After Liu Cuihua and her daughter were sent back, and with Lin Jianguo busy rekindling his romance with Zhao Qingling to regain the Zhao family’s trust, Mingxi’s life finally returned to peace.
The number of patients at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Pharmacy kept increasing, and Mingxi’s reputation was now firmly established.
Yet, after each busy day, Mingxi would inevitably find herself thinking of Yue Kai.
“I wonder how his mission is going. I never thought a month could feel this long before, but now it seems endless,” Mingxi sighed.
She must be missing the meals Yue Kai used to cook. As the old saying goes, to win someone’s heart, you must first win their stomach. She felt Yue Kai had already captured hers.
Yue Kai, too, was missing Mingxi. Others with partners could pull out photos to reminisce, but he didn’t even have a picture. All he could do was hold the yao gao (medicinal cream) and think of her.
“Captain, why do you keep staring at these jars of yao gao? It’s effective, sure, but I feel like you’re bewitched by it.”
Surely, yao gao couldn’t have developed a spirit, could it?
Yue Kai picked up a nearby stone and threw it at them. “You all have photos. I don’t, so can’t I at least use the yao gao to remember someone?”
What a miscalculation. He should have dragged Mingxi to take some photos earlier.
Everyone laughed at Yue Kai’s expense. They knew he was pursuing Mingxi, but they hadn’t realized he didn’t even have a photo of her.
“Captain, you need to step up your game. Don’t let us have kids before you’ve even won yourself a wife.”
Yue Kai hurled a few more stones their way. Couldn’t they speak properly? Their mouths were so annoying.
While Mingxi and Yue Kai were longing for each other, Liu Cuihua and her daughter, about to get off the train, were yearning for the compound.
They had been practically escorted onto the train. Along the way, they considered getting off at other stations to escape, but they were too afraid of encountering trouble.
After several hesitations, time slipped away, and the train delivered them back.
Lin Jianguo had calculated the timing and contacted the brigade leader in advance, asking him to help pick them up.
He didn’t hide what Liu Cuihua and her daughter had done there and earnestly requested the brigade leader to keep an eye on his family and help find Lin Hongmei a reliable partner.
Upon hearing this request, the brigade leader refused without a second thought. But Lin Jianguo argued that as long as Liu Cuihua and her daughter were separated and kept apart, they wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble.
The mother and daughter were usually troublemakers in the brigade. If they were separated, their troublemaking potential would vanish.
Whether it was Liu Cuihua or Lin Hongmei alone, neither could stir up much trouble on their own.
After much consideration, the brigade leader eventually agreed to the request.
He wasn’t doing it for Lin Jianguo’s sake but to rid the village of a nuisance.
He had been overjoyed when Liu Cuihua and her daughter left without any news, hoping they wouldn’t return. But to his dismay, they were being forcibly sent back.
If they were being sent back by force, something must have happened there—and it certainly wasn’t anything good.
“Please keep an eye out for any young men in nearby villages around Lin Hongmei’s age. Jianguo wants us to help find a match for his sister.”
The brigade leader entrusted this matter to his wife, then went out to pick someone up.
Thinking of Lin Hongmei’s temperament, the brigade leader’s wife frowned with worry.
“Where am I supposed to find someone? Everyone knows Lin Hongmei’s reputation. Bringing her into the family would be like inviting trouble,” the brigade leader’s wife exclaimed, stamping her foot in frustration.
After picking up Liu Cuihua and her daughter, the brigade leader didn’t let them linger in the city and hurried them back to the village.
This left Liu Cuihua and her daughter quite dissatisfied.
“Brigade leader, there’s no need to rush like this. We still wanted to buy some things in the city,” Liu Cuihua said, puffing out her chest and raising her chin, as if she were returning home in glory.
The mother and daughter had no idea that the brigade leader already knew about their misadventures. They had been planning to show off in front of him.
The brigade leader couldn’t be bothered with them and said bluntly, “How can there be no rush? There’s still work to be done in the fields. I had to take time out of this busy day to pick you up. There’s no time for you to play around in the city.”
“Since you’re back, behave yourselves. I told you not to go looking for Jianguo, but you wouldn’t listen. Now you’ve thrown his life into chaos. Are you satisfied?” The brigade leader truly couldn’t understand what went through their minds.
The family had finally produced someone successful. If you couldn’t help, at least don’t hold him back. If Lin Jianguo were from his family, no one would dare hinder him—anyone who tried would face consequences.
Liu Cuihua and her daughter paled, their proud expressions instantly replaced by panic. “You know what happened over there?”
The brigade leader nodded. “Yes, I do. You two have some nerve, pretending to be doctors. The villagers don’t know about your antics yet, so I suggest you keep quiet and stay out of trouble.”
The mother and daughter deflated immediately. They had been planning to boast in the village, but now how could they? If they tried, the brigade leader might get angry and reveal everything.
The three remained silent for the rest of the journey. The brigade leader had no desire to speak to them, while Liu Cuihua and her daughter were too afraid of him.
As they neared the village, the brigade leader looked at Lin Hongmei and said, “Your brother asked me to find you a match. I’ve already asked your aunt to look for one. Don’t worry, we’re practically family—I wouldn’t harm you. But you’d better work on that temper of yours.”
Lin Hongmei was stunned. She had thought Lin Jianguo was just trying to scare her, but she never expected him to be serious.
Seeing her expression, the brigade leader knew what she was thinking. “Don’t you be angry. Jianguo is the one who should be angry. You’ve made such a mess of his situation that he’s now on his superiors’ radar. Who knows what will happen to his future?”
“If you were part of my family, I’d have kicked you out and cut ties long ago. The fact that Jianguo is still willing to look after you—you should count yourselves lucky.”
With that, the brigade leader let them out of the vehicle. He had to return the ox and feed it.
Liu Cuihua and her daughter were completely dumbfounded. Perhaps the shock was too much for them—they didn’t leave their home for several days afterward.
The brigade leader paid them no mind. If they didn’t care about work points, he’d simply mark them down as zero.
Mingxi also received a call from the brigade leader. The brigade leader called to congratulate her, while also informing her about the situation of Liu Cuihua and her daughter at home.
“Work hard there. I always knew you were a promising girl. What happened in the past is in the past—what matters now is the future.”