CHAPTER 29: CHAPTER 29: SOMETHING HAPPENED!

"What brings you here today?"

The visitor was Uncle Yaozi, his tone calm, but Yi Chichi could sense the discontent.

She felt a bit guilty, "Here to buy some herbs."

Uncle Yaozi snorted, "You can buy herbs after you do some work for me."

Yi Chichi glanced at the aged Huangqi in her hand, "Process the herbs?"

This was a task she wasn’t skilled at.

She had only learned to recognize herbs and identify their properties and age.

The processing procedure was too complex, and some types required special treatment, which she wasn’t interested in learning.

She studied medicine making and poison crafting out of interest and became proficient at it.

"Can you?"

Uncle Yaozi gave her a sidelong glance while Yi Chichi shook her head, "No, I can’t."

"I don’t expect you to fully process them, just cut and grind the herbs."

This job she could handle.

Then the scene turned to Uncle Yaozi squatting at the doorstep, cleaning freshly picked herbs.

While Yi Chichi sat on a small stool, cutting deer antlers with precision.

The antlers of a sika deer, not yet fully ossified, with rounded, blunt tips and red-brown skin, covered in fine grayish-white fuzz.

They were of excellent quality, with a bloody scent and potent medicinal properties.

She was thrilled, "Uncle, are you taking these antlers to the county’s herb collection station?"

As Uncle Yaozi was handling Anemarrhena, he paused, looked at her with some exasperation, "What, you’re eyeing my antlers again?"

"Yeah."

Yi Chichi nodded with a smiling face, "I’m weak, you understand, Uncle."

Uncle Yaozi didn’t want to understand, but in the entire village, only she understood herbs and shared the same language.

He still counted on her to help out in the future.

"How about I talk to the team leader and have you work here?"

"Good idea."

"Let me tell you, working here... Wait, did you say good?"

Thinking she would refuse, Uncle Yaozi wanted to persuade her, but halfway through, he realized something was off and looked at her in surprise, seeing her nodding affirmatively with a smile. He clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, "Last time you didn’t agree."

This was asking her why she agreed this time.

Yi Chichi glanced at him, "I originally thought you were very good at medicine, Uncle..."

Very meaningful indeed.

Uncle Yaozi picked up on her underlying message; she had thought he was good at medicine and didn’t want to embarrass herself.

Now knowing the truth, she changed her mind.

Decided two novices working together might improve.

"I’m actually alright, just haven’t mastered it yet."

He tried to save face, seeing Yi Chichi smiling knowingly, sighed and changed the subject, this girl was too sharp, he better not embarrass himself.

"You, take a prescription, and you’ll surely be able to treat and save people."

This topic wasn’t very pleasant.

Yi Chichi’s face went blank, "I really can’t."

"You didn’t learn?"

"I did, but I have no talent."

Truly no talent.

She could easily grasp unconventional skills, but could never learn to treat or save people no matter what.

Once, she made the blunder of diagnosing a man as pregnant.

It made the old man so angry he almost disciplined her.

Later...

No need to mention it later.

Anyway, her medical learning career ended right there.

She wanted to learn medicine making, so she tinkered around freely.

As for diagnosing, she stayed out of it.

"So, you really can’t diagnose?"

"Nope."

"Then I’m slightly better than you."

Uncle Yaozi boasted proudly.

Yi Chichi couldn’t help but tease him, "Better in what way?"

"I can prescribe the right medicine for the illness."

Her eyes widened, "You have that ability?"

"Nope."

"Then you..."

"I can look it up in books."

In an instant, Yi Chichi thought of future medical students.

They also diagnosed patients by consulting medical books.

If they couldn’t find it in the books, they’d call for help.

But those students could call esteemed experts, ensuring that as long as it wasn’t a formal treatment stage, with an expert overseeing, nothing would go wrong.

Uncle Yaozi had no one to call for help.

"What if you find something’s wrong?"

"People with major illnesses won’t come to me, and minor ones won’t be a problem."

With his own survival skills, Uncle Yaozi shared his knowledge with her unreservedly, then offered a final summary.

"Everyone knows my capability, so they don’t have high expectations."

This was hard to judge.

Since everyone knew his limits, they simply gave up hope.

As the saying goes, having no hopes means there won’t be disappointment; minor ailments could be endured until the body healed itself.

Once healed, it was over.

No one relied on him for major illnesses or pains, they’d go straight to the county hospital or the commune health clinic.

Having understood his approach, Yi Chichi’s mouth twitched, "A quack indeed, how did the team leader agree to hire you as the team doctor, Uncle?"

"You think I wanted it?"

Uncle Yaozi was even more aggrieved, he was also afraid of a patient’s death.

But, "There aren’t many doctors, and although I’m not proficient, I know a few things."

He was proud, "Coincidentally, I’m going to the county hospital for training in the spring, and you can fill in for me then."

"Barefoot doctor?"

"That’s right, once my training’s done, I’ll teach you."

"Alright."

"But—"

"What?"

Glancing at Yi Chichi, Uncle Yaozi said, "It might not earn as many work points as you do, but by the end of the year, you’ll get some money and fabric or oil coupons."

Yi Chichi felt this was quite good, better than working in the fields.

She chuckled, "Uncle, my highest record in a day is five work points."

Slow hands, weak strength, she couldn’t even keep up with others at husking corn.

Not to mention cutting soybeans or harvesting wheat, tasks requiring sustained bending down, she really couldn’t manage them.

If she were really made to do it, maybe the soybeans and wheat wouldn’t have been harvested, but the flesh on her legs and hands would be scraped off first.

"Alright then, I’ll talk to the team leader come spring."

"Great."

Uncle Yaozi had the potential of being Zhou Bapi, with Yi Chichi as a ready source of labor, he used her to his utmost advantage.

Once she finished cutting the deer antlers, he brought out processed herbs like Tianqi, for her to cut or grind into powder as needed.

Suddenly—

"Yaozi, quick, something’s happened to Old Gen’s wife!"

Yi Chichi saw Uncle Yaozi, who was squatting to handle herbs, suddenly jump to his feet, darted into the house to grab his medicine kit, and swiftly dashed out.

"What happened to Old Gen’s wife?"

"She fell and started bleeding."

Old Gen’s wife was pregnant; by the timeline, she was about six months along.

Yaozi’s heart skipped a beat, "I’ll go ahead."

Before he finished speaking, he had already dashed away.

Yi Chichi hurriedly followed, arriving on the scene to find it jammed with people, the air thick with a faint but unmistakable scent of blood.

Old Gen’s wife, Chen Erhua, was lying on the ground groaning in pain, her husband frantically helpless, with the gathered villagers not daring to move her, just anxious.

"Make way!"

At Uncle Yaozi’s shout, the crowd immediately parted, exclaiming that Yaozi was here, expressions akin to seeing a savior.

Wang Nan and the others were there too, their cheeks flushed—people clearly having heard the news and run over to join the commotion.

Uncle Yaozi ignored everyone’s chatter, swiftly stepped over to Chen Erhua, squatted, and deftly took her wrist to check her pulse.

As soon as he felt her pulse, his heart sank: this was trouble.

The fall had caused complications with Old Gen’s wife’s pregnancy, showing signs of premature labor.

He looked at Li Genshu, who was anxiously pacing with red eyes, and solemnly spoke—