Maybe… there were treasures waiting to be discovered in Mount Congmang? Didn’t they run into a handsome boy there as well last time? Surely, he said he was “looking for herbs”, but maybe it was all a big lie. Gu Ye’s imagination was going wild.
On the other side, Gu Xiao had already confirmed the identity of the old man. Back when the Duke and his family was exiled to the Northwest, the old duke old illness returned. The Duke did everything within his power before he was finally able to locate the zijindan1 made by the sage apothecary himself and saved his father.
For that very reason, he had done elaborate investigation on this sage apothecary and was quite familiar with the herbs and medicines from the sage apothecary. Especially after the old man produced his own brand of huangjing, he had no more doubt about his identify and seemed very emotional as well.
One must know that nobody ever knew where the sage apothecary was at any given point in time; many wanted to meet him in person even just once never had that opportunity. He never thought that the day of him meeting the sage apothecary in his flesh would come in this life time. How luck was that?
The sage apothecary was quite contented that someone actually knew about and appreciate him in this remote area. Yet he pretended to be enigmatic. Waving his hand, he said, “Alright, I am glad you know who I am, but no need to announce it to everyone, okay?”
The more well-known someone is, the more low-key they are! Gu Xiao nodded solemnly and promised he would not leak words about the sage apothecary’s whereabout. They wouldn’t want to attract the unwanted to disturb him peacefulness. He further expressed that the sage apothecary could stay and rest at his place for as long as he’d like; and he’d be more than welcomed to stay there permanently should that be his desire.
Gu Xiao’s houses were already most dried and ready to move in. The three of them were in the process of picking a good day for the move. What better day than the day that the sage apothecary decided to pay them a visit? Naturally they’d want to welcome him into their house.
Taking his grandchildren with him, Gu Xiao lit up the stove of all three of the houses. After half a day, the stoves were completed dried. But they didn’t have stove mat or blankets, etc. Gu Xiao ran around half of the village before he was able to borrowed two sets of blankets for the sage apothecary.
The sage apothecary was arranged to stay in the house on the east side. After a sumptuous dinner, the sage apothecary was tired from his days of travelling and retired to his room. That jerk Yin Mei had no idea how to respect the elderly. He body was short of falling apart from the trip. Finally, he was able to have a good night rest!
Gu Ming and Gu Ye also went back to the Gu’s to collect their own clothes, etc. and also brought with them their own two sets of old, old blankets in the name of “borrowing” them. Even those the blankets were so old they were about to fall part, Mrs. Gu still had a hard time letting them take those with them. That was frugality to a whole different level!
When Gu Xiao saw the blankets that the siblings had brought over, he could not have furrowed his brows more. With a sigh, he said, “Alright, let’s just make do for a couple of days. Grandpa will go into town tomorrow and bring back some new ones!”
Gu Ming quickly fished out a small piece of silver from a pile of old clothing and handed it over to his grandfather, “Grandpa, can you also have a new cotton coat made for mei mei? Her old clothes already have too many holes in them.”
“We will get them all! Two sets of clothes for each of the three of us! And put your money away, grandpa can still afford to buy clothes for us,” Gu Xiao did not ask where the money came from. After observing them for this period of time; he was sure that they were both good kids and he was right all along!
Gu Ming was persistent about shoving the money into his hand and said, “Grandpa, I am always worried about losing it when I have it with me. Why don’t you keep it for me for now?”
___
Notes: