Chapter 347: Going for a Check-up – The Daily Life of the Sickly Aunt in the Courtyard

Chapter 347: The Sickly Young Aunt’s Drama-Filled Days in the Compound

After all, Auntie Zhou hadn’t gone as far as demanding compensation before, so she just tossed out a few barbs and turned to go home.

Unfortunately, Mother Gu, who noticed Auntie Zhou’s behavior, wasn’t willing to let it go so easily.

She had been out that day and had no idea about Mother Jiang’s outburst at Auntie Zhou. So, after Auntie Zhou sniped a few passive-aggressive jabs, she suddenly stepped forward.

"Can’t your family at least keep the doors and windows tightly shut? Don’t you know there are other people in this compound?"

"Hahaha!" Auntie Zhou suppressed a laugh—what goes around comes around! Karma’s a bitch!

"Got it, got it." With Mother Jiang out of the picture, Jiang Hai was no match for these aunties.

He kept getting steamrolled.

Even Mother Li, who was chatting with Lin Qing’s mother in the main room, didn’t intervene. She wasn’t entirely clueless about the situation in the compound—she knew most of it.

If Jiang Hai was the only one from the Jiang family dealing with the other aunties, the argument wouldn’t escalate. For one, most men adhered to the idea that a real man doesn’t stoop to arguing with women. Secondly, Jiang Hai’s not thick-skinned enough face made him no match for them in a verbal spat.

"Mother Jiang probably never expected things to turn out like this!" Lin Qing’s mother remarked as she watched the scene outside.

"Hahahaha!" Mother Li laughed.

……

Lin Qing waited and waited until Cen Xi finally managed to break away from his heavy research workload.

"Brother Nan, Brother Nan, it’s a success, right?"

"Mhm." Cen Xi nodded firmly.

Their current assignment was handed down from the higher-ups—to design in-house a new type of machine tool. The older models were mostly imported from abroad, and after foreign experts withdrew, many factories’ machines started acting up here and there.

Thus, the higher-ups issued a directive for them to develop their own machine tools.

They had been working on this project for a year, and now it was in its wrapping-up phase. The next step was the test run—if successful, the project would wrap up for good.

Lin Qing didn’t know the specifics of their research—it was classified, and she never intended to pry.

"Once this project officially wraps up, I’ll take a long leave, and we can go visit my parents together!"

"Great, great!" Lin Qing had an excellent impression of Cen Xi’s parents.

Ever since they decided to get married, their chats over the phone had given her a sense of their down-to-earth and kind nature. Though she was a little nervous, it wasn’t too bad.

"Oh, right! Didn’t you say you’d take me to that venerable Chinese physician for a checkup?"

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot."

"How about we go tomorrow?" Lin Qing wanted to be in tip-top shape when standing before Cen Xi’s parents.

Cen Xi didn’t know her thoughts, but he also hoped his wife would fully recover.

"Sure," he agreed, then suddenly remembered, "But tomorrow isn’t the weekend—are you going to call in sick?"

"..."

"Whoops, I forgot. Let’s go on the weekend—it’s only two days off."

"Okay, we'll go this weekend." Cen Xi nodded.

They did go see the old Chinese doctor that weekend.

Cen Xi had already looked into it.

Knock, knock!

Someone inside opened the door, and Cen Xi and Lin Qing saw a girl about ten years old.

"Hello!"

"Hi! Who are you here to see?"

"We're here to see Dr. Yang."

"Oh! Here to see Grandpa, right?"

"Nuan'nuan, who is it?"

"Grandpa, they're here to see you." The young girl stepped aside.

Dr. Yang recognized Cen Xi and Lin Qing the moment he saw them.

Lin Qing was hard to forget.

Her condition was straightforward yet tricky. Straightforward because the cause was clear—being born premature and malnourished—but tricky because it was so hard to fix.

Luckily, she’d never stopped treatment before seeing him, or else he wouldn’t have prescribed just a few herbal prescriptions.

"Come in!" Dr. Yang had a hunch why they’d come.

This couple must have found the key ingredient—ginseng.

No small task!

Ginseng’s tough to find, especially those over several decades old. A hundred-year-old one’s even scarcer. He wondered how old the one they brought today was.

The idea got him all worked up—what now?

Seeing Dr. Yang's reaction, Cen Xi and Lin Qing knew he remembered them. They didn’t hesitate and stepped right in.

"You found the ginseng?"

Cen Xi nodded. "Yeah, wanna take a look?"

Cen Xi signaled to Lin Qing, who reached into her bag and pulled out a wooden box, handing it to Dr. Yang.

Dr. Yang took it, opened it, and his hands shook with excitement. "A hundred years... really?"

Cen Xi nodded. "You said a hundred-year-old one was best, right?"

Dr. Yang was stunned. He had said that, but he never actually expected them to find one!

Hundred-year ginseng is like finding a unicorn!

"Perfect! I’ll whip up the medicine now. By the way, want me to prep the herbs for you?" The ginseng was already processed, but he wanted to slice and portion it properly.

Cen Xi nodded. "We’ll trust you with it. We’re clueless."

"Hahaha! Perfect! Got it! Hang tight, I’ll get it ready for you."

Dr. Yang turned around but stopped after two steps. "Oh, by the way, we don’t need this whole ginseng. I’ll just trim what we need and return the rest to you later."

"Will do!"

Neither argued—they really had no clue.

"Nuan'nuan, keep our guests company!"

Cen Xi and Lin Qing suddenly felt that Dr. Yang seemed a bit unreliable. Leaving a ten-year-old in charge of guests? Wasn’t that a little...

"What’s your name?" Lin Qing asked the girl first.

"My name is Yang Huanhuan." This lady was so pretty!

"Great! Huanhuan, can I call you Huanhuan?"

"Sure." She nodded obediently.

Lin Qing grinned—she was really well-behaved!

Cen Xi’s eyes lit up. If he and Qing Qing ever had a kid, she’d probably be just as adorable!

"Huanhuan, what grade are you in now?"

"Fourth grade!"

"Fourth grade already? How’s school treating you? Hard stuff?" Lin Qing didn’t ask directly about grades. These days, grades weren’t a big deal, and most just muddled through school.

"It’s okay? The teacher keeps it simple."

Lin Qing nodded, somewhat understanding. The school teachers were probably just going through the motions, keeping the lessons simple.

They made small talk, killing time until...

Dr. Yang came out with the remaining ginseng and about twenty medicine packets.

"Here, it’s all ready for you. I just took a few root threads from the ginseng. You need to rebuild your strength, but don’t overdo it—the root threads are enough. Come see me again after you’ve taken all these!"

"Will do!" Cen Xi and Lin Qing nodded, listening carefully.