Li Jiao pursed her lips, feeling something even hotter beside her hand, and silently moved her hand upward.
She wasn’t a fool; she knew what lay further down.
Li Jiao coughed and muttered, “Alright, alright, I’ll just warm my hands. I won’t move. Let go of me first.”
Qin Lie suppressed the urge to pull her into his embrace and withdrew his hand, but the sensation in his abdomen was impossible to ignore.
He closed his eyes briefly. From now on, he needed to recover his leg as quickly as possible so he could… have her sooner.
Li Jiao warmed her hands thoroughly before reluctantly pulling them out.
“Alright, that’s warm enough.”
Seeing Qin Lie’s relieved expression, a bright smile spread across her lips.
She didn’t continue to tease Qin Lie. After tucking him in, she immediately turned to process the Broad-tendon Vine.
Now, the priority was to strengthen Qin Lie’s physical foundation so his leg could recover smoothly.
Having just undergone major surgery, Qin Lie was both qi and blood deficient, at his weakest. The glucose from the IV alone couldn’t replenish what he’d lost.
Li Jiao selected the two thickest pieces from the pile of Broad-tendon Vine.
They felt heavy in her hand.
Although the vine appeared dry, gray, and withered, almost like firewood, its weight was a sign of potent medicinal properties.
Li Jiao borrowed a large pair of scissors from a nurse and, using all her strength, managed to cut the exceptionally tough Broad-tendon Vine into inch-long segments.
As the vine snapped, the distinct bitter fragrance of Broad-tendon Vine wafted faintly into the air.
With the herbs prepared, Li Jiao hurried off to the hospital cafeteria.
Supplies were scarce, but the head cook at the hospital cafeteria always had connections.
With sweet talk and the high price of one yuan, Li Jiao managed to secure half an old hen from the cook that hadn’t yet been used.
She also borrowed a chipped black clay pot and a small kerosene stove emitting black smoke.
Open flames weren’t allowed in the wards.
Carrying her supplies, Li Jiao went to the water room at the end of the corridor. It was near a ventilation shaft, a bit chilly, but no one would bother her there.
She set up the stove in the corner and lit the fire.
Filling the clay pot with cold water, she placed the cleaned Broad-tendon Vine segments at the bottom, then arranged the chopped old hen pieces on top.
She also tossed in a few red dates and ginger slices she’d exchanged for White Rabbit milk candies. Beyond that, she added no extra seasonings—not even salt.
At first, when the water came to a boil, only a faint smell of gamey meat and the scent of burnt wood drifted out.
Patients and their families passing by watched Li Jiao squatting in the corner, boiling what looked like tree roots. They covered their noses, their eyes filled with disdain.
“Look, I told you she’s a wasteful woman. She spent forty cents on all that firewood, and now she’s using it to stew chicken? What a waste!”
“Exactly. That young man seems really decent. Sigh, if he weren’t so dark-skinned, I’d want to introduce him to someone else.”
By now, Qin Lie had heard from others what Li Jiao was doing. His eyes lowered, and he fished out a White Rabbit milk candy from his pocket.
Leaning down to the child who was staring at him eagerly, he said softly, “Alright, from now on, I don’t want to hear you say anything bad about my wife. Take this candy and do something for me.”
The child had been a little scared at first, but upon seeing the candy, he immediately nodded excitedly.
“Go to the single room in Ward 1. When you see an old grandpa inside, pretend to casually mention that grandpa might have leg pain, and say there’s a very pretty sister stewing medicine, and the smell makes your arms, hands, and legs stop hurting.”
The child didn’t understand why, but he had gotten candy, so he immediately scampered off to the single room in Ward 1 to repeat the words.
By now, several people had gathered around Li Jiao, pointing and whispering about her.
Especially the auntie who had mocked Li Jiao yesterday. Seeing this scene, she pursed her lips and muttered to the person beside her, as if afraid others wouldn’t know how wasteful Li Jiao was.
Li Jiao paid no attention, holding a cattail-leaf fan in her hand as she patiently controlled the heat.
In her previous life, after being sold, she had worked day in and day out, becoming skilled at cooking and boiling water.
Now, her body remembered all those tasks perfectly, and even the heat control her grandfather had taught her came naturally to her.
After boiling over high heat for ten minutes, Li Jiao turned down the wick of the kerosene stove, switching to a gentle simmer.
As time passed, steam began to puff from the vent in the lid of the clay pot.
The initially discordant aromas began to meld together under the gentle heat.
The unique woody fragrance of the Broad-tendon Vine perfectly balanced the greasiness of the old hen, while the savory flavor of the chicken was fully released.
The rich, lingering aroma drifted lazily along the draft in the corridor.
Even those who had been watching with amusement couldn’t help but sniff the air.
“What… what is that smell? Why is it so fragrant?”
“It smells like chicken soup, but not quite. It feels strangely soothing. Why do I feel like my old cold legs are warming up?”
The fragrance, carried by the wind, wafted into the single room in Ward 1 where Qin Lie had sent the child.
An elderly man with graying hair leaned against the headboard, his brow furrowed in pain as he clutched his knee.
He was the county’s Old Bureau Chief, retired for less than two years. In his youth, he had fought in battles, leaving him with severe chronic leg pain and rheumatism.
On cold, snowy days like this, his kneecaps felt as if someone were hammering ice into them.
The pain kept him awake all night, and no painkillers helped—he couldn’t even eat.
When the child appeared, the aroma of the chicken soup washed over him along with the child’s words.
The old man’s pained expression faltered slightly. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath.
“Hey, kid, you weren’t wrong.”
The meaty scent mixed with herbal fragrance filled his nostrils, stirring a hint of hunger in him.
Even the stabbing pain in his knee seemed to ease a little.
“Xiao Zhang, come take a whiff. Isn’t it wonderfully fragrant?”
The guard beside him, Xiao Zhang, swallowed hard. “Reporting, Chief, it really is fragrant. Seems even better than the canteen chef’s cooking.”
“Help me up.” The Old Bureau Chief threw off the blanket. “Let’s go see which expert is showing off their skills!”
The child scampered after the two of them, following the scent to the washroom door.
A small crowd had already gathered there.
People pointed and whispered, but all were swallowing saliva, tempted by the bubbling aroma from the clay pot.
Li Jiao held a ladle, carefully skimming off the layer of golden oil floating on the surface of the soup.
“Young comrade.” The Old Bureau Chief looked at Li Jiao, then at the dried branches in the clay pot, unable to contain his curiosity. “What are you stewing? Why is it so fragrant? Those ingredients inside look like tree roots to me.”
Upon hearing this, someone nearby immediately sneered and chimed in, “Exactly, Old Bureau Chief. This young woman is quite foolish—spending money on a pile of dried firewood to stew chicken. Isn’t that just ruining good meat?”
Li Jiao gently pursed her lips, suppressing the excitement in her heart. She had been waiting for this Old Bureau Chief.
“This isn’t tree roots. This is fifty-year-old wild Broad-tendon Vine,” Li Jiao said as she scooped up the amber-colored broth with a ladle and gently poured it back into the clay pot, releasing an even richer aroma.
“Broad-tendon Vine is mild in nature and bitter in taste, entering the liver and spleen meridians. When simmered slowly with a free-range hen over three years old, it becomes an excellent remedy for rheumatism, bone pain, and injuries from falls or blows. It can also expel deep-seated cold from the bones.”
Li Jiao smiled as she watched the Old Bureau Chief unconsciously press his knee. “Especially for someone like you, who suffered from the cold in your youth and now has deep-seated cold-dampness in your bones—drinking a bowl of this is more effective than taking painkillers.”
“But the stewing time isn’t quite there yet. It needs another half hour for the medicinal properties to fully emerge. Would you like a bowl, sir?”
Those who had been ready to mock her were instantly stunned.
The Old Bureau Chief’s eyes lit up. Having suffered from illness for so long, he had become something of an expert himself, and he had heard of Broad-tendon Vine before. But this young woman had managed to stew it with such an extraordinary fragrance—just the aroma alone told him it was no ordinary brew.
She really knows her stuff.