General, your wife has gone to deliver another calf for your horse.

Fifteen minutes later, Jiang Nuanzhi returned with a smile, carrying a medicine box on her back with an air of importance.

"My wife is back! Hurry up, my hands are itching to get back to work."

"That's right, hurry up."

Jiang Nuanzhi's expression was strange. Um... she hadn't even had a chance to finish yet? Why were these people already itching for a fight? They were really cooperating.

"Gentlemen, please don't worry, it will be ready soon." Jiang Nuanzhi smiled and poured a packet of powder into the warm water, then grabbed a handful of herbs and soaked them in the water as well: "Gentlemen, soak your hands here, and rub them with these herbs to remove most of the virus. This is my exclusive secret recipe, which can instantly relieve itching."

Everyone immediately rushed to soak in the water. Jiang Nuanzhi watched them put their hands into the basin one by one and nodded with great satisfaction.

What do you all think?

"My lady, this medicine is really effective. My hands are no longer itchy." The leading soldier flexed his hands and looked relieved.

"It's good that you're better, sir." Jiang Nuanzhi smiled. Seeing that they had all soaked their hands and were saying that their hands were no longer itchy, she smiled and gave them a few more medicine packets.

"Sir, I have some medicinal powder here. When you feel unbearably itchy, just soak this powder in water for three days, and it will be completely cured."

Hearing this, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The leading officer put the powder into his pocket, and then his unfriendly gaze fell on Aunt Wang.

"You old bastard..."

"Huh?" Jiang Nuan scratched her arm immediately and frowned, "Hey Aunt Wang, did you just touch me? I feel itchy all over."

Aunt Wang showed a guilty expression at the right time: "I didn't mean to do this. Why don't you go back and wash it with the medicine? It should be fine."

Having said that, he picked up the teapot beside him and said, "Gentlemen, would you like to stay and have a cup of water first? Consider it my apology."

Upon hearing this, the surrounding soldiers immediately retreated several steps as if avoiding a plague.

"I'm not trying to be mean, but you should really clean your house properly and stay away from that cat from now on. That cat has a disease, and if you eat it, it could cause serious problems."

"Yes, yes, I didn't want the old men to run into the cat either, but they don't know the whole story. I'm not good with words and I can't explain it clearly."

While the two men were talking, the soldiers rushed out of the house in the blink of an eye, muttering filthy curses about bad luck and disgust. They fled in panic, afraid of being too slow.

Watching them disappear from sight, Aunt Wang rubbed her red eyes and held Jiang Nuanzhi's hand tightly: "Nuanzhi, good child, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, Da Hua might really be dead."

"Auntie, why are you being so polite? You helped us before, and I remember it all."

Aunt Wang smiled through her tears and patted her hand: "Good child."

"Auntie, let's bring Da Hua back. If those people see her again, something bad might really happen."

Aunt Wang nodded: "I know where Da Hua is."

As he spoke, he led Jiang Nuanzhi to the tall grass behind the house, behind the dense ground cherries at the corner of the wall, where they indeed saw Da Hua lying there.

At this moment, it was curled up with its small body, looking very alert.

He relaxed a little when he saw it was Aunt Wang, and hesitantly rubbed Aunt Wang's hand.

Aunt Wang picked up the cat with a pained expression: "You, you're just a little kitten, how come you have such a temper? You dare to scratch anyone!"

After saying that, she looked at Jiang Nuanzhi with an embarrassed smile and said, "It saw those people pushing and shoving me and suddenly got angry." As the two of them were talking, they went into the house, and Aunt Wang asked with some concern, "Nuanzhi, why do those people's hands really itch after touching Dahua? Could it be that Dahua really has some kind of problem?"

Jiang Nuanzhi smiled and shook her head: "No, I put some itching powder on his hands while delivering the fruit, so of course he felt itchy. As for the others' itchy hands, it's probably just psychological. But they'll need some time to recover after soaking in my water."

Aunt Wang listened, secretly surprised: "You child! What if they find out and come looking for trouble?"

Jiang Nuanzhi waved her hand: "No, their hands are indeed poisoned. The medicine powder won't help unless they soak them for three days. They might even thank me."

Aunt Wang shook her head and chuckled. Then, she put down the big flower and took a basket from the chest on his heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove).

“Warm girl, look, these are the handkerchiefs I embroidered recently. Pick these two and take them home. In a couple of days, I’ll go to the county and sell the handkerchiefs to get money, then I’ll return your half string of cash to you.”

Jiang Nuanzhi was both amused and exasperated: "That won't do. Auntie's handkerchief is embroidered extremely exquisitely. You should keep it to exchange for silver. Besides, I don't need the money urgently. Auntie can give it to me when you have more money."

“How could you not need it urgently? I know you just bought a house, so you must be short of money. Here, take it.”

Jiang Nuanzhi truly felt unworthy of such praise; she knew she had some discernment. Aunt Wang's embroidery was definitely not cheap outside, and she had noticed its exceptional quality when Aunt Wang made clothes for them before.

She didn't want to accept them, but Aunt Wang insisted, so she eventually put the two handkerchiefs in her bosom. She was thinking of bringing some meat later.

As the two were talking, they saw Liu Ma driving her little donkey cart past the gate outside the window. There were three or five children, both boys and girls, sitting on the cart.

Aunt Wang still had a worried look on her face. After a while, she said, "I don't know what happened. Why are the taxes so heavy? If I hadn't sold some silver earlier, I definitely wouldn't have been able to scrape together these two taels. Ordinary farming families would probably have to sell their children. Alas."

Jiang Nuanzhi frowned as well, and told her to keep a close eye on Da Hua and not let it go out before these people left, before hurrying home.

By sheer coincidence, those people came out of Xie Liangchen's courtyard on the way.

Jiang Nuanzhi raised an eyebrow and immediately jogged forward. As soon as the crowd saw her, they almost instinctively scattered.

"Hey, just stand there! Don't get too close!"

Jiang Nuanzhi chuckled and spread her hands: "Gentlemen, I just soaked my hands in the medicine as well."

The man seemed relieved before approaching and asking, "What are you doing?"

Jiang Nuanzhi opened her medicine box, took out several packets of medicine, and handed them over.

"I was thinking that it must be hard for you soldiers to be out on official business, and you must catch a cold sometimes. So I ground some Banlangen powder myself. If you have a stuffy nose or fever, you can just mix a big bowl of it with boiling water and drink it. It's even good for your health."

Upon hearing this, the leading officer took the document with suspicion: "In that case, thank you."

Jiang Nuanzhi continued, "Sir, you're too kind. This year has really been tough. Sir, your job must be difficult too, right? With taxes suddenly increasing so much, who would be willing to pay? I don't know what our Emperor is thinking."

"Ignorant woman! Stop talking nonsense!" The man glared at her. "You dare to slander even the Emperor? Believe me, I'll arrest you right now!"

"No, no, no, I'm only speaking frankly because I don't consider you an outsider. If it were anyone else, I, a woman, would never dare to speak like this."

"Hmph, I knew you wouldn't dare. But I might as well tell you, this isn't an order from the current emperor, it's an order from our regent."

Jiang Nuanzhi's eyes widened: "Is the Regent even more powerful than the Emperor?"

Jiang Nuanzhi's ignorant demeanor made the soldier smug, giving her a disdainful look: "Don't you understand? In our Great Jing, the Regent is truly more powerful than the Emperor." (End of Chapter)