Chapter 21: Heed Your Eldest Sister's Advice

In Guang Province, Gu Fengji found a spare moment to visit the Lu family and let them know that his wife had arrived safely at his family’s home, putting their minds at ease.

Upon hearing that their eldest daughter, Lu Jiao’er, had reached her husband’s family without incident, Lu Jianping and Su Yulan were finally relieved. During the days their daughter had been traveling alone on the long-distance train, the couple had worried incessantly, often unable to sleep for fear that she might encounter some mishap on the road.

Sure enough, less than a week later, the Lu family received a letter from Lu Jiao’er sent from the capital. The entire family was overjoyed to have a way to write back to her, though they were unaware that the return address was not actually the Gu family home. They did not mention receiving the letter to Gu Fengji; he was far too busy with his duties in the military, and he rarely visited—often going months at a time without stopping by. From that day on, the Lu family began writing to Lu Jiao’er once a month.

"Mom, I got a ninety-two in Chinese and a ninety in math this semester!"
"Mom, I got a ninety in Chinese and an eighty-five in math!"

Less than ten days after receiving Lu Jiao’er’s letter, the final exams arrived. That morning, after school let out, Lu Jiuqing and Lu Zhu’er returned home with their schoolbags, excitedly sharing their results with Su Yulan. Since entering the fourth grade, this was the first time the siblings had achieved such high marks. In the first and second grades, they had done quite well, often scoring perfect marks or in the nineties, but their grades had slipped once they reached the third grade. By the third and fourth grades, their best scores were barely in the eighties, and their worst were just scraping by with a passing grade. Even with such scores, they would have been able to enter middle school, as their town had two of them, so there was no danger of being left without an education.

"Really?! How did you do so well this time?" Su Yulan asked, both shocked and delighted.

"Mom, before Big Sister left, she told us to study hard and try reading our textbooks from the very first page. She said that maybe if we tried that, we’d finally understand the material!"

"That’s right, Mom! Big Sister also told us to ask questions whenever we didn’t understand something, saying that if we asked, we would surely understand. She insisted that we study hard, and she promised that in a few years, she would bring us to the capital. If our grades weren’t good, we wouldn’t be able to go."

"Mom, we want to go to the capital! Big Sister also said that if we can get perfect scores in both subjects before next summer break, she’ll come back and take us to the capital for a visit."

"We listened to Big Sister. We did exactly what she told us to do, and we discovered that studying wasn’t nearly as hard as we thought. If we just read through the lessons a few times, we understood them."

"It’s true, Mom. Problems that used to seem impossible are easy now that we’ve read them a couple of times. They really aren't that difficult."

"Mom, next time, I’m definitely going to get perfect scores in both!"
"Me too! Big Sister said she’d come back over the summer to take us to the capital!"

Lu Zhu’er and Lu Jiuqing scrambled to tell Su Yulan everything. They hadn’t realized that once they applied themselves, learning wasn’t difficult at all. If they had discovered this secret sooner, they would have been getting perfect scores long ago.

"You must listen to your big sister. She would never lie to you; she only wants what’s best for you," Su Yulan said, beaming with joy. With her eldest daughter gone, it seemed the children had suddenly matured, and she had nothing left to worry about.

"Mom, I’ll listen to Big Sister too!" little Lu Jiuzhou chimed in with his high-pitched, childish voice, eager to join the conversation. He would be starting elementary school next year, and he planned to get perfect scores so his big sister would take him to the capital, too.

"Alright, we’ll listen to Big Sister," Su Yulan said with a smile, affectionately patting her youngest son’s head. That evening, she slaughtered a chicken to prepare a delicious meal for the children as a reward, encouraging them to keep making progress in their studies.

In the capital, it had started to snow again.

With the snowfall, Lu Jiao’er stopped going to the outskirts to gather medicinal herbs and wild vegetables. Instead, she stayed home to study and organize her herbs, preparing to make traditional Chinese medicine pills. Since many people were prone to colds and fevers in the winter, and even more suffered from back pain and rheumatism, she planned to produce pills and ointments for these conditions.

Within two days, the neighbors in the alleyway began to smell the thick scent of Chinese herbs wafting from her home. After some curious inquiries, they learned that the young woman who had just rented a place in the alley was making medicinal pills and ointments to treat colds, fevers, and rheumatic leg pain.

Suddenly, the residents of the alley were divided into three camps regarding Lu Jiao’er’s medicine: those who dismissed it as quackery, those who were skeptical, and a few who actually believed in her—though the latter group was the smallest. Lu Jiao’er didn’t care whether the outsiders believed in her or not; she intended to make the medicine regardless. Moreover, once they were finished, she planned to send some to the Lu family, and any surplus could be sold—or kept, if it didn't sell, which wasn't a problem for her.

One day, just as she finished a batch of ointment for rheumatism, someone knocked on her door.