Chapter 69: The Medicine Has Arrived!
Jian Xingxia’s current knack for spinning yarns had improved significantly.
“Oh, this bamboo tube is part of the medicinal vehicle. They are used to storing the ointment in bamboo tubes, then boiling it with water to drink.”
Liang Chengcheng was shocked. “It can be done like that?”
Lin Sanniang, however, felt a surge of joy in her heart. She had been thinking just now that the ointment the young mistress gave her was thinner than the one from the doctor, resembling the cough medicine she had previously taken orally. If it was scraped from the clean bottles into the bamboo tubes, it might not be convenient to pour out later. But the moment Jian Xingxia spoke, Lin Sanniang had an idea.
She could first use a bamboo splinter to scoop it out to eat, and when whatever was left couldn’t be scooped out anymore, she could simply wash the outside of the bamboo tube clean and toss the whole thing into the medicine pot to boil with water for drinking. That way, nothing would go to waste, and she could drink every last drop. Lin Sanniang cheered up.
Jian Xingxia quickly urged Liang Chengcheng to leave. “Go help me check where Dahua and the others went, and bring some things down to the creek while you’re at it. Once I see Lin… Auntie Lin off, I’ll head down to the creek to find you.”
“Sure!” Liang Chengcheng had also finished handling her tasks and was just waiting for the courier to come collect her packages. This was the perfect time to go play by the creek while the sun was still high.
Once Liang Chengcheng left, Jian Xingxia hurriedly settled the wages with Lin Sanniang.
“Sanniang, your wages for today come to sixty yuan, the ointment cost 25 yuan and 60 cents, what else would you like for the remainder?”
Lin Sanniang, however, refused to take anything more. All she sought was this ointment, because she couldn’t just watch her biological sister die. As for anything else, she truly didn’t want to take it, feeling that Jian Xingxia had already helped her immensely.
Jian Xingxia smiled. “The ointment is the ointment, and that’s already been accounted for. Besides, you gave me those two bracelets, which are highly precious gifts to me, so I have already received your gratitude. As for the wages, that’s what you earned through your labor; even if you don’t take it, it won’t make me rich. If you take it away and it helps Taoya, your sister, and the rest live better, it can be counted as me indirectly doing a good deed.”
Hearing this, Lin Sanniang stopped declining. It was true—the wages the young mistress gave Taoya had saved her life. The ointment and supplies she carried back could also save her sister’s life, and the lives of a whole large family. These were all good deeds performed by the young mistress, and the young mistress would receive good karma for it.
Out of the sixty yuan, a balance of thirty-four yuan remained, and Lin Sanniang still wanted to select fabric. Jian Xingxia let her have her way; out of the remaining ten catties from the initial twenty catties of fabric scraps, Lin Sanniang selected another six catties, which converted to twenty-four yuan. For the final ten yuan, Lin Sanniang chose grain and coarse salt.
Since there was still space in the bamboo basket, Jian Xingxia stuffed a massive basket full of sun-dried wild vegetables for Lin Sanniang as well. She sincerely hoped that Lin Sanniang and her family could survive the famine and overcome this hurdle. Once people could eat their fill and stopped digging up seed grain from the fields, she might be able to search for some crop seeds suitable for the Daliang Dynasty for Lin Sanniang and the others to carry back.
It wouldn’t work right now; she had heard from Lin Sanniang that out in the countryside fields, many seed grains had been dug up and stolen by people. Households with large populations that possessed strong labor and young men would guard the fields in shifts. Lin Sanniang, a lone woman raising three children, couldn’t defend her two mu of thin land, and since she couldn’t afford the fees to rent farming tools and buy seed grain, she could only lease the land to her eldest brother-in-law’s family, hoping they could harvest a bit from the plots to cover the government taxes.
When the shift duration ended, Lin Sanniang shouldered her basket, carrying a heart full of gratitude and excitement as she walked toward the cave tunnel. Jian Xingxia also quickly tidied up, heading down to the creek to play with Liang Chengcheng.
Carrying the rice, flour, large bundles of cloth, and the ointment contained in the two bamboo tubes, Lin Sanniang entered the cave tunnel. She changed back into her clothes of the Daliang Dynasty and returned to her own world.
Compared to the young mistress’s lush, green mountain estate, the Daliang Dynasty was terrifyingly barren. There were only bald mountains and dirt roads of yellow clay. Lin Sanniang walked briskly with the supplies on her back.
Passing by the Goddess shrine, she spotted people kneeling before it, weeping and begging. Even after she had walked far away, she could still see the bowing figures before the shrine. She didn’t know who they were or what difficulties they faced, but Lin Sanniang hoped from the bottom of her heart that those people could receive rescue too.
But right now, her most urgent matter was to deliver the medicine to Lin Daniang’s house. Today was already the fifth day since Lin Daniang started taking her medicine. The doctor had said that this illness required slow nursing, but the medication could not be stopped. Otherwise, the blood stasis wouldn’t clear, and over time, the places that couldn’t pass through would clog up again, generating new blockages. If it wasn’t nursed well this time, it would only become increasingly difficult in the future.
Therefore, the medicine could not stop. Lin Sanniang knew in her heart that although Lin Daniang and her brother-in-law, Convoy Guard Mu, had given her the bracelets to help “sell” them, they hadn’t dared harbor massive expectations in their hearts. Medicine was different from other things; even if one had money, they might not be able to buy it.
Lin Sanniang first returned to her home nearby to drop off the wages she had earned today. This grain was of the absolute finest quality; even if it was for her own sister, it wasn’t suitable to deliver it directly like this. Fortunately, she still had some twenty catties of old rice she had exchanged previously at home; Lin Sanniang weighed it out and separated half of it. She also took two catties of the fabric. Only then did she hurry to Lin Daniang’s house.
Rushing as fast as she could, she finally managed to meet them before sunset.
Convoy Guard Mu was just about to head out the door. Catching sight of Lin Sanniang’s arrival, Mu—a six-foot-tall man—nearly felt his knees go weak.
“Is there medicine?”
“Yes!”
Lin Sanniang cradled a mountain of items, but Convoy Guard Mu didn’t care about those supplies; he only cared about the medicine.
This morning, Taoya had paid a visit, saying that Lin Sanniang had gone to work and would surely return with her wages today. Taoya had told Lin Daniang and Convoy Guard Mu not to fret.
“Aunt, Uncle, set your hearts at ease. The Proprietress Sister summoned my mother to work today. The Proprietress Sister is kind-hearted; even if she cannot procure the medicine, she will ensure my mother returns with her wages.”
Lin Daniang and Convoy Guard Mu had waited as bidden. But all day long, through hours of waiting, Lin Sanniang failed to show up, leaving Convoy Guard Mu frantic with anxiety. Seeing the sun about to set, Mu was terrified that the pawnshops would close and he wouldn’t be able to exchange for silver coins to buy the medicine in time, causing Lin Daniang’s medication to be interrupted.
Left with no choice, he ignored Lin Daniang’s protests and stubbornly insisted on taking the household land deed to exchange for cash.
“If the land is pawned, it can still be redeemed later.”
“But if something happens to you, what is the point of the children and me living on?” Lin Daniang wept as if her heart were breaking.
She and Convoy Guard Mu had a blind marriage, and after their wedding, because Convoy Guard Mu was away running convoys year-round, the two of them weren’t even familiar with each other for two or three years, looking incredibly stiff. It was only after they had children that things gradually improved. Lin Daniang had always felt that Convoy Guard Mu and she were just an ordinary couple who, over time, simply managed to get along and live together. But today, Convoy Guard Mu was willing to sell his ancestral land just to treat her illness, which deeply touched Lin Daniang’s heart. Perhaps those who simply got along to live together weren’t necessarily devoid of affection.
Hearing this, Lin Sanniang quickly produced the two small bamboo tubes. “I brought the medicine back! I brought the medicine back!”
Fortunately, her pace had been swift. A tiny bit later, and her sister and brother-in-law’s family would have turned into landless refugees.
