"Yes, okay, okay." Hu Zhi felt aggrieved, but since his family was in the wrong, he could only apologize ekly. "I’ll be sure to have a good talk with my mother-in-law this ti."
"Alright. Since our Xiao Qing has decided not to hold this against your family, we’ll let it go this ti," said Fu Yuzhen. "But there absolutely cannot be a next ti. Otherwise, even if our Xiao Qing is too soft-hearted to pursue it, I certainly won’t be."
"Okay, okay. Well, Mr. Pan, ma’am, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be heading back now." Hu Zhi quickly said his piece, then hurriedly turned and went ho.
Fu Yuzhen didn’t care what happened with the Hu Family after they went ho. She patted Su Qing’s shoulder and said, "Xiao Qing, co on. Co ho with Aunt Fu."
"Mm-hmm." Su Qing’s eyes crinkled into a smile. ’It feels pretty good to have soone in my corner.’
Seeing the matter resolved, the onlookers quickly dispersed. Privately, however, they started discussing Su Qing’s powder. They were all left speechless—that powder was so expensive! An ordinary family could never afford it. Besides, where could one even find such rare wild herbs?
Once they were back ho, Fu Yuzhen carefully examined the scar on Su Qing’s face. Noticing that it had indeed faded a little, she said happily, "Xiao Qing, it looks like that doctor’s prescription really works."
Su Qing smiled and said, "It really is. I think it’s great, too."
Rembering how expensive the prescription was, Fu Yuzhen went to get two hundred yuan to give to Su Qing. "Xiao Qing, are you short on cash? Here, take this for now, just in case."
There was no way Su Qing could accept Fu Yuzhen’s money. She quickly said, "Aunt Fu, I have money! I’m not short at all."
Fu Yuzhen thought Su Qing was worried that Pan Runqing wouldn’t approve, so she said, "Think of it as New Year’s lucky money from and your Uncle Pan. Just take it."
Pan Runqing chid in with a smile, "That’s right. It’s lucky money from us to you, so you have to accept it."
The two Pan brothers standing nearby also urged Su Qing to take the money.
Su Qing smiled. "Even for lucky money, this is too much. I really can’t accept it. Besides, I’m truly not short on cash. The herbs for the powder might seem expensive, but they didn’t actually cost anything. I gathered them all from the mountains myself."
Fu Yuzhen was skeptical. "But the doctor said so of those very old herbs are incredibly hard to find. You might not even find them deep in the mountains..."
As she said this, Fu Yuzhen paused. She frowned and asked, "Xiao Qing, did you go into the deep mountains again?"
Then Fu Yuzhen grew anxious. "You foolish child! The deep mountains are no place to go casually. It’s so dangerous in there! What would you do if you ran into trouble? A young girl like you, all alone... there’d be no one to hear you call for help. If sothing really happened to you, your parents would be heartbroken."
The thought that Su Shengjun himself had gone missing in those sa mountains—vanished without a trace to this day—made her heart pound with even greater anxiety.
Seeing her distress, Su Qing quickly reassured her, "Aunt Fu, I’m perfectly fine, see? Don’t worry. I won’t go into the deep mountains again."
"Honestly, you child," Fu Yuzhen sighed, still trying to press the two hundred yuan into Su Qing’s hand. "I don’t care what you say. This is lucky money, so you’re taking it."
Unable to refuse any longer, Su Qing had no choice but to accept the money. Then, she took out a small porcelain vial. It contained the Scar removal powder that Mr. Gong had prepared for her. She handed the vial to Fu Yuzhen, saying, "Aunt Fu, this is the scar removal powder. Please take it."
She then explained the directions for its use to Fu Yuzhen.
When Fu Yuzhen and Pan Runqing saw how much powder Su Qing was giving them, they both refused to accept it. "You keep this powder for yourself! Your scar hasn’t even healed yet."
Su Qing smiled. "I made plenty of the powder, more than enough for myself. This batch is for you, so please just take it. If you don’t, then I won’t be able to accept anything from you in the future either."
After so polite back-and-forth, Fu Yuzhen and her husband finally had to accept the porcelain vial. They knew in their hearts that the powder inside was far more valuable than the two hundred yuan they had given her, and they silently committed this imnse gesture of kindness to mory.
While Su Qing and the four mbers of the Pan Family happily ate dumplings together, the atmosphere in the Hu Family ho, just a few doors down, was not nearly as pleasant.
Old Mrs. Liu was complaining that her own daughter hadn’t taken her side when Liu Suhua dragged her back into their apartnt. The old woman viciously slapped her daughter across the face. "You traitorous bitch! I should have thrown you on the back hills to be fed to the wolves when you were born! Then you wouldn’t be here today to make so angry!"
Liu Suhua had been fuming over Old Mrs. Liu’s antics for so ti, but that slap finally made her snap. Hearing her mother’s words, she exploded. "Then why didn’t you throw away back then? It would’ve saved from having to put up with you now! Just look at what you’ve done in the few months you’ve been here! You’ve made our family the laughingstock of the entire building. People are talking behind our backs because of you! Have I deprived you of food? Have I not given you clothes to wear? Yet you run all over the building trying to get freebies. And today was just perfect! Demanding such expensive dicine without a second thought! You may have no sha, but I do!"
"You wretched girl! What did you just say? Say that again, I dare you!" Old Mrs. Liu was trembling with rage. "Your nephew has a huge scar on his leg! What’s wrong with getting so powder to put on it? What’s the big fuss about? Your brother wasted all his affection on you. You’re nothing but an ungrateful wretch!"
"He cared about ?" Liu Suhua might have let it go, but that comnt made her even more furious. "How exactly did he care about ? Our tradition is to raise sons to provide for you in your old age. It’s a son’s duty to care for his parents! But him? He dumps you on my doorstep so he can live a carefree life! Old Hu and I took you in without complaint, and now you’re telling us we were wrong to do it?"
"You..."
Before Old Mrs. Liu could finish, Hu Zhi entered the room, his face grim. He said to his mother-in-law, "Ma, after the New Year, you’re going back to your hotown. I’m not joking this ti. Like Suhua said, it’s a son’s duty to care for his parents in their old age. Suhua and I have supported you for this long; we’ve done more than enough. It’s not like you don’t have a son of your own."
Seeing that even her son-in-law wanted to kick her out, Old Mrs. Liu’s face turned beet red with fury. She promptly sat cross-legged on the floor, slapping her thighs and starting to wail without tears, shouting about how her daughter and son-in-law were unfilial. This scene had played out in the Hu Family ho many tis over the past few months. Never mind Liu Suhua and her husband; even the neighbors in the building weren’t surprised by it anymore.
This ti, however, Liu Suhua and Hu Zhi were resolute. No matter how much Old Mrs. Liu kicked and scread and refused to go, they sent her back to her hotown right after the Lantern Festival. With her gone, the building was finally quiet again, and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Whenever soone brought up Old Mrs. Liu after that, people would just purse their lips and shake their heads in disdain.
Liu Suhua and her husband thought that sending Old Mrs. Liu back to her hotown ant all their troubles were over. They never imagined that she would manage to stir up even more trouble later—trouble so infuriating that it would lead the couple to cut off all ties with her for good.
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