Sun Shi wiped away her tears and thought for a moment.
"Originally, I planned to go fetch them tomorrow. But seeing how things are, we might as well wait until we finish cleaning up the storage rooms in the back and move in first, then go get them."
"That works too."
Yang Ruoqing nodded.
The next few days at home would be busy and chaotic. Her two little brothers—Da'an was eight, Xiao'an only three—wouldn't be able to help and would just add to the mess. Better to let them stay with their grandparents and play for a few more days.
...
The news that the third branch of the Yang family was splitting off quickly spread through the entire Changping Village and became the talk of the town. Whether in the fields or during idle chatter after meals, everyone had something to say about it.
In the days that followed, a gloomy atmosphere seemed to hang over the Yang family's courtyard, oppressively heavy.
Despite that, the Yang family members still got up early and returned late each day, busy harvesting the rice from the fields. Cartloads of rice were hauled to the threshing ground at the south end of the village, threshed, and then left to dry.
During the day, Sun Shi had to manage the family's laundry, meals, and feeding of chickens, ducks, pigs, and cows. Any spare moment, she spent cleaning up the three cluttered storage rooms in the back courtyard. She was so busy her feet barely touched the ground.
Yang Ruoqing took the initiative to care for Yang Huazhong. She stayed in his room every day, never going anywhere else.
"Qing'er, when did you learn to change bandages? That's something!"
That afternoon, Yang Huazhong looked in amazement as Yang Ruoqing expertly cleaned and redressed his leg wound. Her hands were skilled and smooth, just like a seasoned practitioner.
Without looking up, Yang Ruoqing smiled faintly while wrapping clean gauze around his injury.
"Haven't eaten pork, but I've seen pigs walk. When Uncle Fu changed your dressing last time, I watched carefully. I mean carefully!"
"Haha! So that's how it is. My daughter sure has a good brain—just watching a few times and you already learned!"
Yang Ruoqing gave a small smile but didn't dwell on the topic.
In her previous life, she had been an internationally renowned elite special agent, skilled in countless areas. Medicine was just the tip of the iceberg.
These past few days while caring for her father, she'd taken the opportunity to thoroughly assess his injury.
His lower leg—below the knee—had a fracture. The broken bone was pressing against nerves and blood vessels, causing severe swelling.
Both his legs were now swollen like logs, clearly inflamed.
If this were modern times, the treatment would start with anti-inflammatories to reduce swelling. Then, surgery to install a metal plate at the fracture, followed by a cast and long-term bed rest.
But here in ancient times—especially in such a remote mountain village—forget surgery, even in the capital city such a condition might be helplessly beyond treatment.
In that sense, Uncle Fu hadn't exaggerated at all. With nothing but herbal medicine, the odds of Yang Huazhong ever standing again were practically zero.
But—
Who was she, Yang Ruoqing? A world-famous special agent, a queen of the underground world, and a master healer.
Even without access to modern medicine, she still could heal Yang Huazhong's leg.
With a unique massage technique, combined with internal and external herbal remedies, she was confident she could get him back on his feet.
However, her treatment required several key medicinal ingredients—ingredients that, even in modern times, were incredibly rare. She had no idea if they even existed in this ancient world.
Which brought her to the real pressing issue: money.
Before anything else, she needed to earn money. With silver in hand, she could fund the treatment.
...
Five days later, Old Man Yang and the men of the family finally brought in this season's rice harvest and stored it in the granary.
A fall rain arrived right on schedule.
Yang Ruoqing got up early, hastily tied her messy hair into a bun, and used water with a pinch of salt ash to brush her teeth and wash her face.
This world didn't have toothpaste or toothbrushes. People used all sorts of improvised tools to clean their mouths.
The Yang family usually used blades of dry grass dipped in plant ash or a pinch of saltwater for rinsing. As for using the toilet... that was even more mortifying.
There was no toilet paper. Near the walls were only sharpened stalks of thatch, bamboo slivers, or fragments of pottery and tiles. Ugh...
As she washed her face, Yang Ruoqing made a mental note: once they had their household and things stabilized, she was going to improve their basic daily supplies. She couldn't take it anymore!
"Qing'er, are you up yet?"
Sun Shi came in, wearing a patched blue two-piece outfit, her hair pulled into a neat bun and wrapped with a blue headscarf.
"Mom, just let me rinse off and I'm good."
Yang Ruoqing turned around and beamed at her.
Sun Shi looked at her daughter's freshly washed face. Even her teeth, when she spoke, no longer looked so yellow and grimy as before. She didn't smell bad anymore either.
She thought to herself: Ever since Qing'er regained her clarity, she's taken to cleanliness. Though there hadn't been time to go wash her hair in the pond, her face, hands, and body were no longer filthy and stinky like before.
"Qing'er, Uncle Changgen, and Uncle Daniu are here. They're in your father's room chatting. They've come to help us build a stove. Your fifth uncle just told me to gather up everything in this room. Once the rain eases up, he and your cousin Yongjin will help move everything to the back courtyard."
"Got it!"
Yang Ruoqing agreed cheerfully.
There wasn't much in the room besides the bed, some bedding, and a couple of chairs and tables. One trip from Uncle Huazhou and Cousin Yongjin would be enough.
After hanging her face towel back up, she turned to Sun Shi—who was making her bed—and asked,
"Mom, since Uncle Changgen and Uncle Daniu came to help us move, we can't just let them go without lunch, right? What should we make?"
Changgen and Daniu were Yang Huazhong's childhood friends, from the same village. They had grown up together and were very close.
When Yang Huazhong got injured and had to be carried back from several miles away near the riverbank, Yongjin and Huazhou, it was Changgen and Daniu carried him back.
Now, despite the rain, they had given up resting at home to come to help build a stove and move things—of course, they had to be fed properly! Otherwise, it would just feel wrong.
Even if they got the stove built today, it would need to dry out for a couple of days before it could be used.
And Yang Ruoqing knew something else too: even though the third branch had just split off, Old Man Yang had only given them fifty jin of unhulled rice from this season's harvest.
Fifty jin wouldn't even last them until next year's harvest—it was a way to force the third branch to starve and freeze as punishment for leaving.
(End of Chapter)