The family of Doctor Xiao?
He knows us?
Chun Nuan and her sisters were tense, members of the Xiao family?
"I am Zhao Minghua, my father is the shopkeeper of the Hundred Herbs Hall in town," Xiao Minghua quickly identified himself, "Since childhood, I have often heard my father speak of Doctor Xiao as a master of the medicinal arts, and I once aspired to become a benevolent doctor myself."
"That's wonderful," Chun Nuan was momentarily stunned, then nodded.
She felt awkward; knowing that her grandfather was beheaded after being embroiled in the concubine's case, would he still have such ambition?
"Thank you, Mr. Zhao, for speaking up on our behalf today. We must take our leave now, lest our family grows worried."
"Of course," Zhao Minghua quickly replied, "Miss Xiao, difficulties are temporary; my father and I both believe Doctor Xiao is innocent."
"Thank you."
Despite being abandoned by the clansmen who benefited from the grace of her great-grandfather and grandfather when the Xiao family faced troubles, she didn't expect to find trust in a stranger.
Chun Nuan's nose ached and her heart was bitter as she stubbornly raised her head to the heavens: Grandfather, can you hear me? There are still wise people in the world who know you were wronged and died with resentment.
"Sister, that gentleman is very nice," Chun Shu whispered on their way back.
"Yes, don't mention this to the family when we return."
Neither the bedridden grandmother, nor the three wives who had never faced such events, nor the pregnant eldest sister-in-law, nor the young siblings were fit to hear about grandfather's matter again.
But what Chun Nuan hadn't expected was seeing thick smoke rising from the direction of their home before they even arrived.
Many people were helping to carry water and put out the fire.
"What's happening?"
Chun Nuan rushed back to see Aunt Luo, the neighbor.
"Chun Nuan, you're back! Your house caught fire, they say it was started by your sister-in-law while cooking."
"Where are my grandmother and the others? Is everyone alright?"
"Everyone's fine, over there."
Guided by Aunt Luo, Chun Nuan saw the trembling family members, particularly the eldest sister-in-law, Mrs. Zhu, who looked ashen.
"Eldest sister-in-law, it's alright, as long as no one is hurt," Zhu Nuan put her hand on her pulse, sighing inwardly: "Come, eldest sister-in-law, listen to me, relax, don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."
It was difficult, and the pregnancy of the six-month-pregnant elder sister-in-law was already unstable.
"Chun Nuan, it's my fault, I just wanted to cook, but the fire fell out, and I..." Having never started a fire before, the falling fire ignited a whole pile of firewood brought back by Chun Nuan, leaving her stunned and unable to react until Chun Ning saw the raging blaze and pulled her out. The fire eventually consumed the entire kitchen.
"Eldest sister-in-law, it's okay, as long as no one gets hurt. People are the most important, trust me, relax, don't worry, nothing happened."
This pregnancy has been extremely difficult; last month, the family's situation changed, the eldest brother-in-law was willing to write a divorce letter, promising the child in her belly would be cared for by the Xiao family, but the elder sister-in-law was loyal and wanted to stay with the family despite being far from her wealthy maternal family.
The bumps along the way, coupled with malnutrition, made the pregnancy abnormal, and now with this shock... Chun Nuan dared not think further, focusing only on soothing her.
"It's my fault, I'm so useless."
"Eldest sister-in-law, it's alright, really, we'll build something bigger after this is gone."
Chun Nuan did her best to comfort her: "Focus now on staying healthy and protecting the child."
"Yes, Lingling, it's not your fault. Actually, it's all of us who are useless," Aunt Xu dried her tears and comforted: "We're too old to cook ourselves. How could we expect you, pregnant, to cook? It's our fault."
"Indeed, we are all useless," Mrs. Xu and Mrs. Huang also blamed themselves, "We couldn't help at all."
Suppressing sobs arose, everyone wanted to cry.
"No one is allowed to cry, if you can't, you learn; as long as no one is hurt, dry your tears and start anew," the old lady said coldly, "Our Xiao family won't collapse because of a calamity or a fire!"
"Grandmother is right, we'll take it slow, everything will improve."
After comforting the family, Chun Nuan took her younger brothers Chun Ning and Chun An to personally thank the neighbors who helped put out the fire.
"Chun Nuan," landlord Aunt Zuo came again, "The house rented to your family included five rooms, with this fire..."
"Aunt Zuo, have no worries, when we move out, the house will be as it was, we'll rebuild what's burned," Chun Nuan replied.
"Well..." Aunt Zuo sighed, "Alright, in fact, I had some apprehension renting it to you, given how your family is shunned even by your clan..."
"Aunt Zuo, if there were real issues, our family wouldn't have come all the way back from the distant Shengjing to Shu City. Your kindness today is deeply appreciated by Chun Nuan, we will repay it heavily someday."
"No need for repayment, just ensuring there truly isn't an issue is enough," Aunt Zuo was relieved, "I rented it to you because my father-in-law said that when your grandfather returned to visit relatives years ago, he cured him and provided medicine free of charge when he was ill; without your grandfather, he would have died. Our Zuo family feels like we're repaying a kindness."
Once again mentioning her grandfather warmed Chun Nuan's heart; foreigners who had been beneficiaries were willing to take risks to shelter them, yet their own clansmen gave them a final blow in such times, leaving a group of women and children almost in the wilderness; she remembered this debt!
"Chun Nuan," Mother Mrs. Xu saw Chun Nuan returning and quickly pulled her aside, "Chun Nuan, the coarse grains we bought yesterday were all burned, tonight..."
Another meal without anything to cook!
"Mother, we picked wild vegetables, I even caught a crab."
As Chun Nuan went to look for the bamboo basket, there was no crab in sight.
Staring at the empty bamboo basket, Chun Nuan's nose ached again, it was truly hard, she wanted to cry her heart out.
"Chun Nuan?"
"Mother, it's alright, we'll eat wild vegetables tonight. Houttuynia soup clears heat and detoxifies."
A fire burned all the firewood, rice, oil, and salt in the kitchen, leaving nothing behind. Luckily, the large iron pot remained, they'll scrape by for now, tomorrow's matters will be dealt with then.
"Little brother, is Doctor Xiao's family here?" Someone asked outside, the voice quite familiar.
"Who are you?" Six-year-old Chun An looked up at him, "Are you good or bad?"
Chun Nuan couldn't help but laugh and cry; though Chun An was cautious, it was quite awkward.
"Chun An, who is looking for the Xiao family?"
Looking up, indeed, she saw acquaintances.
Why was he here?
"Miss Xiao, I've brought some ointment, your hand needs application or it will swell and bruise,"
Zhao Minghua handed Chun An a stick of ointment, "Little brother, quickly apply it to your sister."
"Sister, is your hand hurt? How was it hurt?" Chun An was uneasy, quickly running over, "Sister, let me see, was your hand burned just now?"
"No, my hand is fine."
Mentioning her hand reminded her of the escaped crab, indeed a wasteful effort, losing both the effort and the helper.
"By the way, Miss Xiao, my family's pharmacy needs some medicinal herbs. My father said families like yours can process herbs, could you process some to sell to us, this silver is advance payment."
Zhao Minghua directly took a pouch of crushed silver from his waist, indicating Chun An to take it.
Processing herbs, Chun Nuan could do that; Mr. Zhao was truly a timely helper!
"I wonder what medicinal herbs the gentleman's family needs?"