Chapter 114 – Mrs. Wu’s Stupid Idea (2)

“You are a woman. What do you know?!” Wu Dongguai gave her a stare. She didn’t think he was hurting as much as she was? But what other choices did he have? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Once he learned all of the old man’s skills and techniques, he could make it all back!

“You were for real? The processed medicinal herbs really worth that much money?” By now, Mrs. Wu had already heard the stories of Crippled Gu and girl Gu selling her medicinal herbs. A flash of greed and jealousy flashed through her eyes. A basket of herbs for her man would fetch 2 taels at best. Somehow they were able to fetch tens of taels?

“That’s not all!” Wu Dongguai recalled the story that he heard when he was in town and the beam of greedy from his eyes intensified, “That girl saved Landlord Ding in town and they gifted her 100 taels in return! Imagine that. A girl that had zero background in medicine could learned so much in such a short period of time. What if it was me? If I could learn all the skills from that old man, do you think we’d still need to stay in this town that even birds don’t sh*t?”

Hearing that story, as much as it pained her to part with the ginseng, Mrs. Wu was no longer trying to stop her man from becoming a disciple. Not long after the man had left, she thought some more about how that damned child Gu Ye took one trip to town and returned with 150 taels, in additional to a collection of fabrics, snacks, and pork. Her emotions became more and more unbalanced.

Her eyes, which had more white parts than black, rolled in their sockets and a malicious grin crawled up onto her face. She lifted her protractor-like legs and twisted her snake-like waist and arrived at the front of Gu Qiao’s house.

“Is di mei home?” said Mrs. Wu as she pushed open the ajar door and walked inside.

There was still some time before the winter crops needed to be harvested so Mrs. Gu, with some free time on hand, sat on the stove mending the clothes for her kids. The two naughty boys at home always have clothes that needed mending. They would rarely sit still, just like right now, she had no idea where they went to.

Hearing Mrs. Wu’s voice, Mrs. Liu put down her needle and the clothing and said, “Mrs. Wu, it’s cold outside. C’mon in!”

Mrs. Wu lifted the curtain and walked in as though it was her own house. She took her shoes off and climbed on top of the stove. She pulled out a handful of melon seeds from her purse and started chewing on them. The entire time spitting the shells onto the ground.

Mrs. Gu frowned unhappily and asked, “What brought you over here today, Mrs. Wu?”

“Aye – I just felt unjust for you!” said Mrs. Gu. She sighed a deep, long sigh and then proceeded to looking at Mrs. Gu with sympathy and pity.

Mrs. Gu frowned and asked, “Alright, just spill if there’s something on your mind. Why was it that made you feel unjust for me?”

Mrs. Wu stopped chewing on the melon seeds, leaned into Mrs. Gu and said secretively, “Haven’t you heard? Your girl Ye-er, saved an old man who were collecting herbs and became his disciple to learn medical skills from him.”

“Tssk… she’s just a girl, a losing proposition. She is going to marry in a family sooner or later. What is the point of learning medical skills? If it’s that easy to learn medical skills, then everybody would be a doctor already.” Mrs. Gu’s face was filled with despise. She looked down and continued mending her clothes.

Mrs. Wu pursed her lips and snickered before she said in a peculiar tone, “Oh, so you think. The ‘losing proposition’ that you were referring to sold four baskets of medicinal herbs for 60 taels!”

“What?!” Mrs. Gu let out a “Ssss” sound as she put her finger that was poked by the needle into her mouth. Her triangular eyes widened and a look of disbelief on her face. “Sixty taels?! You are kidding me. When Shopkeeper Qian comes, we can barely get 1 tael for one basketful of herbs. How could she possibly fetch such a high price?”