Grandma Qin looked at her suspicious younger son and stood up, tugging at her clothes. "Old Third, you'll live a more carefree life if you're a bit more foolish," she said, then left the room for the kitchen.
Qin Sen leaned against the wall, feeling the chill from his bones and the pain that was gradually becoming clearer.
He didn't seek carefree living, only a clear understanding of who had abandoned him and who had poisoned him.
Dinner that day was exceptionally rich. Qin Junyao, with a "what the hell" attitude, brought out chilies, tomatoes, and cucumbers that were out of season, along with a bag of rice.
Fortunately, she still had some sense and didn't produce them out of thin air in front of her family.
She thought that surrounded by shrewd people, survival was key. If she couldn't survive, seeing her grandfather again wouldn't be so bad. Sudan Novel Network.
The next morning, most of the Qin family went to gather firewood. Qin Junyao, wearing a newly patched thin jacket, went to the mountaintop.
After a night's reflection, Qin Junyao realized she still wanted to live, and that meant getting back the IOU.
Zhao Liangcai, who had been waiting on the mountaintop for a long time, watched as Qin Junyao ascended alone. The corners of his mouth stretched to his ears. It was good that she had come.
"Miss Qin, over here," Zhao Liangcai called out to Qin Junyao, sitting on a large rock with a food container wrapped in hide.
Qin Junyao looked up at the bearded man on the rock and extended her hand. "Give me the IOU."
"Tell me how you got the silver notes, and I'll give it to you."
"Don't go, let's talk," Zhao Liangcai said as Qin Junyao turned to leave without a word. He jumped down from the rock, blocking her path with the food container.
Qin Junyao crossed her arms, her resistance evident. "General Zhao, I came up here to get the IOU. If you don't give it to me, there's nothing more to say."
Zhao Liangcai opened the food container in his hand and presented it to Qin Junyao. "I like it when you call me Zhao Hammer."
"Buns, pork-filled, not gamey. You're too thin, eat more."
"Are you crazy?" Qin Junyao was about to lose it.
She even suspected that this Zhao Liangcai had also transmigrated.
Rumor had it that General Zhao was a man of few words, a cold-faced killer whose gaze could make enemies and subordinates tremble.
Who would believe that this person, exuding a scoundrel's aura and holding a food container full of buns, was the notorious young killer, Zhao Liangcai?
Indeed, if Zhao Liangcai's soldiers saw their general like this, they would also think he was possessed by some spirit.
In reality, only Suozi and Fuzi knew Zhao Liangcai's true nature. He became friends with the talkative Suozi because they had similar personalities since childhood.
"I do have a minor ailment, and you can cure it," Zhao Liangcai said earnestly.
Qin Junyao lowered her hands and tried to walk around Zhao Liangcai.
Coming here was a mistake. She should have stayed home and learned from her grandmother.
"Don't go. How about this, if you promise to come back every day to practice your zither, I'll give you both the IOU and the silver notes," Zhao Liangcai said, seeing Qin Junyao's determination to leave.
"The silver notes too?"
"Really?" Qin Junyao stopped, disbelieving Zhao Liangcai's words.
Zhao Liangcai closed the food container and placed it in the basket on Qin Junyao's back. "Really."
Feeling the weight of the basket, Qin Junyao stated her condition. "I don't trust you. Give me one thing back first."
It didn't matter which item Zhao Liangcai returned; she wouldn't lose out. As for practicing the zither on the mountaintop every day, her body could already enter the spatial dimension, so who would be foolish enough to practice in the bitter cold of winter?
In the end, Zhao Liangcai chose to return the silver notes to Qin Junyao.
After receiving the silver notes, Qin Junyao left without delay, walking briskly. She didn't hear anything Zhao Liangcai said behind her.
With the silver back, her first priority was to buy medicine for Qin Sen from Doctor Sheng.
From the memories left by the original owner, her Third Uncle Qin Sen would lie in bed as soon as the weather turned cold. There were no instances of him curling up on a heated kang, shivering, or biting the corner of his quilt in pain.
Therefore, if Zhao Liangcai returned her IOU, she would dig up another, slightly larger ginseng root to exchange for medicine.
Getting the silver notes back was much simpler.
Upon arriving home and giving the basket to Qin Xiaoyu, Qin Junyao pulled Grandma Qin aside for a private chat.
"Yaoyao, your Third Uncle needs treatment for twenty years. You'll pay this year, but you can't stop next year. Have you thought it through?" Grandma Qin was surprised that Qin Junyao would use her money to treat Qin Sen's illness.
"Grandma, to be honest, the medicinal herbs I brought back from the desert last time, if we can find the seeds, we can plant them next spring, and in two years, we'll have an annual harvest."
"I've asked the pharmacies in the city, but they don't have the seeds. When my Second Uncle comes back tonight, I'll ask him to inquire with the salt harvesters. And also..."
"Grandma, can you teach me?"
After listening to Qin Junyao's long explanation, Grandma Qin patted her granddaughter's back. "If you've already made arrangements, what can I not teach you? Once those people from the Northwest Barracks stop coming in a couple of days, Grandma will take you to Northwest City."
This time, it was Qin Junyao's turn to be surprised. "We're leaving in a couple of days?"
"Everywhere is bustling before the New Year. Let's eat first, and then we'll go buy medicine."
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Five days later, Qin Junyao sat in the carriage heading towards Northwest City, still feeling somewhat unreal.
This carriage had been rented in Salt County. There were many such carriages transporting people back and forth between Salt County and Northwest City.
The carriage was clean, and the driver had thoughtfully provided a hand warmer for the passengers. It was both safe and considerate.
"Grandma, is it really okay for us to leave like this?" Qin Junyao couldn't help but ask Grandma Qin.
Grandma Qin stretched her legs and covered them with a quilt, looking at Qin Junyao. "Why wouldn't it be? We have enough food until after the New Year, and we even have two taels of silver left."
Seeing that her granddaughter still wanted to speak, Grandma Qin interrupted, "It's good for us to be out. If you two died, would they be buried with you? Just let them get used to it."
"What you should be thinking about is whether you've earned enough money. You're coming with Grandma to see the world, and it won't do if you have too little money."
Qin Junyao sat down next to Grandma Qin and asked the question she had been wanting to ask. "Grandma, were you a young lady of a prominent family before?"
Grandma Qin was taken aback by her granddaughter's question, then burst into laughter. "Hahahaha, oh dear, if your Grandma were a young lady of a prominent family, would she have lived a life of hardship with your father with nothing to her name?"
"I would have had to steal money from my rich father to live."
"Then..." Qin Junyao thought that if Grandma wasn't from a prominent family, where did her knowledge come from?
Grandma Qin rubbed her hands against the carriage wall. "Oh, I originally intended to take some things to the grave with me, but I want to rely on you, my granddaughter, to live a good life, so there's nothing I can't say."
"Grandma, I used to be a second-class maid. I was initially responsible for clothing, and later for the young lady's makeup and hair."
"Don't look at Grandma's wrinkled face now. When I was young, I was quite beautiful."
Grandma Qin pointed to her eyes. "These eyes, everyone praised them. Now they're not as good. When my eyelids droop, they become triangular eyes."
Qin Junyao smiled at Grandma Qin's eyes. She had never seen triangular eyes before.