“Dad, don’t go to work today. Let’s find a physician to take a look at Mother.”
Worried that Jiang Youshan would fret over the cost, Jiang Yue reached into her tunic and pulled out a stack of silver notes.
“Huh?” Jiang Youshan rubbed his weary eyes, which were currently sporting dark circles from a night of restless excitement.
“Yue’er, where did these come from?” As his eyes focused on the slips of paper in his hand, his fingers began to tremble. These were silver notes—each one worth ten taels. He could hardly believe his eyes.
Jiang Youshan had attended school as a boy and was literate, thanks entirely to Old Man Jiang. The patriarch had always dreamt of a scholar in the family, and perhaps out of a lingering shred of fatherly love, he had sent Jiang Youshan to the neighboring village’s school at age six. He had studied under a Master Cui for a year before Madam Liu’s meddling put an end to his education.
Jiang Ming snatched a note from his father’s hand, squinting at it. “Dad, what does it say on here?”
Jiang Yue sighed inwardly. It seemed her older brother had a few things to learn from their father. Everyone in this family needs an education, she thought. In her past life, she had suffered from a lack of schooling during her mandatory education years and had to spend an enormous amount of time catching up later to earn her coaching certificates.
The family crowded around Jiang Youshan to hear him read the numbers.
“This is money… seventy taels?” Jiang Xue gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
“I took down a brown bear and sold it yesterday,” Jiang Yue explained, her tone casual. “This is the payout.”
She wasn’t trying to show off; she simply knew that if she detailed exactly how grueling and dangerous the hunt had been, they would never let her set foot in the deep mountains again. Love, she realized, could sometimes be a shackle. She cherished this family and instinctively wanted to spare them the burden of worry.
Jiang Youshan pushed through the circle of children and, with shaking hands, pressed the money back toward Jiang Yue.
“Daughter, you keep this safe. Look at your mother and me… we wouldn’t be able to hold onto it.” He sighed, a bitter admission of his own perceived uselessness.
Jiang Yue thought for a moment, then handed the notes to her older brother.
“Then let Brother hold it. From now on, he’ll be the head of our household.”
At least her “cheap” parents had a healthy dose of self-awareness. Madam Cai nodded in agreement.
“Then Ming’er shall save it. He’ll manage the house.”
Jiang Ming gritted his teeth and took the silver. “Sister, should we deposit this in a bank?”
“Medicine first,” Jiang Yue replied. “We’ll figure out the rest later.”
“Taking care of your mother is the priority,” Jiang Youshan added. “I’ll go tell the village head that I won’t be working today. Wait for me.”
Soon, all six members of the first branch locked their door and headed for the village entrance to catch the ox cart. During the off-season, villagers with oxen would ferry people to the county seat for a single copper coin per head.
The driver was Old Man Wang, a neighbor from the edge of the village. As the cart creaked along, he struck up a conversation.
“Youshan, what takes the whole family to the city today?”
“Taking the children’s mother to see a doctor,” Jiang Youshan replied.
Old Man Wang wasn’t usually a gossip, but the drama surrounding the Jiang family was the talk of the town. He had heard plenty of whispers while driving his cart.
“Did your mother finally agree to pay for it?” he asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
“Grandmother wouldn’t give us a cent,” Jiang Xue blurted out before her father could say too much. “My brother and sister earned the money by trapping rabbits.”
Jiang Xue knew why her sister had sold the bear in secret—to keep the front courtyard from sniffing around. They couldn’t let the village know about the bear, so “trapping rabbits” served as the perfect cover.
Jiang Yue gave her younger sister an approving glance.
Old Man Wang fell silent. He doubted trapping rabbits brought in much, but seeing as Madam Cai’s health was clearly failing, he assumed they were spending the last of their meager savings.
Once they arrived in the county seat, they arranged a meeting spot for the return trip and headed straight for the Renhe Pharmacy, the largest medical hall in the city.
The physician on duty was a white-haired man whose very presence commanded trust. Jiang Ming pulled out the prescription from the village doctor.
“Doctor, we’re here for my mother. Could you tell us if this prescription is correct?”
The physician scrutinized the paper, then looked up at Madam Cai. He motioned for her to sit and placed his fingers on her wrist to feel her pulse.
The physician’s brow furrowed as he concentrated, his fingers shifting slightly on Madam Cai’s wrist. The silence in the pharmacy was heavy, broken only by the family’s synchronized, anxious breathing.
After a long moment, the old man withdrew his hand and stroked his snowy beard.
“This prescription isn’t ‘wrong,’ per se,” he began, gesturing toward the paper Jiang Ming had provided. “But it only treats the symptoms—the cough and the chills. It doesn’t touch the root of the problem. Your mother’s constitution is severely depleted. She has spent years laboring beyond her strength while lacking basic nourishment.”
Jiang Youshan’s head bowed in shame. Madam Cai reached out to squeeze his hand, her voice a fragile rasp.
“Doctor, is it… is it very serious?”
The physician looked at her kindly.
“It is a ‘void’ of the spirit and blood. If you continue as you have, a simple winter cold could take you. However, with the right tonics and—most importantly—absolute rest and good food, she can recover. But I must warn you, the medicinal herbs required for such a recovery are not cheap.”
Jiang Ming didn’t hesitate, his hand pressing against the silver notes hidden in his tunic.
“Give her the best you have, Doctor. We have the money.”
The old physician raised an eyebrow, surprised by the boy’s resolve, then nodded and began to write a new prescription. While the apprentices went to fetch the herbs, Jiang Yue wandered toward the back of the shop, her eyes scanning the drawers of dried roots and preserved flora. She was looking for something specific—something that would bring in even more wealth than a bear.
As they waited for the medicine to be packed, a commotion broke out at the front entrance. A group of burly men carrying a stretcher rushed in, shouting for the head physician.
“Make way! Our young master has been bitten by a viper!”
The white-haired doctor rushed over, his calm demeanor replaced by sharp urgency. He took one look at the patient—a young man whose leg was already turning a sickening shade of purple—and his face went pale.
“This is the Silver-Ringed Serpent’s venom! I can slow it, but I have no more Snow-Ganoderma to neutralize it. Does anyone in this city have it?”
The men looked at each other in despair. Jiang Yue, standing in the shadows, felt a spark of interest. She didn’t have the herb, but she knew the mountains better than anyone now.
“What does this Ganoderma look like?” Jiang Yue asked, stepping forward.
The head physician glanced at her, frustrated by the interruption.
“Little girl, this is a matter of life and death! It grows only on the sheerest cliffs, shaded from the sun. It is a rare treasure—not something a child can simply go and pick!”
Jiang Yue didn’t take offense. She simply memorized the description he gave to his apprentices.