“An’an, how much money did Liu Ercheng steal from you?”
“Sixty-eight yuan!”
In their area, many newlyweds didn’t even exchange bride price money. Once two families agreed, the couple would simply register their marriage and start living together.
Even families that did give a bride price usually only offered around fifty yuan as a symbolic gesture.
Sixty-eight yuan… was enough to marry a wife.
Fu Wenzhou’s background status was bad, so he had hidden most of his money away. These sixty-eight yuan were probably the only money he had dared to keep out in the open during the past three years.
No wonder they had been pretending to be poor…
She definitely wasn’t going to let this matter go.
Ruan Qiaoqiao calmed herself and looked at An’an. “Where’s your father?”
An’an snorted and ignored her.
But Kangkang obediently pointed his little hand toward the mountain behind them. “Dad went to work for the production team. He’s cutting trees in the mountains.”
Ruan Qiaoqiao took out the peach pastries and crispy candies from the basket and placed them on the straw mat.
“I bought these snacks and candies for you when I went into the city earlier. You two eat first. I’m going to find your dad.”
After speaking, she carried the basket into the thatched hut. When she came back out, she suddenly remembered something and added a few instructions.
“An’an, Kangkang, the candies are sweet, but too much is bad for your teeth. Only two pieces each per day, okay?”
An’an still ignored her, but Kangkang obediently nodded.
Ruan Qiaoqiao headed straight into the mountains, taking a shortcut toward the logging area behind Houliaohang Village.
As she carefully walked through the lush greenery, she suddenly remembered going into the mountains with her grandfather and father to gather medicinal herbs when she was young.
With plants growing so thick here, it would be wonderful if she could find some valuable herbs.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, her steps abruptly stopped.
Under a thick old tree, she saw a wild ginseng plant with dark green palmate leaves growing from a long stem.
She froze.
Was… she seeing things?
She hurried closer for a better look. No mistake—it really was ginseng.
And not just any ginseng. It had a complete set of five palmate leaves. According to the identification methods her grandfather taught her, this was called a “full palm,” meaning it was at least a ten-year-old wild ginseng.
She immediately found a sturdy branch and carefully began digging around it. It took a full fifteen minutes before she finally lifted out the palm-length ginseng intact.
Wow…
This ginseng had grown incredibly well. It had to weigh at least three or four liang.
She was rich.
If only she could find another one.
One could be used to nourish Kangkang’s health, while the other could be sold to make up for the money the Liu family had extorted from Fu Wenzhou. Then the four of them wouldn’t need to pretend to be poor so deliberately anymore.
She carefully placed the ginseng into the cloth bag she carried with her, afraid that breaking the roots would reduce its value.
But before she had even taken two steps, she spotted another ginseng plant in the grass nearby.
This one had three complete sets of five palmate leaves, clearly a thirty-year-old wild ginseng or older.
Ruan Qiaoqiao was so excited she nearly jumped.
She immediately ran over and repeated the digging process. Since this one was even larger, it took her over forty minutes to carefully dig it out intact.
She looked around at the surrounding area in confusion.
Normally, villagers came into the mountains almost every day to dig for wild vegetables and medicinal herbs.
This place wasn’t even far from the foot of the mountain. Nearby patches of disturbed earth clearly showed signs that people had dug here before.
So how had these two wild ginseng roots, both over ten years old, never been discovered?
Her luck was absurdly good.
Actually, ever since she woke up yesterday, her luck seemed unusually incredible.
When she saw the unfamiliar Su Mai standing beside her hospital bed criticizing her, she wanted a divorce—and less than half an hour later, she got one.
After leaving the civil affairs office, she didn’t want to return to the Liu family, but policies didn’t allow people to wander around without an introduction letter. She wanted a safe place to stay, and suddenly the opportunity to marry Fu Wenzhou appeared.
She told Ruyi she wanted to study medicine again, and the hospital’s first training program in two years just happened to open.
And now, seeing the dense greenery in the forest, she merely thought it would be nice to find some valuable herbs—and ginseng appeared.
This kind of luck where everything she wished for came true…
Could she really have been possessed by a lucky koi?
Excitement bubbled in her heart. She definitely needed to test this theory properly later.
After putting away the ginseng, she continued up the mountain to find Fu Wenzhou.
From afar, through the scattered forest shadows, she saw groups of people cutting timber.
Only Fu Wenzhou was working alone, looking completely out of place among them.
She was about to head over when she noticed two very familiar figures walking toward him.
Su Mai and Duan Fangya.
It wasn’t their faces she recognized first, but their clothes—the same outfits they had worn a few hours ago. Besides, Su Mai’s face was already becoming familiar to her.
Confusion rose in her heart.
Why were these two looking for Fu Wenzhou?
Did they know each other?
Not far away, Fu Wenzhou looked coldly at the smiling woman who had approached him.
Meanwhile, Duan Fangya greeted him warmly.
“Uncle, long time no see.”
Fu Wenzhou ignored her greeting and instead looked toward the man behind her who was studying him.
Su Mai stared at Fu Wenzhou’s face, puzzled.
Why… was it him?
Seeing the two men silently sizing each other up, Duan Fangya immediately stepped beside Su Mai and introduced them.
“Su Mai, this is my uncle, Fu Wenzhou. Uncle, this is Su Mai, my good friend who grew up with me.”
Su Mai took the initiative to extend his hand. “Hello.”
Fu Wenzhou glanced at the offered hand, showing no interest in getting acquainted. His tone was indifferent.
“You haven’t washed your hands.”
Su Mai withdrew his hand awkwardly.
Fu Wenzhou’s distant gaze returned to Duan Fangya. “What do you want?”
“Oh, my mother told me this morning that you called home yesterday and said you got married. I specially bought you a wedding gift today to congratulate you.”
As she spoke, she handed the wrapped gift box to Su Mai.
“It’s a watch. I specially exchanged for a watch coupon and spent another hundred and twenty yuan to buy it for Auntie. I hope you both like it.”
Duan Fangya knew that Fu Wenzhou valued his pride the most and never casually accepted things from others.
Today’s visit was supposedly to deliver a gift, but in reality, she was trying to gain favor.
If she insisted on giving it and Fu Wenzhou refused, she could naturally keep it herself afterward. The steel watch was something she had liked for a long time and had nearly emptied her savings to buy.
Who would have thought that the moment she finished speaking, Fu Wenzhou directly took the gift box and slipped it into his pocket.
“I’ll accept it. You can leave now.”
Duan Fangya: …
What was going on?
Why was this another person who refused to follow the expected script?
Her expression stiffened slightly.
Fu Wenzhou’s eyes remained cold. “What? You regret giving it away already?”
“No, no, Uncle. Aren’t you going to open it and take a look? I was worried you might not like the style…”
“No need. Go back and tell your mother that she still owes me one hundred and eighty yuan out of the three hundred.”
What?!
Duan Fangya nearly exploded with anger.
When had her mother borrowed money from Fu Wenzhou?
And why hadn’t she repaid it?
Didn’t that mean she had wasted all her effort trying to curry favor and lost another hundred and twenty yuan in the process?
Meanwhile, Su Mai, who had only accompanied her to deliver the gift, paid no attention to their conversation.
His gaze wandered through the sparse forest.
Through the trees, he seemed to spot a familiar figure.
Ruan Qiaoqiao?
Why was she here?