Unparalleled medical and martial arts skills, saving the CEO's fiancée at the start.

Even after the New Year, the snow in Baizhi Valley had not yet melted, the soil in the medicinal herb fields was still frozen, but the moonflowers in the greenhouses had already bloomed for the second time.

Aygul has cultivated twice as many seedlings this year as she did last year.

She planted moonflowers on the half-acre plot on the shady side of the south slope, and then added two more rows along the ditch on the north slope.

Her seventh uncle said she was "biting off more than she could chew," but she ignored him and squatted in the shed every day before dawn to divide the pots.

When Gu Nian left, she took another potted plant with her, saying, "I'll put this one on the windowsill in my dorm and take it home after I graduate."

Aygul heard this but didn't say anything. She just divided up two more basins and placed them at the entrance of the medicine shop, saying, "Take them if you want them."

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Shen Jingqiu called from Nancheng and said that Gu Nian's mock college entrance examination results were out, and she scored more than thirty points higher than the first mock exam.

Shen Bo'an interjected on the other end of the phone, saying, "Tell her not to overwork herself. She's just recovered; don't let her ruin her health again."

Ye Chen relayed these words to Gu Nian.

Gu Nian replied with a smiley face on WeChat, saying, "Dr. Ye, I'm fine."

I now go to bed early and get up early every day, and I feel much more energetic than when I was sick.

Ye Chen handed his phone to Jiang Ruoxi to look at.

Jiang Ruoxi said, "This girl looks exactly like you when you were taking the college entrance exam."

Ye Chen said, "I didn't take the college entrance exam back then; I copied medicine manuals on the mountain."

Jiang Ruoxi smiled.

After the spring, Fang Guodong came again.

This time he didn't bring any students; he came alone, riding his old bicycle with a cardboard box strapped to the back.

The box contained his newly compiled teaching materials, a thick stack of them, the ink from the mimeograph still wet.

He sat in the medicine hut and showed Ye Chen the textbook page by page.

Several new recipes were added, all of which he compiled from the general copy, including He'an Ointment.

Fang Guodong said, "I had my students conduct animal experiments with this formula, and the cough-relieving effect was indeed better than using Fritillaria cirrhosa or Moonflower alone. The data is attached at the end."

Ye Chen flipped through the documents and saw that the data and charts were neatly arranged, and even the experimental conditions and control group designs were clearly written.

He said, "Professor Fang, you're treating traditional Chinese medicine like Western medicine."

Fang Guodong pushed up his glasses and said, "Traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine are not at odds. Being able to explain the principles of traditional Chinese medicine using modern methods is good for everyone."

Ye Chen thought this made sense, so he asked Shen Jingqiu to pick out a few prescriptions from the general book and give them to Fang Guodong for further research.

Fang Guodong was so happy that he said "good" three times in a row, and rode his bike back to school that afternoon.

At the end of March, Su Qinghan combined the accounts of Baizhi Valley and Anhetang and did a final calculation.

A batch of He'an ointment was made, packaged into small bottles, and stamped with that copper seal.

Jiang Ruoxi set the price low, aiming for low profit margins and high sales volume.

Anhetang put it on the shelves first, and Shen Jingqiu posted a picture on her WeChat Moments with the caption: "New ointment arrived, old formula, new application."

Within two days, most of it was sold out. One regular customer even called to ask, "Is this He'an Ointment the same as the one sold at Anhetang before?"

Shen Jingqiu said, "The prescription is the same. The herbs are grown in Baizhi Valley, and the ointment is made from Yaowang Valley."

A regular customer said, "Then reserve ten bottles for me. My son works in another city, and he can't buy them there."

Shen Jingqiu agreed and hung up the phone to speak with Shen Bo'an. Shen Bo'an nodded and said, "He'an Ointment is made this way; it requires cooperation between two companies. One company alone cannot produce the same product."

Ye Chen chose a weekend to take Jiang Ruoxi back to Medicine King Valley to sweep Ye Changfeng's grave.

Su Qinghan returned to the valley a few days earlier, cleaned the ancestral hall, and placed a small bunch of dried angelica in front of Ye Changfeng's memorial tablet.

When Ye Chen arrived, he saw the bouquet of flowers, stood there for a while, and didn't say anything.

Jiang Ruoxi arranged the offerings she had brought and lit three incense sticks for Ye Chen.

Ye Chen took the incense, bowed three times to the memorial tablet, and silently said a few words in his heart.

He didn't say it aloud, but he knew Ye Changfeng could hear him.

When the three incense sticks were halfway burned, Su Qinghan came in from outside and said, "There's soup simmering on the stove. Let's eat first."

Ye Chen placed the incense sticks and followed her outside.

As he passed by the medicine shop, he noticed a small wooden sign hanging under the eaves with the words "Heji" written on it.

He asked Su Qinghan, "When did you hang up?"

Su Qinghan said, "Yesterday, this place used to be called Heji Pharmacy. I only found out by looking through your grandmaster's notes."

Ye Chen stood in front of the wooden sign for a while.

The two characters weren't carved very well, but the strokes were very deep, as if they were being embedded into the wood.

That night, Ye Chen and Jiang Ruoxi stayed in Medicine King Valley.

The two sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, watching the moon slowly rise from behind the mountain ridge.

Jiang Ruoxi said, "Ye Chen, there's something I want to tell you."

Ye Chen asked what was wrong.

Jiang Ruoxi said, "I've been feeling tired a lot lately. I used to be able to work overtime until midnight and still have meetings the next day, but now I'm so sleepy by nine o'clock."

Ye Chen turned to look at her, his gaze becoming serious, and said, "Give me your hand."

Jiang Ruoxi handed over her right hand.

Ye Chen took her pulse, pressed it for a while, and then switched to his left hand.

After taking her pulse, he didn't say anything, but looked at Jiang Ruoxi's face and asked, "How's your appetite lately?"

Jiang Ruoxi said, "It's alright, but the greasy smell makes me feel a little nauseous."

Ye Chen was silent for a few seconds, then grinned.

Jiang Ruoxi was puzzled by his laughter and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Ye Chen said, "Ruoxi, you might be pregnant."

Jiang Ruoxi was stunned.

Ye Chen said, "The pulse is slippery and strong. The pulse at the cun position is especially strong. Although I have not studied obstetrics and gynecology, it is written in the book of Yaowang Valley, and it is probably very close to the truth."

Jiang Ruoxi opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything for a long time.

Ye Chen held her hand and said, "I'll take you to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow to confirm."

Jiang Ruoxi nodded, her hand unconsciously resting on her lower abdomen.

The moonlight shone on her face, and she was both surprised and delighted.

Looking at her, Ye Chen felt that everything he had ever done in his life combined was not as joyful as this moment.

He stood up and gently hugged Jiang Ruoxi.

The light was still on in Su Qinghan's room, and her shadow was cast on the window paper as she sat under the lamp flipping through a book.

Ye Chen thought he would tell his master tomorrow.

Let him and Ruoxi have some fun for a while today.

The breeze in the valley was warm and pleasant.

The new seedlings in the angelica field are just sprouting, green and lush, one after another.

It's as if something is quietly growing on this land.

The next morning, Ye Chen took Jiang Ruoxi to the county hospital.

Registering, queuing, blood test, ultrasound – it took all morning.

When the results came out, the doctor handed them the report and said, "Congratulations, you're six weeks along, and everything is normal."

Jiang Ruoxi held the form and sat on a plastic chair in the corridor, looking at it several times.

Ye Chen squatted down in front of her, held her hand, and said, "I told you, the pulse diagnosis method of Medicine King Valley is infallible."

Jiang Ruoxi looked up at him, her eyes a little red, but she was smiling.

She said, "Don't go out and fight anymore."

Ye Chen said, "I stopped fighting a long time ago. Now it's always the other way around, they're the ones hitting me."

Jiang Ruoxi gently patted him.

The two walked out of the hospital; the sun was shining brightly.

Ye Chen went to a roadside stall and bought two tea eggs, one for each of them.

Jiang Ruoxi took a bite and suddenly said, "We have to tell Master Su."

Ye Chen said, "I'll tell you when we get back."

Jiang Ruoxi continued, "And your master, and your grandfather, and Jingqiu and Guli, and He Jianping. And..."

Ye Chen interrupted her: "Take it one at a time, let's go home first."

When they returned to Medicine King Valley, Su Qinghan was drying herbs under the eaves.

Seeing the two return, she glanced at Jiang Ruoxi's face, then at Ye Chen's expression, and paused in her work.

She put down the medicine sieve and said, "Did you get it?"

Ye Chen nodded.

Jiang Ruoxi handed over the examination report.

Su Qinghan took it and looked at it for a long time.

She didn't say anything, folded the form and returned it to Jiang Ruoxi, then turned and went into the house.

After a while, she brought out two bowls of soup, one for Jiang Ruoxi and one for Ye Chen.

The soup is chicken broth with red dates and astragalus root added.

She said, "I'll drink it. I'll have one bowl every day from now on."

Ye Chen held the bowl and watched Su Qinghan's back, feeling that his master was walking a little lighter today.

He lowered his head and drank the soup, finding it more delicious than anything else.

When the news reached Nancheng, Shen Bo'an said "good" three times on the phone.

Shen Jingqiu sent a packet of herbal tea to help with pregnancy that same day, along with a note: "Sister Jiang, drink this with water every day, it's not bitter."

Aygul didn't say anything, but from that day on, a row of newly cultivated seedlings appeared in the greenhouse.

Ye Chen asked her what she was raising, and she replied, "I'll need it later."

Ye Chen didn't ask any more questions.

Upon hearing this, He Jianping shouted in the security department that he wanted to be the godfather of the family.

Ye Chen shut him down with a simple "Go queue up."

That evening, Ye Chen sat in the courtyard and took the Ku Zhao Sword down to wipe it clean.

Jiang Ruoxi came out of the house, holding the bowl of herbal tea in her hand, and sat down next to him.

Ye Chen carefully sheathed the sword and said, "This sword will be left to me from now on."

Jiang Ruoxi said, "Why not leave behind a sword?"

Ye Chen said, "The rules of Medicine King Valley are that medicine and martial arts are inseparable. You must know how to treat patients and also know how to protect those who treat them."

Jiang Ruoxi didn't say anything more and leaned on his shoulder.