Broken tables, rickety chairs, frames missing arms and legs…
Suddenly, Su Ci’s gaze landed on a gray, battered cabinet that looked like something an old pharmacy used to store herbs.
The cabinet was falling apart, drawers scattered on the floor, an ominous sight.
But when Su Ci lifted one of the drawers, she noticed something odd.
It was too heavy.
And when she shook it, there was no sound, meaning the interior was packed full.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Casually, she tucked the drawer in with a pile of seemingly sturdy wood.
“Xiao Zhang, take all this wood back—we’ll use it for fire in winter,” Su Ci said, waving her hand with grand flair.
A few young educated youths looking for old books nearby snickered. “This spendthrift! Buying rotten wood just to burn it? Has she lost her mind?”
“Yeah, who knows whose daughter she is—looks pretty, but what a fool.”
Su Ci ignored them, happily paid a few dimes, and hauled a cartload of “garbage” back to the compound.
Back home, she closed the door and drew the curtains.
The room darkened, giving it a mysterious aura.
Su Ci presented the broken drawer on the table in front of Lu Si like a prized treasure.
“Old Lu, open your eyes wide—let me perform a little magic trick.”
Lu Si looked at the pile of wood, slightly exasperated. “All this trouble just for this?”
“Shh—” Su Ci put a finger to her lips.
She fetched a hammer and carefully tapped the bottom of the drawer, then pried it open forcefully.
Crack! The rotted wood split, revealing a hidden compartment.
Inside was a long bundle wrapped tightly in oiled paper.
Lu Si’s expression instantly turned serious. His instincts as a lifelong scout told him this wasn’t ordinary.
Su Ci’s nimble fingers tore open the paper.
Inside wasn’t a treasure trove of gold and silver, just a yellowed handwritten notebook and a small yellow bar of gold wrapped in cloth.
“Wow…” Su Ci quickly grabbed the gold bar, biting it—hard!
“I’m rich! My secret stash!” She stuffed it into her pocket like a squirrel guarding its nuts.
Lu Si stared silently, eyes fixed on the notebook.
The notebook looked old, with several bold characters on the cover written in brush: “Chen Family Medical Notes.”
Lu Si opened it and flipped through a few pages.
The handwriting was messy, filled with diagrams of human meridians and dense acupuncture notes.
“This is…” Lu Si stopped on one page.
A pair of leg meridian diagrams, with a note: “For meridians that are severed or blocked for many years, golden needles may be used to connect points, assisted with Fire Dragon Decoction. This method is dangerous and must only be performed by the Chen lineage.”
His heart skipped a beat.
Severed meridians, long-standing blockages… wasn’t that describing his legs?
“Su Ci… this book…” Lu Si’s voice trembled.
Su Ci leaned over, slightly disappointed. “What? I thought it’d be a martial arts manual or a treasure map. Just an old medical book?”
But she knew perfectly well.
In the original story, the male lead’s legs were healed by an elderly doctor sent down to the countryside—whose surname was Chen.
This notebook was the key clue!
“This isn’t just an old book,” Lu Si said, eyes glued to the note. “The acupuncture methods recorded here… could help my legs.”
“Really?” Su Ci feigned surprise, then her eyes lit up. “Then let’s try it?”
Lu Si shook his head, smiling wryly. “Traditional medicine is vast. Acupuncture is precise—tiny errors can ruin everything. A book alone isn’t enough. You need someone who knows the technique.”
He closed the notebook, his gaze dim. “It’s just a notebook. I don’t even know if the author is still alive.”
“They’re alive! Definitely alive!” Su Ci snatched the notebook, dusting it off. “If fate allowed us to find it, that’s a sign. I heard there’s a cattle shed nearby with ‘old intellectuals’ sent down—they might know medicine! We’ll take the book and ask. Who knows, maybe we get lucky?”
Lu Si looked at her vibrant, energetic face, and a small flame lit in his previously deadened heart.
Yes… what if they did?
“Alright,” Lu Si nodded. “I’ll follow your lead.”
At that moment, outside the compound, Aunt Fat’s loud, gossipy voice rang out, sharp with schadenfreude.
“Oh, everyone come see! The Lu family’s new bride is a real spendthrift! She bought a whole cart of rotten wood to burn as firewood! How’s she living?”
A crowd of neighbors gathered, pointing and laughing at the pile of broken wood in the yard.
“I heard it’s Commander Lu’s retirement bonus. With this spending, even mountains of gold would be gone.”
“Marrying a wife to match—Commander Lu really lost this time.”
The mood inside the house was ruined.
Lu Si’s expression darkened, a trace of anger flashing in his eyes as he instinctively reached for his wheelchair.
“Don’t move,” Su Ci pressed his hand down, a cold smile on her lips. “Just sit back and watch. This is a small scene—you don’t need to intervene.”
Su Ci turned and fished out a heavy, blackened chunk of wood from the pile.
She had picked it up from a corner of the recycling station. Though it looked unimpressive, it emitted a unique, special aroma.
As someone who once dabbled in the finer things, she recognized it—agarwood.
And a very fine quality one at that.
Su Ci opened the door and stepped outside.
Aunt Fat was in full swing, but seeing Su Ci emerge, she got even more excited. “Su Ci, don’t tell me—you bought all this wood just to burn it? Even with Commander Lu’s allowance, this is…”
“Actually, Aunt Fat, you don’t understand,” Su Ci interrupted, holding up the black wood. “This isn’t ordinary wood—this is agarwood. Calms the mind and helps sleep. Old Lu’s leg hurts and he can’t sleep well, so I bought it to scent the room for him.”
She pulled out a match and struck it. Ssshh! A corner of the wood caught fire.
A delicate, elegant fragrance filled the entire compound.
Rich, sweet, with a hint of creaminess—it was far beyond ordinary incense. A single whiff cleared the mind.
Grandpa Li, a neighbor who knew quality, originally came to gawk, sniffed the aroma, and his face changed. “This… this smell! Hainan rare agarwood?! This piece must be worth hundreds! Some large pharmacies can’t even get this quality!”
Aunt Fat’s smile froze, like a ridiculous clown.
Hundreds of bucks? That was years of her family’s wages, spent just to scent the room for a cripple?
“Hundreds?” Su Ci feigned surprise, casually tossing the priceless agarwood into the brazier.
The flames licked it, releasing an even more intoxicating aroma. This was burning money.
“Oh, Grandpa Li, you’re mistaken. I got this ‘junk’ for a few dimes, just for fun,” Su Ci said, calm as a breeze. “As long as Old Lu sleeps well, whether it’s hundreds or thousands, I’d burn it. My man’s worth it.”
She looked at the stunned crowd, shrugged, then turned to the pale-faced Aunt Fat, smiling innocently.
“Aunt Fat, if you like the smell, enjoy it at the gate—free of charge. I’m going back to cook for my husband. Bye now.”
Bang!
The door slammed shut, leaving Aunt Fat gnashing her teeth, wishing she could rush to the recycling station to dig through the garbage.
Inside, Lu Si watched the incense burn in the brazier, then looked at Su Ci’s self-satisfied, mischievous expression.
“A spendthrift,” he muttered.
“I’m willing,” Su Ci replied, squatting in front of him and nudging the brazier closer. “Smells good, right?”
Lu Si took a deep breath. The aroma truly calmed the mind.
“Good.”
“That’s all that matters.” Su Ci patted his knee. “Sleep well tonight, tomorrow we’ll go find the master in the cattle shed. Old Lu, I have a way for your leg.”
Lu Si gazed at her bright, sparkling eyes, and impulsively brushed the tip of her nose with his finger.
“Mm.”
With you around, no challenge seemed too great.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the compound, a pair of eyes filled with jealousy glared at the closed Lu household gate.
It was Lin Xue, the troupe starlet who secretly adored Lu Si.
“Su Ci… some country girl… how dare she stand by Lu Si’s side?”