Chapter 17

Jiang Ning’s slender fingers moved back and forth on his legs, sometimes lightly pressing the acupuncture points, sometimes rotating the silver needles.

Ji Yanli’s gaze fell on her drooping eyelashes, which were dotted with tiny rays of sunlight and trembled slightly with her movements.

After the acupuncture, Jiang Ning’s fingers massaged Ji Yanli’s legs back and forth. The warm breath penetrated his skin, and Ji Yanli’s tense muscles slowly relaxed.

“Add two more acupuncture points tomorrow.”

Half an hour later, Jiang Ning put away the last silver needle and flicked his knee lightly with his fingertips. “You’ll be able to walk without any hindrance in three days.”

Ji Yanli looked down at the tiny needle holes on his legs, then suddenly reached out and held her wrist: “Thank you.”

His palms were hot, with calluses from years of holding guns, and they made the skin on her wrists slightly itchy.

Jiang Ning frowned slightly, she subconsciously pulled her hand back, stood up, took out a small porcelain bottle from her pocket, opened it, poured out a pill from it and handed it to Ji Yanli.

“Remember to take your medicine.” She said hurriedly, but when she turned around, the tips of her ears turned red.

Ji Yanli looked at her fleeing back, the corners of his mouth unconsciously raised a tiny arc, and he put the pill in his hand into his mouth.

He tried to move his legs and was surprised to find that his originally sore and weak muscles were much more relaxed.

After Jiang Ning came out of the room, she went straight into the kitchen. She put the noodles in the pot into a larger bowl, took three large bowls and three pairs of chopsticks, put them in a basket and left the house.

The weather was getting hotter and hotter, and even the sun was getting scorching. Jiang Ning, carrying a bamboo basket, walked across the ridge into the field.

The basket was covered with a piece of coarse cloth, but it faintly exuded the aroma of chopped green onions and lard, attracting the attention of passing villagers.

“Huh? Isn’t this the young wife of the Ji family?”

“Is she going to the fields to deliver food or water?”

“Hey, you from the Yanli family, are you delivering food to your parents-in-law?” Aunt Zhang from next door was carrying a hoe and glanced into the basket.

Jiang Ning smiled and covered the cloth tighter without making a sound. “Yes, these are homemade whole grain pancakes to fill my stomach.”

Aunt Zhang curled her lips, obviously not believing it, but didn’t ask any more questions.

“Aunt, do you know where my parents’ land is?” Jiang Ning asked.

“Oh, your parents-in-law are digging ditches in the dry land at the west end!” Aunt Zhang said, pointing to the ground.

When Jiang Ning arrived, he thanked her and walked in the direction Aunt Zhang pointed.

After walking for five minutes, she saw from afar Tian Yufang and Ji Yansui bending over to pull weeds in the cotton field, their clothes on their backs soaked with sweat.

Ji Hongzhi was sitting on the edge of a field, resting his feet. Seeing Jiang Ning coming, he quickly stood up and asked, “Ningning, why are you here?”

“Dad, I’m here to bring you food.” Jiang Ning said.

“Why did you come all the way here to deliver food? We brought two pancakes ourselves…”

Although Ji Hongzhi said this, he was actually very pleased in his heart that his daughter-in-law was a filial child.

When Tian Yufang and Ji Yansui saw Jiang Ning coming, they hurriedly got up and walked to the edge of the field.

“Ningning is here!”

“sister in law!”

“Mom, little sister, come and eat!”

Jiang Ning put the basket on the edge of the field and lifted the coarse cloth.

A bowl of steaming white noodles with oil floating on it, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and three poached eggs.

Tian Yufang and Old Man Ji’s eyes widened instantly.

“This…this…” Tian Yufang stammered, hurriedly covering the cloth again. She looked around and lowered her voice, “Ningning, where did this come from?”

Father Ji was also panicking, his beard trembling: “If others saw this…”

Jiang Ning squatted down calmly and handed the chopsticks over: “Dad, Mom, don’t panic, eat.”

Tian Yufang’s hands were shaking: “Did you go to town to change it?”

“Well, I went to town early in the morning to exchange the fish I caught yesterday for some flour and other food.” Jiang Ning lied without changing his expression.

Tian Yufang’s eyes suddenly turned red.

Ever since Ji Yanli got into trouble, his family had sold everything they could to pay for his medical treatment, leaving them with very little food left.

Everyone in the village knows that the Ji family is extremely poor now. They can’t even afford to eat more brown rice on weekdays, let alone white noodles.

If someone saw this, there would be gossip – either that her family had secretly hidden money, or that Jiang Ning was unfaithful and had secretly exchanged things with others…

“Ningning…” Tian Yufang’s voice choked with sobs, “With our family’s current situation, eating this would attract too much attention…”

Jiang Ning smiled and said firmly, “Mom, don’t worry about eating. No one will see you. Besides, Yan Li’s leg is almost healed, and his life will get better and better in the future.”

Tian Yufang and Old Man Ji looked at each other, and finally couldn’t resist the aroma of the noodles. They carefully picked up the bowl and started eating voraciously.

Ji Yansui took the lead over her parents and started eating with big mouthfuls of the bowl.

Jiang Ning squatted aside and watched them, thinking silently in her heart – when Ji Yanli’s leg is healed, she must find a way to completely turn this family around.

“Sister-in-law, you are really the lucky star of our family. It is a great honor for our family that my brother married you!” Ji Yansui muttered incoherently while eating.

Tian Yufang wiped her tears while eating, feeling deeply moved. It was really the good fortune of their ancestors that they could marry such a good wife.

“Ningning, don’t go to that place in town anymore, it’s too dangerous.

Our family’s life is a little hard, but we can still make ends meet. As long as we are together as a family, life will always be better.”

Ji Hongzhi finished the noodles in the bowl in one breath, wiped his mouth with his hand, and spoke slowly.

“Okay, got it.” Jiang Ning nodded lightly in agreement.

As he was speaking, a figure suddenly jumped out of the ditch nearby.

Jiang Ning stood up alertly and saw that the person coming was Wang Dazui, the most gossipy person in the village.

Wang Dazui looked at the empty noodles in Ji Yansui’s bowl and shouted at the top of his voice, “Hey, Yufang, you guys really know how to enjoy life!

You’re so poor, yet you still eat white noodles!”

Tian Yufang and Ji Hongzhi’s faces turned pale in an instant, and Ji Yansui was so scared that he stopped what he was doing.

When the other villagers who were working in the fields not far away heard the noise, they all put down their work and stood up to look towards the Ji family.

Jiang Ning walked forward calmly, frowning and saying, “Auntie Wang, you may not know that before I got married, my family was the village doctor, so with my family’s financial resources, it’s not too much to eat a bowl of noodles!”

“Heh~ Everyone in the village knows that your parents died early, otherwise you wouldn’t have been sold here by your uncle and aunt to bring good luck.” Aunt Wang sneered with a look of disbelief.

“Why, do I have to tell you that my parents left me some pocket money?” Jiang Ning said displeasedly, “Yan Li has contributed greatly to the country. Now that he’s injured, I just want to give him a good meal to nourish him. Is that okay?”

The surrounding villagers listened and nodded.

Seeing that Jiang Ning was such a sharp-tongued girl and she couldn’t get any benefit from her, Aunt Wang could only snort coldly and turn around and walk away in shame.

Tian Yufang held Jiang Ning’s hand, her eyes full of gratitude: “Ningning, thanks to you, otherwise that Wang Dazui would have no idea how to plot against our family.”

Jiang Ning patted her hands: “Mom, don’t worry, I’m here.”

After everyone finished eating the noodles, Jiang Ning packed up the basket and turned back home.

Looking at Jiang Ning’s departing back, Ji Yansui said to her mother with a smile.

“Mom, I didn’t expect that the wedding would bring a lucky star to our family!”

Tian Yufang heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this. “Your sister-in-law is also a pitiful person. Don’t mention the idea of getting married again. It’s not a glorious thing. Don’t make your sister-in-law unhappy!”

After hearing what her mother said, Ji Yansui nodded in agreement, “Okay, I understand, mother. I will definitely not mention it again in the future. By the way, mother, have you noticed that my sister-in-law is becoming more and more beautiful? She and my brother Jianshou are a perfect match!”