Chapter 41: Curiosity

  The doctor saves the world and rescues people, especially when faced with this sudden and potentially disastrous plague. Even a modern soul like Zhen Niang cannot bear to make money by compromising her conscience. She wrote that prescription without intending to profit from it. Li Qiu's wife proposed a 50/50 split, which surprised and delighted her, as she had no resources and was short of silver at the time. The prescription was worthless in the hands of someone who didn't appreciate its value.

  It's not that she doesn't want to make money, but it doesn't mean she can be deceived by anyone. Seeing Li Qizhen's wife automatically filling in the plan, Zhen Shimiang nodded, "......it's indeed troublesome for Mrs. Li."

  When she finally nodded, Li Qizhen's wife let out a sigh of relief.

  "Mother, mother..." Just then, Jian Wu and Jian Wen rushed in together, "The chicken has laid another egg!" Jian Wen held up the egg in his hand for Zhen Shi Niang to see.

  Jian Wu didn't show weakness either, holding up his chubby little hand, "...... I chopped the chicken feed." Qiu Ju cleaned out a pile of rotten white radish stalks yesterday, and it was a pity to throw them away, so Zhen Shi Niang had them chopped up and mixed with rice bran to feed the chickens.

  Watching is fun, Jian Wu and Jian Wen rushed to do it.

  The two of them finished speaking and saw Li's wife sitting on one side, so they loudly called out, "Hello, Auntie Li!"

  Li Qizhi's wife smiled and nodded, "Wen Ge Wu Ge is getting more and more sensible..."

  Jian Wu ran to his mother's side, "...... The little chicken lays eggs after eating its fill!"

  Looking at her son's rosy face, Zhen Shi Niang's heart melted, and she bent down to kiss Jian Wu's little face, "......Wu Ge is getting more capable, he can even chop chicken feed for me now."

  "Sister, sister, I can pick up eggs too!" Seeing that her mother only praised her brother, Jianwen's face turned red with anger.

  "Wei Ge can do it too..." Zhen Shi Niang also kissed him on the cheek, "Go put down the eggs and count how many we have." Although it's easy for kids to break eggs, Zhen Shi Niang still insisted on having them count every day to practice their math skills.

  "Yesterday was fifty-eight, plus this one makes fifty-nine, still short..." Jianwen counted on his fingers.

  "...the daughter wants to collect a hundred eggs for Aunt Magpie, but she's still short of fifty-one!" Jianwu hastily said.

  "No, it's forty-one!" Jianwen corrected.

  "Fifty-one!"

  Forty-one!

  Li Qizhen's wife couldn't tell who was right or wrong and just smiled at the two of them.

  Jian Wu saw no regret in his death, Jian Wen raised his hand to hit him. Yu Guang saw Li's mother and remembered what his mother said: "A family should not be bullied by outsiders, and brothers must be friendly in front of outsiders." His hand stopped in mid-air and turned back to look at his mother.

  Jian Wu also looked at his mother.

  Zhen Shining pushed Jianwen forward, “...go grab a handful of soybeans and count them, how many are we still short?”

  Jian Wen responded with a sound and pulled Jian Wu to run outside.

  "Your two kids are so obedient..." Looking at the robust and energetic appearance of Wen Ge and Wu Ge, Li Qi's wife couldn't help but feel envious from the bottom of her heart. "...Unlike our own Spring Ge, who always knows how to make demands here and there, and gets a headache as soon as he thinks about studying." Li Qi's youngest son, Spring Ge, was eight years old this year and had been attending private school for two years but still couldn't recite the multiplication table.

  "Chun Ge is already big, Wen Ge and Wu Ge are still young, when they grow up, they will also want this and that." Zhen Shi Niang smiled.

  "...looking at Wen Ge and Wu Ge, they all look so handsome, their father must be handsome too?" Zhen Shi Niang never said anything, but Li Qi's wife was always curious, what had happened to her husband, was he dead or what?

  If she died, yet never saw her wear mourning clothes.

  If she's still alive, why hasn't he come looking for her all these years?

  If it's said that she was abandoned, how could he bear to let go of these two lovely children? In all her years, Li Qizhen had never seen anyone who divorced their wife and still allowed them to take the children with them.

  Of course handsome!

  Recalling the first time she saw Shen Zhongqiu in the pharmacy, Zhen Shiniang's heart skipped a beat, and she smiled wryly. She looked up at Li Qizhi's wife and said, "Having lived in town for so long, do you have any good midwives to introduce me to? Jixi will be giving birth in three or four months."

  Seeing that she didn't want to talk about it, Li Qizhen's wife also didn't dare ask more questions, so she lowered her head and thought for a moment. "If we're talking about skill, then the best is probably Li Daopo from Zhen Nan. She's been helping people give birth for over 30 years, and very few babies have died under her care." Suddenly lifting her head, "Jiangniang's medical skills..."

  Zhen Shiniang shook her head, "I can deliver the baby, but I'm worried that this body won't hold up, if there's an accident and it delays her, having someone with skilled hands nearby to supervise would be safer."

  "It's also... " Li Qizhen nodded, "Giving birth is not an easy thing, it's a critical pass for us women. Once you encounter a difficult labor, one day is the same as three days, and your body can't take the ordeal."

  "It's not possible." Zhen Shining sighed, "When I gave birth to Wen Ge and Wu Ge, I was in labor for three days and four nights, I almost died back then..."

  "At that time, I didn't know you yet. People said at the time that they all thought you wouldn't make it...” Li Qizhen's wife sighed along with him, “This is heaven's blessing, good people will be rewarded, if you survive a great calamity, you must have good fortune afterwards.”

  For some reason, after hearing this, Zhen Shiniang suddenly remembered the night five years ago when Shen Zhongjie scolded her: "Heaven is really blind, obviously you were already dead, but somehow you came back to life... it's as if even the King of Hell didn't want to take in a poisonous woman like you!"

  Unknowingly dazed over there.

  Jian Zhen's expression was serene, and Li Qiu's wife immediately remembered that half a month ago she had been sleeping soundly, and Feng Xi had taken a look at her and come back to whisper that she wouldn't live past a year. She felt a bit embarrassed, patted her clothes and stood up, "It's been a while since I came out, the family is busy with all sorts of things..." Then asked, "When is Jixi's confinement period? Tell me, I'll make time to go and greet Li Daopo."

  Zhen Shi Niang also stood up, "Around March 20..."

  "Mother!" Jian Wu and Jian Wen pushed the door open, "We've finished counting, one hundred minus fifty-nine equals forty-one, Mother still needs to save forty-one eggs for Aunt Jixi!" Jian Wen turned back to look at Jian Wu, "It was my brother's mistake!"

  Jian Wu's face turned red and he remained silent.

  Zhen Shi Niang pulled him over, "Do you know your mistake?"

  "Hmm..." Jian Wu's voice was like a mosquito buzz.

  "Speak louder..."

  "It was just me being impatient, I made a mistake." Jian Wu's face turned purple red, he tilted his head and didn't look at Jian Wen.

  "It's good to know what's wrong!" Zhen Shi Niang nodded, "Wu Ge is very brave to admit his mistake, just remember it for next time..." She composed herself, "When your results don't match with others, you must first think if you're the one who made a mistake."

  "I understand."

  "I know too!" Jianwen also responded with a sound, and saw the deer velvet on the table, ran over in surprise, "What's this?" Picked up one and pressed it to his head, "Oh... oh... I've grown horns on my head, I'm the Bull Demon King!" Excitedly jumping around in the room.

  Seeing his brother having so much fun, Jian Wu also ran over and grabbed one, pressing it on his head. "I am the Golden Horned Great King!" He said in a tone of a demon from Journey to the West, pointing at his brother. "You, quickly go to the Dragon Cave to invite Mother over to eat Tang Monk meat together!"