Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1756 An unexpected encounter on the way!

Yijing West City
At 1:15 AM, an antique-style carriage was traveling on Prosperity Street. Because Jinniu Market, one of the largest agricultural markets in Yijing, is located on Prosperity Street, every morning there are many small vendors coming and going, carrying all kinds of goods, preparing to go to Jinniu Market to buy and sell.

Although Prosperity Avenue is a newly built road, nearly 1.5 feet wider than before, it still can't keep up with the large number of small vendors. These people carrying goods don't walk very fast, and in groups of three or five they block the road, so the carriages are also moving slowly.

At this moment, Pei Zhixiu, who was resting with her eyes closed in the carriage, opened her eyes with some confusion as she felt the carriage stop moving. She pulled back the curtains of the carriage window and looked at the few vendors outside. A trace of helplessness appeared in the eyes of this Imperial Noble Consort of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Daegan Medical College is located at the intersection of Prosperity Street and Jinyang Avenue, so Prosperity Street is always Pei Zhixiu's route to work at the medical college.

Because Bae Ji-soo was a guest instructor, unlike the regular staff members of the medical school who reported to the medical school on time every day, she only went to the medical school to teach students when she had classes. In the past, Bae Ji-soo's classes were usually in the afternoon, so she set off for the medical school at noon.

At noon, although there were still vendors on Prosperity Street, there were far fewer than in the morning. Previously, Bae Ji-soo had always been able to easily reach the medical school via this street. However, today the academic affairs office had scheduled her class for the second period in the morning. Leaving the palace, Bae Ji-soo hadn't thought much of it and left half an hour early as usual. But unexpectedly, she was now stuck in traffic…

Although she desperately wanted to get to the medical school as soon as possible, Bae Ji-soo had no other choice but to continue waiting patiently in the train car.

Time passed slowly, and although the carriage was moving forward, its speed was extremely slow. This made Pei Zhixiu frown inside the carriage. Although she didn't know the exact time, if she calculated the time, she knew that she didn't have much time left.

Just then, a quarrel broke out ahead. The sound of a woman crying was mixed in with the voice of a middle school student taking the exam, and a young man was arguing angrily. Pei Zhixiu, who was in a hurry to get to work, didn't pay much attention at first, but her senses were too strong, and the quarrel involuntarily entered her ears.

Hearing the commotion, Bae Ji-soo hesitated for a moment, and then her coachman asked for instructions:
"Your Majesty, two vendors are arguing and blocking the road. It seems we won't be able to pass for a while!"

The coachman's words also made Bae Ji-soo make up her mind:

"Old Li, could you please take a look and see what's going on?"

"Yes!"

After receiving Pei Zhixiu's order, the coachman, Old Li, dismounted and went to the scene of the incident. After understanding the situation, he returned to the carriage and reported:

"The lady was arguing with a butcher and a vegetable vendor. Apparently, the butcher's donkey cart thought the vegetable vendor was moving too slowly, and when it overtook him, the mud splashed up from the cart, covering the vegetable vendor and his mother. The young man was furious and started arguing with the butcher..."

"The constables have arrived, but it may take a little while to finish processing everything!"

After saying this, the coachman, Old Li, seemed to have thought of something and immediately said:
"By the way, Your Majesty, isn't the son of that vegetable vendor the same Xu Hetu who delivered vegetables to you last time?"

Although she had already recognized the name as Xu Hetu, Pei Zhixiu felt even more helpless when she actually heard the name from Lao Li's mouth.

She wasn't one to meddle in other people's business, but she might be late for work if she went now, so Pei Zhixiu instructed Old Li:
"Old Li, go and handle this matter and see if you can clear a path!"

Upon hearing what Bae Ji-soo said, the coachman, Old Li, immediately nodded and turned to walk towards the arguing crowd.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Old Li resolved the matter. The constable then loudly called for the crowd to disperse. Seeing this, Old Li, the coachman, returned to the carriage and drove it towards the medical school.

However, Xu Hetu, who was supporting his mother on the side of the road, was stunned when he saw the carriage speeding past. Then he seemed to understand something.

At this moment, Xu's mother also noticed her son's condition and immediately asked:
"He Tu, what's wrong with you?"

Faced with his mother's question, Xu Hetu snapped out of his daze and quickly gave a perfunctory answer:

"Nothing, nothing!"

Upon hearing this, Xu's mother continued speaking to herself:

"How come that coachman is so powerful? Even the constables from the yamen have to listen to him. Luckily, he helped us today, or we would have been finished!"

At this point, Xu's mother handed the one tael of silver in her hand to her son and said:
"This is the money that Butcher Sun gave us as compensation. He Tu, you can keep it. If you run into that coachman later, be sure to thank him properly..."

"Mother, you should keep this silver!"

"No need! We still have some at home. Mother doesn't usually need much money. You're studying at medical school, where you'll need money everywhere. This money is for you!"

Although Xu Hetu still wanted to refuse, seeing his mother's determined look, he had no choice but to accept the money.

After this little incident, Xu Hetu sent his mother home and, after settling her in, returned to the medical school.

Upon returning to the medical school, Xu Hetu immediately wanted to find Pei Zhixiu to thank her.

His father died early, and he and his mother depended on each other for survival from a young age. His mother, a woman of modest means, didn't have much of a source of income, raising Xu Hetu by weaving, growing vegetables, and washing clothes for others. Xu Hetu knew his mother's hardships from a young age, so he helped her sell vegetables. Today, as usual, he was helping his mother transport the cabbages and radishes they had grown to the market. However, he unexpectedly encountered the butcher, Sun, on the way. Because their stalls were close together in the market, Sun, taking advantage of his familiarity with the market officials, often occupied their stall's space, which had created a grudge between them. Today's encounter on the road further escalated this conflict…

Xu Hetu knew that he and his mother were moving slowly while carrying vegetables, so the two of them had already moved to the side of the road. However, they did not expect that after encountering this butcher Sun, the butcher Sun would deliberately drive his donkey cart and splash them with mud. Then, the butcher Sun even turned around and accused Xu Hetu and his mother of walking too slowly and not avoiding the donkey cart, claiming that they were trying to extort money from him.

Seeing that this butcher Sun had clearly bullied him and his mother, yet now he was turning around and blaming them, Xu Hetu was so angry that he was trembling. If his mother hadn't firmly stopped him, Xu Hetu really wanted to punch the butcher Sun's pig head hard.

Xu Hetu had initially hoped the constables would uphold justice for him, but to his surprise, they colluded with Butcher Sun, completely believing his words and even intending to arrest him. Just as Xu Hetu was beginning to despair, the coachman, Old Li, approached. With a wave of his token, the previously arrogant constables immediately became obsequious, their faces turning fawning. The rest was simple: seeing someone backing Xu and his mother, Butcher Sun meekly admitted defeat, apologizing to them and paying them a tael of silver to settle the matter…

After this incident, Xu Hetu gradually understood the benefits of power, and at the same time, he wanted to thank the coachman, Old Li, properly.

However, Old Li told him that there was no need to thank him, as he was merely following orders. At the time, Xu Hetu was curious about whose orders Old Li was following, but Old Li did not tell him explicitly. However, after seeing the carriage, Xu Hetu finally understood who had helped him.

As the only guest physician at the medical school, and a woman at that, Pei Zhixiu inevitably attracted attention even though she tried to keep a low profile. Therefore, Xu Hetu was able to recognize at a glance that this carriage was the one that transported Pei Zhixiu to and from the medical school.

Xu Hetu was very grateful for Pei Zhixiu's help. He knew that without Pei Zhixiu's help, things would not have ended well today.

But for some reason, the thought of Pei Zhixiu inevitably brought to mind his conversation with his friend Liu Yiran that day.
"Even Dean Li and his ilk are so obsequious to Mr. Pei; Mr. Pei's background must be incredibly powerful!"

"In my opinion, Ms. Pei is most likely the mistress of that high-ranking official. Otherwise, even if she is a woman with superb medical skills, why would Dean Li and the others treat her like that!"

Although Xu Hetu was very averse to his friend speculating that Mr. Pei was someone's mistress, he couldn't suppress his curiosity and continued to ask:

How do you know that?

"Are you stupid? If Mr. Pei were the legal wife, why would she come to the medical school to teach female students? What noblewoman in the Qing Dynasty would do that?"

"So Hetu, you'd better stay away from Mr. Pei. Someone like Mr. Pei is not someone we can covet. With his looks and figure, he's definitely someone else's plaything. If you offend him, you might not even know how you died..."

Upon hearing his friend's words, Xu Hetu was somewhat flustered, but he immediately retorted:

"Your thoughts are too filthy. Mr. Pei is a teacher, and he has never shown any disrespect!"

When faced with Xu Hetu's explanation, Liu Yiran didn't say anything, but just gave him a meaningful look.

Although he refuted Liu Yiran's views at the time, and seemed to disregard Liu Yiran's reasoning, he frantically comforted himself that these were all Liu Yiran's personal speculations and not the truth. However, Xu Hetu could not deceive himself in the end.

He knew he had fallen for Mr. Pei!

That was more than half a year ago when he first met Mr. Pei at the medical school. He was immediately attracted by Mr. Pei's temperament and charm.

Mr. Pei's every smile and gesture deeply attracted him, and every movement touched his heart!

Although he admired Mr. Pei, Xu Hetu felt somewhat ashamed of his own appearance.

He knew that although he was quite handsome, his family background was a complete mess. He was not only powerless and insignificant, but also lived with his mother in a cramped tenement in Yijing. With such a penniless life, how could he dare to bother the beauty?

Over the past six months, he had fantasized countless times about having a rich father who was the son of a high-ranking official or about having countless treasures of gold and silver. If that were the case, he would definitely pursue Mr. Pei and express his love to him!
But fantasy is just fantasy. Whenever the fantasy ends, he has to return to the cold reality. And in reality, he remains that powerless, penniless boy who has to sell vegetables every day to make a living…

His own poverty prevented Xu Hetu from bothering Mr. Pei; he could only watch over Pei Zhixiu from afar.

If things hadn't changed, Xu Hetu had planned to do this for the rest of his life, and he comforted himself by thinking that being able to silently protect the person he loved was a kind of happiness in itself.

However, his mother's gynecological illness gave Xu Hetu an excuse to contact Pei Zhixiu.

Although Xu Hetu was reprimanded by Pei Zhixiu in class that day, he was overjoyed. He had finally spoken to the goddess in his heart, and she was still as beautiful and kind as ever, even willing to treat his mother's illness.

When Xu Hetu took his mother to the medical school that day, watching Bae Ji-soo earnestly examining his mother, he almost couldn't help but express his feelings.

But in the end, he restrained himself. He knew that a beauty like Mr. Pei was not someone he could have his hands on. If he confessed his feelings blindly, not only would everything come to an abrupt end, but he might also find it difficult to see Mr. Pei again in the future.

So he chose to continue hiding his feelings. He was already incredibly happy to be able to have any contact with his goddess, just like he was now. But his friend Liu Yiran's words shattered his beautiful fantasy.

Although he said he didn't believe it, every time the night was quiet, Xu Hetu couldn't help but think that Mr. Pei might be the mistress of some high-ranking official in the imperial court.

The thought of Mr. Pei's transformation into pleasure under the influence of other men filled Xu Hetu with a heart-wrenching pain, as if his heart were bleeding. His most desperate moment was knowing all this, yet being powerless to change anything…
(It's not a green screen. The reason I wrote it this way is because I'm exploring a new kind of thrill, which I call reverse NTR. I don't know if everyone can put themselves in the protagonist's shoes. I'll say it three times because it's important: it's not a green screen, it's not a green screen!)
(End of this chapter)