Chapter 70: Reply

"Can you take off your outer garment yourself?" Zhao Yu placed the basin of hot water she was holding under the bed and cast a glance at Chen Mo's arms.

She knew that if Chen Mo moved his arms now, it would hurt, so it was better not to move if he could help it.

"Don't mess around, let me help you," Zhao Yu said as she went straight to work, first helping Chen Mo take off his shoes.

She really did not want Chen Mo to move his arms around anymore; seeing him in pain made her feel an indescribable discomfort in her own heart.

As for taking off an outer garment, she did not think it was a big deal; Chen Mo often walked around at home wearing only his inner garment, and she had already seen it many times.

After taking off the cotton outer garment, Chen Mo was left with only a brown short-sleeved inner garment.

Zhao Yu crouched down, carefully washed Chen Mo's feet, and then helped him lie down securely on the bed, only then letting out a sigh of relief.

"I've really troubled you this time," Chen Mo said while lying on the bed, thanking Zhao Yu as she picked up the water basin, preparing to leave.

"We are family; there is no such thing as trouble," Zhao Yu said with a smile as she walked out of the room, helped him close the door, and carefully urged, "Rest well. When you wake up, I will make sweet and sour fish for you to eat."

"Mm," Chen Mo responded, lying on the bed and falling into a sound sleep; after the toil and slaughter of this night, even he felt exhausted.

When he opened his eyes again and looked at the sun outside, it was already afternoon.

The condition of his arms was much better than before; at this rate, his injuries would basically be fully healed by this time tomorrow at the latest.

Pushing open the door, he saw Zhao Yu cutting fabric; making a set of clothes did not take much strength, but it was very time-consuming.

Especially since she only took a few stitches during her spare time every day, it took at least half a month, or even a month, to finish one piece of clothing.

But fortunately, there were only Chen Mo and her in the house, so even if the clothes were made slowly, it was absolutely enough for their daily wear.

"Oh, you're awake!" Hearing the door open, Zhao Yu hurriedly put down the clothing in her hands.

"I bought a bottle of bruise-relieving medicinal wine from Ma Shenyi at the market. I heard from others that it works quite well; you should try it and see how it is.

Also, the letter from your foster father arrived at noon. I saw you were still sleeping, so I didn't wake you; I put the letter on the tea table for you."

Zhao Yu stuck the needle into the ball of thread, put the thread into a small wooden box, stood up, and walked toward Chen Mo with the medicinal wine.

"Let's try it," she said, opening the small wine jar, taking out a clean towel to dampen it, pulling up the sleeve of Chen Mo's garment, and slowly wiping the area with the towel and medicinal wine.

Waves of coolness permeated through his skin into the deeper layers; Chen Mo had long since developed a keen perception of his own physical body.

He could detect whether this medicinal wine was effective; it was, but it was not curing the injury, but rather numbing the pain.

If one had bruises or injuries and applied this wine, although it had no curative effect, it could significantly reduce the pain.

It was no wonder that Ma Shenyi's bruise wine had such a good reputation; not everyone could perceive their body's condition as clearly as he could.

Even if they could perceive it, most people had no way to deal with it.

Most of the porters and laborers in Zhu Niu Ji did not have actual illnesses; their physical ailments were purely wear and tear caused by years of hard labor.

This could not be cured; the best thing was to rest, but with a whole family waiting for food, how could they dare to rest?

Resting for a day meant eating into their savings; laborers with families and property were absolutely unwilling to do so.

Applying some medicinal wine to fool the body—as long as it didn't hurt, that was enough.

While they were young and could earn a few more coins, being able to buy a few acres of land back home was the important thing.

Only those bachelors dared to work when they wanted and rest when they wanted; there were even some who worked for one day and rested for two.

"The effect is indeed quite good; at least it doesn't hurt anymore," Chen Mo said, feeling the coolness in his arms.

"That's good!" Hearing that the medicinal wine she bought really worked, she couldn't help but beam with a smile.

"You've slept for almost a day; you must be hungry now. I'll go tidy up and make you something to eat," she said, putting away the medicinal wine and turning to put away the unfinished clothing before going to the kitchen to get busy.

Chen Mo, meanwhile, unhurriedly opened the letter on the table; he had sent this letter to his foster father just two or three days after he had arrived and settled down here.

Aside from some idle talk wishing him well and telling him that he had safely taken up his post in Zhu Niu Ji, the main point was to ask him if he should prepare in advance in case that General Manager of the Salt Transport Department, Liu Mingqiao, was not smart.

Of course, he had phrased this very cryptically, so even if an outsider saw this letter, he wouldn't worry about his meaning being revealed.

This letter was a family letter; it did not go through the Imperial Court's Post Station, but used the merchant caravan under He Luoyun, so the speed was relatively slower.

Chen Mo broke the lacquer seal and opened the letter to check it carefully; this letter had two layers of lacquer seals, and the letter inside was sealed on all four sides—once opened, it could not be repaired.

Confirming that no one else had opened this letter besides himself, Chen Mo began to browse the text on the message.

The handwriting was also his foster father's, which ordinary people could not imitate.

It seemed that He Luoyun's caravan was quite reliable; he could entrust him to help with sending letters in the future.

After carefully reading his foster father's reply, his questions were basically answered.

He could make preparations in advance, but there was no need to rush into action; everything should wait for news from his side.

Chen Mo dipped his brush in ink and immediately wrote another letter, mainly asking for a weapon and armor.

The heavier the weapon, the better; even seventy or eighty catties would be fine. The reason he gave was that he used it to train his strength, not for slaughter.

As for the iron armor, he also wanted something more solid and heavy; with the twelve hundred catties of strength he was currently displaying, he could absolutely wear fifty or sixty catties of iron armor into battle without any hindrance.

Besides asking for weapons and armor, Chen Mo also asked some other questions, though this time he asked more directly, but without mentioning any names.

Only someone who had seen the correspondence between the two could guess exactly what he was asking about.

Chen Mo mainly wanted to ask if the strategy of collecting dirt to find a way to topple Liu Mingqiao didn't work, should he adopt a simpler method to solve the problem from the root.

Of course, by his estimation, such a situation was unlikely to occur; he was only preparing in advance with the idea of being safe rather than sorry.

Because even if that Liu Mingqiao became an official because he was born well and had a relative who was a Prefecture Assistant.

The Prefecture Assistant certainly did not reach his current position because he was born well; as long as he did not intend to tear off the mask of civility, he would certainly know what to do.

After writing the letter, he carefully sealed it, again using double lacquer seals; if anyone wanted to pry into the contents, it would inevitably be discovered.

He would just wait until tomorrow to send this letter out.

After sealing the letter, Chen Mo could already smell the sweet and sour scent wafting into his nostrils.

Zhao Yu was simmering the sweet and sour sauce to use for the sweet and sour fish later; fish must be eaten while hot, or it would taste fishy when cold.

Therefore, before making this dish, other preparations had to be made in advance to avoid being flustered later.

Chen Mo pressed the envelope down, smiled, and walked into the kitchen to help her.

With the two of them working together, things went much faster than before; two small stir-fried dishes and a braised pork knuckle were served on the table first, followed immediately by a large bowl of red-braised lamb chops and a clay pot of old hen soup.

The sweet and sour fish was the last dish to be served; the reason it came out last was because this fish had to be eaten while hot.

If it were served first, by the time Zhao Yu finished preparing the other dishes and went to eat, it would have cooled down somewhat.

Tonight's dinner was much more sumptuous than usual, mainly because the number of dishes had increased significantly; one could tell at a glance that she had put a lot of thought into it.

"Hurry and taste it to see how it is." Zhao Yu picked up a large piece of fish coated in batter and placed it into Chen Mo's bowl.

The fish had been marinated in seasoned water beforehand, so it didn't have the slightest fishy smell; it tasted sweet and sour, but the extra salt added ensured the sweet and sour flavor wasn't cloying.

The fish was also fried thoroughly; not only were the bones crispy, but it could also absorb and hold quite a bit of the sauce.

"Delicious, it's very delicious!" Chen Mo gave a thumbs up and praised it without reservation.

Zhao Yu's eyes curved into crescents, appearing quite happy at Chen Mo's praise.

After finishing dinner, Chen Mo wanted to help clean up the bowls and chopsticks and wipe the table, but Zhao Yu would not have it, shooing him into the room to let him have a good rest.

Returning to the room, Chen Mo took out the Living Meat he had obtained earlier and began to observe it carefully.

His condition was now basically recovered, and most importantly, the depletion of his Dantian Internal Qi and his own Qi and Blood had been replenished.

(End of this chapter)