Chapter 17: 17. Butterfly Knot and Surprise

17. Butterfly Knot and Surprise

Ouyang Rong had a cluster of fire in his heart, burning more and more fiercely.

But there was no way to vent or release it.

He was not here to defile women and young girls!

But thinking about it carefully, his behavior over the past two days, in the eyes of many people in this world, was indeed clearly walking in that direction.

Just imagine, a young county magistrate, not a physician, running to a poor family's house time and again to "visit a patient," visiting an incurable disease, saying comforting words to the patient, and when invited to stay for dinner in the evening, agreeing without hesitation, without any politeness...

If you don't have your eyes on the young sister who is the only one left in the family who is a bit strange and watery, what is it? It wouldn't be the old mother, right? A bit beastly, but not impossible...

So, you wouldn't really just want to stay for dinner, right?

Isn't eating a piece of cloth that maintains decency? Behind the cloth is the rule defaulted by the world...

However, this wasn't what made Ouyang Rong most angry. What truly made his lips tightly pursed, his nostrils trembling, and his blood rushing to his face at this moment was... they had all taken it as normal.

A-Shan had taken it as normal.

Mother Liu had taken it as normal.

A-Qing had taken it as normal.

Everyone in this Great Zhou Empire had taken it as normal.

Ouyang Rong even believed that even if the world knew about this at this moment, it wouldn't affect his reputation as an upright gentleman in the slightest. At most, they would take back the "not close to women" part.

Because A-Qing's family was just a family of the lowest slaves, and what was Ouyang Rong's status? Wasn't Ouyang Lianghan doing a "great good deed"? It might even become a beautiful story of a gentleman being kind and taking in slaves in the scholarly circles...

And this was the source of the cluster of raging fire in Ouyang Rong's heart.

He wasn't a saint, but he didn't take it as normal.

"Things that everyone takes as normal must be right?"

In the dim room, Ouyang Rong silently put the Confucian robe he had taken off on A-Qing, picked up the waist belt on the ground, and lowered his head to carefully tie it for the thin girl at her waist.

A-Qing was a bit short, so he had to kneel on the mat, and the two were the same height, which was convenient for the action.

"Master doesn't like A-Qing?"

"No, I like A-Qing too much."

A-Qing's small face was confused. Ouyang Rong shook his head gently and didn't explain further.

What he was thinking about now was how to make A-Qing and Mother Liu believe in his treatment plan. Some principles he thought were self-evident, they almost couldn't understand and could only blindly follow him.

Ouyang Rong directly took A-Qing to find Mother Liu, pretending to have a confident and winning expression, and told them that he had an ancestral divine prescription, which was effective every time, and could try to cure Liu A-Shan's tetanus, but they needed to cooperate, and time was very tight.

Ouyang Rong immediately saw the hope born from the awe of authority and superstition in the eyes of Mother Liu and her daughter.

"... Two qian of bile arisaema, one scorpion, ground into powder, taken with yellow wine at one time..."

After he finished instructing the prescription, he paused and said:

"Besides the divine prescription, there are some auxiliary methods that require your cooperation... First of all, the wound needs to be re-treated... and don't cover it with such thick quilts anymore. It needs ventilation..."

Ouyang Rong originally thought that the subsequent steps of regular wound cleaning, smoking with mugwort, and cutting away bad flesh and foreign objects were a bit scary, but he didn't expect that A-Qing and Mother Liu were even more convinced after hearing them.

They said that some Daoist doctors also used incense and talisman water to baptize wounds, curing all diseases...

Ouyang Rong was speechless after hearing this, and he didn't know who was bumping into whom.

But he didn't deny the mother and daughter's brain-filling, just smiled and nodded, appearing unfathomable.

Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival; arrogance is. And the thing poor people are least likely to have is arrogance.

Ouyang Rong carefully explained the details to Mother Liu. Beside him, A-Qing, who was wearing someone's clothes, raised her head and examined his face blankly. The girl seemed to want to say something, but lowered her head shyly and inferiority.

However, those big sorrowful eyes that had always been covered with a layer of haze finally recovered some hope and brilliance.

Returning to the dim ward again, the sick man on the couch was wrapped in a quilt like a shroud, and the stiffness of his face seemed to have some gray and defeated death energy. At a certain moment, he suddenly twitched in pain. A-Qing and Mother Liu hurriedly hugged a quilt and pounced over, hugging him tightly, and it didn't calm down until a long while later.

The mother and daughter wiped their tears and told the weak A-Shan about the "divine prescription." Ouyang Rong saw that the face of the tattooed man seemed a bit complicated. He walked over and only said one sentence to the man:

"Liu A-Shan, after you get better, settle your mother and sister, then come down the mountain to find me. I'll wait for you at the county office. You can't die!"

Liu A-Shan was stunned.

Ouyang Rong turned and left directly.

Actually, whether this prescription from a barefoot doctor in his previous life would be effective still depended on whether Liu A-Shan's life was tough enough. Including verbal encouragement, he had done everything he could.

In the house, the delicate and thin girl seemed to have remembered something, picked up an umbrella, and ran to chase, but the weak-crowned magistrate had already disappeared into the sparse, pitch-black rain curtain.

A-Qing held an oil-paper umbrella, afraid that the rain would wet her lifted skirt hem. She stood on tiptoe in the rain, looking at the direction where someone had left, and stood for a long while before the girl lowered her head to look at the clothes that exuded a man's scent on her body. The most eye-catching thing was the knot tied at her waist, which looked like a butterfly.

A-Qing reached out and touched the waist belt knot.

She, who had always been skillful with her hands, had never seen this tying method either. It was a bit like... the butterfly flower by the Butterfly Creek at the foot of the mountain.

That night, Ouyang Rong came to the Merit Pagoda in the clouds again.

Entering the pagoda, he looked directly at the cyan-gold characters above the small wooden fish:

【Merit: 160】

"I really don't understand what kind of dog-fart merit weight you have. Saving a human life with medicine only adds 20 merit points, while just putting clothes on A-Qing gave me 50 merit points... Isn't it a matter of course to put clothes on a little girl? What's there to add? Isn't saving a human life more important, yet you are so stingy?"

Ouyang Rong shook his head with some self-mockery, looked at the silent ancient bronze bell, and turned to leave...

Morning.

Ouyang Rong got up early, gathered with the Zhen family, and went to the morning meal courtyard of East Forest Temple.

The aunt and nephew arrived a bit early, and the Xie family father and daughter hadn't arrived yet.

Ouyang Rong was in a light blue casual robe, lowering his head and flipping through the official documents sent by Yan Wuxu last night, seemingly thinking about certain things.

The Zhen family beside him was dressed somewhat solemnly and exquisitely today. Served by Banxi, she scooped a spoonful of hot porridge and tasted a small mouthful, then wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and took out a small red cloth from her sleeve. The cloth seemed to be holding some round, hard object.

The beautiful woman touched the small red envelope carefully, occasionally raising her chin, and looking at the door direction with some anticipation.

"Is Aunt waiting for a sweetheart?" Ouyang Rong flipped through the official documents, asking curiously without turning his head.

"Pah! What nonsense are you talking about, my beloved son? Aunt is not young anymore, waiting for a sweetheart my foot." The Zhen family raised her spoon, making a gesture of wanting to knock someone's head, and Ouyang Rong dodged sideways.

Ouyang Rong sighed again, "Then that's a pity. Finding another one would be great." That way she wouldn't have to come and annoy him every day.

"You ungrateful thing." The Zhen family glared at him, touched the red cloth in her sleeve again, and said: "This is the jade bracelet your mother left behind, which is to be passed to my beloved son's legitimate wife."

Ouyang Rong wasn't surprised at all, saying in his mouth: "Then why don't you hide it well? Don't take it out to show off for no reason."

"Hmph, today is clearly 'something is happening,' maybe there's a surprise, and it can be used immediately."

"Surprise? Alright." Ouyang Rong smiled and didn't argue anymore. Anyway, the teacher would come soon, and reality would be more powerful than his words. This was the correct way to deal with the "concern" of elders.

The Zhen family wanted to lecture someone again, but suddenly footsteps came from outside. Looking up, Xie Xun brought Xie Lingjiang over. The Zhen family immediately sat up straight.

"Sorry, came a bit late. Didn't wait long, right?"

Xie Xun arched his hands apologetically. Ouyang Rong and the Zhen family stood up to return the salute, and the group sat down together.

The Zhen family sighed: "It's fine, it's fine. It's my beloved son who got up too early and was a bit impatient, so he came early. It's not time yet. Mr. Xie and Wanwan didn't arrive late."

Ouyang Rong: "?"

The Zhen family didn't pay attention to him, looking at Xie Xun expectantly, looking for a topic: "Mr. Xie last night..."

Xie Xun took the initiative to speak: "Coming late was because there was a temporary matter this morning, and I discussed it with Wanwan, so it was delayed a bit."

"What matter?" The Zhen family was instantly spirited, but Ouyang Rong noticed that her hand under the table clenched her sleeve, seemingly a bit nervous.

Ouyang Rong shook his head in his heart, calmly put the official documents aside, and started eating porridge, as if he knew the result, and didn't even want to listen to the process.

But he didn't expect Xie Xun to smile, "There is one thing that needs to trouble Madam and Lianghan."

Ouyang Rong put down his bowl and raised his head: "Teacher, please speak? The student will definitely treat it seriously."

Xie Xun stroked his beard with some gratification, opening his mouth: "It's like this, I decided to let Wanwan stay in Longcheng to accompany Lianghan."

"..."

Ouyang Rong thought he had misheard, paused for a while, and made a syllable: "Ah?"

The Zhen family's face was happy, and her small fist waved under the table! She thought it was stable!

Xie Xun glanced at Ouyang Rong and repeated it again, word for word. It was indeed letting Xie Lingjiang stay to accompany him.

Ouyang Rong was silent. He turned his head slowly and looked at the quiet Xie family noble woman diagonally opposite. She was currently using her right palm to support her white face, tilting her head to look at the monk who was bringing porridge in at the door, her expression as usual.

But there was only one sentence in someone's mind at this moment:

Explain, explain what is called a damn surprise. ===== CHAPTER 18 =====