Seeing Su Qinghe leave the house, Xiao Hanyuan braced himself against the ground, trying to sit up. But his arm gave out, and his whole body collapsed back onto the straw mat.
Grinding his teeth, Xiao Hanyuan used his elbows to push himself forward inch by inch toward the door. But his severely injured, exhausted body could no longer hold on. Darkness clouded his vision, and he fainted…
At noon, near the entrance of the village.
“Isn’t that Su Qinghe? She’s heading to the gambling den again, isn’t she?!”
“Sigh, she’s lazy, greedy, and addicted to gambling. How’s anyone supposed to live with that?”
“Exactly! Any man who marries a woman like her is cursed with terrible luck!”
“The man in her house is probably being tortured to death by her. That lazy woman is vicious!”
The gossip at the village entrance drifted into Su Qinghe’s ears, but she ignored it and headed straight for the grain shop.
“Boss, ten jin of rice and five jin of white flour.”
The grain shop owner looked up at her in surprise. “You’re from the Su family? Where’d you get the money?”
“Sold the ox.” Su Qinghe dropped the copper coins onto the counter.
The shopkeeper shook his head, sighing inwardly.
They had sold the family’s only old ox. How were they supposed to survive from now on?
Anyone who married a woman like this really was unlucky.
The shopkeeper weighed out the grain and handed it to her.
Carrying the rice and flour, Su Qinghe headed straight to the pharmacy and brought a doctor home to treat Xiao Hanyuan.
His illness couldn’t be delayed any longer.
After examining Xiao Hanyuan, the old doctor took out paper and brush from his medicine box and quickly wrote a prescription.
“This medicine must be taken for seven consecutive days, three times a day. You can’t stop midway.”
“How much?”
“The consultation fee is fifty wen. One dose of medicine costs eighty wen. Seven doses will be five hundred and sixty wen.”
Su Qinghe clutched the few remaining copper coins in her hand, looking troubled.
“I… I only have thirty wen right now.”
The old doctor glanced at her, then at Xiao Hanyuan lying unconscious on the floor, and sighed.
“Forget it. I’ll let you owe it for now. Pay me back after your husband recovers.”
A doctor’s heart was compassionate—he couldn’t just watch a living person die.
“Thank you, doctor!” Su Qinghe thanked him repeatedly.
The old doctor packed three doses of medicine, gave a few instructions, and left carrying his medicine box.
Su Qinghe closed the door and looked at the unconscious Xiao Hanyuan, then at the three packets of herbs. Taking a deep breath, she decided:
First, make the medicine.
She poured the herbs into a pot, added water, and started a fire. Flames licked the bottom of the pot as the scent of medicine slowly filled the room.
While the medicine simmered, she washed the rice and cooked porridge.
By the time the medicine was ready, the porridge was done too.
Carrying the bowl of medicine, Su Qinghe walked to Xiao Hanyuan’s side and gently patted his face.
“Wake up. Time to take your medicine.”
Xiao Hanyuan slowly opened his eyes. In his blurry vision was a plump face and a bowl of steaming black medicinal soup.
He froze.
Wasn’t she supposed to be gambling?
Based on what he knew of her, once she went to the gambling den during the day, she wouldn’t come back until evening.
Su Qinghe helped him sit up and brought the bowl to his lips.
“Drink it while it’s hot.”
Xiao Hanyuan stared at the medicine bowl without moving.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’d really be kind enough to feed me medicine?” His voice was hoarse, his eyes full of suspicion as he stared at her.
Su Qinghe almost laughed.
“What, you think I poisoned it? If I wanted you dead, I could’ve just watched you die. Why would I waste money saving you?”
Xiao Hanyuan frowned.
“I already spent the ox money hiring a doctor and buying medicine for you, so you’d better recover quickly.” She nudged the bowl closer to his mouth. “Drink.”
Xiao Hanyuan stared at her for a long moment.
So when she left earlier, she had actually gone to buy medicine for him?
This woman… had changed?
Before, she wouldn’t spend a single coin on him. She either beat him or cursed at him, and any money she got immediately went to gambling. Yet now she was willing to spend money hiring a doctor for him?
“What exactly are you trying to do?” Xiao Hanyuan asked.
“Well, you are my husband after all,” Su Qinghe said seriously. “I’m still counting on you to work the fields for me. If you die, where am I supposed to find such a handsome husband?”
“If you die, won’t I lose my labor force?”
Xiao Hanyuan fell silent.
That reason… actually made sense.
He took the bowl and drank the medicine in one gulp. It was unbearably bitter, but after drinking it, his body really did feel a little better.
Su Qinghe then brought over a bowl of porridge.
“Eat something, or the medicine will’ve been for nothing.”
It was plain white rice porridge—thin and watery, but at least it carried the scent of rice. Xiao Hanyuan took the bowl and slowly finished it spoonful by spoonful.
After eating, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to rest.
As Su Qinghe cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, she looked around the empty house, then down at the rolls of fat around her stomach, silently calculating.
A dirt-poor household, a sickly fiancé, and a two-hundred-pound body…
She needed money—enough to run away before the male lead recovered his memories.
And she had to lose weight too, otherwise she wouldn’t even be able to run.
Looking at Xiao Hanyuan lying on the straw mat, Su Qinghe thought for a moment and said,
“Rest well. I’m going up the mountain to see if I can find something to eat.”
Xiao Hanyuan said nothing. Those deep, ink-dark eyes merely stared at her.
That gaze made Su Qinghe’s scalp tingle.
She quickly grabbed a broken bamboo basket and hurried out the door.
The courtyard gate creaked shut behind her. Xiao Hanyuan closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly.
This woman usually lay in bed all day, only becoming energetic when going to the gambling den. And now she was climbing a mountain?
Had she really changed?
Or was she plotting something else?