Chapter 41: Like A Peacock with Its Feathers Spread

“It’s okay, people with skills tend to have a bit of a temper,” Yan Jin said, looking at Jiang Nian’s two small rooms. The one where he had just seen patients seemed to be occupied. “Such amazing medical skills, the villagers all say she’s better than the doctors at the town hospital. But the living conditions here don’t match her abilities. And there’s not even an extra room. If someone comes in with a serious injury or illness, it’s not convenient to keep them for observation. Zhou Village Chief, you should submit an application tomorrow. I’ll pass it on to the town and try to get the treatment environment improved. That way it’ll be easier for everyone.”

Zhou Village Chief’s small eyes lit up. “Okay, Director Yan is always so thoughtful. I’ll write the application as soon as I get back. To be honest, when that girl first told me she wanted to open a clinic, I didn’t think she’d be this good. We didn’t have the conditions back then. This house was built with bricks and labor from the villagers. If the town can help, that would be the best.”

The two discussed the matter further, but neither of them thought to ask Jiang Nian, the person involved, what she thought. They just assumed she would be happy.

After all, who wouldn’t want to see their business grow and prosper?

But there was a special case. Jiang Nian didn’t want that, at least not until she brought Ye Zhiqiu out.

She wasn’t from this world, she didn’t have ambitions for success, and she didn’t want to work herself to death for others.

Ye Zhiqiu asked Jiang Nian, “Master, we still have four of those marinated chickens from last time. We can’t finish them all. Should we sell them in town? And those dried vegetables, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots, the kitchen cabinets are full. We have enough to eat for a year.”

Since roosters don’t lay eggs, most of the chickens people brought were roosters. They couldn’t eat them all, and it was a waste of grain to keep them. Last time, there were six or seven in the chicken coop. It was getting cold, and with Jiang Nian’s permission, she had killed them and made them into marinated chicken. They had eaten it several times already.

But Jiang Nian had been picky about her food lately. Yesterday, she told Ye Zhiqiu she didn’t want to eat marinated meat for a while.

She would also bring back fresh meat from the mountains every few days, sometimes wild chicken or rabbit, sometimes wild boar or deer. The most frightening thing was that she even brought back wild wolves. She never brought back much meat, just enough for them to eat. Ye Zhiqiu had many questions in her mind, but she knew Jiang Nian didn’t like people asking too many questions, so she didn’t dare ask.

Anyway, whether it was the meat she brought back or what others gave her, she could do whatever she wanted with the food in the kitchen, as long as it was delicious.

For example, now, Jiang Nian replied indifferently, “Do whatever you want. Sell the marinated chicken. It’s too salty.”

Ye Zhiqiu quickly said, “The weather wasn’t too cold before, I was afraid it would go bad, so I added a lot of salt. Next time I’ll add less. It won’t go bad now that it’s cold.”

Jiang Nian looked up at her.

The little girl who had been short and thin had grown a little taller under her care. Her face had gained some flesh, her hair had changed from dry yellow to black and had grown longer, and her skin and temperament had improved greatly. She had long since shed her rustic appearance.

But she was still wearing Jiang Nian’s old cotton-padded jacket, which was a bit too big for her.

Su Cheng had sent her some cotton-padded clothes, all made by Zhu Xianglan according to her measurements. And it was a gesture of love from her family, so she couldn’t give them to someone else.

She didn’t charge much for her medical fees, but when she calculated it, she had earned almost 200 yuan.

She didn’t lack money, but she lacked coupons.

Since the clothes were made at home, Jiang Qinghe sent her grain coupons, fearing she wouldn’t have enough to eat. He didn’t send any cloth coupons.

The cloth she had stored in her space wasn’t suitable for wearing in the countryside. The clothes from her previous world were too different from this world.

After some thought, Jiang Nian decided, “No need to rush. I’ll go up the mountain tomorrow. Director Yan will come to settle the medical fees. You stay at home. I’ll take you to town the day after tomorrow and buy some things.”

“Okay,” Ye Zhiqiu nodded obediently, then reported her completed learning tasks for the day to Jiang Nian.

She woke up at four in the morning to practice martial arts and physical conditioning, then memorized knowledge about herbs and traditional Chinese medicine theory. After finishing these tasks, it was usually around seven o’clock. Then she made breakfast, cleaned the house, processed various herbs, dried them, and cut them. But that wasn’t all. Sometimes Jiang Nian would give her other tasks in between.

Ye Zhiqiu had originally thought that most herbs were plants. After actually coming into contact with them, she realized that there were all sorts of strange and wonderful poisonous insects and snakes that could also be used as medicine.

Truly terrifying ones included centipedes, leeches, venomous snakes, and poisonous insects. Those that sounded terrifying included tiger bones, wolf bones, and hedgehog and hornet nests. They all had different uses. There were also all sorts of strange and wonderful things, it was simply unimaginable.

It was usually a bit more relaxed in the afternoon. If there were no patients, Jiang Nian would teach her elementary school knowledge. Because she had limited patience, she often sent her with gifts, such as leftover vegetables and meat from the kitchen, to learn from the educated youth at the educated youth point. But she would occasionally test her progress.

In short, Ye Zhiqiu was in a high-intensity learning state almost every day, not daring to relax for a moment.

Because her aptitude was limited, she was already struggling to learn. If she relaxed, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to meet Jiang Nian’s requirements.

Jiang Nian didn’t usually wake up early. It was probably because she had been pushed too hard by her father when she was young, so she became lazy when she grew up and valued her own comfort.

But she would wake up very early when she went up the mountain.

The air in the morning was already very good, and it was even fresher deep in the mountains. Now that she had enough medicinal herbs, she didn’t need to go out to collect them every other day, but she still kept the rule of seeing patients on odd-numbered days.

Martial arts are like rowing against the current, if you don’t move forward, you’ll fall behind.

So, besides teaching and supervising Ye Zhiqiu in martial arts, she couldn’t neglect her own practice.

Going into the mountains was to have a wider space to practice martial arts.

When her hands itched, she would go deep into the mountains to challenge wolf packs and wild boar herds, practicing her skills while also getting extra food.

Yan Jin had said yesterday that he would come to deliver the money. Normally, this kind of thing could be done by anyone, and no one would dare to cheat Director Yan.

But he hadn’t slept well all night. He kept seeing that bright voice in his mind, sometimes very clearly, sometimes vaguely, but no matter what, that girl had taken root in his heart and was growing wildly.

He got up early in the morning, afraid that going too early would make his intentions too obvious. He finally waited until after noon, changed into a brand new set of clothes, and couldn’t wait to ride his newly bought 28-bar bicycle to find his beloved girl.

Yan’s mother looked at his obviously abnormal back in a daze and quickly called her adopted daughter over and asked, “What’s wrong with your brother Jin? He’s all dressed up before going out, smiling like a peacock with its feathers spread. What’s going on with him?”

Although she had never seen a peacock with its feathers spread, she had heard the analogy many times.

Li Qing shook her head sadly, “I don’t know.”

Yan’s mother looked at her with disappointment, “Why are you so useless? You’re his wife, what are you afraid of? Everyone in our village knows about your engagement. Just be bold. They say chasing a man is like a thin veil. He’s a man, what can he do to you? You’re not young anymore. At your age, other people’s children can already be held in their arms. I don’t know when you two will finally get together. Men can’t resist temptation from the outside world. If you keep delaying, he’ll be seduced by some little vixen outside. What will you do then?”