Chapter 25 1/2

In the afternoon, the butcher shop had little business left. About half of the livestock had been sold, and considering the weather in autumn and winter, they could continue selling the next day without worry.

Shen Shiqiao, the butcher, saw that business was slow and there wasn’t much to do. He wanted to pass the time by playing dice with some acquaintances nearby, so he sent his two apprentices off work.

Huo Shu walked out of the shop, still basking in the sparse sunlight falling on the archway of the street, emitting a golden glow.

He looked at the large characters on the archway of Zhenlu Lane, squinted his eyes against the glare, and then glanced towards the bustling street.

With a slight hesitation in his eyes, he wasn’t entirely sure, but still decided to take a walk.

So, he took out a short knife that he usually carried with him, made a cut on the back of his left hand without changing his expression, and then walked straight into the lane.

“It looks like winter is coming. I should add a few more layers of clothing in the morning and evening. You seem to have lost some weight.”

“It’s okay. Winter is almost here, and it will be the New Year soon. I’ll eat a lot during the New Year, and I’ll gain some weight again.”

Huang Yingsheng couldn’t help but laugh at this and patted the young man’s head beside him. “Don’t keep dwelling on the past, look ahead.”

“I know.”

Huang Yingsheng nodded and said, “By the way, I’m afraid I won’t be able to go to the village to celebrate your birthday next month on the 15th. I have to go to another province to discuss a deal on medicinal herbs. It might take about ten days.”

Ji Taoyu sighed, “Alright. But if Grandpa can’t celebrate my birthday with me, the birthday gift should not be missing. You have to give me some of the medicinal herbs you bring back from the other province.”

Huang Yingsheng shook his head with a smile. “It’s not like you don’t have enough medicinal herbs in the clinic.”

The grandfather and granddaughter joked as they walked from the backyard to the front hall. As they entered the shop, they saw a tall figure standing on one side of the medical clinic.

Before Huang Yingsheng could see clearly who the person was, Ji Taoyu had already hurried over.

“Huo Big Brother, why are you here?”

Huo Shu turned his head slightly to see Ji Taoyu running towards him, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly. It was indeed her.

He raised his injured hand towards Ji Taoyu.

“What happened to you?”

Ji Taoyu saw the blood oozing from Huo Shu’s wide hand and dripping into the gaps between his fingers, making his large hand look particularly terrifying.

“We need to stop the bleeding quickly!”

Huang Yingsheng took a glance and immediately bent down to retrieve the medical kit from the counter. He was about to disinfect and bandage Huo Shu’s hand, but Ji Taoyu took the kit directly from his hand.

After running a few steps, she realized her mistake and quickly turned back. “Grandpa, you should attend to the other patient. I’ll handle the bandaging.”

Huang Yingsheng raised an eyebrow.

But he didn’t say much, his eyes fixed on his granddaughter, and then turned to attend to an old lady.

“Huo Big Brother, come over here.”

Huo Shu followed Ji Taoyu to a small examination table in the corner. He sat down with his legs apart, almost covering Ji Taoyu and the table with his body.

The table only reached his waist, and he was sitting so high that it seemed like an adult sitting in a child’s seat, which was quite comical.

However, the examination table was clearly tailored for Ji Taoyu, and she sat comfortably at the other end.

Huo Shu squeezed into the space, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. But when a pair of gentle hands lifted his left hand and gently wiped away the blood stains with a damp cloth, all discomfort disappeared in an instant.

“How did this happen?”

Ji Taoyu furrowed her eyebrows tightly, carefully wiping with a cotton cloth, afraid that she might accidentally touch the wound again and cause further harm.

Huo Shu watched Ji Taoyu, who was so close that he could clearly see her thick, curly eyelashes, with a serious and worried expression. Unconsciously, he even softened his breath.

“Does it hurt a lot? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

After Ji Taoyu cleaned the blood, she was about to use alcohol to disinfect, which would inevitably sting the wound. Seeing that Huo Shu hadn’t spoken, she couldn’t help but raise her head.

“It’s nothing.”

Huo Shu said, “I just got cut in the butcher shop.”

“You came from Master Qiao’s shop? No wonder the wound is still bleeding, like it just happened.”

Ji Taoyu’s eyebrows remained furrowed, and she continued to speak incessantly, “I noticed that the knives in the butcher shop always gleam with silver light, so they must be very sharp. When using them, you must be careful.”

Huo Shu sighed lightly and said casually, “It’s my first day learning, so I was a bit clumsy.”

“Don’t be discouraged. Everything is difficult at the beginning. Especially for professions like butchering and hunting, which have high entry barriers. If you rush and injure yourself, it’s not worth it. It’s good to work efficiently, but you shouldn’t rush and end up hurting yourself. That’s missing the forest for the trees.”

Ji Taoyu lowered her voice suddenly, “If Master Qiao scolds you for being slow, I’ll ask Grandpa to go over and speak some kind words for you.”

Huo Shu’s eyes flickered slightly, and something seemed to pass through his heart. He looked directly at the person comforting him, feeling an uncontrollable urge to pinch Ji Taoyu’s face like never before.

He withdrew his gaze. “Hmm.”

Seeing that he didn’t seem to give up, Ji Taoyu said, “Bear with the pain a bit, I’ll disinfect the wound.”

He took a breath and used cotton soaked in alcohol to wipe the wound on the back of Huo Shu’s hand, which was as long as his little finger, back and forth three times. When he released the cotton, he also breathed a sigh of relief.

Then she applied herbs and wrapped several layers of bandages.

“Do we need to change the dressing?”

“Yes, in a couple of days. When it scabs over, I have scar removal ointment here. It won’t leave a scar.”

Ji Taoyu reassured him.

“I don’t care if it leaves a scar or not.”

After he finished speaking, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he asked, “Do you mind scars?”

Ji Taoyu raised her eyebrows sleepily, “Girls and boys care about their appearance, so naturally they mind scars. Many girls and boys in the village come to me asking for scar removal ointment.”

Huo Shu didn’t respond, but his eyebrows furrowed even more.

Thinking she might have wrapped the bandage too tightly, Ji Taoyu quickly loosened it and rewrapped it with a couple more layers.

On the other side, Huang Yingsheng glanced in their direction a few times. Although he couldn’t hear what they were saying, he could see his grandson’s sometimes stern expression and sometimes comforting demeanor.

Huo Shu unexpectedly allowed Ji Taoyu’s preaching and instructions, and the two of them appeared completely familiar with each other.

Huang Yingsheng couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.

“Alright, is it serious?” Huang Yingsheng asked as Ji Taoyu finished bandaging and put away the medical kit.

“It’s just a flesh wound, cut by a knife,” Ji Taoyu said. “Huo Big Brother is apprenticing with Master Qiao in the front. It’s his first day, and he got injured.”

Huang Yingsheng looked at Huo Shu in surprise and said, “You’ve started a new profession?”

Ji Taoyu nodded.

Huang Yingsheng stroked his beard approvingly and said, “That’s a good thing.”

“Go pour some tea for Huo Yishi,” he instructed Ji Taoyu.

Ji Taoyu nodded and hurried to pour tea for Huo Shu.

As Huang Yingsheng watched the two of them, someone handed him a prescription.

“Doctor Huang, please prepare some medicine according to this prescription.”

Huang Yingsheng took the prescription handed to him and glanced at it. As he fetched the medicine from the cabinet behind him, he asked, “Is someone in Zhang’s family injured?”

“It’s true. It’s unfortunate. My husband came back from out of town a few days ago. Who would have thought that he would encounter a group of bandits at the border between Yangqiao County and Tongzhou City? It seems they intercepted a merchant caravan and even the peddlers passing by were not spared.”

“My husband sensed something was wrong and quickly hid on a steep slope beside the official road, but he slipped and fell down the mountain. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, just some abrasions.”

The woman spoke with fear, repeatedly invoking the blessings of heaven.

After hearing this, the people waiting for medical treatment also chimed in, “I heard that it’s not very peaceful outside lately. Taxes have increased this year, and banditry has become rampant again. They even dare to cause trouble at the border of the prefecture.”

The woman shook her head, “Yangqiao County suffered from locust plague this year, resulting in a poor harvest of crops. However, the imperial taxes have still increased. The farmers who can’t make ends meet have turned to banditry. Once these people rise up, how can they not be fierce?”

“Fortunately, we are in the city. These bandits wouldn’t dare to come and rob us.”

“It’s hard to say. I heard from the peddlers in Linhe District that they’ve seen these bandits within the boundaries of Tongzhou. They all have beards and rob people on sight. Now, the peddlers in Linhe District dare not go out alone anymore.”

As the conversation became more and more unsettling, an elderly person started fretting, “As we approach the end of the autumn harvest and the beginning of the new year, it’s supposed to be a time when business is better. How are we supposed to make a living like this?”

Ji Taoyu listened with her mouth slightly agape, forgetting to close it, and stared straight ahead at the direction where the discussion was happening. After a long while, she swallowed a mouthful of saliva and snapped out of it.

Although Tongzhou was generally stable, incidents of banditry and robbery had occurred sporadically over the years. While such incidents were rare in the city, they occasionally happened in the towns and counties below.

People in the city would always talk, feeling anxious for a moment but ultimately feeling that it was far from them. It was like sighing over something that wasn’t directly affecting them, feeling sad but not experiencing the pain firsthand.

Ji Taoyu rushed to Huang Yingsheng’s side and said, “Grandpa, what they’re saying is so scary. Shouldn’t we postpone the business of buying medicinal herbs for now?”