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“Xiao Yan, you really are my lucky star! It’s only been a few days since you arrived, and there hasn’t been a single day without income in the house!”
Lu Qiniang held two heavy silver ingots, afraid to stop along the way, constantly feeling as if someone might steal her money. She ran all the way back home in one breath.
Seeing Xiao Yan, she was so overwhelmed with emotion that her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t even mind that he was still lying in bed when the sun was already high in the sky.
It was worth noting that she had far less patience for her third daughter, Sanya, than she did for him.
“How much silver did you get?” Xiao Yan asked.
“Twenty taels, a full twenty taels!” Lu Qiniang whispered excitedly into his ear, keeping her voice low.
She couldn’t let it be known; otherwise, Sanya would start thinking about new clothes again.
This money cannot be touched.
First, it needed to be saved to buy piglets in the spring, so she could restart her pig farming business. Second, it was also necessary to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances at home.
After all, with so many people in the household, every need—food, drink, daily chores, illness, and social obligations—required money.
Having money in hand would ease her mind.
The warmth of her breath brushed against Xiao Yan’s ear, making his earlobe turn red.
Xiao Yan suddenly said, “You might need to spend some silver on me.”
“I think my ribs are broken.”
Lu Qiniang: “?!”
Was this so-called General Who Routed Barbarians made of paper?
It was all falling apart, as if waiting for her to pick up the pieces and somehow piece it together. One wrong move, and it would shatter again…
So, Hu Shenyi was called in once more.
He confirmed Xiao Yan’s suspicion.
“Don’t move around. Let me stabilize you; just take it easy,” Hu Shenyi said.
Up until this point, everything seemed normal.
But then, suddenly, his tone shifted. “Next time, try a different position. With your large frame, you can’t just sit on top of him like that.”
Xiao Yan understood immediately, his face turning beet red in an instant.
But Lu Qiniang didn’t get it.
She complained, “What kind of nonsense is this? Who can control the position when they fall? If I could control it, I wouldn’t have fallen on top of him in the first place. Isn’t that just asking for bad luck?”
“Did you accidentally fall on top of him?” Hu Shenyi asked, his disbelief clear.
Had the yellow nonsense in his mind increased a bit too much?
“Otherwise? Was I supposed to do it on purpose? What grudge do I have with him?”
Hu Shenyi rolled his eyes and, picking up his medical bag, started to walk out.
“Wait, how much is the consultation fee? I’ll pay you.”
“Oh? You’ve got money now?” Hu Shenyi glanced back at her.
“Well, I can’t always run up a tab. I’ll pay you back—borrow and return, and borrowing again won’t be hard,” Lu Qiniang mumbled.
“Fifty taels of silver,” Hu Shenyi extended his hand.
Lu Qiniang’s eyes flickered. “Hurry up and go, go home and celebrate the New Year.”
But Hu Shenyi didn’t leave.
He asked again, “Lu Qiniang, do you have silver in your hands?”
“Not much,” Lu Qiniang quickly said, pushing him toward the door. “Your wife is waiting for you to go home and put up the Spring Festival couplets.”
“How much?” Hu Shenyi clung to the doorframe, unwilling to leave.
Xiao Yan felt there was more to their conversation, and Lu Qiniang was clearly uneasy, as if she was hiding something on purpose.
“What money do I have? It’s already tough enough feeding so many mouths, where would I have money left over?”
Hu Shenyi, reddening in frustration, was nearly shouting. Yet, he was so thin with sharp features, looking like an angry, embarrassed monkey to Xiao Yan.
“Lu Qiniang, I told you, your illness isn’t fully cured. Forty to fifty taels of silver is just to save your life. If you want to fully recover, you’ll need another forty to fifty taels! If you’ve got the money, hurry up and give it to me so I can buy the medicine. Are you going to save the money for having children? Aren’t you afraid that you’ll have the life to earn it but not the life to spend it?”
“Hu Shenyi, what are you saying?”
Erya entered, her eyes wide and round. “My mother’s illness isn’t cured yet? Are you crazy over money? It’s the New Year, and you’re cursing my mother!”
“Cursing your mother? Why don’t you curse someone else?” Hu Shenyi was also getting angry, feeling his professional ethics were being questioned. “Am I telling your mother this today? When I saved her, I already… mmph—”
It turned out Lu Qiniang had covered his mouth.
“It’s nothing, Erya. Don’t listen to him blabbering. He’s drunk.”
“Mother, let him go.” Erya gritted her teeth, her eyes full of tears, staring at Lu Qiniang in silence.
“Let go of him!” Erya’s tears streamed down her face, and she stamped her feet. “If you don’t let go, it means you’re guilty! Fine, you won’t let go, will you?”
She threw herself toward the wall.
Xiao Yan was shocked and almost instinctively reached out to stop her, but the movement aggravated his broken ribs, sending a sharp, piercing pain through his body.
Meanwhile, Lu Qiniang reacted quickly, releasing Hu Shenyi and immediately grabbing hold of Erya. Still shaken, she slapped Erya’s backside several times. “Are you trying to scare your mother to death? What kind of strong person are you, throwing yourself at the wall just because you’re upset? You can pretend and scare me, but don’t really throw yourself into it!”
“Hu Shenyi, you tell us, if you’re lying, you’re not human!” Erya struggled and shouted. “Big Sister, Big Sister, come in and listen!”
Hu Shenyi looked at Lu Qiniang. “They’re not children anymore, and you’re still hiding things from them!”
He sat down on the edge of the kang, rubbing his mouth, which still hurt from being pressed by Lu Qiniang. “You, woman, how do you have so much stubbornness? How much longer do you think you can keep hiding this?”
Seeing she could no longer hide the truth, Lu Qiniang was choked with frustration. “So what if I’ll live a few fewer years? It’s not like I’ll die right away. After the New Year, can’t I still make money?”
“Enduring all this… it’s your life on the line!” Hu Shenyi seemed to hesitate, as if there was something he didn’t want to fully say. “I told you back then, I gave you the medicine to make you gain weight. It would… well, after saving your life, you need to take medicine to lose weight again for a full recovery.”
“Then why didn’t you treat my mother completely? Is it because you ran out of money?” Erya cried, asking. “You should have told us.”
“What good would it have done to tell you? A few taels of silver can drive a person to death, let alone forty to fifty taels,” Hu Shenyi replied.
“Erya, don’t cry, don’t listen to him. There are hardly a few people he says can survive. Look at me, I’m fine, aren’t I?”
“Forty taels of silver, is it?” Erya gritted her teeth. “So forty taels will make her better?”
“Pretty much.”
“Alright, you wait here.” Erya turned to Daya. “Big Sister, the Zhou family is buying maids. Between the two of us, we can definitely fetch forty taels.”
Girls in their teens were the most valuable.
Because if they stayed at home, they could still be given a good dowry when married, so their prices remained high.
“Shut up!” Lu Qiniang exploded in fury. “If I use the money from selling you two to treat my illness, I might as well just die right now!”
To put an end to Erya’s thoughts, Lu Qiniang took out the twenty taels of silver she had just received.
“What’s forty taels?” She said casually, “I already have twenty taels. After the New Year, we’ll earn more together. Good girl, stop crying. It’s the New Year! Your mother will live a long life, watching you get married and have children!”
“Twenty taels of silver… that still leaves twenty more.” Erya ignored her and continued on her own, “Alright, alright, Hu Shenyi, you wait here. I’ll go get the other twenty taels right now.”