“Wishing the boss prosperity year after year, and may every day be as joyful as today!”
“Wishing the boss boundless fortune and rolling wealth, leading us all to prosperity!”
“Wishing the boss the blessing of a noble son, and may double happiness come your way!”
In the small private room on the first floor of Tianya Inn, everyone took turns offering their well-wishes, making the birthday celebrant, Boss Fang, beam with joy.
She clasped her hands together and replied, “Well said, well said! Let’s all prosper together. But why stop at double happiness? Three wouldn’t be too much either!”
Madam Liang leaned against a man who was about the same height as Fang He and bore a slight resemblance to her in women’s clothing.
She gave Naren and Yunsheng a particularly suggestive smile.
As fate would have it, Madam Liang had taken a liking to Fan Su, who had been Fang He’s stand-in.
Fan Su, originally named Suriheke, had once been Yunsheng’s subordinate, and Yunsheng had been Naren’s bodyguard.
They had all been expelled from the Lakshen tribe together.
Perhaps Madam Liang was just too fond of Fang He-or at least Fang He insisted on believing so and thus happily arranged for the two to marry under the name Fang Shaohui after the Dragon Head Raising Festival.
Originally, Fang He had insisted that Madam Liang share her affections equally, taking turns to sleep with both young Fan masters.
Unfortunately, Madam Liang only spent one night with her, during which Fang He’s flailing limbs woke her several times.
After that, Madam Liang returned to the inner courtyard to live with Fan Su, refusing to sleep with Fang He ever again.
Naren, being teased by Madam Liang, remained completely unfazed, while the usually taciturn Yunsheng lowered his head, his face and neck turning as red as if he’d been boiled.
Lin Chen and the others watching this scene felt their teeth ache from the awkwardness.
Lin Chen whispered to a fellow worker, “Our inn must be lacking in yang energy. There’s not a single real man who can hold his head up high.”
The worker shot him a sidelong glance and retorted, “If you’re so brave, why don’t you try it? Just don’t blame me if the boss tears into you without a single curse word.”
The inn had little business during the twelfth lunar month, but as soon as the first month passed, Yizhen County quickly became lively.
Merchants traveling from north to south were all aiming to make a profit from the Lantern Festivals in the three major cities of Jiangning, Yangzhou, and Suzhou.
However, the cost of living in these large cities was high, and not all merchants were wealthy.
Yizhen County, located near Yangzhou and not far from Suzhou and Jiangning, with its own dock, became a popular stopover for many traveling merchants.
Although Tianya Inn wasn’t particularly large, it was clean and bustling, and its reputation quickly spread.
By the time of the Dragon Head Raising Festival, the inn was almost always fully booked.
With more people came all sorts of characters, and there were indeed guests even more troublesome than Boss Fang’s usual antics, nearly driving the workers to violence.
Fortunately, Fang He was there that day.
She came down with a smile and intervened, scolding the troublemaker in front of the entire inn without using a single curse word, leaving the man red-faced and fuming.
The man, enraged, tried to attack her, but Fang He defended herself skillfully, swiftly delivering a shoulder throw that left him on the ground for a long time.
Lin Chen eventually had to drag him out and throw him out of the inn.
Now, recalling that incident, Lin Chen shivered involuntarily and shook his head vigorously.
“Forget it, forget it. A real man doesn’t fight with a woman, and our boss isn’t exactly… cough, cough!”
Before Lin Chen could finish his sarcastic remark, he noticed Fang He raising an eyebrow in his direction, startling him so much that he choked on his own saliva.
He quickly clasped his hands in a flattering gesture toward Fang He and scurried out of the room.
Fang He could tell at a glance that Lin Chen had been talking about her behind her back.
They were quite similar in temperament, both being quite talkative and quick-witted.
She could easily detect the other’s sarcastic expressions with just half a glance.
She proudly winked at Lady Liang, who rolled her eyes in response, but she didn’t mind and continued to smile brightly.
In her previous life, Fang He didn’t really celebrate her birthday much.
There was a strange coincidence: her father’s stepdaughter and her mother’s biological son shared the same birthday as her.
Every year on that day, her grandparents on both sides would be taken to celebrate the birthdays of the other two children.
Whether they forgot her birthday or the other children didn’t want to celebrate with her, no one ever mentioned celebrating her birthday.
Only her grandmother and maternal grandmother would secretly slip her a few hundred yuan.
For a while during her childhood, she even wondered if she had dug up the ancestral graves of the Fang and He families in her past life to end up with such parents.
As she grew older, every birthday would remind her of this, leaving her feeling bitter and uninterested in celebrating.
At most, she would have a meal with her boyfriend and friends like Geng Shuning.
After her transmigration, it was even less of a concern.
The original body shared the same birthday as her, which might have been one of the reasons for her transmigration.
But the original body had it worse.
Her father wanted to buy her a birthday gift and secretly took on carpentry work to craft a small silver hairpin, which he gave to her on her birthday.
But the very next day, her father passed away in his sleep, likely from exhaustion.
Every year on her birthday, the original body would listen to her mother’s hysterical curses, slowly piecing together the truth.
Though she had no memory of it, she was left with a deep fear of birthdays and never mentioned celebrating.
But when Lady Liang found out it was her birthday today, she insisted on organizing a grand feast for her.
No one fought over the food, and everyone brought gifts of varying significance, showering her with endless compliments.
Fang He thought she had no feelings about birthdays, but now she realized how truly happy it was to have a group of people who genuinely cared for her and celebrated with her.
She happily stuffed herself until she was full, and after everyone went out to work, she pulled Lady Liang out of the arms of her substitute, Fan Su, and clung to her arm.
“Dear sister, now that we’re married, I saw a bite mark on Yunsheng’s neck yesterday. It seems like double happiness is on the way,” Fang He said with a sly look at Lady Liang.
“You can’t leave me out! I want to join you in having a third child!”
Lady Liang knew this troublemaker was up to no good again.
She shouldn’t have given her that bowl of tonic soup this morning.
In fact, since the start of the year, Fang He had been getting restless, but Lady Liang and Naren had subtly stopped her several times.
Realizing their disapproval, Fang He, taking advantage of being the birthday girl today, planned to persuade them separately to get her way.
Lady Liang sighed and told her the truth, “It’s not that we’re stopping you from enjoying yourself, but your body wasn’t well-nourished as a child. You have a lot of internal cold and deficiency, and you even suffered a serious illness later, right?”
Fang He, thinking of the reason for her transmigration, hesitantly nodded.
“But even after the illness, you didn’t recover properly. You’re like a paper lantern-bright on the outside but easily torn apart,” Lady Liang said with unprecedented seriousness.
“Plus, you were shot with an arrow less than half a year ago. Even if I were Hua Tuo reincarnated, I couldn’t make you recover that quickly.”
“In this situation, whether you can conceive a child is one thing, but even if you do, it might not stay, and childbirth would be much more dangerous than for an ordinary woman. It’s no joke.”
Fang He felt a chill in her heart.
She didn’t feel that weak; in fact, she felt full of energy every day.
She had previously dreamed of kissing Kangxi and thought it was just Stockholm syndrome.
But then she dreamed of him again, and even her boyfriend from a past life, and even an ex-boyfriend.
That’s when she realized it was nothing more than the season of rejuvenation.
Look at her spirit!
How could it be as serious as Madam Liang said?
Fang He stiffened her neck, her face full of defiance.
Because today was her birthday celebration, Fan Su had dressed up as the young master Fan, and Fang He, without any disguise, had made herself especially beautiful.
At this moment, her fair and delicate face, with its stubborn little expression, was quite endearing.
Madam Liang smiled and pinched her cheek, “I know you’re restless, but there’s no helping it. We need to nourish your body, and since you don’t like to take medicine, we’ve added some warming herbs to the soup. Be good and bear with it for a while.”
Fang He: “….”
Listen to yourself, is that even human language?
She wondered why someone always tried to get her to drink soup every day.
She thought it was just everyone trying to please the boss, and Madam Liang also urged her, so she drank it.
So it was because they were afraid she would find out how weak her body really was?
Fang He puffed up her cheeks and looked at Madam Liang with a mix of hope and hesitation, “Madam, I’m not one to avoid doctors or hide my illness. Just tell me, how long will it take for me to recover?”
Madam Liang: “Hmm…………… it might take three to five-“
Seeing Fang He’s little mouth pout so much it could hang an oil bottle, Madam Liang chuckled and poked her forehead.
“If you don’t mind the bitterness of the medicine and are willing to take it properly every day… one year, I promise you’ll be lively and healthy again, and it won’t affect your lifespan.”
Fang He was startled.
No wonder no one told her she was so weak it could shorten her life?
She hugged herself with a look of desolation and hesitantly asked, “So………… as long as I don’t get pregnant, it’s fine, right? There are plenty of ways to prevent pregnancy, as long as I can still be with my little brother………”
Madam Liang grew impatient, stood up, and gave her a look, “Have you ever seen a lustful patient live long?”
“Your body is already weak inside and out, and if you keep indulging, what, are you tired of living a good life?”
Fang He shrunk her neck, “Alright, alright, I get it.”
But after Madam Liang went to the counter, she rested her chin on her hand, still unwilling to give up.
Of course, she wouldn’t actively seek death; she valued her life too much.
But… surely a patient can still hold hands and kiss a little brother, right?
As for whether it would be hard for the little brother… well, as long as she wasn’t uncomfortable, it was fine.
Once she figured it out, Fang He cheered up again and started pondering whether to eat the grass near her or go out to find spring.
March in Yangzhou is not just a saying.
Even though Yizhen County is just a small town, the scenery is quite beautiful.
Next to the official river, Zhenyang River, willows surround the banks, dotted with vibrant wildflowers.
Occasionally, a light rain falls, making the entire town seem like a fairyland.
The rice in the suburbs has sprouted, and outside the city, peach blossoms and pear blossoms are in full bloom.
Inside the city, small bridges and flowing water, along with blooming flowers in the alleys, make everywhere as beautiful as a painting.