The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

Yingbao and Chunniang walked into Clan Leader Chen’s courtyard, stunned by the scene before them.

Incense smoke filled the courtyard, and two five- or six-year-olds danced in front of the incense table.

The two of them were draped in multi-colored ribbons, and held colorful ropes and peace fans in their hands. Bronze bells tied around their wrists and ankles jingled as they moved.

“Were these shamans?” wondered Yingbao.

An old woman wearing a feather crown came forward, dancing around Yingbao.

Chunniang frowned, protectively scooping up her daughter, and turned to ask

Clan Leader Chen, “Uncle Chen, what is the meaning of this?”

Chen Fu awkwardly touched his nose and didn’t dare to speak the truth. Instead, he told the Divine Witch Song, “Yingbao wants to go in to see my son’s illness, would you please make way?”

Divine Witch Song gave a knowing look and immediately stepped aside.

Chen Fu then said to Chunniang, “The Divine Witch is performing a ritual. Let’s go inside first.”

Seeing that Divine Witch Song had moved aside, Chunniang held her daughter and walked into the house.

The house still smelled strongly of incense and candles, mingled with a faint stench of decay.

Chunniang wrinkled her nose, placed her daughter down at her daughter’s indication.

Yingbao walked to the front of the bed and stood on her tiptoes to look at the sick person.

Unable to see clearly, she asked Chen Fu to bring over a chair and stood on it to pull back the covers.

A wave of foul stench hit her.

Chen Zhu was not wearing pants, only a loincloth.

Chunniang gasped and was about to carry her daughter out of the room.

Yingbao waved her hand and said to Chunniang, “It’s okay. As a doctor, I must be impartial to gender. Mother, you can go out first. I will examine the patient’s injuries.”

If she was to become a doctor, she would inevitably have to deal with the human body. She may even have to dissect the corpse and examine the internal organs. She couldn’t fulfill her dream of becoming a Divine Doctor if she can’t even face a man’s body.

Helpless, Chunniang left the room and stood guard at the door.

Yingbao examined Chen Zhu’s leg wound. Seeing it was covered with dark ointment, she suggested Chen Fu to clean it off.

Chen Fu immediately called his daughter-in-law to bring some hot water for cleaning his son’s wound.

“Do you have any spirits?” Yingbao asked.

Madam Wen always said that external injuries need to be cleaned with strong liquor to kill bacteria, before applying medicine for the best effects.

Chen Fu shook his head, “No spirits.”

He had only heard of spirits, but never seen it.

In this rural place, even rice wine was not common, let alone spirits.

“Then use boiling water, let it cool and use it to clean his wounds. The cloth must also be sterilized by boiling and drying,” Yingbao instructed seriously. Shao accepted and immediately started to do as Yingbao instructed.

Yingbao then took Chen Zhu’s pulse and looked at his pupils.

Madam Wen had said that if a patient’s pupils dilate, it is a strong indication the person may not survive.

Yingbao had never seen dilated pupils before, now she finally did.

Chen Zhu’s pupils were indeed somewhat dilated, certainly different from the regular pupils of a healthy person.

Yingbao took a pill from her bag, considering that Chen Zhu couldn’t swallow solid food, she asked Chen Fu to bring a bowl and pour some tea into it.

She crushed the pill and dissolved it in the tea, then let Chen Fu feed it to his son.

After a while, Shao brought hot water for her husband to clean the wound and Yingbao stood on the chair to watch.

The thigh wound was dreadful, a gaping hole in it was filled with pus. It looked disgusting.

Shao sobbed as she cleaned the wound, tears fell into the wash basin.

Yingbao wanted to tell her not to let her tears drip into the water.

Lowering her head, she saw a narrow-eyed little boy looking at her with his head raised, his eyes dark and deep.

It was Little Demon, Chen Zhu’s son.

Yingbao sat down and motioned for the Little Demon to come over.

After a moment of hesitation, Little Demon approached her.

Yingbao took out a cooked water chestnut from her bag and handed it to him.

“This is for you.”

Little Demon took it and studied it, but did not eat it.

“The wound has been cleaned,” said Mrs. Shao softly.

Yingbao nodded, asked Mrs. Shao to fetch a new basin of clean water, and withdrew a small sharp knife from her bag.

She used this knife when harvesting golden ears, and today she planned to use it to cut Chen Zhu’s wound.

Seeing Yingbao take out a small knife, Mrs. Shao’s complexion changed. But before she could speak, Yingbao instructed, “Bring the candle lamp over.”

Mrs. Shao obeyed and fetched the candle lamp.

Yingbao placed the lamp to the side, instructed Mrs. Shao to prepare hot water, then she climbed onto the kang bed platform where Chen Zhu was, ready to cut into his wound.

Chen Fu stared, his eyes wide in disbelief. But the Fairy Child was someone he had invited, even if he had many doubts, he did not dare voice them just yet.

Pressing around the wound, Yingbao noticed Chen Zhu’s spasms and quickly instructed Chen Fu. “Grandpa Chen, have a few people come in to hold him down. Don’t let him move around.”

Chen Fu immediately went to the door to call for people. He summoned his oldest son and grandson.

The three men held Chen Zhu down while Mrs. Shao brought the hot water and two pieces of cloth that had been heated.

Yingbao cleaned her hands with the fresh water, and also cleaned her knife before holding it over the candle flame for a good while.

Once the knife had cooled off, Yingbao squatted beside Chen Zhu’s leg and made a small incision in his wound, releasing a wave of foul-smelling pus and blood.

Chen Zhu woke up in pain, his legs thrashing around, but fortunately Chen Fu and the others kept him still.

Fighting back against her discomfort, Yingbao made a few more cuts around the wound, releasing even more pus and blood.

Once the flow of pus and blood had lessened, she cleaned the area with a clean cloth and applied some of the medicinal ointment she had brought along.

This ointment contained not only Five Tripod Fungi, but also baical skullcap root, honeysuckle flowers, red sage root, and knotweed flour.

All of these ingredients were bought from the town’s apothecary, in preparation for unexpected injuries.

Ever since Yingbao had read the Classic of Herbal Medicine and the Folk Herbals the older sister Wen gave her, she planned to store more herbs in her cave dwelling to create various ointments and herbal pills, to be prepared for sudden needs.

Since the future would not be peaceful, with the Imperial Court constantly conscripting troops to quell rebellions, it was possible that some of her family members would be conscripted one day. Therefore, she had to prepare more special wound medicine.

This was the first time she had prepared wound medicine, and now she was testing it on Chen Zhu to see its effectiveness.

After applying the medicine, Yingbao jumped off the kang bed and pulled out a few more medication pills, passing them to Mrs. Shao. “Give him two pills every two hours and tie a clean cloth around his wound. Be careful not to rub off the ointment. I will come back tomorrow to check on him.”

Mrs. Shao nodded repeatedly in agreement

Yingbao looked at Clan Leader Chen and spoke, “Grandpa Chen, you have to pay me for the medicine this time. There will be no consultation fee, but the pills and ointments are expensive.”

Chen Fu did not seem surprised and asked, “How much in total?”

“Five taels of silver,” answered Yingbao.

Chen Fu froze for a moment but still went to fetch a nugget of five taels of silver from his house and handed it to Yingbao.

Yingbao pocketed the silver and dashed out of the house, followed closely by Chun Niang carrying her daughter.

Divine Witch Song wanted to say something, but was rudely interrupted by Chen Fu, “Yingbao has already medicated Zhu’er, and she said she would be back tomorrow to check on him. The offering fee to invite the Divine Witch will be delivered to you by my eldest son. I still have things to arrange and will not see you off.”

Divine Witch Song rolled her eyes quietly, not saying more. She immediately instructed her grandchildren to pack up and prepare to head home.

Psh! Did they really think that little brat was a true Fairy Child? That was just something she said on purpose! If Chen Zhu dies tomorrow, they can blame it on Yingbao. Then no one can put the blame on her, Divine Witch Song..