Chapter 8

After finishing the noodles, she didn’t dare to let the man in front of her wash the dishes. One was because the patient needed special care, and the other was because she was really poor. If this person broke her bowls again, she would have to pay for it.

When she picked up this person, she didn’t see anything valuable, just the same words, not expecting him to repay in the future, just hoping he would leave as soon as possible and eat less of her rice.

In the evening, she prepared a bed for this injured man to sleep in her original bed, while she made a bed on the floor in the adjacent small room.

The next day, Hao Cheng got up early as usual, boiling thick white porridge in the early morning, heating water to wash the clothes stained with blood, disposing of the blood-stained oilcloth… After finishing the miscellaneous tasks, the porridge was almost ready.

She then brought two bowls of porridge to the table and turned to knock on the door of the room she had vacated. “Breakfast is ready, you should get up soon, or it won’t taste good when it’s cold.”

For breakfast, she prepared a pot of white porridge, freshly fried golden crispy dough sticks bought from the Dong family next door, salted duck eggs with red yolks that had been preserved, and a plate of freshly pickled crisp cucumbers.

In the countryside, when cooking porridge, it’s usually cooked for the whole family. A large pot of rice is cooked with plenty of water. When it’s almost done, the rice is scooped out, and the remaining water is used to cook porridge. This method produces porridge with plenty of rice and oil, which is particularly fragrant and thick. Cooking once for two meals can also save firewood.

Now, there was only her in this house, so it wasn’t really suitable to cook this way. Fortunately, as a scholar, although she looked thin, her appetite was particularly large. Hao Cheng used a small stove and basically only drank porridge in the morning and ate rice at noon.

Now that there was a useless man added to the household, even though the other party was injured, she wouldn’t change her daily habits for such a person.

After a while, the door opened, and the young man stepped out lightly, closing the door gently behind him. He greeted her good morning before sitting down on the chair opposite her that was missing a corner.

Hao Cheng couldn’t think of any particularly elegant words to describe this person’s behavior. She just felt that his footsteps were rhythmic and orderly, and his sitting posture was upright and graceful. Although his hair wasn’t styled very elaborately, he looked different from the men in this village.

In summary, he had a unique air of a noble man, and every move and gesture seemed like it could be painted.

By the time he came out, Hao Cheng had also finished two large bowls of porridge. She wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and looked up and down at the man sitting opposite her. He was neatly groomed, with not a hair out of place, and his face had gained some color, looking much healthier.

Hao Cheng placed a small cloth bundle in front of him. “This is the prescription the doctor gave, and these are the unused medications. The weather is extremely good today. Take these with you after eating, and go find your relatives. Inside, there are pancakes I made this morning and a water pouch. I don’t have any extra money, but these things should be enough for you to get by for a while.”

In fact, the requirements for men in Jin Kingdom were not so strict, and the status of men wasn’t very low. Whether unmarried or married, men didn’t need to wear veils when walking on the streets. In villages like Xinghua Village and the neighboring towns, there weren’t any men who were rumored to marry multiple wives.

Even in the capital city, the officials’ concubines were limited in number, and the public security in this area was also good. Generally, there wouldn’t be any incidents of men being robbed by thugs while wandering the streets. She had no reason to worry about letting this man go find his relatives on his own.

As soon as she finished speaking, the man opposite her widened his eyes. “Are you driving me away?”

Hao Cheng was even more surprised than him. “Are you not going to find your relatives? Do you want to stay in my house?”

Stop kidding, okay? She couldn’t possibly stand by and watch someone die. But helping in an emergency doesn’t mean she’s responsible for his food and clothing.

This young master, who obviously comes from a wealthy family, is beyond her means to serve. It was inconvenient for him to stay for just one day because it was raining yesterday, and now that the weather is clear, he doesn’t want to leave whenever he feels like it.

Jiang Mengzhen finally realized that things were different from what he had imagined. This person rescued him purely out of kindness, but there’s no such thing as a good person seeing things through to the end. He must have realized it’s better to let go. Forget about any dirty tricks or poisoning, she never even had such thoughts. If it weren’t for yesterday’s rain, she would have wanted him to leave as soon as possible.

Giving him her family’s rice was just her act of kindness. She was angry yesterday because he wasted ingredients and broke two bowls.

Looking at the man’s expression, Hao Cheng’s heart skipped a beat. Could he really be serious about staying here?

After a moment, she packed a basket, picked some medicinal herbs she had picked recently, and carefully wrapped the ginseng she had harvested yesterday in red cloth. She put them all in the basket and covered them with linen cloth.

Today, she planned to go to the town’s pharmacy to sell her precious ginseng. If she earned enough money, she would buy a house in town first.

It’s inconvenient to buy many things in Xinghua Village, and the mosquitoes are too venomous. The mosquito repellents don’t work well at all. It wasn’t so bad when she was still a ghost, but since becoming this scholar, she couldn’t stand it.

Hao Cheng locked the door and the gate, glanced at the man outside the fence holding a small bundle. Without staying for long, she left the house.

Who says that saving someone means you have to help them all the way through? This man fell from the mountain, so his home must be nearby. He’s able-bodied, can walk, and can speak. He’s not mute, so he can ask for directions.

She didn’t ask for any reward from him, and now he wants her to pay for his care. If a man and a woman meet by chance, does he really think she’s a fool with too much money to spend?

Hao Cheng’s pace quickened, and she soon disappeared from Jiang Mengzhen’s sight. She shook her basket, quickly pushing the image of the pitiful man standing there out of her mind.

When she arrived in the bustling town, Hao Cheng first wandered around to find out the market price of ginseng that had been growing for decades. Then she entered a very imposing pharmacy.

The shop assistant greeted her warmly, “What would you like, Miss? We have everything here at Jixiang Pharmacy, all kinds of items. Just tell us what you need, and we’ll definitely have it.”

Hao Cheng took off her basket. “I’m not here to buy medicine, I’m here to sell.”

The shop assistant’s enthusiasm immediately diminished a bit, and her speech became more formulaic. “We don’t buy anything here, it depends on the quality of your items.”

She poured out everything from the basket, and the shop assistant glanced casually. “All these items together, I can give you a maximum of two taels of silver.”

Hao Cheng then unwrapped the red cloth. “What about this?”

Decades-old wild ginseng! Although there are many wild goods in the mountains nearby, this kind of ginseng is still very precious. The shop assistant’s eyes suddenly lit up, but she pretended not to care, playing with the ginseng, and then put it down. “This is worth more, I can give you twenty taels of silver for it.”

Hao Cheng pushed the ginseng over and then held out her hand. “I want this amount.”

The shop assistant hesitated. “Fifty taels, let me think about it, okay, fifty taels it is.”

Hao Cheng shook her head, and the shop assistant exclaimed, “Five hundred taels, why don’t you just rob me?”

Hao Cheng wrapped the ginseng back in the red cloth, took the two taels of silver she got from selling the other herbs, and prepared to leave.

She had inquired, and ginseng that had been growing for decades could be sold for two hundred to seven or eight hundred taels depending on its quality. Centennial ginseng is even more valuable, and it can be sold for a thousand taels of silver.

However, most small pharmacies couldn’t afford such precious items. Fifty taels? Did she think she was a fool?

The shop assistant called after her, “Wait, for such a large sum of money, I need to discuss it with the shopkeeper.”

At this moment, a young man’s voice interjected, “Sell me that ginseng for six hundred taels of silver. I’ll take it.”