Jiang Sheng's chopsticks stopped in mid-air.
She should have thought of this earlier - someone as clever as Brother Five would never just do as Zhou Zhiqiang wished.
They must have done something behind the scenes to defend her honor.
Jiang Sheng felt happy inside and slowed down her eating speed, pretending not to hear Old Lady Zhou's pleas.
The other brothers ignored her even more.
After Old Lady Zhou had almost kneeled on the ground, Xu Mo put down his rice bowl and slowly said, "Granny, it's not that we don't want to go, it's just that uncle has too fierce a temper, we don't dare provoke him."
"What if he refuses to leave our doorstep again?" Zheng Ruqian added sarcastically.
Old Lady Zhou knew that they were still upset about how they had been offended earlier, but with her own son jumping around at home, she was helpless. She could only keep begging, "Please, young doctor, take a look at my son, a doctor should be merciful, I'm begging you."
Wen Zhiyun sighed and put down his bowl and chopsticks.
"Let's go." He didn't bring his medicine box.
Old Lady Zhou was very excited and didn't notice anything amiss. She walked ahead with big strides.
After they had gone far, Fang Heng slowly finished the last bite of his meal, wiped his mouth, rinsed it, picked up the medicine box.
At the Zhou house.
Zhou Zhiqiang didn't feel anything wrong at first when he came home. He was about to doze off crookedly on the bed when he suddenly felt an itchy and tingling sensation all over his body.
When he scratched, the itchiness not only didn't go away, but became even more intense.
Panicked, he took off all his clothes but still couldn't find the cause. But he accidentally jumped up and found that jumping could alleviate the sore tingling feeling.
So the Zhou house witnessed a bizarre scene of Zhou Zhiqiang's feet bouncing as if they were spring-loaded while he shouted, "Go call the young doctor from the village entrance, hurry!"
The Zhou family members were anxious but hesitant. They had just offended the young doctor, and now going to ask him for medical treatment, was it really appropriate?
The family members pushed the responsibility onto each other until their gazes landed on Auntie Zhang.
"You're his daughter-in-law, you go call the doctor," Old Lady Zhou commanded.
If it was normal times, Auntie Zhang would have obeyed for sure, but Zhou Zhiqiang had just humiliated her, and bullied Jiang Sheng. No matter what, she couldn't swallow her pride to go to the dilapidated temple. She would rather face reprimand than go.
Left with no choice, Old Lady Zhou went personally. With pleading and sincerity, she finally got the doctor to come.
As soon as he entered the Zhou house, Old Lady Zhou shouted at the top of her lungs, "The young doctor is here!"
The bouncing Zhou Zhiqiang in the room rushed out swiftly, tripped and fell down, sliding on the ground until he reached Wen Zhiyun's feet, "Save me..."
Even if it was Wen Zhiyun.
If it was Zheng Ruqian or Jiang Sheng instead, they might have burst out laughing already.
But Wen Zhiyun had an innocent and delicate little face that now seemed frightened. "You, you back up a little."
Zhou Zhiqiang could only crawl up from the ground and retreat two steps before holding out his wrist again.
Wen Zhiyun stretched out three fingers, felt his pulse, and looked at the scratched wounds and festering sores on his body. His brows suddenly furrowed as he covered his nose with his sleeve, "Retreat, retreat."
Everyone retreated two steps in confusion, leaving Zhou Zhiqiang alone in bewilderment.
Wen Zhiyun rushed to the water vat, scooped out a ladle of water, and carefully washed his three fingers before saying, "It's possibly leprosy."
The terror represented by those three words made the Zhou family's faces all change color.
Leprosy was extremely contagious. Close contact could lead to infection, and it had a low cure rate. Even if one managed to heal, various after-effects would remain.
"But it's only suspected leprosy." Wen Zhiyun quickly added another sentence. "Just observe for the next few days. It's best if uncle's used bowls, chopsticks and clothes are disinfected with boiling water. Don't have contact with others either, just stay quietly for a few days and we'll know for sure."
With those words, the Zhou family felt a little more at ease, but they didn't dare let their guard down either. They swiftly locked Zhou Zhiqiang in the little black room and cleaned the house again.
"Doctor, doctor, give me some medicine, you have to give me some medicine!" Zhou Zhiqiang clawed at the door bolt and shouted loudly, "I don't want to die, save me, save me!"
The Zhou family's gazes fell upon the young doctor again.
Wen Zhiyun looked very awkward. "Medicine for treating leprosy is expensive. And we can't confirm that uncle has leprosy. What if he doesn't? Wouldn't we be wasting it?"
He was sincerely advising, but the Zhou family had their own considerations.
After all, Zhou Zhiqiang was the pillar of the Zhou house. Just for twisting his ankle before, they had spent several dozen coins. Getting some medicine to treat leprosy was nothing in comparison.
Old Lady Zhou steeled her heart, stamped her foot, and completely ignored the looks on Zhou Zhiqiang's younger brother and his wife's faces. She took out a handful of copper coins from her clothes. "Prescribe it, you have to prescribe it!"
Wen Zhiyun sighed. He couldn't be blamed for this.
Turning around, Fang Heng happened to walk in with the medicine box.
Wen Zhiyun wrote out a prescription and picked out some medicine for treating infectious diseases that they had bought in the county the other day. He packaged them in a bag. "One bag a day, decocted in three bowls of water, once each in the morning, afternoon, and evening."
The Zhou family was very grateful. They paid the medication and consultation fees, twenty-two coins in total.
When they left the Zhou house, night had already fallen.
As Wen Zhiyun walked, he casually threw the stinging nettles he had picked up earlier into the ditch.
This stuff caused unbearable itchiness when it touched the skin, but it could be easily recovered from with proper hygiene. It had nothing to do with leprosy.
But who told the Zhou family to bully Jiang Sheng?
Bullying their younger siblings would require a price.
Returning to the dilapidated temple.
Xu Mo was cooking dinner, chopped green onions and peppercorns sizzled as they were thrown into hot oil. He took the chance to add in the meat and stir fry until it turned white before adding vegetables and salt.
He had never cooked before either, but following the sequence from his memories of his mother cooking, and repeated experiments, he could actually make pretty decent flavors too.
At least when his younger siblings smelled the aroma, they all obediently sat around the broken table.
Zheng Ruqian even lit the oil lamp they had bought from the county, the dim yellow lamplight filling the entire dilapidated temple, making even the drafty spots seem warm and peaceful.
Wen Zhiyun handed the twenty-two coins he had earned to Jiang Sheng.
Chang Yan raised his brows. The two exchanged a glance and couldn't help smiling.
Jiang Sheng hunched her shoulders. Her intuition told her the two brothers must have done something bad, but since they didn't say, Jiang Sheng wouldn't ask either.
This was family, absolute trust.
After the meal, Zheng Ruqian took care of the washing up while the others found their own grass nests to rest in.
In the large dilapidated temple, six children lay horizontally and vertically.
They didn't have money to buy quilts, so they used their grimy cotton-padded jackets as blankets, covering most of their bodies, which was pretty warm.
Jiang Sheng felt the heavy copper coins in her arms and spoke the words she had been preparing all day. "Big brother, your leg is healed, go study at the academy."
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