After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

This was the first time Xu Zhuzhu had ever seen wound medicine in both of her lives combined.

Just like in the TV series from my previous life, it was packaged in a small, exquisite bottle. It was all in powder form and smelled like Chinese medicine. The smell wasn't strong, but it wasn't pleasant either.

Xu Wenjie took it, glanced at it briefly, smelled a pine resin scent, and noticed that the powder was fine. In particular, the bottle used to hold the powder was smooth and, although small, was made of high-quality porcelain. He felt that the medicine should be genuine.

It certainly seems to fit the description of a gift from a distinguished person.

After that, without saying much, the group decided to apply medicine to Miss Mei first.

After all, her wound was still bleeding. Even if it wasn't life-threatening at the moment, things could change if she was delayed any longer.

Because of Hu San Niang, Zhang He needed Xu Zhuzhu's help even less, and she increasingly disliked Xu Zhuzhu for being "in the way." Xu Zhuzhu simply stayed outside with her father.

While Zhang He and Xu Zhuzhu were busy inside the house, Xu Wenjie, Xu An, Li Quanfu, and others sat silently in the courtyard waiting.

They were all preoccupied with what was happening inside.

The woman's painful groans could be heard from inside the room from time to time.

Xu Wenjie felt that sitting around anxiously wouldn't help, so he decided to help Zhang He with what he could, such as cooking and preparing food.

Xu Zhuzhu felt that her father's main purpose was to divert everyone's attention.

Even before it got dark, while waiting for the mother and her children to return, Xu Wenjie had already washed the rice and was about to set up the pot to cook it when he seemed to remember something and paused in his actions.

She suddenly remembered that Li Quanfu and Hu Sanniang were also there, and since it was so late, she thought it would be better for the couple to stay and have dinner together.

Thinking this through, he added another bowl of rice.

Afterwards, Reqing invited Li Quanfu, saying, "...It's getting late now, Brother Li and Sister-in-law, why don't you have dinner here? It'll save you the trouble of running back and forth. We can also take advantage of this free time to eat and chat."

Of course, gossip can't really be gossip.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Li Quanfu suddenly gave an awkward smile.

Suddenly, a blush spread from her ears to her cheeks.

Xu Zhuzhu laughed heartily, saying that Li Quanfu looked quite like her mother when he was shy.

Seeing Li Quanfu come in with a small basket from behind him, she felt a little embarrassed and said with a red face, "To be honest, there's no need for you to invite me, Brother Xu. After I went back just now, Third Sister had already decided to eat here."

After saying that, he lifted the cloth covering the small basket, revealing a dark red object inside. It looked like some kind of novel thing. Xu Wenjie glanced at it, shook his head, and didn't recognize it either.

It looked like meat, but not quite. I couldn't help but exclaim, "Huh? I've never seen this before. Is it meat?"

Xu Wenjie asked in confusion.

Xu Zhuzhu and Xu An also craned their necks to look over. It didn't look particularly special, except that it smelled sour and had a strange fragrance.

Li Quanfu guessed that Xu Wenjie had never met him before, and since it was rare for him to have something he knew more about in front of Xu Wenjie, he was happy to explain.

His earlier awkward smile became more natural, and he grinned and said, "Well, a few days ago I accompanied Third Sister back to her parents' home, and my father-in-law gave me some pickled pork. I thought I'd take some and eat it too. It's a southern way of eating, so it's normal that Brother Xu doesn't recognize it. Before Third Sister and I got married, I had never seen it either."

So, it's not the proper way to eat it in the south; it's more like the way Hu San Niang's family eats it.

Xu Zhuzhu thought to herself.

Xu Wenjie smiled slightly, raising the corners of his mouth and said gently, "It smells strangely fragrant; the taste must be quite good."

"It was our abruptness. We didn't have anything good to offer, yet we still eagerly came to freeload our dinner."

Li Quanfu said embarrassedly.

Xu Wenjie patted his shrugged shoulders and laughed heartily, a rare occurrence for him: "Brother Li, you're too kind. We're such good friends, why are you being so formal? I'm afraid you wouldn't have come!"

It was obvious that they wanted to reassure Li Quanfu not to worry too much.

Hearing this, Li Quanfu breathed a sigh of relief. He was more attentive than Hu Sanniang. When he helped Zhang He carry the basket, he knew that Zhang He had bought a lot of good things to nourish Xu Wenjie. Now that the couple had offered to have dinner at his house, it was really embarrassing.

Actually, Hu San Niang hadn't thought that much about it.

They just felt it was getting late, and by the time the two of them finished cooking, it would be pitch black. Since neither family had eaten yet, they thought they could join the Xu family for the night and have a lively meal together.

She genuinely had no intention of taking advantage of Zhang He; otherwise, why would she have brought meat?

Especially since she ate the pastries Zhang He gave her while she was on the mountain, she wouldn't be so greedy.

Xu Wenjie's nonchalant smile made Li Quanfu less reserved and more relaxed.

This moment of relaxation reminded me that I should tell Xu Wenjie about what I had inquired about at Sister-in-law Hu San Niang's house.

He also understood that this should be the main topic of conversation after dinner. Since it was supposed to be a discussion after dinner, Xu Wenjie naturally wouldn't let Li Quanfu say it in front of the two children.

He quickly changed the subject, "Second Brother Li, how should we eat this meat?"

Xu Wenjie had his own ulterior motives; he didn't want his two children to know things that were beyond their age.

I always adhere to the principle that the less you know, the better.

Of course, he had no idea that Xu Zhuzhu's two children had heard everything they were supposed to hear along the way.

If Li Quanfu hadn't been there, Xu Zhuzhu might have been able to recount the whole story to her father word for word.

Li Quanfu also noticed it.

Understanding that Xu Wenjie didn't want to discuss Constable Hu or matters within the yamen at this time, he went along with the conversation.

"There's no need for any special cooking method. Just stir-fry it with some garlic leaves. We brought the garlic leaves with us, so we can ask Third Aunt to help with the preparation."

Xu Wenjie smiled and replied.

He wasn't actually very good at cooking, but he still took it to heart with a serious expression, thinking he would tell Zhang He about it later.

After Xu Wenjie started cooking the rice, Zhang He and Hu San Niang, who had been busy in the house for a long time, finally came out.

The moment they emerged, both of them looked utterly exhausted, their eyes darting left and right. Though their vision was obscured, one could tell that their eyes held a sorrowful glint in them.

While her mother and godmother were helping to apply the medicine in the house, even though her father deliberately tried to distract them, they could still hear the girl's weak but painful cries coming from inside from time to time.

It's no wonder that the two were deeply affected.

When a normal person sees a girl covered in indelible scars, they will feel more pity than doubt; this is only human nature.

Before they knew what kind of person this Miss Mei was, at this moment, she was just a wounded, helpless girl.

The group could naturally sense Zhang He's and Xu Zhuzhu's low spirits, especially Xu Zhuzhu, who ran over to them without Xu Wenjie even having to tell her to.

"Mother, Godmother brought over some sour and fragrant meat. It smells so delicious! Mother, I'm hungry. Please make something delicious."

Zhang He looked at her daughter clinging to her leg, her heart softened, and she felt a pang of heartache.

I realized that my child hadn't had a proper meal all day.

While feeling sorry for her, she was also puzzled. What sour and fragrant meat? Why didn't she remember it?

He then smiled and looked at Hu Sanniang, asking in confusion, "Sister-in-law, did you bring something valuable?"

"Hey!" Hu San Niang understood what it was, but her mind suddenly went blank. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember what the pickled meat was called. She stammered for a long time but still couldn't come up with a coherent answer.

Li Quanfu realized that his wife tended to get stuck when thinking about two things at once.

She quickly replied, "It's nothing valuable, just some food that Third Sister's family makes themselves. She thought you hadn't tried it before, so she sent some over. It's called pickled sour meat."

Hu Sanniang then clapped her hands and smiled, "That's it! Pickled pork. My father told me that this meat is wild boar. Last year, one of my eldest brother's men somehow got hold of a wild boar and gave him half of it. My eldest brother gave it to my father, but he couldn't finish it, so he pickled it..."

Just as Xu Zhuzhu was about to gracefully withdraw after having piqued the interest of the two men, Hu Sanniang grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.

"My dear daughter, your mother has never seen this before. Your godmother made it for you. It's so delicious! Our Zhuzhu almost swallowed her tongue after just one bite."

Xu Zhuzhu chuckled.