“Aunt-in-law, once I get back home and question my eldest son, if we truly owe your family money, I’ll definitely repay it.”
Madam Zhao looked at Ye Manshu as though she were some kind of monster. Then her expression darkened in anger.
“Ye Manshu, let me tell you something—don’t try any funny business with me. You’re not planning to scam money from my family, are you?!”
Ye Manshu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The original owner’s reputation was so terrible that simply speaking politely made people think she was plotting something.
“Really, I’m not.”
Madam Zhao became even more suspicious.
“It’s Manshu, isn’t it? Why aren’t you letting her come in?” an elderly voice called from inside.
“Yes, Uncle.”
Under Madam Zhao’s vigilant stare, Ye Manshu walked in.
Inside sat a man in his fifties, currently inserting acupuncture needles into a patient.
Ye Manshu walked over and smiled.
“Hello, Uncle.”
Doctor Li glared at her coldly.
“Cut the act. Tell me—why did you smash a hole in your third son’s head? And why did you beat your second daughter-in-law until she was injured?”
Ye Manshu: “…”
Was this an interrogation?
After considering the original owner’s speaking habits, Ye Manshu carefully adjusted them a little. She had to change gradually so people could slowly get used to the new her.
Blinking her eyes, she suddenly put on a pitiful expression.
“Uncle, wuwuwu… I… I was blinded by foolishness. I spoiled Third Son too much in the past. The family really had no money left, and under his urging, I actually wanted to sell Er Ya to pay for his studies. But Second Son’s wife tried to stop it, and that’s why she got beaten.”
As she spoke, Ye Manshu secretly observed Doctor Li’s expression. Seeing him grow even sterner, she deliberately squeezed out a few tears.
“Uncle, I’ve already suffered retribution too. Look at my head—I hit it and nearly died. I practically took a trip to the King of Hell’s palace. Not one of those little bastards even thought to invite you over to check on me. After nearly dying once, I finally saw clearly: Third Son is the type who’s happy when he benefits, but the moment he can’t exploit someone, he turns hostile.”
Doctor Li glared at her.
“Speak properly. Every sentence out of your mouth sounds awful.”
“Yes…”
Seeing his expression soften slightly, Ye Manshu immediately put on an even more sorrowful face.
“I finally came to my senses, but Third Son still insisted on selling a child for money—or else selling more farmland. I got so angry that I beat him. Because of him, our family’s twenty mu of fertile land has already shrunk to ten. If we keep selling, we won’t even have food left to eat. Tell me, shouldn’t he be beaten?”
Only then did Doctor Li’s tone finally ease.
“It’s good that you’ve figured things out. If there’s no money, stop supporting his studies. He’s studied for over ten years and still achieved nothing. I think he’d be better off becoming a village tutor teaching basic literacy.”
Ye Manshu nodded repeatedly, immediately seizing the opportunity.
“Uncle, just as expected from someone who shared the same grandmother as my mother—you’re truly reliable! I already withdrew Third Son from school. Didn’t you once say that if he were willing to teach basic literacy, you’d let him use your old house to open a small village classroom? Does that still count?”
“It counts. Tomorrow I’ll tidy it up for him. Let him become a teacher there.”
Doctor Li finally smiled faintly.
He had watched Ye Manshu grow up and once doted on her like his own daughter.
If she hadn’t later become so unreasonable, they wouldn’t have spent years unable to stand each other, barely speaking at all.
Meanwhile, Ye Manshu thought to herself that as long as Cheng Qian stayed in the village, he’d never be able to stir up trouble again.
The village chief was her maternal uncle, and the clan leader was her paternal uncle.
Back then, her parents had only one child—a daughter born to them late in life. They treasured her immensely and deliberately found her an honest outsider to marry.
The reason she had once been able to strut around the village with impunity was because she had the strongest family connections.
If the original owner hadn’t constantly caused trouble and alienated everyone, people wouldn’t have ignored the chaos in her household.
No, she needed to maintain these relationships properly.
Sure enough, after a few tears, some grievances, and a sincere apology, Doctor Li’s heart softened.
“Uncle, there’s one more thing I want to ask of you.”
“Go ahead. As long as you’re not borrowing money, anything’s fine. Even if you ask, you won’t get any—my wife controls the family finances now.”
Ye Manshu’s mouth twitched as she recalled how the original owner had borrowed money easily but repaid it with extreme difficulty.
“It’s not borrowing money. I want to repay your medical fees, but first I need to earn money. I was thinking… could you teach me to recognize medicinal herbs? I want to gather herbs and sell them. If I manage to find lingzhi mushrooms or ginseng, I’ll get rich overnight…”
Doctor Li immediately interrupted her.
“Stop dreaming. There’s no lingzhi or ginseng around here. If there were, I would’ve gathered them already. But I do happen to need medicinal herbs here, and your cousin’s pharmacy in the county needs them too. If you truly want to gather herbs, I can teach you.”
“That’s wonderful! Uncle, you’re the best! Muah!”
Ye Manshu jumped excitedly.
“Behave yourself! You’re already a grandmother.”
Even while scolding her, Doctor Li’s lips curled upward slightly.
“What does ‘muah’ mean anyway?”
Ye Manshu: “…”
Crap.
She got too excited and slipped out of character.
“It just means I’m happy. Uncle, hurry and teach me the herbs.”
“Fine. In a little while, I’ll take you up the mountain and teach you how to identify them.”
After removing the acupuncture needles from the patient in the outer room and informing his wife that he was heading into the mountains to gather herbs, Doctor Li brought Ye Manshu toward the hills outside the village.
The village was called Kaoshan Village—literally “Mountain-Backed Village”—for obvious reasons.
Several large mountains surrounded the settlement. There were no massive predators like tigers or leopards; the biggest wild animals were boars, wolves, wild goats, and roe deer.
As long as people didn’t venture into the deeper second mountain range, they wouldn’t encounter wolves or boars during the daytime.
The front and back hills were inhabited by villagers, and wild animals generally avoided areas with people.
Following Doctor Li closely, Ye Manshu carefully learned to identify medicinal herbs.
Honeysuckle, Patrinia, rehmannia root, pokeweed, motherwort, black nightshade, cassia seeds, bupleurum, and many others.
Eventually, even Doctor Li realized he had taught too much at once.
“How much of it did you remember?”
Ye Manshu grinned.
“Uncle, I have an excellent memory. I remembered almost all of it.”
Seeing his disbelief, she pointed one by one at the herbs in the basket.
“This is motherwort. It promotes blood circulation, regulates menstruation, clears heat, detoxifies, and reduces swelling through urination. This is cassia seed—it clears heat and improves eyesight. This is astragalus, which replenishes qi, strengthens the body’s defenses, raises yang energy, stops sweating, drains pus and toxins, and promotes urination…”
In one breath, she listed the functions of more than a dozen herbs.
Doctor Li stared at her in shock.
“You actually remembered all of them? Even the explanations?”
She was practically a genius.
Ye Manshu nodded.
“Uncle, did I say anything wrong?”
“No… nothing wrong at all. What a pity you’re a girl. If you were a boy, you might’ve become a great physician.”
Doctor Li sighed regretfully.
“Uncle, what’s wrong with being a girl? I can still learn. At the very least, learning herbs means I can support myself gathering medicine.”
“Good, good. If you want to learn, I’ll teach you. I have medical books at home too. You can read them whenever you want.”
Doctor Li genuinely wanted what was best for her.
“Thank you, Uncle. Once I gather herbs and process them the way you taught me, I’ll sell them to you. Then I’ll finally be earning money.”
“Mhm. Good that you finally know how to earn a living… Since you’ve figured things out, teach your children properly from now on. Don’t be like before.”
Doctor Li rambled on all the way until evening.
Only after each of them had filled an entire basket with herbs did they finally return.
“Uncle, once I process the herbs the way you taught me, you’ll have to check my results.”
“Go on then.”
Doctor Li looked at her with the same satisfaction one might feel watching a child finally grow up and mature.
The moment Ye Manshu returned home, she heard loud arguing from inside.
“Sister-in-law, I just want steamed egg custard! Make some for me!”
Madam Yang’s voice rose just as loudly.
“Little Brother, you still think you can order me around like some scholar? Dream on! You’ve already fallen out of favor with Mother. Nobody’s going to indulge you anymore.”
“You—shrew! Mother’s only angry with me temporarily. In a few days she’ll treat me well again.”
“Bah! Ah Yuan, are you really just going to stand there while your brother points fingers at my face?”
Cheng Yuan sounded utterly exhausted.
“Enough already. That idiot Second Brother took Mother’s order to watch Third Brother work so seriously that he ended up watching me too. I’m exhausted to death.”