Chapter 369 - 367: Medicine Garden

Chapter 369: Chapter 367: Medicine Garden

Wen Xiu glanced helplessly from Gu Nuan Nuan to Zhang Minzhen. Seeing the two of them locked in a stubborn standoff left her feeling powerless. But what could she do? She had tried to persuade both of them, but neither would budge. She sighed. In this world, no parent could ever truly win against their child. She knew that no matter how unwilling her own daughter was, she would eventually have to be the one to yield. Shaking her head, she said:

"I know you’re only doing what’s best for her, but if a child is this insistent, she must have her reasons. And let’s say, for the sake of argument, she’s wrong. She still needs to learn that for herself—to hit a wall and learn the lesson on her own before she’ll understand. Weren’t you the same way back then? Everyone is. We’ve all been young. At that age, your head is full of ideas, and you want to be the one to call the shots. You do what you want, even if you might regret it later, right?"

"But..." Zhang Minzhen hesitated.

Wen Xiu cut her off. "There are no ’buts.’ All Nuannuan did was turn down a good school in Beijing. It’s not like she’s putting herself in danger or doing something we can’t accept. If you ask me, Nuannuan is already an incredibly easy child to raise. What more could you want? Do you really have to treat her like a puppet and pull her strings until she does exactly what you want?"

Zhang Minzhen lowered her head, thinking for a long time. Finally, with her eyes red, she looked at Gu Nuan Nuan, her tone softening unconsciously. "You really won’t change your mind?"

Gu Nuan Nuan: "..."

A pang of emotion hit her, and her nose tingled. This was the first time in two lifetimes that she had ever made a decision against her mother’s wishes. When they had been at a standoff earlier, she’d felt completely justified. But now, seeing her mother start to give in, she was overcome with a feeling of guilt, as if she had done something wrong and terribly disappointed her.

She walked over and hugged her mother. She was almost as tall as her now. Resting her head on her mother’s shoulder, she said calmly, "Mom, please believe me. I really don’t need a prestigious university to give me an edge. Who knows? Maybe one day, a university will be the one gaining an edge because I attended, and it will become famous throughout the whole Alliance."

When her daughter hugged her, Zhang Minzhen froze for a moment. ’My baby’s all grown up,’ she thought. ’How long has it been since we were this close?’

For a second, she felt tears welling up, but Gu Nuan Nuan’s words made her laugh instead. She gently patted her daughter’s back, chuckling as she chided, "Such big talk! Even if your mother believes you, I wouldn’t dare repeat that to anyone. Forget it, forget it. It’s just as your grandmother said: ’a daughter grown is a daughter gone.’ Do as you please."

She sighed softly. ’I still have a young son to worry about,’ she thought. ’Will I have to go through this all over again when he’s grown? And Nuannuan... this is just the beginning. After school, there’s marriage, then children, and when her children grow up, there will be grandchildren...’ The realization that the worrying was endless, that it would simply never stop, sent a shiver down her spine. Then she remembered her own parents had raised four children, meaning they had more than double her worries. Her gaze toward Wen Xiu suddenly filled with reverence—

’Does this whole situation with Nuannuan mean my own parents are worrying about me all over again?’

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Wen Xiu felt her skin crawl under Zhang Minzhen’s gaze. She quickly checked herself over, but finding nothing amiss, she grew flustered and rolled her eyes in mock annoyance.

"It’s nothing. I just had a sudden realization." Zhang Minzhen gently pushed Gu Nuan Nuan aside and explained what she had just been thinking. Her words earned her another eye-roll from Wen Xiu, who brushed past her and started up the stairs. "Out of my way, out of my way," she said, her voice laced with exasperation. "I’m going to see if Song Heng is awake. If he is, I’ll bring him over to my place. And to think I assumed you knew all along! You’re only just now figuring out that I’ve been right here worrying about you this whole time?"

Zhang Minzhen rubbed her nose, muttering under her breath, "Who says I only just figured it out? I knew all along, I just never said anything."

Gu Nuan Nuan couldn’t help but let out a snicker. She quickly followed her grandmother upstairs. "I’ll come check on my little brother too!" she called out, her voice filled with unconcealed amusement.

Zhang Minzhen rolled her eyes, then broke into a smile. "Go ahead and laugh," she muttered to herself. "Why are you even trying to hide it? Whatever, I’ll go make some rice cereal. Don’t want that little rascal waking up with nothing to eat and starting a fuss." Song Heng was already weaned, but his diet was still limited, consisting mostly of rice cereal. No matter how well-behaved a child might be, he was still just a child. He could be incredibly sweet and heartwarming, but when it was time to cry and throw a tantrum on the floor, he never held back.

...

Gu Nuan Nuan’s three years of university were carefree. Of course, she spent most of that time in a mountain cave, cultivating by a fissure of Spiritual Energy she had discovered. In her spare time from Cultivation, she also practiced Alchemy, refining Hundred Herbs Rejuvenation Pills.

She didn’t live in the cave itself, however, but in a small wooden cabin just outside.

Using the cave as a focal point, Gu Nuan Nuan marked out a sizable plot of land around it and concealed the entire area with an Array, creating her own hidden sanctuary. She didn’t keep this place a secret from her grandfather and eldest uncle; in fact, she asked them to help her build the small wooden cabin. They also cleared the surrounding land, planting it full of the various medicinal herbs she needed for her Alchemy. For the sake of convenience, they named the place the "Medicine Garden."

Meanwhile, the factory for the Hundred Herbs Rejuvenating Ointment had long been completed and was operational. They had anticipated that sales would be astonishing, so the initial factory had been built to be quite large. However, given the current demand, it was still far from enough. This was because although the mass-produced version of the Hundred Herbs Rejuvenating Ointment wasn’t as potent as the one used on Mr. Mu, it was still remarkably effective. As soon as it was released, it was evaluated and endorsed by the Alliance’s top medical experts, led by Mr. Mu’s own physician, Liu Kai Ming. Coupled with its genuinely extraordinary results, the ointment immediately became a lifeline everyone was desperate to get their hands on.

As a result, even with factory workers on duty in shifts around the clock and production lines running nonstop except for scheduled maintenance, supply still couldn’t meet demand. And this was before the ointment’s preventative and general wellness benefits had even been made public. It was hard to imagine the sensation and buying frenzy that would erupt if that information was ever released.

The runaway success of the "Hundred Herbs Rejuvenating Ointment" thrust the Zhang Group into the spotlight. There was no shortage of people with designs on it; in fact, there were many. Some with particularly large appetites even schemed to swallow the Zhang Group whole. However, no matter who they were, the moment they showed the slightest inkling of making a move, they were brutally slapped down by the Shao and Mu Families. Consequently, those who had previously dismissed the rumors about the Zhang Group’s powerful backers—scoffing at the idea and plotting how to carve up the company—all ducked their heads in fear and backed off.