Chapter 8

Su Yuwei held the pen in her hand, pondered over Pei Shujing’s condition for a moment, and then began to write with graceful, flowing strokes. In no time, she had completed a prescription.

“Let’s start with this. Have her take the medicine for a week and see how it goes.”

She handed the written prescription to Pei’s mother, who accepted it with deep gratitude. Su Yuwei continued her instructions:

“There are two herbs in the prescription that might be a bit hard to find. If you can manage to get them, the effect will be much better. If not, you can substitute them with the alternatives I wrote in — they just won’t be quite as effective.”

“Okay, okay, I got it,” Pei’s mother nodded earnestly.

She carefully examined the prescription in her hands, then passed the paper to her son, Pei Shuchen, saying with hopeful eyes:

“Shuchen, take a look.”

Pei Shuchen took the paper and was momentarily dazed by the neat and elegant handwriting. After reading through the contents of the prescription, he looked at his mother’s hopeful gaze, and his expression softened as he replied gently:

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.”

Pei’s mother breathed a sigh of relief, a slight smile returning to her face. She reminded him:

“Keep it safe. Copy it down when we get home, and send a copy to your father — see if the family can help get the herbs too.”

Pei Shuchen nodded, folded the prescription, and tucked it into his shirt pocket.

Feeling greatly relieved, Pei’s mother turned to Su Yuwei and Zhao Fang with a smile and explained:

“We’re from Yanjing. My son works here, and we heard there’s an old Chinese medicine doctor who has a good record treating epilepsy, so we brought my daughter over for treatment.”

Zhao Fang nodded in understanding.

After all, if it weren’t for her son’s leg injury and her daughter’s divorce, she wouldn’t be dragging herself across the country on a day-and-night train ride to an unfamiliar city either.

…

After a bit of small talk, Pei’s mother saw that her daughter was sleeping soundly and her condition had stabilized. In a much better mood, she told Pei Shuchen to head to the train’s dining car and get them some food.

Pei Shuchen, not one for many words, nodded and left without further comment.

Dr. Yu, seeing that his help was no longer needed, politely excused himself and returned to his seat.

Pei’s mother stepped forward, warmly taking Su Yuwei’s hand with a gentle smile and said kindly:

“Why don’t you stay and have a meal with us? The food on the train’s nothing special, but we brought a lot of local specialties from Yanjing and homemade dried meats. You and your mother should try some.”

Though Pei’s mother was middle-aged, she had a very gentle and refined demeanor. Earlier, she had seemed flustered under pressure, but now that things had calmed down, a graceful scholarly air returned to her — she gave off a very pleasant feeling.

At that moment, she was also quietly observing the young girl before her. The girl didn’t look much older than her own daughter — pretty, with her hair braided into a plait, and eyes that sparkled with lively intelligence.

A thought suddenly struck Pei’s mother…

Her mind inexplicably drifted to her son — that emotionally-blocked, aloof man who never seemed to open up.

Just as her imagination began to take off, Zhao Fang interjected:

“I’m afraid we won’t be able to stay for the meal. My granddaughter is a little clingy — if she wakes up, only her mother can calm her down.”

Pei’s mother froze, her face showing a flash of disappointment, and she let out a soft sigh.

Married, huh…

And with a kid already, from the sound of it. That meant her son’s chances were shot again.

But she quickly composed herself, scribbled down an address and phone number on a piece of paper, and handed it to Su Yuwei, speaking warmly:

“Girl, you saved my daughter’s life. You’re our family’s benefactor. If you ever need anything, call this number or come to this address. If it’s something I can help with, I definitely will.”

Then she pulled a thick stack of crisp banknotes from her small handbag — freshly printed green hundred-yuan notes — and began stuffing them into Su Yuwei’s hand:

“I didn’t bring much with me, but take this for now. Just tell me your name and address, and I’ll send you more later if needed.”

Su Yuwei and Zhao Fang were both stunned…

To be honest, in an era when being a “ten-thousand-yuan household” would get you on the front page of the newspaper, this kind of generosity — casually handing over a fat wad of cash — felt surreal.

“……”

Su Yuwei wanted to politely refuse, but her hand seemed to have a mind of its own and clung to the cash without hesitation.

Her entire body seemed to scream one word:

Want!

Apparently, Comrade Zhao Fang was feeling the same way. She walked over with a wide grin and said:

“Oh my, that’s really too generous of you.”

She only made the token gesture of protest before smoothly helping tuck the money into Su Yuwei’s pocket, patting it in place, and changing the subject as if nothing had happened:

“Young lady, my daughter’s name is Su Yuwei. I’ll write down our address for you later. You don’t need to pay us back — if your daughter’s condition improves after taking the medicine, we’ll have her write another prescription for you.”

Pei’s mother’s eyes lit up with joy, and she quickly responded:

“That would be wonderful. Thank you, elder sister. Once this whole thing blows over, I’d love to invite your family to Yanjing for a visit.”

“Sure, sounds good. We’ve never been there, so once we settle everything on our end, we’ll definitely come for a trip.”

Zhao Fang readily agreed. Pei’s mother showed no trace of a wealthy person’s arrogance — on the contrary, it felt like she had found a kindred spirit.

By the time Su Yuwei returned to her compartment, Zhao Fang and Pei’s mother were chatting so enthusiastically they didn’t want to part.

Pei’s mother was genuinely happy.

She told Zhao Fang all about Yanjing’s development and fun stories, and Zhao Fang reacted with animated amazement, giving Pei’s mother a real sense of satisfaction. Her desire to share only grew stronger.

After a while, Zhao Fang started telling stories about village life — family gossip, hair-pulling fights — and Pei’s mother listened just as intently.

In the end, these two middle-aged women from vastly different backgrounds had formed a fast friendship in a remarkably short time.

…

Back in the compartment, Su Yuwei fed baby Yueyue after she woke up from her nap and coaxed her back to sleep again.

She felt quite pleased — babies around this age were relatively easy to care for, and little Yueyue seemed especially obedient.

“Yuwei, have a biscuit.”

From the opposite bunk, Su Yunxiang handed over a dry, hard biscuit.

Su Yuwei looked at it, her appetite completely gone.

Zhao Fang had clearly gotten carried away with the conversation and ended up sending her back to look after the baby while she stayed behind to eat. Fuming, Su Yuwei took a big bite of the biscuit.

“Cough cough… water…”

It was so dry it made her eyes roll back. She reached out to Su Yunxiang for water when suddenly she noticed a tall figure standing in the hallway outside the compartment.

“……”