Chapter 691 Pei Zhixiu’s rejection!
Yijing, Changshan Medical Clinic

After more than half a year, Pei Zhixiu, who had given birth and finished her confinement, returned to her job with a complicated expression on her face. Although the work in the clinic was trivial and busy, she really liked this career, which made her feel that her life was valuable...
After a moment of silence, Pei Zhixiu instructed Xiaohuan who was busy at the side:
"Xiao Huan, tell everyone that I will no longer accept male patients from today on!"

Listening to Pei Zhixiu's words, Xiaohuan was a little surprised and hesitated for a moment before saying:
"Madam, what about the patient who came today?"

Pei Zhixiu said without hesitation:
"Let them go to other clinics and find other doctors!"

Many people in the Ye family were dissatisfied with her opening a clinic outside, especially Ye Cui. As a traditional old woman, Ye Cui hoped that her daughter-in-law could stay at home quietly instead of showing up in public. For this reason, she couldn't stand Pei Zhixiu's behavior and wanted to teach Pei Zhixiu a lesson again and again.

As the daughter-in-law, Pei Zhixiu's usual strategy in this regard is to listen to and deal with whatever Ye Cui says, and then hand the matter over to Ye Mingsheng.

After several times of this, seeing her son taking such good care of Pei Zhixiu, although Ye Cui was helpless, she could only turn a blind eye. Originally, the matter would have come to an end here, but as Pei Zhixiu gave birth to the child, Ye Cui felt that Pei Zhixiu should stay in the mansion to take care of her husband and children, instead of running away to open a clinic. The Governor-General’s Mansion was not short of money, and Pei Zhixiu was needed to subsidize the household expenses...

At the same time, there were some rumors outside, saying that the reason why Pei Zhixiu insisted on opening a clinic was that she had a wild man outside and it was convenient for her to have sex in the clinic. Pei Zhixiu didn't take this matter to heart at all. Although her Changshan Clinic was not in Ye Mansion, but from the guards outside the door to the maids serving in the clinic, they were all people from the Coordination Office without exception. How dare that adulterer be so presumptuous here?

Although the person who spread the rumor was quickly caught and executed by the Coordination Office, Ye Cui still felt that it was inappropriate, so she went to find Ye Mingsheng and told him that Pei Zhixiu was not safe outside. Naturally, Ye Mingsheng still believed Pei Zhixiu.

He also told Ye Cui that everyone in Changshan Medical Clinic was arranged by him and there was no problem with it. However, Ye Cui still used this as an excuse to ask Ye Mingsheng to call Pei Zhixiu back, and even got a minor illness because of this.

Seeing that Ye Cui actually thought that she was someone who would cheat, Pei Zhixiu felt aggrieved and sad, but seeing Ye Mingsheng in a dilemma, she proposed to Ye Mingsheng to close the clinic. However, what moved Pei Zhixiu was that Ye Mingsheng did not accept it, but asked her to continue her career and dreams. As for Ye Cui's matters, he would take care of them.

Although Ye Mingsheng had expressed his opinion, Pei Zhixiu did not want Ye Mingsheng to be under so much pressure, so she made the decision to stop seeing male patients and only see female patients. This should be able to stop some gossip and make Ye Cui feel relieved...

After making the decision, Pei Zhixiu started working. She examined and prescribed medicine for three or four female patients in a row. Just before noon, a young woman with a slender and plump figure, dressed in elegant and luxurious clothes and wearing a white veil, walked into the clinic with the help of a maid.

When the young woman sat down on the chair, Pei Zhixiu said calmly:
"Excuse me, where do you feel uncomfortable?"

Facing Pei Zhixiu's gaze, the young woman held out the white bowl and said with a smile:
"I've been having some menstrual pain lately, please help me, Doctor Pei!"

Pei Zhixiu looked at the young woman in front of her after hearing this, and then she also put her jade hand on her. After a careful diagnosis, she said to the young woman in front of her lightly:
"You are in good health, and there is no problem with your menstruation. You only need to take two cents of cinnamon twig, three cents of hawthorn, two cents of jujube, and six cents of brown sugar, boil them up, take the juice and drink it. Take it twice a day and you will relieve the pain!"

After saying this, Pei Zhixiu picked up the teacup. Seeing that the young woman was not angry, she smiled slightly, nodded at Pei Zhixiu and said:

"Thank you, Dr. Pei!"

After she finished speaking, the young woman stood up and walked out of the clinic with her maid.

Seeing that this person was quite tactful, Pei Zhixiu continued to call the next patient to see the doctor.

Although the fact that she opened Changshan Medical Clinic was kept secret in the Fengwu Army, but there is no such thing as an impenetrable wall. This matter was still discovered by some people who were interested. These people were smart enough not to visit her themselves, but to send their own women to visit her...
It was obvious that the young woman just now belonged to this category in Pei Zhixiu's eyes. After all, a noble lady like her, who was dressed in jewels and precious stones, could just lie at home and call a doctor if she was sick. There was no need for her to condescend to come to her small clinic for treatment!

The patients who come to her clinic for treatment are all ordinary people. They cannot afford or are reluctant to spend money to hire a doctor, so they come to her clinic for treatment in the hope of saving some money!
Just as Pei Zhixiu called for the next patient, Qiao'er, in the carriage outside the clinic, spoke up for Jiang Yuyan:

"Marshal Ye's favorite concubine is different. She is even more arrogant than their first wife, An Miaoyi. She serves tea and sends people away before they can even finish their words!"

Listening to Qiao'er's complaints, the young woman just now, Jiang Yuyan, smiled and shook her head and said:

"Qiao'er, you don't understand what Pei Zhixiu means!"

After saying this, Jiang Yuyan said with some emotion: "No wonder Pei Zhixiu, whose figure and appearance are not as good as An Miaoyi, is Marshal Ye's favorite woman. She is really very smart. Before I even opened my mouth, she rejected me directly!"

When Jiang Yuyan came to deliver the jade Buddha to the Governor's Mansion, she heard that Pei Zhixiu was the first woman to follow Marshal Ye and was also Ye Mingsheng's favorite woman. For her, the always filial Marshal Ye resisted the pressure from the old lady and allowed Pei Zhixiu to open a clinic outside the mansion to treat illnesses and save lives.

When she first heard about this, she was also a little surprised. Although she had heard that Marshal Ye of the Fengwu Army regarded himself as a reformer and often made shocking moves, she, who was born in the royal family, could not imagine that any powerful person would allow his favorite concubine to show up in public...
After verifying with many parties and confirming that the news was true, Jiang Yuyan became excited. She wanted to make friends with this extraordinary woman who had won the heart of Marshal Ye, and then use this relationship to gain an advantage in the upcoming competition for the issuance of ticket exchange licenses!

With this idea in mind, Jiang Yuyan came to Changshan Medical Clinic, hoping to establish a good personal relationship with Pei Zhixiu. However, what she never expected was that Pei Zhixiu saw through her thoughts at a glance, and without even asking her name, he directly rejected her with his actions.

This made Jiang Yuyan feel a little depressed. She had received news from Zhang Zhiwen that although the Governor would relax the restrictions on the banknote exchange licenses this time, it would not be too much, probably only two or three. As soon as the news came out, all the major businesses that were eyeing the profits of the banknote exchanges rushed out. Now the most powerful competitors are known to be the Yun family of Liaoyang and the Liu family of Hebei and Henan.

Although the Yun family of Liaoyang did some wrong things at the beginning when the Fengwu Army rose, they later stood firmly on the side of the Fengwu Army. It is said that their family holds Dadongsheng bonds worth 200,000 taels of silver, and this time when Dadongsheng issues bonds, they are even more prepared to continue purchasing bonds worth 200,000 taels of silver.

And the most crucial thing is that as the Liaoyang faction in the Fengwu Army, the Yun family has a big Buddha behind them!
So there is no doubt that the Yun family will definitely get a license!
Although the remaining Jiyu Liu family is unknown, their eldest son Liu Wenwei just married the eldest daughter of the Gu family last month...
Therefore, the Liu family is most likely the white gloves hired by the Gu family. They were scared by Marshal Ye's attack and dared not to come forward themselves, so they found someone to take the blame.

Although the Gu family does not have as strong a backing as the Yun family, Gu Zhongshi is now the deputy governor of Hebei and Henan, and is a powerful figure in the Fengwu Army. His son Gu Shouting is the general of the Sixth Division of the Fengwu Army, and he has tens of thousands of troops under his command, making him a great general of the Fengwu Army. Therefore, as long as the Gu family is willing to pay a certain price, they will most likely be able to obtain a banknote license.

Therefore, Jiang Yuyan can only hope that Fengwu Army will issue three licenses instead of two. In addition to this prerequisite, she also has to win the fierce competition that follows. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuyan felt a little headache. She thought that with Zhang Zhiwen's support, she could successfully get the license.

But what disappointed her was that Zhang Zhiwen, the deputy governor, was really useless in the Fengwu Army and his words did not carry much weight. This meant that if she wanted to win the competition, she had to find other connections.

There weren't many people in the Fengwu Army who had a say in this matter, so Jiang Yuyan came back to Pei Zhixiu to give it a try. But now that she was clearly rejected by Pei Zhixiu, the only ones left were Ye Cuishi and An Miaoyi whom she had met before, and another important official in the Fengwu Army.

Thinking of this, the young widow Jiang Yuyan couldn't help but sigh while feeling sad. If she could just deal with Marshal Ye directly, the license issue would be absolutely secure. There would be no need to look for ways to pray to gods and Buddhas like she is now...

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"You said Yin Biao was taken care of by the Fengwu Army?"

Looking at Liu Zhaohu in front of him, Xu Zhaojie frowned and asked in a low voice:
Feeling Xu Zhaojie's gaze, Liu Chaohu nodded and said with some difficulty:
"The news from Licheng is this: Yin Biao resigned due to illness, and his deputy Zhao Tai temporarily took over as the commander of the Fourth Army of the Fengwu Army. It is said that Yin Biao convened a meeting of all the Qi Army generals, and at the meeting he made this decision in front of hundreds of Fengwu Army generals!"

"Unlike Yin Biao, Zhao Tai has completely surrendered to the Fengwu Army. Under his orders, the reorganization of the Qi Army has been accelerated. The Fengwu Army has also handed over dozens of artillery pieces to the Qi Army and sent many instructors!"

Hearing the news, Xu Zhaojie closed his eyes helplessly, his heart filled with disappointment and anger towards Yin Biao.

Although Xu Zhaojie was disappointed with Yin Biao after Licheng was easily conquered by Fengwu Army, he still had illusions about Yin Biao in this incident. He thought that Yin Biao could delay the reorganization of Fengwu Army with his hard work in Qi Army and buy more time for him to deploy troops.
But now it seems that Yin Biao is a good-for-nothing who is always causing trouble instead of accomplishing anything. Not only was his old nest Licheng taken by the Fengwu Army in one attack, but now he can't even control the troops under his command, and the Fengwu Army took away his military power so easily. The decades he spent in the Qi army were all wasted...
If things continue like this, the Qi army's troops will be reorganized by the Fengwu Army within ten days and become the 11th and 12th Divisions of the Fengwu Army's 4th Army. Together with the Fengwu Army's 7th Division, a total of more than 70,000 troops will launch an attack on Anqing.

However, there are only more than 10,000 defenders in Anqing now. Even if young and strong men are temporarily recruited to defend the city, there are only about 20,000 people. Facing an enemy force that is three times larger than their own, the situation will naturally be very difficult. And it will take some time to transfer troops from Huainan.

Just when Xu Zhaojie was feeling very angry, his attendant told him another piece of news that almost made him vomit blood.

"According to Luo An's information, General Gu Shouting of the enemy's Sixth Division has wiped out the rebels entrenched in the Gucheng area. He has now sent three battalions of 13,000 enemy troops to Fengqiu. It is expected that these enemy troops will arrive in Fengqiu soon and accept the command of General Yuan Song."

"In addition, news has come from Yijing that the enemy's Ninth Division is gathering and is likely to move south in the near future!"

After hearing the news, Xu Zhaojie's expression suddenly became very serious. If these news became reality, there would be more than 100,000 Fengwu troops in front of him soon. The difference in troop strength would be at least twice as much, not to mention the Fengwu army's advantages in artillery and cavalry!

This bastard Ye Mingsheng is going to fight him to death this time. Now the capital in his hand is not as thick as Ye Mingsheng. Should he take on Ye Mingsheng?·····························

(End of this chapter)