Chapter 36

Lin Que’s move left the Li family stunned. After that, neither the old lady nor Madam Qian urged Li Mu anymore, fearing that King Yan would find out and take his anger out on the Li family due to his own condition.

The Emperor seemed quite pleased to see that Lin Que had no biological children and quickly issued a decree to appoint Lin Yan’an as King Yan’s heir without hesitation.

Grand Princess Zhaoming wanted to comfort her son, as the rumors about King Yan’s incapability damaged his self-esteem. However, her cheerful son told her that he was the one who spread the rumors. He truly couldn’t have children, and as for his capabilities, his partner knew the truth, so why should he care about others?

Grand Princess Zhaoming: “…”

Grand Princess Zhaoming realized she shouldn’t be overly concerned about her sister or son. They had their own happiness, and as an ordinary person, she didn’t need to understand it.

At first, Li Mu only knew that Lin Que had entered the palace to request the title of heir for Lin Yan’an. Later, she learned about the rumors through the pigeon loft and worried about Lin Que’s mental health.

Contrary to his cheerful demeanor in front of his mother, Lin Que pretended to be slightly affected when Li Mu asked, making her feel very sorry for him.

Lin Que loved seeing Li Mu’s concern for him but didn’t want her to be genuinely upset, so he only pretended for a short while before stopping.

However, Li Mu couldn’t discern Lin Que’s acting and feared he was pretending not to care just to comfort her. She worried for several days, making Lin Que regret his actions and vow never to act in front of her again.

September was also Lin Qiwu’s birthday. Li Mu remembered that Lin Qiwu had mentioned wanting a crocheted bouquet as a gift this year, so she made one for her.

For this, Li Mu even procured a roll of fine wire.

In this era, there was the art of filigree inlay, so naturally, there was also the art of wire drawing. With the wire mixed into the petals to fix the flower shape, Li Mu didn’t have to make the flowers small on purpose, and she could create many more types of flowers than before.

Among the flowers Li Mu made for Lin Qiwu’s bouquet was a sunflower. When Lin Que saw it, he said he had never seen one before. Li Mu recalled that she usually snacked on watermelon seeds, realizing sunflowers hadn’t been introduced yet. So she crocheted three chili peppers: one completely red, one red with green, and one made to look like it was cut in half, revealing the white seeds inside.

“If the fleet going out to sea next year could bring some of these back, that would be great,” Li Mu said, handing Lin Que the additional sunflower and three chili peppers.

Lin Que looked at the items and asked, “Are these also… from books?”

Li Mu, feeling guilty, nodded. “…Yes.”

Lin Que pinched her cheek, telling her not to be nervous. “Anything else?”

Li Mu thought for a moment but couldn’t recall anything immediately. The fleet would bring some crops back on their own initiative, even if she didn’t mention them. As for other things…

“Pay attention to hygiene and don’t drink raw water,” Li Mu said seriously.

She hadn’t come prepared for time travel, and the modern knowledge she could share was limited. But she had heard of some infectious diseases, like cholera and the Black Death.

Bringing any of those back would have unimaginable consequences.

Li Mu didn’t know the specific times and regions where these diseases spread, only some preventive measures and key terms for treatment.

Li Mu picked up her pen again and wrote down everything she knew, flipping through medical books to ensure her writing aligned with the ancient understanding and could be comprehended by doctors.

While flipping through, she came across a book titled “Emergency Prescriptions Kept Up One’s Sleeve” and suddenly remembered malaria. She had watched a TV series about Tu Youyou’s development of malaria treatment and knew that artemisinin was extracted from the stems and leaves of sweet wormwood using ethanol—commonly known as alcohol.

So, she started a new page, repeatedly mentioning Tu Youyou’s name to avoid someone else taking credit for the idea and achievements, as had happened with the bandit-catching cards.

What Li Mu wrote wasn’t very detailed, as she wasn’t a professional. However, it inevitably included many pieces of knowledge that modern people take for granted, such as the transmission routes of infectious diseases, bacteria, and viruses and adding salt to water to replenish electrolytes to prevent cholera patients from dying of dehydration. These writings intrigued Wudu, and the Imperial Medical Institute was also impacted.

The fleet prepared to take over a hundred medical officers, and some from the Imperial Medical Institute would accompany the fleet. Even if it wasn’t about their own lives, any knowledge they could gain from these previously unencountered fields to improve their medical skills and apply to other diseases would be enough to save countless lives and leave a lasting legacy.

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In October, Lin Yan’an also turned a year older. Lin Qiwu was twelve, and he was fourteen.

An Ying’s lessons continued, but the old man was preparing to retire, and his time became increasingly free, making the lessons more frequent. Li Mu vaguely noticed that the focus of the lessons had slightly changed. After observing a couple of lessons, she confirmed that it wasn’t her being overly sensitive; An Ying subtly and repeatedly emphasized loyalty to the Emperor.

As a modern person, Li Mu was somewhat immune to the concept of loyalty to the Emperor, but Lin Qiwu and Li Yunxi were still young. Li Mu feared they might develop a skewed character, so she mentioned it to Lin Que.

Lin Que said, “He probably knows you can control me, so he wants to start with you.”

Li Mu: “…”

Lin Que had reported the events of the palace banquet to her, and she felt a bit embarrassed.

But Lin Que played the victim, saying, “Because you don’t like seeing people, there are always rumors that I despise you and keep you locked up. Heaven knows, how can this be blamed on me?”

With that, Li Mu let him spread the rumors.

Unexpectedly, even An Ying believed the rumors about Lin Que being afraid of his wife. Looking back, perhaps An Ying had already had this idea during the palace lessons, but it was too subtle and not apparent at the time. The two children had no awareness of it, and she only discovered it now.

Lin Que straightforwardly replaced their teacher with the ready-made reason that An Ying was retiring and couldn’t continue teaching them.

On the day the new teacher arrived, Li Mu, as usual, arrived early at the classroom, entering through another door and walking behind the bamboo curtain. The new teacher arrived even earlier than she did. Hearing the movement behind the bamboo curtain and seeing Li Mu’s silhouette through it, he stood up and greeted her. He introduced himself as Lou Qin, the Minister of Revenue.

According to Lin Que, this person had previously worked in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Personnel before moving to the Ministry of Revenue.

Lou Qin was eloquent and persuasive, while Li Mu was socially anxious. So after greeting him, she stiffly sat down, hoping Lin Qiwu and Li Yunxi would arrive soon to ease the awkward atmosphere.

Just when Li Mu thought Lou Qin would also wait quietly for everyone to arrive, he started a conversation with her through the bamboo curtain, showing a persistent determination.

As Li Mu listened, she surprisingly detected a tone of admiration and respect, leaving her puzzled.

After finishing the lesson, Li Mu returned and asked Lin Que about it. Lin Que said, “Potatoes and sweet potatoes alleviated the famine in Fujian. Lou Qin knows this and naturally admires you greatly.”

Li Mu was puzzled. “How does he know this has anything to do with me?”

Lin Que was even more puzzled. “Why wouldn’t he know?”

Li Mu: “…?”

Li Mu looked through some intelligence reports from Minzhong and discovered that she had become a living Bodhisattva in the eyes of the local people. Lin Que’s promotion of crops didn’t leave out King Yan’s consort, who had described the crops’ characteristics. Even the popular local Rulin Opera had fabricated many stories about her, including references to the bandit-catching cards related to her.

Li Mu: …Ahhhhh!!!!

Feeling extremely embarrassed, Li Mu tried to cool her cheeks with her hands, but it wasn’t enough. She grabbed Lin Que’s hand to help and finally ran off to wash her face.

The sound of water splashing on her face was loud, but Li Mu didn’t hear it. Lin Que rubbed the back of his hand that had touched her cheek and murmured softly, “This is just the beginning.”

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At the end of October, Li Mu began preparing simple children’s drawings to ward off the cold. These were truly simple children’s drawings, with each plum blossom on the branch exuding a visible simplicity and the words “I can’t draw” practically written all over them.

Li Mu drew and redrew several times, never quite satisfied, and even considered giving up. Especially when Lin Que mentioned framing the drawings to hang on the wall, Li Mu wasn’t keen on letting the framing master see her “masterpiece.”

In the end, Lin Que offered to frame the drawings himself, noting that winter framing takes longer than summer. With no more excuses, Li Mu finally handed over one of her drawings to Lin Que to frame and hang on the wall.

That day, Li Mu was feeding Sesame Paste some fodder while praising Xianyun, Feixing, and the two nannies for their kindness. She remarked that despite so many people seeing her drawing to ward off the cold, not a single one laughed at it. There are still many kind-hearted people in the world.

Sesame Paste was still young and couldn’t be ridden yet, so Li Mu spent most of her time raising it and bonding with it.

After feeding Sesame Paste, Li Mu rode another horse for a lap until Lin Qiwu came to call her, saying that Gu Chi was looking for her.

Li Mu turned to see Gu Chi standing by the edge of the horse field. She and Lin Qiwu rode over, and Lin Qiwu waved, “Second Brother! I brought Sister-in-law here for you!”

Gu Chi thanked Lin Qiwu.

Lin Qiwu dismounted and said, “It’s nothing.” Then she looked at Gu Chi curiously, wondering what he wanted with Li Mu.

Gu Chi didn’t speak but quietly looked at Lin Qiwu.

Lin Qiwu immediately understood his meaning. “I’m leaving! I’m leaving, okay?” With that, she mounted her horse and left in a huff.

Li Mu, panicking: Why are you leaving?!

Li Mu watched Lin Qiwu ride away, leaving her alone with Gu Chi by the horse field.

Li Mu tried to stay calm outside but was already nervous inside.

Fortunately, Gu Chi wasn’t one for small talk and got straight to the point. “I brought some things back from the south. Could I ask Sister-in-law to help me take them to Mingyue Nunnery?”

Li Mu: “…” Not even pretending, huh?

Li Mu nodded and remained silent for a while. Gu Chi then asked, “Has Sister-in-law ever made Qiongshi angry?”

Qiongshi was Li Zhi’s courtesy name.

Li Mu shook her head expressionlessly. “I’ve never seen her angry.”

Gu Chi, still with a cold, deadpan expression, showed no sign of his inner turmoil.

Gu Chi said, “I won’t disturb Sister-in-law any longer. I’ll have someone bring the things over later.”

Without explaining what had happened, he was about to leave after just a few words. Li Mu, feeling exasperated, wondered how the two brothers could be so different. Lin Que always had to chat with her, and she suspected he had stolen all the talking energy from his brother.

Thinking this, Li Mu took a deep breath, encouraged herself, and called out to Gu Chi.

Gu Chi turned back, and Li Mu forced herself to give a piece of advice that didn’t seem like it came from someone with social anxiety. “You and her, talk more. Speak from the heart.”

Don’t just act; use your words. It will make the road to love much smoother. Really, I guarantee it with my experience of reading novels before my accident. Trust me.