There is a god in the sky

Chapter 436 Final Chapter

The first person to discover her return was Li Tiezhu from the village.

He was already married, and his wife was pregnant and wanted to eat rice cakes from the county town, so he specially went to buy some.

Passing by the Wei family's house, I noticed that the usually locked gate was open, and I thought a thief had come in.

Li Tiezhu once liked Wei Lanxiang and wanted to marry her. Even now, he still feels that no one can compare to Lanxiang.

He cautiously walked in and saw a beautiful girl sitting in the courtyard painting.

"Miss Lanxiang?"

Shen Lan looked up when she heard this long-unheard address and saw that it was Tie Zhu. She gave him a brief greeting.

"It really is you, you... why are you back?"

The villagers all said that Lanxiang had been taken away by a big shot from the prefectural city to be his concubine, and even Old Master Wei had disappeared without a trace.

But the girl in front of me was still dressed as a young lady from a respectable family, and she looked even more beautiful than before.

Shen Lan didn't plan to stay here for long. She would return to the town after visiting Old Master Wei, so she simply said, "I'll just come back for a visit and then leave."

Li Tiezhu slowly retreated outside the door.

He found himself extremely nervous when talking to her, and even more afraid to look her in the eye.

After a long while, he left with the words, "Come visit the village sometime," and ran off.

Shen Lan harbored no ill will towards him, but she certainly didn't have a good impression of him either.

She looked around the wooden house. She had thought she would stay there for a while, but now it seemed that it would be better to move out sooner rather than later.

Although no one here knows she is Shen Lan, she is a lone woman and could easily attract unnecessary trouble.

She picked up a new sheet of paper and drew Xiao Ji's appearance stroke by stroke. Looking at his smiling eyes, she made a bold decision.

She styled her hair into a married woman's hairstyle and began to walk around as a widow.

The next day, she left with her luggage, intending to go to the Taoist temple to pick up Master Wei.

When she left, she thought she would never return, and that she wouldn't even be able to take care of her adoptive father in his old age.

Now that I'm back, it's time to fulfill my filial duty.

She remembered that Old Master Wei had mentioned the location of the Taoist temple, which was on a mountain outside the neighboring county.

In Lingnan, most people are Buddhists, and most Taoist temples don't even have names.

When she found the place, she only saw a young Taoist priest sweeping fallen leaves in the courtyard.

Upon learning that Shen Lan had come to pick up Master Wei, the young Taoist priest showed a surprised expression.

"Uncle Wei... he probably doesn't remember you."

"what for?"

"You'll know when you meet him."

Shen Lan was flustered. She had anticipated that Wei Laodao might not be doing well in the Taoist temple, but she never expected that in just over two years, he would not even remember her.

She took Wei Laodao's pulse and found that it was weak and shallow, indicating that his body was on its last legs.

Seeing her crying, the young Taoist priest quickly explained, "Uncle Wei was seriously ill a year ago and had no memory of anything when he woke up. The abbot went on a pilgrimage, and I... I don't have any money to treat him..."

The young Taoist priest looked to be less than ten years old, and Shen Lan couldn't possibly place the responsibility on a child.

"Thank you, I'm going to take him home now."

The young Taoist priest hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Shen Lan then asked him, "Would you like to come down the mountain with me?"

The young Taoist's eyes lit up.

He was an orphan who was taken in and raised by the abbot. Now he relies on the help of the nearby villagers to make a living.

The woman in front of me seems like a very nice person.

"Is that okay? I can work, and I eat very little."

Shen Lan reached out and patted his head. "You're still young, so you don't need to do any work. You'll have plenty to eat. If you want to learn a skill, you can become my apprentice."

The young Taoist priest didn't understand what he could learn from a woman until she started learning medicine from Shen Lan, at which point he realized how lucky he was.

Shen Lan had thought that there were now two patients in the town, and she couldn't take care of them all by herself. It was time to train some helpers.

This child can't even support himself, yet he still leaves Old Master Wei in the Taoist temple. Just based on this alone, his character can't be too bad.

Later, Xiaohuzi wanted to become a coroner, so he pestered Shen Lan every day to teach him how to perform autopsies.

Shen Lan initially disagreed because Xiao Huzi was impulsive and only had a short attention span for everything.

Until she discovered that Xiao Huzi was secretly going to the mass grave to retrieve corpses, just like she had done back then.

From that moment on, Shen Lan changed her mind.

Spring has passed and autumn has come, and Guli Town has already grown to a considerable size.

In addition to the first group of people who moved in, they later took in some orphaned and destitute children.

They had heard from somewhere that this small town had few people and lots of land, and that as long as people were willing to cultivate the land, they could get a share of the grain.

Heaven knows how Shen Lan felt when she saw a bunch of little kids carrying hoes to dig the ground.

Work still needs to be done, but the food is indeed provided.

With expenses mounting, Wu Yong and his companions had no choice but to go out and work as bodyguards to earn money.

Shen Zhiyuan worked as a carpenter with two apprentices, which allowed him to support his family.

While drying the medicinal herbs, Shen Lan complained to Li Ge, "You should at least do something! At least Li Ye knows how to teach those kids martial arts, but can't you teach them to read?"

Li Ge lay on the rocking chair eating a pear, his face as pale as ever, and said disdainfully, "A bunch of idiots, I won't teach them."

How would you know if you haven't been taught?

Li Ge remained silent.

What right does a eunuch have to teach? He shouldn't mislead the students.

"Have you heard? A new regional governor is coming to Lingnan. In order to resolve the conflict with the small country of Siam to the south, he will most likely start a war against the south."

Li Ge's words made Shen Lan pause.

Although she rarely went out, the children would bring back news from the outside world when they did.

She not only knew that a high-ranking official was coming to Lingnan, but she also knew that the official's surname was Xiao.

She didn't know what she was expecting; logically speaking, it was unlikely to be Xiao Ji.

"Even someone like you who never leaves the house has heard about it, how could I not have?"

Li Ge joked, "If I were you, I'd head south. Maybe there'd be a pleasant surprise?"

Shen Lan glanced at him sideways, "If I leave, who will prepare your medication?"

"My body is like this, it doesn't matter whether I take medicine or not, don't worry, I won't die in ten days or half a month."

Shen Lan took a deep breath and said to herself, "I will go."

She carried a basket on her back and went up the mountain to collect medicinal herbs.

She and Xiao Yuan picked the commonly used medicinal herbs from the mountains, but there were also some precious herbs that could not be bought locally and had to be bought from the prefectural city.

She rushed back to town before dark and saw someone standing under the archway in the distance. The back view was so familiar that it made her heart pound.

She slowed her pace as she walked over, countless possibilities swirling in her mind.

It wasn't until the person turned around and their eyes met that she realized she had thought of more than a dozen ways to greet him.

But at this moment, she couldn't utter a single word.

The last time I was this nervous was during my first anatomy class in college.

"I remember the first time we saw you was here, we thought you were a female ghost."

"It's a pity you're not afraid of ghosts."

Xiao Ji smiled, walked towards her, naturally took off her basket and carried it on his back, then took her hand and walked into the town.

“I don’t dare go in until you come back, for fear of being kicked out.”

"I don't think anyone would dare, right?"

"It's hard to say. Just now, a bunch of kids were aiming at me with bows and arrows and even threatened me."

Listening to his aggrieved accusations, Shen Lan laughed without being kind.

Those little brats were right behind them, and it was easy to guess what they were talking about.

"It won't happen again next time. I'll stamp it for you."

Xiao Ji asked curiously, "What kind of stamp?"

Shen Lan tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek.

Xiao Ji was stunned.

The little kids following behind immediately covered their eyes, screamed, and ran away like madmen.

The night was gentle, just like Shen Lan's mood at that moment.

Xiao Ji reached out and removed the hairpin from her hair bun, letting her long, coiled hair fall down.

"Next time, don't say you're a widow, or you'll curse your husband with bad luck."