Thinking he was in severe pain, Liu Dujuan’s expression changed. She dropped the firewood in her hand and rushed over to support him.
“What’s wrong, Husband? Is your leg hurting terribly?”
Jin Yao shook his head.
“Jinjin said she can understand what that little white snake says, and these herbs are what the little white snake told her could cure my injury.”
Liu Dujuan froze, looking at Jinjin in astonishment. “Jinjin, is what your father said true? Is it the snake that was lying beside you this afternoon?”
Jinjin nodded obediently. “Dad, Mom, Xiaobai is my good friend. It’s really good and doesn’t eat people at all. Can you please not be afraid of it?”
Jin Yao and Liu Dujuan stared blankly at their daughter. They suddenly felt that ever since Jinjin recovered from this illness, she seemed a bit different from before.
In the past, Jinjin was very timid and would cry at the sight of a single caterpillar. How was she not afraid of snakes now?
Liu Dujuan’s heart sank. Could her brain have been fried from the high fever?
At the thought of this, tears welled up in her eyes again, and she blamed herself, “I’m sorry, Jinjin. It’s because Mom was foolish and didn’t take good care of you that you got sick. You must still be unwell right now. How could a snake talk?”
Seeing that her mother was about to cry again, Jinjin sighed helplessly in her heart. Her mother in this life was truly a big crybaby!
Jinjin reached out, tugged at her mother’s hand a few times, and comforted her softly, “Mom, Jinjin is all better!”
“Jinjin had a very long dream. In the dream, I met an old grandpa with white hair and a white beard. He said he was my old ancestor and that he had become an immortal. He taught me some skills and even tapped my little head!”
“The old ancestor also took me everywhere to play. Jinjin saw many worlds different from ours and saw lots of delicious food I had never seen before. In the end, the old ancestor sent Jinjin back, saying that Dad and Mom would worry if they couldn’t see Jinjin.”
Jinjin blinked her eyes and spoke sincerely, trying her best to make her parents believe her.
In fact, these were lines that sisters in the short dramas her mother used to watch would use to deceive others after time-traveling. On a whim, she said them to comfort her parents.
Sure enough, Liu Dujuan and Jin Yao actually believed Jinjin’s words.
Jin Yao asked Jinjin, “What else did the old ancestor tell you?”
Liu Dujuan asked Jinjin, “And what else did the little white snake tell you?”
After both asked at the same time, they looked at each other sheepishly before turning their gazes back to Jinjin together.
They found it so unbelievable and magical. After getting sick once, their daughter could actually understand snakes talking? She even met the Jin family’s old ancestor and went to many places?
“Xiaobai also said we can wash this wild vegetable and put some in when cooking porridge. It’s good for Dad’s injury, or Mom can just boil vegetable water for Dad to drink!” Jinjin squatted down and picked up a stalk of purslane.
Liu Dujuan was half-doubting. Were the words of a little white snake trustworthy?
Jin Yao stared at his daughter and pondered for a moment, then nodded at Liu Dujuan. “Let’s do as Jinjin says and give it a try. At worst, it just won’t work. We’ve eaten this before anyway; it’s not poisonous, so it won’t harm anyone.”
Liu Dujuan uttered a response and quickly turned back to continue lighting the fire to boil water.
Jin Yao picked up the stalks of dandelion and Chinese violet, asking Jinjin, “Then do you know how to use these herbs?”
Jinjin nodded without hesitation. “I do!”
She began to direct her parents on how to clean the wound, and how to mash and apply the medicine.
Soon, Jin Yao’s leg wound was treated, and under Jinjin’s guidance, it was wrapped with strips of torn cloth.
Jin Yao took a couple of steps on the ground and felt much better. As the medicinal juice penetrated the wound, it seemed to take effect, and it didn’t hurt as much anymore.
Jin Yao said to Liu Dujuan in pleasant surprise, “It seems a bit better, not as painful.”
Liu Dujuan laughed softly. “How could it be so fast?”
However, the expression on her face relaxed, and she felt somewhat relieved after all.
“Daddy, you still need to rest for a few more days and wait until the wound has completely scabbed over before you walk around,” Jinjin followed behind Jin Yao and instructed him.
Listening to his daughter’s serious instructions delivered in a milky voice, Jin Yao chuckled softly, “Alright, Dad knows.”
Seeing that Liu Dujuan was cooking, Jin Yao walked over to the window of the house and pasted up the remaining window paper that Liu Dujuan hadn’t finished.
These brothers were quite loyal. Each took a few spare old household items from their homes. Now they had a wooden bucket, an iron pot with a piece missing, three old bowls with chipped corners, a wooden spatula, and a small wooden basin. These were all old items that had been replaced and discarded in their homes.
Even though they were old items, he was very grateful to them.
“Dujuan, keep a good record of who gave us what items. Once I get better in a few days and go hunting, we have to repay every favor.”
“The window paper and paste were given by Zhao Yun’s wife. When we go to the town later, let’s buy a few sheets to pay them back. Also, carpenter Yang’s wages come to a total of one hundred wens for the three of them. I told him that once my leg gets better in a few days and I make money from hunting, I’ll send it over to him. And the remaining two logs were given to him too; they will come to haul them away tomorrow.”
“Alright!” Liu Dujuan responded as she lit a fire to boil water on a makeshift stove built with large stones.
“By the way, Huzi gave us a bowl of rice, which is enough for us to eat for two days. Tonight, boil some porridge and put in some of the wild vegetables our Jinjin pulled out.” After finishing the window paper, Jin Yao went over and sat on a large stone to chat with his wife.
“Okay!” Liu Dujuan replied softly, her gaze somewhat dazed as she stared at the bright fire.
This family relied entirely on her husband. If his leg couldn’t get better, what should they do two days from now?
With nothing to do, Jinjin suddenly realized that her broken bowl was gone, so she quickly looked around for it.
When she saw the broken bowl resting on the ground on the other side of the large stone, Jinjin ran over to pick it up and hugged it in her arms, feeling instantly reassured.
Holding the broken bowl, Jinjin skipped into the small wooden house to explore. This would be their own home from now on.
The inside of the wooden house was not very large. There was a window on the back wall. Right now, the window was open, and as the setting sun shone in, the inside was a dim yellow and quite bright.
The right side near the entrance was larger, holding a wooden couch that had been wiped clean and held their bedding.
To the left of the entrance, against the wall, was a wooden shelf holding two bundles that her mother had brought out, along with three small bowls, a wooden spatula, and a wooden basin.
Apart from these, there was nothing else in the room.
Jinjin went over to the cloth bundle, rummaged out her two eggs, put them in her broken bowl, and brought the bowl to Liu Dujuan.
“Mom, look, the eggs are still here. We can eat them together tonight.”
Seeing how sensible her daughter was, Liu Dujuan let out a gentle “Okay!”
Her husband’s leg injury indeed required some nourishment, which was why she had quietly boiled two extra eggs earlier and hidden them, wanting her husband and daughter to have one each.
She hadn’t expected that these two eggs would now become the most precious food in this household.
After the sun had set completely, Liu Dujuan’s wild vegetable porridge was ready.
She served the porridge and placed it on the large stone.
Now, this large stone served as their family’s makeshift dining table.
“Wow, smells so good!” Jinjin leaned by the edge of the large stone and praised the green wild vegetable porridge in the bowl.
Liu Dujuan smiled, patted her head, and called out to Jin Yao, who was clearing weeds in the yard, to come eat.
When the first mouthful of porridge entered her mouth, Jinjin secretly complained in her heart: it didn’t taste good.
It was a bit bitter and astringent.
It wasn’t as good as the spinach porridge or the preserved egg and lean pork porridge her mother used to make for her.
Liu Dujuan peeled the two eggs, putting one in Jin Yao’s bowl and one in Jinjin’s bowl.
Jin Yao shook his head and placed his egg into Liu Dujuan’s bowl. “I won’t eat the egg. You and Jinjin eat!”
Liu Dujuan quickly put it back for him, crinkling her nose and saying to Jin Yao seriously, “No, you’re the patient, you eat it. Only when you get better can Jinjin and I be well.”
Jinjin blinked her eyes, raised her egg with a spoon, and handed it over to Jin Yao.
“Jinjin doesn’t like eating eggs. Daddy eat!”
Jin Yao and Dujuan were stunned, both looking at Jinjin suspiciously.
Since when did Jinjin not like eating eggs?
In the past, didn’t she often complain to them that Grandma only gave eggs to Haohao and not to her?
[Host, in the past, Jinjin’s favorite thing to eat was eggs!] Liuliu quickly reminded her. The little girl was about to let the cat out of the bag.