Chapter 16: Body, Hair and Skin, Given by Parents_1

Manager Wan was in the middle of lecturing his son when he noticed Nanzhi's group returning. He spared his son and greeted her, "Ma'am, done with your duties?"

"I'll have to trouble the manager a bit later."

Manager Wan waved his hand, "It's nothing, my duty."

"Manager, I wonder if you have any other seasonings," Nanzhi seemed to suddenly remember something. She had forgotten something. If he did have other seasonings, she wouldn't need to keep eating plain boiled vegetables with Gougou anymore.

Other female leads from other worlds always had plenty of food and drinks, and at the very least had parents-in-law. Whereas she not only became a widow, but she also almost starved to death. Now that she had some silver in hand, the god should not make her eat plain boiled vegetables forever, right?

This world even has potatoes and sweet potatoes, it's impossible not to have other seasonings and spices.

"Seasonings?" Manager Wan was confused for a moment, searching the meaning of this term in his mind.

The young boy chimed in, "We have soy sauce, peppercorn, vinegar, and five-spice powder."

Nanzhi's eyes widened in surprise, they even have five-spice powder here?

The boy didn't say anything, just took a package of five-spice powder and handed it to Nanzhi.

"This, one tael for ten wen, peppercorn for four wen a tael, soy sauce and vinegar are ten wen for a bamboo tube."

"I'll take two taels of five-spice powder, two taels of peppercorns, and two bamboo tubes each of soy sauce and vinegar."

Having bought the seasonings, Nanzhi was so pleased that it was written all over her face. She knew the god wouldn't be so cruel.

Aunt Liu thought carefully about whether she had these items at home, weighed the remaining silver, and finally bit the bullet and bought some too.

The young boy seemed even more experienced than Manager Wan. Seeing that they bought a lot, he gave them half a jin of dried chili peppers.

The weather is dry and hot, basically, nobody wants to buy dried chili peppers now. If they wait any longer, they might go bad. It's better to give them away. Apparently, the older sister helped them, so giving away some dried chilies wouldn't hurt.

They loaded the things onto the cart, and at the end, only Gougou could fit in the donkey cart from Aunt Liu's house. The group of people, including the delivery boy, followed the cart on foot.

He thought why delivering goods requires so much explanation from his father.

Along the way, they did encounter several unfriendly faces, eyeing the sacks of grains on their two carts. Originally planning to rob them, they held back after seeing the three stout men next to the carts and the young boy with a whip in his hand.

The three men were big and strong and seemed tough. They didn't compare to the few households they encountered in the morning. They already had loot today, no need to take unnecessary risks.

The Shen brothers had heeded their mother's advice before leaving and made stern faces like they were dealing with their grandfather.

That's why the three simple-minded men were frowning the entire trip.

Shen Dazhu and Aunt Liu are kind people. However, Shen Dazhu's father is very stubborn, he wouldn't believe her faithfulness even when everyone else could see that his three sons resemble Shen Dazhu. Instead, he demanded that Shen Dazhu should divorce Liu.

Shen Dazhu wasn't a fool; he was heartbroken to divide his family with his wife and children. Liu was still in her confinement period after giving birth to Shen Yuntian, who wasn't even a month old. After the split, they only received two acres of land and some old clothes.

So later, except for Shen Dazhu who would bring gifts during holidays and festivals, others treated them as if they didn't exist.

Because Nanzhi's parents-in-law helped a lot when Shen Dazhu and his family had just split, the two families had a particularly good relationship.

Although the adults had to walk, without the load, they didn't take less than an hour to get to Lihua Village.

The villagers had all followed Li Zheng to East Mountain to pick chestnuts, so they didn't meet anyone along the way.

After moving all the goods into the house, Nanzhi poured tea for the delivery boy before sending him off.

Widows often attract trouble, this much Nanzhi knew.

Gazing at the stockpile of grain in their courtyard, Nanzhi was so grateful she could almost cry. Just a few days ago, they were filling their stomachs with water to stave off hunger; now, there was enough food at home to sustain her and Gougou's needs.

Seeing his mother crying and laughing while clutching a bag of grain, Gougou quickly set aside his bowl of spiced rice and rushed over to touch his mother's forehead.

Her forehead wasn't warm, and she wasn't ill, so why was she acting strange?

Gougou fell into thoughtful silence, then shook his head and tugged at Nanzhi's sleeve.

"Mom, have you gone mad?"

At the sound of her son's innocent voice, Nanzhi seemed to snap back into reality, and ended up hugging Gougou, "Gougou, we don't have to starve anymore."

While the households of Nanzhi and Ms. Liu were abuzz with activity, the Li Family found themselves in a sticky situation.

Last night, Ms. Wu suggested they go chestnut picking on East Mountain, and the entire family followed suit.

However, they scrambled about the mountain fruitlessly all night. As the family grew impatient and decided to return, Old man Li was bitten by a venomous snake that suddenly sprung out of nowhere. The family plunged into chaos, and it was during this time that Ms. Wu's handkerchief was lost on East Mountain.

Despite the chaos, they managed to descend the mountain and hurriedly took Old man Li to the Medical Hall in the town.

But they arrived too early and found the Medical Hall empty. Ms. Wu's mother-in-law, Wang, was too stingy to spend silver on an inn. So, the entire family, including the barely conscious Old man Li, had to spend the night outside the Medical Hall.

They spent the entire morning at the Medical Hall. It was only when Wang ordered Li Tian's wife, Ms. Liao, to buy some Black Steamed Buns for lunch, did they have a chance encounter with the villagers of Lihua coming into town to buy grain, and they learnt about Li Zheng's generous grain purchase.

Ms. Liao hesitated but decided to tell Wang, which resulted in a torrent of verbal abuse. She chose to remain silent and bear it.

The doctor at Jishitang applied acupuncture to Li, and said that while it was treatable, saving his leg would require at least three taels of silver.

The news rendered the entire Li family silent, as all the family's silver was managed by Wang.

Despite having ample silver at home, they barely got to eat meat throughout the year. Even at this crucial juncture, when treatment required silver, Wang chose to remain silent.

Old man Li, who had regained consciousness after the acupuncture, felt weak and could barely open his eyes. But upon hearing the doctor's estimate and not receiving any response from his wife, his heart sunk.

Even his two sons, whom he thought were the most filial, remained silent.

"Are you going to treat him?" asked the unimpressed doctor. With so many people in the family, surely they could muster up three taels of silver?

Although the patient seemed to be in his fifties, he was still strong. If left untreated, losing a leg would significantly impact his life.

The doctor shook his head and prepared to see other patients, assuming the family was poor and simply could not afford the treatment.

"Mom..."

Ms. Liao had barely begun to speak when Wang glared back at her fiercely, causing her to shrink back and fall silent.

Li Liang gently embraced his wife and spoke up displeased, "Mom, Hui is not at fault here. Why are you glaring at her? Dad is still strong, and we can certainly afford three taels of silver for his treatment."

"What do you know? How do we know that the doctor isn't just trying to swindle us? It was just a snakebite; why would it result in losing a leg? He's demanding three taels of silver just like that..." Wang spat out, with no regards to the people around.

The doctor, who initially felt a hint of sympathy, felt his face turn cold upon hearing Wang's words. He then ordered his assistant to drive the entire Li family out.