Sun Miao'er patted his back and gently comforted him, "Cry, it'll be alright if you cry it out, your sister is always here for you."
"Waaaaah!" Hearing this, Xiaoman's crying intensified. "But sister has Xiaoning! Xiaoning is sister's own brother, but Xiaoman isn't, waaaaah!"
He pretended to be indifferent and never competed with Xiao Ning for favor in front of his sister, but he was just a child. How could a child think so far ahead? He knew that his parents hated his existence, but his sister was the only one who never regarded him as a burden.
Hearing the child's words, Sun Miao'er couldn't help but chuckle and poked his cheek. "So that's what Xiaoman was thinking. Come here, let me tell you, in my heart, you and Xiaoning are equally important. You're my right-hand woman. Do you think I could do without either of you?"
Xiaoman raised her little face, her big, watery eyes red from crying, tears still clinging to her chin, "That won't do, you can't lose an arm or a leg!"
"That's more like it, you little crybaby!" Sun Miao'er flicked his nose, which was wet and glistening with moisture.
Xiaoman shook her head, wiped away her tears with her sleeve, and said in a childish voice, "I'm not a crybaby! I, I just don't want to leave my sister..."
"Don't worry, your older sister will also miss Xiaoman."
Sun Miao'er finally managed to calm Xiaoman down, but this whole ordeal had completely disrupted her original plans.
He originally planned to do some small business to make a living, but who knew that he would end up with land in his hands.
But being in charge isn't so easy.
In this village, if you do well, you'll inevitably attract envy and jealousy from others. Some might even fabricate rumors to smear you and distort the facts. If you don't do well, you might as well just be a couch potato.
Grandma Sun had the same worries as her. Just as Sun Miao'er was sweeping the dust in the house, Grandma Sun came in, leaning on her cane.
Perhaps it was the sight of the house that stirred up memories, but as soon as she entered the room, it was as if she saw her eldest son still alive. "Miao'er, you have a benefactor to help you this time, it's your good fortune."
To Sun Miao'er's surprise, this time the old lady did not ask who had helped her.
“Grandma, now that we have land and a house, we don’t have to be afraid of them anymore.”
Sun Miao'er knew that the land deed had gone through a roundabout process and was now back in her hands, making it far more significant than before.
Previously, Old Mrs. Sun entrusted the land deed to her for safekeeping because she was afraid that her son would take it out and squander it. But after Old Mrs. Sun passes away, Sun Yuanhu can rightfully inherit the land deed. After all, in this era, with the son still alive, it is not up to the granddaughter to inherit it first.
Now that Hu San has handled it, and in front of so many people, Sun Yuanhu and his wife have no choice but to accept it, even if they don't want to. They used the land deed to pay off their debt, but it was later given to Sun Miao'er by someone else.
Moreover, the fact that it bears Sun Miao'er's handprint means that it has no connection with the couple.
This was also the outcome that Old Madam Sun most wanted to see. She was not unaware of Sun Lao Er's incompetence, cowardice, laziness, and greed. However, even if she wished to leave the ancestral property to her granddaughter, it would be against etiquette and law. Even if she invited relatives and collateral branches to judge, Miao'er would still be the one who suffered a loss.
"Good, good, this ancestral property will be your support from now on, my Miao'er, Grandma can finally rest easy." Grandma Sun cried tears of joy, finally able to give Yuan Yong an explanation in the afterlife.
I'll use the money I owe my eldest son to make up for it on Miao'er.
When Sun Miao'er arrived at the medicine hut, Fu Yuchi was, as always, sorting through the pile of herbs that never seemed to end.
The evening breeze ruffled his dark hair at his temples, and the rosy sunset reflected on his flawless face, making it impossible to look away.
The leaves of the ginkgo tree are a mix of yellow and green; the Great Heat has passed, and autumn is just around the corner.
Fu Yuchi raised his head and glanced over. Outside the courtyard, the girl standing there was finally a bit plumper than when they first met. Her face was flushed with a delicate pink, like a budding flower.
"Master." She was still hesitant about how to start the conversation, but the moment she saw Fu Yuchi, she made up her mind.
Fu Yuchi's lips curled upwards, and his eyes crinkled into a smile. "Take a look at this."
Seeing him sifting through a handful of bright red beans, Sun Miao'er asked directly, "Red beans?"
Fu Yuchi shook his head, picking at the small beans on the bamboo sieve, "These are love beans."
Sun Miao'er suddenly realized that she seemed to have read a line in a book: "I wish you would gather more of this, for it is the most cherished symbol of longing."
She understood what he meant, but didn't respond. Instead, she placed the letter with the maple leaf rubbing on the sieve. "Master's?"
"Hmm." He didn't even look up at her, his expression calm and composed.
The more he acted this way, the more curious Sun Miao'er became, feeling that she had been tricked.
Even though he meant well.
Sun Miao'er asked, "Why did you help me, Master?"
"Consider it your reward from your master." Fu Yuchi turned his head away, half of his face buried in the rosy light, the other half facing Sun Miao'er.
Sun Miao'er was speechless. She had imagined all sorts of answers, but she never expected it to be about payment. "I am my master's apprentice, so how can there be any payment?"
"What you made is to my liking." Fu Yuchi's praise was as plain as ever, not even sounding like a compliment.
Seeing that Sun Miao'er had fallen silent, he casually tossed the selected acacia seeds aside, saying, "I know you still have something to say, go ahead and ask."
Sun Miao'er couldn't hide anything from him; he saw right through her. "Why would he obey his master?"
“Hmm…” Fu Yuchi pondered for a moment, “I saved his father’s life.”
"real?"
"Honest and fair dealings with both young and old."
This reason was convincing enough for Sun Miao'er, because she couldn't think of any other reason.
Could it be that because his master is of noble birth, he's bored and changed his name to come to the mountains to experience life? Or is he some kind of peerless master who came to Fushui Village to escape the pursuit of his enemies?
Of course not.
In her eyes, her master might be a fallen nobleman forced to become a doctor, or his ancestors might have been minor officials, or his family might have once run a sizable business.
Sun Miao'er picked up the acacia seeds one by one from the ground. "Master, acacia seeds are poisonous. Don't throw them away carelessly."
Fu Yuchi scoffed self-deprecatingly, "What do you know? This is called 'having nowhere to throw away one's longing,' so I can only relieve my longing on the spot."
"Why did Master use this maple leaf as his signature?" Her gaze returned to the letter, where the maple leaf was exceptionally beautiful.
Fu Yuchi picked up the letter and played with it for a while. “When I was a child, there was a maple tree in my house. My mother used to build a swing for me under the tree and have my older brother play with me under the tree every day. The maple leaves, which were dyed red by the autumn wind, were extremely beautiful.”
When he mentioned his mother and brother, a thin mist settled over his eyes, beneath which lay a faint sorrow.
Sun Miao'er keenly noticed that unusual emotion. "Maple leaves are beautiful, but this ginkgo tree is not bad either. Shouldn't people always look at things more often? Being fixated on things makes it hard to live a good life."
She looked up; the ginkgo tree was tall and lush, growing day after day, year after year, having witnessed countless autumns like this.
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