What did she think?
In that short time, Bei Qinghuan had thought of a great many things.
If she hadn’t heard Mei Suqin’s inner thoughts today, she would most likely have had the same considerations as Yan Guifang.
Her family situation was unique. Marrying Qin Zhenghua smoothly and setting her widowed mother’s mind at ease was the best path forward for now.
But as it happened, she had heard those words.
Bei Qinghuan bit her lip for a long time before asking her mother, “Mom, if I get married, what will you give me for my dowry?”
Yan Guifang’s brow furrowed.
For her daughter to ask this, it seemed she had agreed to the marriage.
So be it.
What other choice did a fatherless girl have?
Yan Guifang said, “Over the past few years, on and off, I’ve had some furniture made for you. It’s not the best wood, but if we buy four more chairs, we can probably make up the ‘Thirty-six Legs’.”
Thirty-six Legs referred to a large wardrobe (4 legs), a chest of five drawers (4 legs), a bookcase (4 legs), a dressing table (4 legs), a writing desk (4 legs), and four wooden chairs (16 legs).
It was already a very, very fine dowry.
But Bei Qinghuan’s eyes widened. “Is that all?”
Yan Guifang was stunned.
As a widow, she had scrimped and saved for the better part of a decade to slowly accumulate these things.
Seeing the look on her mother’s face, Bei Qinghuan knew she had misunderstood and quickly added, “Mom, I don’t mean it’s too little. I just wanted to ask, if I get married, besides these things, will you also give me any medicinal formulas or anything like that?”
The kind of medicinal formulas that sold for a fortune.
That was what Mei Suqin’s inner voice had said.
She wanted to know if they truly existed.
Regarding Bei Qinghuan’s question, Yan Guifang thought for a moment, then slapped her thigh.
“That’s right! The year before last, when your grandfather passed away, he told me to give all his old medicinal formulas to you. After all, you were the one who spent the most time with him growing up, and you were the best at acupuncture. If your grandfather hadn’t wanted to keep it a secret, you could have become a senior doctor of Chinese medicine. Wait, I’ll go get them for you.”
Yan Guifang went into the room and rummaged around for a while, emerging with a wooden box.
The box was made of old sandalwood. Inside were about ten yellowed medicinal formulas, two very old medical books, and a small pouch tightly sealed with kraft paper.
Bei Qinghuan picked up one of the formulas. Written on it was “Qingfeng Powder.”
This was a formula specifically for treating eczema and urticaria.
She had known since she was a child that her grandfather’s ancestors had included an imperial physician, and for generations, their family had researched the treatment of such ailments.
However, because her grandfather had suffered unjust treatment in previous years, he had remained quiet for a very long time.
He stopped treating patients. Instead, he went through generations of his family’s medical records over and over, taking out the old medicinal formulas to repeatedly study and improve them, finally settling on a number of miraculously effective formulas to preserve.
And now, these formulas, which contained the painstaking efforts of several generations, had been passed down to her, his granddaughter.
This wasn’t surprising.
After all, just as Yan Guifang had said, among all the younger generation, only Bei Qinghuan had truly learned from her grandfather.
What was strange, however, was that even she herself didn’t know these formulas had been passed down to her, and even Yan Guifang had to be specifically asked to remember them. How did Mei Suqin, an outsider they rarely saw, know about them?
Seeing Bei Qinghuan clutching the formula without a word, Yan Guifang thought she was missing the old man.
“Thinking of your grandpa? The old man was quiet, but he left all the good stuff for you. Look in there…”
Yan Guifang undid the kraft paper pouch and showed Bei Qinghuan what was inside.
“You know what these are, right?”
Bei Qinghuan’s eyes began to sting.
“I know. Angong Niuhuang Pills, a life-saving medicine. I remember Grandpa saying he traded an old ginseng root for some of the best-formulated Niuhuang Pills to keep. Outside, even with a special permit, they cost sixty-six yuan each. This whole lot must be worth several hundred. I can’t believe he gave me even such a precious medicine.”
Yan Guifang nodded.
“It’s good that you know. When you get married, I’ll give them all to you as part of your dowry. Just don’t you tell anyone in the Qin family. As for the wedding date, I’ll go talk to your grandfather tomorrow. If he agrees too, then… let’s settle it. In any case, you’ll be living close by after you’re married, so I can rest easy.”
Bei Qinghuan slowly put the items back into the wooden box and replied, “Let’s hold off on this matter for now.”
Yan Guifang was puzzled. “Hold off on what?”
“I’m talking about the wedding date. Don’t go ask Grandpa yet. Let’s talk about it in a few days.”
“We have to give the Qin family an answer. Since you’ve already decided, let’s not be difficult over such minor things. Mei Suqin is petty; she’ll bully you later on.”
“She has to give us time to consider. We’ll talk again in three days.”
Looking at her daughter’s calm expression, Yan Guifang hesitated for a long time before ultimately choosing to say nothing more.
The Qin family had looked down on them, mother and daughter. It was indeed not right to be too accommodating. Waiting three days seemed appropriate.
However, because of Mei Suqin’s behavior, Yan Guifang was so upset that she completely forgot to ask Bei Qinghuan about delivering the meal to Representative Jing today.
It wasn’t until the next morning, when Bei Qinghuan went to buy groceries and brought the lunchbox back on her way, that Yan Guifang remembered. “Hey, the things in your pocket, they couldn’t be from Representative Jing, could they?”
Bei Qinghuan was looking at the note Jing Xiao had left in the lunchbox.
It was concise: [The side dishes were good. Thank you, Comrade Yan Guifang.]
The words were written with a fountain pen. The strokes were vigorous and powerful, with an untamed quality to their sharp, defined lines. It was very distinctive.
As expected of a Military Representative, his handwriting had style.
Looking at the words, Bei Qinghuan pictured a balding, middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a military uniform, hunched over a desk writing calligraphy.
Well… even if he was a bit bald, she still respected him. She quickly handed the note to her mother.
Yan Guifang, however, was only concerned about the return gift.
“These two cans of fruit in syrup are very expensive. We were originally trying to thank him, and now it’s turned into us taking advantage of him. This won’t do. Didn’t he say the side dishes were good? Then pack some more for him. I was thinking about it the wrong way; in this hot weather, side dishes really do whet the appetite.”
Bei Qinghuan was not pleased. “Mom! We sent food once, and he gave us two cans. If you send more, are you trying to make him think you can’t get enough of taking advantage of him?”
“Listen to you. It’s precisely because I don’t want to take advantage that I want to give more. I’ll deliver it this time. I’ll just drop it off and leave. I’ll tell Representative Jing directly not to give any more return gifts; we can’t accept them.”
Since her mother insisted, Bei Qinghuan had no choice but to comply.
Anyway, to save money, their family always had pickles and side dishes on hand. Bei Qinghuan packed three kinds: pickled eggplant, sweet and sour lotus root slices, and the same hot and sour cucumber from last time.
She packed them in glass jars, which looked very clean, and most importantly, they wouldn’t need to return the lunchbox again.
It would save the trouble of passing it back and forth and prevent anyone from thinking they were trying to curry favor with Representative Jing.
Yan Guifang picked up the jars and left. “I have to go to work today. If I don’t go soon, we’ll be drinking the northwest wind this month. If you have time, go check on Grandma Su. Give her one of the cans of fruit in syrup.”
Bei Qinghuan verbally agreed.
But as soon as her mother left, she also began to prepare to go out.
She was going to verify another of Mei Suqin’s inner thoughts—
“Your kidney can save my life.”