Chapter 13: A Hair-Raising Showdown

She truly hated her biological father. He used an arranged marriage as an excuse to abandon her mother, but why didn’t he fight back when they got married? Why did he even have children with her?

He only cared about his own success and had new options. He didn’t want to face moral condemnation, so he used that as a reason to abandon his wife and children. It was disgusting.

Zhou Xiaoyu was already 16 years old. She understood everything.

…

Treating Zhou Shitou’s leg didn’t require any rare herbs. She found everything she needed in a short time.

The deep mountains must have been untouched by humans, because the vegetation was abundant, and there were many wild animals. It was truly a rare place.

People’s thoughts always change according to their surroundings. Last night, Jiang Nian had regretted coming here, but now she felt that she had come to the right place.

Thinking about the Zhou family’s food, she knew she couldn’t move out immediately. She would have to rely on her own efforts to improve her situation.

Although she carried Poison Doctor Valley with her, she discovered something strange. There were mountains and rivers inside, seemingly no different from before, but there were no living creatures, not even a butterfly or an ant.

She had done an experiment. It wasn’t that living creatures couldn’t survive inside; it was just that she hadn’t brought any living creatures with her.

So, that day, Jiang Nian was busy filling her personal little world.

It was late in the evening when she started to return.

She heard someone calling her from afar. Jiang Nian quickly ran over. “I’m here.”

The old village chief was leading a large group of people with torches. When they saw her, their expressions finally relaxed a little, but they were still filled with anger that they couldn’t vent.

But thinking about how she was treating his son’s leg, he could only hold it in.

“It’s good that you’re okay. It’s getting late. Go back quickly.”

These people were exhausted from looking for her. Jiang Nian walked through the deep mountains as if she were on flat ground. She seemed more relaxed than these locals.

Someone behind her flatteringly asked Village Chief Zhou, “Uncle, is this the educated youth who knows medicine, Jiang Zhiqing? She’s really a beautiful girl.”

Village Chief Zhou was a shrewd old man. He knew what these young men were thinking. He warned them, “She is pretty, and she’s skilled. You farmhands are definitely not a match for her. And she doesn’t want to work in the fields. Anyone who has any ideas should first consider if they have enough grain to eat and if they can support a lazy person.”

His words extinguished the flames in their hearts.

Country people relied on farming for food. They couldn’t refuse to work in the fields. Knowing medicine couldn’t make up for that.

Most men were practical. When they married a wife, they wanted someone who could work.

There were also those who had unrealistic dreams. They just wanted to find a beautiful woman, without considering their own worth. They always thought that once they married her, they could make her do whatever they wanted!

When they returned to the Zhou family’s courtyard, it was already pitch black.

Zhou’s wife had left some food for her, but she hadn’t touched her grain. She told Jiang Nian to eat first and then she would make up for it.

It was the same stew as before, and it still had no flavor.

She had roasted a wild chicken on the mountain in the afternoon. She only ate a few bites before losing her appetite. Seeing Zhou Huaher’s eager eyes, she gave her all the food.

When it was hard to eat enough, there was no extra thought for whether the food had been eaten by someone else.

She had originally planned to bring a wild chicken back to improve their diet, but when she encountered those people, she threw it back into her space and had to give up.

She woke up feeling refreshed.

Behind the Zhou family’s house was a large wild mountain. Although there were many mosquitoes and rats, the air was really good.

According to Jiang Nian’s instructions, they didn’t have a large wooden bucket, so they had to empty the large water tank that they used for drinking water. It wasn’t a big deal.

Jiang Nian had them boil water and pour it into the tank. Then, she poured the prepared herbs into the hot water. She also had Zhou Shitou sit in it and soak.

She took a poisonous snake out of her cloth bag and sliced it open with a knife. The snake struggled, letting its blood flow into the water tank. When the blood drained and it was no longer breathing, she threw it aside.

This scene scared the onlookers. What a ruthless girl.

This was also something Jiang Nian disliked. When the villagers heard that she was going to treat Zhou Shitou’s leg today, they all stopped working and came to watch the show.

Jiang Nian tried to shoo the people away, but some of them were still stubbornly clinging to the walls and rooftops.

But as soon as she revealed her palm, a group of people were instantly scared off. Only a few bold ones remained.

The jade bottle in her palm contained the snake venom she had extracted that morning. It was a good thing.

So, she had Zhou Shitou soak in the water for half an hour, then combined it with acupuncture, massage, and the unique internal energy of Poison Doctor Valley, along with the medicine he took internally. The effect was immediate.

Jiang Nian withdrew, leaving Zhou Shitou’s place in a frenzy.

It was only after he was injured and returned from the hospital as an invalid that the villagers came to see him, creating such a scene.

“Brother Shitou, how do you feel?”

Zhou Shitou didn’t know if it was real or if it was a hallucination caused by his desire to heal. “I feel like my legs are warm and numb. They’re not completely numb like before.”

Village Chief Zhou pinched his calf, which wasn’t injured, and asked him, “Can you feel the pain?”

Zhou Shitou shook his head. “I can’t feel the pain, but I can feel you putting your hand on my leg.”

“You must be seeing it to feel it, right?”

There was a lot of discussion in the room. Some people thought Jiang Nian would definitely be able to cure him, while others were not optimistic.

Zhou Shitou, however, spoke up for Jiang Nian, his heart filled with hope.

No one knew better than he did that his two legs, especially the injured one, had no feeling at all. He hated it most when he couldn’t even feel the pain of a needle pricking his toes.

Although he still couldn’t feel pain, he could at least feel something. Having hope was better than having none.

The adults were all watching the commotion at Zhou’s house, and a bunch of children had gathered too. They didn’t know what they were watching. They just went wherever there were a lot of people.

A woman pulled her child and asked Jiang Nian, “Jiang Zhiqing, you know medicine. Can you take a look at my child? His face has been like this for half a year. I was planning to take him to the town to see a doctor.”

There was a ready-made patient. If she could cure him, it would save them a lot of trouble.

Jiang Nian could tell at a glance that the child had worm spots on his face.

She lifted his eyelids and took his pulse. As usual, she asked, “Have you ever had symptoms of loss of appetite or abdominal pain?”

The woman’s eyes lit up. “He doesn’t eat much. He’s getting thinner and thinner. He’s also had a stomachache a lot lately.”

“It’s because he has worms in his stomach. He just needs to drink some deworming medicine. I still have a lot of herbs I collected yesterday. I’ll boil a bowl for him to drink later.”

Not all of the children in the courtyard had worms, but at least eight out of ten did. Some were quite serious.

Jiang Nian wasn’t in the habit of doing good deeds, but she wanted them to know her medical skills, so she asked the woman to ask the other children’s families if they wanted their children to be dewormed. If they did, she would boil it all at once.

People have a psychology of taking advantage. Although her medical skills hadn’t been proven, free deworming medicine was free deworming medicine. No one objected.

Jiang Nian just put the herbs in. Zhou Huaher was in charge of the fire. Then, she borrowed bowls from the Zhou family. Every child, except for the very young ones, drank a bowl. If they didn’t finish it, the adults could drink it. In the end, not a drop was left.

Acupuncture had drained a lot of her energy. She told Zhou Huaher and went back to her room. She closed the door and went straight to sleep.

When she woke up, the sun was setting in the west. The noise outside had subsided, leaving only the sound of a few children talking.

Jiang Nian stretched and opened the door. She saw Erwang using a twig to pick up a half-inch-long roundworm and show it off to Dawang. “Mine is longer than yours!”

What a hair-raising competition!

Jiang Nian’s head buzzed. She slammed the door shut.

Zhou Huaher saw her open the door and walked over. She saw the door close again and knocked curiously. “Sister Jiang Nian, are you awake?”

“I’m awake, but I’m still a little tired. I want to sleep a little longer. Don’t call me for dinner. I’m not hungry.”

She was afraid that if she opened the door, Zhou Huaher would also tell her how long her worms were!

Fortunately, she had used the excuse of being a restless sleeper, so she had spread her mat at the end of the kang, and Zhou Huaher slept at the head of the kang. There was a long distance between them.

Zhou Huaher told her grandmother that Jiang Nian wasn’t eating dinner. Zhou’s wife felt a little sorry for the girl. They had been so busy treating her son’s leg that they had been so rough on her. Look how tired she was!