Chapter 8: Once a son is married off, he is like spilled water.

When Ji Tangtang came out of the secret realm carrying wild vegetables, the chicken soup was already ready. The rich aroma filled the room.

Xu Guifen came back carrying firewood, and as soon as she smelled the fragrance in the air, she couldn’t help but take a deep breath, her face showing a look of pure delight. Ji Xiaohui, following behind with an armful of firewood, kept swallowing her saliva. When she saw her eldest sister carrying a bundle of wild vegetables, she quickly dropped the firewood, ran over, and said:

“Big Sister, let me wash those.”

“No need, I’ve already washed these. In a bit we can just dip them into the pot and eat. You go wash your hands first, then we’ll get ready for dinner.”

When Ji Tangtang came out, she had conveniently washed the wild vegetables in the secret realm’s spirit spring.

Ji Changming and Xu Guifen had already learned at noon about her so-called “fortuitous encounter,” so hearing this didn’t strike them as strange anymore. As for Ji Xiaohui, before she left the house at noon, Xu Guifen had hinted a little to her as well, carefully instructing her that none of the family matters could be told to outsiders—otherwise the whole family wouldn’t just go hungry but could even bring disaster upon themselves.

Though young, Ji Xiaohui understood the gravity of the matter. That afternoon, when several companions cutting pig grass with her tried to ask about her elder sister, she kept her lips tightly sealed, never letting slip a single word she shouldn’t. Now, she acted calm and composed, washing her hands before bringing over bowls and chopsticks to help set the table.

Ji Tangtang looked at her skinny little sister with a trace of appreciation in her eyes. Not bad, this girl.

Since the family didn’t have much grain, Ji Changming, seeing they had two chickens, decided not to make coarse porridge that evening. The family gathered around the pot, dipping wild vegetables into the chicken soup as they ate with the meat.

The wild vegetables nourished by the spirit spring were tender and crisp. After a quick dip in the chicken broth, their flavor was no worse than the chicken itself. These wild vegetables that had once been scorned were now being fought over.

“These vegetables are so delicious! At first bite there’s a faint bitterness, but afterward it turns sweet, with a light fragrance lingering.” After another bite, Xu Guifen couldn’t help but say, “Tangtang, what are these vegetables called? The taste is so unique—I’ve never eaten anything like it before.”

“Ginseng leaves,” Ji Tangtang replied lightly, after eating a chopstick full.

“Huh?” Everyone stopped with their chopsticks midair, staring at her in shock.

“What did you say it was?” Xu Guifen nearly lost control of her voice. “Did you just say these are the leaves of those priceless wild ginsengs from the mountains?”

Ji Tangtang nodded. Though privately, she believed the ginseng leaves she produced now were far superior to any wild ginseng in the mountains. After all, they came from the secret realm and grew by the spirit spring. But while ginseng was prized in the mortal world, it wasn’t considered a particularly rare or precious spiritual herb in the secret realm, where countless treasures far surpassed it. To her, ginseng was just an ordinary medicinal plant.

Ji Changming and the others clearly had no idea what sort of treasure she truly held. They stared in stunned silence for quite a while before Ji Changming finally spoke:

“So it’s really ginseng leaves? And we just ate them like this?”

“It’s just ginseng leaves, nothing special,” Ji Tangtang said casually. If it weren’t for her current lack of cultivation, which prevented her from exploring the secret realm freely, she wouldn’t even bother eating something as lowly as ginseng leaves. Once she recovered some strength, she fully intended to collect true heavenly treasures to eat.

“Not special? Ginseng leaves?” Xu Guifen exclaimed, amazed. “I’ve heard every part of ginseng is precious! They say the supply and marketing cooperative pays dozens of yuan for just one root!”

Ji Tangtang’s eyes lit up. She decided that tomorrow, besides going to the black market, she’d also check out the supply and marketing cooperative. The secret realm was filled with medicinal plants—practically endless. Taking out just a few would be considered rare treasures outside. Most importantly, sales through the cooperative would be legal and official, which could help cover up some of her other income sources that had no clear explanation.

“Tomorrow, when I go into town, I’ll also stop by the cooperative. Do you want me to bring anything back?”

Xu Guifen bit her lip, then got up and rummaged for a long time beneath the bedboards, finally pulling out a stack of ration coupons. She handed them to Ji Tangtang and said:

“The family doesn’t have much money. Take this and buy a few things for the wedding. Even though the Gu family eventually agreed not to demand a bride price, their meaning is clear: since Gu Shiyu is marrying into our family, we are the ones receiving him, so the wedding preparations should be on us.”

Ji Tangtang didn’t take it too seriously. She said:

“If we’re the ones to prepare, then we’ll prepare. But you should find time to tell Shen Meifang this: once a son is married, he belongs to his wife’s household. She needs to stop coming around and interfering in our life as a couple.”

Even so, she didn’t accept the money from Xu Guifen.

“I’ll take care of things tomorrow. Keep the money—who knows when we might need it later.”

But Xu Guifen insisted on stuffing the money into her hands. “Take it. Everything in town costs money. If it’s not enough, I’ll find a way to borrow more from your uncle.”

Ji Tangtang didn’t argue further. She thought she’d just return it later if she didn’t spend it.

After dinner, she found an excuse to step out. Under cover of night, she quietly slipped into Gu Shiyu’s room.

Gu Shiyu hadn’t slept well the previous night, tossing and turning restlessly. And after Shen Meifang came to test him today, he was all the more eager to see Ji Tangtang. Unfortunately, with his crippled legs, he could barely manage personal tasks on his own through sheer upper-body strength, but going to the village to look for her was impossible.

The moment he saw Ji Tangtang, his eyes lit up with joy.

“Seeing me makes you this happy?” Ji Tangtang glanced around his room and, noticing there wasn’t even a stool, clicked her tongue a few times before sitting unceremoniously on his bed.

When Gu Shiyu saw her, he immediately thought of what had happened the night before. His ears turned red, his cheeks burned, and he spoke a little awkwardly:

“I was just looking for you…”

“What for?” Ji Tangtang pulled out a fruit from her pocket and casually took a bite.

Gu Shiyu removed a wooden token with intricate carvings from around his neck and handed it to her. “When you have time, take this to the city Public Security Bureau and look for a man named Lin Xinming. He’s my comrade-in-arms. When he retired from service, I helped him out a bit. If he sees this, he’ll hand over the allowance I left with him.”

Ji Tangtang blinked. “You left money with him?”

Gu Shiyu’s lips curved into a mocking smile. “If I kept it with me, it wouldn’t have lasted.”

When his comrades sent him home, his family had used the excuse of “helping him unpack” to take every bit of money and ration tickets he had, along with the milk powder, malted milk, and other nutritional goods his comrades had given him. Fortunately, he’d had the foresight to set aside part of his allowance with his comrade; otherwise, he would have had no way to make it up to Comrade Ji now.

He didn’t go into detail about what he had gone through after being paralyzed and returning to the Gu family, but Ji Tangtang could already guess some of it. In a way, he was quite pitiful. In the book, just like the original Ji, he too had only been a tool for others.

Ji Tangtang took the wooden token from him, then casually fished out two fruits from her pocket and tossed them to him. “Alright, I got it.”

Gu Shiyu reached out and caught the two fruits. He studied them for quite a while but couldn’t tell what they were. They were about the size of eggs, bright red, and gave off a rich fruity fragrance. Just the scent alone was enough to make one’s mouth water.