Father Zeng’s leg had already been checked at Tongjitang. The doctors there said it was a miracle that his leg had a chance to fully recover.

Mother Zeng was even more grateful to Su Shuoci and his wife, but Gu Jiaojiao didn’t have time to listen to her praises.

She examined Father Zeng’s leg. The medicine used at Tongjitang wasn’t bad—it was even better than she had imagined.

Su Shuoci gave rice, flour, and soap to Monkey, then took Gu Jiaojiao to the black market to look for medicinal herbs.

They came across a seller with ginseng. Gu Jiaojiao noticed that it was wild ginseng, with the oldest being a hundred years old and the youngest around twenty years.

She calmly asked for the price. The seller, seeing Su Shuoci in a wheelchair, assumed they were buying it for personal use.

The seller had acquired the ginseng from a remote mountain village. The hundred-year-old ginseng had only cost him two hundred yuan.

“I’ll sell you the hundred-year-old one for a thousand, and the rest for a hundred each. If it were anyone else, I’d sell it for at least two thousand.”

“Big brother, you’re clearly a conscientious merchant. Next time you have good stuff, look for Monkey. My husband here isn’t in good health…”

Gu Jiaojiao showered the seller with compliments, and he was so pleased he could hardly contain himself, eagerly agreeing.

Having been in the black market for many years, he had only ever received disdain and cold shoulders. He had never been treated with respect before.

He even sold Gu Jiaojiao some worthless herbs at cost price without adding any markup.

With the ginseng, he made a clean thousand yuan, and it sold as soon as he put it out.

Both parties were happy with the transaction. Although Gu Jiaojiao had obtained precious wild ginseng, she was now out of money again.

She had no choice but to ask the ginseng seller if he wanted rice. The seller was thrilled at the offer.

He was also from the compound. At seventeen, he had gone to the northwest as an educated youth. Thanks to his sharp eye, every time he returned home to visit, he would buy mountain goods from the countryside to sell in the city, and then buy grain in the city to sell back in the countryside.

Even as an educated youth, he lived comfortably. In those remote mountains, far from the reach of authority, the outside world had no connection to life there.

As a cultured intellectual, he was highly respected in the mountains. He ate meat every day and never went hungry.

In the first two years after returning to the city, he had made a fortune. But recently, as the market gradually opened up, more people had jumped on the bandwagon, and it wasn’t as easy to make money as before.

He bought a thousand jin of rice and eight hundred jin of flour from Gu Jiaojiao. The flour wasn’t the usual type they traded but a premium product from the Overseas Chinese Store.

He didn’t even need to sell it in the countryside—he could sell it at a high price right in the city. “If you have more, you can sell it to me.”

“Mm-hmm.” Gu Jiaojiao nodded like a little pecking chick because the price she offered was ten cents more per jin than Monkey’s.

A thousand jin of rice meant an extra hundred yuan. Both parties were happy with the transaction again.

“My name is Song Zijie, and I live at…” Song Zijie was also quite talkative.

From his detailed self-introduction, Gu Jiaojiao learned that he was the son of the second son of the Song family.

He was Song Zijin’s cousin, twenty-five years old, the same age as Su Shuoci and seven years older than Gu Jiaojiao.

When he went to the northwest, Gu Jiaojiao was only ten years old. In the two years since his return, he had either been working or trading in the black market.

It was no surprise that he didn’t know Su Shuoci or Gu Jiaojiao.

Su Shuoci, with his long-term vision, knew that they would eventually run into each other in the same compound, so he also introduced himself.

“We live in the same compound. My name is Su Shuoci, and my wife is Gu Jiaojiao…”

“You’re Su Shuoci and Gu Jiaojiao?” Song Zijie was so shocked his jaw nearly dropped.

He was very familiar with these two names. His mother and sister had been talking about them nonstop at the dinner table recently.

From their descriptions, he had imagined Su Shuoci as a depressed, moody disabled man.

And Gu Jiaojiao as a constantly whining, unreasonable drama queen. But the two people before him were nothing like that.

Aside from Su Shuoci being in a wheelchair, nothing else matched the descriptions.

The man, even sitting in a wheelchair, was tall and handsome, more good-looking than a movie star, especially with the smile on his face.

The woman had willow-leaf eyebrows, an oval face, a playful nose, and thin lips, resembling a delicate Jiangnan beauty.

At that moment, she was smiling like a flower at the man beside her, exuding a youthful charm.

Her smile was pure and sweet, like a refreshing breeze on a summer morning, carrying a hint of intoxicating charm.

Perhaps because he had made money from buying their rice, Song Zijie felt the two were like a couple of immortals.

While Song Zijie was sizing up Su Shuoci and Gu Jiaojiao, Gu Jiaojiao was also observing him. He looked somewhat like Song Zijin.

He was tall with a round face, a small dimple when he smiled, and two canine teeth that made his baby face look very young.

Although he claimed to be the same age as Su Shuoci, Gu Jiaojiao thought he looked no older than Song Zijin.

Su Shuoci had a domineering aura, while Song Zijie looked like a child. The two peers had such different presence that standing together, they looked like an uncle and his nephew.

Gu Jiaojiao laughed even more heartily. “You’re so surprised. Have you heard gossip about us? Don’t be shocked. Sister is a legend.”

Song Zijie: …

“Brother, how about we trade in some secluded corner of the compound in the future?”

Pushing a wheelchair to the black market is too much trouble, but Song Zijie didn’t say that out loud.

“Sure. On a dark and windy night, just knock on our window,” Gu Jiaojiao said, blinking her lively eyes.

Both parties agreed on a meeting spot. Song Zijie didn’t ask where Su Shuoci’s rice came from.

Gu Jiaojiao didn’t ask why he was engaged in speculation. Judging by his experienced demeanor, it definitely wasn’t his first time.

After parting ways, Gu Jiaojiao bought a lively big grass carp, two chickens, and some pork at the black market.

She didn’t see anyone selling rabbits today, but she wasn’t disappointed. If she came across them, she’d buy them; if not, chicken and fish were just as good.

She happily pushed Su Shuoci back, wondering how their bun-selling business was doing.

Just as they exited the black market alley, they heard an old woman nearby scolding a young woman.

The old woman was short, with bound feet and a hunched back, but her scolding was full of energy.

Her son stood nearby, shrinking his neck. Though they were well-dressed, their manners were poor. He didn’t dare say a word as his wife was being scolded.

Gu Jiaojiao recognized the young woman—or rather, the original host did. She was the sister of a classmate and came from a decent background.

The old woman’s scolding was about her daughter-in-law not having children after several years of marriage.

They had come to the black market to buy medicine, and they had found some, though it was unclear if it was genuine.

Gu Jiaojiao despised the man. His mother was scolding his wife, and he didn’t even dare to speak up.

As for infertility, Gu Jiaojiao could treat it. If all else failed, there was always IVF.

But she wouldn’t rashly interfere. She could only give a sympathetic glance to the woman enduring her mother-in-law’s scolding.

Su Shuoci noticed his wife looking back frequently. “If fate allows, we’ll meet again. Approaching them now might not make them believe you.”