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Liu Qishuang’s ears were fine after all; he hadn’t misheard. Wan Dongyang really only wanted ten cash coins from him.

Moreover, Wan Dongyang told him that from now on, whenever he went to sell goods, if he managed to make a hundred wen, he would charge him ten wen as a service fee; if he didn’t make a hundred wen, he wouldn’t charge him anything.

On their way back, there were still quite a few fellow travelers, and the cart was still filled with the chatter of people, but not a single word the villagers said reached Liu Qishuang’s ears.

His eyes were fixed only on the person driving the cart, whose hair was blowing in the gentle breeze. He felt that Wan Dongyang, just like Aunt Wan, was a good person.

The town was only four or five li from the village. In the blink of an eye, Wan Dongyang’s carriage reached the village entrance, arriving at the fork leading to the Liu family’s home. Liu Qishuang glanced toward his home but ultimately didn’t call out to Wan Dongyang to stop the carriage, letting it carry him into the village. He feared that if his parents were home, they wouldn’t let him go back to the Wan family’s house once he returned.

It was still early today—not even the hour of Shen yet. He wanted to wander into the mountains to see if he could find the elm that the girl had been selling earlier. Even if he didn’t find any, it didn’t matter; he could still dig up milk vetch or pick some grass-seed flowers.

All of these could be sold for cash.

Besides today, he still had two days left. He could go to town to sell things twice more. Adding today’s copper coins to that, if he could scrape together three taels of silver, he should be able to take Grandpa to the clinic for a checkup.

The road from town to the village was as wide as the main highway. Once past the village entrance, the path narrowed slightly, but it remained mostly a broad thoroughfare. Households with carriages and horses would extend the wide road right up to their front doors, while those without would have only a narrow, winding path leading to their homes.

Wan Dongyang wasn’t that considerate. No matter who was in his carriage, he would only stop on the main road and would never go so far as to drop someone off at their doorstep.

“Hurry up and get off! Do you really want to come visit my house?” Wan Dongyang waited impatiently for the Jiang family’s second daughter-in-law to dismount, shooting her a glare, resolving never to haul this woman, whose behind must weigh over a thousand catties, and who sits down and refuses to budge—again.

It was a real pain.

There was only one Jiang family in the village—that of Jiang, the Village Doctor. All three of his sons had started their own families, yet they still lived under the same roof.

Back in the day, after the third son got married, Old Doctor Jiang had wanted to split the household—most families in the village did that, dividing up once all the children had started their own families. But all three of the Jiang sons were vying to take care of their elderly father, and none of them was willing to move out, so naturally, the household couldn’t be split.

Now, the entire extended family still lives crammed together in a single courtyard.

As soon as Li Honghua, the second daughter-in-law of the Jiang family, stepped through the door, she burst in, calling out “Eldest Sister-in-Law!” After finding her by the back gutter, she recounted what she had seen that day with a look of pure curiosity.

“Eldest Sister-in-Law, that Xu-ger was riding in Wan Dongyang’s carriage, and even when they reached the front gate, he didn’t get out. It looked to me like he went over to the Wan household. What on earth is going on?” Li Honghua was still smiling as she spoke, but as soon as Niu Meiyu heard her words, her face darkened instantly. She dropped the hoe she was holding and hurried out into the courtyard to look for Jiang Tuyu.

Li Honghua hadn’t been home for the past couple of days, so naturally, she knew nothing about it, but Niu Meiyu did, and she immediately grew anxious.

The villagers were all uneducated peasants who couldn’t read a single character, let alone understand anything about herbal medicine. Even if a life-saving herb were right in front of them, they wouldn’t know what to do with it.

But while others were uneducated, the Wan family was different. The largest landowner in their village bore the surname Wan. Although Wan Dongyang’s family wasn’t a landowning family, he and his brothers had all attended school as children and could read.

Once a person can read, who knows what skills they might possess that others don’t? After all, bookstores carry all kinds of books, and naturally, there are books on herbal medicine as well.

Yesterday, Liu Qishuang had said he would send some loquat flowers, but there had been no word since. At first, Niu Meiyu was angry, but then she grew uneasy, for she had discovered that he had become entangled with the Wan family. Now, hearing her sister-in-law speak of this, her worries deepened, and she hurried to find her father-in-law.

“Father, I recall that the eldest son of the Wan family used to trade in medicinal herbs years ago. He even went into the mountains himself to dig for them. That’s how he made his fortune—buying fields, land, and building houses.” Niu Meiyu went straight to Doctor Jiang Tu and voiced her concerns. Li Honghua couldn’t bring herself to smile at that moment.

She recalled that the herbs Xu-ger had brought home last year had sold for a total of five taels of silver. What did her sister-in-law mean by that? Was the Wan family trying to steal their business?

Grandpa Jiang was currently turning over the herbs to dry them. His hands were busy, but he shook his head a few times. He felt his daughter-in-law was overthinking things.

“No, Wan Yong’an isn’t that kind of person. He knows this is our livelihood; he wouldn’t go around spreading rumors.” Otherwise, who in the village would come to him for medicine and treatment? They’d just go dig up their own herbs. The Wan family was always very tactful; they would never do anything to ruin someone else’s livelihood.

It’s just…

“Eldest son’s wife, it’s just a few loquat leaves. Why not give them to the boy? Last year, when he brought you that pinellia ternata, you sold it at the Peace Clinic for nearly four hundred wen, didn’t you? And those seeds sold for a decent sum too—that should be enough for him to trade for some loquat leaves.”

Though Grandpa Jiang and Grandpa Liu weren’t exactly on the best of terms, they were roughly the same age and had grown up together in the same village, so there was still some bond between them. They figured if they could lend a hand, they should.

Today, the men of the Jiang household were plastering the field ridges, and the third son’s wife had gone to plant beans along the ridges. Li Honghua had returned to her parents’ home the day before; otherwise, she’d be busy in the fields at this hour as well.

Though there weren’t many people at home, the decision-makers were all present. There was no need to wait for anyone to return to discuss the matter, nor was there any reason to keep it hidden.

With her father-in-law dismissing her concerns, Niu Meiyu’s anxiety eased considerably, and she regained her composure. She spoke bluntly: “Father, you’re wrong.”

“That’s not how it is.”

Grandma Jiang passed away several years ago. As the eldest daughter-in-law with a strong-willed nature, Niu Meiyu naturally took charge of the household, and her two younger sisters-in-law had always obeyed her.

Niu Meiyu had only gotten this far in her explanation; she hadn’t even explained the reason yet, but Li Honghua had already started nodding in agreement. Old Master Jiang sighed, seemingly unwilling to say more, but Niu Meiyu had no intention of stopping. She decided to spell it out clearly.

“In the Xu household, it’s Xu-ger’s father who calls the shots. You all know full well what kind of attitude that Xu fellow has toward Old Liu, so we can’t settle this matter like that.

Even if the price Xu’s son paid for the pinellia ternata was high, if he’d sold it to a clinic, not a single coin would have gone to Old Liu. But since he gave it to us, the medicine we provide will at least end up in Old Liu’s mouth. We aren’t taking advantage of him; on the contrary, we’re doing a good deed while risking the wrath of his father.”

“Everyone knows his father is a mean old man—we’re the only ones willing to help him.” Li Honghua quickly agreed; since the eldest sister-in-law was the head of the household, she naturally had to back her up.

Niu Meiyu gave Li Honghua a satisfied nod and continued, “Since we’re helping him, he naturally owes us. The Pinellia ternata he gave us last year has already been exchanged for two packets of medicine. If he wants more medicine, he’ll naturally have to exchange it for new medicine—barter, and we’re even.”

“How can it be that just because he gives us a packet of herbs, he can demand whatever he wants from us? If the villagers only see him taking medicine but never bringing any in return, what will they think? Can we even keep running this business? We might as well just turn it into a charity hall.”

Grandpa Jiang remained silent in response to Niu Meiyu’s words. He simply thought to himself that everything has its limits; if he pressed the boy too hard, the boy would surely find another way—and likely already had.

Grandpa Jiang fell silent, but Niu Meiyu reassured herself, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing. A mere ger can’t cause much trouble.” Still, she felt uneasy. Frowning, she cursed, “I told you that ger was shameless. He dares to come begging for medicine from us, people he’s not even related to. With such thick skin, he’s surely capable of throwing himself at men for favors.”

“A while back, he and his mother were sucking up to the Wan Changfu family, and now I’m afraid he’s set his sights on Wan Dongyang. Yesterday, that ger followed Wan Dongyang and his niece up the mountain, and today he tagged along to town. What on earth is he up to? Does he want to become a leech and cling to the Wan family?”

“Sister-in-law, even if he wants to be a leech, the Wan family would have to let him latch on. There’s no way the Wan family would ever look at him that way.” Li Honghua wasn’t the least bit worried about what Niu Meiyu said; right now, she was only concerned about the loquat leaves.

What if that ger mentions Old Liu’s illness to the Wan family, and the Wans, being so unscrupulous, go and tell the ger about it? That would be a real mess.

When Wan Dongyang’s carriage reached the edge of the Song family compound, Liu Qishuang plucked up the courage to call for it to stop.

“Wait here a moment, I’ll be right back!” Liu Qishuang jumped out of the carriage and ran toward the Song residence. He’d been carrying the item in his sleeve all day; if he didn’t deliver it soon, it would be too late.

“Saixue, are you home?” The Song family’s courtyard wall was made of earth and was quite high.

Instead of going to the main gate, Liu Qishuang called out from outside the wall. No sooner had he spoken than a clear, bright voice answered him from within the courtyard, and in no time at all, the Song family’s gate swung open.

“Shuangshuang, what brings you here?” As the gate swung open, a young girl with two long braids stood in the doorway, looking surprised.

The girl had a fair complexion; though her features weren’t particularly striking, her snow-white skin made her look quite pretty. This was Song Saixue, Liu Qishuang’s only friend in the village.

Fearing that Wan Dongyang had been waiting too long and might have left, Liu Qishuang didn’t linger to chat. She quickly pulled out the items she’d been hiding all day, shoved them into the girl’s hands, and hurried off.

Song Saixue looked puzzled as she unfolded a tattered but still relatively clean handkerchief. Inside lay two pieces of candy and a pile of crumbled pastries.

Her brows immediately furrowed. Song Saixue tucked the two pieces of candy away and stared at the small pile of crumbled pastry, thinking that next time she’d crumble the steamed buns she’d hidden for that guy into bits too—but the thought vanished as quickly as it had come.

The moment her tongue tasted the pastry, Song Saixue’s small eyes widened in surprise, her face lighting up with delight.

“It’s delicious!”

It really was delicious—she’d never tasted such a delicious pastry before. Next time, she wouldn’t crush the steamed buns she’d hidden; she’d keep them safe for Shuangshuang.