Fortunately, after vomiting this large mouthful of blood, Li Xiaoxiao felt the pressure in her chest ease considerably, and she could breathe again.
She took a few steady breaths and was just about to get out of bed to light the lamp and pour herself a cup of water when Mama Mao’s voice came from outside the door.
“Xiaoxiao, how are you?”
It turned out that Mama Mao had only just lain down and had not yet fallen asleep. When she suddenly heard the sound of vomiting from next door, she immediately grabbed her oil lamp and hurried over.
Seeing that Li Xiaoxiao did not answer, she pushed the door hard, and it swung open. In the lamplight, she saw Li Xiaoxiao leaning against the headboard, blood clearly visible at the corner of her lips.
Mama Mao was shocked. “Xiaoxiao, why are you vomiting blood?”
The lamplight fell across the floor, revealing a pool of blackish blood.
Mama Mao was even more alarmed. “Why is the blood black?”
She immediately thought of the bowl of medicine Li Xiaoxiao had drunk before going to bed. Could the physician at Huichun Hall have poisoned her?
Li Xiaoxiao checked her physical condition and found herself much more comfortable than before. She got out of bed, poured herself a cup of water, and rinsed her mouth. After carefully sensing her condition, she said happily, “Mama Mao, the pressure in my chest is almost gone.”
Mama Mao had just been thinking about reporting to Madam and having a physician brought over in the middle of the night, but upon hearing this, she froze. “What?”
Li Xiaoxiao said, “Didn’t I keep feeling a dull pain and pressure in my chest before? It’s barely noticeable now.”
Mama Mao asked doubtfully, “Could it be that you vomited out some of the stagnant blood blocking your chest? Is there anywhere else that feels uncomfortable?”
Li Xiaoxiao clenched her hand tightly. This time, it took quite a while before she could feel the dull pain again.
“Mama Mao, I think I’m much better,” she said delightedly.
Mama Mao stared at her in disbelief. After thinking for a moment, she still could not rest easy.
“Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll go with you to Huichun Hall to see Doctor Xie again and find out exactly what’s going on.”
Vomiting blood was no small matter. If it was not handled properly and became a chronic ailment, it could follow someone for the rest of their life. Li Xiaoxiao was only fifteen this year, and she had a long life ahead of her.
The next day after lunch, Mama Mao told Granny Qi that she would personally take Li Xiaoxiao out for a follow-up examination.
Because Li Xiaoxiao had saved Liu Zhi, Granny Qi already had a very favorable impression of her. When she heard Mama Mao say that Li Xiaoxiao had even vomited blood the previous day, she hurriedly said, “Then you must go to Doctor Xie and have him treat her properly as soon as possible. We can’t be careless about this.”
Mama Mao took Li Xiaoxiao to find Doctor Xie.
She sat down boldly in front of him, opened the medicine he had prescribed for Li Xiaoxiao the day before, and placed it on the table.
“Doctor Xie, our Xiaoxiao took the medicine you prescribed for her yesterday, and less than an hour later, she vomited blood. Did you prescribe the wrong medicine for her?”
Doctor Xie’s expression changed drastically. He immediately reached out and took Li Xiaoxiao’s pulse. After examining it, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.
“How much blood did you vomit yesterday?”
“Just one mouthful,” Li Xiaoxiao replied.
Mama Mao interjected, “But the blood was black. It looked frightening.”
Doctor Xie breathed a sigh of relief. “Some of the clotted blood stagnating in your chest was expelled. The young lady’s pulse has improved slightly compared with yesterday. It seems the prescription from yesterday did have some effect.”
Mama Mao was still skeptical. “Doctor, I’m a cook, and I know how to prepare medicinal dishes too. Almost all the medicines in this prescription are warm and nourishing. I don’t see any medicine that can treat injuries.”
Doctor Xie stroked his beard. “Precisely because her injuries are so severe, we can’t administer strong medicine all at once to force them out. We have to use a mild prescription to sustain her condition and slowly remove the stagnant blood in her chest. Otherwise, she could suddenly fall seriously ill.”
He then gave Mama Mao a detailed account of the condition he had discovered when taking Li Xiaoxiao’s pulse the previous day.
“After the young lady left, the shopkeeper and I discussed it for a long time. We both clearly felt that her illness was extremely serious, so why did she have no symptoms? But there are no absolute rules in medicine. The same illness can manifest very differently in different people. In the end, we could only attribute it to the young lady having an unusual constitution.
“An illness that would be extremely serious for someone else is merely lying dormant in her without flaring up. That is why we don’t dare use strong medicine. If we were to provoke it too violently all at once, it could have the opposite effect, and one careless move could even cost her life.
“So we can only continue using mild medicine to slowly sustain her condition. Once her constitution has been strengthened and the stagnant blood has been completely dispersed, her body will naturally recover.”
Only then did Mama Mao believe that Li Xiaoxiao really was seriously ill. But even Doctor Xie, who had practiced medicine for decades, considered her constitution unusually rare, so there was even less chance that Mama Mao had ever encountered anything like it.
She clicked her tongue in amazement. “Girl, you really are blessed. You work hard in the kitchen every day, yet I’ve never seen anything wrong with you. If Doctor Xie and the shopkeeper hadn’t both determined that you had an injury, I absolutely wouldn’t have believed it.”
Li Xiaoxiao chuckled.
Mama Mao put the medicine away and asked Doctor Xie, “By the way, Doctor, if she’s really this seriously ill, will doing heavy work affect her?”
Doctor Xie’s brows furrowed again as he muttered, “No symptoms would already be one thing, but she can even do heavy work?”
“Yes. She carries two large vats of water every day, and every two or three days she has to chop firewood. It’s all heavy work.”
Doctor Xie did not know what to say. He could only marvel at Li Xiaoxiao’s tenacious vitality.
“If she doesn’t feel any discomfort, then it should be fine for her to maintain her current routine.”
There was a reason Mama Mao had asked. After all, Li Xiaoxiao had only just entered the household when it was discovered that she had a serious illness. If the Master and Madam became displeased with her, they could dismiss her with a casual decision. After spending more than ten days with her, Mama Mao was quite satisfied with her.
After all, capable helpers were hard to find. As long as Li Xiaoxiao’s illness did not affect her duties, she decided to help her keep it a secret.
On the way back, she carefully reminded Li Xiaoxiao, “Whatever you do, don’t let anyone else find out about your condition. Just say that you need to recuperate slowly. Understand?”
Li Xiaoxiao nodded vigorously. “Yes! I understand.”
After they returned, Granny Qi naturally asked Mama Mao about Li Xiaoxiao’s condition. Mama Mao spoke up for her.
“The doctor said she’s excessively weak and needs to slowly recuperate with some warm, nourishing medicinal herbs. She needs to drink one dose of medicine every day, but it won’t affect her duties.”
Granny Qi was relieved. She turned around and handed Mama Mao a box.
“This is a small piece of ginseng I’m giving her. Let her soak it in water and drink it.”
The ginseng was also meant to thank Li Xiaoxiao for saving Liu Zhi’s life. Granny Qi was not an ungrateful person.
Mama Mao thanked Granny Qi on Li Xiaoxiao’s behalf, then took it back and handed it to her.
When Li Xiaoxiao opened the box, she saw a piece of ginseng about the thickness of a chopstick.
She had never seen ginseng before and asked Mama Mao, “What’s this?”
Mama Mao smiled. “This is ginseng. I’ll cut it into slices for you. Soak it in warm water and drink it, then eat the pieces too. It’s extremely nourishing.”
Such a tiny thing could be extremely nourishing?
Li Xiaoxiao was puzzled.
Mama Mao said, “Don’t underestimate this piece of ginseng. It costs at least four or five taels of silver.”
Li Xiaoxiao was stunned. “It’s that expensive!”
“Of course. This is already a decent size. If it were as thick as a thumb, a single piece would cost more than a hundred taels of silver.”
Li Xiaoxiao asked, “Why would Granny Qi give me such an expensive piece of ginseng?”
“Isn’t it because you saved Liu Zhi’s life? Her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson aren’t by her side. She only has one granddaughter with her, and Granny Qi dotes on her even more than she does on her grandson. How could she not be anxious about Liu Zhi’s life? To be honest, if you hadn’t snatched her back yesterday, who knows how heartbroken Granny Qi would have been.”
If Liu Zhi had really been abducted, Granny Qi would never have been able to find her again for the rest of her life.
Mama Mao continued, “Just accept it since she’s giving it to you. Remember her kindness. When you have something good, give her a share too. She’s in charge of the inner residence. If she has a good impression of you, your days will be easier.”
At this point, she sighed again. In truth, this was simply the way of surviving in a great household. If they were still in the residence in the capital, these things would naturally be useful. But the Master and Madam had both been demoted to this remote place, and there were few people in their household. Perhaps all these things she was teaching Li Xiaoxiao would never be of any use after all.
Li Xiaoxiao gradually adapted to her current life. Considering that she was injured, Mama Mao had clearly reduced the amount of work assigned to her.
Every morning, she would fill the two large vats with water and light the fires in the two stoves. Then Mama Mao would send her back to her room to rest. If anyone asked, she would simply say that she had gone back to her room to do needlework.
To be honest, Li Xiaoxiao was not even good at threading a needle, let alone sewing.
She had never done such delicate work before.
She drank the medicine prescribed by Doctor Xie every day and also ate the ginseng Granny Qi had given her. The dull sensation in her chest grew lighter and lighter until it disappeared completely seven days later.
Mama Mao was delighted and told her that the medicine was working. Even her lips had become much rosier.
But Li Xiaoxiao knew that this was merely a surface-level change.
Her body was indeed recovering, but the price was that her supernatural ability was disappearing.
Rather than saying that the Chinese herbs had healed the injuries in her body, it would be more accurate to say that her supernatural ability had been burned away to heal them.
Because she could no longer open the necklace around her neck.
To outsiders, it was merely an ordinary silver chain, but hidden inside it was her greatest secret.
As the dull pain disappeared, she could no longer sense the existence of her supernatural ability at all.
She knew then that traveling through a spacetime tunnel was not as easy as it seemed. The fact that her body had not been torn apart in the turbulence was already a tremendous miracle. It was perfectly normal for her to have been left with a body full of injuries.
Besides, the people in this world had far too little offensive power. Perhaps the laws of Heaven did not permit her to possess such an advanced power, so they had taken it back.
In any case, if it was gone, then it was gone. Li Xiaoxiao accepted it quite well. After all, even with nothing but her physical strength left, three or five people still would not be able to get close to her.
That was enough to protect herself.
After finishing her medicine, she went to Huichun Hall for a follow-up examination, leaving Doctor Xie and the shopkeeper bewildered. They repeatedly asked whether she had taken some miraculous elixir. When they finally learned that she had eaten a piece of ginseng, the looks in their eyes changed.
Doctor Xie even wanted to see what the ginseng had looked like and why it could heal her in just seven days.
Of course, there was no ginseng left. Not even a scrap of the root remained. She had eaten every bit of it. Besides, she knew that the ginseng and the other nourishing medicines had only played an auxiliary role. The real reason was that their medicinal properties had stimulated the supernatural ability remaining in her body, accelerating the rate at which her ability healed her injuries.
At this moment, she was leisurely lying on a forked tree by the roadside on the outskirts of the county seat, both hands pillowing her head, a blade of grass between her teeth. Beneath the tree, an old ox was leisurely grazing.
She had acquired a new job now: tending cattle.
She could actually have bought grass from the villagers who delivered firewood. It was very cheap. Ten wen could buy enough fodder for the old ox for five days. But she did not want to stay in the rear courtyard of the county office all the time. She wanted to come out and see this world.
Tending cattle was really a job that suited her.
The kitchen was only busy in the morning and evening. Once she finished her work, she could lead her ox outside to graze and take the opportunity to clear her mind.
During the days she had been coming outside, she had smelled the fragrance of flowers and the freshness of grass and felt the taste of the wind. When she saw how happily the ox was eating, she had even lowered her head and imitated it, taking a bite of the lush green grass to experience its raw, astringent flavor before spitting it out with a series of “ptui, ptui, ptui.”
She was very happy. She found this world without mutations utterly enchanting.
If only she could eat a little more meat.
Just as she was completely absorbed in the moment, she suddenly heard the clattering of horse hooves coming from the official road. Curious, she raised her eyes and looked over.
A carriage bearing the mark of Miyang County appeared before her.
County Magistrate Meng, who had been gone for more than ten days, had finally returned.
…
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