully stocked with medicine. She recruited two sitting physicians and selected the auspicious date of the eighth day of the fifth lunar month to open for business.
On the opening day, not only did Jiang Wenyuan come in person, but General Wei Qing from the Yumen Pass Garrison Camp also sent someone to congratulate in person on behalf of Qin Yijian.
Thus, all the common people in the city came to know that this He An Hospital was opened by the daughter of the Prefect of Su Prefecture and the wife of the Magistrate of Linghui County.
Moreover, the Magistrate of Linghui County was the closed-door disciple of Master Bian Que, the inheritor of the Bian Que Valley Master and Bian Que Divine Medical Skills.
For a time, all the difficult and complicated cases in Su Prefecture flocked to Jiang Yuqing's He An Hospital, and the hospital was filled to capacity every day. Jiang Yuqing had no choice but to implement a ticket numbering system like the one at the He An Hospital in the capital.
After three months of Jiang Yuqing's hands-on devil-style training, the seventeen girls had all become qualified nurses.
They uniformly wore pink nurse outfits with nurse caps on their heads. They were enthusiastic, patient and polite.
Just standing there made them look very professional. Any visiting patients, even the most arrogant old scholar, did not dare to look down on them.
The attending physicians all wore white coats uniformly. At first, everyone felt that white was inauspicious, but after getting used to it, they felt that white looked quite good and gave a sense of cleanliness.
In addition to the two sitting physicians, Jiang Yuqing also brought military doctors from the garrison. They came in batches of five for month-long rotations.
Having seen too many bloody and gory scenes, these military doctors were not afraid at all to assist Jiang Yuqing in the operating room. On the contrary, they were very excited.
Jiang Yuqing also held nothing back in imparting knowledge to the military doctors. The more they could learn, the more soldiers’ lives could be safeguarded.
Just when Jiang Yuqing was dizzy from being overloaded with work, Doctor Qiu arrived with his three apprentices including Lu Yi.
When Jiang Yuqing saw her master and three senior apprentice brothers suddenly appear at the He An Hospital, the little dumpling froze in shock.
When she came to her senses, she was overjoyed, and shot into her master’s arms like a cannonball, ramming Doctor Qiu and making him stumble.
The little dumpling clung to her master’s neck, rubbing intensely while complaining about missing him: “Master, why did you only come to find me now? You said you would come in at most half a year. From last September until now, it’s already been more than half a year. You didn’t keep your word.”
As the little dumpling spoke, her eyes grew moist and her voice slightly choked up.
Doctor Qiu quickly patted his precious apprentice’s little back, apologizing repeatedly: “Alright alright, it was Master’s mistake. There there, my darling, don’t be upset anymore okay? From now on, wherever you are, Master will be there too, how about that?”
Only then did the little dumpling stop crying and smiled: “Okay, I’ll support you in your old age.”
Seeing the clinginess between master and apprentice, Lu Yi really could not stand it anymore. He coughed heavily, and only then did the little dumpling notice her third senior apprentice brother had come too.
She quickly let go of Doctor Qiu and sat on her third senior brother’s thigh, calling out sweetly, “Third senior brother! I missed you too!”
Lu Yi was very satisfied with the little thing’s tactfulness. He squatted down to see eye-to-eye with her, sizing her up for quite a while before speaking: “Hmm, not bad. Your hair has grown longer and you’re taller too!”
Just as the little dumpling was enjoying his praise, he mischievously extended a forefinger and poked her little belly: “It’s just that your tummy is still a bit protruding. You still need to lose some weight!”
The little dumpling’s smile instantly froze on her face.
Things like fraternal love between fellow apprentices did not exist. She took back what she said earlier about missing him.
No, she did not miss him one bit!
The little dumpling strove to suck in her still somewhat chubby little tummy, bowing her head sorrowfully and thinking that maybe she really should lose some weight.
