Qin Mei paused. No wonder Jie Jingchen had Grandpa write ten IOUs. At one hundred yuan each, ten notes would be enough for Granny to use ten times.

’That Jie Jingchen is far too calculating,’ she thought. ’He plans ten moves for every one he makes.’

"If you do that, aren’t you worried that your grandpa and granny will truly be left with nothing?" Qin Mei asked. She had witnessed Jie Anlin’s ability to leech off his parents. He refused to pay for his own medical prescription and medicine. The two elders had no money, and he wouldn’t even front the cost himself.

She had seen elders guilt-trip their juniors, but never a junior guilt-trip their elders. Jie Anlin was a real eye-opener.

"My dad isn’t their only son," Jie Jingchen said, completely unworried. He knew exactly how resourceful Granny was. If she couldn’t get money from the eldest’s family, she would just switch targets. She would never pin all her hopes on one person.

Besides, Jie Jingchen didn’t believe for a second that Granny had only been asking his parents for money all these years. Even if the daughters-in-law refused, the sons would give her money in secret.

Qin Mei fell silent. If he was saying that, what was there for her to worry about?

Jie Jingchen put his arm around Qin Mei as they took an afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Qin Xiang lay on his bed, smelling the herbal scent in the room. Already unable to rest, the smell made it even harder for him to fall asleep.

Qin Xiang tidied up, straightening out the messy room. He placed the two small medicine stoves in the corner, put some herbs in a cabinet, and left others out. The rest of the bottles, jars, and ointment-making supplies were set aside. The room was large, but Qin Mei had filled it with so many things that there was very little space for Qin Xiang to move around.

Qin Mei had left a narrow path clear from the bed to the bathroom.

The reason Jie Jingchen wouldn’t let Grandpa and Granny move in wasn’t just because of Qin Xiang. There was a more important reason: if Grandpa and Granny moved in, they would never tolerate all of Qin Mei’s things. If her things weren’t moved out, they would end up destroying them.

These were Qin Mei’s things, and Qin Xiang wouldn’t destroy them. He wasn’t as particular as Granny and didn’t care at all about the room being messy, as long as his bed was clean.

Qin Xiang lay on the bed, unable to fall asleep. Grandpa and Granny were in the courtyard, so he didn’t feel like going out to bask in the sun. He had a real knack for getting along with the elderly. Whenever he went home to visit, the village elders would always pull him aside to chat. He was a smooth talker who loved to joke, and he always had them roaring with laughter.

"Qin Xiang," Jie Jingchen called out.

Hearing Jie Jingchen’s voice, Qin Xiang rolled out of bed and hurried to open the door. Seeing Jie Jingchen standing there alone, he was a little disappointed. "Where’s my little sister?"

"She’s taking a nap," Jie Jingchen replied.

"Still sleeping? If she naps for too long, aren’t you worried she won’t be able to sleep tonight?" Qin Xiang turned, walked back into the room, and sat on the edge of his bed. In his view, a nap should only last ten minutes or so; any longer would interfere with a person’s sleep at night.

"I have my ways of making her sleep at night." Jie Jingchen entered, his gaze sweeping over the still-cluttered room. His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, but he said nothing.

Qin Xiang glared at Jie Jingchen. He might not be married, but he wasn’t naive. "You’d better take it easy on her," he warned. "My sister has been frail since she was a child. The delicate, can’t-even-stand-a-breeze type."

"She’s my wife. I care about her more than you do." Jie Jingchen rolled his eyes at Qin Xiang and sat on the small stool Qin Mei used for making her medicinal pills. "These are all her things," he reminded him. "You’d best not touch them. If you mess them up, she’ll just have to clean up after you."

"My sister’s medical skills... did she really learn them from your older sister?" Qin Xiang asked directly.

"That’s what she says," Jie Jingchen confirmed with a nod.

"Jing Si, if I remember correctly, your older sister..."

"She lived with my sister’s in-laws for six months," Jie Jingchen cut in.

"Lived with your sister’s in-laws for six months? Jing Si, what are you trying to say?" Qin Xiang narrowed his eyes, studying Jie Jingchen. Jing Si’s older sister was one of the educated youth who had been sent to the countryside and gotten married there.

Jie Jingchen didn’t hide anything, recounting the events concisely. By the time he finished, Qin Xiang was furious. He wanted nothing more than to beat Jing Si to a pulp. ’He just dumped my sister on his older sister? In a strange place, with no memories... How did she possibly get through those six months?’

"Jie Jingchen, you bastard," Qin Xiang cursed, unable to bring himself to say anything worse. "Why didn’t you have someone send her back to Yangcheng City?"

Jie Jingchen fell silent. He had been too angry at the time. Qin Xiang was away on a mission, and he had to leave for one as well. The only person he could think of was his older sister. He had offered to pay her to look after Qin Mei—he’d wanted to give her thirty yuan a month, but she refused. She told him to just give the Sun Family ten a month instead.

"She and my sister got along very well," Jie Jingchen said. In fact, her bond with his sister was better than her bond with him. When they left Shanghai, she hadn’t wanted to return to Shijiu City with him. She’d wanted to go back to the Sun Family to find his sister. It took all his powers of persuasion before she reluctantly agreed to come back to Shijiu City with him.