485 A Bitter Awakening
They were small, so even if Shao Shuting was lying down in the carriage and took up a lot of space, they could still barely sit in the carriage.
As soon as he sat down, Xue Yan took the medicine from Jiang Yue’s hands subconsciously and held it in his arms.
Jiang Yue looked at his thin arms that were holding all the paper-wrapped medicine, and only his head was exposed. His eyes were calm, but she did not say anything.
When they reached home, they already had lunch and were busy making ice. Sanfu was not around. He had gone to town to deliver ice to the Pei family and had not returned yet.
Shao Shuting couldn’t be carried by one hand now, so Jiang Yue and Xue Yan asked Yifu and Erfu to go to Xue Dagui’s house with them and carry Shao Shuting into the room where Xue Zhuzhi used to live.
Xue Dafu and the others were all kind-hearted people. When they saw that someone had been injured, they didn’t care if they were in a hurry to come over and immediately sent Xue Erfu and Xue Yifu off.
Xue Dagui was lazy and didn’t usually like to clean up. The room was so clean inside and out. It was only because they had left their things with Xue Dagui recently that he would help clean it up every day when they kept coming to get it.
The room wasn’t big and was very simple. Other than a box of clothes, there was only a stool and a bed.
Xue Erfu and Xue Yifu carefully carried Shao Shuting to the brick bed and found a pillow to put under his head.
There were several trees behind and around Xue Dagui’s house. The trees were quite large and had luxuriant branches and leaves. The shade of the trees almost covered Xue Dagui’s house. In addition, the front and back windows were open, making it very well ventilated. It wasn’t that hot here. However, Xue Yifu and Xue Erfu still went home and brought two basins of ice over. They placed them on the stools beside the injured man, and it was a place where the wind could blow through. This way, when there was wind, the cold air would blow onto the injured man, making the place around him cooler.
The remaining work didn’t require Xue Erfu and Xue Yifu’s help anymore. The two of them strode back to help make ice.
Jiang Yue and Xue Yan also went home and found a pot and a small stove for boiling medicine.
There was no charcoal at home, so they could just use firewood to boil the medicine, but it was not as easy to control as charcoal. Therefore, the two went to the village to see if anyone had charcoal and borrowed some.
They even found a palm-leaf fan.
Xue Dagui’s house was quite close to the river, so after washing the medicine pot in the river, Jiang Yue and Xue Yan boiled the medicine.
“You can take care of the fire. I’ll go clean up Xue Dagui’s kitchen. We’ll cook here later.” Jiang Yue said. Xue Dagui had said that they could cook here. “Just wrap the medicine in a paper bag, add three bowls of water, and boil it into one bowl of water.”
“Okay.” Xue Yan responded.
However, the charcoal hadn’t caught fire, so he had to continuously fan it. Smoke came out, and he choked on it until he coughed. His eyes were a little red. He had never brewed medicine in his previous life. This was his first time.
Xue Yan squatted in front of the small stove in the corridor, holding a cattail-leaf fan and coughing.
Jiang Yue heard it clearly from the kitchen, but she didn’t come out. She thought it was normal. Even people who often boiled medicine would often be affected by the smoke.
However, the medicine that Doctor Shen had concocted was bitter. The more it is boiled, the more bitter it will become. It was so bitter that the bitter smell spread everywhere. Jiang Yue and Xue Yan both coughed from the bitter smell.
Shao Shuting, who was pale, woke up when the bitter smell wafted through his nose.
“Ah…” Shao Shuting covered his nose with one hand and slowly opened his eyes because of the bitter smell. His coughing added some color to his face.
