Chapter 22: Her Rules

But it wasn’t a big deal.

Seeing that he was willing to work hard and didn’t forget to continue turning over the herbs while talking, she said, “I’ll try my best.”

“Alright, with your word, I’m relieved. When my ducks lay eggs, the first one is yours.”

With this matter settled, he worked even faster.

He had been doing farm work for the past few days, so turning over herbs was a piece of cake for him.

“Then I’ll thank you in advance.” Jiang Nian was amused by his generous yet stingy attitude.

The big cat led its two kittens in through the door, meowing.

Li Rui looked up and asked her, “You’re keeping cats?”

“Wild cats from outside. I just gave them some leftover food.” As she finished speaking, she saw the big cat, which had already stopped, kick one of the kittens that was looking back for it, sending it tumbling over. It then ran over the fence without looking back.

Good heavens, it’s gotten attached to her!

The two kittens, unable to find their mother, walked slowly towards her, circling around her feet.

The big cat was a skinny tabby cat, and the two kittens also had a tabby cat, the other was a pure black cat with blue eyes like a spring, quite beautiful. Neither of the cats were fat, and their fur was quite clean, probably because the big cat often licked them.

It’s just that their small bodies didn’t seem to be a month old yet.

Li Rui put down the herbs and squatted down, curiously picking up the kittens. They didn’t resist, instead, they stuck out their pink tongues and licked his palm.

“Sigh, it’s really different for different people. We can’t even eat our fill, we’re always tightening our belts, but you have leftover food to feed cats.” Li Rui was envious to death. And these two little guys, they were so cute.

He had raised a kitten when he was a child, a little white cat with a tuft of black hair on its head. He had picked it up on his way home from school. He raised it for about two months, but his mother secretly threw it away while he was out. He was heartbroken for a long time and never raised a pet again.

“By the way, are you going to keep them?”

Jiang Nian asked back, “Do you want to keep them?”

“I do, but I don’t have the ability. I can’t even feed myself, and I’m living in someone else’s house. It’s better not to harm these two little guys.” Li Rui thought, when he had some extra food, he could also have his own place to live like Jiang Nian, and he would definitely raise a little guy, to make up for his childhood regret. “Jiang Nian, if you don’t lack food, keep them. Look, how cute they are? Their mother ran away, and they’re so small. If no one raises them, they’ll probably only have a dead end. It’s so pitiful.”

He handed one kitten to Jiang Nian with each hand, acting cute and silly, but his kindness was genuine.

There are many mountains and water here, and there are also many rats. The rats in the north are quite big. Raising two cats to help catch rats wouldn’t be bad.

But she liked the big tabby cat more. Although it was a little skinny, if she raised it, its fighting ability would definitely be good.

These two little guys are too small to catch rats.

Jiang Nian’s eyes fell on the corner of the fence. The big tabby cat was still hiding there, secretly observing the situation. Seeing that the two kittens were not thrown away, it finally left with peace of mind.

“It’s not impossible for me to raise them. You clean the dirt out of their fur first. I don’t like raising dirty little things.”

“Don’t worry, leave it to me. I have experience with this.”

She didn’t report the animal husbandry to the village. After all, it was her own personal breeding. She would just do it first, to avoid being cut off by others. That would be disgusting.

Li Rui helped her finish turning over the herbs and then took the two kittens away for a while.

The family he was staying with had a lice comb, which he used to comb the kittens’ fur, so he could clean out the particles inside.

Jiang Nian suspected that he had raised cats before, otherwise he wouldn’t be so experienced.

After a long time, he brought the kittens back. Jiang Nian ran her hand through their fur, and it was indeed clean and smoother.

He also told Jiang Nian a lot of experience in taking care of kittens, which made her quite impatient.

She raised cats to catch mice for her, but listening to him, it sounded like she had raised two troublemakers for herself.

After Li Rui left, Jiang Nian picked up the tabby kitten from its temporary nest and unconsciously meowed at it.

When she realized what a stupid thing she had done, she quickly straightened her expression and gave it a lecture, “I don’t raise useless things. You have a month to grow up and catch mice for me, otherwise, I’ll throw you both away. Got it?”

The kitten meowed twice and gave her a paw.

Jiang Nian was furious. She wanted to throw it back into the nest, but she softened her movements when she did.

Fortunately, it didn’t scratch her. Otherwise, she would chop it up!

Fortunately, they weren’t picky eaters. She fed them two eggs and a few sips of porridge at night.

Late at night, she noticed the sound of a cat meowing at the door.

She got up and opened the door, and saw the tabby cat standing at the door, looking at her warily. Seeing that she wasn’t doing anything else, it cautiously entered.

It meowed, and the kittens in the nest became restless, jumping out one by one.

The big cat, experienced, lay down on the ground, and the two little ones started to suckle.

Looking at its skinny appearance, it still came to feed its children despite the bite wounds from the big black dog. It was truly a good cat full of maternal love.

Jiang Nian took out the leftover roasted rabbit meat she hadn’t finished and placed it in front of it. With yesterday’s experience, she dared not leave leftovers in the kitchen anymore.

The big cat meowed and picked it up with its mouth to eat.

Maybe she should feed it raw meat. After all, it’s a wild cat, and it probably rarely eats cooked food.

The kittens were still suckling. She didn’t close the door, and she didn’t know when the big cat left.

There were quite a few people who came to get medicine the next day. Fortunately, she had prepared in advance. She had already prepared multiple doses and had hung a sign early in the morning at the door, saying that she would see patients on odd-numbered days and rest on even-numbered days. She also told everyone to spread the word so that people wouldn’t come all the way here and leave empty-handed.

Someone asked, “Do you have to go up the mountain to collect herbs?”

This wasn’t a regular clinic in town, and she didn’t have any approved ready-made medicines. All the herbs were collected from the mountains, and she had to process them when she got back. There were still uncut herbs in the yard, which everyone could see.

Zhou Shitou’s leg had gone from needing acupuncture every day to needing it every few days, and now it was completely healed. He could go out for a walk without needing anyone to help him.

He felt that he owed Jiang Nian a favor, and there was nothing he could do to repay her, so he could only do his best to promote her medical skills, letting everyone know how good she was.

So, whenever he went out and someone talked to him about his leg, he would praise Jiang Nian.

For a while, Jiang Nian became quite famous in the small place of Bali Tun, and people came to seek her medical treatment in an endless stream.

Over time, they all knew her rules and only came on odd-numbered days.

…

The weather in Su City wasn’t very good these past few days.

There was no heavy rain, but it rained constantly.

Even the air was filled with moisture, and the corners of the walls in the house were moldy.

Jiang Qinghe, who was always sarcastic, came back today and finally had a smile on his face.

Zhu Xianglan, emboldened, asked him, “What good news did you get today?”

“My daughter wrote me a letter.” He covered the pocket on his chest and went to the study without stopping.

Zhu Xianglan, upon hearing this, happily put down the rag in her hand and quickly followed him, “An Nian wrote a letter? What did she say? Is she doing well over there? Is she eating enough? How’s the weather there? Is she getting used to it?”