Traveling through time with spatial abilities, the scientific research genius is a little sweet.

Chapter 130 Encountering A Qiu at Minghe Medical Clinic

The next day, Su Nuannuan arrived at Xu Heyi's house. Having recently learned how to make traditional Chinese medicine, Su Nuannuan was very interested in medicinal herbs, especially those made from animals and minerals—herbs that couldn't be grown in her spatial dimension.

She volunteered to help at Shen Zhihe's Minghe Medical Clinic.

As a veteran traditional Chinese medicine doctor, Shen Zhihe's clinic also hired helpers, who were mainly responsible for dispensing medicine and collecting payments.

Su Nuannuan's main purpose in coming was to identify medicinal herbs. Although she recognized some Chinese medicinal herbs, they were all plant-based. Moreover, the Chinese herbal medicine taught at school was not very comprehensive.

Only in the clinic could Su Nuannuan learn about more commonly used medicinal herbs.

Shen Zhihe was very happy that Su Nuannuan came to help at the clinic.

When no one was coming to see him, he was happy to teach Su Nuannuan some basic traditional Chinese medicine knowledge.

Su Nuannuan listened for a while, but eventually focused her attention back on recognizing the medicinal herbs.

Minghe Clinic has a pretty high volume of customers; Shen Zhihe is practically never seen idle. The young man working at the clinic is named Li Ming, and he lives in a nearby alley.

He was about five or six years older than Su Nuannuan. After Su Nuannuan arrived at the clinic, Li Ming was the one who received her.

Knowing that Su Nuannuan was Shen Zhihe's goddaughter, Li Ming's attitude towards her became much warmer. However, Su Nuannuan did not feel superior to Li Ming because of this.

Facing Li Ming, a pharmacist who has been working at Minghe Medical Clinic for five years, Su Nuannuan still has a lot to learn from him.

Upon learning that Su Nuannuan had come to help, Li Ming taught her the basics of medicine preparation.

Following the prescription, he grabbed herbs from hundreds of small compartments behind him. Watching Li Ming's skillful movements, able to grasp the approximate weight without even looking, Su Nuannuan's eyes flashed with admiration.

Su Nuannuan imitated Li Ming's movements as she prepared the medicine. Although her movements were slow, she recognized many Chinese medicinal herbs, including many that were not covered in school textbooks.

Su Nuannuan felt that she had benefited immensely.

What shocked Su Nuannuan the most was the weight of the Chinese medicinal herbs.

Each prescription typically contains more than a dozen medicinal herbs, and a patient usually needs seven or fourteen doses, or even more.

As is well known, Chinese medicinal herbs are generally quite large. Therefore, when patients come to get their medicine, it's like they're buying a large shipment; everyone leaves carrying two or three big bags of herbs.

Compared to prepared Chinese medicines, raw Chinese medicinal herbs have many drawbacks.

This was the first time Su Nuannuan had ever realized how troublesome it was to drink traditional Chinese medicine. This further solidified her resolve to process the medicinal herbs in her space into prepared Chinese medicines.

While Su Nuannuan and Li Ming were busy, a familiar figure walked into Minghe Medical Clinic.

Su Nuannuan happened to see her. The person who came was A Qiu, who had helped Su Nuannuan move her things before.

At this moment, two children who looked alike were with A Qiu. The children were probably twins, one on each side, holding A Qiu's hands and looking timidly at the people in Minghe Medical Clinic.

A Qiu didn't see Su Nuannuan, but Su Nuannuan recognized A Qiu at a glance.

However, seeing that A Qiu seemed to be there for a medical consultation, Su Nuannuan did not go up to greet him.

Li Ming also saw the three people who came in and sighed.

"Oh, what a pitiful family."

Hearing Li Ming's words, Su Nuannuan became curious. Although she had learned some information about A Qiu's family from the postman last time, she wasn't familiar with A Qiu at the time and hadn't inquired further.

Judging from Li Ming's words, he seems to be very familiar with A Qiu's family.

So Su Nuannuan asked.

"Ming-ge, do you know A-Qiu?" Li Ming nodded, somewhat surprised that Su Nuannuan knew A-Qiu.

"Nuan Nuan, you know A Qiu too?"

Su Nuannuan nodded and said.

“I asked A-Qiu to help me move things twice before, and she seemed very happy.”

Hearing Su Nuannuan's words, Li Ming showed no surprise.

"That's true, all she can do is rely on her physical strength."

After packing up the medicinal herbs for the previous customer, Li Ming handed them over. Now that he had a free hand, he continued chatting with Su Nuannuan.

The conversation, of course, revolved around Ah Qiu, who had just come in.

"A-Qiu did go to school when she was little. It's pitiful. When she was ten years old, her father was carrying goods for someone when he was hit by a collapsing cargo and died on the spot. A-Qiu's mother was not a good person. After learning that A-Qiu's father had died, she ran away with all the family's money and a merchant who came from the south. A-Qiu was only ten years old at that time, and her younger brother and sister had just been born."

This was the first time Su Nuannuan had heard about A Qiu's background, and it was even more tragic than she had imagined.

Li Ming looked at the pitying expression on Su Nuannuan's face, shook his head, and continued.

"Actually, that's not the worst part. Although A-Qiu's mother ran away, A-Qiu's father's employer paid a lot of money in compensation, which was enough to raise A-Qiu and her two siblings."

Upon hearing Li Ming's words, Su Nuannuan had a bad feeling.

Money is tempting, especially since A Qiu and her two siblings were all orphans. Although she didn't know how much money A Qiu's father's employer had lost, it must have been a considerable sum to raise the three of them.

The three siblings, A Qiu and her brother, are like children carrying gold in a bustling city; they are bound to attract many strange and eccentric people.

Sure enough, Li Ming's next words confirmed Su Nuannuan's guess.

“A Qiu’s father died and his mother ran away. Even if the three children had money, they couldn’t take care of themselves. So, at this time, A Qiu’s uncle volunteered to come and take care of them.”

At this point, Su Nuannuan could clearly sense the anger in Li Ming's tone.

"A Qiu's cousin is no good either. As soon as he came, he stopped letting A Qiu go to school and made her stay at home all day to take care of her younger siblings. He took all of A Qiu's father's compensation money and married a beautiful wife. Neither of them are good people; they often beat and scold A Qiu."

Su Nuannuan frowned and said.

"Ah Qiu is frequently abused, don't her neighbors know?"

People in this era are relatively simple and honest. If word gets out that A-Qiu is being abused, someone will definitely come knocking and say something. Although they might not stand up for A-Qiu, they won't let A-Qiu's uncle and aunt bully the two of them like this.

Li Ming knew what Su Nuannuan wanted to say, shook his head, and continued.

“At the time, A-Qiu’s neighbors did know and even came to her door. However, A-Qiu’s aunt simply said, ‘The child is disobedient and steals other people’s things,’ and then no one cared anymore.”

Su Nuannuan thought of that quiet but honest girl and felt sorry for her.

Living in such a family must be incredibly suffocating, especially since A-Qiu also has to take care of her two younger siblings.

Although she didn't know what happened to A Qiu later, based on what she knew about A Qiu before, she knew that A Qiu had never given up on her younger siblings.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit tense, Li Ming changed the subject.

"However, when A-Qiu was twelve years old, her unscrupulous cousin and aunt suddenly returned to the village with the children, leaving A-Qiu and her two siblings behind. From then on, the three siblings were freed from their suffering."

(End of this chapter)