Chapter 3

The old doctor worked for a while, then stood up and rebandaged the wound. Turning to look at the family of orphans and widows, he couldn't help but sigh, "The fever has subsided, but it will come back tonight. Do you have any strong liquor at home? Prepare some and use it to rub him down when he gets a high fever. Remember, don't let him stay in a cocoon anymore. This man's illness is all caused by a wound that wasn't properly treated and he's been suffocating himself."

The doctor's words frightened Yu so much that her face turned pale.

Her lips trembled, and she didn't dare speak for a long time. Just now, she was blaming her daughter-in-law for her reckless behavior, but now she was too embarrassed to look at Ye Jia. She had been living a life of luxury and servants since she was a child. How could she know this? Only when she fell into trouble did she realize she was a useless person.

"Forget it." Seeing that she was about to cry, the old doctor said nothing more and asked her to find some wine.

Yu was stunned: "Wine? What do you need wine for?"

The old doctor was about to speak when he turned around and saw Ye Jia hurriedly coming back from outside with a bowl of liquor.

Ye Jia knew the common sense of physical fever reduction at home. When she heard the doctor say that the patient had a high fever, she immediately went out to get some alcohol.

In the northwest, every household keeps a supply of strong liquor. Given the bitter cold of winter, a single sip of strong liquor sends heat surging from the stomach to the entire body. Both men and women love it, except for the outsiders from the Zhou family, who are not used to strong liquor and don't have any at home. However, Ye Jia had a bad reputation in the village. He went to several houses before borrowing a bowl and hurriedly brought it back.

The old doctor smelled the scent and glanced at Ye Jia with admiration. He ignored Yu and told her to quickly bring the wine over. He probably knew who in the family could handle the situation, so he simply told Ye Jia everything he needed to tell her.

As he spoke, he instructed Ye Jia to undress the person on the bed: "If he has a high fever at night, take a cloth and soak it in wine and rub it under his armpits, in the hollows of his legs, on his neck, and on his limbs. Rub it a few times and the fever will eventually come down."

Ye Jia nodded, indicating that she understood. The old doctor went back to the table and wrote a prescription for her: "This is a blessing in disguise. Although your husband was seriously injured, his broken leg was reattached in time and well. With this care, you don't have to worry about lameness in the future."

Ye Jia was embarrassed by the words "your husband." She pursed her lips and thanked the doctor. Yu, standing beside him, breathed a sigh of relief. The family hurriedly thanked the old doctor, who left a bottle of medicine for the wound and prepared to return home.

The consultation fee plus the medicine cost a total of one and a half taels.

The bill came, and Yu Shi, being short of money, naturally had no money to pay. She stood aside, hesitating for a long time. It was Ye Jia who paid. Her willingness to pay frightened Yu Shi enough that she stared at her with wide eyes. Ye Jia saw the old doctor off and went to town to get some medicine.

The donkey cart we called hasn't left yet, so it's a perfect time to take the old doctor there.

After arriving in the town, Ye Jia first sent the old doctor back to the clinic, and then turned back to West Street.

Waiting for Yu's wages wasn't an option; Ye Jia couldn't sleep at night if the granary was empty. She bought fifty kilograms of flour and fifty kilograms of corn. She added to her daily necessities, then thought about it and went to another household to grab four chicks. Ye Jia thought, since she couldn't afford large livestock like cattle and sheep, raising four chicks for eggs would be a good idea.

All these things added up and it cost nearly two taels of silver.

The money she'd just pawned had barely warmed up, and already most of it was gone. Ye Jia's heart ached. But since it had already come to this, she decided not to save any more. She went to the butcher's and bought a pound of meat, some cabbage, radish, and shepherd's purse, rounding up to a total of two ounces.

When we returned to the village with our bags, the rain had already stopped.

Yu heard the noise and ran out. Shocked by the sight of so much grain, she circled the donkey cart. Then she looked at Ye Jia, a hint of suspicion in her eyes. It wasn't that she was unhappy about the grain; she knew all too well. Her daughter-in-law had given all her money to her parents, leaving her with nothing. How could she be asking for flour and millet after just one trip to town?

Yu Shi didn't dare say anything harsh, so she asked indirectly where she got the food. Ye Jia was holding four chicks in her arms, protecting them tightly for fear they would freeze to death. She had no time to answer.

Yu Shi couldn't even smile at this moment. She was afraid that she had asked the man in town for it. If that was true, she would rather starve to death than eat it!

"This is medicine for healing wounds," Ye Jia ignored Yu's changing expression and put the chick away before pulling out the large bag of herbs from his arms. "Start drinking it today. It'll last you about three months."

Yu looked at the medicinal herbs and was in a dilemma whether to accept them or not.

Seeing her like that, Ye Jia's mind turned and he raised an eyebrow: "I got the money from pawning the jewelry."

Yu's eyes flashed, she lowered her head, and stopped asking.

She took the herbs noddingly and headed for the kitchen. Ye Jia didn't seem to mind. After all, the original owner's affair was real. Although it wasn't anything outrageous with the man in town, it was still a good idea to be suspicious. The food, oil, and salt were still sitting outside. In the countryside these days, food is life. If you didn't keep a close eye on it, it could be stolen. Ye Jia hurried to get everything back into the house.

Fifty kilograms of flour and fifty kilograms of corn were enough to feed a family of four for three months. Ye Jia felt a little relieved.

While Yu was decocting the medicine, Ye Jia cleaned up and took out the meat to cook.

As a highly educated, single office worker, Ye Jia devotes most of her time to her career and the rest to honing her personal skills. Her cooking is her most prominent skill. If she weren't so financially constrained and only had a pound of meat to cook, she could cook it ten different ways.

Ye Jia washed the meat, mixed the dough, and turned to chop shepherd's purse. She was going to make dumplings with the shepherd's purse and meat filling. There wasn't much meat left, so a whole pot of braised pork would be satisfying, but it was too extravagant. Given the Zhou family's situation, she didn't know when she would find a way to make money, so just tasting the meat was enough. She would make some vinegar sauce with the white cabbage and save the radish for kimchi.

Chop the meat into stuffing and mix it with shepherd's purse. Add chopped green onion and ginger and sprinkle some salt to make the stuffing.

Yu watched Ye Jia make dumplings, her fingers deftly twirling to create plump, round dumplings. A small stove nearby was still boiling herbs, its wisps of steam illuminating Ye Jia's features. Yu wanted to offer to help, but before she could open her mouth, she remembered how the rice she'd cooked since her exile had always been raw on top and mushy on the bottom. Embarrassed, she paused for a moment before asking if she could help light the fire.

The medicine in the small hanging pot was still simmering as Ye Jia quickly made thirty dumplings. Without even glancing at Yu, she nodded.

Yu hurriedly sat down under the stove, and Ye Jia scooped a bucket of water into the pot to wash it.

After washing the pot, scoop a few scoops of water into it, bring it to a boil, and then add the dumplings. Cook until they float up, then scoop them out.

There were thirty dumplings, twelve each for Ye Jia and Yu, and six for the child. Yu, finally having a proper meal in three years, nearly cried. The child also devoured the food voraciously, smiling up at Ye Jia. It was only then that Ye Jia learned the child's name: Weirui, Zhou Weirui. Her nickname was Ruijie'er.

After eating and drinking his fill, Ye Jia grabbed a handful of corn and cooked porridge.

Corn, what later generations called millet, is excellent for making porridge. Its sweet and salty flavor has the properties of neutralizing heat, nourishing the kidneys, removing heat, and detoxifying. While its texture is inferior to rice or wheat flour, it can be soft, glutinous, and sweet if cooked properly. Ye Jia was steaming the remaining meat for soup while busying herself in the kitchen. The person in the bed in the east room began to ramble.

His voice was low and intermittent, as if covered by a layer of fog, and it was difficult to hear clearly without paying attention.

After finishing her meal, Yu returned to her room and took a look. She immediately panicked and ran out to look for Ye Jia.

Ye Jia didn't waste any time. She wiped her wet hands on her clothes twice and went to the east room. She touched the man's forehead. It was so hot that she could fry an egg.

"Bring the wine." Although the Shaodaozi was strong, it wasn't as concentrated as alcohol, so the effect wouldn't be as noticeable. Turning around and seeing Yu Shi in a state of panic, Ye Jia frowned and instructed, "Mom, go boil some water."

Although Yu Shi was puzzled, she didn't think much about Ye Jia's firm attitude and went there immediately.

Ye Jia quickly untied him. It was no surprise that the man, though thin, had a rather attractive figure without his clothes. Ye Jia quickly wiped his limbs and then stood up to fetch a basin of cold water.

She had just left when no one noticed that the person on the bed was struggling to roll his eyes under his tightly closed eyelids.

Zhou Jingchen felt as if he were stuck in a quagmire, a pair of hands dragging him down. He could hear the eunuchs' panicked cries, and Gu Mingyue, kneeling at his feet and cursing him with tears streaming down her face.

"You forced me to do this. I had no choice..."

The once-favored Empress Zhaowu stared with resentment at the stunningly handsome man on the soft couch. Her hand, painted bright red with cardamom, clutched his dangling hand tightly, veins bulging on the back of her hand. "If you had listened to Cheng Yi's advice and adopted Yi'er as your adopted son, I wouldn't have resorted to such a ruthless strategy! If you had chosen to become regent or to accept me into the harem, I would have had no complaints. Why do you have to kill us all?"

"Zhou Yun'an, am I not beautiful enough? Why don't you even look at me?!"

She stared at the man in front of her infatuatedly, "If you are willing, I am willing to be your maidservant. As long as you are willing...but you just don't like me?! Why! All men in the world love me, why don't you love me!"

"If you don't love me, I will kill you!"

The voices were filled with resentment and tears, but the person on the couch looked indifferent and unmoved.

As he acted like this, the woman kneeling beneath him looked even more frantic. Her cries were tinged with resentment, as if she were about to burn him to death. Bright red blood dripped from the corner of the man's mouth, and he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, yet he remained remarkably calm.

Stimulated by the cold touch, Zhou Jingchen's drowsy consciousness suddenly woke up and he opened his eyes.

Ye Jia straightened his aching waist, threw the wine-soaked cloth into the wine, and slowly exhaled. With this two-pronged approach, the fever should subside much faster.

Just as he was about to take a break, he heard someone calling out from outside the yard. Ye Jia looked over and said to the child standing nearby, "You stay here and watch. I'll go out and take a look. If he has a fever, call me again."

After saying that, she left the house.

The person on the bed stared at her back quietly, looking around blankly. A flash of shock flashed in his eyes when he saw the child standing in front of the bed.

At the same time, Ye Jia walked outside the courtyard. Standing outside was a square-faced woman with a floral headband. She was about thirty years old, with slanted eyes and a downturned mouth, giving her a rather unapproachable look. This woman was none other than Ye Jia's elder sister-in-law, Zhang.

"Sister-in-law, you are looking for me in a hurry. Is there something wrong at home?"

Ye Zhang smiled awkwardly, stepped forward, and said in a somewhat flattering tone, "It's not a big deal. Jianiang, Chunfen said she didn't mean to push you that day. She just bumped into you accidentally, and you happened to have a loose footing, so you rolled into the river. She was also very scared that day, and immediately sent someone to rescue you. Who would have thought that you would be rescued first? Now she knows she was wrong. Do you think you can go home tomorrow and talk to Dad?"

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!