You are unlucky and I am tough

The two walked side by side on the road, heading towards Cheng Lizheng's home. The villagers who were working in the fields saw them and took the initiative to greet them.

"Hey, Cheng Shuang, where are you two going?"

"He must be going to the village head's house. I just saw several village heads from the next village go to Cheng's house."

"You just finished your work yesterday. Why don't you take a good rest at home? You have worked so hard during this period. Please take care of your health." A white-haired old lady was very concerned about Cheng Shuang.

Cheng Shuang smiled and said that it was okay, she was in good health.

The old man who was hoeing the ground also extended an invitation: "Qinglang, bring your wife to my house when you have time. Don't be so shy!"

The sister-in-law who was washing things by the river also came over, holding a basket with some flat dishes that had just been washed in the river.

"Come, try this fruit. The child picked it from the mountain this morning. It's very sweet!"

Cheng Shuang thanked him, grabbed a handful and ate one, which was indeed sweet, and shared a few with Wei Qinglang.

The two continued walking forward, and greeted the villagers they met along the way. Because Cheng Shuang now had an extraordinary status in the village due to his medical treatment, his family was also treated well by the villagers.

Whenever Wei Xinyi went out to play with her friends in the village, she would be stuffed with all kinds of things and asked to take them back. Once, when she was sending Cheng Xiaomai, who had gone out to play alone, home, Chen even tied up a duck and asked her to bring it back, which was both hilarious and sad.

Halfway through the journey, I unexpectedly ran into Hu Chunhua, the troublemaker. She was standing at the door of a house and I didn't know what she was talking about. There were more than a dozen people gathered there and it was quite lively.

As soon as Hu Chunhua saw the two people, she left the others and ran over.

"Shuang'er, Qinglang, where are you going?"

The two men ignored her and continued walking forward. Hu Chunhua followed with a smile on her face, her face thicker than a city wall.

"Qinglang, my Jun'er is back. If you have nothing to do, come over and chat with him."

Wei Qinglang looked at him with strange eyes, "What does his return have to do with me? By the way, in the middle of last month, your son said he forgot to bring his inkstone back, so he borrowed one from me. When will you return it to me?"

"Remember, remember. It's just an inkstone. I'll ask Jun'er to send it to your home later." Hu Chunhua continued to smile apologetically.

She asked her son to find an excuse to borrow the inkstone, just to find an opportunity to improve her relationship with Wei Qinglang.

Cheng Shuang's face was full of disgust. "Can you not follow us? Are you free?"

Hu Chunhua's face froze slightly after being confronted. This damn girl has grown up now. She can't be beaten or scolded, otherwise she will definitely slap her twice.

She pulled the corners of her mouth and said, "Auntie, I have something to tell you. Your sister Xiaomei is getting married to the Feng family in the same village. The wedding date was just set yesterday, on the 18th of this month. You must go to the Feng family for the wedding banquet."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang looked at each other. They really didn't know about this and hadn't heard anyone in the village talk about it before.

The villagers were not told until the wedding date was set, and the secret was kept secret. At the beginning, Cheng Shuang was favored by Song Hui from the town and a matchmaker was invited to her house, but Hu Chunhua announced it that day and the whole village knew about it.

They knew which family the Fengs were without asking. There was only one family in the village with the surname Feng, and that was Feng Tiegen.

Feng Tiegen had previously dug up a wild ginseng that was over fifty years old in the mountains, which could be sold for at least one thousand taels. In addition, he earned sixty-six taels from helping to pick Ganoderma lucidum. If he could marry a wife and his family didn't gamble or squander money, they could live a stable life without worries about food and drink.

So is Feng Tiegen possessed by a demon? Is he so rich that he wants Hu Chunhua to be his in-law?

But this has nothing to do with them. Everyone in the village knows who Hu Chunhua is. If the Feng family wants to marry her daughter, they will have to bear the consequences of whatever happens in the future.

Cheng Shuang was impatient. "If anyone wants to invite us, it should be the Feng family. We can decide whether to go or not when the time comes."

Hu Chunhua was still shouting from behind, "You are my sister and brother-in-law, you must go when the time comes."

The two pretended not to hear and quickened their pace.

Hu Chunhua was so angry at their attitude that she covered her chest with her hands, but when she thought of the one thousand taels in the Wei family's hands, she held back and ran back to continue telling the villagers about her daughter's marriage, boasting that the Feng family valued her daughter and gave a betrothal gift of thirty taels.

When we arrived at the village head's house, luckily Wangcai was not at the door. He might have gone for a stroll somewhere and we didn't know where.

The two knocked on the door and Qi opened it. The guests in the house were talking in the yard.

Seeing that it was Cheng Shuang, Cheng Lizheng stood up and said, "I was just about to call someone to call you over."

The heads of other villages were instantly excited when they heard this. They didn't know Cheng Shuang and asked hurriedly, "Could it be that this little girl is the one who treats the people in your village?"

Li Zheng Cheng nodded, and Cheng Shuang was immediately surrounded by several Li Zhengs.

"Doctor Cheng, you're a miracle doctor. Hundreds of people in our village also suffer from headaches. Please treat our people too."

"It's the same in our village. This disease won't kill you, but it can be fatal if it causes so much pain."

"It's the same in our Chenjia Village. I heard that you don't charge for treating patients in your village, so we can pay for it."

"Yes, yes, yes. We will pay for the consultation. Please consider it as a pity for us poor people."

Cheng Shuang looked at their excited expressions and raised her hand to signal them to be quiet.

She said softly, "Village leaders, why don't we sit down first and talk."

Everyone returned to the courtyard and sat down, with Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang sitting on either side of Cheng Lizheng.

Cheng Lizheng sighed and spoke first, "My fellow brothers, I have been hesitant to speak just now. It's not that I don't want to help you, but this matter is not as simple as you think.

Did you hear people in our village say that Cheng Shuang could cure headaches, and that each person paid over 700 yuan for medicine, so you think this disease only costs over 700 yuan?"

All the village heads nodded, "Isn't that right?"

"Then have you heard that before we started treating the disease, more than a dozen young people from our village went into the old forest to look for medicine for seven or eight days?"

"I heard that ten prescriptions cost about seventy coins each. It's a bit expensive, but we have to treat this disease even if we have to sell our fields and land."

Cheng Lizheng shook his head and sighed, "Shuang girl, you should just speak."

Cheng Shuang nodded, looked at the five village heads in front of him and said, "To cure this disease, in addition to the acupuncture with silver needles, the most important medicine is Gastrodia elata. The reason why the people in Chengjia Village only need 700 coins for medicine is because Village Head Cheng organized people to go into the mountains and find enough Gastrodia elata.

Gastrodia elata is expensive. If you buy it at a pharmacy, the amount of Gastrodia elata needed for three prescriptions for one person over three days would cost more than five taels of silver. How many families in your village can afford this kind of medicine?"

Li Lizheng was stunned. "Gastrodia elata, what is Gastrodia elata?"

"It costs more than five taels per person. If a family has several people to treat, it will cost dozens of taels."

Chen Lizheng's face turned pale. Their village was poor, and even if they sold the fields, they couldn't raise enough money for one person's medical expenses.

"Then we can organize people to go into the mountains to look for it. If we find Gastrodia elata, we can save more than five taels of silver."

The village head of the Zhao family looked at Wei Qinglang and said, "I heard that the people from your village who went into the mountains were led by you two. Can you lead our people into the mountains to look for them? We can pay you to do it."

"Yes." Li Lizheng also thought this method was feasible. "There are many young and strong men in our village. Some of them have plenty of strength. We will definitely be able to find medicine in the mountains."

Wei Qinglang coughed lightly, "My uncles and aunts may not know this, but more than a dozen of us went into the mountains and searched for seven or eight days before we could find enough medicine. We've already searched everywhere in the mountains where we could find Gastrodia elata. Even if we go in again, the chances of finding it are slim no matter how much time we spend."

Li Lizheng asked, "What about the other mountains?"

Cheng Shuang shook her head, dashing their hopes. "In this area, the only place suitable for Gastrodia elata to grow is deep in the old forest behind Zifeng Mountain."

Several village heads looked as if the sky had fallen. They thought they only needed to ask Cheng Shuang to treat their illnesses, but they didn't expect that the real problem they faced was that they couldn't afford the money for the medicine.

"A family in the village can only save one or two taels of silver a year at most, so each person needs more than five taels. It will take several years to save up enough to treat one person."

"Is there really no other way?"

"There is still another way." Cheng Shuang and several other village heads spoke after a while of anxiety.

"What can we do?" Hope rekindled in the eyes of several village heads.

Cheng Shuang looked at them and said, "You can go together to find the local officials of Qushan County and tell the county magistrate about the situation. Let him help you find a solution.

Qushan County is so big that there are more than a dozen towns. Just because we can't find it in the mountains here doesn't mean it can't be found in other mountains. The county magistrate has manpower, so he can recruit doctors and runners to go into the mountains to look for it.

As long as you have the medicine, the rest will be easy. I can teach the treatment method to other doctors, and with enough manpower, you will all be treated soon."

After hearing what Cheng Shuang said, several village heads looked at each other in confusion, then gathered together to discuss, and finally decided to listen to Cheng Shuang and go to the county town to find the county magistrate tomorrow.