The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 25 Missing My Eldest Sister
Chunnuan cooked a pot of fish and used the bowl that Luo Xiaogang used to hold kimchi to put a bowl of fish in for him, telling him to take it back to his family to eat, and then come over to eat at Xiao's house.

"Okay, wait for me, I'll be right there."

Luo Xiaogang ran very fast.

He loved playing at the Xiao family's house so much.

With his brother Chun Ning helping him earn money, he secretly calculated that he had earned forty-two coins so far; with his sister Chun Nuan's cooking and fried flower cakes, it's no exaggeration to say that even though they were both wild vegetables, Chun Nuan's cooking was much tastier than his mother's.

When Luo Xiaogang brought the fish home, his aunt scolded him.

"How could you bring back something that someone worked so hard to cook?"

"Mom, I'm the one who picked up the fish. Besides, the kimchi is from our family too, so we're sharing this." Luo Xiaogang put it on the table and ran off: "I'm not going to say anything more, I'm going to Chun Ning's house for dinner. They're all waiting for me to start the meal."

"You're the one who's like a radish in the sand, you can be taken away with a single touch, you're really shameless."

Aunt Luo felt ashamed when she saw her son disappear as soon as he ran away.

"Mother, can we eat this fish? It smells so good." Sanya swallowed hard. "Chunyan and Chunshu are right. Sister Chunnuan really knows how to cook. It looks delicious."

"What, is my cooking not good enough?" Aunt Luo laughed angrily. "If you think my cooking is bad, then you can cook it yourselves. Sanya, I'm not trying to be mean, but you're thirteen years old, and your cooking skills are really nothing to write home about. In two years you'll be looking for someone to marry, so you need to practice more so you don't go to other people's homes and complain that I didn't teach you well and that they're disgusted with you."

"Mom, if I go to someone else's house, will I just be cooking and washing clothes?" Sanya asked, puzzled. "Then what's the point? It's better if I just stay home and cook and wash clothes for you; that would be easier for you."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Girls have to get married when they reach a certain age. Who will support you if you don't get married?"

“I’ll take care of you.” Six-year-old Luo Xiaocheng immediately chimed in, “Third sister, you take me to play, help me with laundry and cooking, and I’ll take care of you when I grow up.”

"Oh dear, Luo Laoyao, you're quite the liar." Aunt Luo laughed in exasperation: "They say that once you marry a wife, you forget your mother. Now you want your third sister to take you to play, so you say you'll support her in the future; if your third sister really doesn't get married and stays at home as an old maid, you won't even be able to talk about having a wife."

"why?"

"Don't people want to have multiple burdens?" Aunt Luo said. "What girl has to support her husband's older sister after marrying into the family? Sanya, you need to wake up. None of your brothers are reliable. A girl should marry into a good family and have her own children to have a future."

"Mother, what is a good family?" Sanya looked at her mother: "Was your marriage into a good family?"

One sentence silenced Aunt Luo.

I can't really say what's so good about it; but it's not so bad either. After all, I have a lot of children, my eldest daughter is married and I'm a grandmother; my second son has also found a wife and will be married in December... That's probably how I live my life.

"You silly child, wait two years and let your aunt help you find a good one."

"Why do we have to get married when we grow up? Chunnuan is so grown up, why isn't she married yet?"

"You don't understand. Physician Xiao is gone, and the Xiao family is still in mourning. They can only talk about him after the three-year mourning period is over."

Aunt Luo was worried for Chunnuan: "That girl is beautiful and capable. She used to be from the capital. I'm afraid her marriage will be difficult."

People say that when you marry off your daughter, you should look up; when you marry off your son, you should look down and take a wife. Chunnuan's birth and the current situation of the Xiao family are truly awkward. Wealthy families and officials probably don't dare to associate with them. You can tell by looking at the attitude of the Xiao clan. They are afraid of being implicated.

If I were to marry a peasant man, tsk tsk, it would be like a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung—I simply can't imagine it.

In short, in Aunt Luo's eyes, no matter who Chunnuan marries, it will be a marriage of convenience!
That's pretty tragic!

Remembering Chunnuan saying she was sick, I'm still conflicted about whether to ask her for a prescription and medicine. I did the math on the family savings—oh well, with my son's wedding in December, there's really no money left for medicine.

"Mom, let's eat. I'm so hungry, I really want to eat." Sanya saw her mother shaking her head and sighing, and she didn't know what was bothering her.

"Let's eat, let's eat." Aunt Luo also felt that she was quite ill, eating her own food while worrying about the Xiao family.

At the Xiao family's house, Luo Xiaogang ate with great relish, making smacking noises and remarking as he ate.

Suddenly, I realized that among all these people eating, it seemed like only his voice could be heard.

"Brother Chun Ning, why is your family eating so quietly? Can't you all talk?"

"One should not speak while eating or sleeping." Chun Ning smiled slightly and put a piece of fish in his bowl with her chopsticks: "Especially when eating fish, you have to keep your mouth closed, otherwise fish bones will get stuck in your throat."

"Ah, it sounds good, that's good."

Luo Xiaogang glanced up at the elders' table again, secretly marveling at how well the Xiao family's children sat up and ate, so well-mannered.

Unlike eating at home, the younger siblings keep asking for this and that, or they fight and argue, giving each other a headache.

After finishing the meal, the old lady looked at her granddaughter, who was busy slicing the pinellia, and felt very emotional.

“Nuan Nuan, Grandma used to have bad eyesight.”

This granddaughter is truly wonderful in every way.

Even his cooking skills have improved a lot.

Only after the family's fortunes declined did they realize that this unassuming granddaughter was actually quite talented.

It's normal that Nuannuan learned some pharmacology from the old man, since she wasn't particularly interested in music, chess, calligraphy, or painting. People only knew she could treat illnesses, not that she could survive. Now, with her around, the Xiao family feels like they have a pillar of support. Only now do they realize how right the old man's favoritism towards her was back then.

"Grandma, you're not feeling well, please rest." Seeing the old lady come to help hang out the spring flowers, she smiled slightly: "I'm glad you don't mind your granddaughter's rough manner."

"Grandma complained that she hadn't understood anything after living for decades."

I always felt I owed this granddaughter something.

"Our children are all doing well." Looking up into the distance, she wondered, "I wonder how Chunyu is doing?"

"Judging by the time, my eldest sister should have given birth around the Dragon Boat Festival."

Chunnuan was also worried about her eldest cousin. She was the eldest granddaughter of the Xiao family, a true jewel in their palm. She was gentle and virtuous, filial to her elders and loving to her younger siblings. Every holiday, all her younger siblings would receive carefully prepared gifts from her, all of which they liked.

Marrying the second son of the Wu family was a good match, I suppose.

However, the Wu family is not like the Xiao family. Lord Wu has one wife and three concubines. The eldest sister was not originally going to get married so soon, but Madam Wu was seriously ill and was afraid that the mourning period would delay the wedding, so she arranged the marriage ahead of schedule.

Sure enough, less than three months after the eldest sister entered the family, Madam Wu passed away. Less than a year after Madam Wu's death, Lord Wu remarried... In short, the Wu family's inner courtyard was in quite a mess, and I was really afraid that the eldest sister would not be able to handle it.

“Yes, according to custom, we should send a gift to encourage childbirth.” Aunt Xu’s eyes were filled with tears. “I prepared the same thing for Lingling and Yu’er that day, but alas…”

(End of this chapter)