Lin Zhilan: "Okay, go ahead. I'll wait for you outside."
Yan Yuan came out very quickly, holding a large handful of loose bills and coins.
They were all small denominations—one cent, five cents, ten cents, and fifty cents.
Stacked together, they made a thick wad.
Yan Yuan handed the money to her. "Auntie, count it. There are five yuan here. Can I buy a dose of medicine for my grandpa? His legs hurt a lot."
The temperature difference between day and night at the seaside is significant, and the sea breeze is highly humid. Coupled with the fishermen spending long hours wading in the water, their joints are repeatedly exposed to the cold and damp, making them highly susceptible to rheumatic diseases.
At Yan Yuan's grandfather's age, many people had already stopped going out to sea.
But for the sake of his grandson, Yan Yuan's grandfather still endured the pain and insisted on going out to sea.
Yan Yuan felt terrible for his grandfather. Hearing that Auntie Lin's medicine was effective, he had been trying to save up money to buy it.
Lin Zhilan bent down and rubbed his head. "Yan Yuan, are we friends now?"
Yan Yuan nodded, his eyes shining.
"Then I won't take your money for this medicine. Treat it as a gift from me, okay?"
Yan Yuan pursed his lips. "Auntie, I have money. I can earn money."
Lin Zhilan suddenly realized that her well-intentioned offer might have hurt the pride of this deeply self-respecting boy.
She smiled and immediately corrected her mistake. "I misspoke. It's not a gift. It's just that I have something I need your help with, and I'd like to trade the medicine for your labor. Is that okay?"
Yan Yuan was a bit skeptical. "What can I help you with?"
"Well... my medicine is selling so well that the traditional Chinese medicine department is completely overwhelmed. Could you come to the clinic and help me grind the herbs?"
Yan Yuan lowered his head in disappointment. "Jiang Chengzhou can do that too."
There was no need to ask him.
Lin Zhilan blinked and whispered, "You know how it is. Chengzhou is too energetic; he can't sit still at all."
Yan Yuan remained half-doubting.
Lin Zhilan smiled. "If you don't believe me, come to the department tomorrow to take a look, and you can pick up the medicine while you're at it, okay?"
Only then did Yan Yuan nod.
After leaving the Yan family's home, Lin Zhilan went to the homes of the adults who had saved the two children earlier that day to express her gratitude, bringing along some homemade pastries.
For these people, it had merely been a small effort. Seeing Lin Zhilan being so polite made them a bit embarrassed. "Dr. Lin, don't worry. If your boy ever goes near the sea again, we'll definitely chase him back home."
"Thank you so much."
"You're very welcome."
When Lin Zhilan returned home, Little Linlin was holding her hands up to her ear as if holding an invisible phone. "Hello, Mommy?"
Lin Zhilan laughed. "Our baby knows how to make phone calls now?"
"Uh-huh," Linlin tilted her head, her eyelashes fluttering like tiny fans. "Calling Grandma."
"Grandma?"
When Linlin was born, the original owner's parents had already passed away. She also called Zheng Hui "Grandma." Where did a maternal grandmother come from?
Jiang Chengzhou guiltily looked away.
His grandmother always wanted to take him away, and Jiang Chengzhou didn't want his aunt to know.
"Dr. Lin, there's a phone call for you at the reception room. They will call back in ten minutes, so remember to go answer it," a young soldier's voice called out from outside.
"Okay, I got it. Thank you."
Lin Zhilan turned her head and looked at Jiang Chengzhou, hoping he would confess on his own.
Jiang Chengzhou couldn't withstand his aunt's gaze and honestly admitted, "Grandma called me. She wants Eldest Uncle to pick me up and take me to the capital."
As he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes again. "Auntie, I'll never make a mistake again. Please don't let them take me away, okay?"
Lin Zhilan sighed. This child was usually so carefree; why was he taking this matter so heavily?
"Chengzhou, didn't I tell you? This is your home, and no one has the right to chase you away."
Jiang Chengzhou wiped his tears with his sleeve. "Then you tell Grandma."
"Okay."
Speaking of answering the phone, Lin Zhilan was also a bit nervous.
Su Lang had mentioned his family's situation, but the two sides had never been in contact.
Lin Zhilan could roughly guess that Su Lang's family was probably not very satisfied with her background.
However, since Su Lang had married her, this was a problem he needed to resolve.
Lin Zhilan had no intention of trying to curry favor with her in-laws.
But she didn't want to cause any conflicts either.
Now that Su Lang wasn't around, if the other side had a bad attitude, Lin Zhilan really wouldn't know how to handle the situation delicately.
After waiting in the reception room for a while, the phone rang.
Lin Zhilan took a deep breath and answered the call.
"Hello, is this Xiao Lin? This is Mom."
The female voice on the other end was amiable and kind, and the guard Lin Zhilan had put up in her heart relaxed slightly. "Hello, Mom."
Xu Yueyun was equally nervous but didn't know what to say, so she could only offer, "I just spoke with Linlin. She is very cute."
Lin Zhilan chuckled softly. "Thank you."
"I must apologize to you. My health is poor, and when you and Su Lang got married, our family was too remiss. I've mailed some things for you and the children, along with a registered letter. Please remember to pick them up."
"Okay, thank you, Mom."
After much hesitation, Xu Yueyun said, "Xiao Lin, Su Lang isn't home, and it must be hard for you to take care of two children all by yourself. Why don't you send Chengzhou over to us?"
Lin Zhilan turned her head. Beside her, Jiang Chengzhou was glaring at her like a watchful tiger, looking as though he would burst into tears the second she agreed.
"Mom, it's not hard at all. Chengzhou is a very sensible child, and I like him a lot. If you miss him, when Su Lang gets some time off, our whole family can come visit you."
"That works too," Xu Yueyun forced a smile. "Xiao Lin, if he disobeys, just teach him properly. Our family doesn't believe in hitting children."
Lin Zhilan wanted to say that she didn't hit children either, but she seemed to have spanked him just today.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were still unfamiliar with each other, so they exchanged a few polite pleasantries and hung up.
Hearing his aunt refuse his grandmother with his own ears, Jiang Chengzhou's heart finally settled, and he returned to his carefree ways.
When Lin Zhilan went to work the next day, Ye Congshan and Lin Zijun immediately surrounded her. "Is Chengzhou alright?"
Lin Zhilan: "He's fine. He drank some ginger soup yesterday and is bouncing around as usual today."
"That's good."
Jiang Chengzhou was cheerful, and Linlin was lively. Both Ye Congshan and Lin Zijun liked the two children very much. If something had really happened to them yesterday, they would have felt terrible.
When Yan Yuan arrived, there were still people lining up at the traditional Chinese medicine department. Seeing him walk in, someone hurriedly grabbed his shoulder.
"Kid, don't you see all these people? Go line up at the back!"
Yan Yuan stopped in his tracks and was about to head to the back.
Lin Zhilan had been waiting for him. Hearing the commotion, she walked out and waved. "Yan Yuan, come here."
"Dr. Lin, is this your child? He doesn't look like it."
Lin Zhilan smiled. "He's my little apprentice. We were too busy, so I asked him to come help grind the herbs. Otherwise, how would we have enough medicinal patches for all of you?"
The crowd laughed.
Lin Zhilan ushered Yan Yuan inside.
Lin Zijun was applying medicine to a patient, while Ye Congshan was grinding herbal powder.
Lin Zhilan pushed Yan Yuan forward a bit. "Dr. Ye, look, I found you a great helper."
Ye Congshan looked up and pushed up his glasses with the back of his hand. "Oh, it's a kid. Do you know how to do this?"
Yan Yuan said earnestly, "I can learn."
