Seeing that Song He'er was obstructing her in every way, Qin Xiaoniang didn't say anything and returned to Nian Jie'er's side dejectedly.

When Wang San returned, Song He'er's medicine was already mostly ready.

"You're quite fast, little girl. Do you know how to brew medicine? I know how to make licorice root. Let me help you!"

Song He'er waved her hand, declining his offer, "This... it's almost done... I can do it myself."

Wang San showed no intention of leaving, determined to help Song He'er. "It's hot here, get out of the way, I'll cook for you."

"Need not!"

As the two pushed and shoved, they knocked over the lid of the medicine, releasing a strong herbal aroma.

Wang San immediately became suspicious, feeling that the licorice didn't taste like this. "What... what's in here? You didn't put something in there, did you?"

Song He'er coughed twice and put the lid back on the pot.

"It was just ordinary licorice root, and I added some other herbs, thinking it would help to neutralize the flavor..."

Although Wang San was not easily fooled, he couldn't find a reasonable explanation at the moment, so he stopped asking and turned to help by the tent.

When Qin Xiaoniang saw him return, she asked politely, "You... you've been out for most of the day, haven't you eaten yet? I'll go cook some porridge... it's perfect since no one else has eaten."

"No...no need. We, a group of grown men, have already eaten the wild fruits we found. You should keep your rice for yourselves."

"But...but I'm so sorry, I just went to find herbs for you, I can't let you go to all that trouble for nothing."

Wang San smiled and said, "In the end, it was caused by our wolf leg meat. If we hadn't been so careless, these kids wouldn't have had stomach aches. It's a way of making amends."

Qin Xiaoniang smiled and didn't say anything more. She turned around and walked towards Song He'er.

Song He'er poured out the thick, dark broth from the pot, divided it into five small bowls, and prepared to serve them to the children.

"He'er, let me help you. We don't need this pot anymore, do we? If we don't, I'll use it to cook porridge."

Song He'er turned around, glanced at the remaining medicine residue in the pot, and replied, "Mother, why don't you take this medicine to Third Aunt and the others first? I'll wash the pot and then I'll brew it..."

"You're already exhausted. I don't want to see you like this anymore. Go and get some sleep in your tent!"

Seeing how persistent she was, Song He'er couldn't refuse. "Then Mother, please take the medicine over. I'll wash the pot and go to sleep."

"good."

Seeing that she had agreed, Qin Xiaoniang readily handed over the medicine one by one.

Song He'er poured out the residue from the pot, buried it in the sand, and then obediently went to her tent to rest.

After Nianjie and Huahua and the other children took their medicine, they all fell asleep and stopped crying.

Seeing that the children were getting better, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After each of them drank a bowl of porridge, they lay down next to the children to rest.

Song He'er was starving; she hadn't had dessert in a long time and her mouth was watering.

Just then, she lifted the curtain and looked outside. Seeing that Zhang Xiue and the others were sleeping soundly, she secretly took out a mung bean cake from her spatial storage and stuffed it into her mouth.

After finishing her meal and drinking a few more mouthfuls of milk, Song He'er felt much better and, in a daze, actually fell asleep.

When I woke up again, there was a lot of noise outside.

Song He'er thought they were arguing, so she hurriedly stepped out of the tent.

"What's going on? The child was just getting better, and now Zhang Niangzi has fallen ill again. What are we going to do?" Li Qiang's wife stamped her feet anxiously on the spot.

Qin Xiaoniang stood there anxiously, holding Huan Ge'er, unable to help in any way.

Song He'er hurriedly went over and looked at Zhang Xiu'er, who was lying unconscious on the ground. He was burning with fever, his lips were white, and his abdomen was very swollen and hard.

These symptoms are similar to those in children, but more severe.

Song He'er turned her head and reminded everyone, "Third Aunt is exhausted from taking care of Sister Nian and has fallen ill. Moreover... this disease is probably contagious. Ladies, please take your children and stay separately. Let's each have our own place, preferably ten meters apart, to prevent the recovered children from getting infected again!"

Upon hearing this, Li Qiang's wife turned pale with fright. "Contagious! This...this can't be a plague, can it?"

"Oh dear, Madam Tian, ​​of course not. You should quickly take Huahua and Hehe and go to the other side to rest."

Li Qiang's wife didn't say anything, and quickly took her two children and left.

The remaining wife of Su Yu was even more timid. Upon hearing that the disease was contagious, she was so frightened that she could barely walk and even tripped and fell twice while holding her child.

Song He'er looked around but couldn't see Wang San, so she asked, "Mother, where is Uncle Wang San?"

"I'm going to continue looking for medicine. Although the children have improved, they still need to drink some more to consolidate the effect."

"oh......"

After saying that, Song He'er ran into the tent again, took out the gauze scarves that had been used to cover the yellow sand a few days ago, and distributed them to everyone.

"Everyone should wear them; it'll be safer to talk that way."

Chun Di took the veil and asked worriedly, "Are you really alright? I remember when there was a plague in the capital, it was the same; everyone covered half their face. This... I'm so scared..."

Chunrao came over and tugged at her older sister, signaling her not to worry unnecessarily. "Sister, how old is He'er? You keep asking her questions like this. Can she even answer them? We should know more about these things than she does. Instead, you're the one who's getting scared first."

“I’m not scared. You know, our situation is really bad. If we were in a poor mountain village, it would be fine, but this is the desert. We have nothing, and everyone is sick. I’m just worried…”

Song He'er breathed a sigh of relief, took Chun Di's hand and replied earnestly, "Fourth Aunt, I know you're anxious, but I'm anxious too. Huan Ge'er is the youngest child here. If he also catches the disease, I'm afraid it won't be easy for him to recover. So I'll have to trouble you two to take good care of my mother."

Chun Di smiled naturally, "Silly He'er, Huan Ge'er is General Brother's son. Even if we do our best, we will protect him. After all, Madam did not give the General any sons, and Qin Xiao Niang's child is the General's only hope. I will not let your father have no descendants."

When the question of whether or not he would have no descendants came up, Song He'er didn't care much at all. After all, her father hadn't fulfilled his responsibilities as a father, and she didn't need to worry about his future.

Her desire to protect Huan Ge'er was simply to find a place for her stepmother to rely on, and had nothing to do with her heartless and ungrateful father.

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