Chapter 314 - 310: Jujube Tree Village_1

“What’s with all the questions? Anyway, our master is not a picky eater when he’s travelling.”

Zhang Min lifted some salt and carried it towards a thatched hut.

Yingbao followed behind, scanning around.

A few curious children were watching her and Zhang Min, one of whom spoke to Zhang Min, “You are Zhang Min, right?”

Zhang Min grinned and said, “Yeah, don’t you recognize me? Little Douzi.”

The boy known as Little Douzi gave a chuckling smile, “I almost didn’t recognize you, you’ve put on quite a bit of weight.”

Zhang Min replied, “I haven’t gained weight, just grew taller. Hmm? You seem to still be short.” And thin.

Little Douzi’s face darkened in response, “I’m not short, you just got fatter.”

The two continued their banter as they entered the hut.

The inside of the hut was narrow and gloomy. It had a brick bed, both inside and out, covered with a ragged reed mat.

Zhou Wuchang and two elderly men were already sitting on the bed, chatting away.

Zhang Min placed a large bag of salt and sugar on the bed saying, “Master, I’m taking my junior sister out for a stroll.”

“Go ahead,” Zhou Wuchang nodded in agreement, reminding, “Don’t go too far.”

“We won’t go far, just to see the Stone Mountain.”

Zhang Min lived in this village for half a year about two years ago, and got along quite well with the local kids before following his master and brothers to Qinchuan County.

His master was later hired as an instructor for the Yin Yang Department at the Medical Bureau, where he has been studying since.

“Yingbao, I’ll take you to see the caves here, they are quite scenic.”

Zhang Min added, “It’s warm in winter and cool in summer. There’s even an underground river, the village folks get their drinking water from the cave.”

Yingbao was also curious.

She had never seen a cave with water.

Little Douzi and two seven or eight-year-old girls also followed, each carrying a small wooden bucket.

His family had guests, and his father had asked him and his sister to fetch water for tea.

The children arrived at a hillside about two miles from the village, climbed up a narrow path and arrived at a cave entrance.

The cave was pitch dark, yet clear spring water flowed from inside forming a puddle outside.

The girls squatted down and scooped water into the buckets using a gourd ladle, while Little Douzi submerged his bucket directly into the water to fill it, then lifted it up.

Zhang Min peered into the cave, asking his little fellow sister, “Yingbao, do you want to go in and take a look?”

“No.” The cave was narrow here, with water flowing beneath their feet. Even though she was curious about what the interior looked like, she had no desire to enter the cave.

Zhang Min was somewhat disappointed. He kicked a stone into the water, turned his head and asked Little Douzi, “Little Douzi, do you have a fire starter?”

He wanted to make a torch and go into the cave himself, because he had hidden something in the cave before, and wanted to check if it was still there.

Little Douzi shook his head, “I didn’t bring it.”

Who carries a fire starter around with them? That thing can easily light up clothes.

Yingbao squatted down and scooped the water with her hand, feeling curious.

This was halfway up a hill, it was simply incredible that water could flow from a cave.

A little girl beside her gazed at her with a smile, asking, “What’s your name?”

“Jiang Yingbao.” Yingbao returned her smile.

“My name is Cui Hua, hers is Cui Lan, my dad is the village chief of Jujube Tree Village.”

While saying this, Cui Hua put a bamboo stick through the handle of the water bucket, helped her sister lift the bucket, and suggested, “Let’s go back. When the sun sets, there will be wolves around here.”

Little Douzi also lifted a bucket of water and slowly started to walk back.

Seeing that he was struggling, Zhang Min took the initiative and helped him carry the water.

Yingbao, with nothing to do, looked around as she walked.

This place hardly had any fertile land and no sizeable trees on the mountain. Even shrubs and wild grass were scarce, creating a bare and bleak environment with almost no vegetation.

Such a barren place was even worse than the South Slope of Dongchen Village—perhaps this was the reason for their village’s poverty.

The sisters up ahead were wearing dresses patched upon patches. Despite the cold weather, they were still wearing straw sandals.

Little Douzi was no better off, his sleeves thin and tattered. With such a getup, he could beg in the market without having to worry about his appearance.

It was simply unbelievable that these three siblings were the children of the village head of Jujube Tree Village.

The children carried water to the kitchen, and only then did Yingbao notice that the water tank in Cui Hua’s house did have water, but it was not very clean, somewhat muddy, unlike the water from the cave.

Cui Hua noticed her doubt and said, “We usually drink groundwater from the village. Today, since the general came, Dad let us fetch water from the mountain cave.”

Yingbao: I see.

She rummaged in her bag and handed out several pieces of rock candy to Cui Hua and her sister Cui Lan.

Cui Lan excitedly accepted and quickly popped a piece into her mouth, her eyes narrowing in a smile. “It’s so sweet!”

Cui Hua accepted the rock candy, thanked her, and carefully tucked it into her pocket.

Then she washed her hands and began to make dough for cooking.

Yingbao saw that Cui Hua was about nine years old, and her sister Cui Lan was only six or seven. Both were quite adept at housework.

Yingbao had not seen the mistress of the house and couldn’t help but ask, “Where’s your mother?”

As Cui Hua was kneading the dough, she said, “Mother is no longer here.”

By “no longer here,” she meant her mother had died. Yingbao understood immediately.

Just as Yingbao didn’t know what to say, she heard someone calling her from outside: “Yingbao, come out for a moment.”

It was her senior brother’s voice, so Yingbao hurriedly ran out of the kitchen.

“What’s the matter?”

Her senior brother wouldn’t call her if there was nothing urgent. Perhaps their Instructor had asked her to give out some medicine again, or to treat someone.

Sure enough, Zhou Hao said, “Instructor wants you to see a patient.”

Yingbao had no choice but to retrieve the medicine box from the carriage.

The Instructor had once said that practicing medicine was a form of cultivation and advised her to provide free medical consultations whenever possible during her travels.

So, along the way, Yingbao had treated a few patients with severe illnesses and gifted them some medicine.

Because the Instructor had said he would pay for the medicines, but only when they returned home.

What could Yingbao do but agree?

But wasn’t the Instructor a Forbidden Curse Grand Master? Why did he want his disciple to take pulses and diagnose people?

When she entered the main room, under the light, she saw a man lying on the kang bed. He looked weak and pale, seemingly on his deathbed.

Zhou Wuchang waved his little disciple over, “Come and see if there’s any hope for him.”

Yingbao walked over and took his pulse.

She asked the person standing nearby, “Tell me about his condition.”

The man, who was big and burly with a goatee, soberly detailed the patient’s symptoms.

“…his arrow wound has not healed and has become infected and rotten. Please, young doctor, save him.”

The man with the goatee nearly choked on his words. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Yingbao lifted the blanket covering the patient and saw that his upper body was bare. On his shoulder was a wound as large as a bowl, rotten and emitting a pungent smell.

After a quick check, she found the patient only had a wound on his shoulder.

She glanced at her Instructor: “With his condition, we need to call a plague doctor to cut off the rotten flesh. Only then, with medicine, would there be a chance of recovery.”

Zhou Wuchang said indifferently: “We don’t have a plague doctor. You’ll have to do it yourself. If it’s too difficult, your senior brother can assist you.”