Eastward to Qinglu Mountain

Xu Xian had been sick for eight years, and his family had spent a fortune on treatment. He had seen dozens of doctors and drunk thousands of bowls of bitter medicine, but nothing ever worked.

Jiang Mingshan was the village doctor in Sanli Mining Village. Wan Quanhong introduced him to Xu Qing and his wife. For just 180 yuan in herbal medicine, he cured Xu Xian's chronic illness.

Xu Qing waited four years without seeing his son suffer another attack. He took the boy to four city hospitals for examinations. The results showed that his son was perfectly healthy. From that day on, Xu Qing started beating him. Before long, he was doing it every few days, and had become addicted to it.

Xu Qing was unremarkable in appearance, refined and scholarly, of average height and slender build. His wife's uncle was Yang Jiang, the town chief, who had long overseen mining in Tu Town. His father-in-law was the magistrate of Kaiping County. People who didn't know his background thought he was living off his wife's family. Those who did know the truth were no ordinary people.

Wan Quanhong arranged for Jiang Mingshan to work at the town hospital and for his wife to get a job in its cafeteria. He also arranged for Jiang Mingshan to become the neighbor of his younger sister, making it easier to look after Xu Xian.

Jiang Mingshan and his wife had a beautiful daughter named Jiang Tianqi. Their family was poor, so Jiang Tianqi was more sensible than most children her age.

In their second year in Tu Town, his wife died in a car accident. That same year, his older brother took office as deputy town chief, overseeing personnel affairs.

In his third year, at his parents' arrangement, he married his late wife's niece, Bai Lu. The main reason he agreed to the marriage was that his daughter liked Bai Lu.