BXBX NOVEL Chapter 122: Must Take Medicine_l
Yingbao blinked her eyes, “These can cure any disease. Uncle Wu, you must take them. Only then will you get better.”
Wu Daozi laughed, “You are a clever little girl indeed.”
As he spoke, he popped a medicial pellet into his mouth and chewed it before swallowing. He nodded and said, “Hmm, it has a sweet and sour taste. It seems to contain hawthorn.”
Yingbao gave an awkward smile and glanced at the lump on his neck. Seeing it hadn’t grown, she sighed with relief and said mysteriously, “Uncle Wu, you better believe, my medicine is the best. I even cured Chen Zhu.”
Wu Daozi, while fanning himself, asked casually, “Who is Chen Zhu?”
“He is the son of Clan Leader Chen. He almost died from a severe injury to his thigh, but I saved him.” Yingbao enthusiastically praised herself. “Am I impressive or not?”
Wu Daozi laughed and said, “Very impressive.”
“So, Uncle Wu, you must take your medicine regularly. Then, the lump on your neck will stop growing.” Yingbao dared to point out Wu County Magistrate’s weakness.
Wu Daozi seemed thoughtful, picked up another pill and examined it carefully. He also took the time to smell it.
Yingbao stole a glance at Second Uncle, seeing that he had retreated with Wu Rui to the side under the eaves. She said to Wu Daozi, “Uncle Wu, my family also grows quite a lot of cotton. It can be used to weave cloth or make cotton clothes and quilts. It’s much better than ramie. Would you like to take a look?”
She knew if Wu Daozi wanted to stand out in the year-end evaluation, he must do one or two things beneficial to the country and the people in his term. Her cotton would certainly become the greatest achievement of the local official in the future.
Once cotton cultivation is promoted, it will significantly solve the people’s problem of clothing and keeping warm.
Originally, Yingbao didn’t understand these, but she had read a lot of dialogues. She knew a bit about the affairs of the officialdom.
“What cotton?” Wu Daozi was certainly interested.
Yingbao dug out a pack of cotton from the bottom of the bamboo basket, along with a ball of cotton thread and a piece of cotton cloth. She showed them to Wu Daozi one by one.
Wu Daozi took them for a close look, his eyes shining brighter as he looked.
“What species is this? Where did you get it from?”
“This cotton was grown by my family. The seeds were bought from a salesman. They are said to be a foreign variety.” Yingbao told Wu Daozi everything. “We planted it last year and yielded several hundred pounds per acre.”
Suddenly, Wu Daozi sat upright and asked Yingbao seriously, “How many families in your area are planting this?”
Yingbao counted on her fingers, “About ten or so families. They didn’t plant much, just a few acres each, not as much as my family.”
“Did your family give them the seeds as well?” Wu Daozi asked. “Are there any left now?”
“Yes, but we shared all of our seeds with the villagers. After the autumn harvest, we will have plenty of cotton seeds again.”
Wu Daozi suddenly stood up, his eyes burning as he stared at Yingbao, “Little
Yingbao, can this cotton really yield a few hundred pounds per acre?”
“Yes, if the field is fertile, it should yield more than a few hundred pounds. Our two acres yielded nearly a thousand pounds of seed cotton last year. This year, we planted over 20 acres. We estimate it will yield 10,000 pounds of cotton.”
10,000 pounds of cotton would spin so many threads and weave so many cloths. It’s much better than growing ramie.
Wu Daozi’s eyes shone excitedly. He paced back and forth, then suddenly turned and walked out.
Yingbao was anxious. She still had something important to say. “Uncle Wu, I still have something important to tell you.”
“Hmm?” Wu Daozi turned back, “What is it?”
Yingbao ran up to him and whispered, “Mansion Wei Family from Prefecture
City wants to vindicate the Han Family.”
“Mansion Wei Family from Prefecture City?” Wu Daozi indeed knew about this Wei Family. It was said to have close relations with some Commandery Prince.
“How do you know?” Wu Daozi asked.
Yingbao then told him about how Old Chen had gone to Prefecture City and brought back a group of people.
Wu Daozi rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
“Anyway, I am not a child of the Chen Family. Uncle Wu, you must not believe in anyone’s words.”
Yingbao said all she wanted to say and then took her leave, “I’m going home now, Mr. Wu, if you are free, come and visit my place. By autumn, the big gourds I’ve planted will have grown up, and I can send some to you.”
Wu Daozi smiled slightly, “Okay.”
Yingbao hopped off to find her uncle. On her way, she turned back to remind him, “Mr. Wu, make sure to take your medicine. I’ll come over again after some time. My pears are almost ripe, and there are peaches too.”
Wu Daozi smiled and nodded.
After leaving the County Government, Jiang Erlang wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead. He wasn’t sure if it was from the heat or something else, but he had to admit he admired his tiny niece.
He could never hold a good conversation with Mingfu himself, but his little niece managed to say so much, even convincing the important official to take her medicine. What’s more, Mingfu had agreed.
He sighed. He really needed to learn from his niece.
It was getting late. If he left the county town now to journey home, which was tens of miles away, it might not be very safe.
Jiang Erlang decided to stay overnight and go home the next day. It was a good chance to wander around the town and do some shopping.
He and his elder brother had each earned over a hundred taels of silver from selling premium gold ear mushrooms and white fungus. He had made back all the extravagant spending done for his wedding.
With this money, Jiang Erlang decided to buy some things for his wife and children.
He bought stationery for Huzi and his daughter along with copybooks and books. Some nice-looking summer clothes were purchased for his wife and children. Then he parked the mule cart in front of a temple and went in to consult for Yanru.
The old nun in the temple who was a doctor said that it was difficult for a woman like Yanru who was amenorrhoeic to become pregnant. She advised Jiang Erlang not to get his hopes up too high.
Jiang Erlang was slightly disappointed, but he came to terms very soon.
Anyway, he already had a son and a daughter. Whether Yanru could have a child or not was not so important.
In fact, Jiang Erlang had known this before marrying Yanru. Getting medical advice was just to clarify things for himself.
Yanru had been married once before and was divorced by her ex-husband because she hadn’t conceived for three years.
She had mentioned this to Jiang Erlang.
So Jiang Erlang didn’t ask his parents to hire a matchmaker for him, nor did he let anyone in his family know.
The county town is about eighty or ninety miles from Chuanhe Town. As long as he and Yanru didn’t tell, nobody in Chen Village would know about this.
While wandering about the county town, Yingbao and her uncle bought some books and primers for her little brother, and some facial cream and rouge powder for her mother. Finally, they visited Jiukang Medicine Shop and bought a decent quantity of exotic spices.
These spices were quite expensive – she spent nearly twenty taels of silver on a few small packs.
The spices she bought all had seeds, like pepper, coriander, garlic, onions, and so on.
After returning home the next day, the first thing Yingbao did was to sow those spices in her underground cellar and water them thoroughly.
She wasn’t sure if they would survive but whatever, as long as one of them could grow, she would make a profit.
That day, Chuchu came back, bringing her younger brothers, Chuyan and Chuqing with her.
“Yingbao, they just came to have a look, nothing else. You…you don’t mind, do you?” Chuchu fiddled with her fingers nervously, afraid that Yingbao would be displeased and send her away.
Yingbao replied, ‘I don’t mind. You can show them around. There are apricots on the trees that you can pick and give to them. Later, we’ll catch some shrimps in the pond. Then, we can have lunch at my place.’
Chuchu smiled, hugged Yingbao, and said, “Thank you, Yingbao.”
Thus, a big group of children, carrying bamboo poles and nets, went to pick apricots and catch shrimps.
The only pity was the pond was small and the yield of shrimps was limited. They only managed to get less than half a basket of shrimps after a long effort.
Taking advantage of the fact that her second cousin was not around, Yingbao secretly went to his breeding pond and caught half a basket of loaches. Only then did she happily take the children home..