Apothecary of the 60s
Apothecary of the 60s Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The village night was exceptionally quiet. The chirping insects in the grass, the wild cicadas clinging to the trees, and the frogs in the stream not far away, all combined to create a perfectly harmonious summer night serenade, with sounds coming from near and far.

Unfortunately, the person in the midst of it all was troubled and unable to appreciate the peacefulness.

Wang Lu followed Gu Sui’s steps as they walked out. She stood beside him, hesitated for a moment, then said, “If you’re not adjusting well, I can tell my dad and ask him to find a way for us to go back.”

Wang Lu’s family and Gu Sui’s family were neighbors, and they had known each other since childhood. However, their families were quite different—one was involved in politics, and the other in medicine.

Gu Sui shook his head. “Thank you for your kindness, but I think this place is fine. On the contrary, I should be the one to advise you. You don’t need to stay here. You should go back early.”

Wang Lu thought Gu Sui was concerned about her. She lowered her head to hide the joy she felt inside and nervously pinched her fingers. “If you can stay, I can stay. I’m not going back.”

“Suit yourself.”

Gu Sui gazed at the moon and didn’t speak again.

Wang Lu asked him, “What are you thinking about?”

Gu Sui replied lightly, “I’m thinking, I clearly applied to go to the northeast with my parents. Who was it that rejected my application and sent me to such a far place instead?”

The unrest was actually traceable. His father had been a doctor for many years and had saved many people. There were always those who remembered his kindness and sent them messages.

Everything had been arranged well, so how did things go wrong?

Wang Lu was startled and shivered, too scared to ask any further questions. She found an excuse and went back to the house.

Everyone inside the house had scattered. The bowls and chopsticks on the table were all cleaned and put away in the kitchen.

They had set up a rule, taking turns to cook and wash dishes. Today, it was Fang Jie’s turn to wash the dishes.

The house had three rooms in total. Apart from the dining room, the left and right rooms were divided into two sleeping quarters for the men and women.

Wang Lu entered the bedroom, where Fang Jie and Lin Haiyin were bickering. The noise gave Wang Lu a headache, and in the end, it was Fang Jie who noticed her displeased expression and took the initiative to stop.

Gu Sui, having finished washing up in the backyard, was heading back to his room. As he passed through the courtyard, he casually glanced at Daqing Mountain in the distance.

He had taken the antidote from someone and promised to cook for them for a month. He couldn’t break his word.

In the afternoon, he had gone to see the village head, Yang Guozhu, with the antidote. He had thought it would be hard to get time off since even the Barefoot Doctor was expected to work.

To his surprise, Yang Guozhu agreed without hesitation, saying that working in the fields was not his main job—his main role was to treat people and gather herbs.

As for cooking for Guan Yue in exchange for the antidote, that was no problem at all. After all, cooking for Guan Yue in exchange for the antidote was much more cost-effective than trading grain. They had even made a profit.

Gu Sui decided to go to bed early; after all, he had to get up early the next morning to cook breakfast for someone.

In the treehouse, Guan Yue’s stomach rumbled from hunger. She hadn’t had dinner, so it was only natural for her stomach to growl.

Gou Sheng’er, lying at the foot of the bed, had a full stomach, with her mouth biting onto a dry bread crust, and she was sleeping soundly.

Guan Yue turned over, gazing out at the pitch-black night. She wished the day would break soon—once daylight came, the person who would cook for her would arrive.

She touched the jade pendant around her neck and closed her eyes. There was food in the pendant’s space. When the apocalypse first began, her mother, using company connections, had taken her to raid many suppliers’ warehouses, collecting enough food and supplies for their family to last a lifetime.

However, after crossing into this era, she had never taken anything from the space.

The space still held the urns of her parents’ ashes.

The next morning, Gu Sui woke up early to cook. Once the meal was ready, the others finally got up to wash up.

Wang Lu quickly braided her hair and hurried outside.

“Gu Sui, good morning.”

Gu Sui casually nodded. He had already finished breakfast, and with a basket on his back and a medicine hoe in hand, he was preparing to head out.

Liu Kai looked at Gu Sui’s back enviously. “It’s really nice, he doesn’t have to work in the fields.”

The day before, when they first arrived, the village head had asked them to observe and learn by the fields, but today was different. Today, they were officially going to work in the fields.

The grain they had used yesterday was borrowed from the team, and they would have to repay it later.

The thought of working in the fields made Wang Lu and the others feel uneasy.

Farming was hard work. They had only heard about it, but now they were about to experience it themselves, and it felt like something entirely different.

Wang Lu was also afraid of the work, but still, she had to speak up for Gu Sui. “We’re able to stay here because of Gu Sui. If it weren’t for him, would they treat us this well?”

Wang Lu’s words were quite fair. The villagers didn’t care if you were from the city. If you couldn’t work and were just a burden, they wouldn’t treat you kindly.

Fang Jie asked tentatively, “It’s fine if we can’t earn much, right? We’ll still get our share of the food anyway.”

Lin Haiyin scoffed. “If you don’t work, where do you think your share of the food comes from? How can you even have the face to eat?”

“Why shouldn’t I eat? If they can work, they can work more!” Fang Jie retorted.

“Pah, you’re shameless!”

“Who are you calling shameless? Who’s shameless?”

“Alright, stop arguing, let’s just eat. We’ve only just arrived, so the village head definitely won’t give us the hard work.”

Wang Lu wasn’t worried. Her family sent money and tickets, so she would definitely not go hungry.

Liu Kai wasn’t worried either. He had caused some trouble and was sent here by his father to avoid the heat. He would definitely return to the city and work in a factory later—what was there to be afraid of?

Lin Haiyin had brought several large trunks with her, so she wasn’t in a hurry.

The only one who was really anxious was Fang Jie.

Her family was poor, and her parents were biased towards sons over daughters. If she didn’t leave for the countryside, her parents would marry her off to some crippled widower or someone just as bad in exchange for money. She never would have been forced to follow Wang Lu to the countryside to work in the fields if she had another choice.

She and Wang Lu were classmates, and she knew Wang Lu came from a family of cadres. If Wang Lu ever extended a helping hand, her future life would definitely be better.

It was heard that Wang Lu’s older brother wasn’t married yet.

The four people in the courtyard each had their own thoughts, but no matter how they planned, that was all for the future. Right now, they still had to suffer.

By 9 a.m., the hardworking villagers had already been working for quite some time.

Wang Lu and the others, unable to work, were scolded and looked down upon by the old farmers. Their bodies were exhausted, and their hearts felt wronged, but they didn’t know who to turn to for comfort.

On Daqing Mountain, the vegetarian dumplings Gu Sui had made for Guan Yue were just taken off the stove.

The best quality white flour was used for the dough, and inside was the freshest leek filling. A plate of fragrant vinegar was placed on the table to dip the dumplings in. The taste was absolutely divine.

By the end, each bite of dumpling was followed by a sip of soup, and Guan Yue finished her breakfast with great satisfaction.

Especially after being hungry from last night until this morning, the breakfast seemed even more delicious.

Guan Yue complained a little, “It’s a pity there’s no meat.”

She had mentioned earlier that she was going to catch a wild boar, and Gu Sui thought she was joking.

But when he realized she was serious, he quickly stopped her.

“Are you kidding? A girl, how can you go hunt a wild boar? It would be a miracle if you don’t get hurt.”

Gu Sui said, “If you want to eat meat, wait a couple of days. When I go to the town to buy some things, I’ll get some meat for you.”

Guan Yue responded, “There are wild boars in the mountains.”

Gu Sui hurriedly replied, “Wild boar meat isn’t as good as farm-raised pork. Wild boar meat is tougher to eat.”

Guan Yue then had another idea. “We can go down the mountain and get a piglet, then raise it on the mountain.”

“Raising pigs isn’t easy.”

“I can do it.”

The mountain was so vast, raising a pig wouldn’t be hard, would it?

Gu Sui didn’t argue with her and went to wash the dishes on his own.

Guan Yue thought about the money needed to buy a piglet. “I have money.”

When the teacher left, he had left her quite a bit of money.

“No need for money,” Gu Sui said. Although he had come to the countryside to avoid trouble, it wasn’t because things had gotten the worst when he left. Half of his family’s wealth was under his control.

“Then I’ll give you some pills. Didn’t you want these? I have plenty. I also have medicine for colds and fevers.”

Gu Sui turned to look at her, and that sounded good!

In less than 24 hours since arriving here, he had figured out that the medicine Guan Yue had was highly valuable in the nearby villages.

This place was far from the provincial capital and lacked Western medicine. The local Barefoot Doctors collected herbs or used folk remedies to treat people. For serious illnesses, people had no choice but to be sent to the county hospital.

Gu Sui had learned, through subtle questioning, that in the past, Qingxi Village had regularly exchanged grain and supplies with Guan Yue’s teacher, Dr. Xu, for various medicines. The medicines were then shared with the nearby Qingsong Brigade, and they had been quite effective.

If Guan Yue wanted to trade pills for a piglet, they might just help.

“Alright, I’ll go down the mountain in the afternoon and ask around for you.”

Guan Yue quickly said, “Ask when you go back tonight. If you leave in the afternoon, what will I do for dinner?”

Gu Sui laughed. “I wasn’t here last night, so did you not eat dinner?”

Guan Yue didn’t answer, but her expression said it all.

Did this girl really go to sleep hungry last night?!!

“It’s my fault. I’ll make more for you next time. If I’m not around, you can heat it up yourself.”

Guan Yue waved her hand, looking a bit embarrassed. “Actually, I can cook too.”

The food she made was just too bad; she didn’t want to eat it. Especially now that there was good food available, she didn’t want to settle for anything less.

Since the teacher left, she had been getting by with simple meals, sometimes eating some fruit. When it became unbearable, she would go to the town or county for a proper meal.

Gu Sui had learned Western medicine from his father and didn’t know much about traditional Chinese medicine. It wasn’t until the journey here, when he read through the Barefoot Doctor manual, that he learned some basic knowledge.

Now that he had time, he figured it was a good opportunity to ask Guan Yue for advice.

Guan Yue had only started learning Chinese medicine after coming here, and she had only been studying it for a year. But she had a proper teacher and, with her special abilities and strong memory, she was more than capable of teaching Gu Sui at her current level.

Gu Sui had gained a teacher through cooking, and decided that the next time he went to the town, he would buy more meat for the girl to eat, considering it as tuition.

It wouldn’t be long before he could do that—just the day after tomorrow.

On the way to Qingxi Village, the train wasn’t crowded, but he noticed that more and more people were traveling toward the capital. The more frantic the expressions on the students’ faces, the more he felt grateful that his family had left early.

His father had studied Western medicine with foreigners back then. Although he hadn’t done anything bad and had saved many lives, in a time when everyone was calling for him to be brought down, his survival was far from guaranteed.

Guan Yue waved her hand in front of him. “What are you thinking about?”

“I was wondering if you like eating braised pork?”

Guan Yue slapped the table. “I love it! When are you going to make it?”

“Day after tomorrow evening!”

He was going to the town in the morning and would return in the afternoon.

Guan Yue quickly said, “Before you leave, make sure to cook the meal for me!”

Gu Sui smiled, his eyes filled with amusement. “Alright!”

—o—o—o—

Schedule of Updates: 2 Chapters every Monday

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stillnotlucia[Translator]

Hi~ Lucia here! ✧(•̀ᴗ•́)✧ Please check the schedule of updates on the novel's page or Table of Contents. Chapters will be unlocked on time, but there may be a delay before they appear on NovelUpdates because I'm a bit busy and can't manually add them. 😔 What I mean is, you can go directly to Shanghai to access the chapters as they'll unlock automatically on the scheduled dates. 🤗💛

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