Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
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Christmas and New Year 2025 Update…. Happy bonus update, you guys….
Seeing Yong Miao’s greedy look, Yong Ruo smiled and ordered him: “Wash your hands first!”
This was Yong Ruo’s fixed requirement after she came here. She now had the authority of the eldest sister. Although Yong Miao was reluctant to give up the food box, he had to go to fetch water to wash his hands reluctantly.
Yong Qiao came in with bowls and chopsticks. Yong Ruo took out peanuts and candied dates, and asked Yong Qiao and Yong Miao to eat with chopsticks, not to use their hands, and not to eat too fast.
She also turned up the fire in the fireplace, put a small pot on the simple stove, scooped some water from the bucket into the pot, and when the water boiled, poured the bowl of radish and minced meat porridge that she had packed back into the pot, and put two slices of sausage and two slices of bacon in, stirring them together to heat.
When the porridge was heated, she divided the porridge into two portions, one for Yong Qiao and Yong Miao, with one sausage and bacon each for them.
“Sister, what about you and mother?” Yong Qiao swallowed his saliva greedily, but asked hesitantly.
Yong Ruo smiled and said, “Sister has already eaten. Mother is sleeping now. When she wakes up, I will heat up dumplings for her. This porridge is for you.”
Yong Miao pointed at the chicken, duck, fish and meat in the food box reluctantly: “Sister, can I have some more of those dishes?”
Yong Ruo shook her head: “No! We have been hungry for a long time. We can’t eat too much at once, otherwise we will have a stomach-ache and need to drink those bitter medicines to get better. Don’t worry, we will eat the remaining things slowly tomorrow.”
The weather was still cold now. Even if there was no refrigerator, the food would not go bad in a day or two.
Yong Qiao and Yong Miao drank the porridge in their bowls very cherishingly. When eating their own slices of bacon and sausage, they were reluctant to put the whole piece of meat into their mouths, but took a small bite at a time and ate it slowly with the porridge.
After eating, the two were very satisfied and began to feel sleepy-after all, it was already midnight. At their age, it was not easy to survive until now.
Yong Ruo sent them to rinse their mouths. Washing the face was not necessary. They didn’t have skin care products and their faces were covered with tiny cracks. So, they should not wash their faces too often.
Yong Miao was very reluctant and didn’t want to rinse his mouth. So, he begged, “Sister, can I not rinse my mouth tonight! I finally get to eat meat again. I want to keep the meat taste in my mouth for a while! If I get hungry in the middle of the night, I’ll lick the meat from between my teeth and eat it. Maybe I can even have a good dream of a big meal…”
Yong Ruo burst into laughter. She thought: Yong Miao’s words are another “people’s suffering” that can be told to Master Feng!
“Look at what you have done!” Yong Ruo scolded with a smile, and refused to allow it. “If you don’t rinse your mouth before going to bed, your teeth will turn rotten! When your teeth are rotten, you won’t be able to eat anything!”
Yong Miao muttered: “I still have to change my teeth! If they are rotten, I will replace them with new ones!”
Yong Ruo threatened him: “Then what will you eat before your teeth are replaced? Don’t play tricks, go!”
Yong Miao reluctantly caught by Yong Qiao to rinse his mouth, and then the two went to bed and fell asleep soon.
Yong Ruo cleaned up the dishes and found that mother Zhou had woken up. She hurried over: “Mom, I’m back! How are you?” She took a pillow and put it behind mother Zhou’s back, helping her to sit up.
Mother Zhou said weakly: “It’s still the same!” Pulling Yong Ruo to take a look, she didn’t find anything wrong with Yong Ruo, so she breathed a sigh of relief, “I heard that you went to sell flowers at the Lantern Festival, I was so worried… Now that you are back safe and sound, I am relieved!” It was just a few words, but she was out of breath after saying them.
Yong Ruo patted her hands and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, mother! I was very lucky today. Not only did I sell all the flowers, but I also met a noble person. The old lady had a kind face and looked very noble. I just said a few flattering words and she was happy. Not only did she buy my flowers, but she also invited me to the restaurant for a meal and chat with her. I picked out a few funny things to tell her and made her laugh non-stop…” She recounted her experience tonight in a transliterated way.
Then she untied the saddlebag that was tied around her body and poured all the silver and money in the saddlebag onto mother Zhou’s quilt.
A five-liang silver ingot, a pile of loose silver, and a pile of copper coins! After seeing so much silver mother Zhou’s eyes widened: “This… so much!”
Yong Ruo nodded wildly, her expression excited: “A younger generation in her family gave me all the silver coins in his purse, saying it was a reward for me.”
Mother Zhou stroked the silver coins on the quilt, smiled bitterly for a moment, and said with nostalgia: “The last time I touched so much silver was when your father was alive…”
Then mother Zhou took out the five-liang silver ingot and put it aside, picked up a few larger pieces of silver and put them together, and said to Yong Ruo: “Put all this silver in a small jar, find a place to bury it.”
She then divided the remaining silver into two parts and told Yong Ruo: “Hide them in two places. Hide them tightly.”
Yong Ruo said: “I’ll hide them later. Mother, let me heat up a few dumplings for you! They are made of shrimp, pork, and mushrooms, and they are delicious.”
Mother Zhou hesitated for a moment: “Just heat up two for me! I can’t eat more. If I vomit again, it will be troublesome.”
Yong Ruo heated up two dumplings, put them in mother Zhou’s special bowl, and fed her, and massaged her limbs.
When mother Zhou fell asleep, she came in with a short-handled shovel, looked around the house again and again, rejected many places, and finally locked on one place – the small ash pool next to the simple stove of the cottage fireplace!
She walked over, dug the ash from the ash pool to one side, and then began to dig a hole at the bottom of the ash pool. After digging, she put the jar and the silver in and buried it, flattened the soil, and filled the ash back into the pool. She stepped back two steps and looked around. Seeing that she could not see any traces of digging, she nodded with satisfaction.
She hid some of the remaining silver and money, and kept some in her saddlebag for tomorrow’s use. Then she rinsed her mouth and went to bed, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
After waking up the next day, Yong Ruo heated up the remaining dumplings and buns and woke up Yong Qiao and Yong Miao. The three siblings ate most of it, and left some for mother Zhou. Then Yong Ruo asked Yong Miao to watch over mother Zhou, and she took Yong Qiao and went out with a wheelbarrow.
Today, they had to pay back the money they owed, buy rice, noodles, firewood, and many other things, and find another doctor to see mother Zhou.
When buying rice, Yong Qiao wanted to buy cheap old brown rice, but Yong Ruo couldn’t stand this kind of rice and insisted on buying white rice and flour. She also bought some dried beans, dried radishes and other dried vegetables, a few radishes, a few eggs, and added various condiments such as oil, salt, sauce and vinegar that the kitchen had always been seriously lacking. She also bought a few bundles of firewood, put them together on the wheelbarrow, and pushed them back with Yong Qiao.
Yong Ruo really wanted to eat some green leafy vegetables and fruits, but it was a pity that this was ancient times, and the fruits and vegetables that could be eaten in winter were extremely limited, and they were all very expensive.
As they bought so many bags, the neighbours around them couldn’t help but make a fuss and ask with envy and jealousy: “You bought so many things, did your family get rich?”
Yong Ruo then told the lie she had made up yesterday: “…I met a very noble old lady, won her favour, chatted with her for a while, and was rewarded with a few silver coins…”
After dealing with the neighbours and returning home, Yong Qiao couldn’t help asking: “Sister, how did you get to know the old lady last night? What did you say? Why did she treat you so well?”
Yong Ruo fooled him with a few words, asked him to stay at home to pack up things, take care of their mother and younger brother, and went out to find a doctor. It was said that there was a doctor named Wu who was very skilled in medicine and a good person, but the consultation fee was a bit expensive. The Yong family couldn’t afford to consult him before, but now they could ask him to come and see mother Zhou.
The residence of doctor Wu was quite far from Mopan Hutong. Yong Ruo walked until her feet were sore before she found the doctor’s house. Fortunately, Doctor Wu was at home. She tried her best to persuade him and paid for a carriage, and finally she managed to invite Doctor Wu.
Doctor Wu came to Yong family house by carriage and carefully checked mother Zhou’s pulse while she was still sleeping. Yong Ruo invited him to the main hall to write a prescription and also gave him ink grinder very attentively.
Doctor Wu picked up the pen with a very solemn expression but did not write for a long time. Yong Ruo, Yong Qiao and Yong Miao all looked at him eagerly. Yong Ruo’s heart was beating very fast.
After a long while, Doctor Wu sighed, put the pen, ink, paper and inkstone into the medicine box, and said to Yong Ruo while holding the medicine box: “Little girl, can you talk to me for a moment!”
After hearing what Doctor Wu said, Yong Ruo’s heart skipped a beat and she asked Yong Qiao and Yong Miao to stay in the main hall. She then followed Doctor Wu to the yard.
Doctor Wu actually returned the medical fee that Yong Ruo had given him before, and whispered: “My medical skills are shallow, and I can’t do anything about your mother’s illness. Miss, you should seek help from someone else!” He bowed to Yong Ruo and said, “I’m ashamed! Goodbye!”
Yong Ruo took the returned medical fee and stood in the yard, watching Doctor Wu’s back disappear outside the door, feeling extremely heavy.
The doctor refused to prescribe medicine! Did it mean: Mother Zhou is dying!!!
Yong Qiao and Yong Miao had come behind her without knowing when. Yong Qiao’s face was pale. While Yong Miao asked her with tears in his eyes: “Why didn’t the doctor prescribe medicine? Sister, you… have you been deceived by someone and hired a liar!”
Yong Ruo sighed slightly, squatted down, hugged Yong Qiao and Yong Miao into her arms, hugged them tightly, and felt that they were both trembling.
Yong Miao struggled and cried, “Sister, please speak! Why doesn’t that lousy doctor prescribe a prescription? Let me go! I’ll go find that liar, get the money back, and find another good doctor to treat our mother!”
“Shut up!” Yong Ruo shouted, “Doctor Wu is a good person, not a liar! He has already refunded the consultation fee to me!”
“Refunded?” Yong Miao said absentmindedly, “Why did he refund the consultation fee?” It was already incoherent.
“Because Doctor Wu said that he was powerless to treat our mother’s illness, so he refunded the consultation fee and refused to prescribe a prescription.”
“That must be because his medical skills are not good!” Yong Miao said quickly, “Sister, why don’t you find a good doctor for our mother?”
Yong Ruo’s face sank: “Miao Miao, don’t blame others for your unhappiness, and unwillingness!” She also hoped that Yong Miao could be mentally prepared, “You have to know that there are some things in this world that no one can do anything about!” After that, she began to cry!
In her previous life, she was diagnosed with cancer when her future was bright. No matter how she cooperated with the treatment or how hard she struggled, she could not escape the fate of dying young. Even if she was reluctant to give up everything in that world, now, she had completely lost it!
Yong Miao stopped struggling and crying, but hugged Yong Ruo tightly and burst into tears.
Just as the three siblings were crying together, a voice sounded at the door: “What happened?”
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