Chapter 4

The commotion outside went on until midnight. For the first time, I slept in peace.

Early the next morning, I took out the fine jade pendant Father had left me as a betrothal token, along with everything else he had given me.

Then I counted all my savings again.

It wasn’t much capital, but it wasn’t nothing. Herb prices were low this year. It would be enough to try.

Mother was waiting in the main room, dark circles beneath her eyes. When I appeared, she asked, “What are we having for breakfast, Ah Miao?”

She still expected me to take care of everything at home, just as before.

I smiled. “You’ve always been in charge, Mother. We’ll have whatever you decide.”

My sister rushed out of her room.

“How can you speak to Mother like that? She works herself to the bone for this family, and all you do is sneer?”

“You’re quite right. Mother works hard. You’d better hurry and prepare breakfast and her hot water. She hasn’t washed yet, has she?”

With that, I went out. My sister stamped her feet behind me.

“Mother, look at her! So unfilial! And look, my clothes are getting too short. I need new ones…”

I went straight to the pawnshop.

As I came out with the money, I happened to run into Master Su on an inspection of the premises.

He stopped short when he saw me.

Was I Jiang Zhonghuai’s daughter? he asked.

He added that, given his friendship with my father, I ought to call him Uncle. If I ever needed anything, I had only to ask.

Long after I left, I glanced back to find him still stroking his beard and staring after me.

Disgusting.

In my last life, I had innocently believed he was helping me out of regard for Father. Little had I known that he had already set his trap, waiting for me to walk into it step by step.

I spat, turned, and took several detours before finding an apothecary’s assistant I had known in my last life.

Back then, Gong Lang had been framed and dismissed for doing his job honestly. I had persuaded Master Su to keep him on.

He was also the one who, near the end, had delivered my last letter to the fiancé I had never met.

He had principles, and limits he would not cross.

When I finally found him, he was crouching on the floor sorting herbs, dressed in rags.

The manager cursed and found fault with everything. Even after two slaps, Gong Lang insisted that cutting the rot off those roots would not restore their medicinal properties. They should not be used.

Once the others had quieted down, I crouched before him and offered him a clean handkerchief.

The boy, only fifteen or sixteen, looked nervous.

I came straight to the point and asked him to buy herbs for me.

Surprise gave way to shock. “But… we don’t know each other.”

I explained that I admired what I had just seen and trusted him. Then I told him how we would divide the profits and handed him the contract I had prepared.

His face slowly grew solemn. At last he pressed his thumbprint to the paper. “I’ll do everything I can.”