The fool has become a spirit, and she can speak

Liu Dalan immediately sensed something was wrong as soon as she lifted the container. "So little?" she exclaimed. When she opened it, she exclaimed, "How come there are only six or seven taels of loose silver?"

He Bao concealed the truth and lied to Liu Dalan, "Mother, my uncle is so stingy. He didn't give us much to begin with. After deducting the money for a few clothes, this is all that's left."

"How much silver did the Prince's Mansion give?" Liu Dalan obviously didn't believe He Ye's words. Cheng Feng wouldn't give He Bao just a few taels of silver, no matter how stingy he was. Besides, the clothes scattered all over the ground must have cost a lot of money.

"...Ten taels!"

Liu Dalan roared, "Say that again!"

Faced with Liu Dalan's roar, He Bao immediately changed her tune, "Twenty taels, just give me twenty taels."

"I'm paralyzed, not stupid. You, a mere young girl, dare to fool this old woman?" A pillow slammed into He Bao. "Tell me, how much silver are you going to give me?"

"Fifty taels. My uncle gave me fifty taels."

"You've spent fifty taels and only have a few left. You won't even buy me medicine, but you're willing to buy yourself clothes. You're such an unfilial daughter, and you still want me to find you a husband? Hah!"

Liu Dalan could always easily threaten Hebao because her restless daughter was eager to find a husband. As long as Liu Dalan didn't make arrangements, Hebao would never be able to get married.

Upon hearing this, He Bao quickly stepped forward to coax Liu Dalan, "Mother, the Imperial Hospital has prescribed so many good medicines for you, just use them. With medicines prescribed by the Imperial Hospital, why do you need tonics? Mother, haven't you heard the saying, 'Every medicine has some toxicity'? Tonics shouldn't be taken too much or for too long. I don't think your body needs tonics. You've been taking those expensive tonics for two whole months, and your illness still hasn't improved. So your illness can't be treated with tonics, it needs to be treated with proper care. Mother, with me taking good care of you at your bedside, I'm not worried about your health not getting better."

Liu Dalan didn't trust that the medicine Cheng Feng prescribed for her from the Imperial Hospital was good. Ever since she became paralyzed, she had been suspicious and always suspected that the people around her wanted to harm her, and that Cheng Feng wanted to harm him. This was the reason why her condition never improved. She not only had physical injuries, but also mental and paranoid problems.

Su Aixiu didn't want to see them putting on some show of motherly affection. She said directly to Liu Dalan, "Mother, give me some money, I'll go get your medicine now."

Despite her penny-pinching nature, Liu Dalan unexpectedly gave Su Aixiu two taels of silver this time.

Su Aixiu was both amused and exasperated. "Mother, two taels of silver can't buy anything."

Her mother-in-law was never generous. She never saw silver when she asked for money, only a handful of copper coins. After buying things, she had to check the accounts in front of her mother-in-law, and even if there was not a single copper coin left, she had to hand it over to Liu Dalan.

"A doctor's visit only costs a few copper coins, and some tonics won't cost much. I'll give you the two taels of silver, and there's still some left over." Liu Dalan's implication was that she wanted the remaining silver from the medicine purchase back. She looked at Su Aixiu like she was a thief, afraid that Su Aixiu would hide even a single copper coin from her. She was just too bedridden to get out of bed, otherwise she would have to do all the money-related work herself.

Looking at the two taels of silver in her hand, Su Aixiu was worried. What could she buy with this little bit of silver? If she couldn't buy her tonic, her mother-in-law would still find fault with her and scold her for being useless. "Mother, ordinary herbs are cheap, but tonics are ridiculously expensive. You can't buy anything with this two taels of silver."

To please her mother, He Bao teased Su Aisu, "Sister-in-law, if you don't want to go, I will. Two taels of silver is definitely enough to buy two ginseng roots. But if you want to squeeze money out of these two taels, you won't be able to buy anything."

Su Aixiu felt wronged. "Little sister, what do you mean by that? When have I ever had any secret stash of money in my pocket? Every time I go to the market to buy groceries, I always report the expenses to Mother. Do you see me carrying a single copper coin?"

Su Aixiu was the poorest person in the family.

"Alright, stop arguing." Liu Dalan's heart was biased. No matter how useless He Bao was, she still favored He Bao. She hated it when her daughter-in-law and He Bao argued.

Su Aixiu felt superfluous, but there were some things she had to say, after all, the family still needed her, this imperfect daughter-in-law, to manage things. "Mother, if you want to eat good medicinal herbs, take out some more silver. Like the kind of ginseng that He Bao mentioned, let alone two taels of silver for two roots, you can buy ten of the smallest ones. But in terms of medicinal properties, this kind of ginseng is far inferior to that of ginseng that is over six years old. Also, the New Year is coming soon, and our family will have to visit relatives. Visiting relatives requires preparing gifts, and preparing gifts requires silver. So, Mother, you can just take out more silver at once, and I will sell the things we need for visiting relatives as well."

Upon hearing this, He Bao suddenly jumped up and said, "Mother, look at my sister-in-law! She's not trying to buy you any tonics. She's clearly just using this as an excuse to ask you for money to buy things and curry favor with those two ingrates from the Prince Pang's mansion."

At some point, He Bao, like Liu Dalan, began to curse Cheng Feng and Shang Xi as ingrates.

Liu Dalan's face had darkened. He Bao was not angry, and she thought the same way as He Bao. Her words were still as domineering as ever: "If we are visiting relatives, they should bring gifts to show their respect to me. How can I spend money to buy things for them?"

Su Aixiu was speechless. This person was really putting on airs, did he really think he was a respected elder brother and sister-in-law? "Mother, there are also Master Wan and Madam Wan in the Prince Pang's mansion, shouldn't we take a look at them?"

"What are you looking at? Our Cheng family has raised their son for so many years, and they still want me to see them? If they knew what was good for them, they would have sent the New Year's gifts by now. Do you think I would ask for them?"

Su Aixiu knew that there was no reasoning with this person, but she still had to say what needed to be said, "Mother, as juniors, Tiezhu and I should at least visit you. You can't expect me to go empty-handed."

"If you want to move around, figure it out yourselves."

"Mother, you've taken all the money Tiezhu earned. What are we supposed to do?" Su Aixiu didn't want to argue with the mother and daughter anymore. She put the two taels of silver in her hand by the bedside: "Mother, if you want to nourish yourself, let Hebao go buy the medicinal herbs. She doesn't know how to buy them."

"Sister-in-law, what do you mean?"

"What do you mean? You want me to buy the best tonics for just two taels of silver? You might as well tell me to go out and rob them! When you were selling herbs, didn't you know how much they cost? You made a lot of money selling them, but now you're reluctant to spend it when buying them. You know Mother can still use these herbs, so why did you sell them? Many of the herbs in the Prince's mansion are rare and precious; you can't buy them even with money. Anyway, I'm not going to take care of buying the herbs anymore. If you can get the herbs, I'll brew them. If you can't, and Mother doesn't have anything to drink, don't blame me, your daughter-in-law."

"Sister-in-law, what kind of talk is that?"