CHAPTER 89: CHAPTER 81: TWO LETTERS HOME IN ONE DAY (PART 3)

"Alright, alright, we all have to be alright, and wait for the day we can reunite."

The old lady wiped her tears and said, "It’s good to have news of them; Northern Desert is so far away, and they’ve never endured hardship before. It’s good that they can tough it out."

Zhu Lingling looked at the family letter, feeling somewhat lost.

She had expected to receive a separate letter from her husband, but now...

Seeing Nanny Wu holding the baby and playing with him, she held back her tears and turned to tease the child instead.

"Elder sister-in-law..."

Suddenly, Chun Nuan appeared in front of her: "Elder sister-in-law, don’t be upset or sad. Elder brother didn’t write to you not because he forgot about you, but because the conditions didn’t allow it."

Zhu Lingling looked at Chun Nuan in confusion.

"This letter was written by my brother Chun Quan borrowing paper and ink from the manager at the labor site. At the time of writing, uncle, my father, and elder brother were still working under the supervision of overseers..."

"How do you know?"

"My brother and I communicate through coded messages, and I deciphered it."

"..." Zhu Lingling blushed. She shouldn’t have misunderstood her husband.

Her husband is so kind; how could he possibly forget about her and the child?

"We brought them winter clothes and some silver, so next time we will definitely receive a separate letter."

Most importantly, Chun Nuan told her brother she brought some medicinal pills and explained their uses. If used properly, they could greatly change the situation.

In Northern Desert, the cold wind was fierce and snow was falling heavily.

"Cough cough cough..."

This sudden snow left many people chilled, and the Xiao family was no exception. They all caught it, coughing quite severely.

Especially Xiao Changhe, who was the first affected, coughing until his face turned red and developed a high fever.

"Brother, why not go see a doctor?"

The young ones were trying to tough it out, but the elder brother couldn’t, given his age.

"No need to spend money; it’s just a chill, it’ll be better in a few days." Xiao Changhe said, "Here, seeing a doctor is expensive; a dose of medicine costs two taels of silver, which we can’t afford."

"Nuannuan brought some silver for us..."

"Oh yes, Nuannuan." Chun Quan remembered, "Nuannuan brought some pills, I almost forgot about it. Wait, I’ll go get them."

In several bamboo tubes, Chun Quan checked each pill against the coded messages on the letters, then found the one for chills and coughs.

"Uncle, quickly, take one."

"Alright."

The Xiao family all knew that Chun Nuan had been experimenting with these pills since childhood, often using Chun Ning as a test subject, coaxing him by saying they were sweet, only to have various problems arise, then giving antidotes, until Chun Ning didn’t dare trust his sister’s pills anymore, keeping a distance.

Holding the pill, Chun Quan thought of that scene and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Chun Quan, why are you laughing?"

"I’m laughing about Nuannuan’s past with making pills."

"Was she chasing after Chun Ning to eat them?"

"Indeed, she was quite mischievous back then, insisting on testing the pills she made. Grandmother had a grudge against Nuannuan, even saying once that she would call for family law."

Chun Nuan was a girl, and Chun Ning a boy, so naturally in the old lady’s heart, the grandson was more valuable. Moreover, even if you wanted to conduct experiments, you couldn’t just use Chun Ning to test medicine, which made the old lady very upset.

"Nuannuan became more disciplined after turning nine."

She no longer chased Chun Ning to feed him pills and stopped causing trouble everywhere, instead spending days tinkering in grandfather’s pharmacy. No one knew what she was doing, but grandfather always favored this granddaughter the most.

Amongst sons and grandsons, none had Chun Nuan’s high talent, and she loved to engage in such activities, so grandfather treated her like an heir and taught her.

After Xiao Changhe took the pill, he calmed down and stopped coughing: "Since these pills are made by Nuannuan, everyone should take one, at least for prevention, as this chill came quite unusually. Even the site is closed; none of the overseers are well."

"Indeed, the manager at the site has been coughing for seven days. He said it felt like his lungs were going to cough out, and he even consulted a doctor and took medicine, but it had no effect."

"Since Manager Ma last came, that manager has been very lenient with our family." Xiao Changhe recalled: "Even the overseers aren’t as fierce."

"Manager Ma and him became sworn brothers, and he advised him to take care of us more," Chun Quan said. "Why not, I give him one pill?"