“Doctor Huang, what’s the situation really like?”
A woman’s anxious voice sounded by her ear.
Qianhua felt her entire body ache and weak; it was as if she were submerged in an icy pool, shivering uncontrollably from the cold.
Her mind was heavy, yet her awareness remained sharp.
She tried to open her eyes, wanting to see exactly where she was.
But her eyelids refused to obey, and her body felt as if cursed, completely immobile.
She had no choice but to give up.
“Right now it’s late summer, the weather isn’t cold. After falling into the water, the child shouldn’t have caught a chill, but she already had an internal cold condition. Now, falling into the water has triggered a cold evil within her body.”
“On top of that, she suffered an extreme fright, which is why her high fever hasn’t subsided. At present, the situation is quite critical.”
It was the voice of an elderly man, presumably the Doctor Huang the woman had mentioned.
“Doctor Huang, what should we do? Is there any way to treat her?” The woman’s voice trembled with urgency and worry.
“I’ll prescribe some medicine. If the fever comes down after taking it, she will be safe. But if the high fever persists…”
The old man hesitated, clearly unwilling to speak the rest.
“What happens if the fever doesn’t subside?” The woman’s voice grew even more desperate.
“If the high fever hasn’t gone down by tomorrow morning, then you must prepare yourselves for the worst,” the old man sighed, stating the worst-case scenario.
As soon as he spoke, Mrs. Liu felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck her head; her brain buzzed.
It was as though all her energy and spirit had been drained in an instant, leaving her weak and nearly collapsing.
Once she regained her balance and composure, she immediately rushed to the bedside and clutched the frail body of the person lying there.
Shaking her while crying loudly, she lamented, “Qianhua, my poor daughter, how did you fall into the river? If you don’t make it, how will your mother go on living? Wuuu…”
Qianhua felt even dizzier from the shaking.
She was puzzled: how did this woman know her name was Qianhua?
She even called herself her mother—but this voice was clearly not her mother’s.
She remembered that before the accident, she had been standing at the stern of a sightseeing boat, taking photos with other tourists.
Suddenly, a wave crashed over.
She didn’t know who in the crowd had jostled her, but she lost her balance and fell into the water.
She could swim, yet no matter how she kicked, her body felt like it was sinking deeper until she lost all consciousness.
When she woke again, she found herself lying here.
“Chunxiang, don’t panic. Let Doctor Huang prepare the medicine. Qianhua is lucky; she will be fine,” a man’s comforting voice interrupted Qianhua’s chaotic thoughts.
“Yes, yes, her father. I was too anxious. Doctor Huang, please prepare the prescription quickly.”
Hearing her husband speak, the woman seemed to find a sense of stability and urged the doctor to write the prescription.
Doctor Huang took out paper and pen from his medicine box and sat at the worn wooden table to write.
He handed the completed prescription to Mrs. Liu, then looked at Old Liang, who was leaning on a cane: “This prescription calms fright and temporarily suppresses the cold within the child. Some of the herbs that suppress cold are quite rare and cost two taels of silver. With the rest of the herbs, the total comes to three taels of silver. As for the rare herbs that suppress cold, I don’t have them here…”
“What kind of expensive medicine is this? Three taels of silver could feed our entire family for half a year. Why don’t you just rob money instead?”
Before Doctor Huang could finish, Old Mrs. Liang, who had remained silent until now, sharply interrupted.
“I am a doctor, not a bandit. I don’t steal. Moreover, even if you wanted those rare cold-suppressing herbs, I don’t have them here.”
Doctor Huang’s face darkened.
He spoke angrily.
“Then fine, we don’t need your expensive herbs. If there’s cold inside her body, we’ll just boil some ginger water and give it to her ourselves,” Old Mrs. Liang said, her tone agitated, as if she wanted to save money rather than spend it on saving a life.
Disgusted, Doctor Huang thought this was outrageous—at a moment when a life was at stake, she actually wanted to settle it with just ginger water.
“Doctor Huang, I apologize. My mother is impulsive and spoke out of turn. Please don’t take it personally. We still need your prescription to save my daughter.”
Old Liang hurriedly apologized to Doctor Huang, fearing his mother’s words might anger him.
“I would never stoop to the level of ignorant women and children,” Doctor Huang snorted at Old Mrs. Liang.
He had heard of this woman before; everyone in the village knew she was stingy, calculating, and heavily favored male grandchildren over females. She doted on her grandsons but barely considered her granddaughters human.
Today, seeing her in person confirmed the reputation.
This Old Mrs. Liang was truly shortsighted. After all, Qianhua was her own granddaughter, yet at a critical moment for her life, she was willing to risk it all just to save a few taels of silver.
Old Lady Liang was about to retort, “You—”
“Doctor Huang, what are the names of the precious herbs we’re missing? And where should we go to buy them?”
Liang Lao’er, afraid that his mother would say something harsh again, quickly interrupted her and asked a series of urgent questions that were on his mind.
“The names of the missing herbs are all written on the prescription, and I’ve marked them clearly. You should take this prescription to Renjitang, the largest pharmacy in the county town. You must buy them before nightfall—if you go too late, the shop will be closed. The child’s condition is very serious; the medicine must be administered as soon as possible,” Doctor Huang explained solemnly to Liang Lao’er.
He continued, “I have all the other herbs here. Since everyone in the village is like family, I won’t charge the consultation fee of ten wen. You only need to pay one tael of silver for the herbs, and you can send someone with me to fetch the rest from my home.”
Mrs. Liu held the prescription. She and Liang Lao’er exchanged a glance, silently sharing a look of plea as they both turned to Old Lady Liang.
Before either of them could speak, Old Lady Liang’s eyes darted away.
She lowered her head guiltily and said, “Don’t look at me. You know our family is poor—we can barely afford enough to eat, how could we possibly have money for such expensive medicine?”
“Big brother just went to town last month to sell the family’s stored grain, didn’t he? What happened to that money?” Liang Lao’er asked his mother anxiously.
“That money was saved for your eldest nephew, Wenyong, to get married. He’s already eighteen, the proper age to marry. If our family weren’t so poor, his child might already be old enough to call me grandfather!”
Old Lady Liang raised her voice, answering Liang Lao’er with a sense of righteous certainty.