Warm medicine emits fragrance

From that day on, Fan Liuer would stay in her bedroom reading storybooks in the mornings, and after lunch, she would leave the medicine and go out, staying at Siqing's house until dark before returning.

Aside from seeing Li Chenbi feeding mosquitoes in the yard before leaving home at noon and when returning home, the two of them rarely saw each other.

Four or five days passed in the blink of an eye.

Li Chenbi wasn't in a hurry, but Li Qiuping was extremely anxious.

"Sir, General Yan only gave you a month's leave, and almost half a month has passed. Madam Fan shows no sign of reconciling with you. Will she be willing to return to Xingzhou with us then?"

It was the hottest time of the afternoon, and Li Chenbi was terribly hot, fanning himself rapidly with a fan.

"It's definitely time to begin."

He was losing patience; the sweltering heat made him want to carry Fan Liuer back to Xingzhou.

Upon hearing this, Li Qiuping immediately perked up and leaned closer to Li Chenbi, saying, "So you had this plan all along, sir."

Li Chenbi glared at him, annoyed that he brought heat with him.

He obediently retreated.

Li Chenbi tapped the table with his fingertip and said, "Wait a minute, go to the market and find a few people..."

After listening, Li Qiuping asked in confusion, "Sir, this matter is not difficult to handle, why wait until now? Isn't this a waste of so many days?"

Li Chenbi said impatiently, "You're talking more and more like this now."

Could it be that he got too close to Fan Liuer and was influenced by her?

"Do you think she's brainless? She just had a fight with me, and then she heard all this news. Doesn't she suspect anything?"

Li Qiuping thought to himself, "That makes sense." He smiled and said, "As expected, you are very thoughtful, Master." With that, he stood up.

"I'll take care of it right away."

Li Chenbi watched Li Qiuping run quickly towards the courtyard gate, his gaze drifting towards Siqing's house.

Hmph, she'll learn that in this chaotic world, a woman alone cannot survive.

Meanwhile, Fan Liuer was chatting with Siqing in the shop.

Feng Ji was forging iron in the courtyard. Fan Liuer peeked into the yard and whispered to Siqing, "What's the situation between you and Brother Feng now?"

Siqing blushed, glanced at Fan Liuer, lowered her head shyly, and twisted her hands together.

Seeing that things were looking promising, Fan Liuer moved closer to her and asked, "Is it... a success?"

Siqing shook her head, then nodded.

Fan Liuer grew anxious, "Did it succeed or not?"

Siqing bit her lip and whispered, "It should... be successful, right?"

"What does 'should' mean?"

Siqing looked up and glanced at the backyard, then leaned close to Fan Liuer's ear and said, "Yesterday, I slept with my stepbrother."

"What?!" Fan Liuer exclaimed in shock.

Feng Ji, who was in the courtyard, looked over when he heard the sound.

Siqing immediately said, "Keep your voice down!"

Fan Liuer forced a smile at Feng Ji, then leaned close to Si Qing's ear and said, "My goodness, Si Qing, I really underestimated you in the past."

Siqing blushed deeply, but her words were bold and unrestrained: "I had no choice. He just couldn't get over the fact that he's my brother, so I had to make it a fait accompli."

"And then what? What did he say? Did he say he wanted to marry you?" Fan Liuer asked anxiously.

Siqing shook her head. "He didn't say. He only said that he would handle the rest and told me not to worry about it."

Fan Liuer clapped her hands suddenly, "Then it's settled! If you two want to get married, you'll have to remove him from your family genealogy before he can marry you. I reckon he'll have to go and apologize to your parents first."

Speaking of these worries, Siqing felt troubled. She sighed and was about to speak when someone came into the shop.

"Shopkeeper, I'd like to buy a hoe blade. Do you have any here?"

Siqing immediately stood up and greeted the customer with a smile, "Of course we have them, this is a blacksmith shop, how heavy do you need?"

Fan Liuer looked over and saw a woman, probably in her forties, dressed simply with a square scarf wrapped around her head.

Fan Liuer knew most of the residents in the neighborhood, but this was the first time she had seen this woman.

The woman seemed a little flustered, clutching her trouser legs with both hands, and said, "It weighs two pounds."

"Okay, I'll go get it for you." Siqing went into the inner room to retrieve the goods.

At this moment, only Fan Liuer and the woman remained outside, and the woman was clearly more flustered.

"This auntie isn't from around here, is she?" Fan Liuer struck up a conversation with her.

The woman said softly, "I just moved here recently and I don't go out often, so you haven't seen me before."

Fan Liuer nodded slightly, thinking to herself that she hadn't gone out recently, so it was normal that she hadn't seen her.

"Are you buying a hoe to grow vegetables in your yard?"

The woman shook her head. "No, my house is small and doesn't have a yard. I was planning to go to the mountains on the outskirts of town to get some soil."

"Oh, that's a bit far."

Fan Liuer's words seemed to touch a nerve with the woman. She sighed, lowered her head, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Sigh, I have no other choice."

As she spoke, she began to sob softly.

Fan Liuer had intended to make small talk to ease her anxiety, but she hadn't expected to make her cry. A little flustered, she quickly pulled over a chair. "Why don't you sit down for a while?"

At this moment, Siqing came out with a hoe blade and saw the woman sitting on a stool crying sadly. She looked at Fan Liuer with her eyes and asked.

Fan Liuer shook her head, indicating that she didn't know either.

Siqing put down her hoe and stepped forward. "Oh dear, Auntie, what happened?"

The woman wiped away her tears and said, "It's nothing, it's just that seeing the two of you reminds me of my sad memories."

Fan Liuer and Siqing exchanged a glance, both completely bewildered.

"When I was young, I was just as beautiful as you two are now. Before I even reached marriageable age, matchmakers were already knocking down my door."

Siqing pulled over two stools, handed one to Fan Liuer, and asked, "And then?"

The woman sniffed and continued, "Back then, a wealthy merchant's son took a liking to me and treated me incredibly well. He gave me everything I wanted, and was willing to give me his entire fortune."

"But I absolutely refused to do it."

"Why?" Siqing asked, puzzled.

The woman sighed, "Alas, I have two older sisters who were already married at the time, and both married into higher social classes. However, they did not have a good life in their husbands' families. Not only did they have to be mindful of their in-laws' opinions, but their husbands also quickly lost interest in them, and one concubine after another was brought into the house."

"Every time my two older sisters come back, they complain about everything."

"I grew up listening to their complaints, and I developed a deep-seated aversion to families with too much wealth. I was determined never to follow in their footsteps, so I rejected the son of a wealthy businessman and chose someone from a family with a similar background to mine."

"That's good too. Your families are of similar social standing, and with your family backing you up, your in-laws will definitely not dare to look down on you," Fan Liuer said.