Tian Cai returned from the county around noon. Half of the mountain products she brought back today were sold to Du Chunyan and several of her colleagues from the supply and marketing cooperative, and the other half were bought by the families of the workers from the machinery factory. After sending the packages, she went to the purchasing station again and purchased more medicinal materials for the team. She filled the bamboo basket again before going home.

After arriving home, Tian Cai put down the bamboo basket full of medicinal herbs, touched the kang, and hurried to the kitchen. The weather has been very cold recently, and the kang was only warm because no firewood was added during the day. She brought a bundle of firewood from the backyard and started the fire again.

After the fire started, Tian Cai went into the house again, took out a pair of pillowcases from the basket, tucked them in his arms, and quickly went to Qu's house.

Qu family.

Qu Yang was playing and cleaning the snow in the yard. Qu Ting occasionally came out for a stroll and secretly made a snowball and threw it at him. Qu Yang was so angry that he screamed and yelled. Later, he simply stopped sweeping the snow and chased Qu Ting to beat her.

Li Guangxia, who lived next door, happened to come out of the kitchen carrying a winnowing basket filled with red dried chilies. The chili powder at home had been eaten up, so she thought of grinding some chili powder while she had some time.

Listening to the noise coming from next door, and thinking that the Qu family happened to have a small stone mill, I simply took the peppers and went over there.

When she reached the door, she stuck her head out into the yard and asked, "Qu Ting, where's your mother?"

"At home," Qu Ting quickly stopped chasing Qu Yang, smiled sheepishly, and shouted into the house, "Mom, Aunt Li is here!"

When Qu Tingniang heard the sound, she pushed open the door and invited the person into the house with a smile.

Li Guangxia stamped the snow on her feet and then walked into the house, saying, "I'd like to borrow your stone mill. I need to grind some chili powder."

Coincidentally, Qu Tingniang also wanted to grind chili powder, but the chilies in her family had not been sorted and processed yet, so she had to sort them all before she could use the stone mill.

"It's just right for you to grind first, and I'll take over after I finish cleaning up." Qu Tingniang found the stone mill from the shed in the backyard, swept the dust on it with a small broom, and placed it on the table in the main room.

Li Guangxia put the dustpan over and said happily, "That's a coincidence. I don't have to clean up after I finish grinding."

Qu Tingniang took a small stool and placed it on the ground. She picked out the clean and bright red peppers from the cloth bag, then cut off the dried stems on them, and then used scissors to cut the peppers into small sections and placed them in the dustpan next to her.

The two chatted while working.

As she was speaking, Li Guangxia suddenly lowered her voice and said, "The other day I saw Wu Danniu go to the Red Star Commune again. She didn't come back that night and wasn't seen until yesterday afternoon. Her eyes were swollen like walnuts."

"Her sister-in-law is also a miserable person. There has been no news for several years. Alas!" Qu Tingniang sighed.

Li Guangxia shook the millstone in her hand for a long time without saying anything. After a while, she said, "You said Qiuxiang is such a good girl. Her husband treats her very well. It's okay if she hasn't given birth for five years. There are even cases where she hasn't given birth for ten years. It's just that she's not destined to have children. Why rush?"

Qu Tingniang nodded with deep emotion, thinking back to when she first married Qu Wenxue, it took her three years to get pregnant with Qu Ting. At that time, there was a lot of gossip in the village. At the worst time, she didn't even want to go out. She knew very well what it felt like to be talked about.

Parents and children always pay attention to fate. When fate comes, the child will come naturally. Qu Ting is the one that the couple has been looking forward to for a long time. Isn’t she the treasure in their hands?

She sighed, "When Qiuxiang was still a girl, she helped Da Niu with a lot of work. The old lady in her family took advantage of Da Niu because she was a new bride and assigned her too many chores to do even for a man. If it weren't for Qiuxiang, she would have died of exhaustion long ago.

"Or maybe it's because they have a good relationship, just like real sisters." Li Guangxia also has a sister-in-law, about the same age as Qiuxiang, but the two of them do very different things. She used to envy Wu Danniu very much. They were both teenagers, but somehow she was so caring. Thinking about how that girl hadn't given birth in five years of marriage, she couldn't help but wonder, "Do you think that God can't stand others having an easy life? Is Qiuxiang really infertile?"

"That's all uncertain," Qu Tingniang continued. "We should just talk about this behind closed doors. Wu Danniu can't stand hearing people say her sister-in-law is infertile. Qiuxiang protects her, and she protects Qiuxiang too. I think she protects her more than she does her own children. With her unforgiving nature, she'll never let us off if she hears."

"Of course. Speaking of this disease that makes one unable to have children," Li Guangxia suddenly stopped what she was doing, looked at Qu Tingniang, and said after thinking for a long time, "Do you think our Doctor Tian can treat it?"

Qu Tingniang wasn't sure. "It's a bit risky, isn't it? She's just a little girl after all, and I haven't heard of her curing anyone's infertility. Oh no, it seems there really is one. I remember that Wu, Wu something from Qingshan Village?"

"Wu Fendui!" Li Guangxia also remembered.

"Yes, yes, it's him. It caused quite a stir back then. Both families went to see the doctor together. Doctor Xiaotian saw right away that it was Wu Fendui's problem," Qu Tingniang lowered her voice when she spoke of this. "It was said that he didn't have that thing. The girl from the Shi family didn't understand either. She was fooled for so many years and thought that her infertility was her own fault! The two families fought at the time, and the matter caused quite a stir.

But my Qu Ting is a regular visitor, and I haven't heard her mention any other families who are having trouble having children and have consulted Tian Cai."

Li Guangxia rolled her eyes at her. "You're talking nonsense. If someone can't give birth, they can't just shout about it. They have to secretly see a doctor! I'll talk to the big girl one day. If it doesn't work, I'll ask her to bring her sister-in-law back to see Tian Cai—"

Just as he finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice coming from outside. It was Tian Cai coming over.

Li Guangxia was immediately happy, "He's here now, let's go over and ask."

Qu Tingniang also meant this. She quickly patted the chili peppers in her hand, stood up, opened the door, and greeted Tian Cai with a smile. "Xiao Tian is here, come in quickly, come in, auntie just happened to have something to ask you!"

Tian Cai said a few words to Qu Ting and wanted to leave after leaving the pillowcase behind. But after hearing this, she walked back into the house and asked, "What's wrong, auntie?"

When she entered the room, she saw Li Guangxia there and greeted her again.

"Hurry up and sit on the kang. Your aunt and I are grinding chili peppers. It's choking in the main room." Qu Tingniang pushed the chili peppers on the ground aside to make room for Tian Cai to walk.

Qu Ting also rushed in behind her and said as soon as she entered the room, "Mom, what do you want to ask? Just tell me quickly. Cai Cai will go home later and has things to do!"

Qu Tingniang rolled her eyes at the prodigal daughter. She had wanted to lay the groundwork for something, but now she couldn't waste any more time. She simply winked at Li Guangxia and waited for her to speak while she added a few words.