The popularity today far exceeded Ye Wanmian's expectations. The herbal tea was delivered in batches. When the medicinal herbs were almost boiled transparent, Ye Wanmian told Qi Wen and Li Zhao to put away the large cauldrons for the herbal tea, hang up the sign saying "Today's giveaway is over. Please come back tomorrow", and ended today's distribution.
At this time, it was only around 3 p.m. There were still quite a few commoners queuing up. Seeing Ye Wanmian about to pack up, they were a bit dissatisfied.
Li Zhao came up with an idea. He cut some slips of paper and wrote numbers on them in the order of "A1, A2" and distributed them to the commoners. When Huichuntang set up the stall early tomorrow morning, as long as they brought these numbered slips, they could queue up preferentially without having to wait again.
This method appeased everyone. Everyone took the small slips and left contentedly. Ye Wanmian, Mo Zhizhang and others were finally able to return to Huichuntang.
After working so long, everyone was sweating. Ye Wanmian's little face was sunburned red. The room was cooler than outside, and everyone perked up.
Gulping down a large bowl of water, Qi Wen slumped in the chair and said with a long face,
"Doing good deeds and accumulating virtue is not an easy task. And I still have to go through five more days like this!"
Mo Zhizhang rubbed his sore arm from writing prescriptions and smiled, "It's always more tiring on the first day. After a few days, when everyone's novelty wears off, it won't be so busy."
"Really?" Qi Wen said, "Then I can rest assured. If it's like this every day, I'm afraid I'll be completely worn out."
Ye Wanmian looked worriedly at Li Zhao, whose face was a bit pale, "Second Master, how do you feel? If you can't hold on, you can just distribute the medicinal materials in the medical clinic from tomorrow on."
Li Zhao shook his head with a smile, "Thanks to Dr. Mo for giving me acupuncture yesterday. I feel much better now. Moreover, I haven't done any heavy work. You don't have to worry about me."
Mo Zhizhang slightly raised his eyebrows and said doubtfully, "Speaking of which, Brother Gou Dan clearly brought back a lot of firewood just now. Why is he out of sight now?"
Only then did Ye Wanmian remember something.
Right! It was Xiao Jingcheng!
The firewood was bought back, and a big oaf was sent to impersonate him. But where was this guy?
As if sensing something, the curtain leading to the backyard was lifted, and a familiar crimson figure walked out from behind. Most importantly, he was holding a tray in his hand, and on the tray were red and juicy watermelons!
On such a sweltering day, seeing such juicy and red watermelons immediately brought a sense of coolness. Qi Wen's eyes lit up and he couldn't help shouting,
"Brother Jing, so you even bought watermelons!"
There was no sign of joy on Ye Wanmian's face. She stepped forward, took the tray from Xiao Jingcheng's hand and stuffed it into Qi Wen's hand. Then she grabbed Xiao Jingcheng's wrist and said, "Come with me!"
She dragged him towards the backyard without any explanation.
"Hey—"
Qi Wen carefully held the tray in his hand so that the watermelons wouldn't fall to the ground. When he looked up, Ye Wanmian and Xiao Jingcheng were already out of sight in the room.
He turned to look at Li Zhao and Mo Zhizhang and forced a smile, "Well, Uncle Li, Dr. Mo, let's eat some watermelons to cool off."
In the backyard—
With a "bang", Ye Wanmian closed the door. There were only her and Xiao Jingcheng in the room. She stared intently at the familiar face in front of her and asked,
"What on earth happened just now? Why did an unfamiliar person come and call me cousin?"
Xiao Jingcheng had long guessed her reaction and was very calm at the moment, "Xiao Yixuan has come to the door. If I didn't find a substitute for myself, would he leave so easily?"
That's true, but it was really too risky just now. If she hadn't reacted quickly enough, she would have revealed her secret in front of Xiao Yixuan long ago. "Who was that person just now? Why would he listen to you? He shouldn't have already known your identity, right? Will he reveal your secret in Dongli Town to others?"
Ye Wanmian asked several questions in a row, frowning tightly, looking very nervous.
Xiao Jingcheng felt a warm feeling in his heart.
She clearly disliked him very much on the surface, but she was really worried about him. Worried that his whereabouts would be exposed and worried about his safety.
He also knew that this didn't mean she had any feelings for him. Instead, she had temporarily included him in her jurisdiction and regarded him as one of "her own people".
Xiao Jingcheng reached out his hand and pressed it on Ye Wanmian's wrinkled eyebrows and gently rubbed them, saying, "Don't worry. That person is mentally deficient and can't see anything. There's no need to worry."
The man's slightly calloused fingers rubbed on her eyebrows, and his voice was gentler than usual. Ye Wanmian's heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously took a step back to avoid his touch.
Whether it was because of her avoidance or because Xiao Jingcheng didn't sneer and sarcasm like before, it suddenly became very quiet around, making Ye Wanmian feel strange.
The warmth of Xiao Jingcheng's fingertips seemed to still remain on her forehead. She felt very uncomfortable all over and just let out a dry "oh", "Cough, since you're back, return my money bag to me."
Mentioning this, she gained confidence. Putting her hands on her hips, she said, "I told you to buy firewood, but I didn't tell you to buy watermelons. Did you spend all the money in the money bag again?"
Because of anger, her eyes were shining brightly.
Xiao Jingcheng regretfully twirled his fingertips. He wasn't annoyed because of her avoidance. Instead, he let out a soft laugh when he heard what she said.
Sure enough, it was Jiang Mian who was so obsessed with money.
He turned around and walked to the cabinet, took out a package from it, walked back to Ye Wanmian, and stuffed it into her arms.
Ye Wanmian was stunned, "What's this?"
The package in her arms was very heavy. When she touched it, there were quite a few hard lumps inside. An idea popped up in her mind. Were these... silver coins?
This thought made her heart beat faster. She quickly walked to the table and unpacked the package in a few strokes.
The shiny silver coins were exposed in front of her eyes. Ye Wanmian gasped in surprise, "So much silver! Where did you get it from?!"
Counting them carefully, there were as many as 360 taels!
She looked back at Xiao Jingcheng in shock, "Could it be that you... you went robbing?!"
Moreover, did he rob Xiao Yixuan?!
No wonder Xiao Yixuan left in a hurry just now. It turned out that the lost money had all ended up in Xiao Jingcheng's hands!
Xiao Jingcheng didn't refute. He sat down beside her and tapped his fingers on the table, "This silver is enough to offset my previous expenses and my food, clothing and daily expenses in Dongli Town, right?"
This silver was not only enough for him to spend. If all of them spent this silver together, there would still be plenty left!
However, how could Ye Wanmian dare to use this silver of unknown origin.
She frowned and wrapped the package up again, then pushed it in front of Xiao Jingcheng, "Where this silver came from, it should go back there. I can't use it."