The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 68 Spring Warmth Saved His Life

"Shut the hell up!" Master Xiao roared again. "Now, everyone, give Mr. Yang the names of everyone you can remember, and he'll write them down. Then he'll call roll, ticking off the names of those called and circling off the names of those who aren't there."

Drawing a circle means it's gone.

This method is simple and brutal, yet it shattered the illusions of so many families!
After a final series of procedures, seventeen boatmen were circled, confirming their deaths. Their families, naturally, wept bitterly in despair.

It was completely dark when Lao Luo finally dragged his leaden legs into the house.

He didn't even know how he got home. As soon as he entered the house, he plopped down on a bamboo stool.

"What's wrong with you? Have you lost your soul?"

Aunt Luo originally wanted to scold him a bit. This man was really lazy. He went out early in the morning saying he was delivering medicinal wine, but when he went to Brother Chen's house, he just mooched lunch and dinner. He sat in one spot and didn't move an inch. Could it be that he had gone to play cards again instead of studying?

Uncle Luo remained seated on the stool, not moving an inch, and didn't reply to her at all.

"Hey, why aren't you saying anything? What's wrong with you? Are you possessed?"

Aunt Luo waved her hand in front of the man.

"Don't bother me." Uncle Luo grabbed his hand. "I almost didn't make it back today?"

"What's wrong?"

What's so scary about this?
Did I say this morning that I was going to do some boat pulling?

"That's right, you got up early this morning saying you wanted to go to the dock. I told you to rest for two days, but you wouldn't. If it weren't for the spring warmth persuading you, you wouldn't know how serious the consequences of not listening to advice can be." Aunt Luo said, "If you're sick, just rest and recover before you come back to work. The old folks always say that sharpening your axe won't delay your woodcutting work. That's the same principle. Don't be reckless and let your illness get worse."

"You have no idea, if I hadn't listened to Chunnuan's advice today, or if Chunnuan hadn't come, you might really have become a widow and had to remarry with my children."

"Are you crazy, you old hag..."

Even if you die, I will never remarry!
He swallowed those words back, wanting to instill a sense of crisis in him, otherwise he wouldn't value his own life.

You have to understand that as the head of the family, his life is the life of his entire family.

If he doesn't cherish his own life, there will be many long-term consequences.

"What's wrong? Why are you saying that?"

Aunt Luo belatedly realized that she had missed the key point: what did it mean that she almost didn't make it back?

"Wasn't it pouring rain today?"

"Yes, yes, yes, the rain was really heavy at noon, the eaves were gushing water like a torrent," Aunt Luo said. "I was just saying, with such heavy rain, it must be dangerous for you to pull the boat."

"Something happened. During a heavy rain, they were pulling a large boat in the direction of the whirlpool. More than a hundred people went into the river, but the boat swerved and took seventeen people with it. The oldest was forty-nine years old and the youngest was only sixteen."

"Seventeen of them didn't come up. Can't find them?"

Aunt Luo's eyes widened: "You...you're scaring me."

"Why would I scare you? This is not something to joke about." Old Luo was still shaken. "If spring hadn't come, not only would my illness have been so serious that I would have had to rest for half a month, but I would definitely have gone into the river. Do you think you would still be able to see me then?"

"Spring warmth is like a bodhisattva, it saved my life."

"Yes, we really should thank Chunnuan."

"Stop talking!" Aunt Luo said, her face pale with fright. "Husband, we're not going to do that kind of work anymore. No matter how much money we make, we won't do it. Living well is more important than anything else. Life is more important than money. We need people to make money." "If we don't do this, we'll starve! I've been pulling boats at the docks since I was fourteen. I haven't learned anything else. What else can I do?" Uncle Luo said helplessly. "Is it possible that we can support our family just by renting that little bit of land?"

"If you quit, rent more land, plant more acres, that way you can fill your stomach," Aunt Luo said. "Anyway, you're not allowed to go to the dock to pull the boat now."

"You probably don't know, but whenever something like this happens, the river never stays peaceful." Luo Dadao said in a low voice, "Seventeen people, so we need to find seventeen scapegoats. This river will never be quiet again."

"Don't say that."

Oh my god, Uncle Luo was horrified when he heard his wife say that.

He understood this, as the old folks say that anyone who dies a violent death will suffer another misfortune in the same place. It's said that the person who died a violent death waits there until someone else comes along to take their place, so that they can be reincarnated.

Every year over the years, something happens in the river, and everyone knows in their hearts that it's just a scapegoat!
"It's better to believe in something than nothing. We've already agreed that you're not allowed to go to the dock to pull the boats anymore."

"Alright, alright, listening to your wife will bring you good fortune," Uncle Luo quickly said. "If I don't pull the boat anymore, what can I do?"

"When it comes to farming, think it over carefully. Do whatever you can. There are countless paths in the world, not just this one."

"That's true, let me think about it."

Uncle Luo sat there deep in thought.

"Really? Did you give Brother Chen that medicinal wine? How was it?"

Aunt Luo was too embarrassed to ask: Did you pay me?

After all, he had given Chunnuan so much money; she shouldn't just accept it as a favor.

“Sure, I applied it to Brother Chen. After a while, he said it felt a little hot, and then he said it was itchy. His symptoms after applying the medicated wine were the same as mine, so it must be effective.”

"That's good. Hey, how much do you think this Chunnuan medicinal wine would cost outside? It's so effective!"

"It's hard to say, we're not experts," Uncle Luo said. "Chunnuan told us to keep it a secret, so we can't cause her any trouble. Remember, just say it's a secret recipe passed down from an old hunter I found in the mountains."

"Yes, yes, it's a family secret recipe."

Then she looked at the man, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

Uncle Luo...

"Say whatever you want to say. I can't guess what you women are thinking."

"Um, how much did you sell it to Brother Chen for?"

"Brother Chen, I won't take your money," Uncle Luo said. "When I first came to the river, I was small and weak. Brother Chen helped me a lot and taught me how to use my strength cleverly to achieve twice the result with half the effort. He has always taken good care of me, so I can't take his money."

"That's true. Gratitude is a fine tradition in our Luo family," said Aunt Luo. "What do you plan to do with the few small bottles of wine left? Give them all away?"

"How could that be? We don't even have that much money in our family." Uncle Luo said, "Chunnuan meant well and said she wouldn't sell at a high price, but if we really lower the price like this, it will be difficult for her to raise it later. In my opinion, it would be better if I just cleaned it for those people and didn't say I was selling it. I would just ask them to pay me after I finished cleaning it."

He couldn't bear to sell such good medicinal wine at a low price.

That would be creating hidden dangers for Chunnuan; it's not something he would do!
"That's fine. The medicine doesn't have a price. They'll realize it's a good thing and worth a high price when it works. Your boatmen brothers can just apply it and give them some money, more or less."

(End of this chapter)