Su Jinyuan nearly threw the bottle away. “Three thousand taels?!”
Why didn’t they just rob people?!
If Xinglintang hadn’t been the foremost pharmacy in the Capital, with branches in many places and rumored ties to Medicine King Valley, she really would have thought the smiling man before her was trying to extort her.
Xi Junning wasn’t offended. “The primary ingredient in this Heart-Rescue Pill is a two-hundred-year-old wild ginseng.”
Su Jinyuan: “…”
“The other medicinal ingredients are all at least thirty years old. There’s ox bezoar, notoginseng, and toad venom. Even the pearl used as an auxiliary ingredient is a top-grade South Sea pearl, worth ten thousand in gold per hu…”
“All right, stop!”
Su Jinyuan’s face had turned green.
If the medicine was really as he described, then forget three thousand taels—even thirty thousand would be worth it.
Su Jinyuan thought of the elderly Old Madam Xiao. She took a deep breath, then decisively pulled out the Silver Notes. Her heart ached so badly that her teeth chattered. “If this medicine doesn’t work, I’ll smash up your whole shop.”
“Rest assured, miss. Xinglintang has always treated everyone fairly, rich or poor.”
Su Jinyuan tugged at the corner of her mouth. “You’d better!”
Only after carefully tucking the two little bottles inside her clothes, close against her body, did she leave Xinglintang with a dark expression and a large bundle of medicinal herbs in her arms.
Seeing her walk away with an air that seemed to say she recognized no one, Xi Junning couldn’t help laughing. This little girl was rather interesting.
“Young Master, why did you give her the Heart-Rescue Pill?”
That was Medicine King Valley’s secret medicine, something rumored to be capable of saving a person even with only half a breath left.
Xi Junning answered casually, “It’s not anything precious. Since you like it, I can give you a bottle.”
When Uncle Hu saw him casually toss over a bottle, he hurriedly fumbled to catch it. His face immediately darkened. If the young master’s words had been overheard by someone else, they would probably have been furious enough to die on the spot.
“But that little girl is truly strange.”
Uncle Hu had practiced medicine for half his life, yet this was the first time he had seen anyone buy medicine the way she did.
“From her words and manner, she doesn’t seem like the daughter of a farmer. And she was able to produce three thousand taels to buy medicine. Could this bring trouble?”
“What trouble could there be?” Xi Junning said.
“Xinglintang is open for business. Once medicine leaves the shop, we don’t concern ourselves with anything else.”
The Capital was full of high-ranking officials and nobles, as well as all kinds of strange and unusual people. In any case, that girl had paid. Her actions might have been peculiar, but Xi Junning had seen people even stranger than her back in Medicine King Valley.
“All right, don’t worry about it. Just consider it this young master doing a good deed every day.”
He acted entirely according to his own whims. He simply found the little girl pleasing to the eye.
As for anything else, what did it have to do with him?
Seeing Xi Junning head outside, Uncle Hu called out anxiously, “Young Master, where are you going?”
Xi Junning waved a hand behind him. “I’m going out for a walk. Don’t follow me.” He was curious where the little girl intended to go while carrying such a large bundle of medicinal herbs.
Xi Junning followed far behind Su Jinyuan. Though he lost sight of her long ago, he could still walk her route with unerring accuracy. After circling around the market district, she went to several other places.
Xi Junning raised an eyebrow. “She’s quite cautious.”
Was this girl taking precautions against being followed?
Xi Junning grew even more interested. He shook open his Xiangfei bamboo fan and leisurely followed behind her. When that faint, lingering fragrance gradually disappeared, he found himself standing before the gates of the State-Quelling General’s Residence.
Looking at the deserted general’s residence, guarded by soldiers, Xi Junning was utterly surprised.
That little girl was actually from the Xiao Family?
…
When Su Jinyuan arrived at the Xiao Family, she was stopped outside the general’s residence. She said only that she was the wife of the Xiao Family’s Eldest Young Master Xiao Yunxi. After the guards searched her bundle, they finally let her in.
When Old Madam Xiao heard that Su Jinyuan had returned, she froze for a moment.
When she saw the girl, her face bruised and swollen, being led into the room, First Madam Xiao said coldly, “What are you doing here? Have you come to mock the Xiao Family?”
Old Madam Xiao restrained First Madam Xiao, though she was hardly any friendlier toward Su Jinyuan.
“Miss Su, since you already had a suitable match and eloped with someone else, there’s no need for you to return to the Xiao Family.”
“The Xiao Family is in dire straits now. Though we are no longer as prominent as before, we are still not reduced to the point of being mocked by you. Please leave.”
Su Jinyuan put down her bundle. Facing their icy words, she offered no rebuttal. She simply stepped forward, knelt before Old Madam Xiao, and said quietly, “I’ve come to apologize to Grandmother and Mother.”
Old Madam Xiao frowned at the way she addressed her, while First Madam Xiao’s eyes reddened as she let out a cold laugh.
“I could never accept you calling me Mother!”
“When you were betrothed to my son, I cherished you as if you were my own daughter and protected you in every way. Yet on the day of your wedding, you eloped with someone else. You disregarded the betrothal and trampled the dignity of the Xiao Family and my son into the dirt. We would never dare presume to claim Miss Su as family now.”
“Now my son is dead, and the Xiao Family’s gates are deserted, no longer anything like they were before. Miss Su, go back wherever you came from. Don’t shamelessly put on an act and call me Mother. It disgusts me!”
Su Jinyuan did not show the slightest anger despite First Madam Xiao’s furious scolding.
She had been in the wrong back then. No matter how harshly First Madam Xiao berated her, she deserved to endure it.
She had disgraced her son and humiliated the Xiao Family. And now Xiao Yunxi had even died at Linchuan.
First Madam Xiao was already overcome with grief and fury. It was only natural for her to curse at Su Jinyuan.
Su Jinyuan knelt on the floor and said, “First Madam, although Eldest Young Master and I never completed our wedding, our betrothal was never dissolved. Until it was, I was still a member of the Xiao Family.”
“I know you’re angry that I left the Capital on the day of the wedding. But I was deceived by my Aunt and forcibly abducted. I’m willing to accept punishment for ruining the marriage. I only ask that First Madam not drive me out.”
“I’ve already severed ties with the Su Family. I have nowhere to go in the Capital. Please take me in.”
First Madam Xiao had no desire to hear anything more. In her fury, she blurted out, “Then go die! Even if you die, it will have nothing to do with the Xiao Family!”
“Eldest Sister-in-Law.”
Second Madam Xiao reached out and caught hold of the agitated First Madam before saying to Su Jinyuan, “Miss Su, the Xiao Family is no longer what it once was.”
“I don’t know where you’ve been all this time, but you should understand from the people stationed outside our gates alone that the Xiao Family is no longer a good place to be.”
“You should leave. Yunxi… he has already died in battle… and your betrothal has been annulled…”
Second Madam Xiao’s eyes also reddened when she mentioned Xiao Yunxi. She took a deep breath.
“Don’t stay with the Xiao Family. We have nothing to offer you.”
Su Jinyuan looked at the three women, who had all grown much older. When she saw the tears in Old Madam Xiao’s eyes as well, she bowed her head and knocked it against the floor.
“Old Madam, I truly admired Eldest Young Master, and I truly wish to become a member of the Xiao Family.”
“On the day of the wedding, my Aunt deceived me with news of my younger brother, who had gone missing years ago. I left the Capital in desperation, only to be abducted afterward. I know you don’t want to believe me, but I genuinely wish to remain with the Xiao Family.”
“No matter what state the Xiao Family is in now, I want to face these hardships together with you.”