General, your wife has gone to deliver another calf for your horse.

Chapter 6 I am a veterinarian

Li Xiao'er stared at Jiang Nuanzhi in disbelief, her dark eyes fixed on her, her small fists clenched tightly: "You really?"

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence, then turned his face away, withdrawing his gaze. His long eyelashes cast a shadow, and his voice was muffled: "You took the last thirty coins from the box, there really isn't a single one left, and lying to me won't work."

Last time, they trusted her, and she swindled all their money. Now they have nothing to eat and have to rely on their brother digging potatoes to survive.

Jiang Nuanzhi raised an eyebrow. After all, she was just a child. Even though she hated someone intensely, she would still believe what she said.

This little rascal had no idea; he practically had the word "anticipation" written all over his face. Perhaps he, too, had fantasized about someone appearing to protect them like a mother.

Jiang Nuanzhi sighed softly and held his small hand: "I won't take your money anymore. What I gave you before is yours. If you ever need money in the future, come to me. I'll go and scam you, or rather, I'll go and earn it."

Then, she soaked the handkerchief in cool water and stuck it to his face: "Put a cold compress on yourself to reduce the swelling. Let me see your leg. Just bear with it."

Jiang Nuanzhi carefully unwrapped the tattered cloth. The child's lower legs were crudely fixed with tree branches, and swelling and deformation were clearly visible.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Li Xiaoer's wary face showed a hint of panic as he tried to pull his leg back.

"Don't move!" Jiang Nuanzhi said, "If you move, I'm going to kiss you."

A tear welled up in the clear eyes that belonged only to a child. He clenched his little fists, staring blankly into his mind, and ultimately did not move.

Jiang Nuanzhi inspected the area and found that the part he had previously fixed had broken again, and the fixing branch was rather perfunctory and had not served its purpose of securing the branch at all.

They went outside to find a wooden stick to help him regain his position, and then used some wine to clean his dirty, swollen wounds from the fall.

It took several washes to finally get a little better.

Jiang Nuanzhi found a clean cloth and wrapped his wound again, then slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Coming to her senses, she noticed that Li Xiaoer's forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, but he just gritted his teeth and stared at her blankly.

Now that his face was clean, Jiang Nuanzhi could finally see his features clearly. He was handsome, and perhaps because he was so thin, it seemed as if his eyes took up half of his face. His long eyelashes trembled, making him appear both fragile and stubborn.

Jiang Nuanzhi patted his head: "Remember, you can't move this leg around, you can't walk, and you can't get it wet. You can only move around after it's fully recovered. Then you can go play wildly in the mountains and fields whenever you want."

I touched his head; his temperature was slightly elevated.

I rolled my eyes; I was anemic.

I looked at her tongue; she has anemia.

Upon taking his pulse, it was found to be deep and weak, indicating that he had been exhausted and his heart and spleen were damaged.
Looking at the child more closely, Jiang Nuanzhi noticed his dry, yellow hair, sallow complexion, small stature, and dark circles under his eyes. She couldn't help but sigh. He would likely need some proper care and recuperation.

She actually wanted to give the child medicine, but unfortunately, she didn't have any special abilities or magical powers. She was powerless to do anything without the necessary resources. She could only think about going out tomorrow to buy some medicinal herbs, a set of needles, and plenty of food. She had just searched the house, and besides two fist-sized sprouted potatoes in the jar, there was nothing else to eat.

I don't know if this one or two taels of silver is enough.

If it's really not enough, let's find a way to postpone paying back the money we owe Aunt Liu.
It's really a long road to saving ten taels of silver.

"Hey, are you a doctor?" Li Xiao'er pursed his lips. A while ago, his brother carried him to town to see a doctor. The doctor said that he was afraid he would become a cripple in the future. This bad woman said that he could run around freely. She really knows how to lie!
Jiang Nuanzhi: "Of course, I'm a veterinarian, the kind who can save tens of thousands of lives. How about that? Super awesome, right?"

Li Xiaoer's brows furrowed so deeply they could have been tied in knots: "A veterinarian? Someone who treats animals? Then how come you can treat my leg?"

Jiang Nuanzhi: Uh...

"Silly boy, I was just kidding. Actually, I'm a liar."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoer immediately turned his head away with a cold expression.

I was so stupid. How could I have believed her again?

"I'll add some more firewood, you go to sleep first." Jiang Nuanzhi yawned and got up. Li Xiaoer stared at his legs for a while, then peeked into the kitchen and saw that wicked woman bending over to add firewood to the stove. Because she was very fat, she looked clumsy and strained when she bent over, and she looked terribly ugly.

Li Xiaoer frowned.

What's gotten into this bad woman today?

That was her precious second young master's firewood; why would she burn it for her own family today?

Also, it seems she helped them beat up some bad guys today.
Li Xiao'er looked towards the bed. In the past, he and his sister could only squeeze onto the animal skin on the lower part of the bed to sleep. She wouldn't allow them to come up onto the heated kang, let alone cover themselves with her quilt. Even touching it would get them beaten with a wooden stick.

Now, the wooden stick is tied to her own leg. She not only let them onto the bed, but also covered them with blankets.

She even bandaged her wounds, saying she would never hit herself again.
The kang (heated brick bed) roared to life, and warmth gradually settled in.

Li Xiaoer felt dizzy.

It hadn't been this warm in over two months. His legs still hurt a lot, but he felt as if he had come back to life.

That wicked woman just gave me some snacks.
Li Xiao'er's stomach rumbled at just the right moment, and he couldn't help but sneak a peek at the pastries placed in front of him.

The parchment paper had been torn open, revealing six neatly arranged brown, long strips of pastry inside.

He had seen the village chief's daughter eat it; it was called egg yolk pastry. Apparently, it was very expensive; a single pack was equivalent to a day's wages for an adult.

His stomach was rumbling, and the sweet aroma of egg yolk pastry filled his nostrils. Before he knew it, he had already picked one up.

I couldn't resist licking it.

It smells so good, and it tastes so sweet.

"Little Second!"

With a snap, the pastry in my hand fell to the ground in fright.

Li Xiaoer looked out the window, and in the dim candlelight, he met a pair of eyes as black as ink. He was immediately delighted and quickly moved to the window.

"Brother! Come in quickly!"

"Shh!"

Outside the window, a young boy put his index finger to his lips and shushed Li Xiaoer, signaling him to be quiet.

Li Xiao'er nodded vigorously, then lowered her voice and whispered, "Brother, come in quickly. That bad woman let us sleep in her bed tonight, so you'll be warmer and your chilblains will heal."

My brother used to have terrible frostbite. The wicked woman said it was disgusting to look at and told my brother to go outside and sleep with Big Black.

The boy outside the window silently shook his head, then stared at his younger siblings for a long while before disappearing silently into the night before Jiang Nuanzhi entered the room.

Jiang Nuanzhi was also tired.

The town was too far away; it took two hours to travel there by donkey cart.

When they returned, the donkey carts that went back to the village had already left, so they only managed to hitch a ride on a half-loaded oxcart to the township. Getting back to the village then took another hour. She was also carrying a lot of things and her child, and now her feet were blistered.

She soaked her feet in hot water, and with great effort, she managed to remove the blisters from her chubby, fleshy feet. She remembered to feed her sleeping little daughter some water before collapsing onto the kang (heated brick bed) and falling into a deep sleep.

Sure enough, my insomnia and anxiety were cured in no time.

Naturally, she was asleep and unaware that in the middle of the night, a pair of pitch-black eyes stared intently at her through the broken window, like a hungry wolf eyeing its prey, as if it were about to pounce and bite off her neck at any moment.

(End of this chapter)