Erniu answered weakly, "He didn't die. But he kept talking in his sleep! His lips have turned black too."

Qi Qingyao stepped forward and assessed the situation. She thought to herself, 'Oh no, the poisoning is not shallow."

Dabao observed Qi Qingyao's expression for a moment then asked, "Mommy, this big fish, can it still be saved?"

"…" Qi Qingyao did not speak, she merely silently rummaged through the medicinal herbs in her back basket. She then fell into deep thought.

"Mommy?" Dabao called out uncertainly.

"He can be saved, but…" Qi Qingyao dragged on, her tone full of entanglement.

The triplets were dumbfounded.

What did her "but" mean?

Qi Qingyao contemplated for a long time. Then she clenched her fists and said in a heavy tone, "It seems that today, one who is not prepared to risk their child will never catch the wolf."1

Once she spoke those words, the triplets got very scared. With tears in their eyes, they cried out, "Mommy, don't sell us off!"

Qi Qingyao replied, "Ah."

Xiaobao's stark eyes were filled with a clear and innocent light, and there were pitiful tears in them. "Mommy, I will be very well-behaved and will listen to your words. So Mommy, can you not sell us off?"

Dabao and Erniu imitated his gesture of nodding like pounds of garlic.

Qi Qingyao was defeated by their innocence. She laughed for a moment, then explained.

"'One who is not prepared to risk their child will never catch the wolf' doesn't mean that I intend to sell you off. 'Child' in this context refers to shoes in the proverb! This saying means that to hit a wolf, you must not be afraid of running and you should not be afraid of using your shoes. Generally speaking, a similar price must be paid to achieve a certain goal."

The triplets heard clouds and mists of words, seeming to understand but not, and looked at Qi Qingyao with a cute expression.

Qi Qingyao immediately pointed at the other half-dead ghost on the bed-stove.

"And the wolf is referring to him."

"Him?" The triplets turned their heads to look at the same time.

Qi Qingyao decided to let the children make the decision.

First, she would explain the harvest she got from the time she went to gather medicinal herbs, only then would she pose her question.

"We have two options before us. Firstly, we will use this ginseng to save him. Once he awakens, he will give us a big sum of money. Secondly, we will sell this ginseng, and we will also get a big sum of money. If it were you, how would you choose?"

The triplets secretly rejoiced that they were not being sold off after all. At the same time, they racked their brains and thought about it seriously.

They weighed the pros and cons.

Dabao had no idea and looked at Erniu weakly. Erniu quickly turned her head toward Xiaobao and threw the question to her younger brother. Xiaobao was aggrieved. At a loss, he fumbled with his fingers for a long time. He turned his head to look at his mother's dark eyes and tightened his lips pitifully.

He then carefully spit out four words.

"Let us save him."

"Why?" Qi Qingyao smiled as she caressed his head.

Xiaobao said tearfully, "Because just as Mommy caught the koi fish, we picked up this person. This means that God placed him to be saved by Mommy."

Dabao nodded, agreeing with his younger brother's words.

Erniu also chimed in, "Didn't Mommy say that saving one's life is better than building a seven-story pagoda?"

Dabao said immediately, "That's right."

Qi Qingyao saw that the children had come to a decision, and only then did she hold the ginseng. With a reluctant and pained expression, she gritted her teeth and said, "I will listen to you all. We will save him."

In the end, she added quietly.

"Ginseng is common, but beauty is rare."

The triplets were silent.

Beauty?

Who was the beauty?

The little children were still young. Still unable to distinguish beauty and ugliness, they scratched their heads.

It is a Chinese proverb that is the equivalent of the proverb 'one cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs'. One who is unwilling to take risks will not achieve great things.