She took out a slice of ginseng from her sleeve — which she had retrieved from the system warehouse on the road — walked to the kang, pried open Wang Yin’er’s mouth, and stuffed it in.
Then she patted her cheek and said, “This is a ginseng slice to hang your life by — don’t swallow it, just hold it in your mouth like this.”
“Mm.” Wang Yin’er made a muffled sound of acknowledgment.
She would sometimes faint from pain and sometimes wake from it — in fact, she hadn’t completely lost consciousness.
The conversation between this cousin and her father and grandmother — she had heard every word clearly.
The whole family cried like their hearts were breaking, as if they really felt sorry for her. But in truth, they clutched one hundred taels of silver and pretended to be poor, unwilling to go to the county seat to get her a doctor.
Her mother truly did care about her, but her mother was useless — she didn’t even know about the Liu family giving one hundred taels as medical compensation.
After holding the ginseng slice for a while, Wang Yin’er gathered some strength, removed the pair of gold earrings from her ears, placed them into Jiang Chun’s hand, and spoke with difficulty: “Sister, I beg you — please help me go to the county seat to find a doctor.”
She was smart enough not to tell Jiang Chun to get money directly from her own family, lest they come to hate Jiang Chun.
Jiang Chun gently patted her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry — my uncle already heard about what happened to you. He’s already sent my eldest cousin to the county seat to invite Doctor Cao from Baohe Hall.”
Wang Yin’er instantly let out a breath of relief, as if seeing a ray of hope for survival.
She said tearfully: “When I recover, I will personally go to Uncle Zheng’s home to thank him.”
Jiang Chun comforted her: “Focus on getting well first — all that can wait until you’re better.”
Then she turned her gaze to Old Lady Cao, snorted, and said: “Get the consultation fee and medicine money ready. Doctor Cao from Baohe Hall is coming to treat Yin-jie soon — you’d best not cause any trouble, or else…”
Old Lady Cao, having already been put in her place once by Jiang Chun and now exposed for the hundred taels of silver from the Liu family, sensibly didn’t talk back.
But Wang Jin’s wife, Zhou-shi — this sister-in-law — wouldn’t let it go. She shouted: “Grandma, Yin-jie is our Wang family’s girl, not her Jiang family’s girl. Whether or not to go to the county seat for a doctor is our family’s business. Why should we listen to an outsider like her?”
When Jiang Chun had dealt with Old Lady Cao and Wang Bo earlier, this Zhou couple had been working light and well-paying jobs at the Liu family’s shop in the county seat, and were completely unaware of what had happened.
But Wang Jin — this male cousin — knew that Jiang Chun wasn’t someone to mess with, so he hurriedly reached out and tugged on his wife’s sleeve to stop her from talking.
Zhou-shi flung his hand off and snapped fiercely: “What are you pulling me for? Did I say anything wrong? Since when did the Wang family’s business fall under the Jiang family’s control? You’re afraid of her, but I’m not!”
Jiang Chun didn’t pay her any attention. Instead, she looked at Old Lady Cao and said with a smile, “Old lady, you’re not going to say something about your granddaughter-in-law? Since when did the matters of the Wang family get decided by a granddaughter-in-law? You as the old matriarch really aren’t of much use anymore, huh.”
Old Lady Cao turned her head and glared at Zhou-shi, saying: “You shut your mouth. This isn’t your place to speak.”
Zhou-shi, with her protective amulet, wasn’t afraid of Old Lady Cao. Clutching her stomach, she cried and wailed, “Oh my poor child! All the family’s silver is being spent to treat your aunt, with not even a coin left for you — how will you ever marry a wife in the future?”
Jiang Chun said coolly, “Can’t marry a wife? What’s there to be afraid of — he can go be a live-in son-in-law.”
Zhou-shi was instantly choked by this and couldn’t cry anymore.
Wang Yin’er didn’t want to listen to her sister-in-law’s nonsense and directly spoke to chase them out: “You all get out. I want to speak with Cousin.”
Standing by the door and not having said anything this whole time, Jiang He now spoke coldly: “All of you go out. Let Chun-niang take a look at Yin-jie’s injuries. That way, it’ll be easier to explain things when the doctor arrives later.”
Upon hearing her younger brother speak, Jiang Xi quickly stood up and reached out to support Old Lady Cao, saying: “Mother, let’s go out first.”
She also told her son, Wang Jin, to help Zhou-shi: “Jin-ge’er, help your wife.”
Zhou-shi didn’t want to go out at first, but seeing the whole family moving outside, she felt it pointless to stay behind alone. She left grumbling and muttering, not even letting Wang Jin help her.
Once everyone had left, Wang Yin’er took off the pair of silver bangles shaped like shrimp whiskers from her wrists, the gold-plated silver hairpin from her head, and a ruby gold ring from her finger, handing them all to Jiang Chun and said: “Sis, hold on to these for me for now. If the family refuses to pay for my medicine, pawn these for the treatment. If I’m unlucky and don’t make it, use them to buy me a decent coffin.”
Jiang Chun wrapped the items in a handkerchief and tucked them into her money pouch, saying: “I’ll hold onto these for now. When you’re better, you can come get them back from me. As for the medicine money, don’t worry — I’ll definitely make your grandma pay for it.”
She wasn’t afraid of offending Old Lady Cao. She had already beaten her once — if that counted as offending, then the offense was long done.
Wang Yin’er gripped Jiang Chun’s hand, tears flowing: “Sis, you’re a good one. I treated you poorly in the past, yet you didn’t hold it against me and still came to help me. I…”
Jiang Chun placed her hand back under the blanket, snorted and chuckled: “No need to get so emotional. I’m not doing this for you — I’m doing it for my father’s sake, and for my aunt’s sake. Otherwise, I couldn’t be bothered with such meddling.”
Wang Yin’er wiped her tears, crying and laughing: “Sis, you’ve got a cold face but a warm heart, a sharp mouth but a soft heart.”
Jiang Chun rolled her eyes at her.
Seeing Wang Yin’er still had spirit to joke, it seemed she wouldn’t die just yet.
But just as that thought crossed her mind, Wang Yin’er suddenly tilted her head — and fainted.
Jiang Chun was startled, and quickly shoved another ginseng slice into her mouth.
But the girl didn’t wake up.
Only about an hour later did Zheng Peng arrive in a hurry with Doctor Cao from Baohe Hall and a midwife. After inserting a few acupuncture needles, Wang Yin’er finally woke up.
Doctor Cao first checked her pulse, then asked the midwife to examine the injuries. He asked about the condition from behind a cloth curtain.
The two of them asked and answered fluently — obviously, they had worked together many times before.
After a moment, Doctor Cao said to Jiang Chun, “Lady Jiang, let’s go talk outside.”
But Wang Yin’er wouldn’t have it. She had the midwife pull the curtain aside, stared into Doctor Cao’s eyes, and said stubbornly, “Doctor, just say it directly. I can take it.”
Doctor Cao looked toward Jiang Chun with some difficulty.
Jiang Chun thought for a moment and felt that whether it was good or bad, Wang Yin’er would have to face it sooner or later. There was no great use in hiding it from her, so she nodded.
Doctor Cao let out a sigh and said, “The bone is injured, and it’s in the buttocks area — it’s not even possible to apply splints. Even if your life can be saved, I’m afraid your legs and feet may not work properly…”
Such a young little lady, to end up with a disability in the legs — it was truly a pity.
Wang Yin’er bit her lip and forced herself to say, “If the legs won’t work properly, then so be it. Doctor, please give me good medicine — no matter what, save my life!”
Doctor Cao nodded and said, “The skin and flesh of your buttocks have been beaten to a pulp. In a moment, I’ll have Midwife Li use medicinal wine to clean the wound, then apply trauma medicine. After that, I’ll prescribe twenty doses of medicine — one dose each night, remember to take them on time. Although your spirit looks okay right now, you might get a high fever tonight. Whether or not your life can be saved depends on if the fever goes down.”
Wang Yin’er listened seriously and nodded as she heard each part.
After explaining, Doctor Cao opened his medicine box and took out a bottle of medicinal wine, a bottle of trauma medicine, and a bundle of pre-boiled fine hemp cloth, then handed them to Midwife Li.
Midwife Li pulled the curtain closed again.
A moment later, behind the curtain came Wang Yin’er’s heart-rending screams of pain.
Jiang Chun pursed her lips. The pain of pouring alcohol onto open wounds — she could imagine it. Saying it pierced the soul would not be an exaggeration.
Wang Yin’er only screamed a few times before going silent — clearly she had passed out from the pain.
Doctor Cao, afraid Jiang Chun would worry, quickly said, “It’s better that she fainted — at least she won’t suffer awake.”
Jiang Chun nodded.
After finishing the application of medicine, Doctor Cao wrote out the prescription and said, “Take this to the town pharmacy and get the medicine. No need to make another trip to the county seat.”
After a slight pause, he cautiously added, “However, the daily dressing changes must be done by Midwife Li personally. Since traveling back and forth from Hongye Town isn’t easy, the consultation fees might be a bit high.”
“Wait a moment.” Jiang Chun called in Old Lady Cao, then said to Doctor Cao, “May I trouble you to calculate the total?”
Doctor Cao did the math and said, “Today’s consultation fee for me and Midwife Li, plus the cost of the medicinal wine, trauma medicine, and fine hemp cloth, and the consultation and medicine fees for Midwife Li to return daily from Hongye Town over the next seven days — all together, eight taels, nine qian, and two fen of silver.”
After thinking, he added thoughtfully, “The medicine on that prescription isn’t cheap either. Each dose costs about four hundred wen. For twenty doses, that’s more than eight taels of silver.”
Jiang Chun clicked her tongue — over four hundred wen per dose! Even more expensive than Song Shi’an’s medicine — and his medicine even had ginseng in it.
But then again, for life-saving medicine, no price was too high.
Old Lady Cao, however, let out a breath of relief — she had thought it would cost dozens of taels of silver. In the end, it was just sixteen — better than expected.
She quickly ran off to get the silver.
After sending off Doctor Cao and Midwife Li, Jiang Chun took the silver from Old Lady Cao and had Jiang He go to the Qi family’s medical hall to get the medicine. She didn’t feel at ease leaving it to anyone else.
While they were out getting the medicine, she dragged the Wang family members over and gave them a good talking-to: “Yin-jie is seriously injured. Every day she not only needs to take her medicine, but also needs good food to recover. If I find out that any of you are skimping on her meals, I won’t let it slide.”
Before Zhou-shi could jump out and object, Old Lady Cao immediately nodded in agreement: “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely make sure she eats well at every meal.”
Sixteen taels had already been spent — it wouldn’t hurt to spend a few more taels on food and drink.
Yin-jie was a capable one. If she truly managed to keep her life, and one treated her a little better, perhaps she wouldn’t hold a grudge over the matter of refusing to go to the county seat to get a doctor for her earlier.
Jiang Chun was quite satisfied with Old Lady Cao’s performance, and smiled as she said, “You really are someone who loves her granddaughter. Once Yin-jie recovers, she’ll surely show proper filial piety to you.”
Old Lady Cao gave a sheepish smile — filial piety, huh. If she didn’t come to settle accounts with her, that would already be considered lucky.