“Did you see any other doctors?” Lu Qingqing asked.

“Yes, for my father. We went to the town and saw Doctor Ding. They all said it was a sign of a stroke coming.”

How could that possibly be a stroke?

Strokes were for rich landlords who ate and drank too much.

They lived on pickled vegetables and thin porridge every day—how could they have a stroke?

And now it was happening to him too.

Li Da knew it wasn’t a stroke.

He was terrified.

Watching his once strong and energetic father turn into someone limp and bedridden, waiting to die—who wouldn’t be scared?

While Lu Qingqing asked questions, Lu Yun was standing beside her, listening carefully. He interjected:

“I heard from Li San that he’s gotten lazier than before, can’t even get up in the morning. Could he be getting sick too?”

“What? My third brother is like this too?” Li Da asked in shock.

“I was like that too in the beginning! Couldn’t sleep well at night, couldn’t wake up in the morning.”

But his third brother was only sixteen!

“Could this be some kind of inherited illness?” Lu Yun guessed.

That was Li Da’s worst fear!

Would that mean father, son, and even grandson would all go down with it?

“It’s not genetic,” Lu Qingqing said calmly.

“If it were, why did your father show symptoms late while you younger ones are showing them early? Tell me in detail—everything that happened from when you first started feeling fatigued.”

Though Lu Qingqing looked young and delicate—and had just sent off a whole crowd of people in a bizarre manner—now she seemed like a completely different person.

Her voice was steady.

Her expression was serious.

And she’d saved Lin Zhuang.

Li Da had always respected doctors.

He didn’t dare hide anything.

He said his father had started showing symptoms three months ago—same as him.

It began with exhaustion.

At first, they didn’t think anything of it, assumed it was just aging.

Until the day he was helping build a house and almost fell off the frame.

That’s when they realized something was wrong.

Stiff legs, stiff back and shoulders, poor sleep, waking in the night with heart palpitations and unease. He kept saying it felt like all his organs were failing.

In short—his whole body just didn’t feel right.

And now, he’d begun stumbling and falling.

Lu Qingqing listened, and her mind began to form a hypothesis.

“Tonight, bring me a bit of everything your family eats—just a bite of each dish. Don’t leave anything out. I suspect the problem lies in your food.”

Food?

How could food be the issue?

Sure, their meals weren’t great, but better than many others in the village.

They could even afford meat three times a month.

Li Da was puzzled, but out of respect for a doctor, he nodded without further questions.

After he left, Lu Qingqing went into the house to check on Feng Xiaowan and the baby.

Babies change every day.

In just over ten days, her face had already filled out, and the collarbone injury seemed mostly healed.

She didn’t cry as much now.

The little one was wrapped in a brand-new red quilt—festive and adorable—brought over by Feng Xiaowan’s mother, who also brought some rice.

Her little eyes were like sparkling black grapes, nose and mouth resembled her father, while the eyes were just like her mother’s.

She must’ve just finished nursing.

Her little mouth was still softly suckling in her sleep. Within moments, she was dozing off.

“Little sister, your big brother says you should name the baby girl.”

Feng Xiaowan was sitting on the bed, sewing a piece of cloth.

“Me? Name her?”

“Yes, neither your brother nor I are good at naming things.”

Big brother definitely wasn’t.

And as for sister-in-law—well, she probably just went along with whatever he said.

Feng Xiaowan was the typical gentle wife, obedient to her husband in everything.

But big brother wasn’t one of those domineering men.

He was honest and kind—no wonder she loved him so deeply.

If not, she wouldn’t have gone out to beg on behalf of the original Lu Qingqing when she caused trouble.

All because she was afraid her husband would be hurt if he lost his sister.

For a sister-in-law like that, Lu Qingqing would naturally return kindness with kindness.

“Then I’ll think of a name,” Lu Qingqing said after a pause.

In a way, she and the little baby arrived on the same day.

A double blessing.

“Let’s call her… Anxi. Her nickname can be Xibao.”

“Lu Anxi… that’s such a beautiful name.”

Feng Xiaowan was overjoyed.

She’d been worried her daughter would be disliked, but Lu Feng liked her, and now little sister had given her a name that sounded so joyful.

So different from names like Daya and Er Niu.

She couldn’t express how thankful she was, and then began to grow anxious again:

“Little sister, I feel much better now. Eating meat every day has already fattened me up a bit. Maybe I should cook today?”

Just eating and not working made her feel uncomfortable.

Besides, she’d heard from inside—little sister was really busy, making gunpowder and treating people.

Cooking for the whole family too?

That’s just too much.

“No!” Lu Qingqing said firmly.

“You must rest through the full month. You’ll have a lifetime to cook. Just get up and walk slowly each day. Don’t overdo the sewing—it tires your eyes.”

“But everyone must be laughing at me, right?”

“Who cares what they think? They’re just jealous. Your body is yours—take care of it. And another thing…”

Lu Qingqing figured it was unlikely, but still decided to give a warning—her brother was young and full of energy, after all.

“Absolutely, absolutely no intercourse. If my brother tries anything, slap him!”

Feng Xiaowan: “……”

She lowered her head, too embarrassed to look up.

“Wait… you didn’t already…?”

“No! No! My mother warned me!”

“Good. At least three months, understand?”

In front of Lu Qingqing, Feng Xiaowan felt more like a younger sister.

She was shy and didn’t dare talk back.

Her own mother had been so awkward about these things.

Yet little sister—a teenage girl—was saying it all so directly!

She couldn’t handle this conversation anymore.

—

In the courtyard, Lu Yun was cleaning and trimming medicinal herbs.

Lu Qingqing went over to the wall.

There, she had already planted a small patch of rare medicinal herbs.

Now she was adding the wild ginseng sprout she brought back.

“You can plant ginseng?” Lu Yun asked with a grin, seeing how careful she was.

“Others can’t. I can.”

Lu Yun chuckled.

Suddenly, a thought popped into his head:

“Was little sister’s medical skill really taught by Mother?”

“Was Mother really this amazing?”

—

By sunset, Father Lu and Lu Feng finally came home.

Their expressions didn’t look good.

“Father, Brother, what happened? Weren’t you just delivering chairs?”

“Yes, we delivered them. And got a few more orders for tables and chairs.”

That sounded like good news.

Then why the long faces?

“We saw a notice in town.”

“It says… the Crown Prince was exiled for treason. And died of illness on the road.”

Lu Qingqing and Lu Yun looked puzzled.

What did that have to do with them?

“Why, Father—did he owe us money or something?” Lu Yun blurted out.

“Nonsense! Watch your mouth!”

“The Crown Prince was a truly kind man. During the great snow famine, when he was just eleven, he personally stood at the city gates overseeing the porridge relief…”

He was royalty—almost divine in the eyes of the people.

The Crown Prince seemed to have stepped straight out of a painting—pure and flawless, someone you didn’t dare even look at directly.

But he lifted filthy, starving children from the ground.

And he had… shed tears at the endless lines of refugees.

“Father, he could’ve just ordered someone to do it. That doesn’t prove he was kind,” Lu Qingqing said.

“No, he really was kind. Your mother said so. You even met the Crown Prince when you were little.”