Aunt Xiulan was dumbfounded by the question. What did she know? She knew nothing. She had only spoken up for her old friend.

"It's the Gu Zhiqing you mentioned. She would come to our house every other day. I used to think she was going to the mountains to collect goods, but now that I think about it, it doesn't make sense. She didn't take anything with her at the time. Instead, she would occasionally bring back one or two bamboo products when she returned."

"You mean Gu Zhiqing often goes to Lao Nian's house? Is it possible that she just goes there to buy things? How old is she? How could she cure a person who is paralyzed in bed? This must be a joke."

"Exactly, no matter how capable she is, her age is a factor, how could that be possible?"

......

Almost everyone opposed the idea, but that didn't stop them from continuing to discuss it.

Zhou Yue had just finished delivering the hay and was about to go back to lie down when she heard such a big piece of gossip.

Before anyone could ask, she had already run away.

Don't ask her! She doesn't know, but she's eager to find out now.

"An'an, An'an, are you back?"

Gu An'an finished work early as usual and was reading the letter that Aunt Li had written to her. There was also a small package next to her, so she knew without a doubt that the two of them had started to support her again.

Hearing this, she looked up at Zhou Yue, who was covered in sweat and had almost tripped over the threshold. "What's wrong? How old are you to be so reckless?"

Zhou Yue didn't bother with that. She grabbed her hand and asked, "I have something I need to verify with you, and you have to tell me the truth."

Gu An'an: "Don't worry, true best friends don't have eyes for each other's partners. Don't worry that I'll try to steal Zhao Zhiqing from you."

Zhou Yue: "...What is all this nonsense! That's not what I meant. I wanted to ask if you cured your Uncle Nian's wife?"

So that's what it was about. Gu An'an turned her head away and continued tidying up the letters in her hands. "You've heard about it too?"

Zhou Yue nodded. "What do you mean, 'I've also heard'? Is it true or false?"

"real."

Gu An'an spoke in a very calm tone, as if she had just eaten.

Zhou Yue froze for two seconds, and when she realized what Gu An'an was talking about, she jumped up and hugged Gu An'an tightly. "What did you say? You really did it? When did you do it? How come I didn't know even though I'm with you every day? You kept it from me for so long!"

“You never asked me when I went out, so you can’t blame me.”

Zhou Yue: ...

“I don’t care, you can tell me if I didn’t ask! Do you know that everyone in the village wanted to ask me just now, and I ran away as fast as I could? If they find out that I didn’t even know about this, they’ll definitely think that our relationship was fake.”

"I've always told everyone we're best friends, sob sob sob, how shameless of me!"

Gu An'an looked at the person wiping snot and tears all over her body, resisting the urge to throw him away, and said, "Zhao Zhiqing, you're here."

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhou Yue, who had just been cuddling with Gu An'an, immediately let go, touched her face, and turned her head, all in one smooth motion.

But there was no sign of Zhao Hu at the door.

"An'an, you lied to me!"

Gu An'an had already taken her things and was walking into the house. "This isn't a scam, it's just a matter of all's fair in love and war."

Zhou Yue wasn't really sad. They had been together for several months, so she knew exactly what kind of person Gu An'an was. She just wanted to act cute.

Since there was no longer a chance to act cute, Zhou Yue simply followed the other person's lead and said, "Anyway, I don't care. I was the one who was wronged this time, so you have to make it up to me."

Upon hearing about compensation, Zhou Yue unconsciously licked her lips, still wanting to eat more barbecue.

"no."

Zhou Yue continued to plead, "Eat up, eat up! The wild scallions in the backyard have all grown up. If we don't eat them soon, they'll get old."

"Let's eat something different today."

What do you want to eat?

"Hot pot, I have something to do. You can prepare the ingredients, and use this for the broth."

Gu An'an handed the hot pot base, which she had already unpacked, to Zhou Yue, and then listed all the ingredients that could be used for hot pot. "Is everything alright?"

Zhou Yue immediately shook her head, saying that washing and chopping vegetables was no problem at all.

"Um, can Zhao Zhiqing come and eat with us? Last time I told him about the taste of barbecue, he almost died of craving. Don't worry! I'll have them bring their own ingredients."

Gu An'an had no objection. Eating hot pot is all about the atmosphere, so having two more people wouldn't make a difference.

“Alright, since we’ve already invited Zhao, let’s invite Chen too, so he won’t have to cook.”

Zhou Yue laughed so hard her face turned white, and only after everyone left did she realize she had forgotten to ask An An when she went to see the doctor.

But it's alright, there's plenty of time to ask about dinner. Preparing dinner is the most important thing right now.

They went next door to call two helpers, and the three of them got to work together.

Zhao Hu and Chen Jianguo weren't stingy at all; they brought over quite a few things, making the other educated youth in the ward off evil spirits extremely envious.

"We never saw that guy surnamed Zhao bring anything back before, but now look what's happened! As soon as we broke up, he's been eating and drinking like a king all day long. So he was just keeping an eye on us."

No one responded to my sarcastic remarks; that's an obvious fact, and saying more is pointless.

Gu An'an was walking towards the village chief's house with the letter in her hand when she ran into the group of gossipy women. They immediately stopped talking and stared at her with curiosity.

Amidst the shoving and jostling, just as Gu An'an was about to pass by, Aunt Xiulan was pushed forward. "Little Gu, did you know that Old Nian's wife is better now?"

Gu An'an nodded, "I know, Aunt Xiulan."

"Everyone says you saved her, is that true?"

Gu An'an smiled and said, "It was just a coincidence."

A coincidence? What does that mean? Did this really happen to this young girl in front of us?

Before they could ask any more questions, Gu An'an had already left.

"Oh dear, why didn't you ask more questions?"

"It's alright, she'll be back. We'll just wait here."

While they were waiting, Gu An'an had already arrived at the village chief's house.

The village chief had just learned what Gu An'an had done from his wife, and now that he saw her, he was incredibly excited.

"An'an, you are truly the most precious treasure of our Xiaowang Village!"

Gu An'an smiled modestly, "Village Chief, please don't say that. To the villagers of Xiaowang Village, you are their pillar of strength, much more important than me."

Everyone loves to hear nice things, and the village chief laughed heartily when he heard this. His wife, standing to the side, couldn't bear to watch. "You're really getting cocky just because I said you're fat? Don't you know your own weight?"

He then welcomed Gu An'an into the house with a big smile on his face, his smile no less than that of the village chief.

"An'an, what brings you here?"

"Yes, that's true."

Village chief: ...When it comes to double standards, you have to look at his wife.