Chapter 58: The Pavilion of Rare Treasures

The medical hall was filled with the faint, refreshing fragrance of herbal medicine, with various medical classics and medicinal material specimens hanging on the walls. When Luo Yunhe stepped inside, she found that the physicians had already left, leaving only a young apothecary's apprentice behind to organize the herbs.

The apprentice appeared to be around twelve or thirteen years old, wearing plain clothes and carrying a naive, innocent smile on his face. Seeing Luo Yunhe enter, he immediately hurried forward to greet her, explaining that the doctor had already departed but had left behind some medicine along with specific instructions for care.

Gratefully, Luo Yunhe accepted the package of medicine, then reached into her pocket and pulled out two copper coins, holding them out as a tip for the boy. However, the apprentice hurriedly shook his head in refusal, indicating that no extra reward was necessary.

"Mistress Su, you are too kind. The previous fees have already been settled. Besides, Young Master Su needs someone to take care of him, and it was only right for me to wait here for you. We know that your family is going through hard times right now, so there's no need to give me any extra money. If there is nothing else, I will head back for now and come check on things tomorrow morning," the apprentice explained with a smile.

Hearing the boy's sincere words, a warm current surged through Luo Yunhe's heart. Filled with deep emotion, she realized that there were still many kind-hearted people in this world willing to help others. Compared to the cold indifference of the Su family, the apprentice's kind deed brought her incomparable warmth.

Luo Yunhe could not help but sigh, "The world is truly complex!" She understood that although ugliness and injustice existed in life, there were also kind souls like this apprentice.

Finally, Luo Yunhe thanked the boy once again for his goodwill and expressed her hope that he would arrive early the next day. The apprentice nodded, bid her farewell, and hurried away.

Watching the retreating figure of the young boy, Luo Yunhe could not help but think of her own difficult circumstances.

She knew deeply that since the Su family treated them with hostility, she had to work even harder to make them look at her with new eyes.

Carrying the parcel of wontons, she entered the small room and saw that Su Jingxuan had already fallen asleep.

Looking at his leg, which had been cleanly bandaged once, she took a deep breath and placed the bowl of wontons right beside the small heating stove so they would not go cold.

At last, Luo Yunhe collapsed right beside him, leaning over and falling fast asleep.

Su Jingxuan woke up in the middle of the night. Sensing the gentle sound of breathing beside him, he turned his head and saw his young wife curled up fast asleep at his side, a tumult of complex emotions flooding his heart instantly.

Listening to her soft breaths, he knew she must have been extremely busy and exhausted all day long.

A deeper sense of guilt washed over him.

He reached out a hand, wanting to smooth away the stray locks of hair by her ear, but stopped midway and pulled his hand back. He did not want to disturb her sleep.

Just like that, in the dark of night, a pair of bright, vigilant eyes stared intently at the petite figure beside him.

Luo Yunhe was truly exhausted, and her sleep was exceptionally deep. It was not until some movement stirred outside that she slowly began to open her eyes.

Right in front of her, she collided directly with a pair of dark, fathomless eyes staring straight at her. She was startled for a split second before snapping back to reality.

"Husband, you... are you awake?" Just waking up, Luo Yunhe's voice carried a hint of hoarseness. She stretched lazily and then cast her gaze upon him.

"Husband, are you hungry? Do you need to relieve yourself?"

At the mention of the latter question, a bright flush spread across Luo Yunhe's cheeks.

"Cough, cough! I... I don't need to for now!" Su Jingxuan stammered, equally embarrassed.

"Oh!" Luo Yunhe responded awkwardly, her hands at a loss of what to do. Then, remembering the wontons she had brought back the previous night, she sprang up immediately.

The small medicine stove had gone out in the middle of the night, so the wontons had grown cold. However, Luo Yunhe quickly rekindled the fire in the stove and reheated the bowl of wontons before bringing them back into the room.

"Husband, come, let me feed you!"

Su Jingxuan propped himself up, sitting up bit by bit, while Luo Yunhe grabbed a quilt to cushion his back.

"You, healing your injuries is the most important thing right now, and you mustn't overthink things! Don't worry about money—your wife is quite capable!"

Su Jingxuan opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately held his tongue, obediently letting her feed him.

"How is it? Are these wontons delicious?"

"Mmm."

"Once the matters at home are settled later on, I'll make them for you often!"

"Alright."

As he ate, they sketched out blueprints for the future, wrapped in a tranquil and serene atmosphere of passing years.

Luo Yunhe placed all the herbs she had foraged yesterday onto the counter. The old physician was quite astonished to see her bring back yet another batch of such precious medicinal materials.

Because many of those herbs were not something just anyone could gather, and even if gathered, their quality was usually mediocre; yet the herbs brought by the young girl before him were of exceptionally high quality, prompting him to offer a very fair and reasonable price.

Seeing her wealth increase by another fifty taels, Luo Yunhe felt quite cheerful. However, glancing at the remaining stones at the bottom of her bamboo basket, she hesitated for a long time before finally deciding to ask the old physician.

"Elder Doctor, I'd like to ask, where do people buy and sell jade and stones? When I was up in the mountains, I thought these stones looked quite pretty, so I collected some. I have a feeling there might be gemstones or similar things hidden inside, so I'd like to sell them."

The old physician only understood medicine and knew nothing of stones. Hearing Luo Yunhe put it this way, he cast a glance into the basket at the stones of varying sizes.

He could not make out anything special about their appearance or color. Still, since she wanted to sell them, he naturally knew where such transactions took place.

"Little girl, you should head to the Treasure Pavilion. They have stone gambling there! Perhaps you can sell those stones of yours there!"

Hearing the name Treasure Pavilion, Luo Yunhe nodded immediately, "Thank you, Doctor!"

Having obtained the information, Luo Yunhe gathered up the stones she had left with Su Jingxuan the day before and took them all to the Treasure Pavilion together.

Along the way, she also slipped ten taels of silver into Su Jingxuan's hands.

Holding the heavy silver in his palm, Su Jingxuan was momentarily at a loss for words, not knowing what to say.

Treasure Pavilion.

When Luo Yunhe arrived, the doors of the Treasure Pavilion were already open. Perhaps because the hour was still quite early, there were not many people around. However, upon stepping inside, she found the interior space to be remarkably vast, filled with a great multitude of stones.

They varied in size, but every single one of them was clearly marked with a price tag.

Because she was just a young girl carrying a large bamboo basket on her back, the shop assistant of the Treasure Pavilion assumed she had come early in the morning to purchase stones, and greeted her with great enthusiasm.

However, the moment Luo Yunhe stated the true purpose of her visit, the expression on the assistant's face instantly turned quite ugly.

"I say, little girl, what kind of trouble are you trying to stir up so early in the morning? Do you even know how to evaluate jade? And you actually claim you're here to sell stones? The stones in our Treasure Pavilion are all gathered from legitimate mines, and the vast majority of them can yield jade and gemstones. We want nothing to do with stones that haven't been mined from official, proper quarries!"