As soon as Su Ze got off work in the afternoon, he found that his parents had not only finished cooking, but had already eaten without waiting for him.

They were now about to head out to deliver food to his wife and their two children.

The three of them barely spent five minutes together before Su Ze watched his parents ride off on bicycles, carrying a bag full of food containers.

The couple pedaled straight to the state-run restaurant, where they handed over meat coupons and money to buy a serving of braised pork and another of cabbage and pork dumplings.

Food is essential like iron and steel.

Right now, they weren’t afraid to spend money—what they feared was having no money to spend in the future, or worse, having money but nothing left to buy.

Besides, Su Huaiyuan already knew before his afternoon class that his wife had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

He had always respected her decisions, and now he supported her even more.

Aru had said, if you want good health, you need to eat well.

While they still had the chance, they should eat as much as they could.

What’s in your stomach is truly yours.

One box of braised pork, one of cabbage and pork dumplings, one of rice, one of stir-fried cabbage with cured meat, and one of red sugar egg soup—more than enough to feed one adult and two children well.

“Granny, Granny!”

“Granny, Granny!”

“Grandpa!”

“Grandpa!”

As Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan entered the hospital room, their two little grandchildren, who had been playing on a hospital bed, squealed with joy and reached out their arms toward their grandparents.

“Aww, yes, yes.”

“Dabao, Xiaobao, Grandma’s sweet babies.”

Who could resist such adorable kids?

Especially Qiao Jiuru—her eyes were turning red with emotion.

“Mom, Dad, you’re here,” said Zhou Wanwan, quickly making space for her in-laws when she saw them arrive with food.

“Xiaowan, this meal is for you too. Eat before you head back,” they said.

They had brought a meal for their daughter-in-law as well.

The food containers were filled with meat, dumplings, eggs…

Thankfully, they were the only ones in this hospital room, or others might get jealous.

Zhou Wanwan hadn’t expected dinner to be even better than lunch.

She couldn’t help but be surprised, but she was deeply moved by how well her in-laws treated her and the children.

While she ate, her parents-in-law took charge of feeding the two kids.

In less than thirty minutes, all the food was gone.

“Wanwan, your father and I have some errands to run. You stay here with Dabao and Xiaobao—we’ll come relieve you soon,” Qiao Jiuru said quietly after washing the containers with her daughter-in-law.

Zhou Wanwan nodded without question.

She wasn’t the type to be nosy.

After gently patting the children’s heads, the couple left the hospital on their bicycles.

It was wintertime, and darkness came early.

Around 6 PM, rush hour traffic peaked.

Soon, they weaved through several alleys and disappeared.

Half an hour later, Su Huaiyuan and Qiao Jiuru stopped at a quiet alleyway, right in front of the second-to-last courtyard.

They opened the gate and stepped in.

This courtyard was part of Qiao Grandmother’s dowry.

Even the ownership hadn’t changed.

Only the Qiao family and Su Huaiyuan knew of its existence.

Instead of heading to the main house, Qiao Jiuru turned into a small room by the gate—a servant’s room. It had nothing but a simple wooden bed, with brick walls and dirt flooring—clearly once meant for a servant.

She went to the corner, knocked out an inconspicuous brick, scraped away the thick layer of dirt beneath, and unearthed a small black wooden box, covered in soil.

Su Huaiyuan had been standing guard at the doorway, alert for any movement outside, until his wife called him over.

They shut the door behind them and turned their attention to the box in Qiao Jiuru’s hands.

Inside was the Qiao family’s heirloom: the inked Bracelet.

They knew it was extremely valuable, but had never thought of it as anything beyond that.

However, Qiao’s grandfather had recently reminded her of the Bracelet in a dream—so it clearly wasn’t ordinary.

“Huaiyuan, Grandfather said this Bracelet is very important. I believe it holds a secret we don’t yet understand. I want to try opening it with a drop of blood.”

Having lived into her 90s in her previous life, Qiao Jiuru had heard of many strange things.

Since this was the Qiao family’s treasure, perhaps only Qiao blood could unlock it.

She had thought of this in advance and even brought a small knife.

Su Huaiyuan had no better ideas.

He could only agree, holding the box with worry.

Without hesitation, Qiao Jiuru cut her middle finger gently with the knife.

Blood flowed immediately.

She pressed her bleeding finger to the ink Bracelet.

The next second, a dizzying whirl overcame her, and she lost balance, falling to the ground.

When she opened her eyes again, she wasn’t looking at her husband, but at a landscape of lush green mountains and rivers.

In the distance stood a house in ancient style.

Where… was this?

Qiao Jiuru’s heart pounded.

Had the Bracelet brought her to another place?

Could this be a space inside the Bracelet?

It was daytime here, and the air was unbelievably fresh and pleasant.

She looked around at the breathtaking scenery, then fixed her gaze on the house.

Without hesitation, she walked toward it.

The house wasn’t locked.

She pushed open the gate and stepped inside.

It turned out to be a square-shaped courtyard in the western style. Every door was shut.

Her curiosity led her to one room.

“Pharmacy.”

What?

A pharmacy?!

Was it really the kind of pharmacy she was thinking of?

The Qiao family had practiced medicine for generations.

Qiao Jiuru was no stranger to medicinal herbs.

She couldn’t help but open the door.

A fragrant scent of herbs filled the room.

The walls were lined with shelves and drawers—each labeled.

“Health Pill,” “Detox Pill,” “Energy Pill,” “Blood-Tonic Pill,” “Calming Pill,” “Danshen Pill,” “Bezoar Pill,” “Rejuvenation Pill,” “Brain-Tonic Pill,” “Heart-Strengthening Pill,” “Western Soup Pill,” “Stomach-Protecting Pill,” “Pain-Relief Pill,” “Anti-Diarrheal Pill,” “Cough-Relief Pill”…

The labels dazzled her.

So many different pills!

The more she saw, the more excited she became.

This was exactly what she needed—she feared not just poverty, but also lack of medicine.

On two other walls, she found cabinets of raw herbs—ginseng, lingzhi, bear bile, tiger whip, deer antler, bear paw…

Amazing.

Simply amazing.