The next day, Ruan Ruan woke up around noon. As soon as she came out, she saw the yard full of herbs they had collected drying in the sun. She searched all the supplies but couldn't find Huo Haocheng. She only saw breakfast warming in the pot. Ruan Ruan touched her stomach and realized she was a little hungry. She decided to eat first.
After the meal, Ruan Ruan looked through all the other herbs, then took out Coptis chinensis, sat on a stool, and slowly pulled it off from the root.
"You're awake!" Huo Haocheng returned to find Ruan Ruan sitting on a stool, preparing Coptis chinensis.
"We didn't know how to do it either, we just washed it clean and put it in the yard to dry," Huo Haocheng said quickly, seeing Ruan Ruan sorting through the Coptis chinensis. Thinking they had made a mistake, he quickly explained.
"Brothers did a great job, they helped me a lot and allowed me to sleep peacefully. Thank you, brothers. This is Coptis chinensis. I forgot to tell you yesterday. You only need the root part of Coptis chinensis." As she spoke, Ruan Ruan showed Huo Haocheng the parts of Coptis chinensis that she needed.
"Okay, I got it." Huo Haocheng was relieved to see that he hadn't made things worse.
"Didn't you go to the military headquarters today? Why are you back so early? I haven't even started cooking yet." When Ruan Ruan woke up and found Huo Haocheng wasn't there, she assumed he had gone to the military headquarters, so she planned to cook later.
"I went to talk to my uncle about something and came back. Didn't you say you still needed mung beans? So I went to my sisters-in-law to exchange some. My uncle said the military will cover the cost. Do you think this is enough?" Early in the morning, Huo Haocheng and Gu Jinghe cleaned the medicinal herbs and dried them as Ruan Ruan had suggested yesterday. Then the two of them went to the military headquarters to find Commander Gu and explained what had happened, including the matter of the medicinal herbs. Commander Gu said that this was to treat innocent people, and he would report the cost of the herbs they collected and Ruan Ruan's consultation fee to his superiors.
Then Huo Haocheng went home to his family compound to exchange some mung beans with his sisters-in-law and brought them back.
"Why did you change so many?" Ruan Ruan turned to the side and saw the bag Huo Haocheng had placed at his feet.
"I didn't know how much I needed, so I thought I'd get a little extra so we could eat the rest."
“Okay, we’ll eat the rest ourselves. I’ll make you some mung bean cakes.” Ruan Ruan used to enjoy making pastries when she had free time, and now that we have mung beans, it’s perfect for making mung bean cakes.
"Okay, then I'll help you make it."
Afterwards, Huo Haocheng brought the mung beans into the house and went to the kitchen to start cooking. Ruan Ruan sliced some of the Coptis chinensis she had picked and used them directly, while she kept the rest to soak in ginger juice water, simmer it, and save it for later use.
After lunch, the two divided the medicinal herbs into 20 portions, which they would deliver to the hospital in the afternoon. They didn't have enough pots at home to decoct the herbs, so they had to go to the hospital to have them prepared. The rest of the herbs were left to dry in the sun for later use.
In the afternoon, Huo Haocheng drove Ruan Ruan to the military hospital to find Jiang Yuli.
"Sister-in-law, is it so convenient to prepare medicine at the hospital?" Ruan Ruan asked, sitting opposite Jiang Yuli.
"You found them so quickly?" Jiang Yuli looked at Ruan Ruan in disbelief. Although she hadn't studied traditional Chinese medicine, she had heard that medicinal herbs needed to be collected in the mountains, and many were very difficult to find. Ruan Ruan had gathered them all in just one day.
"Many of the medicinal herbs are readily available, but two of them were a bit harder to find, which took some time," Ruan Ruan explained as she opened the medicine bag and took out a sample.
"Oh, I see. Come on, I'll take you to the hospital director. Our hospital didn't have any TCM doctors before, so we didn't have a proper place for overnight stays. Let's see where the director has arranged for them to stay overnight." With that, he took Ruan Ruan's hand and headed towards the director's office, with Huo Haocheng following behind them carrying a bag of medicine.
Thump, thump, thump
"Please come in."
"Dean, Ruan Ruan has prepared the medicinal herbs. Do you know where in our hospital we can decoct the herbs?" Jiang Yuli said to the dean as she opened the door.
"Oh, the girl is all ready?" Dean Hu put down his pen and looked at the bag Huo Haocheng was carrying.
"May I take a look?" Dean Hu asked Ruan Ruan.
"Of course." Huo Haocheng then placed the bag on the dean's desk. Ruan Ruan stepped forward, took out a packet of medicine, and began to explain the name and properties of each medicine to the dean.
"Great! Heroes emerge from among the young! We'll have to rely on you young people in the future. Come on, I'll take you there," Dean Hu said with emotion after hearing Ruan Ruan's introduction. He then led the three of them through the cafeteria to a small courtyard behind the kitchen.
"Dean, our hospital has this place? I've never heard of it before." Jiang Yuli has been at the hospital for so many years and has never heard anyone mention that there is such a place here.
"Go in," the dean simply sighed, then took out his key from his pocket, opened the door, and went inside.
"Our hospital used to have traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. Back then, it was very popular and far superior to Western medicine. But... alas, now all we have left are these. If you need to decoct medicine, use the medicine pots here. There's a medicine shelf here; see what's still usable and take it."
After speaking, the dean looked around the room and stood alone in front of the medicine cabinets, lost in thought. The three of them didn't disturb him, but carefully took down the jars, checked the usable ones, cleaned them, and then borrowed charcoal and 20 bowls from the canteen to start decocting the medicine. They first brought it to a boil over high heat, then simmered it over low heat. After 20 minutes, the medicine was ready. Jiang Yuli went to the ward to call the girls to come to the canteen to drink the medicine. It was really too much trouble for the three of them to run around to carry 20 bowls of medicine to each of them, and it wasn't in Ruan Ruan's nature to serve them one by one.
"Sister-in-law, please take a look tonight. I'll come back first thing tomorrow morning." After seeing that all 20 people had drunk their medicine, Ruan Ruan prepared to go back, as it was getting late.
"Okay, drive carefully back. I'm on duty tonight, I'll keep an eye on things." It's too late, and it's not safe to go back. Jiang Yuli didn't linger; she had plenty of things to do.
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