Married to a Villainous Minister - Chapter 46

After grinding the ink, Yu Jiao picked up her wolf-hair brush and sat down at the table. While practicing her calligraphy, she said casually, “It’s quite lively outside today. Why aren’t you going out to take a look?”

Yu Qizhe didn’t even lift his head. He simply replied, “It has nothing to do with me.”

Getting nothing in return, Yu Jiao dropped the conversation and focused on her writing.

That afternoon, when Village Head Zhang came by with his son Qi’er to get moxibustion treatment, he brought a piece of pork weighing about three or four jin. 

Over the past few days, following the prescription Yu Jiao had given, Qi’er’s health had significantly improved. Village Head Zhang was very grateful and said that once his son fully recovered, his wife would come in person to thank Yu Jiao properly.

After finishing the moxibustion session and seeing them out, Yu Ruhai specifically instructed, “It’s inconvenient for a woman to practice medicine. There’s always gossip, in the future, if anyone asks who treated Qi’er, I hope you won’t mention my granddaughter-in-law’s name. After all, it’s easier for a man to take credit in this world.”

Village Head Zhang wasn’t privy to Yu Ruhai’s careful scheming. Now that he understood where the issue had been in his son’s condition, he realized that saying it was Miss Meng who treated him might harm her reputation. So, he agreed readily, “I understand. If anyone asks, I’ll just say it was you, Doctor Yu, who treated my son.”

“Thank you, Village Head Zhang,” Yu Ruhai said with a smile.

The Yu family had indeed proven capable of treating epilepsy, and Village Head Zhang’s attitude toward Yu Ruhai had become much more cordial. He joked, “It’s rare to see a doctor so considerate of Miss Meng. A capable daughter-in-law like her is hard to come by. If my Qi’er were a few years older, I’d be thinking about asking for her hand in marriage myself.”

“You flatter her. Meng girl is still young, and although she has deep medical knowledge, there’s still much for her to learn,” Yu Ruhai responded with a smile, playing the role of a fond elder perfectly.

Since both Yu Jinshu and Yu Jinyan were home, Old Madam Yu told Madam Song to cook half of the pork Zhang brought, stewed with vermicelli, and salt the other half to make dried meat for the boys to take back to the academy.

Clearly, the rest of the family was used to Old Madam Yu’s blatant favoritism. No one raised any objections. After cooking the meat, Madam Song even stayed busy drying the rest into jerky.

Yu Jiao didn’t mind. Even though the pork was brought to thank her, she had no say in the household. It was just a piece of meat, after all. Once she had freedom and money in the future, having feasts every day would be no big deal.

During dinner, Yu Jiao helped herself to a few extra pieces of meat and was immediately glared at fiercely by Old Madam Yu and Madam Zhao. She didn’t flinch and just kept eating, which made Yu Jinyan glance up at her a couple of times.

After dinner, as usual, Yu Jiao helped Madam Song clean up the kitchen and then took a walk in the courtyard to digest.

Yu Jinshu, after chatting with Old Madam Yu in the main hall for a while, was just about to head back to his room when he noticed Yu Jiao in the courtyard. He walked over to her.

These past couple of days, he had found himself quite curious about her.

“I heard you were beaten half to death by my father before. Since you’ve got such good medical skills, why didn’t you speak up earlier? Who knows, maybe Grandfather wouldn’t have made you marry into the family as a stand-in bride and might’ve even paired you with Jinyan instead!” he said mockingly.

Yu Jiao glanced at him but didn’t reply.

Yu Jinshu gave a cold chuckle and went on, “Do you really think being skilled in medicine makes you something special? Jinyan still wouldn’t care about you. You? You’ll be stuck with that sickly invalid for the rest of your life!”