I was reborn after my cousin stole my life.

Chapter 102: Lost

"Stone."

Upon seeing Aunt Zhou return, Aunt Yuan's eyes lit up: "My dear in-law, you'd better come and talk to them! This young couple is threatening to get a divorce!"

Aunt Zhou rolled her eyes at her. "If you hadn't egged them on, would they have gotten divorced?"

"Oh dear, I already said I didn't want this either, so why is it all my fault? Do you really want them to divorce?"

If it weren't for the fact that she was pregnant with the Zhou family's grandson, I would have loved for them to get divorced!

"I'll listen to my husband, Shi Tou."

Yuan Juan held the pen, her hands trembling so much she couldn't put it down. She glanced back at Zhou Lei and Aunt Zhou, and seeing that neither of them came to persuade her, she became angry and signed her name on it in a fit of pique.

Zhou Lei's pupils contracted, and a myriad of emotions welled up in his heart.

midnight.

The person on the cot in the living room stirred, about to lift the covers, when he heard the bedroom door open. He lay back down, and in the darkness, a figure tiptoed out of the bedroom. The figure went to the desk, carefully opened the drawer, took out a piece of paper, looked at it through the moonlight streaming in from the window, and then reached into the drawer to take out two small slips of paper that looked like ticket stubs.

She put both items in her pocket and tiptoed back to her bedroom.

Zhou Lei turned over and glanced at the bedroom door, which was already closed.

Aunt Zhou coughed once and whispered, "Go to sleep."

Zhou Lei: "..."

So his mother was awake too.

The next morning, Aunt Yuan began to pretend to pack her luggage. Yuan Juan was completely dejected and began to regret her impulsive decision the day before.

If her mother hadn't been there, she definitely wouldn't have dared to sign the "divorce application".

She couldn't help but feel resentful; if her mother hadn't come, this whole thing would have happened.

What will happen if she really gets a divorce?

If I go back, I'll be laughed at to death by the people back home.

"Juan'er, hurry up and pack, let's leave early, or we'll be late."

As she spoke, she kept peeking into the living room.

"Zhou Lei, what time did you buy that ticket? I didn't remember yesterday."

Zhou Lei: "Tickets for 2 PM."

"Really? I thought it was three o'clock? Check again."

Aunt Zhou pursed her lips, saying one minute that she didn't remember, and the next minute that it was three o'clock in the afternoon. Did she remember or not?

Zhou Lei glanced at her, then got up and opened the drawer to get the train tickets he'd left there yesterday. "...Where are the tickets?"

"What happened to the ticket?" Aunt Yuan stopped collecting the clothes and rushed out to check. She found nothing in the drawer except a fountain pen and a Little Red Book. She slapped her thigh in frustration.

"Oh no! Where did the ticket go?!"

Zhou Lei glanced at her again: "...The divorce application is gone too."

Aunt Yuan asked, "Did you put it somewhere else?"

"No, I haven't touched it since I put it in."

Yuan Juan stood in the bedroom doorway, leaning against the doorframe, staring intently at Zhou Lei: "You were the one hiding, weren't you?"

Zhou Lei gave her a deep look.

Aunt Yuan continued, "That's right. This ticket has been in the drawer all this time. Juan'er and I didn't come out last night. It was just you, your mother, and your little daughter outside. One of you must have hidden it."

Aunt Zhou: "Anyone who hides the train ticket and the divorce application is a son of a bitch!"

Aunt Yuan gritted her teeth: "That's right, anyone who hides the train ticket and drinks the divorce papers will be a son of a bitch!"

Aunt Zhou and Zhou Lei did not expose Yuan Xiaoshen's true intentions. Their goal was not to give a bride price, but rather not to abandon their grandson/daughter-in-law/son.

As it turns out, Aunt Yuan and her daughter were only really stubborn when it came to talking. When Zhou Lei really wanted to divorce Yuan Juan, they were more panicked than anyone else.

The train ticket was gone, and the divorce application was also missing. She definitely couldn't leave today. Aunt Yuan even pretended to search around the house.

Yuan Juan assumed that Zhou Lei had hidden the train tickets and divorce papers, because Zhou Lei had been so calm, and so had Aunt Zhou.

She felt much better, realizing that Zhou Lei still couldn't bear to part with her.

Aunt Yuan quietly went out the door. She went to the toilet first, took out a piece of paper from her waistband, tore it into pieces, and threw it into the toilet.

Then she took out two more train tickets from the other side. Looking at the prices on the tickets, Aunt Yuan really couldn't bear to throw them away, so she put them in her pocket and left the courtyard alone.

"Little Cheng, come here, come here!"

The woman whom Aunt Yuan called Little Cheng was none other than Chef Cheng, the head chef of the state-run restaurant.

Master Cheng followed Aunt Yuan into the alley next to the state-run restaurant. "Oh, it's Sister Cheng! What's up, Sister Cheng?"

Aunt Yuan took out two train tickets from her pocket. "Little Cheng, you have a lot of connections. See if you can find someone to help me go to the station to get the tickets back, or if someone happens to need them, you can help me sell them."

Master Cheng took the ticket. "With such a tight schedule, it's impossible to sell it now. How about this, I'll make a trip to the station and get the ticket refunded for you."

Aunt Yuan's eyes lit up, and she said gratefully, "That's too much trouble for you, you still have to go to work."

"It's alright, I only work half a day today. I was planning to go into the city this afternoon anyway. I didn't have time to let my family know I was safe when I came back from my hometown last time, so I'll send a telegram today."

"I should let you know I'm safe." Aunt Yuan took her hand. "I really don't know how to thank you! I was so grateful for your help on the train. If you hadn't watched my luggage, I wouldn't have dared to go to the toilet."

Master Cheng laughed and said, "It's nothing. We share the same surname, and we might have even been family more than a hundred years ago. We're family, so we should help each other out."

Aunt Yuan nodded repeatedly: "That's exactly right. It's so nice talking to you. If I wasn't worried about disturbing your work, I would come over to chat with you every day."

"Then come find me. I haven't seen you for a while, and I thought you had forgotten about me."

"How could that be!"

Aunt Yuan had almost forgotten about her. If she hadn't been so busy dealing with the two train tickets, she wouldn't have remembered that she had an "acquaintance" here.

They weren't exactly acquaintances, but they had traveled together on the train for a day and a night. Master Cheng boarded the train midway through the journey and happened to be sitting next to Aunt Yuan. Since they shared the same surname and were heading to the same destination, they chatted for a while.

Upon arriving at their destination, the two parted ways.

"I've been so busy lately, busy making decisions for my daughter. Let me tell you, her in-laws aren't easy to get along with..."

Aunt Yuan started complaining about Zhou Lei's family.

"I've never seen such a wicked mother-in-law! As the old saying goes, it's better to tear down a temple than to break up a marriage, but she's been constantly talking badly about my Juan'er to my son-in-law!"

Master Cheng frowned upon hearing this. "Is such a thing possible? This is unacceptable, especially since your daughter is pregnant."

"That's right! They only have one little girl, so they still have to rely on my daughter to give them a son..."

"That old hag even scolded my daughter for that brat! My daughter is her mother, so what's wrong with me saying a few words to her or hitting her a couple of times? Can't a child be disciplined if she's disobedient?"

Master Cheng sighed, "Hearing you say that reminds me of my mother-in-law, who is almost the same kind of person as your daughter's mother-in-law. When I was pregnant... if it weren't for her, my child would definitely have been born."

As he spoke, Master Cheng's eyes reddened. "If my mother had taken care of me back then, and if my child had been born, he would be as old as your daughter now."

Aunt Yuan: "You're a pitiful person too!"

Master Cheng sighed again: "Alas, there are too many pitiful people in this world."

After saying that, her pupils contracted slightly. Looking at the train ticket in her hand, she immediately changed the subject, "Sister Cheng, I have to go now, the shop needs to get busy."

"Okay, okay, then this ticket..." They didn't say when they would pay.

Master Cheng smiled and said, "Whether you come to see me later this afternoon or tomorrow morning is fine with me."

"Okay, thank you for your help, Miss Cheng."

"We don't exchange such polite words."

After saying goodbye to Aunt Yuan, Master Cheng went into the shop and went straight to the back office to find the manager.

"...I would like to ask for half a day off this afternoon."

……

"Have you heard? The train tickets and divorce application at Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou's house have gone missing!"

"What? My things can just disappear from my own house? Could someone have stolen them?"

"You're absolutely right, but we don't know who stole it."

"Who else could it be? It's just their family. A train ticket and a divorce petition—who would steal that?"

"Hiss! Is the deputy battalion commander really going to divorce Yuan Juan this week? She's pregnant."

"Whether it's true or not, it all comes down to who has the hardest heart! In this situation, it's obvious that Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou has the hardest heart. When a man's heart hardens, how can we women resist?"

"I reckon Wu Yufen will be coming to their door again."

Wu Yufen: "Achoo! Achoo!"

"Sister-in-law, your cold is getting worse!" Just a second before Wu Yufen was about to sneeze, Yuan Xiu quickly stepped back, took the prescription from Dr. Sun, and started picking out the medicine.

Wu Yufen took out a handkerchief and wiped away her snot and the physiological tears from sneezing. "That's right. The weather is almost warm, but I still caught a cold. I guess it's because I worked too late in the office the night before last. I had a ton of things to do and I had to finish them all that day."

Yuan Xiu: "...Sister-in-law, you've worked hard."

"I don't feel tired, but I'm annoyed. Just this morning I heard that your cousin wants to divorce Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou, and she's even submitted a marriage application."

Yuan Xiu raised an eyebrow. "So...the two of them are divorced?"

"No, they said the divorce application was lost and wasn't submitted."

If you lose it, just write it again. If you don't write it, it means no one really wants to leave.

The farce that Yuan Juan's family was putting on was something that the actors hadn't gotten tired of, and she was tired of hearing about it too.

After picking up the medicine, Yuan Xiu neatly bandaged it up, strung it into a bunch, and handed it to Wu Yufen. "Take it three times a day after meals. One dose of medicine only needs to be decocted twice. Then mix the two decoctions together and drink it in three portions. Heat it up before drinking."

"Is this how you brew it? I used to brew it one batch at a time for each drink."

"The method you mentioned will also work, but the first decoction will have the strongest medicinal effect, and the subsequent decoctions will have a weaker effect. If you want each decoction to have the same medicinal effect, this method will produce the best results."

Wu Yufen nodded, "Okay, I understand."

Before leaving, he praised Yuan Xiu, saying, "Little Yuan is amazing now. She picks up the medicine quickly and accurately, and her hands move like flowers when she wraps it."

As soon as Wu Yufen left, Hao Jia said, "How about we make a bet?"

Yuan Xiu smiled and shook her head: "I won't bet with you."

"Why? You said you weren't going to gamble without even asking me what we were betting on."

Yuan Xiu stuck the prescription in her hand into a nail next to her. "You want to bet that Comrade Wu Yufen will follow the doctor's orders and brew the medicine as I said, right?"

Hao Jia chuckled: "Right! I bet she won't. This isn't the first time we've reminded her, but who listened? Most people, in order to save money on medicine, will brew a single dose of medicine for several days, thinking that as long as it still tastes medicinal, it can cure the disease. If it works, they don't say anything, but if it doesn't work, they think it's because our traditional Chinese medicine skills are inadequate and not as effective as Western medicine pills."

As she spoke, Hao Jia sighed, "It was clearly them who didn't follow the doctor's orders, but in the end, we traditional Chinese medicine practitioners took the blame."

Yuan Xiu rested her chin on her hand, her gaze fixed on the blank wall of the hospital.

As she pondered this, she opened the drawer and took out paper and pen.

Write on it: Promotion of the correct method for decocting traditional Chinese medicine.

Yuan Xiu scribbled and revised in her notebook, finally finishing what she wanted before leaving get off work. She closed the blanket and said to Hao Jia, "Keep an eye on this, I'm going to the office."

Hao Jia nodded and said, "Go ahead!"

Yuan Xiu went to see Director Hao and handed him what she had written.

"Ancient methods, new interpretations: doubling the efficacy of medicine—Mastering the correct decoction methods to maximize the therapeutic effects of traditional Chinese medicine?"

After reading it, Director Hao glanced at Yuan Xiu and then continued reading.

The text details the utensils needed for frying, prioritizing earthenware pots and ceramic pots, while avoiding iron, aluminum, and copper pots.

The treatment of medicinal materials, soaking of medicinal materials, decoction methods (first decoction, second decoction), how much water to add each time, how long to decoct, and how to drink it correctly, etc.

There are also corrections to common misconceptions.

Yuan Xiu made a comparison. She put an X next to "the longer the decoction time, the better" and a check next to "the time depends on the properties of the medicinal materials".

There are several more misconceptions to correct.

The best part is that she wrote promotional slogans on every point of interest.

Director Hao recited: "One soaking, two decoctings, and three precautions ensure the medicine's efficacy is fully realized. Choosing the right utensils makes all the difference. Special herbs require special care to fully release their medicinal properties. Proper decoction guarantees good health."

"It's written in great detail. What are you trying to do by showing me this?"

"Director, we can put up posters on the walls of the lobby about the correct way to decoct Chinese medicine, so that everyone coming and going can see them and subtly change their habits of decocting medicine."

Director Hao: "The idea is good, but how many people do you think will understand it? Or rather, how many will stop and read it carefully?"

Yuan Xiu: "This is just a written description. My idea is to add illustrations that are easy for people to understand at a glance, like our propaganda posters, showing each step in detail. People will prefer to look at the pictures rather than the words, right?"

Director Hao was taken aback: "That's a good idea..."