Su Jiu had been traveling day and night for three or four days, and finally got a good night's sleep last night.
As he stretched and pushed open the door, he caught a glimpse of Ye Wenxue and her children sitting in a row under the eaves, curiously watching the snow.
Each grain of sleet that fell nearby would elicit joyful exclamations from the children.
The youngest one was placed in the wooden cradle given to him by the bald man, and was fast asleep, half-asleep.
Dazhuang, who had threatened and warned him yesterday, was just like an eight-year-old child, looking up at the sky with a relaxed and cheerful smile on his face.
Su Jiu: "?"
Ye Wenxue heard the door open, turned her head to look at Su Jiu: "Breakfast is warm in the kitchen, go and eat by yourself."
Su Jiu didn't want to look at Da Zhuang's cunning little schemer anymore, so she washed up, filled a bowl with food, and sat down next to San Yuan.
Sanyuan smiled shyly at him: "Master."
Su Jiu ate some pickled bamboo shoots and minced meat, and responded with a soft "hmm".
Ye Wenxue withdrew her gaze from the snow and asked Su Jiu, "How long do you plan to stay in the valley?"
"About a month."
A month is enough time for him to think things through and make a decision he won't regret.
"oh."
Compared to the children who were happily watching the sleet, Ye Wenxue, looking at the snowflakes and sleet filling the sky, was thinking that the temperature would drop further, and that many people would probably freeze to death.
However, she couldn't think of any good solutions.
In the face of natural disasters, human power is ultimately insignificant and powerless.
Su Jiu finished his rice in a few bites, patted Sanyuan, and said, "Help Master put the bowl in the kitchen."
Sanyuan obediently did as instructed.
"I need to go to the bamboo house to give the person acupuncture. After three days of treatment to stabilize the condition, they can take a medicinal bath. After that, they only need to go once every other day." Su Jiu, bored, imitated Si Wang's mannerisms, reaching out from under the eaves to catch a few ice crystals.
"Oh, go ahead." Ye Wenxue said indifferently, "Take Dazhuang with you, and a few pounds of bean sprouts too, and ask Xu Lin to teach him to read."
Su Jiu retorted, "I can do it too! Why should a blind man teach him?"
Ye Wenxue knew that Su Jiu didn't mean to look down on Xu Lin, but was simply unconvinced: "Mr. Su, have you ever taken the imperial examination? Have you ever obtained any official rank? Or are you also a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examination)?"
Even Siwang could hear the sarcastic tone in his words.
Siwang covered his face and kept laughing.
Su Jiu, who had studied everything but never taken the imperial examinations, said: "...Okay."
Before leaving, Su Jiu insisted on bringing Sanyuan along to assist him, saying that a doctor should not only learn medicinal cuisine, but also acupuncture.
Considering that the bald man was in the bamboo house and Su Jiu carried poison with him, making him extremely safe, Ye Wenxue let him go.
Anyway, there's not much to do at home on a snowy day, and the vegetable garden is all frozen solid, so hard to dig.
Dazhuang and Sanyuan were taken to the bamboo house. They didn't encounter any danger along the way, but it was so cold that they were almost frozen.
Su Jiu was too lazy to exchange pleasantries with the bald man. After chatting with Xu Lin for a few minutes by the fire, he dismissed the others and began to give him acupuncture.
Sanyuan watched from the side, not daring to utter a sound.
Such a long needle, it must hurt so much if it pricks you!
Dazhuang went to check out the charcoal kiln, and when he had nothing to do, he followed the bald man to study the fire cage and brazier for a while. He asked in a strange way, "Where are Zhiwu and Zhiwang?"
"He went to move the millstone and grinding wheel." The bald man blew the dust off his hands, his eyes fixed on the fire basket that was about to take shape. "He left early this morning. Seeing that it was snowing heavily today, I thought you wouldn't come."
Just as Dazhuang was about to speak, a panicked shout suddenly came from outside the bamboo house: "Brother Nian, come quick! Zhiwu is about to collapse!" The bald man immediately put down what he was doing and instructed Dazhuang: "Go inside. Don't go out unless you hear me call you. Also, keep an eye on the others!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the bald man rushed out of the bamboo house and ran to the charcoal kiln to call his brothers.
Da Zhuang frowned, looking back every few steps, thinking to himself that the bald man wasn't much of a good person, but he was a pretty good second brother.
He thought for a moment, then, instead of rushing off to disturb Su Jiu and Xu Lin who were receiving acupuncture, he went to the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and ran to the room where Lan Qing, Xu Lin's mother, and Baldy's mother were.
Xu Lin's mother saw that Dazhuang was only eight years old, so she let him in and glanced at the kitchen knife in his hand: "What's wrong?"
The three of them were learning embroidery with the doors and windows tightly shut, and they didn't hear any noise outside.
Dazhuang dragged a stool to the door and sat down, whispering, "Zhixing and Zhiwu are back. I wonder what happened, but..."
He swallowed his suspicions and glanced at his composed bald mother: "Brother Nian has gone to see how things go. If there's nothing else, he'll call out, and then we can go out."
Bald Man's mother sighed and continued threading her needle and embroidering by candlelight: "Alright, I'll do as you say... I don't know when we'll finally have some peace and quiet."
First came the rebel uprising, then drought and snowstorms, and after being forced into the bandits' den, troubles kept piling up...
This world is too chaotic.
Lan Qing remained silent, pulled a knife from the corner of the wall, and sat down on a bench with Da Zhuang, anxiously listening to the sounds outside.
Not long after, the bald man's voice came from outside.
Dazhuang carefully opened the window, revealing a small crack, and peeked out.
The bald man carried the battered Zhiwu on his back, while the other brothers carried the pale-faced Zhiwang, and placed him under the eaves.
Dazhuang was startled. After telling the people inside, he went out and ran to Zhiwu's side: "What happened?"
Zhi Wu had already fainted from blood loss, and Zhi Wang, pale-faced, began, "That place has been occupied. They...they took a liking to the donkey driving the cart, and..."
Zhiwang, mindful that Dazhuang was still an inexperienced child, didn't finish his sentence.
The group of refugees were starving, and they not only coveted the donkey driving the cart, but also him and Zhiwu, plotting to... kill and eat them.
The bald man's expression was grim. After quickly bandaging Zhiwu's bleeding wound, he strode towards Xu Lin's room and raised his hand to knock on the door.
They were also worried that Su was undergoing acupuncture at a critical moment and should not be disturbed.
After hesitating for a few breaths, the bald man knocked on the door twice and called out into the house, "Dr. Su, please come out and save the person after you finish the acupuncture."
With a creak, the door opened.
Sanyuan peeked over the bald man's head and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly ran back and called out to Su Jiu, "Master, hurry and get the needles! The person has been saved!"
Upon hearing this, Su Jiu immediately understood that the bald man was not deliberately provoking him. He quickly sped up the process of removing the needle and shouted outside, "Bring the person in!"
The bandits carried the unconscious Zhiwu and Zhixing around the bald man who exuded murderous intent and entered the house.
Xu Lin knew the seriousness of the situation. Despite the pain, he moved halfway to make room for the seriously injured person on the kang (a heated brick bed).
Su Jiu told Da Zhuang to fetch some hot water to wipe the blood off the people's bodies. While taking the pulse of the more seriously injured Zhi Wu, he asked:
"What exactly happened? He was injured... If he had been brought here any later, he might not have survived."
Normal disturbances shouldn't escalate to this serious level.
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