“Based on the symptoms, I preliminarily diagnose it as a poisoning from the Jin’gang vine flower.”

The Jin’gang vine usually grows in the southern regions. This area was more northern, so it was quite rare—and likely unknown to most people.

Sure enough, Lu Yun and the Lin siblings both said they’d never heard of it.

“Then we just need to find the antidote that counteracts that vine, right?” Lin Zhuang asked, excited.

“No need to make it so complicated. The poison isn’t serious at all. In fact, if you’d simply used the most common detoxifying herbs to apply topically back then, it would’ve healed within two days.

But you used the wrong method. The wrong medicine, and you even lanced the blisters—causing infection. That led to pigmentation and the spreading patches.

Think about it—if it had really been a dangerous poison, it would’ve penetrated the flesh and rotted your face already.”

The poison wasn’t severe.

The treatment was the problem.

Just a simple detox herb could’ve fixed it in two days.

But instead, they suffered for five years.
Spent hundreds of taels of silver.

“Quack doctors!” Lin Zhuang couldn’t help but curse.

He remembered clearly—it had all started with Ding Hongshi.

When things worsened, he’d gone to the town clinic.

That didn’t work, so they went to the county. Each prescription there cost three taels of silver!

After two rounds with no results, Ding Hongshi claimed they hadn’t matched the treatment to the poison, so they ended up back at his place again…

Turns out, the entire mess had been caused by him!

Lin Ye gently touched her own face, her voice trembling: “So… my face… is actually easy to heal?”

“Yes, very easy. As for the dark patches, they’ll take a bit of time to fade. I’ll mix up a prescription. Apply it daily, and in two months max, they’ll be gone.”

Two months.

Lu Qingqing gave a definite timeline.

Whereas before, all they ever heard was:

“You came too late. It’s hard to treat. Try a few doses first and see what happens.”

“It’s trial and error. No one can guarantee results.”

“If it doesn’t work, we’ll adjust the formula again.”

…

The siblings couldn’t hold back their tears again.

Crying for the injustice and humiliation of the past years.

And crying because—for once—they could finally see the light.

Lu Qingqing had seen scenes like this many times and was used to it. Her expression didn’t change; she just started packing her things, ready to leave.

“Doctor Lu!” Lin Zhuang suddenly called out—this time with sincere respect in his voice.

“Don’t call me that yet,” Lu Qingqing replied casually.

She hadn’t gotten her official medical license yet.

Low profile, low profile.

“Then… Miss Qingqing,” Lin Zhuang quickly corrected himself.

“We don’t have money right now. But while in the mountains, I found a wild ginseng plant. I went to town and asked around—they said when it has five compound leaves, it’s 20 years old and worth 20 taels. The one I found already has three leaf clusters. I was going to wait a bit…”

“You were lied to,” Lu Qingqing cut in bluntly. “Three compound leaves already means it’s a 30-year ginseng—worth 30 taels! If it gets to five leaves, that’s a 50-year plant—it could fetch up to a hundred taels!”

Those folks were just trying to lowball and cheat people who didn’t know better.

Good thing Lin Zhuang hadn’t dug it up to sell yet.

Lin Zhuang looked utterly stunned.

He’d been scammed again!

“Kid, you’re seriously blessed to have run into my little sister,” Lu Yun grinned.

“Seriously!”

The Lin siblings were at a loss—how could they ever repay her?

“Miss Qingqing, that wild ginseng… please go dig it up yourself. Consider it our payment for treatment. No matter what price it sells for—it’s yours.”

“No need for that,” Lu Qingqing smiled.

“If I dig it up and sell it, I’ll take a small fee for medicine and labor. But the rest—you keep it to fix your house, or find a wife. You’re not that young anymore.”

Lin Zhuang: “……”

Lu Qingqing smiled wider.

A 30-year wild ginseng is mature—it has a round rhizome, can flower and bear fruit, and drop seeds.

That means… in the surrounding area, there are likely offspring.

Or if they were lucky—its mother plant.

The so-called century-old treasure!

Lu Qingqing could hardly wait.

She and Lu Yun headed up the mountain.

Lin Zhuang had camouflaged the ginseng well—planting shrubs around it to cover it completely.

Lu Yun used a sickle to chop away the bushes, revealing the ginseng tied with a red string.

“I heard that when you find wild ginseng, you have to shout ‘club!’ three times and tie it with a red string—otherwise, it’ll run away. Is that true?”

Lu Yun was skeptical and reached out to touch the string.

“It’s true—especially 30-year-old ginseng. Super sneaky. If you untie it, it’ll disappear in a flash.”

“Ah!”

Lu Yun yanked his hand back instinctively.

Before he could relax, Lu Qingqing suddenly shouted: “Oh no! It’s running away!”

Splat!

Lu Yun lunged and clutched the ginseng stem tightly.

Lu Qingqing burst into laughter.

Lu Yun realized she was teasing him again.

It was unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar.

He couldn’t even be mad.

Then, the laughter cut off suddenly—Lu Qingqing stared at Lu Yun with a strange expression.

“What? About to tell me the ginseng became a spirit? I heard they can turn into little kids and sneak down the mountain to watch opera…”

Lu Qingqing suddenly leapt forward and reached for the ground.

A coiled snake near Lu Yun’s face was lifted into the air.

Its cold, slimy tail had just brushed against his ear.

Ugh…

Lu Qingqing moved lightning-fast. She let go of the snake’s head, grabbed the tail, and with a sharp flick of her wrist, the struggling snake immediately went limp.

Then she ran her hand down its length smoothly.

The bamboo-thick snake completely stopped moving—like it was dead.

Lu Yun stared, eyes wide.

“It’s not venomous. Pretty fat though—could make a nice snake stew.”

Shame it didn’t have much medicinal value.

Then Lu Qingqing suddenly realized—Lu Yun didn’t look scared.

He looked… conflicted.

Oh. Right.

The original Qingqing was terrified of snakes.

There was even a time when Lu Yun had thrown a snake at her feet on purpose.

She’d been so scared she couldn’t even scream, and had resented him like he was her mortal enemy.

Lu Yun had gotten a good beating from their father for that.

And just now—her behavior had been so badass it was practically dripping dominance…

“Uh… That’s something my mom taught me in a dream.”

Blame Mom. For everything.

Believe it or not!

“I know. You’ve started remembering things from when we were kids, haven’t you?”

Huh?

Now it was Lu Qingqing’s turn to be confused.

What did that mean?

“You’re not going to change back again, right?”

“Lu Qingqing, you’re finally back!”