Chapter 651: Chapter 651: Fell Into the Pit
Before, she warned Luo Huiniang not to fall for Qin Er Lang, calling him a deep trap filled with melodrama that she would not be able to climb out of.
But the pit of Qin San Lang’s family is not shallow either.
And it seems she has fallen into it.
Brother Cheng looked completely baffled when he heard this: "The future Second Brother-in-law is a fugitive? Have you had another strange dream, Second Sister?"
Second Sister always had bizarre dreams and then used them to scare him, but he wasn’t going to fall for it.
Gu Jinli: "Let’s just say it was a dream, now tell me, if the future Second Brother-in-law causes our entire family to be beheaded, should I still marry him?"
Brother Cheng glanced at her, then glanced again, turned around, and ran to knock on Gu Jinxiu’s door: "Big Sister, are you awake? Wake up, Brother Cheng wants to drink the chestnut porridge you make."
Big Sister, please save me, Second Sister has gone mad again.
"Coming." Gu Jinxiu responded, soon came out to open the door, and smilingly said to Brother Cheng: "Making chestnut porridge takes some time; you probably can’t eat it this morning."
Brother Cheng grinned, "Big Sister can start cooking it, I can eat it in the evening too."
Gu Jinli folded her arms and curled her lips with a smirk, strolling over slowly: "Gu Jincheng, are you looking forward to eating chestnut porridge or seeking refuge with Big Sister?"
Brother Cheng’s little body shivered, feeling a gust of wind behind him; he ducked down and swiftly spun on his feet, successfully dodging his Second Sister’s sneak attack and ran off: "Mom, Brother Cheng is coming to help you make breakfast!"
He was very grateful to Elder Qin for teaching him martial arts every day for the past three years, which saved him from this disaster.
Gu Jinli was so angry that she gritted her teeth: "You little rascal, just you wait."
Brother Cheng heard her but wasn’t scared; he thought it would be better not to call Second Sister in the mornings for a few days, and wait until Big Brother was back. With Big Brother around, he wouldn’t be fearful of Second Sister’s bullying.
Gu Jinxiu watched with amusement: "What’s with you two now?"
Gu Jinli posed the same question to Gu Jinxiu: "Big Sister, if my future husband turns out to be a fugitive and our whole family might get beheaded because of him, should I still marry him?"
Gu Jinxiu was taken aback at first but laughed: "Talking nonsense again."
But she still answered Gu Jinli’s question: "We’re a family, and we should face problems together. No matter whether you marry a fugitive, a nobleman, or just an ordinary farmer, if there are troubles, our family will shoulder them with you and your husband."
How touching! She’s definitely my real sister.
With Gu Jinxiu’s reassurance, Gu Jinli felt content and, after calling for Qi Kangle, she went to the kitchen to get busy.
Sister Li had gotten up early to practice martial arts and dragged the sleepy Xiao Ji along; now the two weren’t in the yard.
With Gu Jinxiu’s words, Gu Jinli had a huge appetite this morning. She ate three bean dregs cakes, three eggs, one sweet potato, and a bowl of porridge.
Brother Cheng gaped: "Second Sister, you’re going to eat all the grain in the house; can’t you eat a little less?"
Gu Jinli hummed: "Our family has plenty of grain; eating this much won’t even make a dent, okay?"
She hadn’t sold the grain over these past few years; she saved it all, and when the weather was good, she even took it out to dry and turned sweet potatoes into dried sweet potato flour for storage, for fear that Great Chu might fall and there would be no grain to buy, keeping it just in case.
Gu Dashan, however, just laughed: "Our family isn’t what it used to be, eat as much as you want."
As he spoke, he peeled another egg for Mrs. Cui.
Back in their old home, Mrs. Cui couldn’t even eat an egg while doing her postnatal confinement. Now she could eat as many as she wanted; Songzi Manor sent over a basket of fresh eggs every few days.
Mrs. Cui had already grown accustomed to Gu Dashan peeling eggs for her to eat. She smiled as she took one and after biting into it, she picked up a bean dregs cake for Gu Dashan, "Have some more, dear. It’s cold today, and you’ll be busy at the workshop later. If you don’t eat well, you’ll get cold."
Gu Jinli got a mouthful of ’dog food’, so to speak, but then she thought, Brother Qin would peel chestnuts for her to eat...ugh, why did she think of Brother Qin again?
No, she must not think about it. She had to stay focused!
Gu Jinli felt it wasn’t good to be like this; she should get busy and not always think of Brother Qin.
She finished her meal quickly and said, "Mom, Dad, I will go to the workshop first. The people from Xuanhu Fang are coming to inspect the goods today."
With that, she took Xiao Ji, who was already waiting at the door, and went to the workshop.
In the workshop, Qiu Lang and the others had already started their busy day. Seeing Gu Jinli arrive, they all greeted her.
The pharmaceutical workshop now operated on a large scale, with every drug-making process running smoothly, much like an industrial assembly line. The divisions of mixing, brewing, and packaging were clearly defined and well-organized.
Ah Shi, who had learned from Aunt Hong and Nanny Tao for a couple of years, was now even more adept at her tasks. Seeing Gu Jinli come in, she came over with a ledger to report, "Young Master, all the goods for this batch are ready: one hundred thousand bottles of Wind Cold Relief Pills, one hundred thousand bottles of Wind Cold Cough Relief Pills, one hundred thousand bottles of itch-relieving hand cream, fifty thousand bottles of Rapid Cooling Pills, fifty thousand bottles of Flu-removing Pain Relief Pills, and three thousand catties of Gu’s Golden Healing Medicine."
During the cold weather in Great Chu, many people suffered from chilblains, and the itch-relieving hand cream was meant to treat this condition. The Rapid Cooling Pills were for people with persistent high fever to lower their temperatures, while the Flu-removing Pain Relief Pills were for those with rheumatism—these were targeted medicines that she had developed as new Convenient Medicines over the past three years.
However, she only made these more common medicines for the general public and did not touch medicines for treating internal organs or rare diseases.
She knew how to make those medicines and had the recipes, but she would not turn those recipes into Convenient Medicines, as she did not want to take on too much responsibility.
Medicine was something that should be simple and aimed at treating cold and flu symptoms; making it too complex could lead to problems.
Gu Jinli listened and nodded, then asked Ah Shi, "Who’s guarding the goods?"
Ah Shi replied, "Uncle Han Liu is personally overseeing it with Danian and the others. Young Master can rest assured."
Speaking of Han Liu, Gu Jinli said with a smile, "So Uncle Xiao Liu is finally here to work? I thought he’d stay with Aunt Hong until she gave birth."
Han Liu had waited for Aunt Hong for more than two years and finally married her earlier this year during the Dragon Boat Festival.
The reason Aunt Hong was previously unwilling to marry Uncle Xiao Liu was because, during a time of misfortune in Aunt Wu’s household, she had been violated by a guard who came to loot the house.
Aunt Hong felt guilty toward Han Liu and thus was reluctant to marry him.
But Han Liu, who was no longer young, did not care about these things anymore. After talking it through, Aunt Hong saw that Han Liu still treated her well and let go of her worries, choosing to be with him.
Now Aunt Hong was pregnant, and Han Liu was overjoyed. He had been watching over Aunt Hong every day and not coming to work in the workshop.
Nanny Tao was also happy and secretly shed tears, commenting that Aunt Hong’s bitter days had finally turned sweet.
When Aunt Hong was taken away by the guard, Nanny Tao had witnessed it, but she could not save her...When a household was looted, which maidservants hadn’t suffered to protect their masters?
If Aunt Hong and the others hadn’t met with misfortune, it would have been their masters’ turn.
But all that was now in the past.
As the hour of Chen arrived, Elder Doctor Wu arrived with a team of doctors and several attendants from Xuanhu Fang. A group of people inspected the goods for a full five days before finally concluding the task.
On the day of the shipment, Gu Jinli breathed a sigh of relief and held a box of silver notes with a silly grin.
Doctor Wu, finding her demeanor irritating, said sourly, "Do you like money that much, girl?"
Gu Jinli replied confidently, "Of course, money is the sweetest thing!"