Chapter 45: I Am Illiterate
After hearing Lu Jiao's words, the Youngest Child quickly turned around and looked at the Eldest Child.
The Eldest Child pursed his lips, turned around, and walked to the corner of the bed, where he stretched out his hand to take out a box which had a complete set of writing brushes, ink, papers, and ink stones. As he held it out in front of Lu Jiao, he said,
"Here, take it."
This is what Daddy used while studying. He had hid it as he was afraid the bad woman would throw it away.
In fact, the Eldest Child is a bit worried even now, afraid that these things will be thrown away, but he will give them to the bad woman first, for the sake of her recent improvement. If she dares to throw these things, he will ignore her in the future.
The Eldest Child mentally made this decision.
Lu Jiao happily took a writing brush, ink, paper and ink stone and placed them on the small tattered table in the middle of the room. Then she got some water and started grinding the ink, preparing to write the prescription for the treatment of the snake venom.
After grinding the ink, just as she picked up the writing brush to write the formula for the antidote, Lu Jiao was taken aback and kept staring blankly at the paper in front of her for a long time, without writing a word.
She doesn't know how to write traditional Chinese characters. In fact, she can't even read them. How will she write the prescription for the treatment of the snake venom?
Everyone in the east bedroom stared at Lu Jiao, puzzled as to why, when she came back, she was looking for a writing brush, ink, paper and ink stone, and now there was no movement.
"What's wrong?" Xie Yunjin, who was lying on the bed, asked casually.
Thinking of Xu Duojin, who had been poisoned by the snake venom, Lu Jiao gritted her teeth and turned to face Xie Yunjin, "You are familiar with Xu Duojin, right? A golden ring snake had bitten him."
Xie Yunjin's expression changed suddenly, his eyebrows turned cold, and he asked in a deep voice, "How is his condition now?"
Brother Xu is one of his loyal friends. Earlier, when he had been just kicked out of his own house due to his injury, Brother Xu had brought food over. He was delirious at the time and just vaguely heard what he said about going up the mountain to hunt, so he could gather some money to treat his injuries. Unexpectedly, he had got bitten by a snake.
The more Xie Yunjin thought about it, the heavier his mood became, as did the cold and cruel aura all over his body.
Lu Jiao raised her brows, wondering if she told him that she knew how to detoxify snake venom, would it make him think too much about her.
But now she can't care so much anymore. Lu Jiao thought about it and said,
"I just happened to come across him on the mountain earlier, so I just simply controlled the snake venom for him. Right now, he doesn't have to worry about his life. It's just that I need to write a prescription for the snake anti-venom."
Xie Yunjin raised his eyebrows as he listened to Lu Jiao's words and looked at her, his eyes deep and dark.
As Lu Jiao made eye contact with him, she quickly brainstormed, thinking how to make up a lie to explain the situation, but Xie Yunjin spoke up first.
"Then you can give him a prescription for snake venom."
Lu Jiao raised her eyebrows in surprise and gave Xie Yunjin a wary look. Is this matter over? Does he not doubt her?
But, for the time being, it's more important to write down the detoxification prescription.
"I am illiterate, so I can't write," Lu Jiao said with a wry smile, looking at Xie Yunjin.
This time, it was Xie Yunjin who was taken aback, his face contorted in surprise.
This woman's attitude and gestures seem to have been carefully nurtured from an early age by a well-off family, but now this person she said that she is illiterate.
Why did he feel that it was so unbelievable? But if this woman can write, why would she pretend that she doesn't know how to write?
Just as Xie Yunjin was thinking about it, Lu Jiao said in a low voice, "Actually, I know some, but there are a lot of characters I don't know."
The original owner's mother had taught the original owner some, including her own name. She can recognize some, but it is not enough to write a prescription, so there is really no way that she can write this antidote formula by herself.
On the bed, after his initial shock, Xie Yunjin calmed down. What he was worried about right now was snake venom in Xu Duojin's body. 'As for this woman's illiteracy, I'll talk about it later.'
"Bring me the writing brush and paper, you say I'll write."
Lu Jiao asked worriedly after Xie Yunjin finished speaking, "Can you write?"
"Bring it here," Xie Yunjin said, clenching his teeth.
Lu Jiao thought about the snake venom in Xu Duojin, and knew that she could not delay. Maybe someone would come later to get the formula for the antidote, so she should write it down first. The sooner the venom of the golden ring snake is treated, the better.
Therefore, Lu Jiao walked to the bed with a writing brush, paper, and ink in hand.
Xie Yunjin leaned against the bed headboard, took the writing brush and paper, and started writing.
Lu Jiao quickly said the detoxification prescription: "Banzhilian weighing as much as ten coins, wild chrysanthemum, Longdan, Zhinanxing, Chuanbei, Xiangbaizhi, Fangfeng, white aconite, raw licorice each of them weighing as much as three coins, Qingmuxiang and Xuchangqing each of them weighing as much as four coins, raw rhubarb weighing as much as six coins and ten Quanxie and Wugong each. Decoct in water and take it three times a day in the day: morning, noon, and evening."
By the time Lu Jiao finished speaking, Xie Yunjin had only written half of it, but even if he had only written half of it, his face had already turned very ugly, and his hands were trembling. Lu Jiao knew at a glance that he must be dizzy and having a headache, so she spoke quickly,
"Don't write, stop for a while, and write later."
But Xie Yunjin disagreed, clenched his teeth, and wrote the rest in one breath before slumping and lying in bed, remaining motionless for a long time.
The quadruplets were so frightened that they all crowded around his bed and cried out, "Daddy!"
Xie Yunjin has been eating well for the past few days, and Lu Jiao has been decocting the good quality medicine for him now, while the spiritual spring water is there to help his body recuperate.
So, although his face was pale and his head was dizzy, he did not pass out. He just laid down on the bed for a long time and took a few deep breaths, allowing his whole body to relax.
When he noticed that the four little ones were worried, he turned around despite his weakness and said, "Daddy is fine."
Lu Jiao glanced at him scrutinizingly and found that he was really okay, so she put the writing brush and paper and the antidote on the small table.
Originally, she expected someone from the Xu family to come soon to get the antidote, but no one came at all.
Lu Jiao was pretty surprised, and then she realized that they didn't believe she'd be able to detoxify the venom of the golden ring snake. Maybe they had already taken him to the town hospital for treatment.
Lu Jiao put away the antidote and went to the kitchen to make dinner.
It's not that she didn't want to save him. It was that no one believed her. In any case, she did everything she was supposed to do to help the Xu family.
Lu Jiao went to the kitchen to prepare the dinner and assigned the four little ones a task.
"Go give the rabbit to Brother Xiaobao's house."
The second child spoke first, "Mother, I'll go to deliver it to their house. "
Lu Jiao glanced at the second child with a smile. The four little ones were not afraid of her now, and had already began to show their own characteristics, but she is unsure of what would happen in the future.
Lu Jiao gave the four little ones a thoughtful look and said, "You all can go together, remember to be polite and greet properly."
"We know," the four little ones nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh well, you all can go now. Take this."
Because there is no shortage of meat at home in the recent days, the four little ones are not particularly distressed. The second child took the rabbit and walked all the way to the second grandma's house next door with the Eldest Child, the third child and the fourth child.
Because the two families were close, Lu Jiao was not worried and went into the kitchen to make dinner.
Because the weather was too hot, she decided to make cold noodles mixed with cucumbers, scrambled eggs with chives, and cut a plate of pork head meat for each person for dinner.
(T/N: Literally translated into cold noodles, liangmian is a dish consisting of thin, chewy noodles that are made with buckwheat and potato or sweet potato starch. Spicy and cool, they are considered a perfect dish for hot weather days.)
By the time she was done, the four little ones had also come back from outside after playing with Xie Xiaobao for a while.
Of course, in addition to them, there were also Mrs Zhao and Xie Xiaobao following behind them.
Seeing Lu Jiao, Mrs. Zhao said with an embarrassed expression, "It's so embarrassing to eat your meat all the time."
Xie Xiaobao stood by her side and asked with a smile, "Third Aunt, where is the tasty soup you made? Could you pour some for my family?"
Lu Jiao agreed immediately, reached out to take the big bowl that Mrs Zhao had brought, went into the kitchen, and poured out some of the soup which she had stored in the space into the big bowl.
"You add some water and boil this soup, and then dip the meat and let boil it for a little more time, then simmer the meat till it turns red. This way, it'll taste more flavorful."
"Okay, I get it."
After Mrs Zhao finished speaking, she leaned over to Lu Jiao's side and whispered, "You know what? Xu Duojin, from the Xu family, was bitten by a poisonous snake, and the family took him to the town. I wonder how he's doing right now?"
"I heard that the snake which bit him was a golden ring snake. You must have also heard that if a golden ring snake bites a person, the person is usually either dead or paralyzed. The Xu family is really unlucky this time."
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