As a result, everyone’s взгляд toward Qin Laidi changed.
Someone who hadn’t had a bowel movement for seven or eight days suddenly felt the urge after just one bowl of wild vegetable soup? And she had even predicted the timing so accurately!
Could it be that Little Chili Pepper’s mouth had been blessed?
Soon, a chamber pot was passed inside. Though everyone stood at a distance, they could still hear faint sounds. No one left—no one wanted to miss witnessing this miracle.
Ten minutes later, Cui Laowu emerged beaming with joy.
Qin Laidi knew—the damp-heat had cleared.
“Auntie, for the next few days, boil dandelion greens in water and drink it whenever you’re thirsty. Keep your diet light and easy to digest. I’ll come back in five days. Remember, you can’t take dandelion for too long.” Afraid the Cui family might overdo it, she carefully explained the harm of prolonged consumption.
“Alright, alright! Thank you! You’re truly our family’s great benefactor. As long as your aunt can live even one more day, I’ll kneel to you…” Cui Laowu’s face flushed red as he laughed and cried in excitement.
Live one more day? Laidi smiled calmly. That wasn’t much to ask.
Knowing he was busy caring for the patient, Qin Laidi didn’t linger. She squeezed out of the crowd and headed home.
Only then did the villagers of Wulitun notice—at some point, the girl’s back had straightened. She stood like a young poplar tree, upright and full of vitality.
Over the next few days, Qin Laidi still checked in on the Cui family whenever she had time. Seeing that Aunt Cui’s bowel movements had normalized, her mouth was no longer dry or bitter, and her spirits were improving, Laidi finally felt at ease.
Jaundice could be easy or difficult to treat—it depended on the variations. If delayed, a minor illness could become severe, even life-threatening. After several days, when Aunt Cui’s complexion gradually lost its dark bluish hue and the black stool disappeared, it was essentially resolved.
To reassure the family, she even suggested they visit the municipal hospital for a checkup. When it was confirmed there were no internal growths, Qin Laidi felt even more confident.
That day, just as the grandmother and two granddaughters were about to prepare lunch, they suddenly heard Cui Laowu calling:
“Auntie, are you home?”
Thinking something had gone wrong, Qin Laidi hurried out of the kitchen. “Yes, Uncle Cui, what’s the matter?”
“Hehe, nothing serious. My second son caught some fish in the river—brought them for you to try.” He held two palm-sized wild crucian carp, still lively and flopping.
“No need, keep them for your wife to recover,” Qin Guihua said, though she was tempted.
“It’s fine, we caught three. One is for my wife—she can’t eat much anyway.” He set the fish down and left quickly, afraid they might refuse.
Qin Guihua chased after him but couldn’t catch up. Looking at the fish, their scales gleamed and gills were fresh. But in this mountainous area, they hadn’t eaten fish in years—she didn’t know how to cook them.
“Grandma, I’ll cook. Let’s make angelica crucian carp soup.”
Crucian carp had many bones and little meat. It tasted great stewed with tofu, braised, or steamed—but all those required seasonings they didn’t have.
The angelica root was something Laidi had dug up in the mountains a few days ago, now half-dried. It looked like a small radish wrapped in yellow skin, carrying a faint herbal fragrance. She sliced it and boiled it in water, added crushed ginger, and soon the kitchen filled with its distinct aroma. While waiting, she stuck corn cakes around the pot. Once the angelica softened, she added the cleaned fish. Soon the soup turned into a bubbling milky white.
This was the first time since her rebirth that Qin Laidi had eaten meat. Her mouth watered uncontrollably. In her past life, due to illness, Old He had restricted her diet strictly. Now she had no illness—just an intense craving.
Just as the three of them were about to eat, a woman in her early twenties walked in.
She had an oval face and big eyes—quite pretty—but her slightly high cheekbones made her look more ordinary.
“Grandma, about to eat? I came at the perfect time.”
Qin Guihua and Pandi ignored her, turning away. Laidi knew—this was her second sister, Qin Youdi, married into the neighboring production team leader’s family. They had several large brick houses and many strong laborers—living quite well.
“Grandma, are you mad at me? I’ve just been busy. I forgot about sending the grain,” she said playfully, linking arms with Qin Guihua.
Two months ago, when the family had no food left, the grandmother had asked someone to send word for Youdi to bring twenty jin of grain—just a loan to be repaid after harvest. She received the message—but never sent anything.
Even Pandi frowned. “Hmph, I’m not talking to Second Sister.”
“Oh, little girl’s got a temper now. You’ve grown taller—and your eyes look brighter.”
The cod liver oil supplementation had worked—though still shorter than peers, she had clearly grown.
“Hmph! If everyone was like you, only caring about your in-laws, we’d have starved!”
Youdi laughed awkwardly. “Hehe, was it Laidi who prescribed medicine? I heard in the village—our Third Sister cured a terminal illness with one bowl of wild vegetable soup! It was Aunt Cui, right? Everyone knows her condition—she was just waiting for death… Now people are calling our Third Sister a miracle doctor!”
At first, she hadn’t believed it. But recently, the story had spread in vivid detail. She had even seen Aunt Cui looking lively in the sun earlier.
“Third Sister, you’ve really been hiding your abilities. Why didn’t you show them before?”
Qin Laidi remained expressionless.
She had never liked this second sister much. The eldest was kind and hardworking, while Youdi was lazy, slippery as an eel, and always scheming.
As children, whenever there was something good, Youdi would trick the eldest and youngest into giving up their shares. Even when caught, she would stubbornly claim they had offered it willingly.
They had fought often.
But in her previous life, after their grandmother died and her eldest sister went mad, only this “annoying” second sister wrote letters, called, and sent things. Even when Laidi refused everything.
After she was driven away by Zhao Haiyang, it was her graying, cane-using second sister who came to stand up for her, saying she could return to the countryside with her—that her son would provide for her.
And during their grandmother’s illness, it was Youdi and her husband who pulled her to the hospital again and again, paying and caring.
Thinking of this, Laidi couldn’t keep up her act. She hugged her.
“Hmph, the most heartless one in this family is Second Sister.”
“Hey, you brat! How am I heartless? You didn’t even call me to eat fish!” Without waiting, she grabbed chopsticks and picked the thickest piece of fish belly.
Of course—she had come hungry on purpose.
Qin Guihua glared. “Shut your mouth!”
Youdi’s thick skin was unmatched. Completely unfazed, she urged Laidi to talk about her marriage.
Recently, the biggest gossip in nearby villages revolved around Laidi—her marriage and her medical skills.
Hearing he was a technician, Youdi felt both envy and jealousy. Then hearing his parents were in the far north, she became worried—afraid Laidi would suffer, yet also afraid she would live too well.
“Don’t think I don’t see through your little thoughts. Stop it.”
Youdi had been married to Niu Dagang for three years and had a son. With her sharp tongue, she thrived in her in-laws’ home. Whenever asked, she either talked about defeating her sisters-in-law or putting her sharp-tongued sister-in-law in her place.
After eating, she inspected the house but found nothing worth taking. Her eyes landed on the piles of herbs.
“Grandma said you gathered these. See if there’s anything we can take back—let me tempt my sisters-in-law.”
Qin Laidi felt speechless.
“With so many herbs, you can’t finish them. Why not sell them?”
“I heard you have to be careful of the armband patrols, but it’s not really speculation. People in our village secretly sell eggs and vegetables. My father-in-law turns a blind eye.”
Qin Laidi had considered this. But the purchasing station only wanted valuable herbs like ginseng. The common herbs she gathered were low quality and not worth buying.
Youdi continued, “There’s a girl in our team—very clever. She started selling eggs, then bought from others to resell. When others copied her, she salted the eggs and sold them in the city, making another profit!”
Qin Laidi suddenly had an idea.
Over the next half month, she became even busier—raising pigs, gathering herbs, and working late into the night smoking, frying, and pickling.
Finally, after National Day, she chose a sunny day to head into the city again.
At the village entrance, she caught a tractor ride. Luckily, only one young man was traveling with her.
He wore metal-framed glasses and looked refined. Since arriving as an educated youth, people only called him “Liao Four-Eyes”—few cared about his real name.
Every year, many educated youths were sent down. They were inexperienced in farm work, sometimes even lazy or dishonest, yet still shared grain at year’s end. A divide existed between villagers and them.
But Laidi was different. Bold and curious, she often interacted with them.
She knew this young man was from Haicheng. His father worked at a radio factory, and he had given up his chance to inherit the job so his sister wouldn’t have to go to the countryside. From 1966 to 1973, he had been here for seven years.
Before, she hadn’t thought much of it.
But now, a thought struck her—
Old He also worked at a radio factory.
Could they have been colleagues?
That was definitely worth talking about.