Chapter 19: Killing with Medicine
"What? First place?"
“Close to full marks?”
Qin Guihua and Qin Pan exclaimed in unison. Their first reaction was that maybe the health department had made a mistake, or that Qin Ju was teasing them. This was magical.
Yes, magical.
This could happen to anyone, except the third sister. In order to avoid going to school, she would do anything! She would do anything, such as stomachache, toothache, headache, buttocks pain, lie about military secrets, accidents at home, fire at school, and even run away when grandma used a cattle prod to rush her to the classroom to pee!
Qin Pan: dumbfounded.
Qin Guihua: I saw a ghost!
Seeing a head looming on the wall, Qin Ju had no time to explain, so she just lowered her voice and said, "Grandma, this matter has not been completely settled yet, don't tell anyone yet."
She had just given instructions to Wang Lifen.
Qin Guihua naturally knew how terrible jealousy was. "Okay, don't worry."
"By the way, grandma, the Chinese New Year is just a few days away. The pumpkins we just harvested this year are great. Can I send a few to Big Sister?"
Thinking of the meat Qin Ailan had saved, which would have been a good meal for them for several days, Qin Guihua felt her chin become round. "Okay, I'll pack some potatoes and sweet potatoes for you. They are not like us in the city. They have to spend money to buy everything."
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The peanut butter that Liao Zhixian brought from Haicheng last time has not been opened yet, and Qin Jue also took it with her. Although that thing is novel, it is not a necessity for them now.
Sure enough, this rare item that people would queue up for in Friendship Store was very popular on the black market. As soon as she took it out, a middle-aged woman discovered it and bought it for eight yuan. Together with the herbs she prepared during this period, her total income today was fourteen yuan and fifty cents. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to make a fuss, so she spent another eighty cents to buy two pounds of cream biscuits and couldn't help but eat two.
Nowadays, the stuff is made with plenty of ingredients and doesn’t contain too many additives. The biscuits are crispy and have a rich buttery aroma. Thinking that grandma and little four have not eaten them yet, I went back and bought two pounds of them, wrapped them in greaseproof paper, and hid them safely in the backpack.
As the New Year was approaching, more people were walking on the street. Qin Jue had just walked to the door of the state-owned hotel when he saw two people standing there. The petite one was Qin Ailan, wearing a thick patched military coat. The man next to her was sturdy and honest, with the Chinese character "honest man" written on his forehead.
"Sister, brother-in-law."
"Yeah." Liu Jiawei agreed cautiously. He was only wearing a thin sky blue work suit, but he reached out to pat the snowflakes off Qin Ailan's shoulders, being gentle and considerate.
"Laidi, you must be cold. Let's go home and get warm." Qin Ailan took her hand out of the coat and it was very warm. Qin Ju was afraid that she would catch a cold, so she stuffed it back in. "I'm not cold. I'm wearing a lot of clothes."
The county steel plant's family compound is a five-story building built with green bricks, which is the first of its kind in the entire Red Star County. The Liu family is a true steel plant family. Liu's father and his three sons and two daughters-in-law are all steel plant employees. They are also assigned houses on the same floor. Except for sleeping in their own rooms at night, they eat, drink, defecate and urinate together at other times. This is nominally lively, but it is also easy to cause trouble. Walls always have ears.
Qin Ju was used to living in a rural area with a private house and yard, so he was still a little uncomfortable. As soon as he entered the house, he was surrounded by a group of people and stared at him.
Although she was wearing a patched dress, she had bright eyes, white teeth, a tall figure, and two shiny black braids hanging on her shoulders. She was so beautiful that people could not take their eyes off her.
"Uncle, auntie."
Mrs. Liu was just about to say that some poor relative had come to ask for money again, but when she saw the newspaper-wrapped biscuits, the aroma was so delicious that her mouth was watering. Then she saw a bunch of rural specialties, and then she smiled politely, "Hey, the third brother's sister-in-law is here."
Qin Jue didn't think there was anything wrong with this title before, but now he finally realized there was something wrong with it.
It seems that my guess was right, there is no good person in the Liu family.
It was Father Liu who asked a few questions about whether everything was okay at home and how her grandmother was doing, and then disappeared after a while.
Qin Ailan was afraid that she would be embarrassed, so she quickly laughed and called them into her room, "That's just their temper. You look like your clothes are too thin, so put on this undershirt quickly."
She found a grey jacket from the closet. Although it was not new and had two patches on the collar, she could still smell the fresh scent of soap. My eldest sister has always been a clean person.
Qin Ju was not polite either. She was really freezing. In the city, it was not popular to heat the kang, so it was damp everywhere. It was not like in the village. By now, her grandmother must have heated the kang so hot that it would burn her buttocks if she sat on it.
Qin Ailan and Liu Jiawei's room was the one closest to the staircase. It was not big, but it was very tidy, with every item placed just right.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier? I asked your brother-in-law to pick you up. You must be tired walking on the mountain road in such a cold weather, right?"
Qin Ju enjoyed the feeling of being scolded by her elder sister. In the past, her elder sister was the most sensible and protective of her. She could be said to be half a mother to her.
"When will the results of that training class be released?"
"After the New Year." She decided not to let the Liu family know her true level for the time being.
"Okay, I'll have your brother-in-law check on us every day and call the brigade as soon as the results are out."
Qin Ju looked at her happy face and her brother-in-law, feeling distressed and angry. "Are you feeling better?"
"I was busy with work in the past few months and didn't have time to think too much. I feel much better now."
Qin Ju was slightly relieved to see that her face was not as pale as last time, and took her hand.
While taking her pulse, I asked her about her work. The salary in state-owned hotels is very good now. An ordinary waiter can earn 28 yuan a month, not to mention various benefits. Basically, they don't have to eat at home, which can save a lot of food expenses.
Look, in just over two months, Ailan's complexion has improved a lot, and there is a slight red glow on her cheeks.
But after taking the patient's pulse for a while and asking a few questions based on the pulse, Qin Jue still felt something was wrong.
"What's wrong?" What Qin Ailan feared most now was the doctor frowning.
"Have you checked my brother-in-law's health?"
"I've checked it, no problem." Ai Lan said unnaturally.
"Big sister, you don't have to be shy. Giving birth is not something that a lesbian can do alone. There are many men who have problems too."
Ailan blushed and nodded like a little quail, "He's fine."
Qin Jue frowned, "Sister, tell me the truth, how is his health?"
This was a very oblique way of asking. She actually didn't mind being straightforward, but after all, she was a young girl who had just gotten married and hadn't consummated her marriage yet. If she asked directly about her surname and ability, it would scare her elder sister.
"That's when you guys were doing that. Everything was normal, right?"
Qin Ailan pulled her hand back as if she was burned, "What are you talking about, girl?"
"Sister, I'm a doctor now. You have to tell the truth to a doctor, okay? Actually, I know all this physiological common sense. You don't have to treat me like a child. I will also treat these diseases for patients in the future."
Qin Ailan saw that she was serious than ever before, so she put away her contempt and answered a few questions seriously. "Since August, we haven't been together for a long time, but he is busy with work and often works overtime and can't go home at night. I can understand that."
My silly sister, if the child doesn’t eat, it must be because he ate too much snacks outside.
It seems that Liu Jiawei has been having an affair with that woman for half a year, and those months were the time when my eldest sister was under the most pressure from her parents-in-law.
Suddenly, Qin Jue frowned again. His spirit, energy, diet, sleep, bowel movements, and urination were all better than before, and even his voice was fuller than before, but why was his liver meridian still stagnant? Especially the pulse in his left hand joint was stringy.
A stringy pulse is a manifestation of liver failure to release qi and qi stagnation, but there is no symptom of abdominal pain or chest distension... This is a bit contradictory.
"How are you feeling, sister?"
"It's fine. I'm busy with work now, and I've figured it out. After all, having a child is a matter of fate. It will come when it's time. There's no point in me getting anxious. Your brother-in-law also advised me to be more open-minded. He will treat me well even if I don't have children in my life."
Qin Ju found that she didn't seem to be saying these words to comfort him, but had really let things go. This made her feel that the situation was even more strange.
She remembered what Mr. He once said: when seeing a doctor, symptoms, signs, tongue appearance, everything could be false, only the pulse is difficult to fake, and there is no need for the elder sister to lie to herself, unless... the pulse is caused by human factors.
As the two were talking, Liu Jiawei politely knocked on the door before asking if he could come in. "Ai Lan, it's time to take your medicine."
He was holding a bowl of boiled water and a few dark brown pills in his hand.
Qin Jue heard from her elder sister last time that this was a prescription for health preservation and fertility that her elder sister's husband had found an old Chinese doctor in the city. It was made into pills for her to take for a long time, and it cost several yuan a month. If it were in the past, Qin Jue would definitely not be suspicious, and she would have to sigh that her elder sister's husband was really good, but now, she no longer trusted Liu Jiawei.
The pills were only as big as mung beans and were pitch black, so nothing could be seen. Qin Jiao sniffed hard and smelled the scent of some blood-tonifying medicines such as Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, and Rehmannia glutinosa, which were indeed suitable for the treatment.
But just as Qin Ailan was about to take it, she suddenly wrinkled her nose almost inaudibly, and a familiar smell penetrated into her nose, "Sister, this medicine is very expensive, right?"
Liu Jiawei subconsciously responded, "Ginseng is more expensive, but as long as your sister can get better, I am willing to spend any amount of money."
"Ginseng is good. I heard from the villagers that it is the best for nourishing the body."
"Of course not. These are all good medicines. In addition to ginseng, there are also astragalus and atractylodes. These are all very good qi-replenishing medicines." Ailan told him that Qin Jue's younger sister was studying medicine, but he felt that with Qin Jue's personality of being only interested in doing things for a minute, she probably didn't learn very well. She might as well not be as good as him who saw a doctor regularly.
Qin Jue remained expressionless, but he was already beginning to feel furious.
Good job, Liu Jiawei. My elder sister’s body doesn’t need these tonics anymore. Even if she does, she can’t take so many qi-replenishing medicines at the same time. It may seem good for her, but for people with liver depression and qi stagnation, the most taboo thing is to blindly replenish qi!
It's like a tire with extremely high air pressure that's about to burst. If you continue to add air to it, aren't you just waiting for it to burst?
There is a saying in traditional Chinese medicine: Rhubarb can save lives but ginseng can kill people without any fault.
Liu Jiawei's trick was really shady. If the elder sister really had problems with the food, who would have thought it was the ginseng's fault? After all, this is an expensive tonic, and many people have never tasted it in their lives. Giving it to her means loving her.
"What's wrong?"
Qin Jiao shook his head and continued to smell, and soon he smelled the odor of two other medicines - clearly cinnamon and aconite!
These two herbs are the most pungent, hot and dry. They are good for people with uterine cold, but my sister doesn't have any coldness in her body at all, so taking these would be adding fuel to the fire!
Stacking so many unsuitable medicines together is not a tonic at all, it is clearly a killer!
Qin Ju remembered something. In her previous life, her eldest sister failed to get a job in a state-owned hotel. It was said that Liu Jiawei suggested selling the job on the pretext of lacking money for medical treatment, but no one could tell where the money from the sale of the job went. But later, after her eldest sister was sent to a mental hospital, she heard from her second sister that the woman Liu Jiawei had just found happened to work in a state-owned hotel... Damn coincidence!
There are not so many coincidences in the world. No wonder my elder sister suddenly went crazy without any inducement in my previous life. This is not because she can't get over it, it's murder! With such a strong drug, my elder sister will go crazy within half a year. She can't wait any longer and wants my elder sister to give up her job, right?
Liu Jiawei showed off, but didn't get the usual praise from his sister-in-law, and was a little uncomfortable, "You guys chat first, the meal will be ready soon, ok."
Qin Ju raised her head and gave him a brilliant smile, "Okay, brother-in-law, thank you for taking care of my elder sister for so many years."
Liu Jiawei was very honest and polite, and gave the room to the two sisters. Naturally, he did not notice Qin Jue behind him. He poured out the pills from the bottle with a normal expression, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and then replaced them with the pills he had prepared that were truly suitable for his eldest sister.
"You are..."
"Sister, this is such a good medicine. I'll take it back to my grandma to nourish her body. She said last time that she had never tasted ginseng in her life."
When Qin Ailan heard that it was a good gift to give to her grandmother, she immediately put aside her doubts and said, "Okay, then I'll eat yours, so that the Liu family won't find out and cause trouble." They were all similar pills anyway, and no one could tell the difference.
Qin Ju asked a few more questions about Liu Jiawei's recent "overtime work", but Ai Lan didn't notice anything unusual. She even had a meal at Liu's house as if nothing had happened before going home.
But she did not go back to Wulitun directly, but went to Qin Youdi's home in Qilitun next door.
*
The man Qin Youdi married was named Niu Dagang. As soon as she got off the tractor, he saw her with his sharp eyes, "Laidi?"
"Second brother-in-law."
"Let's go home quickly. Your second sister has been talking about you." Unlike the eldest brother-in-law, the second brother-in-law is very eloquent and everything he says sounds reasonable. So when the whole family is working, he and Youdi can sit at the entrance of the village and bask in the sun with peace of mind.
"Are we feeling healthy?"
"Pandi is such a good student. I have never seen such a smart child. She will definitely be a college student in the future."
“…”
Qin Ju: “…” She was so enthusiastic that she didn’t know what to say.
The Niu family lived a first-rate life in the village. They had eight or nine large tiled houses made of green bricks. The windows were bright and clean, and they had cloth curtains hanging on the windows, which were not common in rural areas. In the spacious yard full of vegetables, some children's clothes were hung to dry. They even raised seven or eight chickens and ducks, which looked very spacious.
Qin Youdi had just coaxed her son to sleep, and was surprised to see her when she came out, "Is there something wrong at home?"
"Nothing, I just came back from the county and came to visit my second sister."
Qin Youdi was not easy to fool. "You are so kind to come to see me. Tell me, have you gotten into trouble again?"
Niu Dagang originally wanted to listen to what they were talking about, but seeing that they were still arguing as before, someone from the next room happened to invite them to play cards, so he quickly slipped away.
As the door closed, Qin Jubang told everyone what he had discovered, from the fact that his eldest sister was poisoned to the fact that Liu Jiawei had someone outside, leaving out every word.
Qin Youdi was so angry that she almost jumped up three feet high, "What a bastard, he gave birth to a son without a skinny girl! He's a slut, I said he didn't look like a good person, but I insisted that he was honest. What a bullshit, how can he sleep with another woman if he's honest?! Bah!"
Honestly? That's not tempting enough.
Qin Ju saw that she was even angrier than herself, and finally knew that she had found the right person. It was difficult for her to kill Liu Jiawei by herself, but it was different with her second sister. In her previous life, she was far away in Lenghe Town, and Liu Jiawei's continuation of marriage was due to her second sister's strong opposition, so she didn't let the woman get the marriage certificate. But even her second sister couldn't imagine how bad the couple was.
"No, I'm going to call the Niu family right now, and let's go beat the shit out of Liu Jiawei!"
Qin Jue was furious and tried to stop her from getting angry. "Second sister is confused. We need to deal with this matter now."
You have to catch an adulterer in pairs. They became the unreasonable party by beating Liu Jiawei for no reason.
"So are we just going to sit there and watch? I tell you, this is just my eldest sister's kind of person. If it were me, I would definitely make the Liu family a mess."
"Of course not. I have a way that can not only help Big Sister escape from this sea of suffering, but also vent her anger."
"You are the only one who has a lot of ideas. Tell me now."
Qin Jue walked over and whispered a few words, and saw Youdi's originally wrinkled brows slowly relax, and she laughed out loud, "You are so good, girl, when did you become so good at playing tricks on people?"
Qin Ju smiled bitterly, saying that she had seen and heard so much in her life. After Zhao Haiyang and Zhao Haiyan went to school, she had basically nothing to do. She couldn't stay at home all the time. What kind of gossip had she not heard or watched from the old ladies and mothers in the community? Moreover, she had a young mentality and was proficient in using computers and smart phones to surf the Internet. She had never missed any forums and social software, as well as the "eating melons" that young people liked.
It can be said that except for the uncontrollable aging of her body, she is no different from young people in other aspects.
"But it's not easy to find such a candidate." Qin Youdi sighed, "Those people your second brother-in-law knows are all bad friends. You have never seen that group of people. They always call me 'Big Brother Gang', but when something happens, they run away faster than rabbits. I told him not to associate with them a long time ago, but he refused..."
Qin Ju couldn't agree with her criticism of Niu Dagang, so she quickly changed the subject: "Second sister is right, we need to find someone who is smart and capable, who can calm down the Liu family, and we don't have to worry about them causing trouble if something happens."
"By the way, second sister, last time you mentioned that there is a girl in your village who sells both eggs and salted duck eggs. I think she should be someone with her own ideas." This is simply the first pot of gold for the heroine of a period novel. If you want to cling to someone powerful, you naturally look for a strong one.
"Oh, yes. She is the eighth child in the family. The first seven are all sons, and they all eat public meals outside the family... Yes, why didn't I think of that!"
Qin Youdi slapped her leg, "The old Zhu family at the end of the village!"
Qin Ju's eyes lit up, and the two sisters whispered to each other - when the time comes, they will put on a good show for the Liu family!
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