The Jiao family was said to have made their living brewing wine for generations!

But then she calmed down, because that was just hearsay. Father and son of the Jiao family always liked to boast everywhere about the Jiao family’s former glory, how many wineries they had and such… But in reality, the Jiao family was now poor as church mice. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come up with the scheme of selling their daughter. Once wasn’t enough – they wanted to sell her twice… how shameless.

“That’s true.” Jiao Jiao seemed to see what she was thinking and said with a smile.

“Really?” Shi Fa Ke was somewhat surprised.

“Mm, but later each generation was worse than the last. The wine-making skills gradually were lost, and the wineries were sold off one by one, becoming what they are today. But…” Jiao Jiao paused here, keeping them in suspense.

“But what?” Shi Fa Ke asked curiously.

“I won’t tell you. I’ll come to your house tomorrow to find you, and then you’ll know.” Jiao Jiao said mysteriously, then winked at her, “Just in time to see if you’ve found out about any good families for me.”

So straightforward, without any hint of embarrassment – truly worthy of being Jiao Jiao.

Shi Fa Ke rolled her eyes.

Fine, suit yourself.

Shi Fa Ke had indeed had a very fulfilling day. First she had arranged the marriage between Miss Zhou and Scholar Li, then halfway through had taken on Jiao Jiao’s matchmaking request. By the time she returned home, dusk was already gathering.

Just as she reached her front door, she saw a familiar figure standing at their gate.

“Second Brother Lu?” Shi Fa Ke was startled, then hurried over quickly.

“A’ke, you’re back.” Lu Chi turned around, smiling as he watched her run toward him.

“Today my third brother and third sister-in-law went for their return visit, and no one was home. How long have you been waiting here?” Shi Fa Ke asked.

Lu Chi shook his head, “I just arrived.”

Shi Fa Ke breathed a sigh of relief, “That’s good then.”

Just then, the door next door suddenly opened, revealing a gossipy face. Seeing Shi Fa Ke look over, the old lady smiled embarrassedly and said through her gap-toothed, whistling mouth, “A’ke, you’re back. This young gentleman was waiting for you, right? I saw him waiting for almost two or three hours. In this hot weather, it was really pitiful. I was getting worried – what if he got heatstroke? It’s good that you’re back.”

After speaking, the door slammed shut with a “bang.”

Shi Fa Ke and Lu Chi looked at each other.

Lu Chi coughed lightly, “It wasn’t two or three hours… about one hour. I went to the He family first to deliver return visit gifts on behalf of big brother and sister-in-law.”

Because Lanzhou was so far away, when Zhu Yanyan had left that day, Mrs. Zhu had instructed that they needn’t follow the three-day return visit custom and should keep everything simple. So this time when Lu Chi returned, he had first delivered the return visit gifts on their behalf.

Shi Fa Ke made an “mm” sound. For some reason, she felt inexplicably uncomfortable, her gaze wandering. She coughed lightly and tucked the loose strands of hair at her temples behind her ears before asking, “Did you need me for something?”

“Mm, when I came from home this time, Mother had me bring some things for you. That day when I returned, you were busy, so I didn’t find a chance to give them to you.” Lu Chi said, handing her a small bundle he had been holding.

“Aunt Lu brought things for me?” Shi Fa Ke looked surprised, then quickly waved her hands, “No need, you already gave me such precious gifts last time. I can’t accept more things from Aunt Lu without having done anything to deserve them…”

“They’re not precious things, just some mountain goods. Oh… and a piece of cured meat made with a special method that can keep even in summer for a while. Mother said she wanted you to try it.” Lu Chi said with a smile.

Hearing about the cured meat, Shi Fa Ke immediately remembered the delicious dish of cured meat stir-fried with mountain ferns she had eaten in Lu Chi’s courtyard that day. She couldn’t help swallowing and lost the courage to refuse. She reached out to take it and thanked him very sincerely.

“There are also some dried mushrooms inside that sister-in-law picked and dried, specifically asking me to bring them to you.” When Lu Chi said this, his expression was somewhat indescribable.

He couldn’t help thinking again of that inexplicably strange family mushroom-picking day, and the pile of colorful poisonous mushrooms Zhu Yanyan had picked… After learning he was returning to Copper Gong Town, she had insisted on drying some mushrooms to bring to A’ke, with enthusiasm that was simply impossible to refuse. At the time, he had decided to find a place halfway to dig a hole and bury that bag of dried mushrooms deeply, lest someone find them and be harmed!

But later, when big brother handed him a small bag of dried mushrooms, he was surprised to discover that the small bag actually contained all normal mushrooms – the kind that could be eaten without poisoning anyone… Looking at big brother’s steady gaze, he immediately understood.

Big brother really had it tough.

He had also heard about sister-in-law’s expertise in making meat porridge and felt quite sympathetic toward big brother.

Shi Fa Ke noticed Lu Chi’s indescribable expression and couldn’t help but feel amused. The scene of Zhu Yanyan, who had always been kept in the inner chambers and rarely willing to see people, going up the mountain to pick mushrooms… she couldn’t quite imagine it either.

But it must have been very happy.

Shi Fa Ke smiled with her eyes curving into crescents.

Lu Chi looked at the girl before him with her eyes curved in laughter, his heart becoming soft as cotton, “A’ke, thank you.”

Shi Fa Ke was startled, then laughed, “You brought me gifts, and you’re thanking me?”

“Thank you for helping to tidy the courtyard and for feeding Xiao Hei.” Lu Chi looked at her seriously.

For some reason, that uncomfortable feeling came again. Shi Fa Ke scratched her cheek and explained, “No need to thank me. It was Keji who came to find me to help tidy up together.”

Lu Chi particularly liked seeing her slightly uncomfortable appearance. Did this mean she wasn’t completely indifferent to him either? So this gentleman decided in his heart that he should treat his adorable student even better in the future…

Shi Fa Ke didn’t know about Lu Chi’s strange thoughts. She remembered the two paintings He Ketian had given her and was extremely curious about whether Lu Chi was Master Linyuan, so she decided to ask directly.

“Second Brother Lu, may I ask you something?” she said rather cautiously.

“Mm? What is it?”

Lu Chi silently thought that he was almost getting used to this inexplicable address of “Second Brother Lu.”

His mother was really toxic!

“Are you… Master Linyuan?” Shi Fa Ke looked at him eagerly, asking somewhat nervously.

She didn’t know why she was nervous either.

Hearing this question, Lu Chi was somewhat surprised, “Who told you?”

“My third sister-in-law…” Shi Fa Ke thought about it, then said somewhat dejectedly, “Maybe my second brother knows too. They saw the Jiangnan Misty Rain painting you gave me.”

Her dejected appearance made Lu Chi laugh involuntarily, and he teased, “Didn’t you tell them it was a reproduction?”

Yes! She had said it was a reproduction! But Lu Chi’s current expression made her feel like she had made a fool of herself.

Shi Fa Ke said somewhat indignantly, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“If I had told you then that I was Master Linyuan, would you have believed me?” Lu Chi asked with a smile.

“Of course…” she wouldn’t have.

Shi Fa Ke was at a loss for words. At that time, she had clearly already seen the small seal with the characters “Linyuan” on the painting, but who would have thought that the famous Master Linyuan, whose single painting was worth a thousand gold pieces, would be reduced to setting up a street stall to sell paintings? And even then, no one paid attention!

…In the end, he had to help people write letters to earn a few coins. His only large income was when little fatty Zhu Li had asked this future teacher to copy “Mencius” five times.

Thinking back now, when that little fatty had pulled out that copy of “Mencius” from his sleeve and thrown it on the desk, arrogantly extending a chubby paw and saying very domineeringly, “Help me copy this five times, one tael of silver per copy”… that scene was really amusing. If that little fatty had known at the time that this scholar who seemed so down and out as to be selling paintings on the street would later become his teacher, he probably… wouldn’t have been so arrogant.

But she herself hadn’t been much better…

At that time, she had even consoled him, saying it was okay, that making reproduction paintings wasn’t shameful, and that she believed given time he would definitely become an even greater painter than Master Linyuan!

She had also said she would frame that painting and hang it in her room, and when he became a great painter in the future, that painting would definitely be very valuable!

…

Shi Fa Ke silently covered her face. It was simply too embarrassing to recall.