Lady of Fortune, Jiao Niang

Chapter 8

Hearing the voice, Ye Jiao turned to look. Seeing the man's face, she called out according to the memories in her head: "Second Brother."

But she only called out once. The little ginseng didn't know Second Brother Ye, and she wouldn't engage in the polite small talk that people do when speaking, so naturally she had nothing else to say.

But Second Brother Ye didn't notice these things. His eyes looked at Ye Jiao, taking in her refined clothing, then glancing at the ox cart nearby, which made Second Brother Ye feel somewhat embarrassed.

Especially looking down at his own clothes, still the same somewhat worn garment as usual, the man felt even more awkward.

He knew Ye Jiao should return home today, but he hadn't expected the Qi family to send a cart.

The Ye family hadn't prepared a feast for the return home visit at all.

In the strange silence, Nanny Liu stepped forward to stand beside Ye Jiao.

Liu Shi had instructed Nanny Liu. She knew this Ye family was unreliable, and their daughter-in-law seemed to have a good temperament, so she feared she might suffer losses. That's why she had Nanny Liu accompany her, to protect Ye Jiao.

Whatever Qi Yun liked, Liu Shi would also value more.

Now Nanny Liu coughed lightly and said with a stern face: "Our Young Mistress has been tired from the journey and hasn't even had a sip of water yet."

Ye Jiao blinked. Hadn't they just eaten red bean cakes and drunk tea?

Second Brother Ye's face reddened, and he hurriedly stepped forward to push open the door, shouting inside: "Wife, Jiao Niang is back! Come out quickly!"

"Back is back, what's all the fuss..." Second Sister-in-law Ye came out from the house with an impatient expression.

But seeing the scene outside, Second Sister-in-law Ye suddenly stopped talking. Her eyes turned to the ox cart outside the door, then looked at what Ye Jiao was wearing, her face showing disbelief.

Second Brother Ye had no time to pay attention to her anymore and hurriedly invited Ye Jiao inside.

When Ye Jiao passed by Second Sister-in-law Ye, she suddenly remembered this person had grabbed her hand.

Instinctively putting her hands behind her back, Ye Jiao silently went around her, which made both Little Su and Nanny Liu take extra looks at Second Sister-in-law Ye.

Seeing his wife still standing there dazed, Second Brother Ye said urgently: "Go prepare some food. Don't we still have eggs at home? Make some egg custard, and go buy some wine, quickly."

But Ye Jiao, hearing this from inside the house, said: "I won't eat. I'll leave soon."

She did love to eat, but being gluttonous also had its proper times.

Ye Jiao was worried about leaving Qi Yun alone at home. He had just had an episode this morning. Even though Ye Jiao had left her hair with Qi Yun, she couldn't completely ensure his safety.

She cherished her own husband, and with the weather being so cold, Ye Jiao naturally didn't want to stay long at the Ye family.

Nanny Liu immediately picked up the conversation, helping to smooth things over for Ye Jiao: "This shows she doesn't want to trouble her maternal family. The Young Mistress is truly kind-hearted, the most good-natured person there is."

Ye Jiao: ...Huh?

The Ye family couple had complex expressions hearing this. Second Brother Ye responded woodenly and quickly entered the room wanting to talk with his sister, while Second Sister-in-law Ye still hadn't recovered her senses.

Sending Ye Jiao to the Qi family was her idea, but Second Sister-in-law Ye hadn't intended for Ye Jiao to live well there. Otherwise, she wouldn't have married her sister-in-law to Qi Yun, whom everyone said was a dying consumptive ghost.

According to Second Sister-in-law Ye's thinking, Qi Yun couldn't last many days, and the Qi family would have a funeral right after the wedding.

Ye Jiao, this fortune-bringing bride, wouldn't fare well and would probably be kicked out.

Second Sister-in-law Ye had been thinking about how to distance herself from her, to prevent her from coming back to their house to freeload. But now Ye Jiao was obviously wealthy all over, clearly living well.

...Who could have imagined that Ye Jiao could actually live well!

Nowadays, there was a world of difference between wealthy families and poor ones. Seeing that Ye Jiao had clearly established herself firmly in the Qi family, Second Sister-in-law Ye didn't dare to be arrogant and offensive toward her.

To put it bluntly, if she offended Ye Jiao, that meant offending the Qi family, and Second Sister-in-law Ye's whole family would have a hard time.

Second Sister-in-law Ye told herself repeatedly in her heart that having taken the money, everything was settled, and how Ye Jiao fared had nothing to do with her.

But her heart felt extremely uncomfortable, whether from envy or jealousy, it burned painfully in her chest.

Inside the room, it was somewhat too quiet.

The little ginseng had no feelings for Second Brother Ye to begin with. His words went in one ear and out the other, not taking them to heart.

But Second Brother Ye quickly ran out of topics, thinking for a long time without knowing what past events he could reminisce about with Ye Jiao.

After holding it in for a long time, Second Brother Ye finally managed to squeeze out: "Little sister, are you living well?"

Ye Jiao nodded: "Yes."

With food and drink available, it was naturally good.

Second Brother Ye tried hard to make himself smile, mumbling: "Good is enough, good is enough."

At this moment, a child who looked about six years old ran into the room. Upon seeing Ye Jiao, he wrinkled his face, turned around and ran out the door shouting loudly: "Mother, I want to eat egg custard, not give it to others!"

Everyone could tell who he meant by "others," except Ye Jiao showed no reaction at all.

This child was called Ye Bao, the only son of Second Brother Ye and Second Sister-in-law Ye. Usually pampered and spoiled, he was also quite mischievous.

But Ye Jiao didn't even look at Ye Bao, even too lazy to flip through her memories.

The fact was that Second Brother Ye's family hadn't treated the original Ye Jiao well enough, and she didn't have masochistic tendencies to look through them repeatedly.

Now it was the same. Ye Bao's words didn't enter Ye Jiao's ears at all. Her mind was full of thoughts about visiting the medicine garden later. She appeared calm on the surface but had actually let her mind wander.

But Nanny Liu glared, her naturally large and stocky build making her especially imposing when she put on a stern face.

Outside, Second Sister-in-law Ye hurriedly covered Ye Bao's mouth, while Second Brother Ye felt helpless, not knowing whether to be angry at Ye Bao for speaking nonsense or to apologize to Ye Jiao.

After all, Ye Jiao was no longer just his little sister. She was married into the Qi family, and they couldn't afford to offend her.

But Ye Jiao was getting bored just sitting there.

The little ginseng hadn't wanted to come in the first place. Now seeing there wasn't anything else to do, she said to Nanny Liu: "Nanny Liu, let's put the things down and go back. I'm a bit worried about my husband."

Nanny Liu immediately placed what she was carrying on the table. The box wasn't large, containing hard candies wrapped in red paper.

Ordinary families brought chickens and eggs when returning home, but the Qi family had packed candies for Ye Jiao, which were convenient to carry and appeared valuable.

Second Brother Ye still wanted to say something: "Jiao Niang, just now Bao'er didn't mean it, don't take it to heart..."

"Okay, I forgive him." Ye Jiao's light response blocked all of Second Brother Ye's words.

Ye Jiao truly didn't care.

She didn't recognize the Ye family people at all. In her memories, they wouldn't even let Ye Jiao eat her fill of sweet potatoes. To the little ginseng spirit, she now wanted to see Qi Yun more. Her husband was the one who could truly let her eat and drink her fill, and would remember to bring her red bean cakes.

In some ways, Ye Jiao was a very easily satisfied little spirit.

Second Brother Ye had nothing more to say and followed to the door, watching helplessly as Ye Jiao left with her people in the ox cart.

From when she entered to when she left, she hadn't even finished a cup of tea.

It wasn't until the ox cart carrying Ye Jiao disappeared in the distance that Second Brother Ye closed the courtyard gate, also shutting out the outside chatter.

But when he returned to the room, he saw the box on the table had been opened by Ye Bao, the red paper wrapping torn messily, and Ye Bao was stuffing candy into his mouth.

"Mother, didn't you say aunt was sold and wouldn't come back anymore?"

Ye Bao didn't see Second Brother Ye enter, his mouth full of candy making his voice somewhat muffled.

He had never been afraid of Ye Jiao. When Ye Jiao was at home before, Ye Bao would always steal food from her bowl, and with Second Sister-in-law Ye always speaking ill of Ye Jiao behind her back, Ye Bao, being a child, naturally followed their example.

But times were different now. Ye Jiao had secured her position as the Qi family's second daughter-in-law, and small families like theirs couldn't afford to offend her. Such words absolutely couldn't be spoken!

It was too late for Second Sister-in-law Ye to cover his mouth again. Second Brother Ye's eyes widened, he took two quick steps and grabbed Ye Bao by the collar, staring at him intently: "Who told you these words!"

Ye Bao was scared silly, and Second Sister-in-law Ye also shuddered.

Actually, she had thought more than once that with Ye Jiao's good looks, selling her to the city to be a concubine to those wealthy merchants would be better than wasting a dowry to marry a farmer.

Some words couldn't be put on the table, but privately, Second Sister-in-law Ye had more than once been happy about finally getting rid of the freeloader and receiving a large sum of silver too.

Could it be that Ye Bao had picked up some of those private words she had said behind people's backs?

But Ye Bao didn't look at her, candy in his mouth, shrinking his neck: "I heard it outside..."

Before he could finish, Second Brother Ye angrily went to get a broom, raising it to beat him.

Ye Bao immediately started crying in fright, his hand shaking and dropping the candy wrapper he was holding, scattering the hard candies on the floor.

But Second Brother Ye didn't feel the slightest bit of heartache.

He was Ye Jiao's real brother. Even though he wasn't as capable as Eldest Brother Ye, Second Brother Ye had watched Ye Jiao grow up.

He knew his wife was domineering, but they had Ye Bao, and Second Brother Ye treasured his son like a precious jewel, following along with indulging his wife. He had somewhat known about the hardships Ye Jiao suffered before, but each time he just advised Ye Jiao to be more accommodating. Over time, when Ye Jiao stopped talking about it, Second Brother Ye acted as if nothing had happened.

People are often like this. To ease their conscience, they are most skilled at maintaining false peace.

When Ye Jiao and Qi Yun's marriage was settled, Second Brother Ye kept telling himself he was sending Ye Jiao to enjoy good fortune. The Qi family was a famous wealthy household for miles around, and it was a proper marriage. No matter what, she wouldn't live poorly.

When Ye Jiao returned just now, her obvious wealth made Second Brother Ye feel he had done nothing wrong.

But now Ye Bao's words directly tore away the fig leaf.

They had sold Ye Jiao.

No matter how he comforted himself, he couldn't deny this fact.

Second Brother Ye was so angry his eyes turned red. This appearance frightened even Second Sister-in-law Ye, but she was naturally domineering, protective, and petty. Seeing Second Brother Ye about to hit the child, she immediately ran over and gathered the crying Ye Bao into her arms, wailing at Second Brother Ye: "If you want to hit him, kill me first! This is my precious darling, my lifeline. Try touching him and see!"

This wasn't the first time Second Brother Ye had heard these words. Whenever he wanted to discipline his son, Second Sister-in-law Ye would use these words to stop him.

Second Brother Ye was tongue-tied, with a belly full of words he couldn't express.

After holding it in for a long time, he could only squeeze out: "This child is outrageous. If we don't discipline him now, he'll really grow up crooked later. Eldest Brother always said boys can't be spoiled, you..."

"Eldest Brother, Eldest Brother, all you know is your Eldest Brother. Your Eldest Brother doesn't care about us anymore!" Second Sister-in-law Ye shouted again, holding Ye Bao and backing away, relentless.

Second Brother Ye felt blocked up inside. Thinking of his Eldest Brother whose fate was unknown, and his little sister who had nearly cut ties with him, Second Brother Ye threw down the broom in his hand, closed his eyes and sat in the chair, looking exhausted and dejected.

In his ears was still Ye Bao's crying that seemed about to pierce the roof, stabbing his ears with pain.

Second Sister-in-law Ye secretly used her hand to gather the hard candies scattered on the floor. Seeing Second Brother Ye remain motionless, she snorted coldly and carried Ye Bao into the inner room.

Ye Jiao, who had already left, knew nothing about the Ye family's quarreling. She sat in the ox cart with her eyes looking outside.

When she saw the Qi family medicine garden courtyard in the distance, Ye Jiao blinked and turned to Little Su: "I'm a little hungry."

Hearing this, Little Su immediately reached for the small basket she was carrying.

But it was empty inside. The red bean cakes that had been in there when they came had all been eaten by Ye Jiao and shared with them.

Nanny Liu lifted the curtain to look outside, seeing the Qi family medicine garden in the distance, and smiled at Ye Jiao: "The medicine garden isn't far from here. Why don't you rest there for a bit, Young Mistress?"

"Good." Ye Jiao had been planning this all along and immediately nodded upon hearing this.

After getting off the cart, Nanny Liu asked: "What would the Young Mistress like to eat? I'll have someone prepare it."

Ye Jiao blinked and smiled: "Egg custard."

Egg custard wasn't anything rare. Nanny Liu got off the cart first and walked quickly toward the back of the courtyard, where there was a small kitchen that could make egg custard very quickly.

Ye Jiao went with Little Su to rest in the front hall. Little Su, being young, bounced as she walked, looking at Ye Jiao with bright eyes: "Young Mistress, can I have a bite of the egg custard?"

"Of course." Ye Jiao was currently looking left and right at the medicinal herbs drying on both sides, hearing this and nodding very casually.

She hadn't come here to eat anyway, so she agreed very readily.

Little Su smiled with squinted eyes, thinking that while Second Young Master usually looked scary enough to frighten people to death, Second Young Mistress had such a good temper. Did this count as complementary?

But after sitting in the front hall for a while, Ye Jiao stood up and went to the garden outside. Little Su hurriedly jumped up to follow.

She had come here to recognize whether the medicines of this life were different from her previous life, and to see if there were any medicinal herbs useful for Qi Yun.

The garden had many wooden racks with large bamboo trays placed on them to dry medicinal herbs.

Ye Jiao looked around and had a good understanding.

What reassured her was that what was here had all existed in her previous life. What made her uneasy was that many medicinal herbs that could be used for Qi Yun were not seen here.

Currently, Qi Yun's body couldn't handle strong medicine. Finding medicinal herbs that could nourish his foundation without being too supplementing was difficult to balance properly.

Qi Yun had a poor foundation. Too much supplementing would cause problems, too little would also cause problems. Ye Jiao walked around several times but didn't see anything that could be exactly right for his condition.

When she was feeling somewhat disappointed, Ye Jiao suddenly smelled a strange fragrance.

This fragrance was very subtle, especially in a courtyard with strong medicinal herb smells. If you didn't carefully distinguish it, you couldn't smell this strange fragrance at all.

But Ye Jiao's eyes lit up. She looked around and finally saw a fragile vine at the base of the wall, with small red flowers blooming on it.

Swaying in the wind, it was particularly charming.

Ye Jiao immediately walked forward, squatted down, and leaned in to smell it, feeling this scent was especially familiar.

But Ye Jiao remembered it shouldn't be growing in the soil...

At this moment, she heard a voice behind her: "Second Young Mistress, lunch is ready."

Ye Jiao turned around and saw an unfamiliar middle-aged man. She stood up and asked: "Who are you?"

"I'm the manager of this garden. Second Young Mistress can just call me Manager Dong." Manager Dong smiled at Ye Jiao with cupped hands, appearing to be a good-natured person.

The medicine garden and medicine shop were integrated, and their account books all had to be sent to Qi Yun for management.

Now the one who came was the wife Qi Yun had married, and she was accompanied by Nanny Liu, who was valued by Liu Shi. Manager Dong knew this Second Young Mistress was valued, so naturally he wouldn't be negligent and came personally to receive them.

Ye Jiao also smiled, but didn't immediately return to the front hall. Instead, she pointed at the red flower and asked: "When did this start growing here?"

Manager Dong stepped forward, examined it for a moment, then said: "Looking at this, it should be Stone Sprout Grass. Not very common, but it's not particularly useful either. Probably one of the medicine garden apprentices saw it and dug it up to plant here, just to look at something fresh and bright."

Ye Jiao immediately asked further: "Does it still bloom during the coldest winter days, and grow in stone crevices?"

Manager Dong nodded repeatedly: "Second Young Mistress is quite right. It grows in stones, otherwise it wouldn't be called Stone Sprout Grass. Second Young Mistress is truly knowledgeable and experienced."

Ye Jiao didn't have much reaction to this light flattery. She just stared at the Stone Sprout Grass.

She had seen plenty of this grass in her previous life. In winter, when all things withered and snow covered the earth, in the remote deep mountains where no one ventured, only these little red flowers bloomed, like igniting sparks of fire in the snow.

But by the spring of the second year, the red flowers would wither, making it seem like just ordinary wildflowers.

However, if it grew beside a thousand-year ginseng and was nourished by the ginseng, by the spring of the second year the flowers would wither and bear fruit. The fruit would be crystal clear and snow-white, a rare good medicine.

Ordinary people who ate it would be nourished, dying people who ate it would be saved.

The little fox called it White Rainbow Fruit. The fox spirit's scholar lover had been saved by White Rainbow Fruit.

Ye Jiao looked down at the delicate little flower, the corners of her mouth showing a smile.

What a coincidence, aren't I just a thousand-year ginseng?