Today was the market day, and Gu Fengyan took out five hundred coins and asked Huo Duan to buy them, considering that tools were needed to prepare medicinal materials.

After breakfast in the morning, when Huo Duan left, Gu Fengyan took a few handfuls of goose grass, chopped it up, mixed it with worm-eaten wheat heads, and fed it to the chicks and ducklings.

Looking at the weather, he watered the newly planted vegetable seedlings behind the house, broke off some branches to block the sun, then carried a backpack and sickle to the second room of the Shen family to find Jiang Xuerui.

…

After pulling out a wave of weeds, during the slack season, the villagers would look for other jobs to supplement their family income, and the brothers and their wives would embroider handkerchiefs at home.

Men often go to the county to work as porters, while those with technical skills like Shen Zhuo follow the bricklayers to supervise the construction of houses.

"I've packed the food for you, along with some pickled vegetables. Remember to eat them. If you can't come back in the afternoon, ask Brother Xue at the village entrance to bring a message so I can know." At the Shen's house, Jiang Xuerui served Shen Zhuo breakfast, but was worried that he would be busy and just casually prepare lunch, so she was quite reassured.

The two had been married for a short time and were very much in love with each other. They were reluctant to leave each other every time they went out.

"Arui..." Not sure if the words reached his ears or not, Shen Zhuo stared at her husband infatuatedly, her voice filled with heat.

Seeing him being so careless, Jiang Xuerui pretended to be angry, "Did you hear what I said?"

However, the crimson tips of his ears had already betrayed him.

But his waist still hurts.

"I'm listening. Lock the door when I'm not at home. If you're bored, go find Brother Yan to embroider...at worst, go chat with sister-in-law." Shen Zhuo always knew that her husband was introverted and shy, so she pulled him over and hugged him in her arms, and got a kiss as she wished.

Hearing him mention his sister-in-law, Jiang Xuerui's voice immediately became a little higher, "I'm not going to look for my sister-in-law..."

Although he is introverted, he can still distinguish between good and bad.

When he got married, the Shen family had not yet split up. The eldest brother, Shen Dingshan, was a dullard who could not be trusted. The eldest sister-in-law, Yu, was sharp-tongued and hot-tempered, and loved to stir up trouble. He and Shen Zhuo were often bullied by them.

It would be fine for him, as he could only endure it for a few years, but my husband grew up with his brother and sister-in-law, and he must have suffered a lot.

Because of this, Jiang Xuerui felt sorry for Shen Zhuo and never had a good impression of Yu.

"Then you go find Brother Yan, okay?" Shen Zhuo held Jiang Xuerui's face and coaxed her.

Jiang Xuerui lowered her eyes and said "hmm" softly. She was very reluctant to let Shen Zhuo go and let him rub her...

On this side, Gu Fengyan crossed the river with a backpack on his back and arrived outside the gate of Shen Zhuo's house. Seeing that there was no one in the yard, he shouted, "Second Brother Shen, is Ruige'er home?"

The two people in the house were being intimate with each other, and when they heard the sound, they hurriedly separated and went to the yard.

"I come at a bad time. Is Second Brother Shen going out?" Although Gu Fengyan had never experienced this before, he knew what was going on when he saw the couple's faces flushing unnaturally.

Shen Zhuo said unnaturally: "Ahem... go to the county to work."

"Brother Yan, come in and sit down first." Jiang Xuerui greeted with a red face.

He had told Shen Zhuo about the herb-picking the night before. The mountain road was difficult to walk on, and Shen Zhuo felt sorry for him, so he didn't ask him to go. He used both soft and hard tactics to persuade Shen Zhuo for half the night before he reluctantly agreed. He only repeatedly reminded them not to go deep into the forest and to pay attention to safety.

Gu Fengyan sat for a while, watching Jiang Xuerui send Shen Zhuo out the door. The two of them were so close that their eyes could be drawn...

In this situation, besides lamenting that he came at the wrong time, he actually thought of Huo Duan.

He has never seen Huo Duan off before... How about seeing him off next time?

"Brother Yan?" Jiang Xuerui called out twice, but Gu Fengyan didn't respond. She could only wave her hand in front of his eyes a few times.

"Oh, sorry, I was thinking about something..." Gu Fengyan came back to his senses and smiled, "Second Brother Shen is gone?"

Jiang Xuerui nodded, took out a sickle, a backpack and two straw hats from the house, and closed the door.

"Let's go while it's still cool." He handed a straw hat to Gu Fengyan and said.

Gu Fengyan admired Jiang Xuerui's attentiveness and took out a bamboo tube of homemade mint cooling tea from his backpack and gave it to him.

The two of them wandered into the mountain before sunrise...

On the way up the mountain, Gu Fengyan and Jiang Xuerui met many villagers who were cutting grass, collecting firewood, and picking wild vegetables... They greeted and joked with those they knew, and nodded and passed by those they didn't know.

Soon I found a patch of patchouli, growing lush and green. Patchouli is pungent and slightly warm, and it enters the spleen, stomach, and lung meridians. It can relieve cough, expectorant, and asthma.

The villagers call this green lotus, and it is easy to prepare. You just need to harvest it when the branches and leaves are lush, dry it in the sun and keep it cool at night, and repeat this process until it is dry.

Gu Fengyan called Jiang Xuerui and the two began to harvest.

As I was picking, I heard voices coming from behind the bushes.

"Isn't this Rui Ge'er? Why are you here? Where is your second brother?" Turning around, he saw two wives in their thirties carrying baskets. One of them glanced at Jiang Xuerui and said.

Gu Fengyan was still wondering who this person was, but Jiang Xuerui called out, "Sister-in-law."

But he didn't say anything else, and his face showed a cold expression.

Gu Fengyan usually heard a lot of gossip when chatting with Huo's father. When he heard Jiang Xuerui call her "sister-in-law", he immediately reacted - this person was Yu, the wife of Shen Zhuo's eldest brother Shen Dingshan.

This time, I was afraid that I would run into trouble. Gu Fengyan felt miserable;

Yu had always had a bad reputation in Heqing Village. Even the dogs at the entrance of the village knew that she was lazy and mean all day long. In the early years before the family split up, she often bullied Shen Zhuo and his wife, often beating or scolding them.

"Why, you don't recognize me as your sister-in-law after the family split? How can a simple greeting disgrace a noble like you?" As expected, Yu frowned and forced a sneer from her nose, "Don't forget who raised Zhuozi with all my heart, and you still dare to give me a cold look... One day I will ask that coward Shen Dingshan to come and see his good brother and sister-in-law!"

It was obvious that Jiang Xuerui was no match for her. Her face turned red and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Brother Rui has been married for more than a year, how come he is still like a saw-mouthed gourd? He doesn't even say hello to his eldest sister-in-law when he sees her..." The wife next to Yu is from the Zhao family at the east end of the village. She is also not an easy person to deal with. She is just trying to stir up trouble. "Brother Tian, ​​the second son of the Xue family at the entrance of the village, seems to be from the same village as you. He is so sweet-mouthed. Although the family has been separated, he always sends all the good things he gets to his eldest brother's family. Last time I saw that big piece of pork, he gave it all to his eldest brother's family..."

When Yu heard this, she became even angrier.

She is not much different from the eldest sister-in-law of the Xue family. How could she be so lucky? She has been married for more than ten years and has gained nothing. Even a boy from another village dares to take advantage of her!

"His sister-in-law, what you said is wrong. What kind of people are they... He has a man who is good at carpentry, so naturally he looks down on people like us who dig for a living in the dirt. How can people like us have the chance to eat pork? I'm afraid it will shorten my life if you send me pork." Yu squinted her eyes and said sarcastically.

"Sister-in-law, what do you mean by that..." Jiang Xuerui clutched the corner of her clothes tightly, almost about to cry.

"Sister-in-law? I don't deserve to be called sister-in-law!" Yu was most annoyed by the way he looked like he was mourning after just a few scoldings and snorted coldly.

Gu Fengyan took one look and decided that he must not let the fire continue.

"It's not even summer yet, why is sister-in-law so angry? Pork is not a precious thing, but as you said, we have to live to eat it." He said, "I heard from my father that the eldest sister-in-law of the Xue family at the entrance of the village is a virtuous woman. Uncle Xue and Aunt Xue passed away a long time ago, leaving the second brother of the Xue family when he was only eight years old. He was raised by the eldest brother and sister-in-law like a treasure. Now that the second brother Xue has married, let alone pork, even if it is gold and silver, isn't it reasonable... Don't you think so?"

What a joke! Young Master Gu has been in the rich family for more than 20 years. What kind of weird people has he not seen?

I can't cure you yet.

When Yu heard this, she thought this guy was openly or secretly scolding her for being unvirtuous?

"Whose family are you from? What does it have to do with you if I teach my own sister-in-law a lesson?!" Yu looked Gu Fengyan up and down, and said angrily.

Zhao snorted coldly, "Sister-in-law, you don't know yet, this man is the husband of the Huo family's idiot Erdan... For him, Erdan even fought with the son of the county magistrate next door and almost lost his head..."

Hearing the word "fool", Gu Fengyan suddenly became inexplicably angry, and looked at Zhao with cold eyes, which scared Zhao so much that she quickly shut up.

"So he's Erdan's husband..." Yu's eyes were full of mockery.

Who did she think it was? It turned out to be that vixen... She had a seductive face, but it was a pity that she married a useless fool.

She continued, "Brother Yan still has the time to meddle in other people's affairs. I'm afraid he doesn't know that your "good reputation" has spread throughout the village..."

My brother and his wife value their reputation the most. They used these words to mock him, and I don't believe he won't be angry.

Unexpectedly, Gu Fengyan is not an ordinary guy. He said nonchalantly: "I can't believe that sister-in-law cares about this, but our reputations are similar..."

He smiled and turned his anger on Zhao, "If you don't believe me, ask Mrs. Zhao."

Yu looked at Zhao.

Zhao didn't expect that this delicate and weak brother could be so powerful. She smiled awkwardly and said, "Sister-in-law, don't listen to his nonsense... It's getting late. You still have to make lunch for the children when you go back. Let's go quickly."

When talking about her child, Yu forgot everything...that was her precious baby.

He gave Jiang Xuerui a fierce look and followed Zhao.

Jiang Xuerui thanked Gu Fengyan before continuing to collect medicinal herbs.

…

Here, Yu and Zhao walked towards the village along the woods.

Gu Fengyan's last provocative words took effect. Yu's face was dark all the way and she didn't say a word to Zhao.

There was no longer any chatting and laughing between the two of them as before.

Zhao was worried. Yu had already agreed to lend her the money, but that vixen gossiped her about it and now she was in trouble.

"His sister-in-law, I'm not saying anything, although Rui Ge'er doesn't know the rules, he is still a member of your Shen family." Fortunately, Yu was simple-minded and easy to control. Zhao thought about it and decided to put all the blame on Gu Fengyan, "He doesn't know the rules, you just need to teach him, don't hurt the harmony of the family... Especially don't let him get involved with that vixen!"

Yu was thinking about what Gu Fengyan said. When she heard Jiang Xuerui mentioned, she got angry again. "Is it my business to control who he gets involved with? If you don't see what he looks like, you would think he's my sister-in-law!"

Seeing that it worked, Zhao continued, "Sister-in-law, you can't say that. I saw that Rui Ge'er used to be obedient, but now he dares to disobey you... I'm afraid he probably learned it from that vixen! You must talk to Xiao Zhuo and ask him to stay away from that girl, so that he doesn't learn bad things every day."

Yu thought for a long time and felt that it made sense. "If it makes sense, I'll go talk to Zhuo Zi tomorrow..."

She started gossiping with Zhao again, "Do you think Erdan's family is that good? Apart from her pretty face, I see her thin arms and legs... her butt is perky but too small. I'm afraid she won't be able to have children! Why are all those men clinging to her like they were drugged?"

"My wife's family definitely doesn't understand. A man has his own way..." Seeing that things were settled, Zhao felt relieved to gossip with Yu. "I think he has a thin waist, long and flexible legs, and that face. Which man can escape? Looking at his appearance, I'm afraid he knows more than that behind closed doors..."

Yu thought it made sense and nodded repeatedly, but then she remembered that the two men seemed to be cutting something... Could it be something valuable?

Thinking of this, she was afraid that she had suffered a loss, so she quickly asked Zhao, "Hey, sister-in-law, what did you say they cut just now? Why didn't I hear what it was used for? Could it be used to make money?"

"What kind of money can they make!" Zhao said disdainfully, "That grass is called green lotus, and animals don't eat it, so what use is there? I'm afraid they haven't been to the fields before, so they didn't recognize it and cut it by mistake!"

Yu thought that Zhao was knowledgeable and experienced, so she did not doubt it and put the matter out of her mind in a blink of an eye. She just planned to wait for Shen Zhuo to come back and ask him to teach his husband a lesson so that he would not learn bad things instead of good ones and get involved with the seductress of the Huo family.

The author has this to say: "Patchouli is pungent, slightly warm, and enters the spleen, stomach, and lung meridians. It can relieve cough, eliminate phlegm, and relieve asthma."

"Cut when the branches and leaves are lush, and dry them in the sun and at night, repeating this process until they are dry."

——Yue Guihua, Yang Gaohua, "Illustrated Complete Collection of Chinese Herbal Medicine"